Net worth fell even when the markets rose last month. How did that happen?!

Read on, faithful reader(s?).

Pretty much as all investment buckets rose. Debt fell. But, cash reserve fell by a whopping $22k.

$18k went towards a down payment of a new home we are starting to build. $3k went towards taxes as Tax Day went by. $5k went towards flights, rental car, and accommodations for a summer vacation coming up. So yeah!

Wait …? What …? Rewind!

Newsflash: After about 4 years of going through various stages of just looking/actively looking/not looking at all/making an offer, we finally found the right location, builder, plan, and price to sign the dotted line.

The past month and a half have been kind of a roller coaster ride with some wild swing of emotions from exhilaration and excitement to bouts of decision fatigue and frustration. We’re not complaining though. We went down this path very knowingly and we’ll take the highs and lows of the journey. The most optimistic estimate of us moving into the new place is end of the year but likely the beginning of next year. We’ll have updates over the course of the project.

Taxes – we already had this accounted for.

Vacation – After a couple of months of closely following flight prices we finally pulled the trigger and got us tickets for an European vacation, to an expensive country. There’s about $1k more in expenses before the trip will even begin with another $2k anticipated when we are actually on vacation.

That’s about it. Wraps up a PRICEY month. Almost certainly the most outflow of cash in one month.

Weather here is getting summer-y. I type this knowing that this weekend’s weather forecast has a lot of rain and low 60s. We’ll take it.

Cheers!

Net Worth increased by ~$45k in March. The wild ride continues …

We’ve had a record breaking winter this year. Top 5 snowiest winter of all time. As I type this out on April 16, snow still continues to fall. The end is not in sight.

Here is a breakdown of March expenses.

A below average month, in terms of spending. (Which we are making up for in April – details in next month’s post).

Hope you are in nice and warm weather as you read this. Cheers!

Net Worth in February dropped by ~$24k.

Nothing good ever happens in February – the darkest and sullenest of months.

Let’s just keep it at that.

Hoping to a better March. (Though with SVB collapse that’s not going to happen. At least …we have sunshine! Before being hit by ANOTHER round of snow, to propel us to the top-5 snowiest winter – for our metro area – on record.)

All is well. Cheers!

If the first month of the new year is anything to go by (it’s not), then we have a good year in the making!

Our NW rose by almost $77k.

January around our neck of the woods has been …grey. Yep, that’s the word. The weather is cold; very little sun; and we’ve had different kinds of precipitation – snow, sleet, and rain – sometimes all in the same day! After the year end festivities, January is always a sobering month. Just looking forward to Spring.

Here is our January spending.

We spent a substantial amount in eating out and ordering takeout in January. I’m blaming it on the weather. The car category is just the yearly insurance premium for both our vehicles. We used to pay over $1,600 in two semi-annual payments but got onto a new insurance product, from the same place, which is cheaper!

Here’s hoping less grey weather for all. Cheers!

December, thankfully, brought close to a dismal year. Our NW dropped by almost $47k last month.

The weather in our part of the world has been, to put it politely, f**king insane. Record snow, blizzard conditions, icy roads, plummeting temps has made an awful start to winter. We traveled over the holidays but though we are all safe, conditions were frightful.

The new year apparently is going much like the past one. January already have had 3 school closures due to bad weather! Hopefully this will get better.

Life has been, otherwise, good around here. We’re engaged in activities that mentally and physically keep us in shape. We’re eating well. We aren’t worried about finances. We’re watching a lot of movies.

The year end review should be out before this month ends.

Hope your holidays were special. Cheers!

Rising stock markets, second month in a row, lifted our NW by $58k.

Life is good around the here. Late fall has been mild. There’s snow on the ground but temps have only once gone close to 0°F. That’s a win in our neck of the woods! Winter activities, mostly held in different domes around where we live, are on in full swing. Though going out on ski excursions will happen a couple of times later during the season.

Spending in November was more than the *average*.

Not very surprisingly, groceries have been on an upward trend. With inflation, this number is now closer to $600 monthly average than the earlier $500. Thanksgiving and being around extended family pushed this even higher. Expenses on activities/sports (registration, signups, gear), car (regular maintenance), and other miscellaneous stuff brought this close to $4.5k.

Hope you all are living the FIFA World Cup, which for the first time is being held in the (Northern hemisphere) winter. Till next time, when hopefully Messi and Argentina have been crowned world champions – cheers!

Again, almost 3 weeks into the month late …..I want ideas about *punitive* actions against us if we publish the blog post over a week late. Seriously 😀

Market gain gave us an increase of almost $79k for the month. Not bad. Quite a ways to regain all time highs.

Fall festivities are drawing near and we’ve been busy with fall/winter sports and activities. Though not as extensive as spring/summer sports, these tend to take up a lot of evenings during week nights and then some in the weekends. We are lucky to be involved in stuff that are near and dear to us.

Till (by the first week of December!) next time, have a great Thanksgiving! Cheers!

September provided us our second biggest monthly loss at close to $89k.

We’ll just leave it at there. Especially since it’s 21 days into the new month!

Outdoor fall sports have wrapped up in a blazing few weeks and weekends of activities. We’re still recovering from multiple tournaments and games and …fun. Winter sports will start up in November. We’re currently in the zone where we have all the evenings for ourselves. Doesn’t happen much around here!

Expenses for September was the average archetypal spend for us. Over the course of a full year, $3k would be the average monthly expenses.

Here’s hoping you all are having a nice and contended fall. Cheers!

NW decreased by $36k. All good.

Our lives are going on swimmingly though. Schools have reopened. Sporting activities have necessitated us being out in the fields on most evenings. Fall is here. I’m in the camp who believes that fall starts when we kick off September. Or when the NFL starts. Either works.

Markets have tumbled further in September. We’re still contributing in our 401(k), IRAs, and taxable brokerage accounts – in boring old index funds and ETFs. Nothing has changed.

Hope you’re having a good start to fall. Cheers!

The market rose by around 10% in July and with it our NW gained $83k. Not bad.

We finally made a dent in the cash buffer (that has been borderline crazy) that we keep. These were some ways we burnt through cash last month (besides the regular stuff):

• $6k to I bonds
• $1k to brokerage
• About $2k to pay for flights, car rental, and part of a hotel stay for an upcoming vacation
• $823 on semi-yearly premium of vehicle insurance

Here is a break down of July spending:

Most of the recurring categories are at their average.

July ended in a blaze of …sunshine and sports. Many an afternoon and evening were spent cheering, or coaching, competitive youth sports. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful clubs, facilities, parents, coaches, and players where we live. These are the days and times we live for in the often frozen American Midwest.

Hope you all have been able to enjoy summer. Remember it’s already two-thirds gone!

This is the 100th post on this blog. Here’s to a 100 more. Cheers!