My Tenth Net Worth Overshare
Several readers have asked what happened to my monthly budget updates.
I stopped publishing these updates back in February because I was wasting way too much energy tracking my expenses down to the dollar every month.
This doesn't mean I'm against this type of budgeting.
Closely tracking your spending can be a powerful tool.
This exact strategy helped me regain control of my money, save a six-month emergency fund, and change careers.
But once you've reached a point of stability, and you're generally happy with your monthly budget, I'd recommend diverting that energy toward earning more.
It's easy to get wrapped up in the game of extreme frugality, but there's a limit to how much you can save. By embracing an abundance mentality, you'll find you're a lot more willing to take risks on long-term growth.
It's intimidating, but it's made a huge difference for my finances.
Here's a look at my latest net worth overshare:
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.
Income
Remember how I earned $2,228.55 in side income last quarter?
Quarter two was much less lucrative for a few reasons:
- I've started taking Certified Financial Planner® classes through Boston University's online program.
- I want to focus on earning more money from Cashville Skyline.
- I'm no longer willing to sacrifice my physical and/or mental health for work.
Opportunities will continue to pop up, especially after attending XY Planning Network 2016 and FinCon 2016 in September, but I'm sticking with my current plan for now.
Short-term sacrifices to meet long-term goals, right?
Expenses
Over the past quarter, I've made a few investments in my business:
Social Warfare – Social Warfare is the only social sharing plugin you need. These buttons are both beautiful and lightning-fast. I especially love the ability to customize images and copy for each channel (including Pinterest). Other cool features? Shareable quotes, Twitter cards, and social proof.
Tailwind – Tailwind is my go-to Pinterest scheduler. I’ve grown my Pinterest traffic significantly over the past six months, and it wouldn’t have been possible without it. I constantly use their browser extension for scheduling and sharing other people’s pins.
ConvertKit – I recently switched from MailChimp to ConvertKit, and it’s a much more powerful and intuitive tool for email list management. I love how easy it is to set up autoresponders and segment my subscribers!
Pretty Link – There are a few reasons I started cloaking my affiliate links: easier to track clicks, shorter / more memorable URLs, and one spot to swap links if I change merchants. Massive time saver!
Also, I'm so happy I finally invested in new head shots! Danielle Shields Photography works wonders, y'all.
Cash
It's hard to believe I didn't even have $5,000 in cash less than a year ago.
I've been really focused on rebuilding my six-month emergency fund to $15,000, and I'm only $1,224.66 from reaching that goal. That's a safety net of only $2,500 per month, which I consider my bare-bones monthly budget.
Every month, I transfer money into a high-interest online savings account. It's liquid, but not as easily accessible as my checking account.
I've also been saving a little every day with Digit. It's a handy, free tool that I've automatically saved over $300 with. I love managing my account via text message!
Investments
I didn't invest any new cash this quarter, but I earned $148.21 in dividends through my brokerage account. That's $148.21 of 100% passive income.
My ultimate goal is to increase my passive streams of income and reduce the hours I'm working every week.
Last year, I started using Personal Capital to track my net worth. Personal Capital seamlessly tracks your expenses, income, asset allocation, investment fees, and more. I love seeing everything in one place. And it's free!
Home Value
At $266,727, my home's value is only $173 shy of $100,000 more than what I paid for it seven years ago.
I'm happy the value is moving in the right direction, I don't like so much of my net worth being tied up in one property. I'm not planning to sell it, so right now it's mostly just an affordable, convenient place to live.
3rd Quarter 2016 Goals
I'm not anticipating any major expenses for the rest of July or August, but I'll be dropping a bunch of money in September for XY Planning Network 2016 and FinCon 2016.
I'd love to finally reach my emergency fund goal of $15,000 by the end of September. With only $1,224.66 more to go, it feels like an achievable goal.
I've earned $7,132.75 in side income since last year's FinCon.
With $2,867.25 to go, and only two months before the conference, I may not meet my original $10,000 side income goal. But I'm definitely going to keep trying!
Readers: Did you meet your financial goals this quarter?
Are you ready to join me on the hustle to financial freedom?
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Discussions — 23 Responses
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Wow that is awesome Kate! I often wonder if not owning anything will help or hinder my wealth building. I mean, it just seems damn near impossible to own in California, so Im not sure what I’m debating about anyway, but I see so many people do have a lot of net worth in their property!
It’s tough to say! I know a lot of people who really regret buying property. Especially homes that have become a massive time and money suck. Honestly, I just got really lucky by buying during the recession before Nashville blew up.
According to my daughter who is an economics professor in Nashville, you are so right that Nashville is ‘blowing up’ with people. Also have a friend living in East Nashville whose property value has more than doubled recently! Traffic, oh my!!!!!
Yes, traffic is a major issue here. The city is working on a long-term regional public transportation plan, but it’s going to be a challenge with minimal funding. No state income tax has its disadvantages.
Your note about taking CFP classes stood out as interesting. Do you have an upcoming post planned on the reasons behind your decision to take the classes and what you hope to get out of or gain from the certification? Career switch, additional income opportunities, both?
Great question! And I’m definitely planning a future post to address this 🙂
A 10 year mortgage? That’s amazing and so smart! Congrats on the net worth increase!
Thanks, Hank! It’s technically a 15-year mortgage that only has 10 years left. 🙂 I’m really happy with my choice for refinance when I got the chance!
Questions – how much monthly do you contribute to your Roth IRA? And what is your best performing Mutual Fund / Stock?
Great questions, Matt!
I try to max out my Roth IRA as early as possible each year. I’ve stuck with the lump sum approach rather than dollar cost averaging based on this Vanguard study: https://pressroom.vanguard.com/nonindexed/7.23.2012_Dollar-cost_Averaging.pdf
I mostly stick with low-cost index funds for investing. Actively managed funds don’t outperform index funds and they are way more expensive.
Most of my money is in Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX) and Vanguard’s Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares (VGTSX). You can look up their performance over time here: http://www.morningstar.com/
Owning multiple pieces of real estate has changed my life. Buying in that location sure was a smart investment!
P.S. That’s Zestimate is too low.
Nice, Stephanie! I’m really happy you’ve been so successful over the past several years. Thanks again for helping me secure this home! 🙂
That is a very impressive amount of savings in a short amount of time. That’s how you know you are have really lined things up well and set a good foundation to ensure your own success. Congratulations on the book news!
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Linda! I feel like I still have a long way to go before I reach financial freedom, but ever little bit helps! 🙂
Nashville real estate seems to be booming! What do you plan to do with the CFP courses? I’ve been contemplating it for a while and I believe I’m exempt from the education requirement since I have a CPA, so that would be one less hoop to jump through. We’ll see…
There are so many questions I would like to ask just based upon this one post, but rather than spamming your comments, I’ll share a comment instead: Good for you for your pursuit of the CFP endorsement! That should open up all sorts of new opportunities for you. I wasn’t even aware of that program through Boston University online.
Hi Kate, thanks for sharing your numbers – very impressive. I’m curious about your $10,000 side income goal. Did you set that as a result of attending FinCon? And do you think you’d have earned over $7k to-date had you not attended?
Last year I was encouraged to set intentions between FinCon 2015 and 2016. I definitely would have hit $10K already if I hadn’t slowed down to focus on CFP classes. Yes, almost everything I’ve earned has been a result of relationships I’ve built through the FinCon community.
Congrats on bumping up that net worth by almost $20K! I’m curious about that Certified Financial Planner class you’re taking through Boston University. That sounds really cool! Can you send me some info?
Sure! Here’s a link to the program I’m in: http://financialplanningonline.bu.edu/ I’m not very far along, but hopefully I’ll make some faster progress now that I’m self-employed! 🙂
I like how your net worth is growing by almost 10% a MONTH! I’d be happy if my net worth grew by 10% a YEAR or even every two years! And, your net worth is a pretty good size too.
Congrats!
Sam
Thanks for the encouragement, Sam! My home is really helping. Hopefully, the value keeps moving in the right direction 🙂
Your net worth from fall of last year to now is SO IMPRESSIVE! You’re killing it, girl! Congrats!