Goal Update: End Of December 2016

At the end of each month, I post an update of my goals, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred during the month. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog.

Last updated: End of December, 2016
Current value: $28,584
Change from last month: +$2,827
Percent of Goal:  26.29%

Note that the funds in this account are invested in stock, so there will be fluctuations in value that are outside my control. I never withdraw money from this account, so any dips are purely due to stock price changes.

Events Of Note Last Month:

I finally saw a good sized increase this month - almost $3,000! Most of that was due to Realty Income stock rebounding a bit. However, I also changed jobs at the end of December and I have used some of my increased income to up my monthly Tesla savings. I also received some cash for Christmas gifts that I funneled towards the car.

I'm finally over the quarter way mark!

Net income this month from my online courses was $150.29. My hard money loan generated $133.33 in income.

I've got a fair amount of cash sitting in my Tesla fund. Normally, I would buy stock with it, but my hard money loan is coming due in February and, at that point, I'm going to make another loan. The loans I make last for one year, so my plan has always been to invest funds throughout the year in stock and then once a year, when I make a new loan, roll the funds from stock into a new loan. (I earn a higher interest rate from the loan than from the stock dividends, which is why I do this.) Realty Income stock has been a bit volatile the past couple of months, so rather than buy more and possibly see it drop in value by the time I have to sell in February, I'm just going to sit on the cash.

I spent almost half of December on vacation, so I wasn't paying close attention to my finances.  As a result, I don't have much else to report here. (We did visit that castle in the picture from my last blog post - Castle Neuschwanstein. It was amazing! Once things have returned to normal and I've caught up on things, I'll post some pictures from the trip.)

Net Worth Update

For December, our net worth rose by $26,063. I'm pretty surprised by this because we took a two week vacation in Germany. The airfare and lodging expenses were paid previously and didn't affect my net worth this month, but we did spend a fair amount on gifts and food, which did.

I changed jobs at the end of November, so the pension plan I had at my old employer is going to be rolled into a new IRA account. When I left the company, they issued me a statement on the value of my pension account. The value went up from the $11,000 I had been using here to a new value of $16,000, so that accounts for $5K of my gains. It also looks like the value of my house increased, according to Mint.

November 2016

December 2016

Note: Mint.com categorizes our HELOC as a credit card debt, not a loan, hence the apparently high credit card balance.

If you have any questions or suggestions for topics, please drop me a line in the comments section!