It’s been 3 months since we set a goal of paying off the mortgage by 2020 and to have a net worth of at least $1M by 2025. This is the 3rd update on the progress of the goal. If you’re wondering why we set this goal, see here.
This month, we paid a total of $2,993 towards the principal balance of our mortgage to bring it down to $167,000. I am still driving for Uber/Lyft in a much reduced capacity, and I got a quarterly bonus plus a “kicker” bonus for getting the quarterly bonus for 4 consecutive quarters at my patent job, which helped us this month. We are still on track to pay off the mortgage in less than 5 years.
| Month | Months left | Intermediate goal | Actual balance | Principal reduction |
| 2/19/2016 | 58 | $179,304 | $179,304 | – |
| 3/19/2016 | 57 | $176,700 | $174,481 | $4,823 |
| 4/18/2016 | 56 | $173,600 | $169,993 | $4,488 |
| 5/17/2016 | 55 | $170,500 | $167,000 | $2,993 |
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. It’s hard to tell if we are on track as this is a 10-year goal, but so far, things look like they might work out.
The stock market didn’t do so well this month, so we didn’t gain much there. We increased our cash position to $21,672 with some extra income this month. We were able to pay down the mortgage $2,993 to stay on track for our mortgage goal. Our net worth increased by $6,817 to $345,978 this month.
| Date | Home equity | Investments | Cash | Net Worth |
| 2/19/2016 | $141,696 | $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 |
Nice progress! Your net worth seems to be growing at a steady pace. Do you have any safety tips on driving for Uber/Lyft? I’m considering that as a potential side job.
Thanks! It’s hard to control safety when driving for uber or lyft. You can decide which days to drive. Friday and Saturday nights have the most drunks but are also the busiest. You can decline to pick up people with low ratings. You can also avoid picking up in areas you aren’t familiar with or you feel aren’t safe. Avoid confrontations with passengers. Deal with what happens after you drop them off. I haven’t had any safety issues, but I’ve had a few rude drunks. Good luck!
Nice work! I always look forward to these progress updates because I’m nosy.
Ha! My hope is that it motivates people to be good stewards of their finances.
Great post Danny. I wish I had the guts to post something like this. It really helps with getting me to think whether I’m doing as much as I can to better my own financial position.
Thanks, Frankie. I’m just doing this so I can track my progress. I’m far from perfect in managing my family’s finances.