Do you have a complicated net worth like me? If so, it may be a good idea to look at a simple net worth. The more complicated your net worth, the more you need to stay on top of it with a free tool like Empower.
A blogging buddy of mine named J from Budgets Are Sexy publishes his net worth figures every month. Although I generally advise against sharing all of one's financial details, if the figures are reasonable, then that's probably fine. Otherwise, the pitchforks will be focused on those who brazenly display obnoxious amounts of wealth with no regard for others. May Stealth Wealth live on in us all.
Remember, it's more about what you have to show for your income, not so much about how much you make. Your net worth figure should be carefully protected as it grows.
Managing A Complicated Net Worth
J is in his early-to-mid 30s and has a family of four with a very respectable net worth of ~$470,000. Given he has around $37,000 in cash, the next time I see him at a conference boondoggle, of course I'm going to let him buy me a steak dinner!
Instead of letting his cash earn nothing in a money market account, he might as well take care of his friends right? He also might as well invest in Treasury bonds yielding 5%+ after the Fed's aggressive rate hikes.
What I noticed about his net worth picture is how pleasantly streamlined it is. He has no more than 10 financial accounts to track. Have a look.
A Simple Net Worth Composition
After seeing J's net worth chart, I got to thinking about how complicated my own net worth picture is. I used to track my net worth with an Excel spreadsheet every single month since 2000. It was pretty fun for a personal finance enthusiast like me, but it started getting a little cumbersome after my account total grew.
By the time I aggregated my accounts online in 2012 with Empower, my favorite free financial tool online, I had 25 accounts to track. I felt relieved when I no longer had to write everything down and update figures every month. Now everything just gets updated automatically thanks to technology.
But something funny happens when you just leverage technology to track your net worth. You stop being as analytical with your finances as you used to because you just rely on technology to do everything for you. In other words, you start getting a little lazy. Laziness is a net worth killer because it prevents you from taking action when opportunities arise, e.g. refinancing a mortgage.
My net worth has grown since 2012, like I'm sure most of your net worths have. What I'm curious to know is how many financial accounts I have now, because I haven't checked in over a year! Perhaps you'll share your count as well.
FINANCIAL SAMURAI NET WORTH COMPOSITION
I spent about half an hour adding up all my accounts in my net worth and came up with a whopping 33 accounts to track. Then I realized several days later that I forgot to add in my deferred partner equity asset from my old employer. I had to go back into my chart, add the account, and re-publish the picture below to make it 34 accounts total.
The crazy thing is, I used to have four more accounts with First Republic Bank last year before I rolled my two CDs into a downpayment on a property and shutdown my unused money market and checking accounts. I wasn't using First Republic Bank for anything except two 4%+, 5-year CDs until they expired.
My Net Worth Composition
Upon fully digesting my net worth composition, I feel good knowing I've been able to build a diversified portfolio of assets that should hopefully grow and provide a consistent stream of passive income over time. But I'm also reminded that desire is the cause of suffering.
There was a time when everything was so simple. I'd have a checking account, a savings account, a credit card and that's it. I didn't have to worry about a thing!
Nowadays, I've got to worry about my various tenants damaging my property, whether I'm overexposed to equities, if I have enough personal property insurance, if management of my private investments are doing all they can to grow, when is the right time to refinance my mortgages, and how to deploy the recurring cash flow from my business. Holy shitake mushroom! That's a lot to think about.
How much is actually enough? I feel a little like the predator from the movie, Predator, who goes around the universe collecting trophies for fun until he gets slaughtered by Arnold. Seriously, what's the point of amassing wealth beyond a comfortable figure? More accounts, more problems.
Since I've put together my net worth chart, I might as well do a net worth composition analysis like any good financial blogger would.
NET WORTH COMPOSITION ANALYSIS
Cash
After the Fed started raising interest rates again, CD and money market rates should be more attractive. They had better be given inflation is running at 8% currently.
Cash flow is very strong from my online business because the cost structure is so low. My goal for the next twelve months is to build a constant personal $100,000 cash pile for peace of mind, investment opportunities, and more debt pay down.
