February 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

After the streak of 10 straight monthly increase was snapped in January, the growth of our net worth returned last month as the overall stock market recovered from January’s poor performance. Even though the gain wasn’t big enough to offset January’s market loss, it was big enough to put net worth to a new high after losing nearly 2% on paper in January. For the month, the Dow gained 2.56%, the S&P 500 rose 2.85%, and the Nasdaq rallied 4.23%. With the help from the stock market, our net worth also rebounded nicely in February. At the end of the month, we had a total of $916,561.08. That’s an increase of $33,920.68 (3.84%) from the month before.

A breakdown of last month’s number looks like this:

• Credit card balance(—–): Our credit card balance shrank another $683.55 (16.75%) last month, reducing the total to $3,395.30 at the end of February, far less than our 2009 monthly average of $4,000. When I ordered my last credit score in December, the only negative factor on my file was I have too many cards with balance. Right now, there are only 3 cards between me and my wife that carry balance. I plan to keep it this way until we buy the house.
• Cash(++++): We kept growing our cash last month, with a net increase of $11,268.88 (4.83%) in February to $244,653.07. Part of the increase was due to the annual bonus my wife received last month that we simply put in our savings account. The next couple of months probably won’t be as good as last month because the taxes we are going to pay back. I haven’t finished the taxes yet, but it looks like we owe a large amount again.
• Taxable accounts(++): Our investments in taxable account grew moderately in February when compared with other categories. The gain was $9,117.68 (3.01%) and the total market value was $312,215.38. No new stock was purchase last month, except those DSPP stocks and mutual funds that I buy regularly.
• Retirement accounts(+++): On the other hand, our retirement retirements did better last month with a gain of $11,282.90 (3.73%). The larger increase also made our investments in retirement accounts, valued at $313,477.11, the largest asset in terms of market value, surpassing the taxable investments. The last time this happened was one year ago in January 2009 accounts.
• 529 plans(–): Last month, I switched one of our 529 plans to the Virginia VEST plan to take advantage of the $4,000 annual tax deduction for Virginia residents. I may switch another plan to VEST as well, though I will keep the Ohio CollegeAdvantage plan because of their occasional bonus promotion. Even without any bonus, the 529 accounts still grew $1,392.15 (4.79%) last month to $30,459.06.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $100 (0.61%) last month to $16,584.24 due to our monthly purchase of $100 I-Bonds.

Year-over-year, our net worth doubled with an increase $470,280.98 (105.38%) from what we had at this time in February 2009.