November Net Worth Update (+$9,438.27)

This was our best net worth increase month ever. Our net worth in November increased $9,438.27 from last month, to a total of $63,650.18 (click on spreadsheet below). Our previous record increase was September 2007 with an increase of $8,496.14.

What Worked
We got a lot done this month. Thanks to my wife’s $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) quarterly bonus, we paid off our 6.5% auto loan! Now we have an extra $450 to save/invest each month. We also contributed a total of $4,257.22 to our retirement accounts (401k & Roth IRAs), a large portion of which was contributed to our Roth IRAs in an effort to reach the $5,000 max contribution by the end of the year. We saw our retirement accounts increase to a total of $6,178.11! On top of all of that, we socked away $500 into our savings account.

What Didn’t Work
Nothing, everything went WAY better than we expected.

Next Month
God willing, December should be another strong month. We’ll likely miss our $75,600 net worth goal for the year by a good margin, but we've made great headway, all things considered. I’ll be posting a review of our 2009 goals next month.

Retirement Accounts Just Passed $50,000

As a follow on to my post yesterday regarding our increased retirement contributions, I checked our retirement account balances this morning and we just broke the $50,000 mark. I'll provide the specifics when I post our net worth spreadsheet at the end of the month, but it feels great to be making solid progress. In December 2008, our retirement accounts totaled $23,506.87, so it's doubled in less than 1 year.

Step Up Our Retirement Contributions in 2009

We’ve done a good job of increasing our retirement account contributions this year. Thus far, we’ve contributed $3,802.39 to my 401(k) and $3,976.48 to my wife’s 401(k) and a total of $8,400 ($4,200 each) to our Roth IRA’s. That puts us at $16,178.87 in total contributions to our retirement accounts so far for the year.

By the end of the year, another $617.91 will be contributed to my 401(k) and another $1,040.63 to my wife’s 401(k). We hope to contribute another $800 to each of our Roth IRAs to fully fund them for the year. If we’re able to do that, we’d have a total retirement account contribution of $19,437.41 (roughly $1,620/month) for 2009. That’s a huge increase over our $12,111.56 retirement contributions in 2008 and our $12,330.19 retirement contributions in 2007. We’re feel very blessed to be able to sock this kind of money away for early retirement.

Car Paid Off

Both my parents and my wife’s have paid off their auto loans early to save a ton on interest. Now we get to join the club. Thanks to my wife’s $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) quarterly bonus and our accelerated payments, we just paid off the 6.5% auto loan on our 2006 car. The loan was originally scheduled to be paid off April, 2012 and at the beginning of 2009 our balance was $15,586.49. It feels great to have this paid off early. We now have $450 a month to save and/or invest.

Net Worth Milestone - $60,000

We passed the net worth milestone of $60,000!

My wife's quarterly bonus help us reach this new net worth milestone. We hit our last net worth milestone of $50,000 in August. We've been blessed to have a strong second half of 2009. Based on my estimates, we may hit a net worth of $70,000 in February.

Bonus Time!

My wife received her quarterly bonus today. She was 5th in the region in sales and received a $4,872 ($2,255.97 net) bonus! In addition, she received a special Teamwork award.

$730.80 of the $4,872 was deposited into her 401(k). The $2,255.97 check will be spent as follows:
$487.20 to tithe
$1175.74 to our auto loan
$593.03 to savings

My wife is doing awesome in her job and, at this rate, our goal of early retirement is all the more possible.

Earning More SkyMiles

Quick update:

I just returned from a business trip, and earned another 6,180 Delta SkyMiles. I now have 57,135 Delta SkyMiles.

October 2009 Income Statement

Our income in October was a bit above average and we did an good job keeping our expenses down (click on spreadsheet below).

For the 3rd month in a row, my company increased my salary 1%. In addition to our paychecks, my wife received her $110 company reimbursements, I sold my old gym membership for $480, and we earned $85.89 in credit card cash back rewards. We also earned $0.95 in interest income from our online savings account.

If you pull out the extra $1,150 we paid to our auto loan, our total expenses were only $5,266.53. That includes being dinged with a $342.50 towed bill. I was out of town 2-1/2 weeks of the month, so my wife gets credit for keeping expenses down.

Next month brings more good news. My wife may receive her quarterly bonus (early) and my company will be increasing my pay again.