Firebird
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 12:55:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,448
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Post by Firebird on Sept 4, 2020 8:06:14 GMT -5
I've been tracking my expenses, income, assets, and liabilities in a spreadsheet since 2010, thanks to YM. I think I was tracking prior to that too, but I don't have those records anymore. Anyway, 2010 was the year I started my career in earnest. I was pretty much broke, having just finished college and moved for the eleven millionth time, but I'd just started a new well-paying job and things were looking up.
Balance Sheet, September 2010
Assets
Emergency Fund: $5,130
Retirement Savings: $7,597
Liabilities
Car Loan, 0%: ($9,480)
Student Loan, 6.8%: ($15,400)
Total NW: ($12,153)
Then let's see, what happened after that? Five additional moves, ending with (finally) buying our first house, wedding, new baby, eventually new older kiddo (DN), two new cats, multiple jobs and job losses, monster credit card debt that was eating us alive at one point, several windfalls balanced by more than a few disasters.
It's been a drama-packed ten years. Financially and in other ways.
Balance Sheet, September 2020
Assets
Liquid Savings (EF, home stuff, kids' funds): $18,568
Retirement Savings (me): $92,588
Retirement Savings (DH): $42,718
House: ~$375,000 (it's most likely much higher than this, but I like to be conservative and it doesn't really matter since we're not going anywhere anytime soon)
Liabilities
Car Loan, 0%: ($20,309)
Mortgage, 3.25%: ($310,358)
Total NW: $198,207
So yeah, pretty big difference. Those ten years included a lot of bad financial decisions, plenty of which are chronicled right here. But overall, I think we've held up rather well considering everything that's happened.
The next few years will be key. If we can just go without any new major setbacks for a while and keep increasing our savings rate, especially in the retirement division (I know we're behind there), we can start making up for some of the time we lost on the aforementioned bad decisions.
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gs11rmb
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 21, 2010 12:43:39 GMT -5
Posts: 3,298
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Post by gs11rmb on Sept 4, 2020 8:34:50 GMT -5
Nice to 'see' you and great job!
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buystoys
Junior Associate
Joined: Mar 30, 2012 4:58:12 GMT -5
Posts: 5,650
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Post by buystoys on Sept 4, 2020 8:47:27 GMT -5
Nice to hear from you! You're doing a great job of moving forward regardless of hurdles. Keep it up!
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 27, 2010 21:04:44 GMT -5
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Mini-Profile Name Color: 1980e6
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Sept 4, 2020 9:12:22 GMT -5
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dannylion
Junior Associate
Gravity is a harsh mistress
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 12:17:52 GMT -5
Posts: 5,195 
Location: Miles over the madness horizon and accelerating
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Post by dannylion on Sept 4, 2020 12:08:21 GMT -5
Well done! Good to see you!
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TheOtherMe
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 24, 2010 14:40:52 GMT -5
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Post by TheOtherMe on Sept 4, 2020 12:51:28 GMT -5
Great to see you! How old is Firechick now?
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Firebird
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 12:55:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,448
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Post by Firebird on Sept 4, 2020 13:14:41 GMT -5
Great to see you! How old is Firechick now? She'll be eight next month, unbelievably! Time flies. DN will be 17 in February. It's great to see everyone! I miss you all very much. Too bad I don't have anything juicier to discuss at the moment. ETA: Er, I totally knew the difference between February and April! |
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Bonny
Junior Associate
Joined: Nov 17, 2013 10:54:37 GMT -5
Posts: 7,437
Location: No Place Like Home!
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Post by Bonny on Sept 4, 2020 17:49:36 GMT -5
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tcu2003
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 31, 2010 15:24:01 GMT -5
Posts: 4,940
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 4, 2020 20:28:20 GMT -5
Congrats, firebird and good to 'see' you!!
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Happy prose
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 12:55:24 GMT -5
Posts: 3,227
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Post by Happy prose on Sept 5, 2020 5:34:50 GMT -5
Great to see you! How old is Firechick now? She'll be eight next month, unbelievably! Time flies. DN will be 17 in February. It's great to see everyone! I miss you all very much. Too bad I don't have anything juicier to discuss at the moment. ETA: Er, I totally knew the difference between February and April! I can't believe your baby is eight. I would have guessed four! Time sure does fly. |
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bookkeeper
Well-Known Member
Joined: Mar 30, 2012 13:40:42 GMT -5
Posts: 1,684
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Post by bookkeeper on Sept 6, 2020 9:03:02 GMT -5
You have done very well starting off with that much debt and having a couple of children along the way. Them cute little buggers are expensive!
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Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
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Post by Lizard Queen on Sept 6, 2020 9:05:51 GMT -5
Great job! You'll likely find your NW increasing much quicker at this point.
My youngest turns 8 next month as well.
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Firebird
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 12:55:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,448
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Post by Firebird on Sept 8, 2020 9:59:28 GMT -5
Thanks all! I sure hope we are finished with the train wreck stuff at this point and can start to see our net worth increase. It's definitely been a long road.
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Firebird
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 12:55:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,448
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Post by Firebird on Sept 8, 2020 10:00:11 GMT -5
Great job! You'll likely find your NW increasing much quicker at this point. My youngest turns 8 next month as well. That's crazy! I wonder if they have the same birthday? Babybird's is 10/11/12. |
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Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
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Post by Lizard Queen on Sept 8, 2020 10:33:25 GMT -5
Great job! You'll likely find your NW increasing much quicker at this point. My youngest turns 8 next month as well. That's crazy! I wonder if they have the same birthday? Babybird's is 10/11/12. Close! Oct. 5th. |
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thyme4change
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 26, 2010 13:54:08 GMT -5
Posts: 40,369
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Post by thyme4change on Sept 8, 2020 11:44:48 GMT -5
I started keeping a spreadsheet a long time ago. Odd to see the exponential increases once you get going. Breaking $250k seemed to take forever. And then suddenly we were approaching a million. Granted, I slept through a couple of years - so maybe it was just me. I hope you continue to have great success!!
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Firebird
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 29, 2010 12:55:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,448
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Post by Firebird on Sept 8, 2020 13:27:38 GMT -5
I started keeping a spreadsheet a long time ago. Odd to see the exponential increases once you get going. Breaking $250k seemed to take forever. And then suddenly we were approaching a million. Granted, I slept through a couple of years - so maybe it was just me. I hope you continue to have great success!! Ooh, where do I sign up to sleep through the remainder of 2020? Good to see you  |
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thyme4change
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 26, 2010 13:54:08 GMT -5
Posts: 40,369
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Post by thyme4change on Sept 8, 2020 18:27:30 GMT -5
I started keeping a spreadsheet a long time ago. Odd to see the exponential increases once you get going. Breaking $250k seemed to take forever. And then suddenly we were approaching a million. Granted, I slept through a couple of years - so maybe it was just me. I hope you continue to have great success!! Ooh, where do I sign up to sleep through the remainder of 2020? Good to see you It is called Clinical Depression, and I do not recommend it. |
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alabamagal
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 23, 2010 11:30:29 GMT -5
Posts: 8,116
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Post by alabamagal on Sept 8, 2020 18:53:42 GMT -5
I have tracked my net worth since 2010. We had some really tough years, but are now on a good path. Biggest hit was getting 3 kids through college. They graduated in 2012, 2014 and 2017 and are now employed, self supporting adults. We also went through selling DH business, part time work for him, one voluntary job change for me and one involuntary job change. Selling 2 houses and moving twice. We are now in super saving mode for retirement in 10 years. 5 of the last 6 years we have made significant jumps in NW. Last year we were about even due to job loss and move.
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jd2005
Established Member
Joined: Mar 15, 2011 14:16:37 GMT -5
Posts: 411
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Post by jd2005 on Sept 10, 2020 16:29:08 GMT -5
A lot does happen in 10 years! Your post inspired me to look at our NW change in the last decade.
2010 -
Cash - $14,993
Retirement - $43,358
Home value - $98,514
Rental value - $36,190
Car value - $10,000
Home Mortgage - $204,000
Rental Mortgage - $40,910
Student Loans - $88,959
Car Loans - $11,707
NW ($142,521)
2020 -
Cash - $68,815
529s - $141,836
Retirement - $483,782
Home value - $660,000
Car value - $11,000
Other Assets - $6,862
Home Mortgage - $391,039
NW - $981,256
What a difference 10 years make!
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gs11rmb
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 21, 2010 12:43:39 GMT -5
Posts: 3,298
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Post by gs11rmb on Sept 11, 2020 8:47:55 GMT -5
I think I'm the odd one out here because I really don't track net worth. We've got $250K+ in home equity but I need somewhere to live so including that in calculations would give me a false idea of where we stand financially. I also don't include emergency funds, regular savings, college savings, checking account balance, or paid off cars.
