Poor performing real estate and unwanted/unexpected expenses gave back almost all the gains from August…
Sometimes in this game of trying to achieve financial independence you take a step forward and two steps back.
September was one of those months.
Between dropping $2k on a down payment for summer camp for two kids next year, a flat tire that set me back $450, and a drop in the value of my rental property, I shed almost $12k (-1.71%) from my net worth in a month where the S&P 500 gained 2%.
For those of you that are new to the blog, this is my fourth month of posting about my net worth and the ups and downs of pursuing FIRE. I actually started tracking my net worth sporadically way back in 2017, and have posted all of my monthly numbers here.
If you would like to check out my first net worth post from June 2024, click here.
My Net Worth Update for September 2024
It has now been 2 and a half months since my wife and I separated, and my finances are finally starting to stabilize. That being said, a combination or lower than expected income (I’m self-employed) and $2,500 in unexpected expenses this month had the net effect of actually ADDING to my credit card balance. 😢
But that’s part of the deal, and these little “surprises” can happen to any of us, which is why it is so important to create an emergency fund. More on that in a future post.
Here were my “surprise” expenses this month:
- Car Repairs: I had a flat tire that I presumed would be an easy and inexpensive repair. Unfortunately, it turned into two new tires (I picked the cheapest ones they had, much to the dismay of the salesman) and an oil change. Total bill = $422.30
- 2025 Summer Camp: I knew this expense was coming, but that didn’t make it any easy to take while I’m trying to pay down debt. I have three kids that we had to sign up for a two week summer camp in 2025. The fee is $5,000 per child, but we get some discounts. To register them, we had to put $1,000 down. Some people would call this irresponsible. But my ex-wife and I decided that this was something we didn’t want to take away from the kids as they have been going there for many years. We were supposed to split the enrollment fee, but did I mention my ex was bad with money? She could only afford to pay $1,000 – so I had to pay the other $2,062 (they include a 3.1% credit card surcharge).
- NFL Sunday Ticket: Again, some may call this irresponsible, but I enjoy watching my favorite NFL team on Sundays – regardless of the fact they are constantly disappointing me. This added $166 to my subscriptions for the next 4 months.
All of these expenses would not have been a huge deal but for the fact that my income was about $2,500 less than I typically earn. Evidently people like to take vacations in August instead of hiring lawyers. 😂
But it wasn’t all bad. My utilities were about $250 total, I spent less than $100 on gas, and my grocery bill was only $473! I also decided to start contributing $100/month to my emergency fund, notwithstanding my debt payoff plan.
Ok, let’s review my assets and liabilities.
Assets
Real Estate: (-$21,115) This is a rental property that I received as part of my divorce settlement. It used to be our primary home, but I’m renting it out to a family member until August 2025. The value of this property is an average of the values found on Redfin and Zillow. Who knows what it will actually sell for… I guess we will find out next year when I put it on the market! Initially, I had considered waiting until August 2025 to list it, but now I’m thinking I might try and get it ready for sale closer to February or March – especially if the Fed continues to drop interest rates.
Retirement Accounts: (+$10,000) This is all market appreciation for my accounts at Fidelity and Schwab. I’ve decided to pull $40,000 from an inherited IRA I have to pay off the remainder of my consumer debt (with the exception of my car loan), so this number will likely fall next month.
Investment/Savings: (+$155) Last month I decided to start contributing $100 per month into my after-tax investment accounts so that I can start building up my emergency funds. This includes a small Roth IRA ($200), and Webull account ($100) and two separate investment accounts that are each valued at about $1,400. I’m adding the extra $100 to my account at Schwab.
Checking Accounts: (-$2,600) This is the balance of my checking account immediately after I deposit my paycheck. I pay myself a salary on the last day of the month, but for cash flow and budgeting purposes I treat is as if I get paid on the 1st of the month. This initial cash inflow is used to pay my bills through the 15th of each month, as well as to pay off the credit card that I use for spending from the prior month (more on this in a bit). I take a second draw from my businesses on the 15th to cover additional debt payments. I’m looking forward to next month and being debt-free! This amount is lower than normal because my business had a slow month and I was only able to take a draw – I couldn’t afford to take a salary.
