It’s the one I mentioned two weeks ago, a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath single family house with finished basement in a gated community, a place we both like a lot.

There was a $55K difference between the listed price and the price we first offered. Based on the past sale prices of similar houses in that area, which also had some short sale and foreclosed houses the past few months since we started searching, we set our target at below $600K. A couple of rounds of negotiation later, we made our last offer last weekend at $$596K. The seller’s agent asked whether we were willing to go to $600K after sending our offer to the seller without a Yes or No answer. Our agent told them that we could symbolically add a couple of thousands more, but there was no way we can go over $600K, the price that the seller believed the house could sell. After two days, the seller informed us that they accepted our offer, with one condition that we take the house as-is. Since the house is only 9 years old and appears to be in a fairly good condition from our last visit, we agreed. We would be more concerned with the condition if it’s older. We will still do the house inspection, but unless that’s any major leaking or structural problem, the seller is not responsible to fix minor issues.

Now that we got the price we want, the next step is to get the loan application approved and close the purchase in one month. Actually, we already locked a 15-year mortgage rate at 4.25% yesterday. But since the appraisal has a 14 business day contingency, we will need to wait a little longer before knowing the result of our mortgage application. Hopefully, there will be no surprise.If everything goes well, we can move in early May.

Since our current lease expires in August, we will have to pay two months of penalty if we break the lease. It’s a lot of money, but I am still looking forward to getting out of here. The people upstairs drive me nuts every time they walk in the kitchen.

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5. We Sold Our House!

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.

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5. March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

I know sooner or later, this is going to happen.

Since last March, our net worth has ridden the recovering stock market higher and higher month after month, going up like a straight line from March to December. While I was very happy with the growth of our wealth on paper, I know every well that at some point, the streak will be broken. Now, it’s clear that January was the month when the upward trend finally took a break as the stock market retreat.

After reaching a 15-month high on January 19th, the mood on the street turned sour. For the month, the Dow lost 3.46%, the S&P 500 dropped 3.7%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 5.37%. As a result, we also saw the first decline of our net worth in 10 months. At the end of January, our net worth was at $882,640.40, a decrease of $17,832.62 (1.98%) from the previous month. Comparing to the stock market, the loss was actually quite moderate.

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

• Credit card balance(–): The total balance on our credit cards continued to decline last month, but at a much smaller scale. As I mentioned earlier when I summarized our spending in 2009, we charge about $4,000 on our credit cards every month on average, which also includes more than $1,900 for two kids’ tuition. On January 31, 2010, the total credit card balance was $4,078.85, $178.52 (4.19%) lower from the previous month. The total number was inline with our monthly average.
• Cash(+++): This turned out to be the only bright spot in January. We have been saving for our next house dowmpayment for quite some time already and in the middle of January, we made an offer to buy a house that was on short-sale. It was one we actually liked. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it, so we got to keep our cash, for now. At the end of the month, we had $233,384.19 in our savings and checking accounts. It was $7,248.93 (3.21%) more than a month ago.
• Taxable accounts(—–): The most damage was done on our taxable investments last month, which were badly underperformed the market. For the month, the loss of investments in stocks and mutual funds in taxable account was $18,299.69 (5.69%) on paper. The loss brought the total market value to $303,097.70. If the first week of February is any indication for what the whole month will be like, it certainly doesn’t look good. There was no new stock purchase last month in brokerage accounts.
• Retirement accounts(—): Our retirement accounts did relatively better in January than taxable accounts did, suffering a loss of only $6,569.58 (2.13%) last month. At the end of the month, the total market value of our 401(k) and IRA accounts was $302,194.41. January was one of the months when we make quarterly contributions to our IRA accounts, so the new money added to the accounts was a little higher than the month before. Also last month I rolled over one of my old 401(k) account into an IRA account, which I will write about later.
• 529 plans(–): Now that we didn’t have any extra money, those referral bonuses, put into our 529 plans, our own contribution just wasn’t enough to overcome the drop in market value of our investments. Fortunately, the decline was rather small, comparing to other investments. On January 31, 2010, we had $29,066.91 in 529 plans, an decrease of $452.88 (1.53%) from December 2009. I am also in the process of making some changes to our 529 investments to take advantage of the tax incentive offered by the state of Virginia.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $100 (0.60%) last month to $16,684.24 due to our monthly purchase of $100 I-Bonds.

Year-over-year, our net worth almost doubled, increasing $430,404.32 (95.17%) from what we had at this time in January 2009.

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In the last week or so, we started to receive tax documents for filing our 2009 income taxes. At the around the same time, I also got email notifications from credit card issuers that the 2009 Year-End summaries of our credit card spending are also available for us to view. While we are waiting for all the W-2s and 1099s to come to know exactly how much we made in 2009, I think it’s a good idea to see how much we spent and on what last year first. The credit card summaries we just received make the job much easier.

Our spending goes into two broad categories. One is daily expenses that cover everything in our everyday life, from groceries, utilities, to mortgage/rent and child care/tuition. The other one is investments, where we put part of our take-home incomes from day jobs into investments such as brokerage accounts, IRAs, and 529 plans. Since most of those investments are for the long-term, I treat them as *expenses* here, even though we didn’t really spend the money.

Daily Expenses

Since both my wife and I use credit cards almost exclusively, figuring out how much and where we spent our money is quite easy, despite that I don’t track where every dollar went. In addition to credit cards, we also wrote some checks, though the use of checks is getting rarer these days with most payments being made electronically. Outside credit cards and the check book, we also paid with cash in some rare occasions. However, since I don’t expect the total amount to exceed a couple of hundred dollars, excluding cash payments from our total spending won’t have any significant impact overall.

Here’s a look of how much we spent each month last year.

We mainly use three credit cards: An AMEX Costco TrueEarnings Card to shop at Costco, a Chase Freedom Card to buy gas and groceries, and a Fidelity 529 Card for everything else, which generally carries the biggest balance. After we moved from NJ to VA last September, we also started to use a Discover Card to pay the kids’ tuition as Discover is the only card accepted there. The two spikes in February/March and July/August were all due to some one-time charges: $2,000 on credit card when we replaced our furnace in February, $900 paid for our annual life insurance policy in March, another $1,300 on credit card for a house repair in July, and a check of more than $1,000 in August to pay off the remaining balance for the furnace before moving to VA.

In total, we spent about $66,740 in 2009, with an average of more than $5,500 every month. Of that, the largest is kids’ tuition, followed by mortgage/rent. The two combined accounts for about $3,200 a month. The rest $2,300/month were for food, clothes, utilities, phones, gas, insurance (auto and home) and other expenses that were usually not regular and, thus, not planed ahead. After reaching the peak in July, I am glad that our monthly spending has been falling quite significantly since.

The above calculation doesn’t include taxes we paid on April 15th and estimated taxes paid throughout the year. If that’s included, then the total spending went up to $87,112 in 2009, with the monthly average jumped to $7,260.

