April numbers:
- Personal:
- Gross monthly W2 pay: $4,833 (no change from prior month)
- Net monthly W2 pay: $2,798 (-$36)
- Total credit card debt: $19,772 (-$528)
- Total other non-mortgage debt: $3,605 (+$1,501)
- Total mortgage debt: $112,529 (-$731)
- Cash/cash equivalents: $15,840 (+$3,802)
- Total retirement savings: $147,771 (+$3,806)
- Net worth: $27,705 (+$7,366)
The phantom money from last month landed this month, which explains most of the gains in the cash category. Other than that, a pretty challenging month. I increased my 403(b) contribution by 1% in an effort to gradually increase to get myself to the limit by the end of the year. However, given maxing this out would require 31.89% of my current salary that seems unlikely. I’m going to hold off on any further increases, and may need to dial back savings in this area in favor of cash in hand.
Spending has continued to increase. The impact of losing my roommates is pretty extreme, and I’ve re-started a very, very expensive diet. The weight loss is going to need to accelerate to be worth it to be worth the expense at this point. I will likely need to back off my 403(b) percentage contributions if I’m going to sustain the diet for long. I don’t want my non-mortgage debt to start climbing again (which it has a little bit already as shown above).
Other than that, things went well. Real estate is ticking along, and the market has given back most of what it tooketh away earlier. Just a matter of keeping things going!
Coming soon I’ll be incorporating my equity into my net worth, and showing the data points I’m using to that end. I’m doing that so I can have conversations with bankers that reflect my real estate success better than just examining my cash position. Also, going to work on trying to update more frequently and regularly, and adding an email subscription feature to this blog. Stay tuned, and ask questions!
