Hey hey! Back from the beach and ready to talk $$$$!
But first up – special shout out to my son, J. Penny, who turns 5 today – whaaaaaat?! How did that happen? Remember when I wanted to track all his expenses for 18 years but then gave up a little after two when his baby brother, J. Nickel, came around? Hah!
We ended at $28,185.49, and probably good we stopped there before my wallet had a heart attack ;) The final breakdown was pretty interesting to see though, and here’s a snapshot of it after 29 full months of tracking (starting from the day the pregnancy test showed a positive):
- Toys: $360.76
- Clothing: $642.84
- Diapers: $1,141.59
- Home/Furniture: $1,117.12
- Food: $1,332.49
- Supplies: $1,859.52
- College Savings: $3,350.00
- Medical: $6,792.42
- Daycare: $10,588.75
- Extra padding: $1,000 (for stuff I probably forgot to track)
Some biggies in there like daycare and medical and even college savings (all of which will vary drastically between families, of course), but still mind blowing when you see it all added up like that. And that’s just for our first kid!
Anyways, good times ;)
Here’s a pic of us celebrating together on the 4th:
And here’s a picture he drew recently he was pretty proud of. (Want to guess what it is? ;) The answers on Twitter were hilarious!)
I love you buddy!! Keep expanding that brain of yours and one day you’ll be taking over the family biz!
Now Onto The $$$ Numbers For June:
[This marks net worth tracking #114 in a row, and is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my money. Highly advise doing it yourself if you’re not already! (I list a few of my favorite tools to help you do so at the end of this post…)]
CASH SAVINGS (-$1,145.57): The only drop in categories this month, and mainly due to me underestimating my quarterly taxes. Which I keep separated out from all my main accounts here so I don’t feel such a pain of loss every three months :) Figured it’s really the IRS’ money anyways, so why include it in my overall net worth? (I tried this for the first year of self-employment and it sucked!)
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN (TSP) (+$448.37): Uppity up it goes! The percentages of increase keep going down as the pot grows, but still fun watching it trump all others over the months… Here’s how it’s looked from the start of my wife contributing to her account last year (starting at $0.00):
- First contribution (n/a %)
- +119.00%
- +51.82%
- +37.54%
- +27.62%
- +21.87%
- +28.09%
- +14.04%
- +12.93%
- +11.75%
- +9.82%
All automated from the beginning too so we never got used to seeing the money – tip #381!
ROTH IRAs (+$973.77): A nice little increase here too without any additional contributions lately (we usually max it out all at once at the beginning of the year once we know our tax situation from my biz).
SEP IRA (+$4,337.27): Same with this bad boy too – nothing new added but continues to rise over the months due to being fully invested in index funds. Particularly, VTSAX from Vanguard. Here’s a screenshot from the end of last month:
CAR VALUES (+$79.00): Always odd when they go up a little, but needless to say they’re depreciating assets and will always trend downwards… Unless, perhaps, you rock a collectible car, but I highly doubt many of us own one of those ;)
Here’s how both our cars currently break down per Kelly Blue Book:
- Lexus RX350: $12,693.00
- Toyota Corolla: $3,592.00
CAR LOAN: (-$468.35): Another nice bump as we continue paying down the loan on Lexi! Still not ready to wipe it all away quite yet (cash savings + debt > less savings + no debt, for me at least), but one of these days I’ll finally rip off the band aid and be done with it…
And that’s June’s numbers!
Here’s a nice snapshot of the past year’s worth of tracking everything below. We had a solid bump back in December, and then it’s really just been the markets doing their thing ever since. Though as Mr. Money Mustache recently warned gleefully exclaimed: be ready – another recession is coming!
And then here’s a snapshot of the net worths of my two little boys – bless their little wallets… Our $50/mo automated contributions to their 529 accounts are now in full swing:
Hope your month treated y’all well too! Anything new go down over there? Anyone hit some cool milestones? (Paid off debt? Bought a house? Became a Thousandaire? :))
As always, you can see all 100+ previous net worth updates of ours here, and of course check out the Ultimate Net Worth Tracker over at Rockstar Finance where there’s now 359 bloggers publicly disclosing their net worths. We’re not shy anymore, that’s for sure!
But really, all that matters is that YOU know yourself where your money is, even if you never tell a soul… It’s personal finance for a reason, we’re just a bunch of voyeurs up in here ;)
To the next step!
PS: If you’re just getting started in your journey, here are a few good resources to help track your money. Doesn’t matter which route you go, just that it ends up sticking!
- The "Budget/Net Worth" spreadsheet - the colorful Excel template I personally use.
- The "Money Snapshot" spreadsheet - a simple Excel template I created for my former $$$ clients
If you're not a spreadsheet guy like me and prefer something more automated (which is fine, whatever gets you to take action!), you can try your hand with a free Empower account instead (formerly Personal Capital)
Empower is a cool tool that connects with your bank & investment accounts to give you an automated way to track your net worth. You'll get a crystal clear picture of how your spending and investments affect your financial goals (early retirement?), and it's super easy to use.
It only takes a couple minutes to set up and you can grab your free account here. They also do a lot of other cool stuff as well which my early retired friend Justin covers in our full review of Empower - check it out here: Why I Use Empower Almost Every Single Day.
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Nice job on the increase… keep it climbin’!
Happy birthday to little J. Penny! It’s mine too although I’ve got a few years on him! :) Congratulations on your net worth increase. It’s cool that you have everything set up so simply. Not owning a house probably helps with that too. Our roof replace starts today so I’m feeling the pinch of homeownership acutely! :)
Happy July!
Ack – what a birthday present!
I’ll have to shoot over some left over cake to you tonight :)
Happy Birthday to J.Penny! Five and on he’s going to be getting into all kinds of activities now. Enjoy it, it goes fast. I know everyone says that but we are two of our three are heading to college in the fall and my wife and I still look at each other and ask how did this happen? Congrats on a solid month!
Just dropped him off at camp and can’t believe how much of a little man he is now! I’m sure you remember clearly all yours’ first steps too :) I believe it goes by fast!
I’m curious about your TSP allocation! Care to share?
Yup, she’s 100% in the Lifecycle 2040. Not as aggressive as I’d do myself if it were my account (I like the C and S stock indexes!), but hey – it’s her money ;) And really, all the TSP funds are pretty amazing w/ its low fees.
What are you invested in?
You forgot to add $1,000,000 – $2,000,000 to your net worth due to your M&A deal with your online business!
Hah! I don’t own FinancialSamurai.com :)
Happy birthday J. Penny. Congrats on a solid June and getting closer to your goals. Little by slowly. The TSP is a good retirement plan. My dad was a GS employee for 37 years and contributed to a TSP. Great stuff.
I passed through the 150k barrier this month, after just hitting 100k last June. It’s exciting watching things take shape, knowing the plan is working. And with the raise I got two months ago, I’m now contributing $1,500/mo to my 457(b), meaning I’ll max it out next year! W00T
You know what they say, the first $100,000 is the hardest!
Congrats, man :)
Awesome work! Keep it going. Love these updates!
Happy birthday, J Penny! And congratulations on an impressive month of net worth, J. Money! It’s always great to check your net worth report every month and see the number increase.
Daycare and diapers are definitely among the biggest expenses for Baby FAF right now. I can’t wait until he can go to pre-K for free! ^.^
Your wallet can’t either! ;)
Happy birthday, J Penny!
Sir, you’ve got a good, really good month.
Way to go! We also had a couple of great milestones this month. Paid off our mortgage at 47 years old, yay! Then we took some of the extra money plus an unexpected bonus from my job and bought an adjoining property for our second house plot in the mountains. We recently found out that the A Frame cabin and land we bought 9 years ago will soon be overlooking another reservoir (we already overlook one, about 8 miles away), as they are building one below us in the valley about 1 mile away. So yeah, a damned good month for us too :)
Oh $hit, yeah it is. Nicely played over there!
Bahaha, your kiddos are so precious! I do wonder about the costs of raising a kid, but I already know they’re pretty high lol. :) Our June was good! We came in under budget in our typically spendy categories and paid off my student loans! :)
Woo! I like how you just slipped that in there at the end too as if it wasn’t no thang ;) That’s huge girl, congrats!!
No crazy milestones financially. Shooting to be a 1/4 millionaire by the end of the year. only $20k left to go
Should be do-able but you never know with another little one running around :O
I know next year is going to be crazy hard to see the networth stale out with baby 2 going into daycare. :'(
The good thing though is that it only lasts a few years! And they’re cute as hell at that age, so we take a hit on the wallet and then appreciate our $$$ even more when it all starts flowing back ;)
You’re totally right, seeing some of those costs tallied is frightening, especially daycare. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t just round up some close family and friends, buy like 100 acres and start a commune type farm. You take care of the kids, I handle the garden/animals, you over there go work in a office… that probably wouldn’t work out though…
It’s a damn good idea to consider! I always joke about creating a little village of tiny homes for my family to start one, but while everyone is just laughing me out I’m actually researching here and there to see if it’s actually possible :) I don’t know now i’m going to convince them all when it’s time, but hey – it’s a valiant mission! Gotta make sure there’s a chef in there somewhere too – imagine never having to cook dinner again? :)
The tiny home village idea isn’t a bad one. I have seen (er watched YouTube videos) of people who build these with a main house for kitchen/bathrooms and just rent ’em out nightly/weekly. Definitely not passive by any means, but depending on the location/market, might be preferable to staying at a hotel.