Investments

Now to the investments.

Most of our investments were done automatically every month. That is, I set up automatic investment plans with mutual fund companies and brokers to buy a fixed amount of stocks, mutual funds, and bonds each month without manual intervention. I have been doing this for many years and it has really served us very well. In fact, I think the growth of our net worth last year and years in the past was largely due to the automatic investment plans we implemented. By investing automatically, we didn’t try to time the market. Instead, we kept buying on a regular basis, in a good market and bad, knowing that eventually, the market will recover (I am glad it did faster than I expected) and those shares we bought when the market was heading south will contribute more to the growth when things turn around.

In addition, I also put some money in the brokerage account at Scottrade, mostly in the first half of 2009 to take advantage of the market slump, as well as buy a couple of IPO stocks late in the year. The total amount of new money transferred to Scottrade last year was $16,100, much larger than usual. Overall in 2009, the new investments we made were about $59,310, with an average of $4,940 per month.

Comparing what we had in taxable accounts, 529s and the bond account at the end of 2009 with those at the end of 2008, the total market value in these three categories increased $151,971 in 2009. Excluding our own contributions, the net increase in market value was about $113,900. That gives us an annual return of nearly 53%, beating the S&P 500 Index easily On the other hand, cash in our savings accounts increased $42,780 excluding the proceed from selling our house.

Overall, our everyday expenses account for more than 35% of our 2009 spending, the largest piece of the pie, followed by 31% for investments. I did a same spending analysis this time last year. Surprisingly, we also had more than 31% of our money invested at that time. So we are quite consistent on that part. If I put investments and cash savings together, then we saved nearly 58% in 2009. This is a number I am very happy with.

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How time flies.

Now that 2009 is officially in the books, it’s time to look back last month and the whole last year to see where I was this time last year and where I am now.

Despite the 120-point drop of the Dow on the last trading day of the year, December 2009 turned out to be another positive month as the benchmark gained slightly, up 0.8% for the month, while the S&P 500 added 1.78% and the Nasdaq rallied 5.81%. As the stock market kept advancing, so did our net worth. In December, we reached another milestone and moved one step close to my goal that I mentioned two month ago. At the end of December, we had a net worth of $900,473.02, up $28,176.87 or a moderate 3.23% from a month ago.

A breakdown of the net worth looks like this:

• Credit card balance(—–): Our credit card balance was cut by a quarter last month as I paid off the remaining of a credit card. Though the 0% APR loan won’t be due in more than two years, I decided to pay it off  as I want to improve my credit score by the time when we buy a house in spring. Too many cards with balance was cited in last credit report as the only negative factor to my credit score.  Hopefully, paying of the balance and stop using another card can move me closer to 800. On December 31, 2009, we had $4,257.37 on all credit cards, a reduction of $1,551.69 (26.71%) from previous month.
• Cash(+): As I used some cash to pay off the credit card, we put less money in savings accounts last month. At the end of the month, we had $226,135.26 in all savings and checking accounts, another record for us. The increase from last month was $2,982.34 (1.34%). I was thinking of getting a new savings account since we have a large amount of cash and all the accounts I have now pay only 1.50% APY. But I gave up the idea because, from what I noticed, banks still cut rate, even though at smaller steps.
• Taxable accounts(+): Our taxable investments beat the S&P but underperformed the Nasdaq last month.  On paper, we had a total of $321,397.39 in stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. Comparing to November 2009, the market value increased $4,900.78 (1.55%). After purchasing two IPO stocks in November, I didn’t make new stock purchases last month, but I did add a few more shares when 7 Days Group Holdings Limited (SVN) dropped to $11.50. From now on, I probably won’t move new money to brokerage accounts since I want to keep the cash for house downpayment, but the regular monthly purchase of mutual funds and some DSPP stocks will continue.
• Retirement accounts(+++++): For the second straight time, we did much better with our retirement accounts than taxable accounts, which is quite interesting, though the total monthly contribution to retirement accounts is also bigger. At the end of the month, the market value of our 401(k) and IRA accounts was $308,763.99, gaining $17,347.95 (5.95%) from November.
• 529 plans(++++): For four months since September, we got a huge help from the Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 plan referral program. Like all good things, the program ended last month andI am grateful to those who used my referral to open an account. As a result of the referral program and performance of the market, our 529 plan market value reached $29,519.79 , an increase of $1,470.23 (5.24%) from November.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $100 (0.61%) last month to $16,584.24 due to our monthly purchase of $100 I-Bonds.

Now let’s see how we did in 2009.

When 2009 started, it appeared to be the worst time for many in a long, long time. And when the stock market subsequently hit multi-year low in March, I was pretty upset to see our net work got smaller and smaller. But I stayed  the course and took advantage of the market slump to grab some shares at prices I considered as ridiculously low. Now looking back, 2009 was actually a pretty good year given the losses we had in 2008 and March lows were indeed bottom of the market. My strategy of keeping investing through the tough times instead of bailing out paid off. Year-to-date, our net worth has nearly doubled with an increase of $427,712.71 (90.47%). If comparing to the February low, the gain is an even more impressive 102%.

It was a bumpy road for us the past two years, but I am glad we did quite well so far. Next target, spend the money we have saved so far to buy a home before May, if possible, to get the credit the government is offering.

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Can’t believe it’s the last month of 2009 already.

November turned out to be a very good month for us, especially for our investments which so far have been the main driver of our net worth growth. Overall, the stock markets worked in our favor in November, with the Dow gaining 6.51%, the Nasdaq adding 4.86%, and the S&P 5.74%. With that kind of help from the stock markets, our net worth last month grew $55,196.76 (6.76%) compared to a month before to reach a new high of $872,296.15.

The following is the breakdown of the net worth:

