Net Worth Update - April 2017

net worth, balance sheet, equity, financial independence
April 2017 Net Worth Update
While cash flow is more important when it comes to financial independence, it's still good to look at the balance sheet too, which is why I provide these net worth updates.  Since more and more of my net worth is tied to the markets, there's a larger correlation between my net worth and the markets but in the long run as I continue to save and invest the net worth trend should be higher even though short term fluctuations can vary wildly.  As a dividend growth investor I'm not overly concerned with the short-term gyrations as long as the dividend stream remains in tact, but the markets' effect is noticeable.

April saw the S&P 500 climb higher by 0.91% which certainly helped to move the net worth higher.  It's great to see the net worth climb because of the markets, but personally I wouldn't mind seeing them take a step back for a couple months.  Of course, what's really exciting is seeing the $320+ of dividends coming in for the month which is a step in the right direction on our journey to financial independence.

For the month our net worth increased $7,018.57.

Current Assets: $664,235.73
Current Liquid Assets: $230,756.88
Current Liabilities: $181,488.38
Net Worth: $482,747.35

I have to say that it's great to see a $7k increase for a month.  This was actually the largest increase we've had in nearly a year mainly due to the fact that we're now back to being a two income family.  Having two incomes sure does help to move the needle in the right direction.

For the month our net worth increased 1.48% and YTD we've shown a gain of 2.667%. 

At this time I don't see much reason in paying extra on the mortgage given our relatively low interest rate as well as the tax break on mortgage payments and think we'll come out much further ahead investing the extra cash flow.  So the liabilities side of the net worth equation will be slow moving.  However, once the FI portfolio is able to get to a self-sustaining level of dividends then the plan is to aggressively pay down the mortgage.

As of the end of March we have 24.7% equity in our house based on our purchase price from 2013.  However, according to Zillow our house has increased in value just over $21k from our purchase price which is a nice bonus, although I keep the purchase price as the value in the net worth equations.  Based on Zillow's estimate the equity in our house is 31.4% thanks to the appreciation.

The following chart shows my assets and liabilities, as well as my net worth, since January 2012.  While I have accurate records for my net worth dating back to July 2010, I didn't keep track of my assets and liabilities on a monthly basis until the start of 2012.
net worth, balance sheet, equity, financial independence
Net Worth History through April 2017
I've started including a % breakdown of our net worth with each monthly update.  The assets are broken down into cash, taxable investments, tax advantaged investments (401k, Traditional & Roth IRAs), house (using our purchase price) and other which covers things like our cars and various collectibles from when I was a kid (they don't really move the needle at all).  

The liabilities are much simpler and fall into either the mortgage or a personal loan that we have.  Although I do need to gather more information on the various medical, funeral and other debts that total around $40k to give a more accurate representation of our liabilities.
net worth, balance sheet, equity, financial independence, assets, liabilities
Net Worth Breakdown - April 2017
Since I write so much about investigating companies as an investment I figured it'd be fun to see how our balance sheet looks.  As of the end of April our debt to equity ratio is 38% and our debt to total capitalization is 27%.  Not bad, but I'd love to get that debt down to ZERO!

Non-Work Cash Flow

Each month I like to examine the state of our non-work cash flow.  Since our goal is to become financially independent the monthly cash flow has to come from somewhere in order to cover our expenses.  

Truly passive income, dividends and interest, totaled $290.54 during April which was an ever so small increase from January' $288.61.  *Dividends are from my taxable accounts only.  

Adding in the EBIT earned from blogging/writing added another $257.77 to the monthly non-day job income total.  Total non-day job income for April came to $548.31 which is around a 3% increase from January.

I mentioned in January's update that I was setting a goal of reaching $10k in non-day job income with a stretch goal being hitting $11k.  That's not a huge increase over 2016's $9.4k, but I don't expect much in the way of new investments until maybe Q4 of this year.  

Including dividends, interest and blogging income we've generated $2,877.41 of additional income thus far through April.  We're 29% of the way towards our goal of $10k so we're just slightly behind the required pace which will need to be made up for primarily from writing.


I've updated my Progress page to reflect April's changes.

Make sure you sign up to receive new posts to your email so you don't miss anything.  And be sure to follow me on Twitter@JC_PIP to get up to the minute news of new purchases for my portfolio.  If you prefer Pinterest or Facebook I'm on there too!

How did your net worth fare in April?  

Please share your thoughts below!

Image courtesy of holohololand on FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Comments

  1. Super good. Always good to see net worth go up. My net worth was up ~10% in April 2017

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  2. Always great to see net worth increase over time. I am hoping to increase mine ever so slightly but I hope in the long run it will continue to grow. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Yeah can't find any bargains until we drop a bit more. Nice to see the net worth increase!
    Later,
    DFG

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  4. PiP -

    Great gains in your net worth in a month, so solid, congratulations! You are going to continue to make headwinds in May, I am sure and can't wait to see those results. Keep grinding.

    -Lanny

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  5. Informative and interesting which we share with you so i think so it is very useful and knowledgeable. I would like to thank you for the efforts. www.networthupdates.com

    ReplyDelete

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