At the end of each month, I post an update of my net worth,
including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have
occurred. 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 May, 2019
Net Worth: $1,027,079
Change from last Month: +$29,192 (!!)
Events Of Note Last Month:
My SQL courses on Udemy generated $56.20 of income. This is my last payment from Udemy and it takes my total lifetime income from my courses to $11,368.76. Not too shabby.
My courses on SkillShare, meanwhile, earned $30.03.
Net Worth Update
We've been flirting with it for months, but now, we finally reached the next achievement:
Our net worth increased by $29,192! We are now officially millionaires!
Sadly, I can't say it was anything specific we did this month to push us over the edge. Turns out, we probably crossed over the one million dollar mark a couple months ago but I never noticed.
About two weeks ago, I received an email telling me the quarterly statement for my wife's retirement plan was available. As I was downloading the statement, I realized I didn't recall seeing this account in Mint.com. I checked and, yup.. I had never added it to Mint, so it was not being included in my net worth calculations. Well, I fixed that mistake!
The value of the account at the time was a tad over $59,000. The stock market has dropped quite a bit since that day, but we were already close enough the last couple months that this "new found" money was enough to get us into the double comma club, even with the decline.
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| April 2019 | May 2019 |
And That's A Wrap!
With this milestone, I've decided I'm going to stop writing for this blog. My goal has been accomplished - I've got a Tesla (two, even!). My "stretch goal," if you will, was to get a net worth of over a million dollars, which has also been achieved.I say this is a "stretch goal" because I never really explicitly stated it was something I was striving for, but it's always been in the back of my mind.
Our net worth has increased from the $600,218 it was when I started tracking this figure in February, 2016 to our current value. That's a pretty good-sized increase for three years! I haven't been consciously trying to grow it. Rather, it's happened simply as a natural outgrowth of managing our money better. Creating and sticking to a budget does wonders.
As I looked forward to what I might write about in the future, honestly, there wasn't much that excited me. The next major milestones for me are getting our two car loans paid off. The first should be gone in about one year, then the second two years after that. One of my initial reasons for starting this blog was to provide incentive for me to keep saving for my Tesla. I don't need any such motivation for paying off those loans. I am highly motivated to pay them off ASAP!
Other Topics
A lot of personal finance blogs focus on ways to stay motivated or be frugal. I've never really had a problem doing that, so it's not something I feel I have a lot of experience with.My wife and I are also fortunate enough to have relatively high-paying jobs. We don't live paycheck to paycheck and don't have to scrape together enough money to make it to the end of the month. Through luck or hard work or (at least in some part) all the societal privileges that come with being college-educated Caucasians, we've never been in that situation. As a result, I don't feel like I can authoritatively tell others in that situation how to live. It's easy to say "save at least 10% of your income," but doing that while you are barely making ends meet has to be real hard and it would be hypocritical of me to tell others how to do it.
I written about many of the financial topics I wanted to - credit cards, stocks and stock options, paying down debt, things to look for to get as much value as you can. Anything else I have to say on those subjects would just be repeating myself. (What else can be said about mutual fund expense ratios besides "they suck" and "get them as low as possible?")
I've even shared some of my darkest secrets here.
The reality is there is nothing difficult or complicated about personal finance. It's easy to make it as complicated as you want. For example, you can dive into annuities or other esoteric instruments. But the reality is no one needs those to get rich. Once you have learned a handful of basic concepts, you'll have more than enough knowledge to increase your wealth.
Tomorrow There'll Be Sunshine...
Rather than start repeating myself, I'm going to close the door here and move on to something else. I'm not sure what yet.Thanks for reading. I hope this blog has been useful, educational, and at least somewhat entertaining. I've enjoyed sharing my experiences and had fun writing the blog. I hope you had fun reading it. I hope you find success in your financial journey and I hope that you will eventually find your way to the land of hope and dreams.
Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder's rolling down this track
You don't know where you're goin' now
But you know you won't be back
Darlin' if you're weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We'll take what we can carry
And we'll leave the rest
Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams
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