Great month, self! I’m super stoked about our increase for November. We were able to cut expenses across the board and we keep chipping away at our debt. In other news, we got to enjoy the hype and the disappointment of the Twitter IPO, I enjoyed sharing my favorite songs about money, and one of my articles was featured on a large news site, although they left most of the funny stuff out…you can read the real stuff here.
Now, let’s get down to bizness. Our net worth increased by just over $900 this month, which was mostly because of the decrease in liabilities across the board.
A few things worth noting:
Assets
Cash. The reason for the huge drop in cash was because we were paying off our credit cards from last month’s purchases. And even though our total cash has gone down, the actual end cash (cash minus credit card balances) has increased by almost $500, which is super sexy.
IRA. The IRA was down quite a bit when I checked halfway through the month, so even though the increase is nominal, I’m just happy that it’s a positive gain, especially because we still haven’t been able to make a contribution to it.
Emergency Fund. We decided not to put anything into the emergency fund this month because there were so many variable expenses that we just didn’t know whether or not we’d have the funds to do it. So we’ll just have to double up on it next month.
Liabilities
All of our debt payments other than the credit cards were just the minimum payments. December is going to be ballin’ for us with three paychecks for me and a bonus for the wifey, so we’ve already written the check to pay off my dad in full. I’ll be really glad to get rid of that.
And in case you haven’t already read about our debt and where it all comes from, the computer loan is a 0% loan through my employer (0% debt is the best kind of debt), and we owe my dad because he helped us out a little when I was still trying to find a job and my wife was in the transition between substituting and teaching under contract. We owe my in-laws for some medical debt they graciously paid for us with their Health Savings Account. That one’s also 0% and we’re hoping to get a nice tax refund so we can crush that one too. Although I guess you have to make money for longer than six months to get a lot back on your tax return…we’ll see how that goes.
As far as the negative balance on our other credit cards, I ordered something from Amazon back in October with Amazon Prime and it never came! So I ended up asking them for a refund, although now that I think about it, I should have told them to ship it to me anyway and still refund me since it was only $4. Next time…my wife got a “free” taco out of it, though.
How was your month? Any awesome things you did for Thanksgiving?
Nice job at increasing your net worth by almost $1000! Money owed to family is the worst money to owe I find. Good luck getting all that cleared up as soon as possible. 🙂
My recent post Emergency Fund vs Debt Repayment.
Thanks! We're definitely glad to get rid of it 🙂
Our month went fine. I beefed up my retirement savings for the year and covered all of our expenses so that hubby's paychecks could go right into savings!
Nice! I bet that's a beautiful feeling 🙂
I'm curious, given the loans you have – how are you prioritizing paying them back? I don't see all the details on rates and such, so it's hard to tell if you're paying off smallest balance or highest rate.
It does look like you're paying off some combination of highest rate and personal/family loans first. Financially, since they're 0%, the personal loans are actually the worst option. Though, obviously there's a big emotional/psychological reason to pay those off first. I can remember that any debts I owed my parents in and after college were paid off ASAP. I _hated_ owing my father, and he loved to remind me that I owed him. I think that plays a large role in why I refuse to take up any long-term debts beyond mortgages.
My recent post Net Worth: November 2013 Progress
The family ones are 0% but they're definitely top priority because the relationship is more important than the money. As for the rest, we're just doing minimum payments now but once we beef our emergency fund up and can afford extra payments, we'll start with my student loans since the interest rate is higher, then move to my wife's and then to the car loan and computer loan. Thanks for the question. It's always good to reevaluate.
I cannot wait to do these as well. With husband's unemployment, it's really hard for me to analyze the numbers right now. But yours is looking great! Way to continue paying off family loans!
My recent post Unpaid Internships: Scam or Real Deal?
Thanks! Yeah it can be rough when that's going on. I didn't even see a reason to do it when I was unemployed.
Awesome good to see that debt is going down. Had a nice increase in net worth myself with a double whammy of working a few extra days and using that money to pay off more debt.
My recent post Carnival of Personal Finance Submission
Nice work! It's a great feeling, isn't it? 🙂
Nice Work! My vacation is taking a chunk out of my savings, but my investments have been super successful in recent weeks helping to make up for some of that loss.
My recent post The Danger of “I Deserve This” Thinking
That's great! In my opinion, vacations are always worth it 🙂
Markets did well so our November went well. Ben you should consider putting your efund in a Roth IRA at ally on the online savings. Earn .84% tax free.
My recent post Why I Want To Keep Up With The Joneses
Sounds like an interesting option. I know there wouldn't be any penalties for withdrawing the principal, but would it be worth it if you can't withdraw the increase penalty-free until 30 years later?
Ben,
Looks like you're making great progress. Keep up the good work!
You're counting your cars as an asset above, or am I reading that incorrectly?
My recent post How To Change Your Own Oil
Thanks! We're definitely looking forward to the next few months. I have some extra income from freelancing and our expenses are only going to go down after Christmas 🙂
0% debt IS the best kind of debt – although no debt would be the best 🙂 Great job on all the green under your liabilities! Hope December is even better!
My recent post Links Lisa Likes – 12/9/13
Just take off the percent sign. I think that's the best kind of debt 🙂 December is looking pretty great so far!