M is for Money

June has come and gone and we’ve finally reached the halfway point for the year. The stock market suddenly realized that the prior months’ huge gains were a bit premature, the economy isn’t out of the woods yet. My net worth reflects this overall uncertainty, gains were minimal when you exclude new contributions. But I am making progress unlike last fall/winter and for that I am thankful. I’d rather have slow steady gains than the bubbles and crashes we’ve had for the last few years. Here are the numbers.

Bonds – I have stopped contributing to our snowflake bonds. I’m not planning to buy more until our debts are paid down and we’ve reached our savings goals

Sharebuilder – No trades.

T Rowe Price – I invest $300 per month, there was a small gain for the month.

Lending Club – I have a small amount invested with Lending Club and I’ve decided to start adding more to my account.

Fidelity 401k – from a former job, I no longer contribute

Wells Fargo 401k – I save 8% of my salary

Company ESOP – our company stock is structured as a retirement plan

Savings Accounts – this is where I set aside money for future expenses. Since I know I will spend this money eventually I do not include it in my net worth

Property Taxes – I confess I’ve started dipping into these funds now that our property taxes have gone down.

Dog Fund – To cover our 3 boston terrier’s care and expenses. It’s B’s birthday today, he turns 4. I have to go get him a new toy, I’m a bad mom for not doing it earlier.

Misc Fund – used for irregular or unexpected expenses

Care Credit Arbitrage – the care credit balance is 0% till the end of the year. ROTH IRA –I still have no idea where I’m going to set up my Roth. For now I’m setting aside the money I plan to invest.

House Fund – I drained the cash portion of the house fund, I still have a $2500 CD earmarked for the same purpose.

3 Month Fund – this fund is part of my plan to smooth out Mr. M’s irregular income. It’s finally topped up, and may get used soon. Work has been slow the last few weeks.

Mr. M Tax Fund – we’re setting money aside to pay taxes on Mr M’s independent contractor earnings. Most of his recent jobs have been W-2 employment so I haven’t needed to set much aside.

Wedding Fund – most of the $2700 was just spent on an engagement ring!

Care Credit – the balance is slowly creeping down. This total does not reflect the money I’ve saved in arbitrage so the balance is actually lower.

Chase Credit Balance – this is Mr. M’s debt from before we combined finances. I’m helping to get it paid off and my goal is to get rid of this debt this year.

Between paying off debts and new savings my net worth increased by 5%. Slow and steady wins the race, or so I hope.