Thankfully, it's easier to generate more passive income when the Fed is hiking rates. You can buy Treasury bonds yielding over 4%. You can also buy an 18-month CD from CIT Bank yielding 4.5%. Not bad!
Real Estate
After tracking my passive income streams earlier in the year, I came to the conclusion that I was severely neglecting my Lake Tahoe rental property, so I wrote a post about it to help boost its business.
So far so good with my latest rental property in SF that used to be my primary residence of 10 years. The tenants have paid on time with auto pay, although I noticed their crazy hyperactive dog is scratching up the wood floors and eating up my French doors when I came to pick up my mail one day. I told them to buy more carpeting and to stop smoking in the house per the lease. Thank goodness for a hefty rental deposit because fixing those doors might cost $4,000+.
My other SF rental property is fine too. I spent $225 like a donkey on 15 minutes worth of handyman work last quarter, but at least everything is fixed. The rent will go up by $100 this year per my contract. We signed a two year contract with a fixed price that is ending.
I've been happy investing in real estate crowdfunding since the investment returns are estimated at 15% a year with zero hassle or maintenance. I'm really excited about investing in the heartland of America where I think there will be a multi-decade trend due to lower cost living, lower valuations, and higher returns.
Investing on a platform like CrowdStreet or Fundrise is very attractive. They are the two best real estate investing platforms today. With high inflation and a recovering economy, rents and real estate prices should continue to go up.
Investments As Part Of Net Worth
It's been a bull market since 2009, thank goodness. The stock markets are close to record highs and everybody feels like an investment genius. But one day, things will not so be good and I'm prepared. My after tax investment portfolio underperformed the S&P 500 last year. The reason is I have a defensive portfolio of structured notes, muni bonds, and index funds. That one day came in 2022!
My rollover IRA was quite volatile as I kept on punting in and out of stocks. Don't do that. Just buy some index funds based on your desired equity weighting, and leave good enough alone.
I've allocated a good chunk of change to a venture debt fund. It provides an 9% preferred minimum and a target return profile of 15%-30%. I'll take 9% after fees all day long.
Alternative Investments As Part Of Net Worth
The most exciting assets that could potentially produce the biggest returns are my alternative investments. Bulldog Gin teamed up with Campari for nationwide distribution. While my options in Empower turned out to big a four bagger when Empower bought it in 2020.
I bought investments in Japanese real estate during the downturn. It was part of my year end bonus back in 2009. Those have turned out to be solid given everything has rebounded since 2009.
But the Japanese private real estate portfolio has deleveraged and is winding down over the next three years. The IRR is roughly 23% over a seven year time frame. I'm so sad the money will finally be returned to me. It's hard to find such a solid return anywhere.
Finally, I'm excited about my Fundrise investments. They have consistently outperformed during stock bear markets. Take look at the latest Fundrise returns.
I rank real estate crowdfunding as one of the best passive income investments.
Physical Assets
I almost forgot about my watch, sports memorabilia, and antiques collection. I've been a watch fan ever since I was a kid when I first got my Seiko Kinetic watch. About 10 years ago, I began collecting more expensive time pieces such as the Rolex GV Milgauss, Stainless Steel Daytona, Pam-142, Big Pilot, and Patek Philippe Complicated Perpetual Calendar to name a few. These watches just keep on going up in value as manufacturers raise their prices. For example, the Rolex GV Milgauss was $6,200 back in 2008, but the asking price is now $8,200.
I've got my dad's Topps and Bowman baseball card collection since 1952 with some sweet Roberto Clementes, Mickey Mantles, Yogi Berra, and Hank Aarons included. I found half of his collection while rummaging through the garage about 20 years ago. They were exposed to the elements with silver fish bugs crawling all over them. So I meticulously cleaned the cards and put them in individual plastic bags and cases.
Finally, I've been collecting Chinese coins and art since 1997 when I studied abroad for six months (first image of this post). I've got some sweet pieces from the Qing, Song, Ming, Han, Qin, Zhou, and Shang Dynasties. I even have coins from the Warring States period (ca. 475-221 BCE), and I saw some of my pieces at the British Museum!
Hmmm, maybe this collection is worth more than I thought. Rare books with autographs are the next great investment IMO.
