This post is sponsored by Paperless Post, an e-commerce company focusing on design-driven online and printed stationery, including greetings, invitations, birth announcements, wedding suites, and custom stationery. My wife uses them to send out invitations when she wants something a little nicer than evite.
It’s been 41 months since we set a goal to pay off the mortgage (on our condo) and to have a net worth of at least $1M by 2020. This is the 41st update on the progress of the goal. If you’re wondering why we set this goal, click here.
This month, we spent a week in Pennsylvania with the in-laws. We went to Dutch Wonderland, Shady Maple Smorgasbord, and a Phillies/Nats game. We had a good time, but it was a bit tiring taking care of the kids away from home.
We also spent a week volunteering at VBS last month. They always do a great job at our church with the decorations and the songs and everything. My son enjoyed his week there. My wife got to volunteer this year too as my mom visited and helped watch our daughter for the week.
I adjusted the value of our primary residence by $10,000 as the market has been pretty good around here lately. That is the bulk of our increase in net worth this month. We’ve been spending a lot just enjoying the summer with our kids.
I also signed up for the full marathon in DC on March 28, 2020. I hope this motivates me to keep training. I’m running a 5k this Sunday that I’ve been training for this past month and a half.
I’m almost done with my 2nd class out of the 7 that I need to complete to get my certificate in financial planning (but not the CFP marks). In order to become a CFP, I need to get 6,000 hours of experience and pass a hard test. I’m having a hard time deciding if I actually want to switch careers. My current day job can be tedious at times, but it allows so much flexibility that I can easily run my real estate business on the side.
I am slowly paying a little extra on the mortgage again but am holding onto a larger opportunity fund in a money market account. I don’t think the risk-adjusted returns will be great in the short to medium term, so I’m holding onto some cash in case an investing opportunity comes up (real estate or stock market). Earning ~2.3% to hold onto some cash isn’t bad these days.
Here’s this month’s update:
Net worth calculation:
Total Assets: $1,049,050.20
Primary residence: $560,000
Cash and cash equivalents: $21,910.98
Investments (including retirement): $467,139.22
Total Liabilities: $335,000
Mortgage on Primary Residence: $335,000
Net worth = $1,049,050.20 – $335,000 = $714,050.20
All of our debt is mortgage debt on a 30-yr fixed 3.25% mortgage on our primary residence.
Net worth progress:
Tracking your net worth is a good way to assess your financial health and see how you’re doing each month. I use Personal Capital to help me track my net worth. I highly recommend it.
Net worth = assets – liabilities, or everything we own minus everything we owe. I’m not including our cars here, which are both paid off, to keep the calculation a little simpler. I am including an estimate of home equity.
I am using my knowledge as a realtor to provide estimates of value for our real estate.
Our net worth increased by $14,542.52 to $714,050.20.
| Date | Home equity | Investments | Cash | Net Worth |
| 2/19/2016 | $140,695 | $149,076 | $21,813 | $311,584 |
| 3/19/2016 | $145,519 | $164,791 | $23,512 | $333,822 |
| 4/18/2016 | $150,007 | $171,697 | $17,457 | $339,161 |
| 5/17/2016 | $153,000 | $171,305 | $21,672 | $345,978 |
| 6/20/2016 | $160,100 | $174,881 | $23,094 | $358,075 |
| 7/19/2016 | $162,000 | $185,621 | $27,689 | $375,311 |
| 8/22/2016 | $163,000 | $192,479 | $24,437 | $379,916 |
| 9/20/2016 | $261,403 | $144,694 | $3,657 | $409,754 |
| 10/27/2016 | $261,806 | $151,425 | $5,735 | $418,966 |
| 11/21/2016 | $262,855 | $155,877 | $10,364 | $429,096 |
| 12/19/2016 | $264,290 | $162,281 | $11,432 | $438,004 |
| 1/19/2017 | $285,534 | $172,862 | $8,751 | $467,147 |
| 2/17/2017 | $286,865 | $178,666 | $12,980 | $478,511 |
| 3/17/2017 | $286,718 | $181,893 | $18,413 | $487,023 |
| 4/19/2017 | $290,196 | $184,580 | $16,472 | $491,247 |
| 5/15/2017 | $290,941 | $189,092 | $11,453 | $491,487 |
| 6/19/2017 | $293,950 | $187,627 | $21,135 | $502,712 |
| 7/17/2017 | $301,391 | $196,288 | $19,292 | $516,971 |
| 8/17/2017 | $312,523 | $195,913 | $21,981 | $530,417 |
| 9/19/2017 | $320,769 | $200,956 | $16,914 | $538,639 |
| 10/19/2017 | $326,848 | $204,144 | $10,283 | $541,275 |
| 11/20/2017 | $328,010 | $210,841 | $11,490 | $550,340 |
| 12/19/2017 | $334,171 | $213,215 | $8,695 | $556,081 |
| 1/18/2018 | $335,335 | $216,656 | $8,074 | $560,064 |
| 2/20/2018 | $336,502 | $218,847 | $12,813 | $568,162 |
| 3/20/2018 | $337,672 | $223,416 | $16,135 | $577,223 |
| 4/19/2018 | $339,365 | $229,208 | $26,035 | $594,608 |
| 5/16/2018 | $346,063 | $235,332 | $22,790 | $604,185 |
| 6/19/2018 | $349,393 | $247,582 | $24,915 | $621,889 |
| 7/19/2018 | $355,604 | $251,277 | $25,325 | $632,207 |
| 8/20/2018 | $358,819 | $248,135 | $21,200 | $628,155 |
| 9/19/2018 | $366,555 | $247,659 | $17,269 | $631,483 |
| 10/19/2018 | $367,799 | $249,039 | $18,821 | $635,660 |
| 11/19/2018 | $370,187 | $252,190 | $20,452 | $642,829 |
| 12/19/2018 | $371,441 | $247,785 | $22,951 | $642,177 |
| 1/18/2019 | $372,698 | $261,805 | $15,612 | $650,115 |
| 2/19/2019 | $381,959 | $269,694 | $12,227 | $663,881 |
| 3/19/2019 | $415,207 | $272,318 | $4,209 | $691,734 |
| 4/22/2019 | $180,686 | $407,082 | $116,846 | $704,614 |
| 5/17/2019 | $184,560 | $469,911 | $52,925 | $706,596 |
| 6/18/2019 | $205,000 | $469,992 | $24,516 | $699,508 |
| 7/19/2019 | $225,000 | $467,139 | $21,911 | $714,050 |
Graphic: Canva / Jenny Hwang
Love seeing your progress. Very inspiring and motivating!
Thanks for following along!