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2015 Wrap Up and Net Worth Report

measuring assets and liabilites

Looking back, it’s been well over a year since I did a net worth update. Part of the reason is because it feels a bit like going out in public wearing only underwear. While I don’t feel totally comfortable being transparent; posting financial stats, good or bad, has always helped us grow. Here’s to hoping that trend will continue.

Cash and Retirement Assets

Cash: $43,041. I had hoped to whittle this number down to around $20,000 because cash in a savings account isn’t much better than cash under the mattress, but we do have about $12,000 in property and income taxes coming up in the next month or so. With our rental properties always being wild cards and a possible bathroom remodel happening later this year, it makes us feel better to have a good stash of cash. If we decide to forgo the remodel, we’ll find a better place to invest.

Retirement Accounts (401k, IRA’s, 403b): $271,338

HSA: $19,841

Non-Retirement Investments: $11,896

Daughter Net Worth

Technically this is still our money but will go to fund college or other worthwhile expenses for our daughter someday.

Daughter 529 plan: $13,476

Daughter Roth IRA: $11,423

Daughter Brokerage Account: $275

Real Estate Assets

Home: $375,000

Residential Rental Property $80,000

Commercial Rental Property: $275,000

Four Plex Rental Property: $250,000

Real estate estimates are based on Zillow and comps in the area, although Zillow says they cannot locate two of our rentals.

Other Assets

Business Loan: $269,067. I’m not sure where to classify this. When I sold my practice, we did seller financing, so essentially, I am the bank for the life of the loan. This is the principal balance, but it does earn interest as well. I guess as this balance lowers it will rise in other areas when we invest the income. If the buyer  defaults, my business returns to me as well, so I guess it is an asset.

Vehicles: $40,000 We recently replaced Jim’s aging Toyota Tacoma with a new to us 4Runner. Since we replaced our other car earlier in the year, I expect us to be done with vehicle shopping for at least a decade. This is our only asset guaranteed to decline in value.

Total Assets: $1,665,408

Liabilities:

Home mortgage: $123,005

Residential Rental Mortgage: $44,451

Commercial Rental Mortgage: $138,692 (Less than four years left until paid off!)

Four Plex Mortgage: $145,612

HELOC: $98,194. We used this account to pay for part of our last rental property purchase and remodel. I don’t enjoy seeing the balance, but it is at a low rate for the time being. After the commercial rental is paid off, this will be the next debt to conquer.

Total Liabilities: $549,954

Net Worth: $1,115,454.  Up 24% from April 2014

Well, I guess we’ve finally crossed the line into the millionaire’s club. It’s funny how being worth a million dollars as a family doesn’t really seem that special. After all, only $43K is liquid. We’d have to take on some stiff penalties and taxes to crack our retirement money or wait a long time to sell off real estate investments if we wanted to cash out.

The stock market wasn’t that generous this year, but by plugging away at paying down real estate debt while continuing to invest, we still came out with a net worth increase. There is always work to do, but I’m really happy with where we are at this stage of the game and can’t wait to see those red numbers diminish over time.

If you’d like to check your net worth or see how good or bad your retirement picture is looking, sign up for a free account at Personal Capital. Even if you’re in the red, knowing where you stand is half the battle.

How did your net worth turn out last year? What financial area do you hope to improve this year? 

 

Written By
Sydney White is a Texas-born stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with her family, bargain hunting and, hiking.

14 Comments

  1. Kim, nice job on the NW increase for 2015 and joining the millionaire’s club! Like FS mentioned above, $3M is the new $1M – BUT, $1M is still a fantastic milestone. 🙂

    I’m down for 2015 overall, mainly because I wrote off some bad business debt. But, portfolio wise things were stable and I had some small gains in RE holdings. We’ll see what 2016 holds, but I’d like to ramp up some side hustler income.

  2. Kim,

    Very nice NW number there! Anytime you see a 25% increase in NW over 1.5 years, that is pretty awesome!!! Hopefully the stock market does better in 2016 and your numbers go up even more! I think having ~$40K in cash when your net assets are > $1M is not a bad idea 🙂

  3. Congrats on the 2015 wrap up. It’s been a good year for you Kim! I hope you do better this year. Me, I’d like focus on my emergency fund and on my investment to retire earlier than expected. Though it’s a long-term, it’s the best time to start today.

  4. Congratulations on getting into the millionaires club 🙂 It might not feel much different than last year, but it is a pretty major accomplishment.

  5. Very impressive, especially given the stock market beat down!

    What were the specific areas and numbers of your net worth where valuations gained?

    As for the millionaire conundrum, I’ve found that due to inflation, $3 million is the new $1 million. Another strategy you can take is to have $1 million for every member in your family!

    1. Our stock investments were flat. We put quite a bit in, but with market performance, we were still down a for the year. The real reason we hit a million is real estate. After revamping our dilapidated fourplex, the value increased. Of course, it’s only worth what someone would pay us if we actually decided to list it for sale, which isn’t something we plan to do. We also paid off a good amount of principal on our commercial rental. It’s on a six year mortgage so most of our payments now are going straight toward the bottom line.

  6. Nice work Kim, especially given the state of the market last year. I’ve not run our numbers yet since I was away the entire second half of last month with my Dad passing, but know we were up at a good clip as well. We have a ton sitting in cash right now for a down payment and usually have a fair bit in our EF and for quarterly taxes. I hate having it sit there, but it is what it is and a lot of it should be going for a healthy down payment on a house later in the year.

    1. I bet that will be a huge weight off your shoulder when you’ve found the right house. It’s exciting to move, but also a real pain. Hopefully once you check that off the list, you won’t have to do it for a long time.

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