YOUR NET WORTH NEEDS TO BE MANAGED
If you don't properly stay on top of your net worth, there's no way to properly optimize your wealth. I guarantee you that as your wealth grows, your net worth will get more complicated. You might even forget about some accounts where you have money or debt obligations.
Diversification is important, as evidenced by the pain many Americans experienced in 2008-2010 due to having most of their net worth in property. Manage your net worth today or end up with much less tomorrow.
as you get wealthier, your net worth will get more complicated. If you want to retire earlier, you might wanna adopt a minimalism. Minimalism and early retirement go hand-in-hand.
Invest In Private Growth Companies
Finally, consider diversifying into private growth companies through an open venture capital fund. Companies are staying private for longer, as a result, more gains are accruing to private company investors. Finding the next Google or Apple before going public can be a life-changing investment.
Check out the Innovation Fund, which invests in the following five sectors:
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
- Modern Data Infrastructure
- Development Operations (DevOps)
- Financial Technology (FinTech)
- Real Estate & Property Technology (PropTech)
Roughly 35% of the Innovation Fund is invested in artificial intelligence, which I'm extremely bullish about. In 20 years, I don't want my kids wondering why I didn't invest in AI or work in AI!
The investment minimum is also only $10. Most venture capital funds have a $250,000+ minimum. In addition, you can see what the Innovation Fund is holding before deciding to invest and how much. Traditional venture capital funds require capital commitment first and then hope the general partners will find great investments.
About the Author:
Sam began investing his own money ever since he first opened a Charles Schwab brokerage account online in 1995. Sam loved investing so much that he decided to make a career out of investing by spending the next 13 years after college on Wall Street. During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate. He also became Series 7 and Series 63 registered.
In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 35 largely due to his investments that now generate over six figures a year in passive income. Sam now spends his time playing tennis, spending time with family, and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom.
For more nuanced personal finance content, join 65,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. I help people get rich and live the lifestyles they want.Â
J’s networth numbers are great for his age. The only thing negative that I would say is that he has more retirement savings than he ever will need. They say you should have 8 times (X) your ending salary by age 67. I do not know what his ending salary will be but based on his current IRA savings he will probably blow that 8X number out the water in 30 to 35 years and has too much retirement savings today. My advice to him though I’m a non finance professional would be to lower his retirement savings (maybe even to 0) and invest the freed up cash in other personal investments moving forward. :)
Holy crap. I just googled “Philippe Complicated Perpetual Calendar”.
Any pics of you wearing that thing?
Long time reader, first time comment-er.
I’ve read numerous posts here related to networth, and truly I am glad that there are software that would pool all of the accounts together to give you and I a clear pictures as to where we stand financially without much work.
One recurring topic that draws my attention is the amount of cash you have. I understand one doesnt want to hold too much cash because of opportunity cost from a pile of money not being utilized, but at the same time, I can’t imagine myself maxing out my Roth IRA beyond the company matching, when I don’t have $100k cash in the bank, something I hopefully will have by the end of the year.
Perhaps I am missing something, or maybe our different income stream gives us a different comfort level for cash holding, but when you say you want to have a $100k cash pile, does that mean cash ON TOP OF a pre-determined amount of emergency cash savings? Because it seems a bit risky to me if you are diverse enough to have a wide variety of assets and equities, but dont have $37,000 like your friend does, for un-planned expenses.
Maybe there are other methods that you use to cover and protect yourself, perhaps you can shred some light?
Hola Charleston,
Good to hear from you. I want the $100K cash pile in order to invest in $50,000 slugs into various private investments when they arise. I also would like to keep a good amount of cash to pay for my bathroom remodel, and any other out of the blue expenses.
My cash flow is very strong at the moment due to:
1) My passive income streams that run about $150,000 a year
2) My online income streams.
3) My consulting income streams.
To get to $100K in cash + paying down $85,000 in rental mortgage debt is possible w/ my cash flow this year. It just takes time and discipline.
