November 2012 Net Worth: $319,000 (+19.0%)

	Value	% Change
Assets	$672,000	+8.3%
Liabilities	$354,000	0.1%
Net worth	$319,000	+19.0%

My net worth performance this month was best in absolute terms since I have started tracking the increases. In % increase terms it is my second best performance however it is from a much higher base which is why the % increase was not as good as the absolute performance.  As highlighted in a mid-month post there were several things which drove this result including

• Getting my annual bonus
• After leaving investment banking my bonus was much lower than in previous years as was to be expected.  However I still work in finance so the bonuses are still pretty good and this contributed a significant amount to the uplift in my net worth for the month
• Also, as I am earning less and I no longer have a HECS liability the weighted average tax rate I paid on this bonus decreased significantly
• A component of this bonus is deferred compensation.  Where I have been allocated these shares I have fully valued them however there is another component I have not valued as I have no way of checking how this value moves month to month
• Receiving my tax refund
• I have been talking about doing my taxes for several months in my net worth and expenditure tracker posts however I finally got down to it this month and received significantly more than I was expecting back on tax (approx $20,000)
• I realised some of the gains on my share portfolio
• This actually had a negative impact on my net worth 
• I track the share price movements through my excel file on a month to month basis however there were significant transaction costs associated with selling my employee share plan schemes.  For future periods I have found ways of avoiding these costs
• My personal expenditure was much higher than usual however this got lost in the noise
• I did not control my expenditure as well as I could have this month however because of the big bulky increases mentioned above, a lot of this effect was lost

For December 2012 I actually forecast a decrease in my net worth

I had pre-committed a lot of the amount I received for my bonus so the effects of this increase are going to be quite temporary (which is fairly disappointing because I was very excited to see my net worth go through $300,000 for the first time).  Things I had committed to included:

• An overseas holiday I am taking in a few weeks.  I'm guessing this will cost me about $6,000 including accommodation, spending (I really have to buy new suits while I'm overseas) and entertainment.  Note that I paid for the flights several months ago
• Christmas presents:  There really is no way of getting around this and I wouldn't want to.  I really enjoy giving Christmas gifts however it does affect the bottom line.  I am budgeting for about $1,000 on gifts.
• A sports car.  This I mentioned was one of my goals for the year.  Although I have not bought it yet I know what I want to get and how much I want to spend.  I am planning on spending ~$25,000 on the new car and selling my existing car for about $12,000 so will be out of pocket an extra $13,000

My goal for December 2012 is to keep my net worth above the $300,000 mark and I should be able to manage this given I will still be earning during this time.

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