• Credit card balance(—-): Last month, we reduced our credit card balance by $659.09 (10.19%) to a total of $5,809.06. Of the total balance, more than $1,800 is from 0% APR loan on a card that I obtained in 2008. As we are considering buy a house early next year, I am thinking of paying that balance and closing the account if it helps my credit score. I don’t really need that card anyway.
• Cash(+): In October, we saw the biggest increase of cash for us to date, thanks to the fat check we received from selling our house in New Jersey. This month things have returned to normal, including the pace of growing our cash reserve. In November, the total balance in our savings and checking accounts reached $223,152.92, the highest level for us after an increase of $2,672.61 (1.21%) from the month before. The increase last month is actually smaller compared to the average monthly growth so far this year. For this month, the gain could be even smaller because of holiday spending, even though we didn’t buy a lot of stuff in Thanksgiving holiday.
• Taxable accounts(+++): Our taxable investments did much better last month than the month before. On November 30th, we had a total market value of $316,496.61 in taxable accounts which investments including both stocks and mutual funds. Most of our taxable investments are held in brokerage account at Scottrade. The increase in market value in November is $22,864.45 (7.79%) from October.  In November, I bought two IPO stocks, both with Scottrade. One is Dollar General (DG) which I purchased at $22.69; the other one is 7 Days Group Holdings Limited (SVN), a Chinese economic hotel chain operator, purchased at $12.50. So far these two stocks are doing quite well.
• Retirement accounts(+++++): Our retirement accounts did even better last month after a steep in October. The market value of our 401(k) and IRA accounts at the end of the month was at $291,416.04, a gain of $26,409.68 (9.97%) from previous month.  I don’t have explanation of what caused the big jump as most of our investments are in index funds which are supposed to be quite stable in terms of short-term performance. Anyway, I am happy to take the nearly double-digit monthly gain
• 529 plans(++++): Once again, the 529 plans had another solid month in November, largely due to some bonuses we received last month from the Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 accounts referral program (see how you can get $50 bonus from CollegeAdvantage). At the end of November, the total market value of our 529 plans was $28,049.56, an increase of $2,205.45 (8.53%) from October.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $100 (0.61%) last month to $16,484.24 due to our monthly purchase of I-Bonds.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $399,535.84 (84.51%). Year-over-year, the net gain is $423,371.15 (94.31%).

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I feel that the last few days of October kind of ruined the whole month for investors. Even though the Dow closed above the physiologically important, but symbolic 10,000 mark for the first time in a year in October, the stock market sold off in the second half of the month. Major indices closed October on the negative territory with the exception of the Dow, which was break-even for the month. The Nasdaq was the biggest loser, giving up 3.64% in October while the S&P lost 1.98%.

As the stock market did poorly last month, so did our net worth as we have a large portion of our assets invested in the stock market. Fortunately, we got a huge boost from the proceeds of selling our house. So October still turned out to be a very good month for us as we saw our net worth grew $90, 460.66 (12.45%) from the month before to $817,099.39, another record high for us.

The following is the breakdown of the net worth:

• Credit card balance(++): The total credit card balance increased another $308.71 (5.01%) last month to $6,468.15. The increase is entirely due to the whole month of tuition we charged on our credit card. Without that, the everyday charges is actually less than the previous month as we settled in our new home in Virginia. BTW, more than $1,800 of the credit card balance is from 0% loan. Subtracting that and the monthly tuition, we only charge about $2,700 a month for our daily expenses.
• Cash(+++++): This is where the positive gain came from. We finally sold our house last month and received the payment of about $96K at the end of October after commissions and fees. Since we have lived in the house for more than 5 years and have done some upgrades, we actually didn’t make any from the sale. But we are glad that we sold the house in the tough market. At the end of October, we have $220,480.31 in our bank accounts. That’s an increase of $105,370.60 (91.54%) from the month before.
• Taxable accounts(–): Our investments in taxable accounts didn’t do very well last month, in line with the performance of the general market. At the end of the month, the total market value of our taxable investments is $293,632.16 in various brokerage and mutual fund accounts. That’s was $4,009.63 (1.35%) less than what we had a month ago. Initially, I thought I may be a few IPO shares last month, but that didn’t happen. The only new investments made in taxable accounts last months were monthly mutual funds purchase of $600 and $400 in DRIP stocks.
• Retirement accounts(—-): It kind of surprised me that the biggest loser last month is our retirement investments, despite that we made our last quarterly contribution to our IRA accounts this year. Overall, we lost $11,055.97 (4.00%) on paper in our 401(k)s and IRAs. The total market is $265,006.36 at the end of October. The good news is that we now both contributed to the maximum amount allowed in our IRA accounts.
• 529 plans(+): We got a few more bonuses last month from the Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 accounts referral program (see how you can get $50 bonus from CollegeAdvantage), which helped this part of our investments to stay positive. On October 31st, we had $25,844.11 in 529 accounts, an increase of $238.03 (0.95%) from September.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $154.68, (0.95%) last month to $16,384.24.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $344,339.08 (72.84%). Year-over-year, the net gain is $351,162.66 (75.37%).

Now that our *old* house is gone, we want to buy our next *new* permanent place next year before our current lease expires in September. For that, we have been saving quite aggressively for the downpayment, with a large portion in our savings accounts. Our goal before we buy the house is to have $1 million in net worth and $300K in cash for next house. To reach that goal, we will need to increase our net worth by a little short of $200K in about 8 to 10 months, which is quite ambitious. Is the goal reachable? I think we have a good chance given that we had increased our net worth by more $250 in the first 9 months of this year. Of course, we have to get a lot of help from the stock market to reach $1,000,000 next summer

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It’s official. The house in New Jersey where we called home for more than five years is no longer our property.

Four months after we put the house on the market, the sale of the house was officially closed today. Though we haven’t got the money yet, all the paperwork are signed and the keys of the house are in the hands of the new owner now.

Overall, it’s a long process, but rather smooth one, except the first two and a half months when we had a lot of showings, but no offer. Just as we thought we might have to move to Virginia with the house still on the market (we were also preparing to rent it out at that time), all of a sudden, a flood of offers came in at the end of August and we were able to leave for VA with a solid contract and a target closing date.

Things went quite well afterward. The home inspection didn’t find any serious problems and we only needed to give the new owner $500 credit to fix a couple of minor issues identified in the inspection report. After we left, our agent helped us arrange a professional cleaning of the house and obtain necessary safety inspection from the township. Everything was done on schedule on our part. Though there was a little delay for the buyer to get the mortgage, nothing major happened.

The check will probably be mailed to us next Monday. Once we get the money, we can start to look for our new, permanent place

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Another solid month is in the books.

September didn’t turn out to be the month of market sell-off as I heard from some predictions when the month began. To the contrary, September was a good month for stock investors with all major indices finishing the month in positive territories: The Dow gained 2.2% for the month, the Dasdaq surged 5.6% and the S&P climbed 3.6%. As a result of the strong performance of the stock market, we saw our net worth jumped to a new level, crossing the $700K mark for the first time. At the end end of September, we had a total of $726,638.74 on paper in our savings and investment accounts, an increase of $32,811.62, or 4.73%, from the month before, the 7th straight monthly increase since March.

The following is the breakdown of the net worth:

• Credit card balance(+++++): A huge increase in our total credit  card balance last month, but not because we suddenly spent 18.41% more in September. A jump of $957.79 was entirely due to that we now can pay our children’s tuition with a Discover card. It means that we not only got to keep the money a little longer, but also receive 1% cashback by switching from cash to credit card. At the end of September, we had a total of $6,159.44 on our credit cards.
• Cash(+++): Comparing to the month before, we increased our cash savings by $5,117.48, or 4.65%, in September, to a total of $115,109.71, the highest level for us. We were hoping that the sale of our old house could complete at the end of last month, but it didn’t happen due to an issue with the FHA loan the buyers are getting, thus, there was no a 100% increase in cash last month. The issue seems to have been resolved. So the close could be this week.
• Taxable accounts(++): Our investments in taxable accounts, including both mutual funds and individual stocks, returned nicely last month, thanks to the strong performance in the stock market. At the end of the month, we had a total of $297,641.80 in brokerage and mutual fund accounts. The  increase was $13,372.87, or 4.34% compare to last month. Again, there was no additional new money added into taxable accounts except regular monthly purchases. This month, however, I am thinking of making some new purchases, especially a couple of new IPO stocks that I am interested in.
• Retirement accounts(++++): And once again, our retirement investments outperformed taxable accounts. In September, the market value of our  401(K)s and IRAs increased by $13,731.65 to a total of $276,062.33. The gain is equivalent to 5.23%, mainly from contributions to our 401(K) accounts. So far we haven’t maxed out neither 401(K) nor IRA accounts, but contributions to IRA account will reach the limit this month.
• 529 plans(+++++): I want to thank those who used my referral link to open their Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 accounts (see how you can get $50 bonus from CollegeAdvantage). Without them, our 529 plans would not have the best performance, percentage wise, last month among all categories. For September, our529 accounts increased $2,079.37, or 8.84%, to $25,606.08, with more than half of the gain coming from new contributions.
• Bonds(+): Our investment in bonds grew $143.04, or 0.89%, last month to $16,229.56.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $253,878.42 (53.70%). Year-over-year, the net gain is $161,664.49 (28.61%).

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2. October 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
3. March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
4. November 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
5. August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Early last month, we moved from New Jersey to Virginia due to job changes. It was by far the longest relocation we had and a very stressful event because we basically had to deal with everything ourselves, from searching a new place in VA to the eventual 250-mile move. When all was done, we found that we didn’t take a hit in our wallet. The total cost of moving was well within the budget we allocated for the move.

So how did we reduce the cost of our big move? In a guest post at Quicken Blog, I shared some tips on how we saved money when relocating. Check it out and let me know if you have anything to add to the list.

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1. We’re Moving
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4. Stocks Saved the Worst for the Last, Closing at 5-Year Low
5. Moving from ShareBuilder to Zecco

How was your Labor Day long weekend? Did you enjoy the last holiday of the summer?

For us, the past three days were probably the busiest and crazies days in a long time (and that’s why I didn’t post anything since Saturday).

Ever since we decided to move to Virginia because of my wife’s job change, we had started to pack up and begun to move some of our belongings, those we won’t use for a while, to my relative’s place in Maryland when I was commuting between New Jersey and Virginia every week. Despite the early start, we still had a lot of stuff that needed to be put in boxes until the last minute. Because the moving day was last Sunday, September 6th, there was no holiday break for us. No beach, no pool, no barbecue. Instead, we spent the entire holiday weekend packing, moving, and unpacking

Since we moved from a house into a 2-bedroom apartment, it’s not difficult to imagine what the apartment looked like once the truck was unloaded: We can hardly find a place to sit down and take a break when every piece of furniture and box were moved in. Though the apartment has only two bedrooms, there are enough closets to put our stuff so after less two days, there was no box on the floor.

Tuesday was the first day to work from our new home and I already felt the pain of commuting in the DC area (not that I didn’t feel it when I had to drive back to NJ every Thursday or Friday afternoon): The 22-mile drive in the morning took me almost one hour. Fortunately, I don’t have to go this far for long because our company will be moving to a new location at the end of this month, cutting the distance in half.

Except the commute, we like this new place quite well. So do our daughters. Yesterday was also the first day both kids went to their new school and they told us they like it and look forward to going back tomorrow

*Photo from history.com

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1. Financial Impact of Moving from New Jersey to Virginia
2. Switching to Virginia Education Savings Trust (VEST) Plan
3. Virginia Offers Small Loans to State Employees
4. How We Saved Money when Moving
5. “When It Rains, It Pours”

Another good month is in the books. Though the August performance isn’t as good as July, it’s still good enough to push our net worth to another all-time high, which is pretty exciting. The gain in August is the sixth in a row since March. Comparing to the returns of the stock market last month (the Dow up 3.5%, the S&P 3.4%, and the Nasdaq 1.5%), the gain of 4.43% in our net worth again exceeded the market performance. Overall, we added $29,424.84 in August from the previous month. The total on August 31st is $693,827.11.

The breakdown of the net worth calculation for August looks like this:

• Credit card balance(—–): We made big progress in reducing our credit card balance last month as we charged $1,028.02 less (16.50%) on our credit cards. The balance on our credit cards total at $5,201.65 at the end of last month. Actually, our spending wasn’t as much as I expected, though I have been commuting between NJ and VA every week since July.
• Cash(+++): The increase in our cash is still quite impressive last month, though the amount was only half of the increase in July. At the end of August, we had a total of $109,992.23 (not include some $40 in my pocket) in a number of savings and checking accounts. So far this year, we have been doing very well in saving money for our next house down payment. However, the pace will slow down next month as both our children will go to daycare and the tuition is much higher than what we pay in NJ. The good thing is that we sold our house so we don’t have to pay rent and mortgage at the same time. I mentioned early that I opened a EverBank Money Market account in July. Now I have most of our money in the account to enjoy the 3.01% APY promotional rate. BTW, when the sale is closed in October, this part will get a significant boost after we get the check (probably around $100,000).
• Taxable accounts(++): Though the overall gain in our net worth exceeded the return of the stock market last month, our taxable investments, including both individual stocks and mutual funds, actually lagged the market. For August, the increase in our taxable accounts was $6,538.10 (2.35%)  and the total market value reached $285,268.92. Except monthly contributions to mutual funds we have been investing for years, no new money was added to taxable accounts last month and I didn’t make any new stock purchase either.
• Retirement accounts(+++): I was surprised when I saw my 401(k) account at Fidelity gained more than 15% last month (including both new contributions and change in market value). I haven’t looked into all the details yet, so I am not very clear where the huge gain exactly came from. With every retirement accounts include, the overall gain in this part last month is $15,306.14 (6.20%) and the total was $262,330.68.
• 529 plans(++++): Somehow the performance of our 529 investments has been surprisingly strong for months, despite that we mostly buy index funds. Last month, the total market value in 529 plans increased $1,619.03 (7.39%) to $23,526.71. Of course for 529 plans, new contributions ($600 a month) is a much bigger part relatively than in other accounts.
• Bonds(+): For the bond part, the total increase last month was $152.84 (0.94%) and the total was $16,086.52.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $221,066.80 (46.76%). Year-over-year, the net gain is $113,576.69 (19.57%).

Following is a chart that compares the growth of our net worth since July 2006 when I started the tracking and the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the same period. If I had $1 dollar back then, now it has grown to $1.95. The Dow, on the other hand, only has 82 cents at the end of August.

I am glad that we almost doubled our net worth in 3 years.

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3. July 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
4. September 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
5. November 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

I think this describes the best how we feel right now, but it’s all good.

Our agent says “Things are heating up!” and they really are.

This time last week, we were worried that we may have to leave our house on the market, hoping either to sell it if we are lucky or rent it out before the winter comes, after we move to Virginia in early September. Then we got an offer last Thursday which, after a couple of rounds of negotiations, we accepted though it wasn’t the kind of offer we have hoped to get. Then yesterday, another offer came in, but it wasn’t as good as the first one, so we rejected it. But the competition just won’t stop. This afternoon, we received another offer to buy our house, the third one in five days. And it’s much better than the first one: The price is only $5,000 less than our listed price and the buyer doesn’t ask for concession. Eventually, we will get $7,000 more than what we could get from the first buyer

Our agent called the company which provided the potential buyer’s mortgage pre-approval (another FHA loan) and he said the buyer’s condition seems to be pretty good (better than the first buyer). So the decision is quite easy to make. Our agent told the first buyer we have a new offer and if they still want the house, they will have to remove the demand for cashback. But they didn’t.

Can’t believe all the sudden our house becomes so hot

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2. House and Job Update
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4. We Sold Our House!
5. What Is FHA Loan?

That’s the good news . The bad news is the final price, after all the costs and cashback (no including the upgrade we did), is likely to be lower than the price we paid 5 years ago when we bought the house . But in this environment, we are still happy that we got an offer before moving.

Thursday eventing, our agent told us that the buyer, who has already come to see the house twice, has made an offer to buy our house for $238K with up to $13K seller’s concession. The offer wasn’t very impressive because that not only the price is quite low, but also the buyer’s financial situation isn’t very solid. Of the couple who makes the offer, the husband is still in the graduate school, so he doesn’t have any income. Only the wife is listed as buyer, but she is now only working in a hospital as an intern (a physician in the future). The buyer plans to put down nearly $8,000 as deposit, but no other down-payment at closing. All the reset will come from loan and they will apply for a FHA loan. We have no idea how much an intern in a hospital makes every month, but the buyer did provide a pre-approval letter for the amount of $250K loan from an institution that I have never heard of together with the offer (I did Googled it and it seems legit).

We discussed the offer with our agent yesterday. Though he also isn’t very confident, he said we can make a counter offer to see if they are still interested in further negotiation. So we lowered the price by $5,000. The buyer almost immediately responded with an increased price, which is a good sign. Then today after one more round of back and forth, we reached an agreement with the buyer: $247K as the sale price with $9,500 cashback and the buyer will put down $9,100. The closing date is one month from now and the total commission is 5%.

After having the house on the market for more than 2 months and having to reduce the list price by $10K, this offer of course isn’t the one that gets us excited. But we will take what we can get at this moment. If the sale can go through, it will save us a lot of trouble because we really don’t want to rent the house out, then one year later go through the same process again. Plus, having the money in our hands will give us the flexibility we need when looking for a permanent place next spring.

Now we still need to keep our fingers crossed and hope the buyer get the mortgage.

BTW, here are some weekend readings:

• The Myth of Stable Employment
• Use Low Interest Rate Credit Cards To Lower Your Debt
• The Value of Establishing a Permanent Residence
• How to Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits – Eligibility Requirements
• 7 Frugal Vacation Ideas in Newport, Rhode Island
• How to Save Money on Travel
• 7 Ways to Save Money on Back to School Shopping
• 5 Tips to Avoid Overdraft Fees

photo credit: Azhure*

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5. Sold on Amazon, Again

I should have done this last month for the mid-year checkup, but didn’t get time to record all the data and I had to delay the update to this month.

In the past, I have reviewed our investments, mainly taxable stock and mutual fund investment. The reason I skipped retirement investments before is that some of those investments, especially in the 401(k) accounts, don’t have a ticker symbol, so it’s impossible to analyze the assets allocation. This time, I think I should give a complete account of all our investments, including taxable stock and mutual fund investment and retirement investments, even those can’t be represented by symbols.

Individual Stocks

Over the years, I have opened a number of brokerage accounts, as I mentioned in my broker web-based trading platform review post. However, there’s only one account that I am very actively using now and it’s Scottrade. Most of my individual stocks were purchased through Scottrade, even though it charges the highest commission ($7 per trade) among brokers I have account with.

The following is a list of all the stocks and ETFs I currently own (current price is the price of July 31, so is the market value). Yes, it’s a long list. However, I don’t plan to hold onto every single stock in the list. In fact, many were picked up early this year when shares were beaten down badly. I used a relatively small fund (a little more than $10,000) to acquire lots of shares in cheap, and they have done very well since then. For those, I have a time frame of holding them for only one year. By next spring, I will probably cash out most of them to raise fund for our next house down payment Stocks I will definitely keep include LFC, PGJ, V, MO, PM, and those purchased through DRIP programs (PG, PGN, XOM, and BAC).

In addition to Scottrade, I also have positions with Zecco, TradeKing, and Firstrade.

Mutual Funds

Comparing to individual stock investments, our mutual fund holdings are relatively stable and much smaller. Actually, I have been buying most of those funds for years, the newest addition is Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund (ADVDX) that I started 2 years ago. I used to buy a lot more funds, but gradually cut down the number of funds over the years and now I own all the asset classes that I want to own (large-cap, small-cap, international, precious metal, and REIT), except bond. It’s not that I don’t need to bond fund (I do buy I-bond regularly though). The reason for not having bond fund here is that I want to maximize the long-term growth potential when I can.

I buy new shares into these funds (except TGLDX) every month through their automatic investment plans, in good times and bad. While it was kind of pain to watch all the funds take a noise dive last year, I am not worried about the short-term volatility in the market. I just kept buying. Sooner or later, the benefit of these purchases will show in the performance.

Currently, all the accounts are hold at their respective fund company. I didn’t use any broker to buy mutual funds because there’s usually additional charge involved (except ADVDX, which was purchased through Fidelity without any fee until recently).

IRA Accounts

As you can see, all funds in our taxable accounts are actively managed funds. I have explained why we buy actively managed mutual funds instead of low-case, index funds before, so I am not going to repeat here. Basically, I am not against using index funds. That’s why I use mostly Vanguard index funds in our IRA accounts.

For this part, I want to use the minimum effort to manage the investments. Except making quarterly purchases, I almost did nothing to our IRA accounts, only rebalancing the accounts once last year when I moved some bond assets to stock funds to take advantage of the market condition. Due to the annual contribution limit, I can’t do what I usually do in other accounts when rebalancing, i.e., adding new money to underperformed assets without actually selling anything. The good thing is that there’s no extra cost when moving money from one fund to another withing Vanguard.

For IRA accounts, our investments are actually quite heavy in bonds (VIPSX, VBIIX, and DODBX). That’s quite different from what we have in our taxable mutual fund investments.

401(k) Accounts

Well, our 401(k) investments can be summarized by three words “what a mess”. Because this is the only part in our portfolio that we don’t have fully control on what we can buy and from where we can buy, the investments in our 401(k) plans are far more complicated than any other investments since the plan sponsors all have their different fund selections. Making the situations even worst is every time we change our jobs, we get a new plan with new funds and have to start all over again. I changed job a couple of time in the past 5 years, so I end up having 3 different 401(k) accounts

Of course, we can make our life much easier by rolling over our old 401(k) accounts to our IRA accounts at Vanguard. Actually, I have thought about the roll-over for a long time, but just seem never got the time to do it. Now looking at the performance of the stock market recently, I guess I have missed the best opportunity I could have to do the conversion, though dumping those holdings in the old plans at  multi-year lows doesn’t seem to be the best strategy either. Anyway, at some point, I will have to pull the trigger. It’s just too much

OK, that’s it. Except some simplifications,  I am pretty happy with our investments so far. I have heard that different investments, no matter where they are held, should be treated as they are in one portfolio with one single asset allocation plan. Here, what I am doing is just the opposite: I basically have one asset allocation for each account.

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3. July 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
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5. August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Our house has been on the market for nearly two months already and we still don’t have a buyer. Things were looking pretty good when we received an offer in the third week. However, it failed to go through as we were not able to reach an agreement with the potential buyer, even though we accepted the offered price that was $20,000 below our listing price with a few conditions. There are quite some showings every week, but no other offer came in.

After discussing with our agent, we decided to lower the listing price by $10,000 this week to see if anybody would be interested. I told our agent that this is the lowest listing price we can go right now. If it still doesn’t work, then we will have to wait another time to sell it. We plan to give it one or two more months, then we will move it to the rental market before winter comes. According to our agent, we could rent the house for anywhere between $1,800 and $2,100 a month, which is significantly higher than our current monthly mortgage payment plus HOA fee.

Even though we can rent the house at a decent price, we are reluctant to do so because we are not ready to become landlord. There are just too many things to do and with us being 250 miles away, managing the property won’t be an easy job. So instead, we may have to heir somebody else (such as our agent) to manage it for us. Plus, if we only want to rent it out for one year, we will miss next summer to sell the house. We don’t like this idea of getting into the landlord business, but will have to do that if nothing happens in the next month or two.

On the other hand, our search for a place to rent in Virginia has finally come to a close, almost. We made an offer to a 3-bedroom condo last week, however it was turned down because on the same day (maybe a little ahead of us), the owner received another person who can move earlier than we do. I told our agent we are upset not because we didn’t get the house, but that the owner will not let us get the house anyway (because he told me he doesn’t want to lose any rent) if the other applicant qualifies, but he still ran a credit check on both of us. I don’t understand why he had to check our credit when he already has a preference of whom he wants to rent his house to. Then we made another offer to a 3-level, 2-bedroom townhouse, which was accepted almost immediately. We have already received the least, but haven’t signed it because there are some issues need to be addresses. For example, the owner has already agreed that if we don’t ask them to have the carpet professionally cleaned before we move in, they will not ask us to do the same when we move out. However, they still have an item on the lease, saying that carpet, gutters and chimney need to be cleaned by professional company acceptable to the landlord with paid receipts as proof. Even though we have never rented a private house before, I think this is too much to ask us to do. Well, don’t count on us to clean those stuff for them if they don’t clean them up first and show us the receipts.

Update: After going through the contract carefully and thoroughly, we decided that it’s not a contract we want to sign because it contains too many clauses, making it not worth it to rent the place for only one year. Instead, we got an 2-bedroom apartment. It’s much more straightforward to rent a managed apartment then a private house.

photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

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5. House for Sale: Then $639,900, Now $624,900

What a difference one month has made!

Given how much better the overall stock market has performed in July (the Dow up 8.6%, the S&P 7.4%, and the Nasdaq 7.8%), I expected a good month for our net worth. However, I am very surprised, and pleased, after finishing the calculation that not only it increased fifth straight month in a row, but also the rate exceeded the gain of the stock market. I am even more impressed that after reaching the peak in October 2007 before the market crushed and recession began, our net worth is now at a new high.

However, while the overall number looks good, we are still far away from where we were two years ago in our investments. For example, the total market value of our taxable investments was nearly $70K more then than now, despite tens of thousands of dollars new money we had put in those investments in the past 21 months. So the gain in our net worth came more from our new savings than returns of investments, even though the market has recovered a lot since reaching multi-year low in March.

Comparing to the month of June, our net worth in July rose $63,155.58 to a total of $664,402.27. The gain equals a 10.50% increase from the previous month.

The breakdown of the net worth calculation for July looks like this:

• Credit card balance(++): Our total credit card balance increased for second straight month in July, even though not by much, as I started to commute back and forth between VA and NJ last month. At the end of the month, we had a total of $6,229.67 balance on our credit cards. That’s an increase of $308.10, or 5.20%, from last month. A few one-time charges, such as our car insurance premium, also contributed to the overall increase. I expect our credit card balance to keep increasing in the next few months as we settle down in Virgina.
• Cash(+++): Our cash savings has been a bright spot for quite a long time and it shined once again in July as we saw our savings in checking and savings accounts increased by $9.552.85, or 10.01%, in July to a total of $105,014.18. Of the increase, $5,000 came from a tax-exempted lump sum payment from my wife’s employer to help us relocate. Other than that, there’s no other assistance from her company. Right now, most of our cash is in a new bank account I opened last month. No, it’s not Ally Bank. Actually, I was so disappointed that I moved all my money out from Ally Bank. With the new bank, I am enjoying a much higher return, but I have to say that the rate chasing isn’t fun at all.
• Taxable accounts(+++++): Well, our stock and mutual fund investments have finally ahead of all other categories in gains last month, both the dollar amount and the rate. As I mentioned above, July was a decent month for the overall stock market and that helped our taxable investments tremendously. The increase in market value last month was $32,001.93, or 12.97%, even though I didn’t put any new money in any broker account in July. At the end of the month, the total market value of our taxable investments is $278,730.82. The largest gain, percentage wise, came from E*Trade Global Trading Account, which registered a gain of 17.74% thanks to the stronger rebound of Chinese stocks. Going forward, I expect those stocks I bought at cheap early this year to contribution even more as the recovery continues. Last month, I opened a new broker account at OptionsHouse, but I was so annoyed by some of its requirements after tying it that I don’t plan to use it any more.
• Retirement accounts(++): July is one of the months when we make our quarterly contributions to our IRA accounts. So with more new money going into the retirement accounts, the gain was also quite significantly. For the month, gains in our 401(k) and IRA accounts reached $19,580.69, or 8.61%,  bringing the total market value to $247,024.54.
• 529 plans(+++):  It turned out that our college savings accounts were the second best performer last month, gaining $2,074.33, or 10.46%, to end the month at $21,907.68. Even though $600 of the increase came from new contributions, I am still happy with the performance since we use only index funds and target-date funds in 529 plans.
• Bonds(+): For the bond part, the total increase last month was $200.04, or 1.27%, to a total of $15,933.68.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $191,641.96, or 31.49%. Year-over-year, the net gain is $98,491.80, or 17.40%.