Everybody has their own cash threshold / liquidity needs. $100K, I’ve discovered, so happens to be mine. Yes, I can “cheat” by selling some equities to pay for expenses. I just want to live solely off the NEW income I generate from my own two hands. It keeps me motivated, and hungry to wake up between 5-6am to work hard online before going to work at my various consulting roles. I wrote about my new consulting client here and their value proposition on building a diversified investment portfolio for cheap.
My biggest problem is I get lazy VERY easily because life is easy in America. I’m fortunate, so I don’t want to take my luck for granted. As a result, I reset my mentality to being a new college graduate with nothing, to try and constantly earn my stripes.
Whoohoo! in the top 6% of FS readers!
Oof, that’s a brutal number of accounts. My head hurts just thinking about managing that, although that could just be fatigue from writing out logic for programming.
Even with a negative net worth, I’ve a few accounts to manage (403b, IRA, P2P, Taxable account) and would like to add something in real estate soon. Probably par for the course for anyone living in the PF space.
Don’t complain about the number of accounts because your investments are diversified! Although I got out of big time real estate investing years ago, my investments are diversified too. Besides stocks (IRA, Roth IRA & Brokerage accounts), real estate (home and SF condo), antique furniture, silver, coin collection, I still have Social Security and a pension for retirement. I call it insurance for the uncertain times!
I have a lot of accounts especially for points. I also have 5 accounts with Scottrade for Roth, Iras, and Coverdell ESA plans, plus another Roth and two retirement accounts at my current job! That doesn’t even include our multiple bank accounts (checking and savings).
I think I may need to consolidate, but I like the kids having savings accounts, too.
I’m definitely a fan of keeping things simple, and only have a handful of accounts between myself and my wife. Our only investments are stocks and cash (which I tend to just keep plowing into stocks), and a hefty mortgage that I may also put some funds towards.
I know I should diversify more, but the balances are relatively low at the moment, and stocks are what I know best. Seeing all your accounts feels a little overwhelming, but I guess if the world goes completely nuts and the financial system crashes, you’ll be sitting pretty compared to me! That’s really something that’s worth focusing on more, and I’m going to try to get to a more diversified position in a few years – hopefully the world hangs in there until then!
I’ve kept it relatively streamlined right now (partly from reading J. Money to be honest). Investments are with Vanguard or USAA and banking is all USAA. Plus, the one time I tried to branch out and move some savings from USAA at .20% to Ally at .95% (at the time), Ally rejected me. My ChexSystems report was clean, but apparently my driver’s license not matching where I lived was a big red flag to them. I didn’t bother going through the extended process of calling to apply and might just move to GE Capital or someone north of 1%.
Hey there Sam. Great post as usual. Question for you concerning your current CD rates. Are these older rates that you were able to get or current? Thanks!
Yes, very old. 7 year CDs that I got 5 years ago. In retrospect, it would have been best to dump all that money in the stock market, but I’ve continued to remain disciplined in keeping roughly 25% of my net worth in risk-free assets in case the world blows up again. I can happily live off 25% of my net worth, so that’s what matters most, having enough to be happy. Everything else is a challenge and adventure towards the desire for more, which is the cause of all suffering :)
Hey there Sam,
Thanks for responding. Another question (hypothetical) one…If you had around 12K extra to invest today, what would you do with it? Stocks, CD’s, MMA. Would love to hear back from you.
My net worth is all over the place (and I’m only 28!). Before aggregating, I used to get paranoid that I was missing an account somewhere and maybe I was being hacked because I couldn’t even remember where and what the account was to check in on it, haha.
Ah yes, forgetting and not knowing what’s up with XYZ accounts is perturbing. Feels good to aggregate, but it also makes me a little lazy… like a “set it and forget it” mentality that needs to be overcome.
I think I’m tracking somewhere above 10 at this point, but definitely not with the wide exposure you have to PE funds, employer equity, and other more exotic assets.
Sounds like a healthy and simple net worth composition Adam!
Seeing how many accounts you have made me a little bit at ease. I think we have around 15 accounts to keep track. We are trying to streamline these accounts so it’s easier to track our net worth.
Once you aggregate the accounts online in some free software, you won’t feel a need to streamline at 15 I don’t think since the software can track an endless scrolling of accounts. Let me know how it goes!
