My Personal Finance Journey

Personal finance observation, musing and decisions in a journey toward financial independence by 36 with at least $1 million.

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MONTHLY ARCHIVE

May 2008 (1)
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Dec 2007 (32)
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Aug 2007 (24)
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Oct 2006 (7)
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Oct 2003 (29)
Sep 2003 (8)
Aug 2003 (5)
Jul 2003 (2)
Jun 2003 (2)
May 2003 (5)
Apr 2003 (2)
Mar 2003 (2)
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Monthly Update - October 2007 ($909,656, +76,911)

Contributed by mm | November 1, 2007 12:47 PM PST

One month after we breached the $800s mark of our quest for net worth accumulation, we are now in the new domain of the $900s. Our bottom-line is happily lifted by a blow-out quarter from my employer and the ensuing multi-year highs of its stock, together with significant gains from my self-managed portfolio.

At $909,656, we have out-delivered our annual net worth growth goal of $230,000 by over $48,000, and we did this two months ahead of time.

While we fully understand that the stock market may turn in opposite directions overnight, we are really happy about where we are and what we accomplished. We look forward to exciting planning process for 2008 to bring our net worth up another notch.

BALANCE SHEET

net-worth-2007-10.jpg

NOTES

- RECEIVABLE: We received reimbursement for the medical expense we paid in September. Also, we accrued for our upcoming Christmas vacation ... We have booked the hotel and air but these transactions have not hit our credit card yet.

- TAX LIABILITY: There are quite a lot drivers for our tax liability line. First, as usual, we recorded some massive adjustments to properly account for the increased tax exposure of the floating capital gain of our employee stock option and other investment positions. We also (finally) received our 2005 refund check of over $6,000 ... what a long time!


WHAT'S AHEAD

- $12,000 of interest-free debt from Citibank will be due next month. I'm prepared to pay it off by November 20th.

- On the other hand, I have applied for three new cards with attractive 0% APR introductory offers. Time to start another cycle of free money arbitrage.

- I'm working with my tax adviser in KPMG to adjust my payroll tax withholding for the next two months. We expect bigger tax bite in November and December to avoid under-withholding and potential IRS penalty later.

- I'm looking to exercise some of our hard-accumulated employee stock options in the near future. It is probably wise to lock in some gains.

- I'll also perform a year-end check-up of my portfolio to optimize our tax position -- this may mean some loss-reaping sale on the horizon.

- And we will be soon starting our financial planning for 2008. If the sky does not fall tomorrow, we will be looking to add a digit to our net worth some time in the next 12 months.

- The family hasn't had a vacation since June. If we can do things right for the next two months -- we will be happy enough to close the year as we are today -- we will be in remote island in Maldives celebrating the new year!

More PFBlog Articles You Might Find Interesting ...


04/08/08 | Monthly Update - March 2008 ($833,298, +$5,976) | (6)
04/08/08 | Monthly Update - February 2008 ($827,321, -$25,287) | (1)
02/09/08 | Monthly Update - January 2008 ($852,608, -$42,790) | (10)
01/11/08 | 2008 Financial Goals | (1)
01/05/08 | 2007 Net Worth Growth Goal vs. Result (and Brief Annual Income Statement) | (3)




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This Post Has Received 6 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.


pj Commented on November 1, 2007

MM, congratulations! 77K is a massive increase and really motivates me to focus even more on my career!

So, with FI in eyesight, do you to plan to RE anytime soon?


Creative Investor Commented on November 1, 2007

MM: I hope you never stop blogging, your success and perseverance are really inspirational. Congratulations on another great month of returns. Keep on truckin'! :)


MM Commented on November 1, 2007

RE is closer but not now. It is probably on my 3-5 year radar. And I can (and will) still do blogging after RE anyway ... it will be a different chapter :-)


MillionDollarJourney Commented on November 2, 2007

Congrats on the big jump this month! At this rate, I expect that you'll hit the big million mark before the end of the year.


Good Work Commented on November 2, 2007

I've only found your blog recently and am pretty surprised by the level of detail you provide about yourself and your finances. Of all the personal finance blogs I've read you reveal the most about yourself by far. Do you ever worry about providing so much information to the world? I have thought about starting a PF blog myself and this was an issue for me. It would be a blog on my quest to $20MM liquid net worth which is my "magic number" to retire on. So far I'm only at 1.6MM so I have a long way to go but I am just 30 so have some time. And similar to you most of my worth was made over the last few years (I was in grad school until I was 24 and then worked a couple of years trying to start up a business to no avail). Congratulations on your recent gains, this has been a good time to ride equities, particularly international equities which I see you have a lot of exposure to. Have you considered scaling your exposure back however now that the gains have been pretty good? Some of those international markets can turn on a dime, heck so could the more developed markets, especially at a time like this.


c jacobs Commented on November 3, 2007

Enjoy Maldives. If the global warming fanatics are correct those islands may not be in existance in the next 30 years.

Congrats on youir success.


