Following the end of every month, I take my financials from Quicken and publish a few reports online. I’ve been doing this since 2003 to keep myself accountable for my finances. The balance sheet included in this post measures my “modified net worth.” It’s a list of the present values of my assets my liabilities, not including tax implications or other things that would be hard to put a figure on, like my present value of future earnings.
I’m happy to have come out ahead in November considering the performance of the stock market and my investments. Continue reading to see the numbers, starting with the balance sheet report. Click on the image to open a larger version in which the numbers are readable.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
* The report is made with Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Excel. Here’s a balance sheet Excel template.
* The credit card balance is paid off every month and earns cash back.
* My student loan interest rate is 4.25% and my savings account interest rates range from 4.2% to 4.75%.
* I determine the value of my car using the private party value from edmunds.com, but only several times a year.
Explanations and Details.
The $5,000 increase in savings was assisted by selling my third quarter ESPP shares. I expect to be spending a good amount this month on holiday presents, so it helps to have cash in savings accounts ready to go. For the longer term, I expect to purchase a house within a few years, and I want to make sure I’ll be prepared to make a healthy down payment.
The accounts receivable line is mostly side business income that accrues throughout the month and is paid 30 days later. This amount fluctuates from month to month.
Although I pump 25% of my day-job salary into my 401(k), its value declined during the month of November. This month, about $1,000 was added to my 401(k), including employer matching contributions. Despite the contributions, the account value decreased $860. The same goes for my Roth IRA. I invested $333 this month, but my account value decreased by $900. I don’t mind the decline while I’m still investing — it means I’ll be getting better prices on investments that should do quite well over the course of several decades.
My credit card value is higher this month, but it is not due to spending. I’ve been accepting income payments from a few advertisers on behalf of the MoneyBlogNetwork throughout the entire year, and I distributed their earnings earlier this month, some via credit card to earn some cash back rewards. The card will be paid off completely before I would be charged any interest.
After a large payment ($5,000) to my student loans in October, I returned to normal monthly payments in November. With savings account interest rates continuing to drop and my loan interest rate remaining steady, I’ll be continuing to accelerate my payoff timetable in 2008.
Please feel free to leave comments with questions or suggestions. Stay tuned for my Income and Expense report, which will be posted tomorrow morning.
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