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HomePersonal SituationJune 2012 Net Worth Update My First Negative Month! and a Housing...

June 2012 Net Worth Update My First Negative Month! and a Housing Update

I have been tracking my Net worth since January 2011 and while it took a long time the inevitable has finally happened my net worth dropped month over month!  I am pretty pissed since I did everything right this month.  I put my standard amount into cash savings , paid off the standard amount of debt and put more into my non-qualified investments than I ever had in the past yet my net worth went down.  I am not too angry since I know in the end, I couldn’t save enough to overcome a terrible month in market history (Down lost over 800 points / 6% this month!).  I just have to keep reminding myself I am doing the right thing and over time this is actually a good thing since I am buying equities at a low amount.

Calculating my Net Worth

The assets I include are:

  • My Cash Savings Accounts – This has been my main focus for well over a year, as we will need all the cash we can get when we finally move (update below)
  • My 401(k) – Want to know how shitty this month was? I put in my normal contributions and my 401(k) STILL WENT DOWN A LOT
  • Random Non-Qualified Investment Accounts
  • The Wife’s Roth IRA
  • My favorite personal finance item, my small but Awesome Dividend Investment Portfolio
  • Home Value
  • My Traditional IRA – Which I started actively trading last month using a Covered Call Strategy and even created a page to track all my gains (and loses)

The liabilities I include are:

While I am lucky to only have 2 main liabilities, they are very significant.

  • Law School Loans
  • Mortgage

What is missing?

My Net Worth Growth Decline

  • From May 2012 to June 2012 my net worth decreased .57%
  • Year to Date my net worth has increased 21.77%
  • From January 2011 to April 2012 my net worth has increased 110.39%

A Housing Update

Just as a reminder about 90 days ago at this point we decided to finally pull the trigger and sell our current home and upgrade to a bigger place.  30 or so days ago I provided an update on the situation at that time we were deciding between buyers and towns.  We decided on Buyer Number 2, an early 40s couple and since the previously linked update a lot has happened.  Mostly bad.

To little or no fault of the chosen couple they are still not certified eligible under the guidelines of this special residence.  To make matters worse just yesterday their mortgage application was rejected.  Do I think this will work itself out? Yes, because the couple has additional funds to put as a down payment thus lowering the husband’s debt to income ratio.  Why only the husband? because he is the first time home buyer since the wife already owns a home.

So, we have to just wait since I am not willing to put my family’s finances at risk by going into contract on another home.  Which leads us to our newest problem…

We were supposed to have an inspection done on a place we found (in town 1 as I described in the previous update) and that was supposed to happen today – I had to cancel it! I think we should have still had the inspection, but The Wife had a good point that it wasn’t like the sellers were slowing down their open houses so what was the point for us to rush.

 

So a shitty net worth update and a shitty housing update – I hope at least your month was good!

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Buying and selling a house is rarely as smooth as one would like it to be. Relax. You will find a way to make it work.

    As for the markets, what a great buying opportunity for us to DCA in when we don’t need the money for another 30 years.

    • Since writing this post 5 days ago we totally lost our buyer and are now starting for square 1…frustrating as all hell man

  2. sucks about your inspection having to get cancelled man! Hopefully this doesnt delay your actual purchase of the house? are you under contract with that home or no?

    • Oh we are delayed! Buyer dropped out two nights ago.

      No The Wife and I decided prior to putting our home up on the market that we would not get into contract without first being in contract on this home.

  3. when we sell our homes, we look not for the highest price but for the highest likelihood to close.

    pre-approved, good credit, we always sell the home as-is trying to prevent haggling once in escrow.

    big thing is also to make sure your home is as defect free as possible by doing a home inspection on your selling home first. the lost time and cancellation kills.

    good luck.

    on investments, short term fluctuations have no bearing on long term gains. if you arent selling, who cares if the market goes down. long term, you obviously believe the marekt will go higher.

    • “on investments, short term fluctuations have no bearing on long term gains. if you arent selling, who cares if the market goes down. long term, you obviously believe the marekt will go higher.”

      You are 1000% Correct and I often have to remind myself of that fact.

  4. Sorry to hear about the bad luck buddy.

    It’s funny, when you finally wrap your head around wanting to buy low, these market sell-offs look like Christmas morning. I honestly get way more excited about trying to squeeze out a couple hundred more dollars to invest when the market tanks, because to a value investor it is like everything is on sale. You’ll bounce back, dollar-cost averaging at its best right? Good luck with the house.

    • You are right, I find myself going on my margin account on huge drops, it seems to be the only thing that makes me feel better when I look at the balance LOL

  5. Sorry to hear about your bad month. I’m sure the prefect house will become available once you are ready. The waiting game sucks.

  6. I do hope that the selling of your house will work out soon without any more problems. It’s not really easy selling a property. My mother’s been selling her property for so long and finally she’s got some buyers interested. She sold it not to the one who offered a better price but to the one that could pay her “quicker”.

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