Hey J, The Methodists beat you to it over a hundred years ago, at least here in over-priced Long Island, NY. Our “Tinytown” even has its own Facebook page. too. But I’m sure yours will be more affordable and self-contained:
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/north-merrick-s-tiny-town-keeps-a-small-semblance-of-its-history-1.6023649
Very cool – clicking over now!
You’re doing really great J$! “cash savings + debt > less savings + no debt” – totally agree!
Your son is an artist! Our kid’s art work is usually just a blob of color or two. He has no patient for art and just want to go play.
Yeah, childcare is ridiculous. I’m so glad our kid is school age now. Pretty soon both of your boys will be in school. That will be awesome.
I haven’t paid estimated tax because last year we didn’t have to. My wife’s deduction offset my taxes. This year, we’ll have to pay, but I’ll just pay in April…
We’re getting closer every year, but now considering adding a 3rd to the mix which will jack it all up, haha… Somebody stop me!!!
Happy Birthday to Penny. Loved the drawing. I think it looks like a turtle ownership flowchart.
June was a good month for me. Mostly because it’s a 3 paycheck month and I don’t include the those in my budget so it can all go to savings.
Hah! I thought it was a turtle of some sort too. But we were both wrong – it was a bird :)
Congrats J$, that more flat increase this year is only relative, if you look at the actual number it’s quite impressive!
Baby Penny and Baby Nickel are two lucky little coins and most likely won’t have student loan problems.
On our side we also hit a milestone in June by exceeding EUR 200k net worth which I was quite happy about :)
Alriiiiight, nicely done! Now repeat 4 more times and you’ll officially be a millionaire :)
Great net worth increase J$! Pretty soon you’ll be pushing millionaire status!
Love your monthly net worth updates! Congrats on adding up another $5k, that’s awesome. Your doing it right J money! Love the picture on the 4th.
The impressiveness of your month of financials paled beside the impressiveness of your 5 year old’s art. That is _clearly_ Evel Knievel doing stunts on a turtle’s back (and for good measure said turtle is wearing Spongebob’s shorts – I guess Spongebob must be running around somewhere with it all hanging out, assuming that sponges do in fact have stuff to hang out).
Haha… My son is going to LOVE that answer!!
And it’s much more creative than what it actually was too – which was “a bird.” Hah.
Hey J! I’m excited because my PC reported a new milestone for me, 90k(!!!!), and all of a sudden it’s up to 94k! that jump is mostly from the zestimate increasing on my home, so it feels inflated, but I’m gonna pop bottles when I break 100,000! Thanks for encouraging me to track, love doing it with personal capital.
Love to hear it! Keep going!! :)
J –
Nice, Nice – I did make an extra pay down on the car loan – to keep savings but to just get rid of this thing quicker, less than 60 days and I’ll be auto loan free.
Also – I bet you enjoyed the nice little dividend you received for the Vanguard fund you have – have to love it – reinvestment I am assuming?
Keep the push hard, you’re killing it and having a great time it seems along the way.
-Lanny
Great job on the car debt! I don’t even notice when Vanguard pays dividends, haha.. I just let it all ride and check in once a month for the reports :) (Yup – re-investing all dividends)
Happy birthday to J Penny! All of this investing stuff is relatively new to me, so reading your reports has been super inspiring and educational. My husband and I have always invested in our 401(K)s as much as the company matches, but are getting ready to invest more in a Roth IRA. And figuring out our net worth is on our to-do list. I do have a question I would love to pick your brain about….We are currently saving a six month emergency fund. Would you recommend only keeping a three month fund in cash and investing the rest? If so, what would be some options that could keep our savings fairly liquid while also earning some interest? This would be in addition to our retirement savings. Thanks so much!
Fun! Will you be sharing your net worth publicly or just keeping it amongst yourselves?
