My Personal Finance Journey

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


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Monthly Review - April 2006 ($455,760, +$6,667)

Contributed by mm | May 5, 2006 7:18 PM PST

The more your stake is in stock market, the stronger heart you need. Month of April is a classic example of how fortune can be changed overnight. Until the last trading day of April, I was sporting on five-figure monthly investment return from my foreign-equity-heavy portfolio, and expecting to close the month with over $20,000 improvement of net worth. Suddenly, a mishandling of investor relationship of my employer surprised the market and triggered a landslide in MSFT stock price. The consequence: my employee stock option account balance was cut by more than half in a single day -- an $18,000 loss.

Elsewhere, the fundamentals in our household finance remain strong. Revenue at our sideline business recovered from multi-month nadir in March. That, combined with my normal job income and rationalized spending pattern, sealed a monthly saving from regular income of over $11,000. In addition, thanks to the falling dollar, our portfolio delivered an outsized gain of 2.6%, or another $11,000, in the month.

All in all, our net worth still improved a not-too-shabby $6,667. The year-to-date progress of $55,000 on bottomline is also very in line with our plan for the year of $145,000 net worth increase.

BALANCE SHEET

2006-04-networth.GIF

One note on Cash & Savings: this line includes all money sitting in risk-free checking accounts, savings accounts and money market accounts, including cash positions in our brokerage accounts. The brokerage, 401(k) and Roth IRA balance include our exposure in the market with money-losing risk. During the month of April, one of our previous purchase of treasury bills was redeemed, resulting in money flowing to the Cash & Savings line.

IMPORTANT PERSONAL FINANCE ISSUES IN MONTHS AHEAD

Late April and early May is usually the busiest season of my profession at Microsoft. After that, I intend to spend more time on sorting out the corporate records of our registered Delaware company, and spend more time on tax readings.

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This Post Has Received 8 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.


Jane Dough Commented on May 5, 2006

Wow - you are smoking! Good job - I am sure MSFT will rebound and you have higher gains to look forward to in the future.


Whit N Commented on May 7, 2006

Congrats,

Considering the week MSFT has had your being in the black is impressive. MSFT will do very well in the near future IMO. I consider myself an early adopter and have in the last 3 months subscibed or continued a subscription to a service that is less than 2 yrs old (that is offered by MSFT). The revenue streams seem to be expanding and obviously with Vista on the horizon this is an obvious entry point for new investors (again IMO).

Overall, I am very impressed with your progress, I too am an expat, and have to say that moving abroad has been one of the best moves I have made.

Best of luck to you. Continue the good work.


2 million Commented on May 8, 2006

I know the feeling with the high exposure to company stock. It can take a steep toll on the net worth quickly if there is a mistep - but then again just think of all those months where it significantly boosted the bottom line. Have you considered discounting their valuation in your net worth statements to help normalize your monthly return?


Guest Commented on May 8, 2006

Well forgive me of being the barer of bad news but with gold at $680/oz, Oil at $70+/barrel and interest rates @ 4.75+ and rising, and the USD falling like a rock, I seroiusly doubt stocks are going to "rebound" anytime soon. We're looking at peaks for the Dow right now and it's all downhill from here. Take that to the bank ;)


Nailed Commented on May 23, 2006

you nailed it.. the more u stake the more u can lose or gain.. support my blog @

http://www.jiyocricket.com


Ethan Commented on October 23, 2006

Thank you!


Isaias Gilson Commented on December 31, 2006

PS3 Games Not Up To System Capabilities?..


Tyree Stringer Commented on December 31, 2006

Castro Does Not Have Cancer, Spanish Surgeon Says..



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