December numbers:
- Personal:
- Gross monthly W2 pay: $4,833 (no change from prior month)
- Net monthly W2 pay: $2,833 (+$5, again no idea why)
- Total credit card debt: $20,770 (+$10,729)
- Total other non-mortgage debt: $6,572 (-$10,187)
- Total mortgage debt: $115,610 (-$550)
- Cash/cash equivalents: $17,128 (-$572)
- Total retirement savings: $130,300 (-$2,256)
- Net worth: $4,477 (-$2,818)
I say ‘well, crap’ but I didn’t actually do all that badly – though without a doubt I had a truly awful month. I just didn’t do badly in ways I can actually impact.
I moved a bunch of the other non-mortgage debt category from my HELOC (at 7.25%) to credit cards (at 0%). I transferred: $4,900 that will expire 09/2019; $5,700 that will expire 12/28/2019; $5,200 that will expire 02/2020, which led to fees of $474 (3% of the balances). I also paid off a card balance of $3,190 when the 0% expired to keep that balance from jumping to 16.99%. However, this means my overall debt balances went up, but I don’t really blame myself because it makes the most long-term sense.
Just about everything else went into the crapper, though, along with the market. So despite continuing my (relatively) aggressive contributions all my savings categories went down. Again, though, I don’t really blame myself because there’s nothing I could have done to change it. I try to comfort myself with the thought that I’m buying everything cheaper on a dollar-cost-averaging basis than I would have. This self-deception kinda works intellectually, but I’m not sure about emotionally. In any case, we’ll see how the market continues to erode, and the long-term effects that may have.
