May 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
May 2009 turned to be another solid month for our net worth as the stock market recorded its third straight monthly gain. After reaching the lows on March 9, which now seems to be the bottom of the stock market, the Dow has gained nearly 30% as of May 31, the Nasdaq almost 40%, and the S&P 500 close to 36%. As a result of the recovery in the stock market, our net worth also grew three months in a row. On May 31, 2009, our net worth excluding house is at $594,700.22, an increase of $49,745.46, or 9.13%, from previous month. For the past three month, net increase is $148,420.12, or 33.25%, matching the gains in the stock market.
So far I have never included house in my calculation because I have no idea how much our house is worth. So instead of guessing, I chose to focus on assets that can be easily tracked month over month, such as cash and investments. Now that we are moving, we finally had a good estimate of the market value of our house. If we could sell it for around $260K now, then we would have more than $120K after the mortgage and that would push the total to over $710K before broker commission. But I still prefer to only include those I know exactly 
Here are some details of how each category looks like on May 31th:
- Credit card balance(-): We continued to keep our expenses low last month. With the total balance at $3,463.68 on May 31st, we reduced our credit card balance by $232.68, or 6.29%. However, the spending is likely to increase this month as we spent some money to fix a few minor issues of the house before putting it on the market. Also the preparation of moving will also increase spending.
- Cash(+++++): I am very pleased to see that, after 3 straight months of decline in our cash reserve, this part of our net worth finally grew again in May. At the end of the month, we had a total of $88,806.91 in savings and checking accounts, up $10,259.49, or 13.06%, from the previous month. Right now, most of the cash is in the savings account at IGoBanking. As I mentioned early, Ally Bank’s 2.50% APY 9-month no plenalty CD seems very attractive. I may open an account with them move most of my money to there to take advantage of the high yield.
- Taxable accounts(+++): Our taxable investment accounts, including brokerage accounts and mutual fund accounts, gained the most among all categories in terms of dollar amount last month, though not percentage wise. With everything included, the total market value of our taxable accounts was at $249,362.03, up $21,708.57, or 9.54%, from April. Unlike previous couple of months, I only put $1,000 new money in my broker account at Scottrade to buy stocks in May. After huge gains since March, stocks are no longer as cheap as they were three months ago.
- Retirement accounts(++): Our retirement accounts also did quite well last month, gaining $15,396.48, or 7.40%, to a total of $223,456.54. The only new money added to our retirement accounts is contributions in 401(k)s.
- 529 plans(++++): Our investments in 529 accounts another double-digit gain last month, after more than 16% increase the month before, thanks to the $25 bonus promotion from CollegeAdvantage that has ended on May 31st. The total market value of 529 accounts at the end of May was $18,947.80, up $1,857.72, or 10.87%, from April.
- Bonds(+): Even though I-bond interest rate from May to November is zero, I kept buying the bond every month using my automatic purchase plan (I am probably too lazy to cancel it). For the bond part, the gain in May was $172.06, or 1.12%, to a total of $15,604.68.
Year-to-date, our net worth gained $121,939.51, or 25.97%, even though year-over-year, it still shows a decline of $10,820.76, or 1.76%. If the trend continues, we could see a net year-over-year gain next month.
Related Articles You Don't Want To Miss
- October 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- September 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- July 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- April 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
- January 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Pingback by June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth on July 6, 2009 @ 9:41 am
Question – what program do you use to track your net worth every month and create the nice month to month comparison graphic?
I use Excel spreadsheet to record all the numbers manually every month, then plot the graph with Excel. The version I am using is Office 2007, which is better than previous version.
Would you be willing to share a copy of the Excel file? I have been looking for something to track my investments month to month but have not found anything that I like yet. I would be interested in seeing how you set up the Excel formulas. Thanks.
Have you updated your current portfolio to reflect your current investments as of May 2009? If so – where are they located on the website? If not – would you consider making this available?
@Ravi The Excel template is actually quite simple, but I need to make it look a little bit nicer before I can share it with you
Give me a little time and I will get back to you soon.
@John I haven’t updated my portfolio yet. The last time it was updated as at the end of last year. I plan to take another look at the end of month, but I won’t make any dramatic change.