August 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Our net worth actually rose a little bit last month!

What I remembered of the stock market in August was that it was as volatile as it has been lately: up 100 points one day, down 200 points the next. So it’s hard to tell how the stocks and mutual funds we invest in did for us last month because I didn’t see any breakthrough from any of those stocks (except FRE). If you have followed my net worth update long enough, you know how much we rely on our investments to pull up our net worth. When the stocks are doing fine, we can see a jump on our paper wealth. If the market heads south, losing tens of thousands a month isn’t rare.

Anyway, for the third time so far in 2008, our net worth gained in August. Without considering anything related to house and cars, our nest egg grew $14,339,95 (2.53%) last month to a total of $580,250.42, without getting too much help from the stock market.

Here’s a quick look at each element that I am tracking every month:

• Credit card balance(-): After a huge 37.24% jump in our credit card balance in July (because of some one-time charges), we see the total balance decreased a little bit in August, by $400.91 (1.68%), to $23,519,60, which is still quite high. The difference between July and now is that in July the charges were on the bills. Now it’s time to pay them off. When I do the update next month, a big drop will show up in our net worth calculation.
• Cash(++): The $7,202.83 (10.86%) increase in our cash last month is the largest among all categories because of some extra incomes in August. I don’t expect that to continue this month, however. Nonetheless, the temporary increase is enough to push our cash to a total of $73,509.37, most of which is in Capital One. I am debating whether to get an account with DollarSavinsDirect, which pays 3.75% APY or at Capital One through Costco which also has a 3.75% yield, but has a bonus. Of course, if I decide to go for the higher yield, I will need to close one account (at least one, maybe two).
• Taxable accounts(+): The stock market’s zig-zag last month indeed did a little for us. When the trades settled, we added $2,403.94 (0.93%) to our taxable investment accounts, which have a total market value of $259,724.49. As I mentioned a little earlier, the only significant movement in our investments last month was from Freddie Mac [[FRE]]. As you may remember, I bought 16 shares of FRE back in July. That investment turned out to be a pretty bad one. But I didn’t stop. When the stock hit an all-time low a week before, I bough another 38 shares using my play money at Zecco. Putting these two trades together, I didn’t make any money, but didn’t lose much either.
• Retirement accounts(+): What happened to our retirement investments was similar to what happend to our taxable accounts: little change. However, because we contributed more in our 401(k)s, the gain of $3,932.72 (1.67%) is also a little higher. At the end of August, the total balance in our 401(k)s and IRAs is $238,860.41. with all contributions going into 401(k) accounts.
• 529 plans(+): Our daughters’ 529 plans added $519.43 (3.35%) to a total of $16,019.55 on August 31st. Though the entire gain came from our monthly $600 contribution, I am pretty happy with how the college savings accounts are doing so far.
• Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $100 (0.72%) to $13,914.08. This number isn’t very accurate because I noticed that software I used to track Treasury Bonds hasn’t been updated yet.

Despite the gain, our net worth still shows a loss of $27,871.93 YTD. That’s a drop of 4.58% so far in 2008. Comparing to the same period in 2007, we increased it $17,177.30 (3.05%).

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• August 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• January 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

July 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Stock markets haven’t been friendly to us for more than a year now. And as stocks declined, so did our net worth.

July could have been a pretty good month if the Dow hadn’t suffered the 200-point lose in the last trading day of the month. But it did happen and, as a result, we finished the month again in the negative territory for the second month in a row. At the end of July, our net worth is at $565,910.47, down $2,484.81 or 0.44% from the last update, which isn’t too bad. As always, I didn’t include any house or vehicle related items because I can’t accurately evaluate those as assets. So to take it simple and measure the progress that we do have control, our net worth is essentially our investable assets. You can have an idea on what we are investing from our asset allocations that I posted early this week.

Here’s a quick look at each element that I am tracking every month:

• Credit card balance(+++): Our total credit card balance jumped 37.24% in July to a total of $23,920.11. That’s a net increase of $6,491.22 from last month due to some one-time purchases we made in July, including: 1) $3,222 on airline tickets. We are going to take a vacation in China after the Olympics. Two years ago, a round trip ticket cost around $760, now it’s nearly $1,000. 2) We bought a new mattress last month at $2,791. The good thing is we got it with a 4-year interest-free finance, so we don’t have to pay it all at once. 3) We paid $555 to renew our auto insurance policy for another 6 months. Excluding the above purchases, our daily expenses were actually a little bit lower in July than June.
• Cash(+): Our cash continued to grow in July, increasing by $1,866.50 to $66,306.54. That’s a gain of 2.90% comparing to what we had a month ago. A few banks increased their rates last month, but not the banks I am using, Capital One and FNBO Direct, both at 3.50% APY right now. Still decent, but not the highest, which is currently held by WaMu.
• Taxable accounts(-): Our investments in taxable accounts didn’t do as bad as the previous month, though we still ended up in the red on this part. In fact, it could have been positive if there were only 30 days in the month As of July 31, the market value of our taxable investments, including both stocks and mutual funds, is at $257,320.55, down $1,404.51 (-0.54%) from a month ago. The loss could be attributed to one fund, CGM Focus (CGMFX), which dropped more than $10 in a month as oil price falls. Of course, a lowered oil price is good for our wallet because we can spend less money on gas and more on other stuff or just save it. As I noticed the gas price I am paying today is the same as two months ago.
• Retirement accounts(+): Since we made our quarterly contributions to our IRA account, the gain in our retirement accounts didn’t really surprise me when the stock markets performed OK. For the month, our retirement accounts (401(k)s, where we also made new contributions and IRAs) added $2,981.71, or 1.29%, to a total of $234,927.69. Currently, we are adding new money to our IRA accounts at Vanguard on a quarterly basis. I am thinking whether to switch to monthly since there’s no additional cost involved.
• 529 plans(+): Market value of our daughters’ 529 plans also rebounded slightly last month, gaining $487.97, or 3.25%, to a total of $15,500.12. The gain, however, is largely due to our monthly $600 contribution.
• Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $100 (0.73%) to $13,814.08.

At the end of July 2006, our net worth was $354,495.76 and it was $540,928.08 at the same time last. So we managed to grow our nest egg by 60% in two years, but only 4.6% in one year YTD, our net worth dropped 6.96%.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• August 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

What are My Investments and How are They Doing So Far?

It’s the middle of the year and it’s time for a mid-year investment portfolio checkup.

I have talked about my investments many times in the past and shared with everybody what I was investing as well as performance of my portfolios. The last time when I got into details of my investments was May 2007 , more than one year ago.

That was then. In the past year, we all know what happened in the stock market and if you read my monthly net worth update, then you pretty much have an idea how my investments were doing lately. The theme is: Down. Not a a little bit, but a lot . Despite big drops in stocks, I haven’t made any dramatic change since the current crisis began a year ago. At the end of last year when I was evaluating my IRA investment, the only change I made at that time was moving some money from bond (invested in VIPSX) to stock (invested in VTSMX). And that was it, no change in my taxable mutual fund investments.

Last week, The Money Writers decided to roll out our first group write project by sharing with readers our portfolios and returns of our investments so far this year. The goal is to share our investment ideas and, hopefully,

Holdings

After cutting a couple of overlapped funds last year, I trimmed the number of mutual funds I own down to 10, which I think is an appropriate number. I don’t want to be a fund collector, but want to have exposures in the asset classes that I consider as essential: Large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, foreign equities, precious metal, and real estate. As of July 1, my holdings, and their respective shares in the portfolio, are

1. CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX): 23.95%
2. Dodge & Cox International Fund (DODFX): 15.04%
3. Oakmark Equity & Income Fund (OAKBX): 11.16%
4. Dodge & Cox Stock Fund (DODGX): 10.82%
5. Buffalo Small Cap Fund (BUSFX): 9.19%
6. T. Row Price Small Cap Value Fund (PRSVX): 8.85%
7. Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX): 7.31%
8. T. Row Price New Era (PRNEX): 7.24%
9. Alpine Dynamic Dividend (ADVDX): 4.07%
10. Third Avenue Real Estate (TAREX): 2.36%

In May 2007, CGMFX was under 10% of my overall holdings and DODFX was the largest piece. Now, the market value of CGMFX, which has been benefiting from the surging prices of commodities, especially oil, is nearly a quarter of my holdings. The biggest disappointment here is DODGX, which is my core investment in large-cap domestic stocks. Given the track record of Dodge & Cox, it’s really frustrating to see DODGX struggle, lagging its peers in performance recently. However, I still have faith in D&C.

You may have noticed that I don’t have any bond funds in my taxable account. Right, I don’t own bond fund because 1) I don’t think I need a bond fund; 2) I am buying I-Bond every month.

Asset Allocation

The asset allocation of the above investments look like the following chart.

Comparing to 14 months ago, the asset allocation is almost identical between now and then, which U.S. stocks down a little bit. On the other hand, I am pretty happy with the nearly 40% invested in foreign stocks (not only from DODFX, which is my core foreign investment, but also from CGMFX and ADVDX), which is quite large. The reason is that I believe foreign stocks present more growth opportunities than domestic stocks (though there are also associated risks), especially when U.S. stocks are struggling. Given that the U.S. GDP is only about a quarter of the world overall GDP (Wikipedia), 40% in foreign stocks isn’t too large to me.

Valuation

The biggest change in valuation is the nearly 20% increase in large-cap, which is largely due to the increasing share of CGMFX, a large-cap blend fund. At the same time, small-cap (PRSVX and BUFSX) dropped significantly. Small-cap stocks had a pretty good run since the beginning of this decade, but the party may be over because small companies could face more difficulties in obtaining credits amid turmoil in the financial market.

Individual Stocks

In addition to mutual funds, I also hold a bunch of invididual stocks/ETFs in my taxable account. Some of the largest holdings are:

• Altria (MO)
• BlackStone (BX)
• China Life Insurance (LFC)
• E-House (EJ)
• Phillip Morris International (PM)
• PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ)
• PowerShares Water Resources (PHO)
• PowerShare International Dividend Achiever (PID)
• ValueClick (VLCK)
• Visa (V)

I also have a few small stocks that I consider as speculative plays such as those in my Zecco play-money account. Though I have no plan to hold those stocks for long, I wasn’t able to make quick money out of those short-term investment either

Performance

Now it’s the hard part.

When I updated our net worth last month, I mentioned that it has lost 6.53% on paper. However, the losses in my investments YTD were skewed because I have been adding new money to, for example, mutual funds in taxable accounts as well as 401(k) and IRA accounts. Excluding all the new money, I am deep in red so far this year. Here’s how the real picture look like:

• Cash: +1.16%
• Stocks: -22.82% :(
• Mutual funds: -3.43%
• Retirement: -11.05% :(

The overall return is about -12.2% at the end of June, which matches pretty well the return of the S&P 500 in the first six months of 2008.

How Are The Money Writers Doing?

Curious about how the rest of The Money Writers are doing? Then take a look yourself:

• Brip Blap: -9.85%
  
• The Digerati Life: -7.3%
• Generation X Finance: -13.32%
• Lazy Man and Money: -7.22%
• Million Dollar Journey: -1.32%
• Money Smart Life: Really BAD
• My Dollar Plan: -7.8%

Sadly, nobody is above the water this year.

How’s your portfolio doing so far?

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• June 2007 Score Card — Part II: Passive Incomes
• Investment Objective: Income or Growth?
• Good Day Today
• Is the Small-Cap Party Over?
• Did You Feel the Pain?

June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

U. S. stock market fell hard in June 2008, so did our paper wealth (because most of our assets are stocks with only value on paper). When the Dow closed the month at two-year low, there isn’t really anything good to expect and that’s exactly what happened to our net worth.

After two consecutive monthly gains in April and May, our net worth last month returned to the “usual” theme of this year: down along with the stock market. On June 30th, we lost $37,125.69 in the past 30 days from our investments. That’s a 6.13% drop from previous month and more than half we gained in the past two months. At the end of June, our net worth is at $568,395.28.

Here’s a quick look at each element in our net worth:

• Credit card balance(-): The total balance on our credit cards was $862.70 (4.72%) less than that of last month at $17,429.29. Every day expenses was almost identical to the previous month, though gas price has gone up quite a lot recently. Right now, we have to spend more than $110 on gas every week
• Cash(+): This is the only positive part in our net worth calculation. At the end of June, we have $64,440.04 in our savings accounts totaled, up $3,554.82 (5.84%) from a month ago. In the past, when stocks dropped big ones like we saw last month, I usually took the opportunity to buy a little bit more. Not this time, though I maintain our regular monthly mutual fund purchases. I just didn’t get any extra. Seriously, it’s not fun to watch my newly purchased shares worth less and less every day, though I know that some time down the road what I bought today could bring me more. Now, I feel a little more comfortable with our money in the banks than in the markets.
• Taxable accounts(-): We lost big in our investment accounts in June. At $258,725.06, we are $26,075.38 (9.16%) less now than a month ago. I am not going to get into details of what contributed to the big loss as I usually did because, basically, everywhere I look, I see red :((
• Retirement accounts(-): Though we didn’t have any individual stock in our retirement accounts, the performance last month was pretty bad too in our retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs. At the end of the month, we had $231,945.98 in all retirement accounts. That’s $15,162.66 (6.14%) less than what we had at the end of May.
• 529 plans(-): Even our daughters’ 529 plans could stay positive, despite the new $600 monthly contribution. In June, the total market value of 529 accounts declined $524.51 (3.38%) to $15,012.15. And those new money only contributed to the loss because the money was invested at the beginning of the month.
• Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $100 (0.73%) to $13,414.08.

Though our net worth has gained two months in a row, we are still slightly below where we were when 2008 began. YTD, our net worth dropped $39,727.07 (6.53%).

Now I can only hope we will have a better second half, given how bed the first six months have been to investors.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• July 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

It’s that time of the month again to see how we did in May.

After seeing a robust 9.25% growth in April, our net worth changed modestly last month, gaining 2.11%. That’s the second consecutive monthly increase. As of May 31, our net worth is at $605,520.98, up $12,489.11 from April, thanks to another month of gain in stock markets.

Here’s a quick look at each element in our net worth:

• Credit card balance(-): Our total credit card balance at the the end of May was almost identical to what we had on April 30th. At $18,299.89, the balance was only $157.60 (0.85%) less than last month. Excluding balance from 0% APR balance transfer, we charged about $2,570 on our credit cards, nearly $400 more than previous month. Part of that increase, like everybody else, is due to the even higher gas price. Good thing is that my wife’s employer just started to let them work at home once every week. That should help a little bit.
• Cash(+): Our savings in bank accounts totaled at $60,885.22 on May 31st, up $3,792.92 (6.64%) from a month ago, which is the biggest gain percentage-wise among the six categories. Last month, I opened a Capital One Online Savings Account and moved most of cash from IGoBanking (3.28%) to the new account to earn a better interest rate (right now at 3.75% APY). In addition, I also setup a bi-weekly transfer from our checking account at Bank of America to Capital One. And as I did last time when moving from FNBO Direct to IGoBanking, I increased the auto-transfer amount from $500 every two weeks to $600. The reason for increasing our cash portion is not that I don’t have anywhere else to invest the money (I do have a couple of stocks I want to buy), but we are saving for our house downpayment. I hope we can double the amount we have now in next spring to buy a bigger house.
• Taxable accounts(+): We were virtually break-even last month in our taxable investment accounts. On May 31st, we had a total of $284,800.45 in various brokerage accounts, losing a meager $159.30 (0.06%) in a month in our investments. The biggest dragger last month was China Life Insurance (LFC) which happened to be the biggest gainer in April. The loss was offset a little bit by gains from other stocks such as Visa (V). In May, I didn’t add any new money in our taxable accounts and made only four trades with my play money at Zecco.
• Retirement accounts(+): Unlike our taxable investments, May was a good for our retirement accounts as the total market value of our 401(k) and IRA accounts added $6,915.55 (2.88%) to $247,108.64. The gains were from price appreciation and new contributions in our 401(k) accounts. Speaking of 401(k) accounts, my employer switched bookkeeper last month, so I will soon have more and better choices in my 401(k).
• 529 plans(+): This part of our investments has always been quite stable, because we mostly use balanced funds (a mix of equity and bond funds) in our daughters’ 529 plans. In May, the total market value of 529 accounts rose $781.65 (5.10%) to $15,536.66.
• Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $147.50 (1.10%) to $13,614.08.

Though our net worth has gained two months in a row, we are still slightly below where we were when 2008 began. YTD, our net worth dropped $2,601.38 (0.43%).

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

After five straight monthly loses, we finally saw some meaningful increase in our paper wealth in April, thanks to a strong showing in the stock markets. Our net worth has suffered huge losses since last November when stocks peaked and started trading lower and lower amid financial market turmoil. In the past five months, our net worth has shrunk more than $116K, largely due to falling stock prices. Though it’s a pain to watch our money evaporated in stock markets, I didn’t make any dramatic change in our investments. I am still holding those once high-flying stocks that have lost some 50% value in a few months. I just kept telling myself to hold on and wait for a rebound. It looks like my patience paid off and that day I have been waiting for finally arrived

On April 30th, our net worth, excluding housing, is at $593,031.81. Comparing to one month ago, we had a net gain of $50,225.11 (9.25%), reclaiming nearly half of the losses! Though I am very happy with the net increase in one month, the total number only put us to where we were between August and September of last year. Still a long way to go, but hopefully this is the beginning of a positive change.

Here’s a quick look at each element in our net worth:

• Credit card balance(-): The total credit card balance at the end of April was $18,449.59, down $593.58 (3.12%) from previous month. Of the total balance, $16,340 is from a 0% APR balance transfer from Citi Driver’s Edge card. Excluding that, we charged nearly $2,100 on our credit cards last month, inline with our monthly spending.
• Cash(-): We have a total of $57,092.30 in a number of bank accounts (mainly in IGoBanking and Bank of America) on April 30. That’s a decrease of $2,769.13 (4.63%) from a month ago. The main reason for the drop is taxes, both federal and state, we paid last month, as well as quarterly contributions to our IRA accounts.
• Taxable accounts(+): As before, here’s where the big gain came from. Last month, stocks and mutual funds we own performed very nicely as broad markets recovered from deep losses in the first quarter. The gain in our investments pushed the total market value of our taxable investments to $284,959.75, a net increase of $37,553.76 (15.18%) from March. Big contributors include China Life Insurance (LFC) which gained $13.54 in a month, and Visa (V), which added $21.09. These two stocks alone contributed more than $22,000 to the overall gain. Last month, I also bought shares of Baidu.com (BIDU), but only two: one with Zecco ($204/share) and one with TradeKing ($238/share). I sold the share with Zecco and made some $50, but still hold the stock with TradeKing. Now BIDU is around $370 If only I have had the money to buy more than two shares …
• Retirement accounts(+): Like our taxable accounts, our retirement accounts, including 401(k)s and IRAs, also rebounded nicely. Gaining $13,370.87 (5.89%) in April, the total market value of our retirement accounted reached $240,193.09 at the end of last month, though part of the net increase came from our own contributions (we didn’t add new money to our taxable accounts).
• 529 plans(+): Our daughters’ 529 plans also got a boost from the stock markets, gaining $1,374.76 (10.27%) to $14,755.01 in April. As far as I can tell, this probably is the first double-digit gain month for accounts that don’t usually fluctuate a lot.
• Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $142.80 (1.07%) to $13,466.58.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• April 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Just when I thought maybe the worst was over last month after seeing a negligible drop in our next worth in February, we were hit again in March as the stock markets continued to struggle, though the amount lost on paper isn’t as bad as the first couple of months of 2008. In fact, except our brokerage accounts which hold our investments in individual stocks, we managed to get some positive numbers in all other categories. But the losses in stocks were big enough to offset those gains. So we ended up having another month in the red, the fifth consecutive month. At the end of March, our wealth on paper is close to the level we had at the end of July 2007 That’s pretty bad, I guess.

The stock markets ended March mixed. The Dow is the biggest loser among major indices with a decline of 3.06% to 12,262.89. The S&P dropped 0.60% to 1,322.70 and the NASDAQ actually gained a little bit (0.34%) to close the month at 2,279.10. As for our money, we had $542,806.70 on March 31st. That’s $7,936.13 (1.44%) lower than a month ago. Somehow I wish I do the tally today instead of yesterday. Given the rally we had today on the April Fool’s Day, we could very well break the losing streak Well …

Here’s a quick summary in each category I am tracking:

• Credit card balance(+): We have a total of $19,043.17 on our credit cards, which include $17,000 0% APR balance transfer. The overall balance is $240.18 (1.25%) smaller than last month. It’s quite consistent that we charge about $2,000 on our credit card every month.
• Cash(+): Our cash grew a little bit last month to $59,861.43, $1,193.56 (2.03%) higher than a month before though we paid our annual life insurance premiums in March. Our cash will take a hit this month as we will have to (again) write a fat check to Uncle Sam on April 15 Actually I started to pay estimated tax since last December so the process (the pain I mean) will be gradual. But looks like I may need to start it in the summer.
• Taxable accounts(-): Here’s where things got ugly. Overall, our taxable investments lost $12,311.88 (4.74%) last month to $247,405.99. Most of the losses came investments from Chinese ADRs. Also last month, I sold two of my stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and Nortel Network (NT), in order to buy Visa (V) on its IPO day. The stock is currently a little higher than the price I bought. In the long-term, I hope it can do well (though may be not as well as MasterCard). In March, I also started to use a small fund in my Zecco account to do active trading (I will talk about it more later). At the end of the month, I made more than $110 in that account. BTW, I am glad I finally got rid of NT, which has been a major pain for too long.
• Retirement accounts(+): A little gain in our retirement savings, which is at $226,822.22, up $2,439.40 (1.09%) from previous month. Obviously, the reason for this part being positive is because of our own contributions. Without the new money, it would be another big hole.
• 529 plans(+): Our daughters’ 529 plans rose $479.03 last month to $13,380.25, that’s an increase of 3.71%. Since all investments in 529 accounts are index funds, this part is by far the least affected by the market volatility.
• Bonds(+): The boring but safe part of our investments added $100 (0.76%) last month to a total of $13,323.78.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• March 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

February 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

The harsh reality that the Dow lost more than 430 points in the last two trading days of February didn’t help when it comes the time to count our nest eggs. In fact, the benchmark held a little gain when the market closed on February 27th. But all three major indices sold off on the extra day of this February, thanks to the once-every-four-years-leap-year, after government reports showed slowing economic activities (durable goods orders) and increasing employment pressure (weekly unemployment rate).

For the month, the Dow dropped 384 points, or 3.04%, to 12,266, the S&P lost 48 points, or 3.48%, to 1,330.63, and the DASDAQ declined 118 points, or 4.95%, to 2,271.48.

Despite another bloody month for the stock markets, I was pleasantly surprised when I found that we almost broke even in February. After three consecutive months of decline, our investment account actually bounced back a little bit, though overall we are still in red last month. On February 29th, our net worth was at $550,742. Comparing to a month early, it dropped a mere $779, or 0.14%.

Here’s what it looks like in each category:

• Credit card balance: The credit card balance at the end of February was almost identical to the previous month. At $19,293, the overall balance was $64, or 0.34%, less than what we had at the end of January. Last month, I paid off balance transfer from one card, but took another one for 12 months to pay our car loan.
• Cash: Our cash reserve took a hit last month as we 1) made first quarter contributions to our IRA accounts; 2) paid our semi-annual auto and home insurance; 3) returned the remaining $15,000 from a Citi balance transfer that expired last month, though my wife also received her 2007 bonus. Also, I started to contribute to my 401(k) plan last month and that helped slow the growth of our cash. Overall, we had $58,667 in our bank accounts, down $7,292, or 11.06% from a month early.
• Taxable accounts: As bad as February was for the stock markets, we managed to gain a little bit in our taxable investment accounts, though the gain was no where close to the massive losses we have suffered in the past four months. At the end of February, we had a total of $259,717 in a number of brokerage accounts. The increase of $3,616 in our investment accounts represents a 1.41% positive change in February. Despite the gain, I am not sure whether the freefall is over. Things can still go bad in the next several months as the uncertainty in the stocks market is expected to continue.
• Retirement accounts: Our retirement savings also rose a bit last month, largely due to the $2,500 new contributions to our Roth IRAs. As of February 29th, we had $224,382 in our 401(k) and IRA accounts. Compared to what we had one month ago, our retirement accounts added $1,308 to a total of $224,382. Without the new money, we could be in red again Since most of investments in retirement accounts are index funds, the performance reflected the general market condition.
• 529 plans: Our daughters’ 529 plans have been the the lone bright spot in our investments for a while and February was no exception. The total market value of our college savings accounts grew 3.05% to $12,901. That’s a net increase of $381 which is equivalent to a 3.05% gain.
• Bonds: Last month, the bond portion added $139, of which $100 came from new purchase of I-bonds. On February 29th, we have a total of $13,223 in I-bonds.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• February 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• March 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

January 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

What used to make us, now broke us.

For a third time in a row, our paper fortune dropped after the broad market suffered deep decline in the first month of 2008. Our calculation showed that at the end of January 2008, our net worth, excluding house and vehicle related items, was at $551,521, down $56,600 from previous month. The loss of nearly 9.31% was actually the largest monthly loss since I started tracking our net worth in August 2006. Since reaching the peak at the end of last October, we saw our wealth on paper shrank by $107,983 in three months

Am I worried?

Not really! I am not the kind of person wake up in the middle of night worrying my portfolio. I did make some bad decisions on our investments and am usually not willing to take profits off the table when I should (a.k.a, being greedy), but in general, I feel the investment plan we have is solid, well-diversified. Despite the big loss recently, I have no plan to make any major changes, especially in our retirement savings.

Anyway, the breakdown of our net worth at the end of January is the following:

• Credit card balance: Our credit card balance went up quite a bit last month, mainly because of the holiday shoppings as well as some last minute donations I made at the end of 2007. On January 31st, the total credit card balance was $19,218, up $924, or 5.05%, from a month ago.
• Cash: Cash balance seems to be the only bright spot last month, gaining $2,258, or 3.55%, to a total of $65,960. This is a little surprise as I am not so sure where the gain came from because in January we started to make our 2008 Roth IRA contributions. The growth of our cash will slow from now as I began to contribute to 401(k) plan last month,.
• Taxable accounts: The biggest loss of the month, as previous two months, came from investments in our taxable accounts as all the Chinese stocks I bought dropped like a rock (check out the monthly Chinese ADRs update). The total loss last month was $45,973, which was a decline of more than 15% from December. At the end of January, we had $256,101 in various brokerage accounts.
• Retirement accounts: Money in our retirement accounts (401(k)s and IRAs) were mostly invested in low-cost index funds, therefore the performance in this category was much better than what happened in our taxable accounts. For the month, our retirement savings suffered a $11,820 loss
• 529 plans: January was marked as the first time that our daughters’ 529 plans returned negatively, despite the net $600 contribution. Comparing to December, the market value of the 529 accounts saw a drop of $278, which was about 2.18% less than previous month. On January 31st, the balance of 529 plans was $12,519.
• Bonds: Well, there’s no way we can lose money buying bonds (on face value of course). Last month, our bond value gained $138, or 1.02%, from interests and new purchase to reach a total of $13,084. Even though the return of this part is always positive, it’s still the least exciting category.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• January 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• February 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Update: 2007 Passive Income

When I posted our total passive income in 2007 in the middle of the month, one item missing from the calculation was interests earned from our purchases of 4-week T-bills in the first half of the year. Though I can go through all the transactions and figure out myself how much I have made, it would be very time consuming. So I instead decided to wait for the 1099.

Yesterday, the tax form arrived and it shows in 2007 we earned $441.45 in interests from investing in 4-week T-bills. That puts our total passive income last year at $18,245.80.

Sure, the money is good, but we will certainly take a hit at tax time. The *good* news is most of the distributions qualify a lower, 15% tax rate as they are either qualified dividends, or long term capital gains. From my rough estimate, we will have to pay about $3,500 extra taxes for all the passive incomes in 2007.

I don’t mind paying taxes because that means I have made money. Giving the money I earned back, however, is a totally different feeling.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• 2007 Passive Income Summary
• Year-to-Date Net Worth Change by Category and Passive Income Update
• 2006 Passive Income Update
• June 2007 Score Card — Part II: Passive Incomes
• Mutual Fund Year-end Distributions

2007 Passive Income Summary

One of the objectives we have is to generate incomes, dividends and capital gains, from our investments and hope one day these what I called passive incomes will replace the major part of our salaries before tapping into savings in our tax deferred accounts. In 2007, we continued to make progress in growing this part of our investments.

Our passive incomes consist of three parts:

• Dividends from mutual funds, stocks, and ETFs;
• Capital gains from mutual funds;
• Interests from savings and Treasury bills.

Except Treasury bills, all the year-end mutual fund statements were in last week, so I tallied the numbers up last night and I am very happy to see that the result from last year exceeded my expectations. In 2007, our passive incomes from the above three sources are listed in the following table.

In addition, we have several other stocks that paid dividends in 2007, including BAC, PG, and PGN. However, since we only have a very small number of shares in those stocks, contributions from these investments are too small and, thus, not included in the calculation.

Passive incomes from three different categories, mutual funds, stocks/ETFs, and savings are:

• Mutual fund dividends and capital gains: $12,122.08
• Stock and ETF dividends: $1,818.6
• Savings interests: $3,863.67

The total passive income of 2007 is $17,804.35, up 75.75% from one year ago, when we generated $10,130.32. At the end of 2007, we have $363,776.75 in taxable investment and savings accounts, up $110,943.89 from December 2006. Of those gains, passive income made up about 16% of the net change in taxable investments in 2007.

As we continue to add new money regularly into our taxable investments, especially, into mutual funds, distributions will also grow. At the end of 2008, I hope the total passive income from taxable accounts could reach $30,000. That represents an annual growth rate of about 70%.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• Update: 2007 Passive Income
• Year-to-Date Net Worth Change by Category and Passive Income Update
• 2006 Passive Income Update
• June 2007 Score Card — Part II: Passive Incomes
• Year-to-Date Passive Income

2007 Year End Review (III): Performance and Asset Allocation

This is the third part of our Year End Review, in which I have so far gone through financial moves we made in 2007 and how what we have done affected our net worth, which includes both new money and price appreciation of our existing investments. The latter is the subject of this part of the review.

Stocks and ETFs

I bought several stocks last year as mentioned in the first part of this review. Overall, it was a mixed bag when it comes to performance of our stock/ETF investments. Of our 19 holdings, 10 had positive returns while 9 were in the negative territory. Interestingly, all the top gainers were related to China, with E-House Holdings (EJ) leading the way with a gain of 72%, followed by PowerShares China ETF (PGJ) with 68.4%. The last two months of 2007, however, weren’t particularly pretty for Chinese stocks. My favorite, China Life Insurance (LFC) surrendered a big chuck of its gain to end 2007 with more than 50% increase in value.

On the other hand, there were not short of big losers, such as Xinhua Finance Media (XFML), which dropped more than 53% since its IPO and Nortel Networks (NT), a stock that I don’t even want to talk about. I did manage to unload some shares of these two stocks last year when the prices were much higher than where they are right now. Should have sold them all.

We also have two Chinese stocks traded on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK) and Alibaba.com (1688.HK), which returned 15.25% and -28.73%, respectively.

Mutual funds

For quite a while, Dodge & Cox International Fund (DODFX) was my top mutual fund performer, getting big returns and doubling our investments faster than other funds. That, however, is not the case in 2007, the year featuring near $100 oil.

The biggest gainer in 2007 among mutual funds we invested in was CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX), which returned nearly 80% over the past twelve months. Another fund, T. R. Price New Era (PRNEX), which also invests heavily in oil related companies, came at second with 40.7%. I am surprised that despite the 31% return of gold, our investments in Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) only rose a moderate 12.4%. Probably I should have bought gold ETFs to get exactly the same return. That said, the only gold coin I bought in March did appreciate nicely

Among disappointments, our biggest decliner is, not surprisingly, Third Avenue Real Estate (TAREX), which lost more than 8%. Actually, the loss wasn’t that bad compared to another real estate fund in our IRA account. In addition, small-cap funds performed poorly last year after leading large-cap stock funds for years. Two of our small-cap funds, Buffalo Small-cap (BUFSX) and T. R. Price Small-Cap Value (PRSVX) both down slightly for the year. Then, there’s Dodge & Cox Stock Fund (DODGX), which also had a bad year in 2007, gaining a miserable 0.1%

The asset allocation of our mutual fund investments is shown in the following chart. As of December 31, 2007, we have 67% in large-cap, 17% in mid-cap, and 17% in small-cap. This allocation is skewed a little because I didn’t take any ETF into consideration. Last year when I bought Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VBR), the goal was to boost the small-cap part of our taxable investments.

IRA accounts

Unlike funds in our taxable accounts which are all actively managed, we took the index approach in our IRA accounts, with 3 out of 9 funds being Vanguard index funds. Again, other than small-cap and real estate funds, the performance of our IRA accounts in 2007 was fine.

Another difference is that we have no specific bond fund in our taxable account, but bonds are a rather significant portion in our IRA accounts. At the end of last year, more than 22% of our IRA assets are in bonds. The high bond allocation mainly came from three components: Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities (VIPSX), Interm-Term Bond (VBIIX), and D&C Balanced Fund (DODBX). For the equity part, we had 62% in large-cap, 19% in mid-cap, and 19% in small-cap.

Though the bond funds have performed quite well in 2007, I am thinking of rebalancing the portfolio to increase the exposure to international stocks, which is currently at only 13%. I would like that it goes up to about 20% and that will be done by shifting money from bond funds to International Stock (VGTSX)

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• Making the Case of Having Alternative Investments in Portfolio
• March 2007 Score Card — Part II: Asset Allocation
• How to Keep More — The Tax Factor in Your Asset Allocation
• Mid-Year Adjustment
• Mutual Fund Basics: Asset Allocation Funds and Balanced Funds

2007 Year End Review (II): Net Worth

This is the second part of my 2007 Year End Reviews. In the first part, I took a look at the financial moves we made last year. Now I want to see how what we did put where we are in the new year.

December 2007 update

Our net worth saw second consecutive monthly decline in December after a disappointing November. For the month, our net worth went from $614,716 a month early to $608,122, losing $6,594, or 0.88%. The absolute dollar amount is not that significant percentage wise, the trend, however, is what concerns me to a degree. For the past two months, our wealth on paper shrank by more than $51,000 after reaching the peak at the end of October.

The breakdown of what we have at the end of December is as follows:

• Credit card balance: The overall credit card balance was reduced by $1,073, or 5.54%, last month to a total of $18,294, of which $16,000 are from 0% APR balance transfer.
• Cash: Our cash in various bank accounts reduced by $1,945, or 2.96%, to $63,701 compared to the balance at the end of November.
• Taxable accounts: The loss in our taxable investment account contributed to most of the net worth decline in the past month as the stock markets continued to struggle. Our taxable investments dropped $6,069, or 1.97%, to $302,075.
• Retirement accounts: The overall market value of our retirement accounts was almost flat last month, losing $294, or about 0.13%, to a total of $234,895.
• 529 plans: Our daughters’ 529 plans continued to do well with another positive gain, though mostly due to the $600 net contribution. For the month, the overall market value added $507, or 4.18%, to $12,798.
• Bonds: The least exciting part of our investments gained $138, or 1.08%, to end 2007 at a total of $12,946, though $100 of the gain came from new I-bond purchase.

2007 summary

The past twelve months minus two were great, though the retreat of the overall stock market started in the summer. Nonetheless, 2007 still shaped up as a good year in growing our net worth. When 2006 began, we had $458,992 in the following categories:

• Credit card balance: -$11,661
• Cash: $36,484
• Taxable accounts: $218,348
• Retirement accounts: $186,819
• 529 plans: $5,738
• Bonds: $23,264

Looking at where we are right now, the biggest gain in the past year came from our taxable investments, which is more than 56% of the net increase of $149,129, or 32.49%, in 2007. During the same time, our retirement accounts added $48,076, with nearly 60% of that gain coming from our own contributions to the IRA and 401(k) accounts.

As for our taxable investments, we put about $10,500 new money into our mutual funds, mostly through automatic purchases every month. The total deposits to our brokerage accounts at Scottrade, Zecco, Firstrade, and Sharebuilder in 2007 was around $28,000. Going forward, I will try not to add too much new money into our brokerage accounts to buy stocks. Instead, using proceeds from selling old stocks to fund new purchases would be a better option, especially with commission-free brokers such as Zecco. Subtracting the total of $38,500 new money, the gain from price appreciation and distributions in 2007 was about $45,200. That’s equivalent to an annual gain of more than 20% from our taxable investments.

