Part of the draw of Consumerism Commentary has been my monthly financial reports. Having worked in the financial reporting area of a company that happened to be in the financial industry, I recognize the importance of monthly public reporting to be accountable to stakeholders; I started publicly reporting my own finances to be accountable to myself.
Until now, there hasn’t been a page on Consumerism Commentary that compiles all the monthly reports into one page. Now, at a glance, readers can easily see my financial progression from July 2003 through December 2011, when I stopped publishing my reports.
Note that throughout the course of the life of Consumerism Commentary, I’ve adjusted my methods of calculating several times. As a result, the historical numbers you see in the chart published for December 2011 do not always match up with the numbers you see when you look at the historical reports. The first net worth column includes the numbers as reported at the time. The second column is the adjusted net worth which fixed some initial calculation errors and normalizes the method of getting to the bottom line.
Note also that as a result of several migrations over the past few years, some charts have been lost. I do have other copies, and I’ll work over the next few days to add in the missing figures.
Under the chart is a graph depicting the long-term growth of my net worth, December 2001 through December 2011, with personal and business accounts separated. This doesn’t include the book value of my business or any business sale proceeds.
Net worth (balance sheets)
| 2011 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2011 | $372,951 | $373,661 | |
| Nov 2011 | $371,981 | $371,981 | |
| Oct 2011 | $373,552 | $373,623 | |
| Sep 2011 | $342,242 | $342,075 | |
| Aug 2011 | $368,817 | $368,515 | |
| Jul 2011 | $380,209 | $378,709 | |
| Jun 2011 | $379,354 | $379,451 | (a) |
| May 2011 | $844,138 | $374,323 | |
| Apr 2011 | $761,127 | $376,015 | |
| Mar 2011 | $664,370 | $344,886 | |
| Feb 2011 | $620,556 | $341,854 | |
| Jan 2011 | $578,043 | $306,110 |
| 2010 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2010 | $538,223 | $291,846 | |
| Nov 2010 | $494,715 | $278,773 | |
| Oct 2010 | $463,930 | $275,535 | |
| Sep 2010 | $427,529 | $270,217 | |
| Aug 2010 | $382,103 | $249,051 | |
| Jul 2010 | $365,647 | $259,430 | |
| Jun 2010 | $340,741 | $245,249 | |
| May 2010 | $344,474 | $252,011 | |
| Apr 2010 | $356,832 | $266,588 | |
| Mar 2010 | $348,492 | $260,965 | |
| Feb 2010 | $314,525 | $237,665 | |
| Jan 2010 | $297,409 | $229,958 |
| 2009 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2009 | $301,600 | $241,244 | |
| Nov 2009 | $290,037 | $233,644 | |
| Oct 2009 | $221,830 | $223,910 | |
| Sep 2009 | $223,377 | $227,353 | |
| Aug 2009 | $274,973 | $222,180 | |
| Jul 2009 | $255,974 | $209,177 | |
| Jun 2009 | $235,980 | $192,016 | |
| May 2009 | $239,408 | $190,882 | |
| Apr 2009 | $225,465 | $175,238 | |
| Mar 2009 | $225,500 | $179,779 | |
| Feb 2009 | $201,422 | $151,085 | |
| Jan 2009 | $188,566 | $150,889 |
| 2008 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2008 | $183,872 | $149,930 | |
| Nov 2008 | $180,926 | $146,589 | |
| Oct 2008 | $164,209 | $140,146 | |
| Sep 2008 | $171,916 | $154,710 | |
| Aug 2008 | $174,669 | $155,530 | |
| Jul 2008 | $162,148 | $149,115 | |
| Jun 2008 | $155,596 | $144,082 | |
| May 2008 | $158,793 | $145,983 | |
| Apr 2008 | $151,079 | $135,507 | |
| Mar 2008 | $143,174 | $130,487 | |
| Feb 2008 | $135,649 | $125,445 | |
| Jan 2008 | $125,770 | $115,271 |
| 2007 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2007 | $122,596 | $111,684 | |
| Nov 2007 | $121,861 | $114,917 | |
| Oct 2007 | $119,970 | $112,701 | |
| Sep 2007 | $116,475 | $106,292 | |
| Aug 2007 | $107,448 | $96,298 | |
| Jul 2007 | $102,011 | $92,049 | |
| Jun 2007 | $99,506 | $91,716 | |
| May 2007 | $98,224 | $93,041 | |
| Apr 2007 | $90,496 | $86,329 | |
| Mar 2007 | $87,999 | $84,238 | |
| Feb 2007 | $77,994 | $72,611 | |
| Jan 2007 | $75,174 | $71,253 |
| 2006 | Net worth | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2006 | $70,108 | $68,390 |
| Nov 2006 | $67,377 | $65,978 |
| Oct 2006 | $63,922 | $62,626 |
| Sep 2006 | $59,232 | $58,081 |
| Aug 2006 | $54,014 | $53,098 |
| Jul 2006 | $51,166 | $49,913 |
| Jun 2006 | $49,872 | $49,119 |
| May 2006 | $49,510 | $48,120 |
| Apr 2006 | $49,835 | $47,493 |
| Mar 2006 | $57,544 | $45,563 |
| Feb 2006 | $- | $39,991 |
| Jan 2006 | $- | $39,351 |
| 2005 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2005 | $- | $38,007 | |
| Nov 2005 | $- | $37,840 | |
| Oct 2005 | $- | $35,458 | |
| Sep 2005 | $- | $35,422 | |
| Aug 2005 | $- | $32,078 | |
| Jul 2005 | $- | $33,034 | |
| Jun 2005 | $- | $30,719 | |
| May 2005 | $30,022 | $26,966 | |
| Apr 2005 | $30,424 | $28,670 | |
| Mar 2005 | $19,855 | $26,901 | |
| Feb 2005 | $- | $28,657 | |
| Jan 2005 | $25,780 | $25,862 |