Car: (No Change) I plugged my car into Monarch Money, which I use to track my spending and net worth on a daily basis. The software automatically tracks the value of your car. I don’t envision this ever going up!
Liabilities
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I am aggressively paying down my debt right now. I wasn’t able to pay down as much as I would have liked this month due to the increase in unexpected expenses I outlined previously.
However, you will see big changes at the end of October as I’ve decided to pull money from my inherited IRA to pay off all my remaining consumer debt.
Here is what happened this month…
Mortgage: (-$680) When it comes to mortgages, and deciding whether or not to pay yours off, you have to consider your interest rate. I refinanced this loan in 2019 to an unfathomable 2.85%, so I have no reason to pay this off anytime soon. If my interest was higher (say 6-7%), then I may consider adding more to principal each month. But it’s not, so if I every find myself in the position to have extra money in any given month (after my debt is paid off), I will likely just max out my retirement and put the rest into an after-tax index fund.
Promissory Note: ($0.00) Interest doesn’t start to accrue until next year, so no movement on this for the time being.
HELOC: (-$143) I use my rental income to pay down the HELOC, then draw on it to pay the mortgage on the 15th of the month. I would like to see this come down, but right now it doesn’t move too much. The interest rate is currently 9.49%, so if I were to keep the house I would start aggressively paying this down in the coming months. However, I’m likely to sell the rental in the next 6-10 months, so I’m more concerned on building up my emergency fund after I pay off my consumer debt this month.
Auto Loan: (-$450) After the Fed lowered interest rates last month, I called up my lender and decided to refinance my car loan. I was able to drop my payment from $607 to $541 per month. After I create an emergency fund of 6 months living expenses, I intend to begin paying this off aggressively. Depending on the price I can get for the house, I may use a part of the proceeds to pay this off completely next year.
Personal Loan: (-$1,122) Payments are $1,304/month and I have 16 payments left if I don’t pay it off early. But as I write this I’m planning to pay this off with funds from my inherited IRA later this week!
Credit Card Debt: (+$1,165) I’m down to two credit cards that have balances on them that I’m working to pay off. However, I should note that I also have two other credit cards that I pay off each month. One is a BJ’s card that I use for gas and groceries (at BJ’s, of course), and the other is a Capital One card that I use for everyday spending (not at BJ’s) which gives me points. I incurred some additional expenses this month on the Capital One card that contributed to the higher balance. I will be paying all of the credit cards off within the next two weeks using funds from my inherited IRA.
As I’ve mentioned before, I keep the spending on these two cards low and in line with my budget so that I can pay these cards off each month. I may remove them from the spreadsheet next month If I can continue to pay them off in full (which I believe I can). If I removed the credit cards that I will be paying off each month from this balance, then I paid off roughly $1,300 in debt this month – bringing my credit cards with balances on them to $17,429.
Student Loan: (-$293) Only 3.5 payments left! Woohoo! Hard to believe that after paying my student loans for the past 26 years, the finish line is in sight!
How I Plan to Track My 2024 Net Worth Goal
For years I’ve been adding up all of my accounts in a Google Sheet and tracking my net worth manually each month.
But recently I discovered Monarch Money.
Monarch Money allows you to see your net worth in real time, every day, without adding everything into a spreadsheet.
Not only that, you can track your spending to make sure you aren’t going out of whack.
So far I love it.
I’ll talk more about Monarch Money in a future post, but for now you should use this link to check it out and see if it will make it easier to track your net worth.
FYI, this is an affiliate link. Which means if you sign up for Monarch Money, it won’t cost you anything extra, but it will help to support my blog.
Thank you in advance!