Sam, what are you doing to protect your money? Do you have any LLC structures for your real estate? I always find it fascinating how people are limiting their liability and exposure to being sued for something stupid.
In the name of simplification, why not just do what Buffet is doing with his estate that he’ll leave his wife. 90% in an S&P index fund, 10% in short term govt bonds. What could be simpler than that? The only caveat, as he explains in small print, is to average this investment in over a 10 year period. Interested to know if you have ever considered doing something similar? He has a knack for getting good outcomes….
Sounds pretty simple indeed. If I had that many billions, sure, anything like that would be good. A 2% S&P 500 yield on 50 billion = $1 billion a year in interest income. Alas, I’m still 50 billion away!
I like to diversify and generate a decent passive income stream.
Sam,
First I want to say thanks for the uptick in posts. I can’t say how nice it is to be able to conduct a little thoughtfulness at my job which can be mind numbing for many days at a stretch.
While nowhere near your net worth I track 22 accounts 24 if you include my coin collection and my silver holdings. Some of those accounts never change though, as they just hold my grasp on credit unions that I really only retain for special offers (such as the 5% CD I snagged at the end of last year). I really enjoy tracking my net worth from month to month with my personal spreadsheet, it helps me keep my eyes on things as well as conduct estimations based on my own insights. I do have a daily tracker in my USAA (a great bank) account that aggregates the majority of my different accounts and shows it on a single dashboard very similar to Personal Capital.
I love USAA too. Best customer service! I’ve been w/ them for ~20 years, and plan to bank with them forever.
Thanks for noticing the uptick in posts, although, I don’t think it’s sustainable if I spend time responding to lots of comment as well. But I enjoy responding as that’s part of the fun, connecting.
I think one post every two days is the best cadence, not back to back.
Thanks for this article. It really got me thinking about my Net Worth holistically.
I enjoy tracking my net worth every month, but it definitely becomes more cumbersome as I add accounts. I can’t imagine the time it would take to do yours every month. At that point, I feel like it would make more sense to do it quarterly.
I have about 16 accounts – which include multiple real properties and two cars, but also includes 3 cash accounts, 2 taxable investment accounts, 4 retirement vehicle accounts, and 2 life insurance cash value accounts (not accounts per se, but assets).
I tend to exclude personal properties, but I cannot say I have “collections” like you have. Though I was happy to hear you have a card collection – I do too, but unfortunately I did not “inherit” (find) my dad’s old cards. That is really cool.
The card collection is sweet. Couldn’t find a big box of the American league cards……. and I know there is probably a 1952 Mickey Mantle somewhere rotting away perhaps… that card in pristine condition is worth $30,000+!
I like to think I saved the cards from destruction, and did not inherit them. If I didn’t find them in the garage outside one day 20 years ago, cleaned them, and put them in protective plastics, they would all be destroyed by now, guaranteed! What a treat to find them as a teenager.
Wowwee that is a lot of accounts! Very inpressive and no wonder you are doing so well. That’s a really solid diversed portfolio.
Let’s see…I’ve never counted my own before. This is a good exercise! …I count 18 accounts for myself off the top of my head. Wow that’s more than I would have thought for myself! I will double check tonight against my statements and stuff.
I’m gonna do this for my mom too! She shouldn’t have that many but I know she has trouble keepinn track of things.
Thanks Sam!!
18 is a lot! Better track em good b/c one or two will be forgotten one day, and you’ll wonder where they went.
Sam – Thanks for the information on Motif Investing. Sounds like a really cool investing idea that I’ve never heard of before! I just signed up.
Cool. I’ve been working with them very closely over the past month understanding their product and will publish a post detailing how I use them to construct a portfolio without having much money to invest. A lot of people have this issue where they don’t bother to invest because they don’t have much money, and the commission structure makes constructing a portfolio not cost effective.
Sam this post is timely.
It gets very very messy if you’re trying to generate outsized returns or hold a real diversified portfolio (not just usa but international assets as well).
Also agree that the only real way to get richer at a certain level is by riskier PE investments. The reason? If you are FI (cash flow covers expenses) there is almost no reason to not take risks anymore (do your work of course).
