Net Worth Report (August 2019 Update)

We originally set out to provide just annual Net Worth updates and then eventually started to do quarterly updates.  Now that we have significantly slowed the pace of our posts, I think we will like just pop in once or twice a year simply to let everyone know how we are doing and to keep ourselves honest and looking forward to our ultimate goal of early retirement and/or Financial Independence!  

Also, in case you have not come across it, we are part of an active list of bloggers who provide their net worth on Rockstar Finance's page - The Ultimate List of Blogger Net Worth. Prior to this post, our family is currently sitting at No. 83 (out of a total of 2,235 bloggers) on the list as of August 16, 2019. After this post, we are estimating that we may jump a few spots to roughly No. 79 on the list. 

As of August 1, 2019, our family net worth was as follows:

Retirement Savings:                      $ 588,572 

P2P Lending Accounts:                   $    1,819

Dividend Stock Accounts (DSA):     $   85,137
DSA - Surplus Cash:                      $  23,139
College Savings Accounts:              $  86,281

Cash and Savings:                         $  60,477

GRAND TOTAL

$845,425
(Increase of $69,867 since July 2018)

Although we do not count it as part of our Net Worth,
it is still nice to know that our Home Equity is:

$616,456*

(Increase of $8,486 since July 2018)

Although we don't consider our home equity as part of our Net Worth, we understand that some people do.  So for those who include home equity in their Net Worth, our family's net worth would be considered: $1,461,881 (Increase of $78,353 since July 2018).  It's a pretty awesome figure when you include the home equity but until we can accumulate 7 figures without our home equity, I refuse to consider myself a millionaire. 

* Although others do consider home equity, and even cars, collections, etc. as part of their net worth, it is our opinion that since these items are not very liquid and the value of these items is highly dependent on what others are willing to pay for them (at the present time), we have decided not to consider these type of assets as part of our family's recognized net worth.

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - August 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 $846,213 (up $11,675 in the last 30-days). Looks like the real estate trend once again continues its march upward during the summer months as families look to purchase homes and move in before the new school year begins.  Although our family is looking for a larger home, we have decided to wait until the market cools off a bit and  delay our home search until next summer. We know interest rates may rise from current levels but since we want to come as close to an outright purchase as possible, the home price is actually more important than the current interest rates.  We are currently socking away as much as possible to make sure we borrow as little as possible. In addition, a deeper discount on our next home equals smaller tax liability. We pay enough taxes on our paycheck and everyday purchase, we don't need a huge property tax burden on top of that. :)  

Mortgage Balance (As of June 1st):
$229,757 (down $2,144 from July post)

Percentage Owed:
27.1% (down .4 since our July post)

Home Equity: 
$616,456 (up $7,418 from our July 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 7 years and 10 months (94 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 8 years and 10 months (104 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, 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.

JULY 2019 (Recap) - DIVIDENDS RECEIVED

With the pending trade wars between US and China, our family's dividend stocks portfolio has been on the decline as of late. We are now seeing some recovery with increasing potential for resolution and also the possibility of lower interest rates from the Feds. And although we do have a few growth stocks mixed into our portfolio, majority of the companies we own pay some form of dividends. So although the stock price has dropped on a few companies, our dividend income stream remains relative stable. 

Below is a list of the dividends/partnership distributions that we received from our family's dividend stocks portfolio – July 2019 (recap).

DIVIDENDS 

During the past month, 12 companies/ETFs/Partnerships. The total monies received from those 12 companies/ETFs/Partnerships was: $284.53. 

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

WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
7/01/19 - LADR (LADDER CAPITAL CORP): $17.00
7/02/19 - KMB (KIMBERLY-CLARK CORP): $17.51
7/09/19 - CIG (COMPANHIA ENERGETICA DE MINAS): $27.20
7/10/19 - MO (ALTRIA GROUP INC): $8.00
7/15/19 - VER (VEREIT INC): $46.06
7/15/19 - OXY (OCCIDENTAL PETE CORP): $31.20
7/15/19 - LEG (LEGGETT & PLATT INC ): $6.00
7/15/19 - CAH (CARDINAL HEALTH INC): $25.98
7/18/19 - NTR (NUTRIEN LTD): $7.74
7/25/19 - GE (GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY): $2.00
7/29/19 - BNS (BK NOVA SCOTIA): $9.91

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:

7/24/19 - CMCSA (COMCAST CORP): $85.93

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $284.53

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:

Dividend Stocks Portfolio