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3. August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
4. June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
5. March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

After three straight months of robust growth of our net worth, which added a total of $148,420.12 to our paper wealth, the gain in June was a little disappointing. Nonetheless, I am still very happy to see that the positive trend has been extended into the forth month, even though the stock market didn’t exactly cooperate in the way as it did in April and May. At the end of June, our net worth totals at $603,388.84. Comparing to the month of May, the gain is $8,588.62, or 1.44%. The gain in both dollar amount and percentage are much smaller than the previous three months.

The breakdown of the net worth calculation for June is as follows:

• Credit card balance(++++): Our total credit card balance in June increased rather significantly percentage wise. At the end of the month, we had $3,778.97 charged on our credit cards, an increase of $315.29, or 9.10%, from May. The increase in spending is related to a few minor projects that we did on our house last month before putting it on the market, which I think is worth it. Since now I am working in Virginia, I expect our spending in the next couple of months to be higher than usual, hopefully not by too much.
• Cash(++++): For a second month in a row, our savings in checking and savings accounts increased by $6,654.42, or 7.49%, in June to $95,461.33. Last month, I finally opened an Ally Bank Savings Account after considering whether I should do it or not for weeks. However, I wasn’t very happy with the bank when I was trying to open another CD account a couple of days ago. At the end, I didn’t move any more money to the account as I planed to do. Most of my savings is now back to Dollar Savings Direct. After all these trouble opening the account, I am very disappointed it ended like this. Maybe one day, I can still use the bank, but not now.
• Taxable accounts(—): As I was busy with job interviews and selling our house last month, I didn’t add any new money in broker accounts and didn’t buy any new stock in June either and my existing stock investments didn’t do well as the market was struggling a little bit (even though finished the quarter with the most gain in 10 years). The only new investment in taxable account last month was Exxon Mobile stock that I bought through DSPP program at ComputerShare. I scheduled the purchase in May, but it only started last month. For June, our taxable investments in brokerage accounts and mutual fund companies lost $2,633.59, or 1.05%, to a total of $246,728.44.
• Retirement accounts(++): Relatively speaking, our retirement investments did a little better, at least they ended the month in positive territory. For the month, the retirement accounts gained $3,987.31, or 1.78%, to reach a total of $227,443.85. Again, no other new money was added to those accounts last month except 401(k) contributions.
• 529 plans(+++): The gain in our investments in 529 accounts last month is the highest among investment accounts, percentage wise. On June 30th, the total market value of 529 accounts was $19,833.85, up $855.55, or 4.67%, from May.
• Bonds(+): I am still buy $100 I-bond every month, just to keep the only bond investment outside retirement accounts going. For the bond part, the gain in June was $128.96, or 83%, to a total of $15,733.64.

Year-to-date, our net worth has increased $130,628.53, or 27.63%. Year-over-year, the net gain is $34,993.56, or 6.16%. It’s the first time we saw year-over-year gain in a long, long time.

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5. April 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Today is my first day at this new job.

The job is from the second employer that I was interviewed a few weeks ago. It’s a division of  the same employer who offered my very first job 9 years ago and does business mostly with the government. I got offers from the first two employers rather quickly. After evaluating the nature of the jobs, locations, and benefits, I decided to take the offer from the second employer mainly because the job is much more related to what I did before and the location is closer to where we are going to leave. So the decision is relatively an easy one.

The salary of this new job is about 15% higher than the salary of my previous job. In addition, I also get 4 weeks of vacation to start, 8% match of 401(k) contribution, plus an annual bonus that’s 10% of the base salary. The benefit is much better than what I got from my last employer. After the first day at my last job two years ago, I was very disappointed by what I had to do every day. For the time that I spent with the company, I never liked what I did, even though it also paid quite nicely. I hope that won’t happen to this new job

Now I am still waiting to hear from the last interview I took last week. It’s a very nice company (one of Forbes 100 Best Companies To Work For) and the job also matches my background quite well. I don’t know whether there will be an offer or not. If it does come, then it will be a much tougher decision to make between the job I am having now and the latest offer. But that’s not something I need to worry at this moment.

Now I am just going to enjoy my first day at my new job

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After some delay, we finally put our house on the market.

This afternoon, we called one of the agents we talked with before and signed all the paperwork with him so we can get the process started.  Originally, the plan was to list the house at the beginning of the month, but now it’s the middle of the month already. We can’t afford more delays if we want to sell the house before the new school year begins. We were told that June, July, and August are the best time to sell a house.

The realtor we hired seems to be quite easy-going (we didn’t use the realtor who helped us buy the house five years ago because she was a little pushy). He has been in this business for more than 12 years, bought his first house also in this community, so he’s very familiar with the market. After we mentioned to him that we prefer to sign a three-month first instead of six-month, he gladly agreed. As for the commission, the maximum we will pay is 5% under normal condition. If the agent finds a buyer himself, then the commission is reduced to 4%; if we can bring in a buyer, then we only need to pay him 2.5% commission.

Now let’s wait and see how it goes.

My job search, on the other hand, went much more smoothly than I thought. As expected, I got my first offer yesterday, from the second interview a couple of days ago, not the first one last week. Speaking of the job offer, it’s quite ironic that after more than 8 years, I may work for the same employer who offered me my first job after graduating from school. And more ironically, I finally could make more now from this job than from my first job That’s 8 years, back to where I started as a new graduate.

The job hunting could end very soon, given how it has gone so far. Next week, there will be another, maybe the last, interview with one of the 100 Best Companies To Work For. Since it’s a big company, I don’t expect it to be a quick process. So I guess my best bet is take the offer I just got, then see what will come out of the next interview.

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5. We Bought the House!

There are just so many things going on recently that I wasn’t able to find time to post anything.

First, our 4-year old was diagnosed with Strep last Thursday. She started to cough a little bit on Tuesday, then woke with a mild fever on Thursday. Since New Jersey is one of the hardest hit states by the Swine flue virus, her symptoms really made us nervious. When we called the school she attends, we were told that there were other three kids called in sick last week. Fortunately, she tested positive for Strep and that explains the fever. After a couple of doses of antibiotic, she appeared to be recovering very well.

