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.
September was jam-packed with events, excitement, and most important of all (at least for the purpose of this post), a major net worth milestone!
| Account | Last Month | Balance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Checking | $10,145.41 | $8,763.43 | -$1,381.98 |
| Business Checking | $530.39 | $1,824.34 | $1,293.95 |
| Real Estate Operating Account | $1,461.83 | $1,827.19 | $365.36 |
| Real Estate Cash Flow Account | $1,012.12 | $1,998.35 | $986.23 |
| Credit Cards | -$16,502.15 | -$8,167.63 | $8,334.52 |
| Retirement - HSA | $2,799.62 | $3,094.85 | $295.23 |
| Retirement - After Tax | $47,909.36 | $48,293.02 | $383.66 |
| Retirement - 401(k) | $104,664.86 | $108,762.77 | $4,097.91 |
| Retirement - Roth IRA | $9,126.56 | $9,140.27 | $13.71 |
| Asset - Home | $500,000.00 | $500,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Asset - Rental 1 | $43,043.00 | $43,843.00 | 800.00 |
| Asset - Rental 2 | $66,240.00 | $66,240.00 | $0.00 |
| Asset - Rental 3 | $88,949.00 | $87,075.00 | -$1,874.00 |
| Mortgage - Home | -$381,140.81 | -$380,892.67 | $248.14 |
| Mortgage - Rental 1 | -$44,260.62 | -$44,200.38 | $60.24 |
| Mortgage - Rental 2 | -$47,915.14 | -$47,849.17 | $65.97 |
| Mortgage - Rental 3 | -$57,756.43 | -$57,681.53 | $74.90 |
| Student Loan 1 | -$21,819.88 | -$21,685.09 | $134.79 |
| Student Loan 2 | -$13,563.83 | -$13,480.03 | $83.80 |
| Student Loan 3 | -$4,302.18 | -$4,209.46 | $92.72 |
| Net Worth | $288,621.11 | $302,696.36 | $14,075.25 |
On our September 2016 financial statement, our net worth increased by 4.87%!
At last, with the wedding behind us, the last dental tourism trip to Thailand complete, and everything back to normal, it was time to settle into wedded bliss and a few months of relaxation, right?
Well… not exactly. You see, I released the little thing that I had been teasing for months on September 6th, and it has made for an insane month!
If you haven’t been following the blog closely, the new site is called The Earth Awaits, and it’s basically a tool to help match you up with the perfect place, at home or abroad, that matches your budget, lifestyle, family size, as well as needs for things like pollution, crime, language, and others. It builds all the budgets dynamically, just for you, and it’s filled with almost 600 amazing places all over the world that promise a life of comfort, adventure, and enrichment. I wrote it, so I’m partial, but I think it’s awesome. Check it out!
The Earth Awaits was covered in LifeHacker and Mental Floss, as well as being tweeted and added to an old post by Mr. Money Mustache himself! What an honor, and there’s so much yet to come!
I also wrote about The Earth Awaits here and here on this blog, wrote two guest posts– one on From Frugal to Free about travel hacking, and another that you can read next week on Physician on FIRE. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s a good one!
This next month, I’m going to continue to work on TEA, adding new features and trying to bring more visitors to the tool. I’m going to try to be better at taking care of this blog, though, so hopefully my output will increase again!
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 September, I earned the following:
- $200 from Personal Finance affiliate payments
- $47.15 in Google Ad revenue
The blog made $247.15 this month! That’s the best ever by a long shot! I’m so excited, and hope that it’s not just a fluke. Things are finally getting to the point where I’m getting sketchy solicitations for paid guest posts, which I would never accept… but it’s got to mean something, right?
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 $14,075.25 this month. We also crossed the $300,000 net worth milestone! Not bad for a blog (and a blogger) that was under $100,000 in net worth a little over a year ago.
With equity and bond accounts totaling $169,290.91 at the end of September, a 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate would allow us to take out $564.30 per month. Our rental properties, after all expenses, vacancies, and short and long term maintenance are considered, produce $986.00 of safe cash flow every month.
Safe Monthly Income: $1,550.30 (+$15.97 to Last Month)
% to Goal: 31.00% (+0.31% to Last Month)
Want to Know How to Track Your Expenses?
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.
That is awesome that you have made so much progress in a year! I think it’s always fun to calculate the passive income. I actually track that a bit closer than our net worth.
Thanks, Ms. M! I totally agree on passive income– it puts the abstract into real terms. How much money I have doesn’t do me much good– it’s how much we can afford that matters!
Congrats on hitting $300k!
Thanks! Now bring on $400K!!
Pingback: The Church of FI – September 2016 Expense and Net Worth reports from the blogosphere | The Jolly Ledger
Hey, regarding affiliate marketing – do you have ideas about improving conversions on a non-niche site? I own a document uploading site and as such it’s near impossible to match products to the visitor. Many thanks