Currently viewing the tag: "asset"
Don and I have decided to reevaluate how we put a value on our vehicles for our net-worth calculations. I have been using an average from Kelly Blue Book, NADA, and Edmunds that I haven’t updated in months. Who knows what Don was using….
Nevertheless, we have decided to standardize on using only NADA for our vehicle values. We came to this decision (1) to keep it simple and (2) NADA seems to be the only place that gives a value on campers, motorcycles, boats, and other vehicles. We will be using the retail value of the vehicle, adjusted downward by the condition of the vehicle. On NADA, they only adjust the trade-in value downwards, so we will take that adjustment and apply it to the retail value. The condition of the vehicle will be left up to the discretion of the individual.
Using this method, the total value of all of my vehicles changes from $43,645 to $42,071. This is both a result of the rule change and a result of finally updating them after a few months.
I would expect another change in my next monthly update due to a purchase of a new car for my wife. We no longer feel safe driving her current vehicle due to a recent incident, and are trading it in for a new car. Expect a post about that in the near future!
Wow, that’s a big drop from August, isn’t it? Well it was not unexpected, and was partially due to a couple of miscalculations on my part. In August I forgot to include my fiance’s car loan as a debt, and I also neglected to break out some tuition assistance money that was sitting in my account at the time. So that accounts for about $11,000. Next time I will have to consider any tuition assistance as an asset (cash) and a debt (owed to the school) and we should have better agreement.
Also, I shelled out $4000 for home improvements this month (follows up a $3500 deposit from July). I am now the proud owner of some brand new vinyl replacement windows which will reduce my heating costs this winter and have already improved my life around the house. Next up: siding! That’s another $12,000, so expect another dip before the summer is over.
Assets: $350,168.82
Cash: $25,909.36
So that dropped about $10k over the last month. Again, part of that is home improvement, part of that was the fact that I was counting about $9,000 of tuition assistance as my money, when in fact it was merely transient.
Property: $179,000.00
For whatever reason, Zillow continues to up it’s estimate of my home’s value: I’m not going to argue. Until my taxes go up, then I’m going to argue.
Retirement Accounts: $145,259.46
I would like to thank Congress for this. Their responsible actions in Washington led to feelings of security and positivism on Wall Street, resulting in losing some money for me. Honestly, not as bad as it could have been.
Liabilities: $122,090.18
Mortgage: $118,012.50
I’m not sure if you read my post about re-financing my mortgage, but it’s definitely on my radar. If you believe the Zestimate of my home value, I have about 21% equity, which puts me in just the right place to refinance in today’s economy.
Credit Card: $577.68
Yes, I know. I bought some shoes for my wedding and a bunch of Kindle books: sue me. This will be paid before the end of the month.
Car Loan: $3,500.00
Oops, completely forgot about this one because it’s the only bill I don’t currently pay for both of us. I’m sure it will come under my purview in just a couple of months, but for now it’s a little off my radar. However, I think it’s about $3500.
Net Worth: $228,078.64
So my net worth actually dropped by almost $14k over the last month due to a host of things, not least of which was a miscalculation. Of course, this is not what we like to see, we like to see a steady increase! However, the next few months are going to make that difficult with the wedding (upcoming post) and the rest of our home improvement work. Luckily, Anna continues to save at a good clip (her cash account went up by $2000 this month!), so we should see better numbers in the future.
Donald
Age: 32
Assets: $401,669
Liabilities: ($129,290)
Net Worth: $272,379Memberships
Paul
Age: 31
Assets: 477,660
Liabilities: ($123,725)
Net Worth: $353,935
