October was a pretty average month all around. We increased our net worth $1,409.31 from last month, to $27,172.68. We’ve already passed our net worth goal for 2007, so any additional gains are gravy.

What worked this month?
My wife continues to bring in multiple streams of income. She brought in a $761.50 commission check for referring a customer to her father’s company and a $752 commission check from old job. Another plus this month was that our retirement accounts (401K and Roth IRA’s) increased by a total of $778.90. We also reduced our liabilities by the standard amount (~$1,000).

What did not work this month?
A $1,000 business expense that we’ve been expecting finally posted to my credit card. I was already reimbursed for it in June and had the money sitting in our savings account gaining interest. We also saw a ~65% reduction in the value of our shares of Adventrx Pharmaceuticals.

What’s coming next month?
My wife receives and extra paycheck next month and may also receive her first commission check from her new job. I will be traveling overseas for 5 days (all expenses paid by employers) so we might see small savings there. My wife and I will also be taking a road trip to visit my family for Thanksgiving. A couple of big insurance bill hit next month: We will be pay for a years worth of car insurance for my truck ($880) and a years worth of insurance for our condo ($416).

September has been a banner month. Our net worth increased $8,496.14 over last month to $25,763.37 (click on the spreadsheet below). We blew by our 2007 net worth goal of $22,000 this month! Now we can use the final 3 months in 2007 to start making progress on our 2008 net worth goal of $47,800. Our previous best net worth increase month was March 2007, with a $6,462.28 increase

What worked this month?
We have a lot to be thankful for. My wife was able to find a new job within a week of being laid off from her old job. Because of this quick transition, we experienced no lapse in paychecks and did not have to dip into our savings accounts. Our biggest gain in September came from an unexpectedly large $3,005.63 contribution to my 401(k) from my company’s profit sharing. Our retirement investments also received a boost by a $500 contribution that we did to my wife’s Roth IRA, completing her contributions for 2007, and a $500 contribution that we did to my Roth IRA. We also boosted our savings account balance considerably, by making a few extra deposits in September.

What did not work this month?
The Labor Day week heat wave sent everyone to the store to purchase air conditioners, including us. We spent $377.74 on a portable air conditioner.

What’s coming next month?
My wife and I will both be traveling for business in October. Since both of our employers cover 100% of our expenses while traveling, we should be able to save a little extra money next month.

August has been a volatile month in more ways than one. Nonetheless, our net worth increased $2,205.39 over last month, to $17,267.23 (click on spreadsheet below). We are currently at 78.49% of our 2007 net worth goal. Thank God, we’re still ahead of schedule to meet our goal.

What worked this month?
I received an extra (3rd) check this month that provided us with an additional $1,880.70. We were able to increase our savings by $831.02, which is amazing because we had a couple of large expenses come due in August, such as a $716.53 mattress bill and $300 seat sponsorship for our church. Surprisingly, we did not have a $1,000 business expense that we are expecting post to our credit card; this will likely post in September. In other good news, we were also able to contribute another $500 to my wife’s Roth IRA and we continue to make progress on our liabilities, decreasing them by ~$1,000 each month.

What did not work this month?
Obviously, this was a roller coaster month for the stock market. After subtracting out our contributions, our retirement investments were either flat or lagged behind last month’s balances. Another shake-up this month was that the company my wife just started with 1 month ago laid off 75% of their employees, including her. The great news is that she already has a replacement job.

What’s coming next month?
Now that August’s books are closed, we’re looking ahead toward September. All indications are that it should be a good month too. My wife is expecting a commission check on a job that she referred to her dad’s company (~$700), a final commission check from her old job ($600-$1,000), a final check from the job that laid her off (~$1920), and her first paycheck from her new job(~$1,075). I’m also hoping to receive my company profit sharing (~$550) in September.

July was our lightest net worth increase month yet. Our net worth increased $2,039.64 over last month, to a new total of $15,062.84 (click spreadsheet below).