| 2004 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2004 | 25,632 | $25,846 | |
| Nov 2004 | $- | $23,210 | |
| Oct 2004 | $- | $21,864 | |
| Sep 2004 | $23,152 | $21,242 | |
| Aug 2004 | $21,759 | $20,228 | (b) |
| Jul 2004 | $34,524 | $20,882 | |
| Jun 2004 | $- | $21,950 | |
| May 2004 | $- | $20,701 | |
| Apr 2004 | $- | $19,175 | |
| Mar 2004 | $- | $16,092 | |
| Feb 2004 | $24,575 | $17,276 | |
| Jan 2004 | $24,254 | $14,221 |
| 2003 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2003 | $22,626 | $13,150 | |
| Nov 2003 | $20,554 | $11,375 | |
| Oct 2003 | $24,143 | $9,661 | |
| Sep 2003 | $22,672 | $6,351 | |
| Aug 2003 | $- | $4,767 | |
| Jul 2003 | $21,248 | $13,255 | |
| Jun 2003 | $- | $13,841 | |
| May 2003 | $- | $13,088 | |
| Apr 2003 | $- | $10,200 | |
| Mar 2003 | $- | $7,269 | |
| Feb 2003 | $- | $5,394 | |
| Jan 2003 | $- | $3,889 |
| 2002 | Net worth | Adjusted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2002 | $- | $2,328 | |
| Nov 2002 | $- | ($541) | |
| Oct 2002 | $- | ($3,757) | |
| Sep 2002 | $- | ($5,054) | |
| Aug 2002 | $- | ($4,451) | |
| Jul 2002 | $- | ($4,666) | |
| Jun 2002 | $- | ($4,825) | |
| May 2002 | $- | ($5,477) | |
| Apr 2002 | $- | ($7,432) | |
| Mar 2002 | $- | ($8,188) | |
| Feb 2002 | $- | ($8,564) | |
| Jan 2002 | $- | ($9,165) | |
| Dec 2001 | $- | ($9,394) |
Notes
(a) Removed business accounts from net worth and balance sheet from June 2011 forward.
(b) Removed home inventory line from net worth and balance sheet from August 2004 forward.
Updated October 16, 2012 and originally published October 13, 2012. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
Rank: Platinum
Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, you are doing very well! :) Maybe you should make a chart, it’ll be more visual. Is there a way to normalize that big drop (business account) in 2011?
I may add a column with a normalized net worth, going back and reporting everything the same way. And I will add a graph that better visualizes the progress. Thanks for the idea!
Very cool to have this all in one place. Crazy to see that business drop off. Was your only business this website?
There were some other websites, some other consulting, but for the most part, particularly towards the end of what’s listed on this page, this website was it.
Flexo
I believe your net worth number after June 2011 is not really relevant. You can pull money out of your business accounts at will and it would seem like your personal net worth is growing when is not. Your total net worth (business + personal) would be more relevant. I understand you don’t want to disclose your business numbers but in that case is better to just show a chart from 2003 to June 2011. It will show your great progress in 8 years, I think that’s the message here; you can really make it even with a salary and income from a blog in your case. That message motivated me to start saving aggressively back in 2006 and I have saved more than $500K in 6 years only with my salary.
You’re exactly correct. Without the business numbers included, it’s much less recent for showing my personal progress, but there are a number of reasons I didn’t want to or couldn’t get into some of those specifics. That’s another reason I decided to stop tracking publicly.
Going back to the start you had no business data showing. That means that you have shown a $358,487 gain (removing home inventory from your starting point) over 8 years. That show great growth and something i think many on here would be glad to have done over the last 8 years. Over my last 8 years i went from a positive (albeit very small) net worth with no debt to a negative net worth with a college degree and a car. And loans for both.
I’ve updated this page with adjusted numbers going back to December 2001 (before I created Consumerism Commentary) and a chart for visualization.
Wow, that is awesome to see you coming from a negative net worth to a decent sized savings! This is truly inspiring stuff, Luke!
Why can’t you share Business? Would it really violate a non-disclosure? You wouldn’t be talking about sales price.
That being said, really an amazing decade you have had! What grew more you and as person or your bank account?
I don’t want to get anywhere close to violating any kind of non-disclosure, so I’m playing it pretty safe with regard to business income or even implied business income.
I was hoping for some more vertical growth this decade, but alas, I’m still the same height I was at 21. I’ve also been hoping for more growth in the hair department, but that seems to be taking the reverse approach.
I’ve certainly grown as an adult, though I still have my adolescent tendencies that I don’t hide nearly as much as I should.
What disclosure would you violate ? Im new here… you own this site? So would it be your ad’s ? investors ? Thanks
Joe: I sold this site to an outside investor. There haven’t been any changes to the site from an editorial perspective, though.