Net Worth Update - January 2019

January 2019 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 rebounded sharply to kick off 2019 climbing 7.9% for the month.  Since a large portion of our net worth is tied to the stock market our net worth saw a nice bump.  Of course the dividends that rolled in helped as well.  

During January my net worth increased $26,117.85.

Total Assets: $725,775.54
Liquid Assets: $267,432.34
Total Liabilities: -$189,860.94
Net Worth: $535,914.61

That's a solid 5.12% increase compared to the end of 2018.

That only made up for ~40% of December's drop; however, December included the addition of a car loan for my new car as well as the asset write-down, just on our own books, of the vehicles.  I don't consider our vehicles assets noticed that I had them included in the calculation for the asset side of the net worth.  The liabilities were unaffected by the write down.

Our main goal for 2019 continues to be reducing our non-mortgage debt.  As of the end of January we have a roughly $31k non-mortgage debt balance so we'll have our work cut out for us.  However, for the time being conserving extra cash is going to take precedence since we have a new baby on the way coming in April!

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 January we have 27.3% equity in our house based on our purchase price from 2013.  However, according to Zillow our house has increased in value around $27.1k 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 35.3%.

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 January 2019

In order to give you a general idea of the breakdown of my net worth I include 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 and deeply discounted (they don't really move the needle at all but I have them in my spreadsheet because I was bored).  

Net Worth Breakdown - January 2019

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 January our debt to equity ratio is 35% and our debt to total capitalization is 26%.  Not bad, but I can't wait to get that debt down to ZERO!

Capital Structure - January 2019

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Did your net worth ride the markets to a strong start for 2019? 

Please share your thoughts below!