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Read More ... 82 Posts In The Same Category


04/08/08 | Monthly Update - March 2008 ($833,298, +$5,976) | (6)
04/08/08 | Monthly Update - February 2008 ($827,321, -$25,287) | (1)
02/09/08 | Monthly Update - January 2008 ($852,608, -$42,790) | (10)
01/11/08 | 2008 Financial Goals | (1)
01/05/08 | 2007 Net Worth Growth Goal vs. Result (and Brief Annual Income Statement) | (3)
01/02/08 | Monthly Update - December 2007 ($895,398, +$19,549) | (1)
12/30/07 | Financial Plan 2008: Net Worth Growth Goal = $220,000 | (7)
12/27/07 | Financial Plan 2008, Part 3: Spending and Tax
12/24/07 | Financial Plan 2008, Part 2: Investment Income
12/21/07 | Financial Plan 2008, Part 1: Earned Income | (1)
12/14/07 | How Accurate Are My Predictions of 2007? Part 3: On Expense and Closing Comments | (3)
12/11/07 | How Accurate Are My Predictions of 2007? Part 2: On Investment Income
12/07/07 | How Accurate Are My Predictions of 2007? Part 1: On Earned Income | (4)
12/01/07 | Monthly Update - November 2007 ($875,850, -$33,806) | (5)
10/01/07 | Monthly Update - September 2007 ($832,745, +$39,275) | (14)
09/18/07 | What's Next After Five Years Of Gains? | (12)
09/07/07 | Monthly Update - August 2007 ($793,469, +$31,328) | (7)
08/04/07 | Monthly Update - July 2007 ($762,141, +$5,217) | (9)
07/07/07 | Monthly Update - June 2007 ($756,924, +$3,438) | (1)
06/03/07 | Monthly Review - May 2007 ($753,486, +$30,033)
05/01/07 | Monthly Review - April 2007 ($723,414, +$45,748) | (9)
04/02/07 | Monthly Review - March 2007 ($677,666, +$24,212) | (3)
03/03/07 | Monthly Review - February 2007 ($653,454, -$7,582) | (7)
02/01/07 | Monthly Review - January 2007 ($661,036, +$29,785) | (6)
01/02/07 | Monthly Review - December 2006 ($631,251, +$26,716) | (7)
12/30/06 | Financial Plan 2007: Strategic Intentions and Financial Goals | (5)
12/23/06 | Financial Plan 2007: The Landscape | (11)
12/02/06 | Monthly Review - November 2006 ($604,535, +$28,543) | (20)
11/01/06 | Monthly Review - October 2006 ($575,992, +$29,210) | (16)
10/01/06 | Monthly Review - September 2006 ($546,782, +$29,283) | (12)
09/02/06 | Monthly Review - August 2006 ($517,498, +$38,185) | (13)
08/03/06 | Monthly Review - July 2006 ($479,314, +$18,101) | (2)
07/20/06 | 2006 Mid-Year Review | (6)
07/08/06 | Monthly Review - June 2006 ($461,213, +$10,941) | (3)
06/11/06 | Monthly Review - May 2006 ($450,271, -$5,489) | (4)
05/05/06 | Monthly Review - April 2006 ($455,760, +$6,667) | (8)
04/03/06 | Monthly Review - March 2006 ($449,093, +$16,267) | (5)
03/04/06 | 2006 Personal Finance Goals | (5)
03/02/06 | Monthly Review - February 2006 ($432,826, +$6,073) | (12)
02/27/06 | The 2006 Financial Plan: The Footnotes
02/11/06 | The 2006 Financial Plan | (8)
02/02/06 | Monthly Review - January 2006 ($426,753, +$26,206) | (10)
01/01/06 | Monthly Review - December 2005 ($400,548, +$6,250) | (7)
12/03/05 | Monthly Review - November 2005 ($394,298, +$40,622) | (13)
11/05/05 | Monthly Review - October 2005 ($353,676, +$89,790) | (10)
10/04/05 | Monthly Review - September 2005 ($263,886, +$1,832) | (4)
09/07/05 | Monthly Review - August 2005 ($262,054, +$23,273) | (3)
08/03/05 | Monthly Review - July 2005 ($238,781, +$7,662) | (5)
07/07/05 | Financial Goal Restated | (21)
07/05/05 | Three Years in Five Charts | (6)
07/03/05 | Monthly Review - June 2005 ($231,119, +$4,376)
06/02/05 | Monthly Review - May 2005 ($226,743, +$6,465) | (23)
05/03/05 | Monthly Review - April 2005 ($220,278, +$11,945) | (2)
04/05/05 | Monthly Review - March 2005 ($208,333, +$2,991)
03/02/05 | Monthly Review - February 2005 ($205,342, +$4,646)
02/04/05 | Monthly Review - January 2005 ($200,696, +$5,175) | (3)
01/26/05 | Year 2005 Financial Objectives | (2)
01/21/05 | 2004 Performance Grade: C+
01/07/05 | Monthly Review - December 2004 ($195,522, +$7,150)
01/03/05 | 2004 Savings Scorecard | (1)
12/02/04 | Monthly Review - November 2004 ($188,372, +$11,947)
11/01/04 | Monthly Review - October 2004 ($176,425, +$3,150)
10/01/04 | Monthly Review - September 2004 ($173,275, +$4,418) | (6)
09/02/04 | Monthly Review - August 2004 ($168,857, +$12,062)
08/01/04 | Monthly Review - July 2004 ($156,795, +$4,577) | (2)
07/01/04 | Monthly Review - June 2004 ($152,219, +$3,209) | (1)
06/01/04 | Monthly Review - May 2004 ($149,010, +$4,384)
05/02/04 | Monthly Review - April 2004 ($144,626, +$2,334)
04/02/04 | Monthly Review - March 2004 ($142,292, +$2,287)
03/04/04 | Monthly Review - February 2004 ($139,905, +$3,653)
02/01/04 | Monthly Review - January 2004 ($136,252, +$3,668)
01/06/04 | Year 2004 Financial Objectives
01/04/04 | Results of Year 2003 Financial Objectives
01/04/04 | Monthly Review - December 2003 ($132,584, +$8,123)
12/31/03 | Year-End CFI Summary
11/30/03 | Monthly Review - November 2003 ($124,461, -$105)
11/01/03 | Monthly Review - October 2003 ($124,556, +$4,663)
10/01/03 | Monthly Review - September 2003 ($119,902, +$10,576)
01/16/03 | "Retirometer" | (1)
01/02/03 | Year 2003 Financial Objectives
01/01/03 | Backgrounder | (2)

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