Friday, March 15, 2019

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - March 2019


If you have viewed our family's Net Worth Page, you probably already know that it does not include the equity in our home.  Although, we do realize that it is technically part of our overall net worth, we decided that since our home equity is not an asset that we can count on for income (unless we sell and buy something cheaper) we would exclude it from our net worth calculation.

For the purpose of this blog, we are more interested in documenting our loan balance rather than our home equity.  With that said, we will use the current Zillow value as our estimated home value and use it to figure out the percentage we owe on our home. For those interested, we will include the amount of our home equity, but know that we are less concerned with the equity since we have no plans to cash out or otherwise sell our home. Our main goal is to pay off our home on or before my retirement date. 


HOME VALUE:
According to Zillow, our home is currently worth $846,994 (down $6,856 in the last 30-days). The housing market throughout California appears to be slowing down. We are seeing more inventory and houses staying on the market for longer. Normally, this would be seen as bad news to most, but my wife and I are contemplating the possibility of moving. We both have aging parents whom may eventually need us to help care for them. Our home does not have a down stairs bedroom so that would be a huge problems since we can't realistically expect them to climb the stairs each and every day in the old age. Our plans may take us on a different path this coming year. Stay tuned! ;)




Mortgage Balance (As of March 1st):
$240,129.54 (down $2020 from our February post)

Percentage Owed:
28.3% (up .1 since our February post)

Home Equity
$606,865 (down  $7,323 from our February post)
   
Mortgage Background:
For those that have not read the Preface on our home equity, we currently hold a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at the incredibly low rate of 2.875%.  My goal is to retire within 8 years and 3 months (99 months) so we are setting out to pay off our mortgage on or before my retirement date. Right now we are a few months behind the target retirement date. Currently, we have approximately 9 years and 3 months (109 months) left on our mortgage. Nevertheless, I would like to have it paid off in roughly 8 years. If we accomplish that, I plan to use the money we use to pay our mortgage and aggressively build our passive income to help supplement our retirement and defer tapping into the 457K for as long as possible so it can continue to grow. 

Right now we are not putting any extra money towards the principal given our low 2.875% interest rate. We feel that we could make our money grow faster by investing it and while keeping the money more liquid. At a certain point, maybe in 5-7 years, we may consider using some of the money from our investment accounts to wipe out the remaining mortgage balance.  Until then, we will continue to grow that money outside, rather than have it locked into our home.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

FEBRUARY 2019 (Recap) - DIVIDENDS RECEIVED



2019 continues to be a great year, financially, for our family.  After 10 years of being at home to care for our kids, my wife went back to work part-time last month. It was completed unplanned as she wasn't even looking for employment! Out of the blue, a friend of hers called her up and asked her if she would be interested in joining their team on a part-time basis. And the best part, the hours were flexible so could could simply work around her mommy duties. 



So this past month, in addition to the normal dividends from our family's dividend stocks portfolio, we got two unexpected paychecks.  Normally, I would say that we would put that extra money towards building up our savings and investments but we really need to replace a 14 year old vehicle that will need tires and a milestone maintenance soon. We are therefore hoping to buy our replacement vehicle before those two items come due. Stay tuned for a possible post on what vehicle we decide to go with. Hint: we are interested in a fuel efficient family car. :)




Back to the dividends recap, below is a list of the dividends/partnership distributions that we received from our family's dividend stocks portfolio –  February 2019 (recap).


DIVIDENDS 

During the past month, our family received dividends/partnership distributions from a total of 12 companies/ETFs/Partnerships. The total monies received from those 12 companies/ETFs/Partnerships was: $354.12. 

Below is a breakdown of the dividends/partnership distributions received this past month:


WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
2/01/19 - VZ (VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS COM): $24.10
2/01/19 - GIS (GENERAL MILLS INC): $29.40
2/01/19 - T (AT & T INC): $63.93
2/04/19 - VOD (VODAFONE GROUP PLC): $60.50
2/15/19 - O (REALTY INCOME CORP): $3.38
2/15/19 - KMI (KINDER MORGAN INC): $50.00
2/15/19 - BHGE (BAKER HUGHES A GE CO): $7.20
2/19/19 - ETP (ENERGY TRANSFER LP): $29.28
2/21/19 - SNH (SENIOR HOUSING PROP): $13.65
2/22/19 - COF (CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP): $4.00
2/26/19 - OXY (WABTEC - CASH IN LIEU*): $5.62
2/28/19 - HCP(HCP INC): $14.80
-
* as result of recent GE transportation & Wabtec merger 

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
2/1/19 - (AT & T INC): $48.26

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $354.12


How did you all do? Hopefully you all continue to see your dividends growth month after to month, year after year! 


In case you interested, our family's dividend stocks portfolio 
may be found by clicking on the link below: