March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

It seems we had a pretty good month in March. For the first time this year, our net worth actually went up by a rather significant amount with the help from the big rally in the stock market. Excluding house and cars, we had a total of $486,449.83 on March 31, an increase of $40,196.76, or 9%, comparing to a month early.

Here are some details:

• Credit card balance(—–): We kept trimming our credit charges. In March, the total balance on all credit cards stood at $4,724.37. That’s $1,935.08 (29.06%), less from February, which, however, was unusually high. The biggest expense last month was the semi-annual auto and home insurance premiums.
• Cash(-): On the other hand, we again wasn’t able to increase our cash position last month. For a second month in a row, we saw our cash declined, though not by much. At the end of the month, we had $86,912.20 in checking and savings accounts, a drop of $1,118.69 (1.27%). The month we will take another hit as the taxes are due
• Taxable accounts(++++): OK, this is the big driver for us in March. On March 31, the market value of all our taxable investments was at $196,723.71, an increase of $25,951.94 (15.20%) from February. I took advantage of the sharp decline in the stock market early of the month and bought a few stocks that were very attractive from Scottrade. Shares I purchased last month were Citigroup (C), WuXi Pharma (WX, already sold), Research in Motion (RIMM), Sina (SINA), and Lincoln Financial (LNC). They all performed quite well so far. If the current trend continus, we should get more help if the recovery begins.
• Retirement accounts(++): Comparing to taxable accounts, our retirement investments didn’t do as much better in March, though there was still a nice gain. In March, investments in our 401(k)s and IRAs went up $11,573.84 (7.06%) to a total of $175,619.22. Since we use mostly index funds in retirement savings accounts, we don’t really expect any drastic change in market value like we saw in the taxable accounts. But that’s what we want for retirement accounts, isn’t it?
• 529 plans(+++): The gain in our daughters’ 529 accounts was also pretty impressive last month, though it didn’t match the gain we had in taxable accounts. At the end of month, the market value in those accounts was at $14,712.50, up $1,793.02 (13.88%), from February. In addition to our own contributions, we also earned some bonuses by referring people to Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 plan (you can still get $25 bonus if you open an account before May 31).
• Bonds(+): Our investment in I-bonds, which is our only bond investment in non-retirement accounts, increased by $100 (0.66%) from new purchase last month to a total of $15,260.80.

Year-over-year, our net worth was down $56,356.84 (10.38%).

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