| Value | % Change | |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | $843,000 | +0.8% |
| Liabilities | $358,000 | -0.3% |
| Net worth | $485,000 | +1.6% |
After a rocky start to the year last month, I have seen some growth in my net worth this month which interestingly did not come from my share portfolio. My share portfolio was up significantly in the middle of the month however I got a bit unlucky with the timing of some share trades and the portfolio only ended up slightly for the month. Rather this month was driven by decreased personal expenditure, a paying down of my credit card debt and some savings into short term savings accounts which I will discuss later.
As with last month, my target for this month was a very achievable $480,000 and I am glad to say I have achieved it. My targeted $550,000 for the year ending June 30 is looking quite unachievable however I will be happy if I can crack the half million mark by this point. Below I have outlined both the positive and negative factors affecting my net worth performance this month.
Positive Factors
- A large reduction in my credit card debt
- Although I would love to claim that I have finally managed to get my spending habits under control, the fact is that last month was an abnormally large month for me in terms of credit card debt - I was setting up my new house and had my car insurance fall due all at the same time
- This month had no 'big' expenditures like this which resulted in my credit card debt falling by ~40%
- Benefits from my employee share plan
- I have outlined the detail of my employee share plan before but basically every six months I get allocated the shares at a significant discount to their market value
- I do not account for this discount until I actually receive the shares so every 6 months I get a 'bump' from this
- I also continued to contribute to the share plan from my wage which further increased my net worth
- Continued savings into my wedding fund
- Recently I outlined my plans to save for a ring, a wedding and a honeymoon. These savings are currently taking up all my cash
- Although it will be spent in the next two years, in the short term it is increasing my net worth (as I'm holding the cash)
Negative Factors
- A flat share market return
- Although the broader share market did quite well over February, my portfolio was impacted by a few bad decisions (in hindsight) over the month
- I sold my FXJ shares after holding them for years and they didn't do anything. A week after I sold them they increased by ~30%
- I didn't sell my FKP rights issue shares as I was waiting for their result to come out - it turned out to be a poorer than expected result and the shares fell ~15%
- The impact of both of these really hurt my portfolio which ended the month flat (after being up significantly halfway through the month)
Overall this was a decent month for me and I'm hoping for much of the same next month. In March 2014 I am targeting a net worth of $490,000. This is dependent on what the share market does but is also dependent on my keeping my expenses under control. Historically March has been a high expenditure month for me with a lot of birthdays, and anniversaries which need to be spent on. Hopefully this year I will be able to reign in some of those expenses.
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A tidy increase.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with March, heaps of birthdays, including Mrs Ikonz.
How's the saving going for the other "big purchases" coming up later this year?
www.projectikonz.com
Savings for that are going quite well - have some details in my expenditure tracker post (coming tomorrow)!
DeleteI am actually quite disciplined about that part of my savings - it probably has to do with how near term the expenditure actually is!