My Personal Finance Journey

Personal finance observation, musing and decisions in a journey toward financial independence by 2020 with at least $3 million.


By Topics

Overall:
0. About (10)
1. My Progress (139)
2. Car & Home (107)
3. Credit (138)
4. Banking (33)
5. Saving (49)
6. Investing (308)
7. Taxes (89)
8. Spending (74)
9. Misc (97)
A. Archive (49)



MONTHLY ARCHIVE

Feb 2014 (3)
Jan 2014 (6)
Jan 2012 (1)
Apr 2011 (1)
Mar 2011 (1)
Feb 2011 (1)
Jan 2011 (1)
Dec 2010 (1)
Oct 2010 (1)
Sep 2010 (1)
Aug 2010 (1)
Jul 2010 (1)
Jun 2010 (1)
May 2010 (1)
Apr 2010 (1)
Mar 2010 (6)
Feb 2010 (2)
Jan 2010 (7)
Dec 2009 (3)
Feb 2009 (4)
Jan 2009 (8)
Dec 2008 (1)
Jun 2008 (2)
May 2008 (2)
Apr 2008 (5)
Feb 2008 (3)
Jan 2008 (15)
Dec 2007 (32)
Nov 2007 (6)
Oct 2007 (8)
Sep 2007 (9)
Aug 2007 (24)
Jul 2007 (2)
Jun 2007 (1)
May 2007 (3)
Apr 2007 (4)
Mar 2007 (4)
Feb 2007 (13)
Jan 2007 (6)
Dec 2006 (3)
Nov 2006 (7)
Oct 2006 (7)
Sep 2006 (6)
Aug 2006 (4)
Jul 2006 (10)
Jun 2006 (1)
May 2006 (3)
Apr 2006 (2)
Mar 2006 (6)
Feb 2006 (6)
Jan 2006 (3)
Dec 2005 (1)
Nov 2005 (9)
Oct 2005 (8)
Sep 2005 (13)
Aug 2005 (25)
Jul 2005 (16)
Jun 2005 (17)
May 2005 (19)
Apr 2005 (20)
Mar 2005 (24)
Feb 2005 (23)
Jan 2005 (36)
Dec 2004 (40)
Nov 2004 (34)
Oct 2004 (17)
Sep 2004 (21)
Aug 2004 (59)
Jul 2004 (37)
Jun 2004 (31)
May 2004 (29)
Apr 2004 (52)
Mar 2004 (49)
Feb 2004 (49)
Jan 2004 (31)
Dec 2003 (48)
Nov 2003 (52)
Oct 2003 (29)
Sep 2003 (8)
Aug 2003 (5)
Jul 2003 (2)
Jun 2003 (2)
May 2003 (5)
Apr 2003 (2)
Mar 2003 (2)
Feb 2003 (3)
Jan 2003 (29)



 

Monthly Review - January 2004 ($136,252, +$3,668)

Contributed by mm | February 1, 2004 9:20 PM PST

SUMMARY

January 2004 is an uneventful month in my journey to early retirement. With largely flat performance in investment accounts and regular saving, my net worth advanced $3,668 to end up the month at $136,252 (an increase of 2.8%). Liquidation value surpassed $110,000 by the end of the month. The Month-To-Retirement dropped one notch from last month's June 2016 to May 2016.

MONTH-END BALANCE SHEET

  Dec-03 Jan-04 Change Change %
Cash & Equivalent  $           918  $           953  $             35 4%
Saving  $      10,671  $      15,298  $        4,626 43%
Brokerage  $      21,329  $      21,827  $           499 2%
Roth IRA  $        7,604  $      10,822  $        3,218 42%
401(k)  $      11,308  $      12,005  $           696 6%
Stock Option  $        1,211  $        2,268  $        1,057 87%
ESPP  $        9,805  $        1,291  $       (8,514) -87%
Home Equity  $      66,392  $      67,193  $           801 1%
Other Assets  $        9,700  $        9,550  $          (150) -2%
Payable (Receivable)  $        3,491  $        3,558  $             67 2%
Reserve Funds  $       (1,455)  $       (1,693)  $          (238) 16%
Loans  $       (4,979)  $       (2,959)  $        2,020 -41%
Tax Liability  $       (3,411)  $       (3,860)  $          (449) 13%
Net Worth  $    132,584  $    136,252  $        3,668 3%
Liquidation Value  $    106,875  $    110,156  $        3,281 3%

INCOME STATEMENT

Total operating expenses for the month is $3,830, the lowest since June 2003 due to 1) there is no extraordinary item for the month, and 2) my wife and I greatly decreased our dining-out expenses.

My vested options appreciated by $1,057 in January, while is partially offset by loss of $679 in my actively managed accounts.

BALANCE SHEET

There are several noticeable changes in my balance sheet. First, with the conclusion of another ESPP cycle in early January, I liquidated my $10,000-some ESPP holdings on January 5th.

Second, I used the ESPP sale proceeds to contribute $3,000 to my Roth IRA account, pay back some of the credit card loans and add more cushion to my savings account. (I still expect to maintain $2,000+ balance in my ShareBuilder Visa Platinum card to take advantage of the 0% APR offer until August.)

Third, the tax liability account increased by around $450 mainly due to accrual of the capital gain tax of my ESPP sale.

As always, I continued to contribute to 401(k) account and ESPP account (for the new cycle).

INVESTMENTS

S&P 500 gained 1.7% to close at 1,131 by the end of the month. PPD lost 12.7% following a lukewarm quarterly production report. FDP gained 9.1% apparently because it is selected as a Fool.com Hidden Gem.

Speaking of my 401(k) account, I still play defensive by putting 75% of the balance in Money Market account. I did, however, reallocated 25% of the 401(k) portfolio to ING International Value fund (NIIVX) to hedge the risk associated with the falling dollars. (So far, it lost 1% compared to my cost basis, which hurts my 401(k) accumulated gains.)

IMPORTANT PERSONAL FINANCE ISSUES

- In the month of February I expect to start sweeping my saving funds to VirtualBank eMoney Market account. I expect this move to add at least $50 to my net worth in the next 12 months.

- With various tax forms coming almost every day in January, I will start preparing for my tax in February. I decided to use free tax filing service from TaxAct.com. As I expect I owe IRS about $1,000, I don't expect to physically file the tax return until late March or April.

More PFBlog Articles You Might Find Interesting ...



Read More ... 138 Posts In The Same Category










This page was last rebuilt at January 27, 2014 07:53 AM PST.
 

RSS FEED





PERSONAL FINANCE BLOGS I READ

Consumerism Commentary
Get Rich Slowly
My Money Blog
All Financial Matters
The Simple Dollar






.

Error 500 - Internal server error

Error 500 - Internal server error

An internal server error has occured!
Please try again later.



Copyright 2003-2014, PFBlog.com. All Rights Reserved. (Privacy Policy)