September 2017 Update

First and foremost, I'd just like to say that it's official. I've rejoined the working world. I get up early, commute to work, and spend 8 hours in a cubicle Monday through Friday. I'll admit, I didn't miss it, but in order to reach my goal of not having to continue with this routine until I drop dead, it's necessary. I've almost been on the job for a month. As of this update, I'm just a couple of days shy. The new job is pretty sweet so far, and that's great news. I just hope it continues to be enjoyable. But all this can be unpacked in another post. You're most likely here to see where my net worth stands so let's get to it. Currently, my net worth is...

$79,140

Yay! My slow descent has reversed and is now on its way back up and to the right, as it should be. Last month about this time, it was $76,589; a difference of $2,551. $1,200 of that was the first shovel full of cash I threw into one of my HYSAs. The first of (hopefully) many contributions I will make to bring my emergency funds back up to where they should be. The rest of it was market gains, which by the way, has been awesome to watch. The market has been on a roll and I hope it continues. Of course, all good things must come to an end and the stock market is no exception.

The last month has brought some nice surprises. First, I didn't incur any large expenses. Second, my wife and I received an offer on the house back in the state we moved from, which means there is an end in sight for paying rent and a mortgage. (Note: my wife and I have separate finances. The mortgage is in her name only because she had it before we met. However, I contribute toward the mortgage to cover my half of the living expenses. It's an arrangement that works great for both of us and we consider very fair. Also, we don't squabble over finances.) Third, the company I recently started working with was purchased by a larger company and there is an employee retention bonus announced, so I should be seeing 2 extra bonuses within the next 6 months in addition to an annual bonus normally paid out to employees (woohoo! extra money). Fourth, I applied online with one of my creditors to increase my credit limit. I half-heartedly expected to get an increase and nearly shit myself when I was approved for a $7k bump. Since the original card came with a $6k limit, I thought this was pretty freaking awesome. Can't wait to see how this affects my score.

Essentially, the TL; DR of this update is: back on the accumulation-phase trail, able to put away money again. Credit score improving and about to eliminate some major drag on debt by selling our house.

My strategy for the foreseeable future involves bringing my HYSAs back up to a predetermined level ($5k in Am Ex and $26k in Ally). Then throwing money into my brokerage account for as long as possible. Doing this will allow me to pull from Ally to front load my Roth IRA at the beginning of the year. At that point, I doubt I'll have Ally where I want it, but there should be enough to knock out the Roth. It'll take a few months to get them both where I want, but once they are I'll concentrate on the brokerage. Of course, I will also focus on maxing my 403b (soon to become a 401k once the merger is complete).

I'm giddy to see the numbers next month. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy crunching numbers again in my spreadsheets.

Sept 2017 net worth. Beginning the climb back up the mountain.

PS: In the above screenshot, I highlighted the highest point my net worth reached during my unemployment phase. I don't remember how I managed that and I'm too lazy to go back and check. However, I imagine this was due mostly to market gains and it could also be when I sold my car.