In terms of items to track… Once you layer in a business account with multiple things linked to that… The total number is easily in the 20s.
The only way to really keep it manageable is with limited cash accounts. Oe: only one account for business income/expense. One account for personal.
You’ll have lots of accounts to track no matter what! Hence the growth of companies like mint and other wealth aggregators
I plan on talking more about private equity and alternative investments going forward. The funny thing is, for the longest time, I did NOT want to have cash. The more cash you generate, the more you have to figure out what to do with it. It’s a good problem to have. Money market paying 0.2% is NOT the solution.
As a result, I’ve had to really think about various investments and goals. Financial Samurai helps keep my thinking straight, and the community acts as a sanity check. I welcome people to question what I’m doing, b/c it’s sometimes easy to go blind when investing (thinking it’s a sure thing, being too conservative, etc).
Love the inside peek at your accounts, brotha. I have no idea what half of the stuff on it means, haha, but it all sounds super wealthy :) So I think in cases like yours, it’s quite ok to have more than just a handful of accounts – obviously you’re a lot better diversified (and holding many more assets) than myself.
I also love seeing all the different things people track in their net worth. Like the antiques and collections for example. I often wonder if I should include my own decent coin collection in mine, but so far I’ve left it out along with other valuables laying around the house. Obviously there are no right or wrong answers with this stuff as it’s a number that’s meant to be used only for ourselves (only crazy people share it with the world – hah) but I do find it all rather fascinating. One day I’ll have to feed you a handful of beers to get a dollar amount off ya ;)
5 beers and a nice 20 day aged ribeye at Fincon will do it! Looking forward to it J.
As a percentage of your net worth, how much do you think is safe to invest in private equity opportunities?
I try not to include collectibles, jewelry and my car in net worth. It helps me self-regulate by having a more limited definition, even if it exists only in my mind.
As far as accounts, I like to keep things as simple as possible. The problem is, that’s easier said than done!
I have a similar goal of accumulating a better cash reserve this year, but it bothers me to have it in a savings account and not making money. I think it’s just a matter of developing more patience and discipline.
Great question. Let me write a more comprehensive post with a chart to share my ideas.
I think one can allocate 20-30% of their investments into alternatives/private equity opportunities, with the understanding there is a long-term lockup, and risk involved.
My coin and card collection is pretty valuable…. more than Rhino, which I forgot to include as a liability!
I am a big proponent of private equity deals, but they are not always easy to come by (the good ones). I own a consulting firm that specializes in performing due diligence for many of the big private equity firms out of NY, particularly in the construction sector. One piece of advice I can give you is when you choose to make an investment into a private equity deal, make sure that whomever owns the debt is able to run the company if things go south. This happened to the power industry in the early 2000’s and is going to happen in the energy space in the near term. Banks and lenders are going to end up owning a ton of assets & land in the Permian Basin etc. and be forced to sell them at a loss. So find deals where the primary debt holders have partnered up with a capital management firm of some sort that can operate any company/assets they may easily become there own.
Are equity investors not moot by the point at which the debtholders are running the show?
That depends. Many times the equity owners are also the major holders. For example, we were advisers to GSO capital (blackstone) who made a large equity investment in Rentech, Inc who is a wood pellet producer. They also provided major cash through debt financing. Here was the deal.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140410005779/en/Rentech-Announces-150-Million-Investment-Blackstone%E2%80%99s-GSO#.VMr-JyvF-RQ
But you have a point. The idea is to know who runs the show when things go south if you are able to still have skin in the game.
My returns from Prosper were 5.71% over the last six years with an allocation more heavily tilted to AA loans than I would like. Unfortunately the automated investment service does not allocate well to higher returning loans. Can you share your allocation across prosper rating? You must have a higher proportion of A, B, and C loans given your higher return. Thanks for any thoughts you can provide.
Sure. Check out the post on my Prosper Return Review over the past two years. I’m focused on AA, but am going down the risk curve this year.
I like to keep my accounts somewhat consolidated for peace of mind, but I also don’t have a seven figure net worth that I’d like diversified over many asset classes.
