We just contributed the final $500 to my Roth IRA for 2007! It feels great to have maxed out our Roth IRA’s this year ($4,000 each for my wife and I). Hopefully we can do the same next year. It will be a bit more of a challenge with the new $5,000 max contribution per person, but it will be fun trying.
Decline In Our Net Worth On The Way?
I’m a bit worried that November could be the 1st decline in our net worth since we began tracking it in February. We have a number of large bills due this month including a $880 truck insurance bill, $416 condo insurance bill, and $1,842.84 for our 1st 2007 condo tax payment.
We have been saving $302/month into our Emigrant Direct account for our condo taxes, so we expected to have to pull it out when the bill came due. Thankfully, my wife receives an extra paycheck this month (3 total) which will help cover the truck and condo insurance bills. However, if any other large bills come up this month and/or it’s a bad month in the stock market, I’m afraid we may post a decrease to our net worth. It’s not the end of the world, but it would be disappointing. Oh well, 25 more days until we know.
Condo Taxes
This year, our condo tax bill increased from $3619.60 to $3,685.68. This is surprising considering the decline in Southern California property values. We purchased our condo two years ago for $333,250. Similar units are now selling for ~$260,000-$290,000.
Our tax bill indicates the county’s assessed value pf our condo is currently $340,016. A couple of our neighbors have been successful this year at reducing their condo taxes $500-$1,000 simply by challenge the county’s current value of their property. So, we have decided to do the same. We filled out an APPLICATION FOR CHANGED ASSESSMENT, in which we estimated our properties value at $275,000. The form was easy to complete but the approval process can take a couple of months. If we are successful, we will receive a refund on the taxes we paid this year.
October 2007 Income Statement
We definitely spent more money in October (click on spreadsheet below) than last month.
Our biggest expense was a $1,000 business expense that posted to my credit card, but that I was already reimbursed for in June. We also began purchasing Christmas gifts.Incomewise, my wife receive a $761.50 commission check from referring customer to her father’s company and a $752 commission check from old job. In addition to this, we received 123.47 in credit card cash back rewards and a small rebate. Our interest income continues to grow as our savings increases. In October we earned $20.29 in interest income.
Next month my wife receives an extra paycheck (3 total). Off setting this is a $416 condo insurance bill and a $880 truck insurance bill.
October 2007 Net Worth Update (+$1,409.31)
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).
Southern California Wildfires
Many of our friends have been evacuated because of the Southern California Wildfires. We are far enough away that it is unlikely our neighborhood will be evacuated.
However, I’m flying to the east coast tomorrow for a business trip so we prepared my wife just in case the fire heads in our direction.
Here’s what we packed in a suitcase in case there isn’t time to fully load up the car:
Water
Food / Dog Food
Extra clothing
Family Photos
Legal Documents
Insurance Documents
Emergency Cash
Checkbook
Toiletries
Flashlight
Lighter
Knife
Hand Gun
Pen & Paper
It’s unlikely she will be in a survival situation, even if our area is evacuated. There are many evacuation shelters available. However, worst case scenario, she and our puppy can get by safely staying a night by themselves in the car. In addition to the items above, she would also have her purse, cell phone, computer, and chargers with her.
Auto Insurance
For the 1st time ever, we plan to pay my auto insurance bill in a lump sum payment. We typically finance the 12 months of auto insurance thru AAA, costing us an extra $58.73 annually. Here’s the breakdown:
$1,041.73 12 months coverage
-$103.00 AAA credit for 12 years of membership
$880.00 balance due
$58.73 cost to finance payments for 9 months
$938.73 total amount paid if financed
An added benefit is that we will have one less bill to pay every month.
Back Home. . . For a Week
I just returned from a business trip to the East Coast, adding another 6,212 miles to my Delta SkyMiles. This has been a good year for my frequent fly miles. I’m now at 37,580 miles on Delta and qualify for Silver Medallion benefits. I didn’t realize this until I was automatically upgraded to 1st class and also did not have to pay the $50 charge for an overweight bag.
I fly back to the East Coast in a week for an 8 day trip, adding another 6K miles to my Delta SkyMiles (and hopefully another complimentary upgrade to 1st class). Two weeks after that, I fly to Europe on Delta for another large chunk of frequent flyer miles.
I’m working towards a couple of free (frequent flyer miles) tickets to Hawaii for my wife and I.
2nd Mortgage Payment Plan
One of our big goals is to buy a house in 5 years and hopefully keep our condo as an investment property.
Currently, our monthly condo expenses (mortgages, taxes, HOA fees, and insurance) total $2,697, Unfortunately, that is way more that we can rent our condo for. Therefore, we have decided to focus on paying off our 2nd mortgage ($52,755.81 balance) to help bridge the gap.
Of that $2,697 in total monthly expenses, our 2nd mortgage payment represents $411.33. The interest rate is 8.55%, so only $36 is currently hitting principle each month.
Here’s the plan:
We will use what we consider “extra” money each year to knock down the principle:
$2,000/year from my wife’s two extra paychecks
$3,761.40/year from my two extra paychecks
$1,219.11/year from cashing in 6 days of my vacation
$5,000/year from my wife’s commissions
This would result in $11,980.51 in extra principle payments per year, or $47,922.04 in 4 years, allowing us to pay off the 2nd mortgage by 2011. We may be able to pay it off even sooner because $5,000 is a very conservative number for my wife’s annual commission and we will likely receive annual pay raises.
Once the 2nd is paid off, we will focus on increasing our savings for a house down payment and create a reserve fund for maintenace of both properties. In addition to the $411.33/month we will save after paying off the 2nd, my wife’s car will be paid off in April of 2012, allowing us to bank an extra $450/month. My car will be paid off in June of 2013, helping with our cash flow once we buy a house.
Our condo is next to a major UC school, providing large pool of renters. We hope to be able to rent the unit for $1,800/month. We’d be taking a loss each month initially, but a combination of paying off the 2nd mortgage and tax deductions should help us get within a couple hundred dollars of our rent target.
If we are sucessful in our plan to pay off the 2nd, but find the numbers don’t work out for renting the unit, we will sell the condo and buy a house. In the very least, we will have increased our equity in the condo and saved ourselves a lot of interest.
Rewarding Ourselves
My wife and I have decided to give ourselves a “bonus” this month for reaching our 2007 net worth goal 3 months early.
This extra fun money will come from an unexpected ~ $799.09 commission check my wife will receive from her old, old job. We plan to give some of it to our church and then split the remainder. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not getting lazy now that we reached our 2007 net worth goal, we’re just rewarding ourselves for being consistent with our plan earlier in the year.
We’re excited to already be making progress on our 2008 net worth goal ($48,700) while still only in 2007. If my projections are accurate, we should be over 60% of the way there (~$30,000) when 2008 actually starts.