Net Worth Challenge

One word comes to mind when looking at our net worth update from February —- ouch! My wife and I are heavily invested in the stock market (both in individual stocks and through mutual funds). This means that our portfolio and net worth will typically swing the direction that the overall market is going. In the case of last month, the market was hit HARD! I’m still pleased to see an increase in our net worth, but was a little disappointed in the performance during the last few days of February. I will not let it affect me too much because the market goes up and the market goes down.

The other highlights from February is my shifting of money between the taxable brokerage accounts and the cash & savings account. This shift is evident because of the LARGE increase in cash & savings. Most of the moves into the account took place during the last week in February. This is all in preparation for the closing on our additional rental property. Our closing date has been delayed a half-week due to some last minute complications that arose between the sellers sale of the old house and their purchase of their new house. The complications have been resolved and we’re on track to close this week. At that time the money in our cash & savings account will decreased dramatically because of the down-payment and closing costs that we expect to pay.

That’s about it for February. I’m anxious to see how the month of March plays out because of the home purchase. I expect to see our expenses rise considerably as we purchase cleaning supplies and other items that will be used in preparing the rental property for rental. Let’s hope it doesn’t get too out-of-hand.