As for emergency funds – never a “right” answer there as we’re all comfortable and aiming for different things. I will say that you can never go wrong keeping buckets of cash in it though, so whether you need 3 months or 6 months or even 6 years worth (okay, well that may be too much haha…) you gotta do what makes you most comfortable :) not every dollar needs to be maxed out for returns.
https://budgetsaresexy.com/each-dollar-serves-a-purpose/
as for other places to stash $$$, money market funds are another option as are CD’s. But really you’re not going to get rich off any of it so personally I just keep our savings all in savings for an easier life. Hope this helps :)
I just had to chime in and once again sing the praises of the Baby Tracker idea. That was just so funny to me, and yet at the same time it held out the promise of the offering the most informative blog post of all time if you could have kept it going for 18 years!
Thanks for the net worth updates. You inspired me years ago to do this, and I am so thankful that I did. Happy birthday to J Penny!
Haha, thanks Scott. I really DID intend to keep it around forever, and then realized that being a dad was probably more important than spending my time on spreadsheets every day :)
Health insurance used to be a beautiful thing. My first child was born 9 weeks early and our total out of pocket was a little over $1100 (including medicine co pays). He was in the NICU for 8 weeks, I added up the total once, it was roughly $115,000 billed to insurance. Cant even imagine with today’s insurance, I’m sure I would have easily hit the Max out of pocket and been on the hook for like $12,000 + whatever technicality they could find to disallow other charges. That would have ruined us at that time in our lives.
Oh yeah – I don’t miss our crappy $1,000/mo premiums we were paying at all. It’s been great since the wife started working with the feds! Especially if we do venture out to kid #3 (gulp).
I think I’ve said it before. The only thing I ever hear older people say they regret is not having more kids. I have 4 boys and will not be saying that, I can honestly say I’m good now. I just didn’t want there to be a twinge of regret. If it helps at all, with our 3rd child we barely skipped a beat. Was like 0% extra work, but every child is different, with our 4th, he made up for how easy our third was and then added on top of that.
I know people talk about how expensive kids are and all that but I would say to them, do you really want finances to dictate how you live your authentic human life? I mean isn’t that really the reason we are all here, its not really to find a budget, it goes beyond that, its because we want something more than this world tells us we can have. If someone wants 0 kids or 6 kids I think they should go for it without considering how much money they have in the bank. Because money (while it is a necessary tool in our society) is not nearly as important as living fulfilled (whatever that means to you). In short, the biological window for having kids is short, kids are as expensive or as cheap as you make them, and money while important to live in our society has no business dictating to you how many kids you can have or want to have. My 2 cents…
Amen, brother. Amen.
Our boys have the same birthday, one year apart!
Nice job on the Net Worth boost- I need to update mine sometime soon.
Whaaaaaa? Awesome!!
I love budgets….I use YNAB, you need a budget, and it changed my life. Thanks for sharing yours. And holy crap, kids are expensive!
YNAB is GREAT – I agree :)
Your posts involving your sons are beyond, beyond cute and heart warming. I would be keen on just a “day in the life of a dad x2” post!
We only started tracking our NW this month and the first time we did it, I did it wrong, ha! >_< can't wait until we get to your level of experience.
hah! did you copy and past wrong or something? :)
We’re at about $640,000 this month. I had a slow month of sales in June. Still on your tail. Keep up the good work.
Yeah you are!
While having the data for his first 18 years of life would have been interesting, I’m glad you stopped trying to collect that. More time to focus on enjoying them. I hope your family had a lovely birthday gathering.
My month did well and I’m looking forward to seeing where I end for July.
Congrats on the solid net worth gain. Loved the update, but especially loved the 4th of July pic with you and your son. That’s what it is all about! Hope he had an awesome birthday.
Thanks man :)
My family just crossed the 100k mark in net worth in cash and investments (not including assets). Since following your blog and a couple others that we discovered a couple months ago, we have increased our savings rate dramatically. We are now putting $2,250 per month in my husband’s 457, $320 per month in his 403b, and $1,600 per month in my 401k. We are trying to catch up for this year so we can max the 457 and 401k. Thanks for all your inspiration!
Daaaaaaamnn… Y’all will be surpassing us in no time w/ that kind of savings rate! Keep going!!
Love the net worth of your two babies, baby nickel, and baby penny. I’ve done the same thing to my kids and got them started early. The times when they do not know much about money is the best time. I remember my wife opening up a joint bank account with our two kids and start initially with money gifts from relatives. They really add up big time. They’re both done with college now and they’ve taken over their accounts and it’s great to see how they start growing their net worth now themselves. Good job!
Oh wowwww – that time just FLEW by too, didn’t it?