Net Worth Update - December 2019

Net Worth Update - December 2019

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.

As it did throughout most of 2019, the S&P 500 had another rally this time to close out the year.  The S&P 500 gained 2.9% in December and with most of our net worth tied to the stock markets it should come as no surprise that we joined in on the fun.

During December my net worth increased $19,951.15.

Total Assets: $867,201.56
Liquid Assets: $333,308.33
Total Liabilities: -$173,211.84
Net Worth: $693,989.72

2019 was a banner year for our net worth with every month except for May showing a month over month gain.  August was our only month that didn't show a $10k or higher change compared to the previous month.  

We came up just shy of crossing another major milestone off the list.  It's hard to believe that at the end of 2018 our net worth stood at $509.8k and that we crossed into $600k and nearly crossed the $700k milestone all in 2019.  We ended up with just over a $184k increase to our net worth in 2019.

For December my net worth climbed 3.0% and year to date my net worth climbed a whopping $184k or 36.1%.  




Our main goal for 2019 continues to be reducing our non-mortgage debt and while we didn't make as much progress as I'd have liked we have gotten rid of one car loan.  One down one to go.  After December's accelerated payments our non-mortgage debt balance is down to just over $17.5k.

At this time I don't believe it makes 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 outside of the car loans.  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 December we have 28.8% equity in our house based on our purchase price from 2013.  According to Zillow our house has increased in value around $27.7k 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 36.8%.

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 November 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 - December 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.  At the end of December our debt to equity ratio is 25% and our debt to total capitalization is 20%.  Not bad, but I can't wait to get that debt down to ZERO!

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How did your net worth fare during December?  Did you cross any major milestones?

Please share your thoughts below!