... And 1 Step Back

February 3rd, 2008 at 07:13 pm

After calculating our Net Worth at the end of January, I re-calculated where we are on our "Journey to Balance Sheet Affluent." The result is shown on the sidebar, as is an explanation of the BA calculation.

This was a "one step back" quarter due to the performance of our mutual funds. Ah well, we are still ahead of where we wanted to be at this point, and we will keep running the marathon.

Speaking of mutual funds, I'm glad that we are invested in balanced funds and "funds of funds" ... Our asset allocation gets re-balanced automatically without us having to do anything. It eliminates that ever-so-tempting urge to do a bit of market timing in the guise of deciding when to re-allocate.

Some good news on the savings front:

- We did our second fillup since getting new tires filled with nitrogen gas put on our car. We got 30 MPG, so our mileage has definitely improved. There may be something to this nitrogen gas after all ... Does anyone else use it?

- Since I started reading our electric meter regularly (not every day like Ima Saver, I'm afraid, but every few days) and "whacking the mole" (unplugging & turning things off) we have cut our daily electric consumption by 13%. We're not using our heater (this is Texas remember), so that has nothing to do with it. I want to cut our electric consumption even more ... right now I'm challenging myself to see how quickly I can shower.

P.S. - The new blog color scheme is for tax season, a patriotic theme in honor of everyone who pays what they owe!

Posted in Journey to "Balance Sheet Affluent" | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “... And 1 Step Back”

Broken Arrow Says:
February 3rd, 2008 at 07:29 pm

I don't know.... I think perhaps you're being too hard on yourself? I don't think the loss is necessarily a step back. To me, it's a paper loss right now, and being in your 40's, you still have plenty of time to let it swing back into being a paper gain, before it's time to draw from it and become a real gain?
scfr Says:
February 3rd, 2008 at 07:46 pm

You're right, BA ... I really don't mind an occasional "one step back" quarter ... As long as it is preceeded by two or more "step forward" quarters!
boomeyers Says:
February 3rd, 2008 at 08:39 pm

They put the nitrogen in my tires when I bought them, but I have'nt seen a big difference in my gas mileage. They did'nt tell me much about what it was, I did'nt even know until after I picked up the car and it had the tires with the nitrogen on it!
merch Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 05:26 am

Wow. That's the first calculation that I have done that I haven't been either crushing the net worth or a little ahead of target. My number is 0.74. Looks like I have a lot of work to do.

Basically I doubled my incoem over the last few years. If I use the old number, I'm at 1.21.

Well, something else to strive for.
DeniseNTexas Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 05:32 am

scfr, yall seem to be enjoying Austin. It's a pretty neat city! Say hi to my son if you see him.
Ima saver Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 06:36 am

Anyone with mutual funds had their net worth go down last month. Mine did too!!
scfr Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 03:13 pm

boomeyers - Thanks for the comment. Maybe it's just the nice new tires and not the nitrogen. Whatever it is that is causing the higher MPG, I'll take it!
merch - By using the "Balance Sheet Affluent" goal for ourselves, we are setting the bar really, really, REALLY high for ourselves. It's not a goal that is for everyone. BTW, our income varies so we use the average over the past 7 years as our income figure.

DeniseNTexas - Yes, we are loving Austin! Thanks!

scfr's Personal Finance Blog

... And 1 Step Back

7 Responses to “... And 1 Step Back”

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