The Sun's Financial Diary » Net worth

February 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:17:07 +0000

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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February 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

January 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:21:24 +0000

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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January 2010 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

December 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:14:16 +0000

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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December 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

November 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:08:48 +0000

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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November 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

October 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:12:09 +0000

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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October 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

September 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:19:32 +0000

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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September 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:53:13 +0000

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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August 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

July 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:29:23 +0000

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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July 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:39:50 +0000

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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June 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

May 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:23:02 +0000

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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May 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

April 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:48:36 +0000

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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April 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:03:12 +0000

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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March 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

February 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:00:37 +0000

I was very surprised when I finished calculating our net worth at the end of February. With major stock indices losing more than 10% for the month, our net worth, with everything considered, only saw a moderate loss of $5,955.99 (1.32%) over a month ago to a total of $446,280.10 on February 28th.

Details of each category are as follows:

Credit card balance(—–): The biggest progress we made last month was to reduce our overall credit card balance by $10,096.93 (60.26%) to $6,659.45 after I paid off the remaining balance on my Citi Driver’s Edge card. There will be no more credit card arbitrage for, at least in a foreseeable future.
Cash(–): Even though we returned more than $10,000 borrowed money (at 0% APR of course) from our checking account, our cash position, surprisingly, didn’t take much hit. It turned out that the overall cash level was only reduced by $3,707.79 (4.04%) in February to a total of $88,030.89. Our savings got a boost last month after my wife received her annual bonus. Now that’s something really nice to have in this economy
Taxable accounts(-): We did relatively well with our taxable investments even though we were not able to produce a positive result. Somehow, we only lost $319.36 (0.19%) on paper last month to a total of $170,771.77 in our brokerage and mutual fund accounts. We did add new fund into our brokerage account at Scottrade last month to take advantage of the slumping stock prices, in addition to our regular monthly investments. Our hope is that once the stock market recovers, who knows when, we will benefit from the purchases we made now.
Retirement accounts(—): On the other hand, we were not that fortunate with our retirement investments, losing $11,526.88 (6.57%) in February to $164,045.38 in our IRA and 401(k) accounts. Since we only contribute to our IRAs quarterly, new contributions to our retirement accounts were very limited last month.
529 plans(–): Our daughters’ 529 accounts kept getting smaller and smaller each month, despite our sizeable new contributions. Last month, the accounts shrank by another $725.39 (5.32%) to $12,919.47.
Bonds(+): Even though the stock market performed poorly, we didn’t jump on the bond bandwagon with increased investments. Instead, we maintain our regular purchase of $100 I-bond per month. At the end of February, we had a total of $15,160.80 invested in I-bonds, up $170.34 (1.14%) from a month ago.

Comparing to the same period a year ago, our net worth dropped $104,462.73 (18.97%).

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February 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

January 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:55:21 +0000

After the 5.31% rebound in the last month of 2008, our net worth took a hit again in January, thanks to the 8.57% plunge (the S&P 500) of the stock market. On January 31, 2009, our net worth totaled at $452,236.08 without items related to house and cars. That’s $20,524.23 (4.34%) less than a month ago.

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

Credit card balance(+): Our total credit card balance increased by $501.84 (3.09%) to a total of $16,756.38. The increase is largely due to the $2,000 we put down when we replaced our furnace last month. The credit card balance will return to a normal level next month since I already sent payment to pay off the remaining balance on the Citi Driver’s Edge Card which I used to pay off our car loan a year ago.
Cash(++): The only good news is that we kept increasing our cash, despite the increase in our spending. For the month, we added $3,381.68 (3.83%) to our bank accounts, making the total at $91,738.68. This number is likely going to go down in the coming months because we seem to owe a sizable amount of taxes
Taxable accounts(—-): Big disappointment in this category as you can imagine, given the size of the drop in the stock market. Actually, our losses in taxable investment accounts matched the drop of the S&P, $15,715.45 (8.41%). At the end of the month, we had a total of $171,091.12 in brokerage and mutual fund accounts.
Retirement accounts(—): We did slightly better in our retirement investments than in taxable investments, only losing $7,705.50 (4.20%). With the much bigger losses in taxable accounts, our assets in 401(k)s and IRAs are now the largest at $175,572.25.
529 plans(–): Without the $600 new contribution, this part could have been worse. For the month, our investments in 529 plans dropped $258.58 (1.86%) to $13,644.86.
Bonds(+): Our I-bond investments increased $169.68 (1.14%) last month to $14,990.46.

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January 2009 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

November 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:29:24 +0000

Another month, another loss.

We ended the month of November with our paper fortune taking yet another hit, though the scale of the loss is much smaller than the one we had in October. For the month, our net worth declined $17,011.73 (3.65%) to a total of $448,925.10, the third straight monthly decline.

