Currently viewing the tag: "Stock Market"
Highlights this month:
- Investments: Bam! What a great month on the stock market. My investments are way up this month mostly because of that. Hopefully the volatility in the market is slowing a bit so I can keep some of these gains for a little while.
- Cash: Ugh. Way down this month due to paying off Xmas gift credit card bills, as well as what seems to have been a glut of spending in January. I also used $500 in cash as a down payment on our new car.
- Credit Cards: Credit Card debt is up because of our recent car purchase. I put $2,500 of the down payment on a credit card to get the points. I will pay it all in full when the bill is due.
- Vehicle value is up quite a bit due to the new car. However, it’s more than offset by the new auto loan. Unfortunately we didn’t break even on the car purchase (a perfectly offset loan and new vehicle asset value) because I traded in my last vehicle instead of selling it to a buyer like I would normally due. I lost about $3,000 by trading instead of selling.
Edited 2/6/2012 – Fixed a calculation error in the net worth table. Also color formatted the table.
Well I’ve been making some progress on my goals, so I thought I would put out an update:
Goal #1: Life Insurance
OK, so when I said some progress, I didn’t actually mean on all of my goals. I totally slacked on this one. Truth be told, I’m a little daunted by this one because I don’t really know how to shop for insurance. I know I want term life insurance, and probably about how much I want, but who should I get it from? Are some policies cheaper than others? Are some policies better than others? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Goal #2: Get Emergency Savings to $10,000
BAM! Done! I currently have almost $12,000 in my emergency fund. I’ll be siphoning off the extra above $10,000 and putting it in other accounts, like one for goal #3, and putting some of it towards student loan debt.
Goal #3: Begin Saving for Second Home
This one turned out to be two goals, the first of which was to actually open an account for house savings. But then I realized I had an unused ING savings account that I had opened just to get a bonus. I’m also taking $1,000 out of the emergency fund and putting it into this account. Over the next few months I should be able to define exactly how much of our paychecks will go into this account. Goal #3 Complete!
New Goals
Now that I’ve completed a few of my goals, I’m going to add a few more:
- Determine how much per pay period we want to save for our new house, and make it automatic via a direct deposit or a transfer.
- Start a periodic investment in a Lending Club account
- Start a periodic investment in my Scottrade account. We currently have $100 in that account, but it’s just sitting there, not invested, earning no interest.
Overall Progress
I just read a great article over at CBS Moneywatch about embracing the bear market in your investments. An interesting quote from the article, which paraphrases Warren Buffet, caught my eye:
As Warren Buffett put it many years ago, the stock market is the only marketplace in the world in which shoppers rush in to buy when prices rise and race for the exits when everything goes on sale.
I never thought about it that way before, but it seems very true. Personally, when stocks are down I look at my current automatic investments, like my 401k and Roth IRA, as getting more value for the dollar. However, I am very afraid at making other, additional investments. This article sums up that my thought process should be “buy buy buy!” when the stock market is down like it is now.
The Article: Embrace the Bear
Ugh… This will put a dent in your 401k:
Stocks plunged Thursday in their single worst day since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Dow tumbled 512 points — its ninth deepest point drop ever — as fear about the global economy spooked investors.
Hopefully you’re invested for retirement over the long term with a proper asset allocation for your risk tolerance and age. Then maybe you can look at this as a buy opportunity rather than think about how much money you just might have lost! Hopefully in the near future I can actually act on these market lulls and make purchases, but right now I don’t think I have enough emergency cash on hand to make market-timing investments.
Quote from CNNMoney.
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