But that’s not the end the of it. Since Strep is highly contagious, we tried to separate the 4-year old from the rest of the family. But our effort failed badly. First was my wife, then me, then our 2-year old, all feeling ill over the weekend. And I was the worst. I had to bed rest for entire weekend to just get some strength back. Haven’t felt that sick for a long, long time. While nobody else was tested positive for Strep, we all had a little fever and sour throat and I have to take antibiotic as well

The timing couldn’t have been worse for us. Last week, we hired a contractor to fix a few minor issues around the house and plan to use the weekend to do some final clean up before putting the house on the market. That, of course, didn’t happen and it’s at least one more week of delay.

Then there are job interviews. My search for a job in the DC area has yielded some very positive results. After a few phone interviews, I went down to Maryland last Wednesday for my first face-to-face interview and will go to Virginia again for another interview Then there will be one more, at least, in two weeks in Virginia. I’d love to do all these interviews in a couple of days so I don’t have to drive 500 miles every week or two. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.

Anyway, this is a pretty busy period for us with a lot of things to do. Hopefully, I can keep up with the posts, when I have time

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4. House and Rent Update
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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.

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Not now, but in about two to three months.

We have been living in New Jersey for the past 13 years, moved a few times, but always in the state. Probably because of having been here for so long, we kind of like where we live. We think we are going to stay in NJ forever (OK, maybe not forever since nobody can see that far, but at least a long time), but it looks like that the time to leave has come earlier than we expected.

Early this month, my wife’s employer informed them that their location will be closed at the end of the year and all positions will be transferred to a location in northern Virginia. However, the move isn’t mandatory. Only those accepting the offer will go. For those who don’t want to move, they will eventually be let go if they can’t find a position within the company in the next few months. According to my wife, the rumor of consolidation has been around for quite a while, but it’s a little unexpected that it came down in this way. The company basically won’t provide any other assistance, except giving them $5,o00 to cover the moving cost. Not time off for relocation and, of course, no salary adjustment. It makes me wonder whether her employer really wants them. It’s more like just a tactic to get rid of a bunch of people.

Anyway, after evaluating our situation and comparing where we live now and the DC metro area, we decided that it’s better for my wife to take this offer and keep her job. Having gone through two economic downturns (the current one and the one eight years ago), we know that good jobs in our area are getting harder and harder to find. Maybe there will be more opportunities if we move. Also we have been to that area many times and we think it’s a nicer place to be. Living cost will be higher, but schools are better

Our House

Making the decision seems to be the easy part. What’s difficult is moving the whole family. Unlike previous times when there were just two of us and we could move with just a couple of days of notice in advance, we now have two children and a house that we have to sell, in a bad, bad housing market, on top of our things to do list.

For the house, our first option is sell it, even though we won’t need the money to buy a new house in at least 6 months. We have already asked a few agents to give us an estimate on the current market value of our house and based on the information we received, the price could be around $260K, slightly higher than the price we paid five years ago. One agent told us that one unit similar to ours was sold at nearly $275K in 2005, one year after we purchased ours. But 2005was almost at the peak of the housing market. Now, the market has gone back where it was five years ago. Even if we can price it a little lower (we didn’t do much upgrade since we moved in, only replaced the floor, the carpet, the refrigerator, the stove, and the furnace), selling it won’t be easy in a buyer’s market. Our agents told us that on average, it could take two to three months to sell a house like ours right now. We will be lucky if we can sell it before we move.

Another option we have been considering is to rent it out if we couldn’t find a buyer. One realtor’s estimate is $1,800 to $1,950 per month for our 3-bedroom townhouse. That’s more than our current monthly mortgage payment plus management fee. While it will be nice to have the house generate some income for us, there are some risks and difficulties associated with this option. Since we are going to be a place 250 miles away, we won’t be able to manage the house ourselves. Of course, we can always heir somebody to manage it for us, but that will cost us something around 10% of the monthly rent according to the realtor. That won’t leave us too much after the mortgage and fees. Plus, we can’t turn the house into a rental property completely, because soon we will need the money to buy a house in a place where houses can only be more expensive. So the best is to sell the house, even if it means we will make less from it.

Our Jobs

My wife’s employer won’t say anything about her position even after the move, so we don’t know what will happen later, with her being in a new environment under a new manager, though she will be doing the same job as she’s doing now as she was told. Since the new location is much bigger than the one in NJ, maybe she can find other opportunities. As for me, I have started looking for a job in that area and got a couple of phone calls already. Seems things went pretty well so far, though there isn’t an offer yet.

There are a lot of things we need to do before we pack and leave the Garden State. Actually, once we made the decision, we feel actually a little excited about going to a new place

photo credit: MattHurst

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On top of the 9% gain in March, our net worth grew strongly in April, due to the robust rebound in the stock market, even though we took out cash last month to pay taxes. Without house and vehicle related items, our net worth at the end of April showed a gain of $58,504.90 to $544,954.76, up 12.03% from a month. The percentage gain is the largest since I started tracking our net worth in July 2006.

Here are some details of how each category looks like on April 30th:

• Credit card balance(—-): I am very pleased with our effort to reducing credit card balance. After cutting the total balance by more than 29% in March, we lowered our credit balance by another $1,028.01, or 21.76%, to $3,696.36. Of course, credit card bills from previous couple of months were higher than normal due to some one-time charges.
• Cash(–): It’s not unexpected to see our cash in online bank accounts took a hit last month after we paid a large sum in federal and state income taxes and moved some money to fund my SEP-IRA account. However, the overall decline, $8,364.78, or 9.62%, appears to be smaller than expected. At the end of the month, we had a total of $78,547.42 in mostly online savings accounts such as Dollar Savings Direct and Bank of America Checking Account.
• Taxable accounts(++++): All our investment accounts grew in double-digit last month, with the gain in taxable accounts being the smallest percentage wise. As I mentioned early, I took advantage of the sharp decline in the stock market and bought many beaten-down stocks recently. My strategy paid off as our taxable investments gained $30,929.75, or 15.72%, last month to $227,653.46. Going forward, I expect this portion keeps doing well if the stock market continues to improve (at least May is off to a good start).
• Retirement accounts(+++++): Well, our retirement savings accounts are the winner of last month, because of the new SEP-IRA account addition. At the end of April, we had $208,060.06 in our IRA/401(k) accounts, up $32,440.84, or 18.47%, from the month before.
• 529 plans(+++): What is really impressive is that our investments in 529 accounts also sew a health gain last month. Since we use mostly index funds in those accounts, we kind of expect this part to be relatively stable. But the $2,377.58, or 16.16%, gain in April cannot be described as stable. At the end of the month, the market value of all 529 accounts was at $17,090.08.
• Bonds(+): We still bought I-bonds last month, but since the I-bond interest rate for the next 6 months will be zero, I am reconsidering whether we should keep buying. For the bond part, the gain in April is $171.28, or 1.12%, bringing the total to $15,432.08.

Year-to-date, our net worth gained $72,194.45 (15.27%), but year-over-year, it is still down $48,077.05 (8.11%).

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5. September 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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1. March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
2. September 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth
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