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

Credit card balance(-): As we returned to normal after the vacation, our expenses also went back to the usual level. For the month of November, we had a total balance of $16,627.79 on our credit cards, up $502.70 (3.13%) from previous month. The good news is now we are spending much less on gas with regular gas price around $1.70/gallon. In the past, we used to spend nearly $120 a week on gas, now it’s less than half of that amount.
Cash(++): We kept making progress on building up our cash reserve. With stocks tumbling all year long, now could be a good time to buy stocks. However, since we plan to get a bigger house maybe sometime next year, we prefer to put our money in online savings accounts to earn 4% return. There’s no guarantee where the stock markets will be in one year, so we are playing it safe at the moment. At the end of November, we have $84,260.57 in bank accounts, increasing $1,761.90 (2.41%) from October.
Taxable accounts(—): Well, it turned out that our taxable investments were not the worst performer last month, thanks to the 5-day rally at the end of the month, though overall this part of our net worth is still pretty dismal. Last month, I moved about $3,000 new month to our Scottrade account to use the 1,600+ free trades I earned. I made a couple of profitable trades, but a large portion of the new money is locked up On November 30th, we have $183,243.36 in our taxable brokerage accounts, down $8,936.20 (4.88%) from previous month.
Retirement accounts(—): Percentage wise, our retirement accounts performed worst last month with a loss of 4.97%, even though most of our investments are in index funds. Given how the indices have performed so far this year, it really didn’t surprise me how our retirement investments have been doing. At end of last month, we have $187,604.37 in our 401(k) and IRA accounts, down $9,316.67 (4.97%) from a month ago.
529 plans(-): The 529 accounts shows a miderate decline last month, largely due to the relatively large monthly contribution. For the month, the 529 accounts lost $277.78 (2.13%) to a total of $12,788.19.
Bonds(+): The safest yet most boring part of our investments grew another $100 (0.71%) to a total of $14,214. I have to get the latest version of Savings Bond Wizard because the one I am using right now didn’t update my holdings correctly.

YTD, our net worth has shrunk $159,197.35 or 26%, better than the performance of the S&P 500 index which is down about 36% so far in 2008. came almost entirely from the last two months. Comparing to the same period in 2007, our next worth had a loss of $165,791.88 or 27%.

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November 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

October 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:32:15 +0000

Because of the vacation in September and October, I haven’t posted an update of our net worth for two months. I ran a quick check before I left for vacation in September and the numbers were not looking good, but still acceptable. However, after I left the country at the end of September, things on the Wall Street turned from bad to worse (it was good that I didn’t have to watch the process). At the end, all three major indices finished the month with the worst records ever in the history. When that happened, I know it’s not going to be an easy month and I know it will be bad. I just didn’t realize how ugly it is until I put all the numbers together.

Comparing to the market value of our investments minus all the liabilities on September 19th when I did my last minute check before going for vacation, our net worth on October 31st shrank by $99,037.51 to a grand total of $465,936.74! That’s a loss of 17.53%. If I compare the number to what we had at the end of August, a total of $111,4313.26 has disappeared on paper Basically, we lost more than 20% in two months.

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

Credit card balance(-): I guess the only benefit of being away for more than a month is that we charged less on our credit cards, but not by much. At the end of last month, our credit card balance dropped $1,446.56 (8.23%) to a total of $16,125.09.
Cash(+++): Since we didn’t spend a lot when we were away, more of our money went to our savings accounts. For the month, we saw a $13,256.26 (19.14%) increase in our cash. On October 31st, we had $82,498.67 in our bank accounts. I just opened a Dollar Savings Direct account a couple of days ago, so I will be moving most of our money from FNBO Direct and Capital One to Dollar Savings Direct to earn 4.00% return. Now that return is good
Taxable accounts(—–): Here come the hardest part, the part that I was so proud of in the past. Now our investments are dragging our net worth down and down. The stocks and mutual funds we own dropped sharply last month, resulting a $67,694.02 decline (26.98%) in market value in October to a total of $183,243.36. Maybe it’s time to rethink my risky investments.
Retirement accounts(—-): Even our investments in low-cost, diversified index funds couldn’t escape from being ruined last month. Our 401(k) and IRA accounts suffered a blow of $43,056.21 (18.67%) last month to $187,604.37. For a long time our taxable accounts held our largest asset, now it’s the retirement accounts
529 plans(—): I am very disappointed by the $2,791.16 (17.61%) loss in our daughters’ 529 plans because we only use index funds in college savings accounts. That’s by far the largest single month drop, which shows there’s no where to hide in this market. At the end of October, the market value of the 529 plans was at $13,055.97.
Bonds(+): Our investments in I-bonds increased by $100 (0.72%) to $14,114.00. Even with the latest increase in the fixed rate part of I-bond interest rates starting November, I don’t plan to increase our investments in I-bonds. I will be more comfortable to put our money at FDIC-insured banks.

YTD, our net worth shows a loss of $142,185.62 (23%) , which came almost entirely from the last two months. Comparing to the same period in 2007, which was the peak time of both the stock market and our next worth, the total decline is at $193,567.40 or 29.35% (

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October 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

August 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:49:44 +0000

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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August 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

July 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:33:30 +0000

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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July 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:20:03 +0000

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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June 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:55:17 +0000

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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May 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:30:03 +0000

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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April 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:53:31 +0000

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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March 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

February 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:30:06 +0000

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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February 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

January 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:04:04 +0000

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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January 2008 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

November 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth

Sun — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:45:41 +0000

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 2007 Score Card — Part I: Net Worth