Also what is everyone’s thoughts of including physical assets in their net worth calculations? I can see the value in the assets FS has listed, but if they were listed in net worth calculation like J$’s then I would probably break them out into a “Restricted Assets” category, kind of like restricted cash on a balance sheet. You can’t really unload those to monetize them, unless there is a very liquid market and you find the right buyer. I also feel this way when people list out a pre-tax 401k or IRA, as (in most cases) you can’t tap those assets right away.
I think it’s find to break out your assets into whatever you feel is comfortable.
Big fan of publishing networth figures and reading other people’s. I especially enjoy seeing them from people right at the beginning of their journey of debt repayment or asset accumulation so that you can see the changes with each month and the affect of lifestyle upon them.
Personally although I have several cash accounts and 2 separate pensions I still condense it down each month into a much easier to read:
– Property equity
– Cash savings
– Investment value
– Pension funds
I don’t see need for anything further than that as each grouping represent the 4 areas required for early retirement calculations.
TWO pensions?! That’s like hitting the double unicorn mega millions lottery! Please share how you did this! Thanks
Not sure on US law but in the UK you can have as many pension pots as you want. I have 1 current one and 1 left over from my old account. I could transfer it all into a single account but theres not really much point.
Can you share their amounts? When I think pension, I think at least $20,000 a year in recurring money for the rest of one’s life here in the US.
Isnt lake tahoe property a liability?
Also, it interesting to have a hawaii property, how is renting over there? You have it a as a long term rental or per day?
Now, now. Where is the optimism? Real estate has come a long way since the downturn.
Feel free to share some of your stats.
I only recently started tracking my net worth. And like your friend from Budgets are Sexy I am sharing it with my readers as a form of accountability and extra motivation to work diligently to increase it.
I tend to enjoy reading blogs that share real numbers. There is something about it that just clicks with me. I don’t know how many other bloggers share their personal numbers in the personal finance space. But I have come across at least a handful. And outside of PF bloggers like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas are consistently sharing there numbers online with their readers. And they seam to be some of the most read and commented posts.
The number of accounts that account for my net worth has indeed grown as it has grown. And based on your experience, it looks like they will only grow over time.
Cheers!
I agree. I share real numbers, keeps me focused and motivated on my goals. I wouldn’t do that if I wrote under my real name. I don’t advertise it on my personal FB account and nobody I know knows about it. Money is taboo, and it would be weird if everybody I know knew exactly how much I spend and on what, and how much I make, in detail. Unless I made money mostly from blogging, than I think it would be OK to not be incognito and still blog about your blogging income.
Sam – perhaps a topic for a future post, but I’ve been thinking that cash while earning nothing recently (unless you have old CDs like yourself) has been a good investment because of the rising dollar. In a way it’s like a non dividend paying stock that is rising except you will never have to pay a tax on it. Your thoughts?
Wouldn’t that deflation simply suggest correlated price increases and a greater probability for stagnant wages? Also, the real value of your debts, if any, would rise in tandem.
Yes on the debt – assuming you have debt. I view a rising dollar as a good thing in general – if you believe that then the more you have the better. This is why I submitted it to Sam and the FS community. Though I have been thinking about it, I can’t say I have given it deep thought. I’d be curious what others think on the topic. Perhaps I am overstating things.
It makes sense that people would view holding cash as a positive if the value of that cash was going up and prices were coming down.
I think the problem comes in the knock-on effects. People don’t buy in anticipation of ever-cheaper prices. Credit markets seize once existing collateral and borrowing bases shrink. More money effectively comes out of the economy. Wages stagnate or decline (layoffs). Then begin a round of defaults, both corporate and retail. The whole thing gets out of hand in a hurry.
Kind of reminds me of 2008. Also reminds me of the oil and gas business.
In times of volatility, having liquid cash is always good because buying opportunities tend to arise. The hard part is knowing when to deploy the funds, which is why I like to leg in based on this dollar cost averaging methodology.
A strengthening USD is definitely good for ALL USD asset holders, as the USD has been assailed for over a decade now. But unless you’re investing overseas or have a lot of overseas transactions/travels, or only buy international goods, the effects are hard to feel.
The effect of gasoline, however, is easy to experience.