Another solid month with double digit growth. We’ve had extraordinary luck (and diligent saving/investing) maintaining this pace. Six out of seven months have double digit growth blowing up our net worth by $100K+ and we broke $400K net worth! *insert applause* The snowball effect on our net worth seems more visible than ever before.
Assets +$16,223 change
- Mr MORE’s 401k: I broke $300K! *insert more applause* I hope you can indulge me as I reflect on this journey. I can vaguely remember breaking $100K and $200K. The first $100K seemed tough… it took me over six years in a bull market. Two and half years later, I hit $200K. A year and three months later, $300K. Several factors contributed to this high rate of growth: the never-ending bull market, a high employer match, a high contribution rate, near tripling of my salary, and rock bottom expenses (the S&P500 fund in our 401k has an expense ratio of .01%!). This month I jacked up my contribution rate to 20% with a goal of getting to 25% by the new year. As of right now I’m dumping in $1100+ per paycheck. $400K is within sight.
- Mr MORE’s Roth: Telsa dropped like a rock! My balance dropped to ~$4,500 before rebounding to its current position. A couple of things to note. First, I’m holding it for the long term. I believe over many years, Tesla will out perform the market based on their commitment to innovation and solving critical problems in energy and transportation. Second, I took advantage of this drop by buying a short put vertical spread in another account (since i couldn’t quickly add to this account) that was profitable.
- Mrs MORE’s 401k: The misses got a well deserved pay bump and which also has the benefit of increasing her 401k contribution by a small amount. Although she was at MAX OUT levels starting Q2, this will help catch up for the first quarter.
- Mrs MORE’s Rollover: Still chugging away in Vanguard’s VTSAX.
- Mrs MORE’s Roth: $1,000 gift to my wife before achieving wife status is growing sloooowly but still growing. We’ll look to add $5,500 before next tax season which will allow us to get out of the STAR fund and into a lower cost fund.
- Joint Savings: Another month below our target of $1,500 per month but we had some expenses left over from a trip, taking people out for dinner and a auto insurance (we pay every 6 months). We’re over halfway to our target of $10,000 before transitioning on to our next goal (remodeled bathrooms!).
- Home Value: our home value jumped again thanks to a nearby house with the same floor plan selling ~$30K above our value. I also noticed that Zillow adjusted it’s methodology because our home value over time is higher. Either way, another jump.
- Brokerage (options): Continued progress in the options account has me up 9.5% vs. the S&P 500’s 4.6% gain since I restarted this account on April 1, 2017. My profitable trades were two short puts in Apple ($128 gain) and a short put vertical in Tesla ($102 gain). I should probably write about options’ potential to beat the market. Let me know if that’s of interest.
- Brokerage (let’er ride): slow grind. This was my first ever brokerage account (2005?) that holds PG, MRK, and the newly acquired AAPL (2013).
- Lending Club: continues to add super small amounts to our net worth.
Liabilities +$1,040 change
- Mortgage: Slowly chipping away.
- Car Loan (Mrs): Slowly chipping away.
- Car Loan (Mr): Slowly chipping away.
- Student Loan: Also, slowly chipping.
Net Worth: I’m pretty excited about this month. +$16,000 is a welcome increase. Considering ~$5,000 was direct contributions or savings and ~$1,000 in reduced debt, $10,000 is effortless appreciation!
What do you think? Are you experiencing the same market appreciation?
