Goal Update: End Of March 2017

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 March, 2017
Current value: $30,592
Change from last month: +$617
Percent of Goal:  28.13%

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 crossed the $30,000 threshold! That means I unlocked a new achievement!

Wow. It's been a long time since I unlocked an achievement - Seven months. I need to step up my game!


I received $8.10 in advertising revenue from my old real estate blog. Net income from my online courses was $221.99. My hard money loan generated $133.33 in income. And lastly, I received $2.70 in eBook royalties.

Relocation Update

My wife got paid her relocation bonus this month. It doesn't show in our net income figures because it's in the process of being transferred between banks. (I'm writing this on a weekend, so the receiving bank hasn't updated their figures yet.) It will probably be a while before we buy a new house in Washington, so next month, I expect to see our net worth jump when that deposit finally hits our bank account.

Net Worth Update

For March, our net worth rose by $10,797.

February 2017

March 2017

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

Our cash went up quite a bit, mainly due to my wife's new, larger paycheck. Other than that, nothing major changed in our financial picture in March. Our house in Arizona is up for sale. It's a very slow market and we've had next to no showings.

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

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Warren Buffett's Schizophrenic View Of The Internet

Warren Buffett made big news recently what it came out his company, Berkshire Hathaway, sold almost its entire position of Wal-Mart stock in the last quarter of 2016. There had been news in the past that he was selling his Wal-Mart holdings, but the scope of just how much he sold has just been fully disclosed - he sold virtually all of it - almost 90%. I'm willing to bet we'll see the last bit has been sold when Berkshire files its Q1 2017 disclosures.

The articles written about his sales all point to the same reason - he says it's just too hard for traditional retailers to compete with internet companies like Amazon.

Personally, I agree. While I never shop at Wal-Mart because I disagree with the way they treat and pay their employees, I have noticed that I tend to buy more things at Amazon than I do at other traditional retailers. The internet makes it easy to shop for the lowest price (which isn't always at Amazon) and get things delivered straight to your door.

One Eye Open, One Eye Closed

But this is where Buffett's schizophrenia kicks in. He has acknowledged the internet is destroying traditional retailers, yet he can't see that it's doing the same thing to traditional news companies. He still holds large positions in, and is still buying newspaper companies.

Talk about a last century business model! I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in at least a decade and I can't think of anyone I know who currently does.

Granted, Buffett has acknowledged that he has an "unnatural love" for newspapers and he does seem to see the writing on the wall - that only those few newspapers with a viable internet model will survive. However, at what point will he reach the same conclusion about newspapers that he did with retail stores - that the internet will wipe out the vast majority of them? When will we be reading stories about his sale of newspaper companies?

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I'm Interviewed At Rockstar Finance

The team over at Rockstar Finance did an article on the types of cars personal finance bloggers drive. I was pleased to be asked to participate. Sadly, when they asked for pictures, I was out of town, moving my wife to Washington, so that's not actually my car in the photo, but it looks pretty darn similar. My wife has a silver one and mine is blue.

And Jesse from You Need A Budget - I am soooo envious of your Tesla Model S!!!!

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The Sneaky New Trick Banks And Credit Unions Are Using

As my family gets ready for a move to a new state, I've spent some time looking for a new bank or credit union to handle our finances in our new location. Currently, I use a local credit union for my day to day banking needs and, although it is possible to perform most transactions at out of state credit unions through a program called Shared Branching, I don't want to use this as a long term solution for my banking needs after I relocate. (One reason is that I wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on an out of state property.)

Deceptive Advertising?

So I've been researching various financial institutions, looking for one that provides the services that I need at rates that are competitive. During this process, I came across this advertisement for rates on checking and saving accounts:

Holy cow! Over 4% interest on checking and savings accounts! I haven't seen rates that high in over 15 years! My current vanilla savings account pays 0.05% and my checking pays nothing. Even online banks are only paying around 1%.

And then I noticed the fine print:

Clicking the link for more details, I found out that high interest rate only applies to the first $500 in your account. Any balances over $500 earn just 0.1%. (Although low, that is still double what my current credit union is paying me.)

(Click to see the whole image)

The Carrot Instead Of The Stick

Initially, I was upset with what seemed like a blatant bait-and-switch, but then I started thinking about it more and came to the conclusion that this is actually a positive for the consumer. This particular credit union has free accounts - really, truly free with no minimum balance requirements. The high interest rate on the first $500 appears to be an incentive for people to maintain a minimum balance. I much prefer this to what most institutions do - create a disincentive for people by charging a monthly fee for a low balance.

Kudos to this credit union for taking this approach! They just earned my business!

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