Net Worth Update - September 2018

September 2018 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.

The S&P 500 added another 0.4% in September and my net worth followed suit thanks to the markets, dividends and most importantly savings.

During September my net worth increased $10,295.87.  

Total Assets: $760,664.26
Liquid Assets: $270,296.18
Total Liabilities: $-168,715.89
Net Worth: $591,948.37

September's increase pushes the streak to 6 consecutive months of improving net worth.  For the month my net worth increased 1.77% and YTD it's climbed 10.75%.

Depending on how the rest of the year plays out for the markets we very well could see the $600k net worth milestone get crossed this year.

Our main financial target for 2018 is to pay down our non-mortgage debt.  There's a variety of things that just kind of came up as life happened.  Some medical debt, a vehicle, an unexpected new air conditioning for the house.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but burdensome nonetheless.  

At this time it doesn't make much sense to pay 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 September we have 26.8% equity in our house based on our purchase price from 2013.  However, according to Zillow our house has increased in value around $33.5k 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 jumps to 36.6%.

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 History through September 2018

In order to give you a general idea of the breakdown of net worth 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 but I have them in my spreadsheet because I was bored).  

September saw us finally get rid of one of our non-mortgage debts, the loan for our home A/C replacement.  Thank goodness!  That leaves just the car loan remaining which we put an extra $3,500 towards the balance during September.  The remaining car loan balance is around $8.8k which might be paid off by the end of this year depending on whether we change our plans.  Update coming later.

Net Worth Breakdown - September 2018

Since I write so much (or at least try to) about investigating companies as an investment I figured it'd be fun to see how our balance sheet looks.  As of the end of September our debt to equity ratio is 29% and our debt to total capitalization is 22%.  Not bad, but I can't wait to get that debt down to ZERO!

Capital Structure - September 2018

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How did your net worth do in September?  

Please share your thoughts below!