May 2018 Update

It's that time again, and, to be honest, it kind of snuck up on me. I've got a vacation coming up and that's what I'm anxiously looking forward to. This report will be short and sweet since not a lot really happened. So, without further ado, let's get to it. At the end of May my net worth is...

$119,475

Last month, my net worth was $112,583; a difference of $6,892. Man, that feels good. And, like I said, the time to compile this report snuck up on me and so I haven't actually dug into why it's so much more than last month. Looking at my "contributions" spreadsheet, I contributed $4,087.70 of that, which includes my 403b deductions. Excluding those, I saved $2,670 into my HYSA. I'm still working on bringing my Am Ex account to $13k and I'm within spitting distance of the goal.

I made 2 deposits into my Am Ex account this month; one for $1,300 and the other for $1,370 (yeah, I know. That's an odd amount, but I had a few bucks to spare and it bugged me that my contribution amount was a weird number, so I decided to make it a nice, even number. Eh, it put me closer to the goal, so it's a win.)

The rest of those gains came from the market ending on a high note on Friday just before I did a screen capture of my net worth. I like ending on a high note. There's something satisfying about going into the weekend when the market is up.

As you can see in the screen shot, there's a $26 liability. That's because I still owe that much on my Discover card. I normally pay them off completely before these reports. And I always try to pay them off at the end of every month, but since I've been saving aggressively toward my EF goal, I couldn't afford to pay it off completely. It's all right, though, because I have the money to pay it now and, more importantly, I'm not being charged interest on it.

There's nothing else to report financially. Nothing major has happened; just sticking to the game plan of trying to save more than I spend. Life is good and I'm moving the needle in a positive direction. Some good news I got at work this past week: I'll be receiving a bonus this month. Possibly two, but one I know of for sure. And that makes me excited because 1) I wasn't expecting it, and 2) I'll reach my HYSA goal this coming paycheck, which means I can start funneling all my savings into my brokerage account. Honestly, my brokerage account has remained dormant for so long I feel I've been neglecting it, so starting to pour money into it is something I can't wait to do. I've waited so long to see those numbers increase that it's soon going to be a reality.

So far, this year's been a good one as far as my ability to save and increasing my net worth. Consulting my "contributions" spreadsheet: since January, I've managed to save a grand total of $24,515.89. This includes my 403b contributions and cash savings. It does not include any market gains or interest. If I exclude my 403b contributions, I've saved $17,062. All in 5 months. That leaves me with 7 more months to save. If I continue at this rate, I should have increased my net worth significantly this year and taken a great stride toward reaching FI. Definitely something to be excited about.

Here's the screenshot of my net worth. Looking forward to another great post at the end of June!

Net worth at the end of May 2018