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 - October 2006 ($575,992, +$29,210)

Contributed by mm | November 1, 2006 12:01 PM PST

Fueling by substantial gains from our investment portfolio, and sustained cashflow from regular income streams of job and sideline business, our net worth grew another $29,210 to over $575,000. If 2006 ends today, I will have no regret on our yearly financial performance -- we have achieved both financial goals we announced earlier this year:

Goal 1: Annual Net Worth Growth of $150,000: By now we have checked in $175,000 growth in net worth in 2006. Not bad considering we still have two months left to push the bar to $200,000 annual net worth improvements.

Goal 2: Annual Investment Gains of $40,000: So far this year, we have achieved over $48,000 in investment gains on an average portfolio size of $485,000, which is in line with the 10.1% advance in S&P 500. On top of that, my employee stock option portfolio, after enduring a rollercoaster ride, appreciated $23,500 as MSFT stock price advanced to 52-week high. Overall, stock market has been very generous this year, and I can only pray we can sustain the gains in the next two months.

MONTH-END BALANCE SHEET

net-worth-2006-10.GIF

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH

• Our investment portfolio didn't disappoint us. With $15,500 portfolio gains, we have made a total of $55,600 in the stock market in the last 12 months.

• Thanks to the growing belief that MSFT is still a deep value play heading toward the launches of the decade, my basket of stock option gained another $12,000 in the month, making it the third straight month of five-figure option appreciation.

• I also started to test water in the China stock market. My portfolio only sizes $9,000 now, but it will grow over time.

• We saved about $8,000 from our job and business income after living expense and tax. Especially, it is a nice surprise that we walked into October with almost zero sales pipeline in our family business and it turned out to be an above-average month in the end.

• And we had a great vacation in Southern California. It is always nice to stay in good hotels like Renaissance Hollywood, Omni San Diego and Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells. It reminded us what we are working for (and led to some interesting discussion about when I should retire).

NEXT STEPS

• I had to ask for an extension in our corporate tax return, but it is on my priority list now.

• I'm waiting for my KMPG tax advisos to finalize my 2005 tax, and I will be able to make a before-tax contribution to my Individual 401(k) account at Fidelity for the tax year of 2005.

• Planning time is coming. I'm doing mental exercise about our Financial Plan 2007 these days.

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This Post Has Received 16 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.


Flexo Commented on November 1, 2006

Another great month for you. Good job!


The Frugal Law Student Commented on November 1, 2006

Congrats


skeptic Commented on November 1, 2006

methinks all these numbers are artificial to boost advertising on your site. of course you'll lose all your readers (and hence traffic) if you post bad returns or negative net worth growth.


2million Commented on November 1, 2006

Wow! Nicely done. You have a $23k downtick in your brokerage accounts - was some of your equity investments sold or are those declines in equity values?

I think your monthly reports are demonstrating the clear potential of stock options.


MM Commented on November 1, 2006

Thanks. It is moving money from Fidelity money market funds to Eloan savings account.

Yes, I'm seriously considering cashing out some options.


MM Commented on November 1, 2006

skeptic, i don't know how to prove you are wrong, but i posted negative returns from time to time, and i don't see the correlation between my net worth and readership.


soccer17 Commented on November 1, 2006

I'm sure it is mentioned in your blog somewhere but can't find it but what is your side business/family business income from? What type of business is it.


soccer17 Commented on November 1, 2006

I'm sure it is mentioned in your blog somewhere but can't find it but what is your side business/family business income from? What type of business is it.


Lazy Man and Money Commented on November 1, 2006

That's awesome. The beauty is that I don't expect 2006 to ends today. :-)


Nagel Commented on November 2, 2006

Wow! Very impressive.


NLG Commented on November 2, 2006

Congratulations, nice work. It must be very nice to see the zero mortgage value every month!


NG


Jim Commented on November 2, 2006

Your portfolio is doing so well right now! You sold your house at the right time last year and invested the gains in the stock market.


william nixt Commented on November 3, 2006

Great month, like your conservative return.


Sankar Commented on November 3, 2006

Congrats. You are doing great.

BTW, do you use any software to track your portfolio to bring out a table of data like you have above? We could use excel, but is there some s/w (free) where you just enter the data and it does most of the work?

I am planning to track my portfolio in a similar way and see how it is going.
Also, how do you track long term deposits with the bank? How will you assess their values on a monthly basis? Bcos you don't realize the value of deposit until maturity? Do you just prorate it?


moneymonk Commented on November 7, 2006

" my basket of stock option gained another $12,000 in the month, making it the third straight month of five-figure option appreciation"

Just curious how did you gain 12K in one month ?

How is that determine ?


Monster Cock Blow Job Commented on March 11, 2007

I haven't been up to much these days. Such is life. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days, but I don't care.



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