Ever since we hit our goal of $1M net worth, I went from doing monthly updates to just twice a year. It was a lot of work to post monthly, and I felt like semi-annual updates would give me (and my readers) a good idea of how things are going.
A few things happened in the first half of 2022. The stock market took a big dip, and the real estate market continued to rise (but is finally slowing down). The Fed raised rates many times, and mortgage rates have gone from around 3% to almost 6%.
We sold our other property and used some of the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on our primary home. We are now completely debt free. We are using the extra cash flow to invest.
I finally opened up a business checking account and filed an LLC (S-corp election) for my real estate business. I’m down to 40% part-time at my government job and am making plans to leave. I just need to figure out the health insurance situation for my family.
The real estate market is finally slowing down here in northern Virginia. I wouldn’t say prices are taking a big dip, but they are definitely flattening. We are seeing longer DOMs (days on market) and many more price reductions. I am able to get more contingencies for my buyers and fewer multiple offer situations. However, the first half of the year was incredibly busy. I sold over $13M in real estate in a 6 month period. I think the second half of the year will be a bit slower. My goal is to end 2022 with $20M-$22M in sales.
Anyway, here are the 2022 mid-year numbers:
| Date | Home equity | Investments | Cash | Net Worth |
| 6/19/2020 | $162,990 | $363,027 | $235,117 | $761,134 |
| 7/21/2020 | $168,738 | $367,661 | $249,493 | $785,891 |
| 8/19/2020 | $169,488 | $374,047 | $249,968 | $793,504 |
| 9/22/2020 | $185,239 | $371,761 | $237,214 | $794,214 |
| 10/19/2020 | $185,992 | $335,130 | $274,376 | $795,498 |
| 11/19/2020 | $416,347 | $356,444 | $107,280 | $830,562 |
| 12/21/2020 | $430,785 | $375,564 | $89,527 | $846,606 |
| 1/19/2021 | $447,342 | $431,209 | $37,700 | $867,223 |
| 2/19/2021 | $523,003 | $394,659 | $25,765 | $895,003 |
| 3/19/2021 | $604,716 | $393,005 | $19,003 | $971,274 |
| 4/19/2021 | $616,611 | $411,121 | $40,421 | $1,023,474 |
| 6/30/2021 | $660,290 | $441,821 | $21,618 | $1,080,987 |
| 12/31/2021 | $751,411 | $461,148 | $12,123 | $1,224,682 |
| 7/5/2022 | $750,000 | $398,964 | $111,983 | $1,260,947 |
As you can see, our net worth didn’t go up as much for a 6-month period (around $36k). Investments took a big dip and the stock market entered a bear market. I am keeping more cash on hand in my business account as I now have to pay myself through payroll.
I’m glad we paid off our mortgage on April 1 instead of investing the proceeds. The stock market dipped substantially since then. I am using the extra cash flow to invest back into the stock market with the peace of mind that we are debt free. Maybe in the long run, the numbers would have worked better the other way, but I’m happy with the decision we made.