Still, we had a better month than I expected, primarily because a $1,000 business expense has not posted yet . Here are the highlights from July:

We had a lot of financial action in June. Our investments ended on a down note, but we still increased our net worth by $3,979.67, to $13,022.20 (click on the spreadsheet below).

• My wife received an extra $1,161.67 paycheck this month.
• I cashed in 6 days of vacation time for an extra $1,219.11.
• We sold Car 1 and bought a new (used) Car 1. $1,000 was withdrawn from savings to transact the deal, and we spent another $321.94 getting the new vehicle outfitted with an alarm and a few other things.
• Also related to cars, my wife got a flat tire, resulting in a $159.25 replacement tire.
• We withdrew $2,000 from savings and used a $1,000 business reimbursement check to open a Roth for me, and fund it with $3,000. The $1,000 business expense will not hit my credit card until July or August, at which time we will pay it off from savings. In the meantime, we are earning stock market returns on the money.
• My wife graduated (great job sugar!) this month, so we spent $219.08 on a nice party for her.
• June was a heavier than usual month for gifts to family/friends ($216).

We’re tracking nicely to meet our 2007 net worth goal of $22,000. It’s just over half way thru the year and we’re currently at 59.19% of our annual goal.

Our net worth is now at $9,042.53, a $2,604.03 increase from last month (click on the spreadsheet below). Our biggest gain came from a $600 increase in our 401(k), only $100 of which was from contributions. We also checked off another short term goal by opening a Roth IRA for my wife and funding it with $3,000 (thus the hit to our savings amount). Our liabilities were reduced by their standard monthly amounts, except for our Chase credit card that we paid $105 extra on.

God willing, we should reach a net worth milestone of $10,000 next month.

I didn’t expect us to match our huge net worth increase in March, but we had a good net worth increase in April (click on the spreadsheet below). Our total net worth is now $6,438.50, well on our way to our 2007 goal of $22,000.

Some highlights from April follow:

• The nice boost to our net worth this month came thru a $1,147.24 (after taxes) commission check that my wife earned.
• We deposited $630.00 into our Emigrant Direct savings account for Roth IRA funding (once we hit $3,000 will be moved into Vanguard 500 Index Fund Inv). We also restarted my company 401(k), albeit at a measly 2% of my gross pay. Our retirement investment focus for 2007 is to fully fund our Roth IRA’s, and put any “extra” money into my 401(k) plan.
• We paid off our American Express credit card.
• I took $50 from my April fun money ($180/month) and deposited it into our ING Direct account. I hope to get $500 saved up to speculate with in the stock market (more for fun/education than as an investment purposes).
• We had numerous large expenses in April (noted in the spreadsheet) that totaled $1,219.45.

I have added a 2007 net worth goal meter to the blog (upper right hand corner) that will provide a quick reference on our progress.

Thank God for the great month and hopefully we can duplicate it again in May.

A lot of progress was made since our February 2007 Net Worth update. We have a positive net worth! Thank God! It’s a great feeling to finally have a positive net worth, even if it is only $3,293.43.

I can’t believe we were able to post a $6,462.28 change (click on spreadsheet below) to our net worth in one month. Over half of this increase was due to our Federal and State tax refunds ($2,044) and my wife receiving a $1,463 tuition reimbursement.

Here are the highlights from March:

• Our 401(k) has recovered pretty well from the $1,000 hit it took during the February stock market plunge
• We have $100 (starting small) invested in prosper at an average rate of 12.23%.
• Our emergency fund was given needed attention
• We made some serious headway on paying down our credit card debt. All of the remaining credit card debt is on 0% interest credit cards
• My wife’s student loan balance also was hacked down by the tuition reimbursement that she received

I don’t expect us to be able to keep up this kind of a pacing in the coming months, but we’ll sure try.

I will be updating our net worth on this blog at the end of every month.

Below is our net worth for February 2007 (click on spreadsheet). I realize we’re half way thru March already but wanted to use this as a starting point. As you can see, we currently have a negative net worth. Nowhere to go from here but up.