Detailed Financial Picture – May 2014

April’s Numbers

As of May 6 , 2014, we are $438,339.52 in debt (that includes the mortgage).  Without the mortgage, we’re at $22,544.49 in debt.  This includes student loans and an auto loan.  We currently have $1,030,065.49 in assets (including our house).  Our retirement accounts are at $370,706.34.  Our Net Worth is $591,725.97 (includes house and mortgage), up from $589,763.53 last month (0.33% increase).

This  month was relatively flat in the investment area.  We went up by our contributions, and that’s it (1.33%).  Our assets went down again – our estimated house value (through Zillow) dropped as well as using some of our savings to pay off debt.  I suspect the house value will increase a bit as the spring/summer selling season goes on – there are about 5 houses for sale in our neighborhood, none of which are our model though (one of the largest in the neighborhood).

I decided to strategically reduce our emergency fund to pay off more of the student loans.  The 6.55% loan has a balance of about $2,300, and will be paid off in July (at the latest).  We reduced our e-fund from 5k to 3k, so we still have quite a bit should Murphy pay a visit.  The plan is to pump up our e-fund to 3 months of expenses after paying off the student loans (and maxing my 401k contribution), then split what’s left between bringing it up to 6 months and investing.  At 5k it would cover our minimum expenses for a month if both of us lost our jobs at the same time (which is unlikely), *and* we use YNAB’s rule 4 to live on last month’s income, so we have a built in one month buffer/e-fund there as well.

We’re still up 5.30% in net worth since the beginning of the year, and I think we’ll be able to hit our goal of 650k this year – especially if we keep contributing as we plan to.  If the markets take a dive, we’ll be out of luck, but that’s gambling for you!

Debt (in the order we’re paying it down):

  • Line of credit (8.75%): $0.00
  • Chase (4.99% for life): $ 0.00 
  • Student loans (aggregated 4.21%):  $4,944.49 (-3,282.14)
  • Car loan (0%): $17,600 (-490.00)
  • Mortgage (4.125%): $ 415,795.03 (-705.01)

Total paid off in April: $4,477.17

2 thoughts on “Detailed Financial Picture – May 2014

  1. Jennifer Roberts

    Congratulations on your progress. I think throwing some of your emergency fund at debt was a smart move. When we were finishing paying off our debt, we did the same, and kept a $1,000 emergency fund. I was nervous about having so little saved up, but during the year it took, we never used the emergency fund once. I was able to squish little Murphies here and there by selling things we didn’t need, selling some stocks, doing a little freelance work, etc. It doesn’t really make sense to have a ton of money sitting in savings when you’re throwing money away paying interest. Best of luck!

    Reply
    1. Mom Post author

      We actually are about to dip into it to pay for a procedure for one of our kitties – unexpected and more than we have in the ‘kitty care’ fund. Will be easy to refill, but it’s the kind of thing we have it for. It’s more than $1000, so I’m glad we still have the slightly larger efund for now.

      Reply

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