I do track retirement funds and looking at my spreadsheet I discovered I made the very first entry almost exactly 10 years ago on 9/7/10 when I recorded $122,080. I updated the spreadsheet on 9/8/20 and we have $706,205.
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thyme4change
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 26, 2010 13:54:08 GMT -5
Posts: 40,369
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Post by thyme4change on Sept 11, 2020 10:28:26 GMT -5
I think I'm the odd one out here because I really don't track net worth. We've got $250K+ in home equity but I need somewhere to live so including that in calculations would give me a false idea of where we stand financially. I also don't include emergency funds, regular savings, college savings, checking account balance, or paid off cars. I do track retirement funds and looking at my spreadsheet I discovered I made the very first entry almost exactly 10 years ago on 9/7/10 when I recorded $122,080. I updated the spreadsheet on 9/8/20 and we have $706,205. I only started tracking it because saving doesn't give you that immediate reward that (for example) buying a new car does. I needed something I could look at that would make me feel good about my life choices. I went from just tracking investments to my net worth because the equity in my house was significant, and we had focused so much on getting rid of debt. So, full balance sheet was more rewarding than just investments. So, pretty much I was just forcing myself to be a mature long-term thinker. |
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Ombud
Junior Associate
Joined: Jan 14, 2013 23:21:04 GMT -5
Posts: 7,592
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Post by Ombud on Sept 27, 2020 21:07:39 GMT -5
2010: Investments 162k Savings less than 100.00 Income: 1825 month 2020: Investments 737k (down from 785k in February) Savings: 26k Income: 3535 month Plus SSA in 9 months I'm fine even though I'm the Bank of Mom. Thank you for helping me with this reality check. |
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countrygirl2
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 7, 2016 15:45:05 GMT -5
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Post by countrygirl2 on Oct 8, 2020 10:02:22 GMT -5
We are fine and going to add about $100k to our balance sheet this year, likely more like $120k and if we sell some other things we have not counted, the boat, motorhome, and truck likely add another $30k to $40k, but don't know. The items are all old so I may be to aggressive on what we can sell them for. I don't carry our assets at value on our balance sheet, do not keep track of appreciation, nor add in things like vehicles, boats, outdoor equipment.
But we have withdrawn and spent down monies. Also gave son money for his house so not like we had at retirement. But the funds his retirement money is in, has at least kept up and in some cases more so even withdrawing for 8 years they have not reduced much and in some cases are still even. We do not invest aggressively. But we have a decent income stream from the rentals, SS, and retirement withdrawals that we are fine. We have enough to live a good life, buy additional vehicles when needed and take care of our needs. The only real issue if one of us gets in a nursing home for years, that will hurt us. But long as possible would do home care with help to minimize this expense. But so far not necessary. Our gross income is about $100k a year that includes $20k of withdrawals annually, $40k of SS, and $36k from rentals. We sold the newest potential rental, but that is fine with me, I wanted to get money back plus a profit for what he has done.
So far things are going well for us. I would like to sell this place and move to town, but it would kill hubs. He is out today cleaning in his garage, getting ready to put lights in his main work shop. Has his other garage wired. And going to insulate the ceiling of the 2 car garage after he gets the electric run. He can keep it warm easily. He needs something to do and in town would lose his mind. He cannot stand to sit around, so a real problem for him. He has that one cleaned and is getting ready to put things back in order.
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Ombud
Junior Associate
Joined: Jan 14, 2013 23:21:04 GMT -5
Posts: 7,592
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Post by Ombud on Oct 8, 2020 11:22:50 GMT -5
....home equity but I need somewhere to live so including that in calculations would give me a false idea of where we stand financially. ..... I don't track my house either. Even if I sold it I'd repurchase near here so I'd just be trading low property tax for higher property taxes unless I bought in the same county, then what's the point? |
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jeffreymo
Familiar Member
Joined: Jan 21, 2011 12:32:17 GMT -5
Posts: 968
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Post by jeffreymo on Oct 8, 2020 11:58:37 GMT -5
We never really kept track, but if I had to guess we were negative. We were probably upside-down on our mortgage, we had student loans, and 2 car loans - I think (but not positive) that we had paid off cc debt.
Now: $625k with 1 small car loan and a mortgage
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