Q's April 2007 Net Worth Report

Whew! Anyone with any money invested in the stock market realizes that April 2007 was a banner month. As The Sun's Financial Diary points out, the markets were up well over 4% for the month. And Q's net worth went along for the ride, but not without disappointment. I had the chance to do something very special, and April 30th messed it all up!

Several factors at play during April:

• The frothy market - wow, it was fun to follow! It seemed like every day was a new high.
• Tax refunds - I received almost $2,400 back from Fed and State, which I invested.
• Paid down our Home Equity Line of Credit, which increased our equity in the lakehouse.
• Had a relatively low credit card bill, so I was able to squirrel away a bit more money than normal.

All of this was pointing to something very special - our first $10,000 month! On Sunday the 29th, I ran the numbers and we were up $10,300. On Monday morning the 30th, I checked the futures, and we were pointing to a slightly negative open. The market struggled a bit at open, then was up a little bit, and then I had to go into meetings the rest of the day. At the end of the work day, I came back to my desk to find my 5 Ameritrade accounts cumulatively down $1,000! I don't know why, but I was crushed. We still ended the month way up, a banner month, something to be very proud of. But I wanted that $10,000 month!

Here are the details:

Net worth, excluding primary residence, cars, and all other possessions: $207,152, up $9,373, or up 4.74% for the month. This is the number I follow - I do not pay as much attention to the total net worth number on our balance sheet (see below).

Breakdown of that $207k number:
Index funds (SPY, DVY, RSP, FXI, VTI, VFINX): $31,173
Mutual funds: $16,870
Small caps: $44,824
Large caps: $4,708
Apartment building equity: $88,921
Lakehouse equity: $13,644
Cash at Ameritrade: $7,012


Balance sheet, including primary residence and all our worthless belongings:
Assets: $852,028
Liabilities: $493,332

Total net worth: $358,697

So far for the year, we've seen a $19,727 increase in our investments, or almost a 10% increase. I budget a 20% increase every year, so I'm halfway there with only 4 months of the year gone.


UPDATE: Perhaps I should have celebrated this month. Sun over at The Sun's Financial Diary celebrated his newly-minted Half-Millionaire status, which I think is wonderful. You should celebrate mini-milestones like this! We passed the $200,000 this month! $250k, here we come!