January 2019 Update

January numbers:

• Personal:
  • Gross monthly W2 pay: $4,833 (no change from prior month)
  • Net monthly W2 pay: $2,834 (+$1, again no idea why)
  • Total credit card debt: $22,140 (+$1,370)
  • Total other non-mortgage debt: $6,233 (-$339)
  • Total mortgage debt: $114,714 (-$896)
  • Cash/cash equivalents: $19,929 (+$2,801)
  • Total retirement savings: $132,085 (+$1,785)
  • Net worth: $8,927 (+$4,450)

So, we continue with another mixed-bag month. My total credit card debt went up, due to some more profligate spending for my collectibles business. I’ve (hopefully) got a bit of a handle on that now, and I’m planning to have all of this month’s spending paid off before the statement cycle. Means I’ll need to really focus and sell lots of stuff through the end of January however.

Total other non-mortgage debt went down, but not a ton. This reflects my new higher cost of living while I have no roommates. My tentative plan is to sell enough of my personal possessions by July that I can rent out my current house and either buy a new one or move into another place. Of course, if I find roommates in the meantime that will put the kibosh on that plan. Cash equivalents went up, mostly attributed to a payment I made to myself from my real estate account. I’m now holding $2,500 of my contingency fund in my brokerage account. This allows that money to grow. I still retain the security deposits, one month of mortgage payments, and $1,000 in my real estate checking account. As I build that up it’ll either go to capex or get transferred to my brokerage account over time.

Total retirement savings up a smidge, reflecting the slight upturn in the market since last month. Still, the majority of that $1,785 is my 403b monthly contribution of about $890 and my monthly state retirement contribution of about $390. Growth is not a significant driver of my retirement savings at the moment (he said with an ironically raised eyebrow).

All this taken together means a slight improvement in Net Worth. Not much, but I’ll take it.

A final takeaway – Fidelity kinda sucks. I get paid on the 16th of every month but my contribution is’t processed by Fidelity until the 20th of the month at the soonest. This month (January) it still hasn’t hit as of 01/22. For my automatic investments with Vanguard (go big V! Yeah!) they show up the day they’re supposed to be drafted from my account. So, Fidelity makes a few extra days of interest off my funds while they process them (and charge me a recordkeeping fee on top of that). Avoid them if you can.