According to my Integrity Policy, I want to let you know that this post contains Personal Capital referral links. Personal Capital is a free service. They are looking for high-net worth individuals as possible customers for their financial advisory services, but the expense tracking and retirement planning tools that I recommend are free of charge.
It’s all about the Benjamins. And Jacksons. And Lincolns. And Washingtons.
Nice progress across the board this month! My safe withdrawal amount for my portfolio went up a bit thanks to new assets and new contributions to existing ones.
| Account | Last Month | Balance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Checking | $23,812.41 | $4,564.89 | -$19,247.52 |
| Real Estate Operating Account | $913.67 | $2,168.24 | $1,254.57 |
| Real Estate Cash Flow Account | $217.94 | $722.23 | $504.29 |
| Credit Cards | -$15,904.19 | -$16,426.88 | -$522.79 |
| Retirement - After Tax | $40,989.10 | $40,691.88 | -$297.22 |
| Retirement - 401(k) | $70,628.73 | $74,181.03 | $3,552.30 |
| Retirement - Roth IRA | $7,974.54 | $7,971.21 | -$3.33 |
| Asset - Home | $474,545.00 | $478,833.00 | $4,288.00 |
| Asset - Rental 1 | $48,724.00 | $44,198.00 | -$4,526.00 |
| Asset - Rental 2 | $66,731.00 | $66,795.00 | $64.00 |
| Asset - Rental 3 | $0.00 | $88,996.00 | $88,996.00 |
| Mortgage - Home | -$382,815.32 | -$382,582.70 | $232.62 |
| Mortgage - Rental 1 | -$44,675.53 | -$44,616.97 | $58.56 |
| Mortgage - Rental 2 | -$48,369.86 | -$48,305.65 | $64.21 |
| Mortgage - Rental 3 | $0.00 | -$58,125.00 | -$58,125.00 |
| Student Loan 1 | -$22,709.11 | -$22,583.51 | $125.60 |
| Student Loan 2 | -$14,116.60 | -$14,038.52 | $78.08 |
| Student Loan 3 | -$4,966.61 | -$4,868.61 | $98.00 |
| Net Worth | $200,979.07 | $217,573.64 | $16,594.47 |
For the February 2016 financial statement, our net worth increased 8.25%!
That means we have surpassed our previous best! A couple of items contributed to the improvement. First off, I closed on my new property, which I purchased for $77,500, but which is actually valued at almost $90,000. That was a pretty nice instant return on investment!
I also managed to find a few thousand dollars in the budget to contribute to my investments, and that helped bump the expected income from that back up. I’d be pretty happy if the market stayed down all year, as most of my contributions will be in the latter half of the year!
Oh, and I finished my book on out of state and long-distance real estate investment! If this is something you’re interested in from the blog, but you’re looking for more concrete steps, check it out in the side bar. You can also find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Nook, and iBooks.
In the negative column, I saw another drop in value for one of my rentals, but it should level off (and even start to increase) at this point again. I think most of the seasonal drop is behind us.
I also had to start renovations on the new rental property. The repairs aren’t too extensive, but they still affect the bottom line. About $4,500 went towards that this month, leaving me a little lower on cash than I usually am. Of course, I also paid the down payment for the property when I closed on it early this month, so that was a $21,000 hit, too. Since the new property is financed, I added the mortgage as a new line item.
I struggled a bit with whether to include the expected income from the new rental property in our safe retirement income, and decided not to do so. One unit is occupied, but I’m moving that tenant out by April 1st. The other unit is empty, but the rehab just ended and it should be occupied in days or weeks. Because things are not yet settled, I’m going to hold off until I have all units occupied with long-term tenants. Hopefully, this will be by May 1st or so. The great news is, this property is going to majorly increase our retirement income… but I’ll tell you more about that in a couple of months when I’m ready to consider the income somewhat reliable.
Blog Income
As I mentioned in my Integrity Policy, I want to make sure I share any and all professional relationships and compensation I make as a part of this blog. In February, I was pretty excited about affiliate and ad revenue (I earn a few hundredths of a penny when ads are seen, and between .20 and a couple of dollars when ads are clicked). I continue to climb towards break-even on blog startup costs, and a few more months like this should get me there.
I earned the following:
- $100 in referral fees from Personal Capital
- $17.00 in Google Ad Income
Thus, my total income for the month from the blog was $117.00! That’s awesome progress! As I’ve said before, I don’t count on any of the income from this blog, but I’m grateful when it comes in, and hope that the blog at least continues to generate enough to cover the previous year’s costs.
If you’re looking to start your own blog or web site, please consider using my referral link for BlueHost. I’ll get a little cash to help pay hosting expenses, and you’ll get a great hosting provider (the same one I use) starting at about $3.95 per month.
Retirement Update
Our net worth is up $16,594.47 this month. This is a really nice increase, though our safe withdrawal rate didn’t change much as a result.
With equity and bond accounts totaling $122,844.12 at the end of January, a 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate would allow us to take out $409.48 per month. Our rental properties, after all expenses, vacancies, and short and long term maintenance are considered, produce $503.00 of safe cash flow every month.
Safe Monthly Income: $912.48 (+10.84 to Last Month)
% to Goal: 18.25% (+0.22% to Last Month)
Want to Know How to Track Your Expenses This Closely?
It’s really easy. Sign up for a Personal Capital account, which is completely free. It’s how I track my balances across time, and allows me to project all my retirement progress without doing any work at all. As a disclaimer, if you sign up with Personal Capital, this site may get a referral fee depending on the size of your portfolio.
Pingback: The Net Worth of Personal Finance Bloggers