In order to keep track of my financial progress or lack of progress I have decided to calculate my net worth a few times a year.
My net worth as of 07/1/2017 is as follows.
Assets
Cash – $7676
IRA – $26,364
Roth IRA – $1623
Solo 401k – $1097
Car/Stuff – $3500
Liabilities
Student Loan – $114,398
Credit Card – $6935
Net Worth = $-81,073
My net worth declined a little over $1100 last month. A decrease was expected since I had very little income while on sabbatical from my full-time job. All of my investment accounts declined slightly as well. My student loan balance increased slightly despite making a $500 payment during the month. Unfortunately, my loan accrues more than $500 interest every month so a $500 payment isn’t enough to keep the balance from increasing. On the positive side, I did decrease my credit card balance by over $800. The credit card has a 0% interest rate so it would make more sense to delay paying down the credit card and use that money to pay my student loan instead. However, the 0% interest rate will end next year and I want to make sure I have the credit card paid off before that happens. Since I’m now back at work and will have two full paychecks this month I will be able to get my net worth going back in the right direction.
I’ve been using Personal Capital (affiliate link) to help track my net worth. It keeps track of all of my financial accounts and my student loan making it pretty easy to calculate my net worth each month. It is free to sign up. If you would like to sign up I’d appreciate you using my link. All blog income, including affiliate income, goes to paying down my student loan.