Summary

Held just about even this month. Had a devalue of my home on Zillow which accounted for a decent chunk of the negative. I was not able to build up my cash reserves as much as I had hoped – hopefully this month I can focus on that.

Monthly Goals

I need to get my one BOA card paid off as the promo rate on that is going to expire. Also would like to build my cash reserves back up to 18k.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Summary

Finally got back into the positive this month. Most of that was due to a good month in the market which saw our retirement accounts go up over 7%. A nice gain on cash as well but that most likely will be going away next update as we had quite a few home improvement issues come up.

Monthly Goals

Hoping to keep status quo this month. Have quite a few expenses from July that are due mid-month so I am hoping just to stay stable with our cash positions.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Summary

Another slightly down month here. Our water heater broke unexpectedly which accounts for the lack of progress so far. It was also a down month in the stock market too which has been the case the last few.

Monthly Goals

Still would like to get a little more padding in our liquid savings. Also have a few home improvement expenses coming up so am hoping to cut back in some other areas to prepare for those.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Summary

Pretty bad month in the market which accounted for my net worth downfall. Our retirement accounts went down 6.78% in May. Personally I’m not really too concerned about that.

I was able to put some money in our savings account, but overall the rest of our accounts were pretty much stagnant.

Monthly Goals

We went on our yearly vacation last month so there will be some bills to pay off from that. I am hoping to keep expenses down this month to account for that. I would also like to build up our liquid savings a little more over the next month or 2.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Summary

In case anyone was wondering, yes I did finally do my taxes before the April 15th deadline. It turned out to be just as difficult as I was dreading. Luckily I was able to get it all done this year so hopefully next year will be much easier.

I had a couple large payments due this month that I had to dip into my savings for to make sure I had enough to cover. I am ready to transfer that money back into my savings now. I will still not be at my $18k goal though.

Monthly Goals

I am going to focus on increasing my savings as much as possible this month.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Summary

Had a great month in the market which accounted for most of the gains in my net worth this month. My company also reinstated some of our 401k match which is great news, so I increased my contributions up to the match amount.

Everything else was pretty stagnant.

Monthly Goals

Call it laziness, but I still have not finished our taxes. It has proven to be pretty difficult this year and I admit I have been pretty apathetic to the whole process. Unfortunately most of it is prep work so I can’t even really pay a pro to do that (or if I did it would probably cost a fortune). Obviously I need to finish those this month.

I also would like to get my cash reserves back up to $18,000. Not quite sure that I am going to make it this month though.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Summary

Made some progress this month towards increasing our cash reserves as well as bringing down the credit cards. Was also helped by an increase in our retirement accounts.

I also closed out my HSBC Savings account which I haven’t used in a few years. I had a free checking account for quite some time with them and they sent me a notice that they were going to start charging a $3 monthly service charge on it – so I promptly closed it.

Monthly Goals

Finish my taxes is priority number one. It has been slow going as I sold a bunch of individual stocks so need to figure out the cost basis for those.

Popularity: 2% [?]

For those of you like me wondering when you can expect to receive your refund direct depot or check once you efile the IRS has a handy publication 2043 with this information.

The table below shows when your federal tax refund should be deposited in your bank account or your check mailed if you efiled and your refund was accepted within the dates listed.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Summary

Not much happened this month. Was able to pay a little towards my credit cards, but the drop in net worth is due to losses in the stock market which took a bite out of our 401k accounts.

My tax documentation also has started rolling in so I can begin that journey shortly.

Monthly Goals

I am slowly trying to build the savings account back up to $18,000. Also hoping to get my credit card debt down as much as possible as well.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

Happy New Year everyone! December was a pretty interesting month financially for us with some large swings.

First off, the refinance on our home was complete and our interest rate is now 4.875% which is pretty exciting. The mortgage total went up because we rolled the closing costs into the loan rather than paying them out of pocket. By my calculations the refi should pay for itself in about 18 months. Also, due to the timing of the close we ended up not having to make our December mortgage payment which is part of the reason for the cash reserve increase.

The market was also up this month which bumped up the retirement portfolio a bit. Was also to pay down a bit on the credit cards so overall I was pretty pleased with the month.

Monthly Goals

Going to have to pay off the holiday bills which is always tough. We kept it somewhat under control this year. Would like to increase my cash reserves up to about $18,000 which is where I like to see it at.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

Well my cash reserves finally took a hit from the large school tax bill I paid the previous month. We also took a big hit from the value of our SUV – I think I did not input the specs in correctly last month as that number seemed high to me, so hopefully its correct going forward.

On the plus side, I was finally able to refinance our home loan down to 4.875% thought it does not take effect until next month. Pretty happy about that since our rate was probably about the highest it had been in the last 6 years or so.

Monthly Goals

Rebuild the cash reserves. They are much lower than I am comfortable with right now. Would also be nice to keep the holiday shopping under control.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

I was happy to see the net worth go up this month. Had a pretty hefty school tax bill which caused the cash reserves to dip a little bit. Luckily our 401ks went up a bit, and the Zestimate of our home as well thanks to a couple strong sales in the neighborhood.

What I didn’t do was pay down much credit card balance which will be going out of 0% very soon. I have been looking for other cards to transfer them to but so far it has come up empty.

Monthly Goals

My refinance should go through this month so I will have a bit of a payment on that for the closing costs. It will bring my rate down to 4.875% though so I think it is definitely worth it in the long run.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Summary

My net worth for this month is a complete rewrite. I decided to include a couple other figured that are my wife’s into our combined net worth which caused quite a crash – mainly her graduate school student loan. We also financed a new (used) car so that loan and car value is now included on my net worth.

Pretty much feels like I’m starting from scratch at this point, but I’m obviously keeping all the history to compare to the past.

Monthly Goals

Rebuild my cash reserves after paying my school taxes – I mailed the check but they haven’t cashed it yet so its not reflected in this months net worth. Also need to continue to make progress on paying down our credit cards, I stalled a bit on that this month.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

Hard to believe its September already, the summer has flown by!

This month I was able to further pay down some of our credit cards while holding the savings pretty steady. My 401k also did pretty well which helped my net worth out.

As part of my ongoing project to simplify our finances I have switched my various ROTH accounts to Ameriprise. This eventually should help me reduce the amount of information I have to sift through on a weekly basis.

Monthly Goals

Pay off some more credit cards whose 0% term will be expiring soon.

Also, I have to seriously consider refinancing. I have been playing the waiting game but the rates have held pretty steady for the last few months. Even if I can’t get in at my goal of under 5% (with no points / low fees) I still will be saving enough at 5.25% to make it worthwhile.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Summary

It has been a pretty slow month financially for me. I started paying off some of my expiring 0% credit card offers. I also was able to reduce my homeowners insurance by shopping around which freed up some extra cash.

Monthly Goals

Pay off some more credit cards whose 0% term will be expiring soon.