The net increase of the assets of 529 plans in 2007 was about $7,000, of which about $6,300 were from our own contributions. Since more of the investments in 529 plans are in balanced index funds, I don’t expect any extraordinary gains in this part. A steady growth is much more important.

Growth since 2003

We started to track our nest eggs since 2003, when we had $201,422 under our names. In the past five years, we have made steady progress in growing our wealth, thanks to the generally up markets which helped grow our assets significantly in the last two years.

In the next part of the Year End Reviews, I will update our asset allocations and summarize the returns of the stocks and mutual funds we invested in.

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• June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• Around the PF Blogosphere: November 1, 2007
• Deal: Epson R340 Stylus Photo Printer for $9.99
• Around the PF Blogosphere: December 3, 2007
• Around the PF Blogosphere: May 1, 2007

2007 Year End Review (I): Financial Moves

As we are approaching the finial day of 2007, I feel it’s time to look back and examine what we have done in the last year that could affect us financially, both in the short- and long-term, as I did at the end of 2006. Since we didn’t make any official goals when 2007 began, this review won’t be about what we have achieved and what we have missed.

In the first part of this year-end review, I summarize the financial moves we made in 2007.

Mutual funds

Our mutual fund investments in 2007 are almost identical to our holdings in 2006. We didn’t make any new purchase as I feel what we have now is sufficient to build a well diversified portfolio (I will take about our investments in details in a later part). However, we did liquidate one fund (CSVFX) early this year after determining it didn’t add more diversification or exposure than what we already have. In addition, we also exchanged one fund (TREMX) in our T. R. Price account to another (PRNEX), making DODFX our core international fund. Through out the year, we have made regular purchases of all 10 funds we currently own. Though in the past I have somehow demonstrated that dollar-cost averaging may not be the best investment strategy, we continue to implement it in this turbulent market.

Stocks

There were many ins and outs in our stock investments last year, Though I am no longer active in trading stocks. New purchases in 2007 mainly came from investing in Chinese IPO stocks, such as EJ, XFML, CSUN, and GA, plus several non-Chinese stocks MO, BX, VLCK, and SWHC. So far, however, most of the new purchases are nothing but disappointing and some of the Chinese stocks were hit pretty hard in the last couple of months. Could 2008 still be the year to invest in China? Not so, according to some who have predicted a collapse after the game, but I am not buying that. In 2007, I eliminated several stocks, such as MSFT and GRRF, and exchange-traded funds (ETF) including PFM and PEY as they too have been lackluster. One addition in the ETF area is VBR. Most of our stock investments were made through one-time purchases. The only exceptions are QQQQ, BAC and PGN, which were bought on monthly automatic investment plans with no or little fees.

Bonds

We took a break from 4-week T-bill investments in the second half of 2007 after the once my favorite short-term investment vehicle’s yield lagged returns of most high-yield online savings accounts we are using. Though interest rates of those banks kept falling after three consecutive rate cuts, T-bills won’t get into the mix any time soon for us. That said, we did maintain our monthly purchase of $100 I-bond, which is our only bond investment in regular accounts.

401(k)s

Our 2007 401(k) contributions fell short of maximum, mainly on my part. When I started my new job in June, I was hoping to get a better job soon so I didn’t participate in the new employer’s 401(k) plan. That change, however, never happened and I didn’t contribute since then. So I only had the first 5 months of while my wife maxed out her 401(k). Since it looks like I won’t be changing job soon, my contribution will start in 2008.

IRAs

Comparing to 401(k)s, we did much better with our IRA accounts in 2007 as our contributions were automatically made on a quarterly basis. Since 2002 when we opened our IRAs, we have contributed to the maximum each and every year. In 2008, the annual contribution limit will go up to $5,000 and we will take advantage of the higher limit to save a little more

529 plans

We got a 529 plan at Ohio College Advantage for our second daughter shortly after she was born. Now we have 529 plans for both our children and are add $300 every month to each account, making the total monthly contribution to $600. For us, as long as it doesn’t become a burden that we can no longer handle, we want to support our children’s future education as much as possible.

New online savings accounts

In 2007, we opened two new online savings accounts at FNBO Direct and IGoBanking, while at the same time, our accounts at Emigrant Direct and Virtual Bank were closed. So the number of bank accounts remained the same as in 2006 though I thought about simplifying our finance a little bit. Among those accounts we are currently using, I think IGoBanking could be closed, maybe ING Direct as well. The thought of getting a new account with better rate was put on hold after the latest rate reduction made the difference between rates from existing banks and the ones I want gets less significant.

New brokerage accounts

While I am *lucky* in keeping the same number of bank accounts in 2007, the number of brokerage accounts went up a little. In 2007, we got four new brokerage accounts at Zecco, E-Trade, TradeKing, and OptionsXpress. Among them, Zecco, TradeKing and E-Trade Global Trading were opened for trading and OptionsXpress was just for the $100 bonus. Meanwhile, two brokerage accounts, ShareBuilder and Firstrade were closed when I wanted to reduce the cost of trading. The two were replaced by Zecco and TradeKing, respectively. Right now, Scottrade remains my primary brokerage account.

New credit cards

Three new credit cards, Citi PremierPass, Driver’s Edge and Chase Freedom, were opened under my name in the past year, all for taking advantage of their 0% APR balance transfer offer. In addition, I also received $200 bonus from Chase Freedom card and $15,000 ThankYou points from Citi PremierPass, though they were not the main purpose. I will continues to look out for good promotions to make some free money, but good deals are rare these days. Two cards, Citi Dividend Rewards and Discover Miles, were closed in 2007.

0% balance transfers

Playing the balance transfer game remains one of my favorites to earn free money. In 2007, I borrowed money at 0% APR from new and existing cards and deposited the money into online bank when FNBO Direct was offering 6.00+% promotional rate. At the peak, I had about $100,000 borrowed from three cards and currently still have about $16,000. However, as interest rate falling and banks impose 3% transfer fees, easy money may have already been made.

New auto & home insurance

We switched to Ameriprise in January 2007 from Liberty Mutual after with the latter for two years. The change saved us about $300 annually on our insurance bill.

In the second part of this Year End Review, I will take a look at how our net worth has changed since January 1, 2007.

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• 2007 Year End Review (III): Performance and Asset Allocation
• MSN Money: Year-end Tax Moves
• Deal: Epson R340 Stylus Photo Printer for $9.99
• The Carnival of Personal Finance is Available

November 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

It’s that time again and what I am looking at is not pretty, as expected.

November turned out to be a very tough month for investors as both the S&P and the Dow had the biggest monthly decline in five years. Despite the second rate cut by the Fed in as many months, concerns over subprime mortgage related losses persisted and consumer confidence took a hit amid record oil price, slumping home value, and falling stocks. For the month, the Dow dropped 4.0% to 13,371.72, the S&P 500 lost 4.4% to 1,481.14, and the NASDAQ tumbled 7.0% to 2,660.96.

Our paper fortune also suffered a big loss last month from the stock markets, which literally knocked our net worth back to where it was at the end of September. Comparing to October, our net worth declined $44,787, or 6.79% to a total of $614,716, excluding house and automobile related items, the first month-to-month lose since I started tracking one and a half years ago.

At the end of November, our investable assets look like the following:

• Credit card balance: The credit card balance went from more than $94,000 at the end of October to $19, 367 last month as I paid off two 0% balance transfer offers (one from Bank of America and one from Chase). Among the total balance, more than $16,000 is from a Citi card 0% BT offer which will expire in February. Last month, our spending went up quite a bit after several big-ticket purchases though we didn’t buy anything on Black Friday.
• Cash: As our credit balance shrank, our cash balance went in the opposite direction as the equal amount was removed from our bank accounts to pay for the credit card dues. On November 30, out total cash balance is $65,646, down $71,483 (52.13%) from a month ago. I am thinking of getting another bank account (probably from AmTrust Direct) as both IGoBanking and FNBO Direct, the two that I am using, now lags in rates. The problem is current rates may not last as another rate reduction is increasingly likely in a week.
• Taxable accounts: Our taxable investment accounts received a one-two punch last month as Chinese stocks performed even worse than general markets. What used to be the engine of my net worth growth for months became a big drag in November. China Life (LFC) alone lost nearly $20 in a month, contributing more than half of the total loss in market value last month. As of November 30, our taxable accounts had $308,145, down $40,360 (11.58%) from $348,506 at the end of October.
• Retirement accounts: Since we use mostly diversified index funds in our retirement accounts, the drop in our 401(k)s and IRAs was rather moderate. At the end of November, our retirement accounts had a total of $235,193. Comparing to one month ago, the market value of our retirement accounts declined $7,943, or 3.27%, to $235,193.
• 529 plans: Well, the only bright spot on my spreadsheet is our daughters’ 529 plans. For the month, the change in 529 accounts came out a positive $183, or 1.52%, though we contributed $600. At the end of last month, we have a total of $12,291 in four 529 plan accounts.
• Bonds: Since all our bond holdings are currently in I-bonds, which we are still buying $100 every month, it’s not surprising that this category also saw positive growth in November. For the month our bond investments gained $179, or 1.42%, to a total of $12,807.

As 2007 enters its last month, I hope the stock markets can bring all investors some Christmas cheers in the end

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• November 2006 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• Around the PF Blogosphere: December 3, 2007
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• Around the PF Blogosphere: November 1, 2007

October 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

The Federal Reserve gave investors a Halloween treat yesterday by cutting the key lending rate a quarter-percentage point. The second rate cut in two months gave the stock markets a boost, pushing major indices up more than 1% Wednesday to finish the month on a strong note. For the month, the Dow gained 0.3% to 13,930.01, the S&P 500 rose 1.5% to 1,549.38, and the NASDAQ surged 5.8% to 2,859.12.

Our net worth also saw a robust growth last month, though the gain was smaller than last month. Comparing to the end of September, our net worth added $43,944, (7.14%) to a total of $659,403.

The details of our investable assets at the end of October are as follows:

• Credit card balance: The credit card balance was reduced by $2,356, or 2.45%, last month to a total of $94,004. This month, about $77,000 will be returned to two credit cards from which I borrowed money for free early this year. Once that part is gone, the total credit card balance will be much smaller, but so will be the cash savings. Currently I still have about $17,000 from Citi at 0% APR, which will expire next February.
• Cash: As of October 31, we have a total of $137,129 in a number of bank accounts. The cash amount actually decreased by $5,114, or 3.60%, last month as I moved $7,000 to my E-Trade Global Trading account for the upcoming Alibaba.com IPO. After the latest rate cut, the interest rates for online banks will soon be lowered again (ING already dropped its rate from 4.30% to 4.20%).
• Taxable accounts: Our stock investments again performed very well last month, thanks to the strong gains from Chinese stocks in our holdings. For the month, our taxable investment accounts increased by $36,824 (including $7,000 uninvested money in E-Trade), or 11.82%, to reach a total of $348,506. Particularly, China Life Insurance (LFC) and E-House Holdings (EJ) both gained more than $10 in October. The PowerShares China ETF (PGJ) also had a very good month, adding more than $5. Losers in October include NJ, BX, and XFML.
• Retirement accounts: The net increase in our retirement accounts last month was a moderate $8,968, or 3.83%. On October 31, the market value of our retirement accounts is $243,136.
• 529 plans: Our daughters’ 529 plans’ market value increased by $759.11, or 6.75% last month, including $600 monthly contributions. At the end of last month, we have a total of $11,247 in 529 plan accounts.
• Bonds: For the month our bond investments gained $140, or 1.12%, to a $12,628. Most of the increase came from our monthly purchase of $100 I-bond. After dropping to 3.333% APR one month ago, rates of 4-week T-bill rebounded last month. The latest rate is at 4.049% APR. Still not a good option for short term investments.

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Check Out These Related Articles:

• Around the PF Blogosphere: November 1, 2007
• November 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• July 2007 Score Card — Part II: Expenses
• November 2006 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
• October 2006 Score Card — Part II: Net Worth

September 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

When the stock markets had the best September in 34 years, it’s hard not to make money, big money and that was