Sunday, April 14, 2019

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - April 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 $848,380 (down $1,156 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 April 1st):
$238,104 (down $2025 from our March post)

Percentage Owed:
28.0% (down .3 since our March post)

Home Equity
$610,276 (up  $3,411 from our March 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 2 months (98 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 2 months (108 months) left on our mortgage. Nevertheless, I would like to have it paid off in roughly 5-6 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 4-6 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.

Friday, April 5, 2019

MARCH 2019 (Recap) - DIVIDENDS RECEIVED


Since I have a 45-55 minutes commute (each way) to work, and with a 14 year old vehicle that was up for several big maintenance items, we decided to put it up for sale through a private ad this past month. I figured that I'd have at least a few weeks to find a new car while I try to sell my old one. Nope, my car sold in 4-days to the first person with cash in hand! The car sold on a Saturday afternoon. The problem was I had no way to get to work come Monday unless I somehow found a car on Sunday.  Fortunately, I had been searching online for a few days while my car was listed for sale. 

That Sunday, we visited three used car dealerships and test drove several different cars. After much thought, we decided to buy a 2016 Prius V.  We got it for several thousand dollars below the Blue Book value, and most importantly, it was still under factor warranty. It has only been a few weeks but I must admit that I love how long each tank of gas lasts! From a full 11.9-gallon tank, I get roughly 460 miles!! On average, I got roughly 150 less miles from a full tank on my last car. And my previous car had a 14.5-gallon tank, so it had cost more to fill up! I can't wait to use some of the cost savings to help grow our family's Net Worth. :)  

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


DIVIDENDS 

During the past month, our family received dividends/partnership distributions from a total of 19 companies/ETFs/Partnerships. The total monies received from those 19 companies/ETFs/Partnerships was: $289.46. 

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


WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
3/01/19 - WFC (WELLS FARGO & CO): $3.15
3/01/19 - HP (HELMERICH & PAYNE INC): $3.55
3/01/19 - FTS (FORTIS INC): $8.45
3/01/19 - ENB (ENBRIDGE INC): $55.52
3/11/19 - IBM (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORP): $9.42
3/11/19 - XOM (EXXON MOBIL CORP): $16.40
3/11/19 - CVX (CHEVRON CORPORATION): $5.95
3/15/19 - O (REALTY INCOME CORP): $3.38
3/15/19 - IP (INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO): $7.50
3/21/19 - EDIV (SPDR S&P EMERGING ETF): $12.71
3/21/19 - BLK (BLACKROCK INC): $13.20
3/22/19 - ESV (ENSCO PLC CLASS A): $7.00
3/22/19 - CTL (CENTURYLINK INC ): $6.25
3/25/19 - SU (SUNCOR ENERGY INC): $4.69
3/25/19 - RDS.B (ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC ADR B): $13.16
3/26/19 - BBL (BHP GROUP PLC ADR): $101.20
3/28/19 - GILD (GILEAD SCIENCES INC): $3.15
3/29/19 - BPY (BROOKFIELD PPTY LP PARTNERS): $11.78
3/29/19 - NOV (NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO INC): $3.00

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
March - N/A

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $289.46


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: