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Welcome to the sixth net worth report here at NMI!
It’s hard to believe that we’re already well into the year 2018!
2017 was a great first year of investing for me – and I know that it wasn’t typical. The S&P 500 returned almost 20% over the year, while the Dow returned just a hair over 25%, which is crazy! As a new investor, we’re told to expect modest returns, in the amount of 4% to 6% every year. Well thanks a lot 2017, you kinda shattered that expectation.
Still, I’m really excited for the year ahead.
For those new to my net worth reports, I’d like to give you a few minor details. I get paid semi-monthly, which means I get paid on the 15th and the last day of the month. Sometimes my money isn’t made available to me until two or three days after the month has already changed, so in order to ensure the most accurate net worth reports, I will always include both incomes. As such, my reports will be made available on the third or fourth day of the following month, possibly a few days after. In rare circumstances in which I fail to get paid on time, I will either wait until that money is made available to report or I will include it in the following month’s net worth report.
You can find the latest and/or past reports here.
These figures are accurate as of the end of the day, February 4th.
MY INCOME
JOB INCOME
I received both of my checks this month as normal. We, unfortunately, have slowed down a little bit, which is totally normal for this time of year, but January didn’t hit us too hard. We’re doing OK.
SIDE INCOME
If you saw a few of my previous reports, you’d know that I’ve been playing around with some other ways to make more income, but they haven’t yielded any results. I’m still trying to sell a desk at the consignment store and I have a bunch of comics that I got from an auction, through which I still haven’t sorted. I think this “That 70’s Show” screenshot is still appropriate.
MY ASSETS
SAVINGS
My savings didn’t really change by much this month. My investments on the other hand, did.
INVESTMENTS
January was another good month – well, until the very end of it. The first few days of February were a little rough too. As such, my stocks fell quite a bit (~4%) within just the last week. Coupled with the fall of a lot of the major cryptocurrencies, and this is probably my worst month yet.
Of course, I decided to restructure my portfolio right before this tiny crash, by taking about $7,5000.00 out of my savings and putting $5,500.00 into my Traditional IRA account with some VEU and VTI and purchasing about $2,000.00 worth of VTSAX in my regular brokerage account. I figured it was a waste having so much of my savings doing practically nothing, especially when 2018 is forecast as another good (but probably much more mild) year. I don’t feel bad about it – I know you don’t try to time the market. It was nice to get that full IRA contribution in for this year – now I don’t have to worry or think about it all year.
My cryptocurrency portfolio changed quite a bit this month too, but that was mostly due to me. I sold 6 of my NEO for about $850.00. I now have practically all of my original money out of my initial crypto investment. As of right now, with about 7 months of trading, I’m up over 700%, with my portfolio being worth over $2,500.00!
I’m actually glad I sold when I did as NEO and many of the other currencies took a pretty big dive at the end of January, and are still down now. I didn’t buy any more though – I think I’m simply going to let this one ride and see what happens. There’s still huge potential in the markets, but, I feel like I may be done buying for awhile.
Remember, when it comes to cryptos, never part with more money than you’re willing to lose! I’ve learned that the hard way!
Here’s a link to my article on cryptocurrency that every beginner should check out before jumping in.
*I decided to try an experiment in which I purchased 43 different cryptocurrencies (worth about $900.00 total) in the beginning of 2018 with the intent of holding onto them for one full year. You can check out the initial post here. I will be posting updates to that portfolio around the 15th of each month. I’ve decided to separate that portfolio from my net worth portfolio as it’s an experiment, so you won’t see the balance of that in these monthly reports.
MY LIABILITIES
My liabilities didn’t change too much this month either, but I did decrease them by over $800.00, so that’s pretty good! I love saving money, but I gotta offset that part of my personality a bit with the one that is actually responsible and pays bills.
I’m continuing to use the “interest-free” card I have for pretty much all of my purchases, while using my other CitiBank card for my auto-pay bills. It actually works really nice knowing that I don’t have to worry about going over my limits on any of my cards because the auto-pay card isn’t used for regular charges – so the bills always get paid.
I really recommend automating all of your bills, especially if they allow you to pay with a credit card. You set it up once and you don’t have to worry again. The only ones I don’t automate are accounts that need a checking account – you want to be sure the money is in there before it gets debited.
MY NET WORTH
An increase of + $138.80!
Even with the crappy ending to January and beginning of February, I’m actually still ahead of last month because I paid some more of that credit card debt off. I’m going to continue chipping away at that while continuing to save. Fortunately, I should be finishing my taxes in the next couple of weeks and that should give me a boost of over $2,000.00!
I’m hoping by the end of this year to have over $75,000.00 in assets while having practically no debt. It’s an ambitious goal, but I’m hoping it’ll planning on making it happen!
Here’s to a great 2018! I wish you and your family nothing but the best.
How was your 2017 financially? And what are your goals for 2018? I’d love to hear!
– NMI
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