February has been a lousy month with my being sick and all. Although it's almost the end of February, I thought I ought to provide my January 2013 progress report. My current debts are 331.66% my AGI, which is
MY DEBT
Starting Debt
| Last Month | This Month | DIFFERENCE | |
| Fed'l SL (06/08) | $55,852.68 | $48,542.02 | $48,318.04 | -$223.98 |
| Mortgage (1/6/12) | $274,000.00 | $269,463.90 | $268,607.81 | -$856.09 |
| Bank of Mom (1/6/12) | $68,500.00 | $60,421.00 | $60,196.00 | -$225.00 |
| CC (3/31/12) | $34,188.50 | $26,047.00 | $26,582.84 | +$535.84 |
| TOTAL | $476,414.00 | $404,473.92 | $403,704.69 | -$769.23 |
The 0% promotional rates on of my credit cards expired and I couldn't pay off the $18,396 balance. I transferred the balance to another 0% offer with a 4% balance transfer fee which cost me $735.84. Hence, the negative development in my credit card balance this month. The 0% promotional rate on my other credit card will expire on October 31, 2013. I hope to pay that balance off without incurring yet another balance transfer fee.
Other than my credit card balances, I'm on track with my other debts.
SAVINGS
| LAST MONTH |
THIS MONTH
| DIFFERENCE |
| $15,527.30 | $15,945.04 | +$417.74 |
I borrowed $282 (net) from my EF to pay for my property tax in December. My EF is now fully reimbursed and I added an additional $135.74 in January.
The savings I report here is with respect to my emergency fund only and does not include my future spending earmarks. Currently, the total amount in my liquid savings account is $21,284.23.
MY ROP (LIFE INS) FUND
| LAST MONTH |
THIS MONTH
| DIFFERENCE |
| $2,584.63 | $2,646.83 | +$62.20 |
Long story short, I'm pretending to pay myself $55/month for a "hypothetical" return of premium (ROP) term life insurance policy. (A ROP policy pays back your premium at the end of the term if you outlive the policy term.) Investopedia looked into whether ROP premiums are worth it and it concluded that "for policy owners that can invest in tax-deferred or tax-free accounts and are comfortable investing in the markets, a basic term policy without the rider probably makes more sense."
That is exactly what I am doing: I bought a plain-vanilla term life insurance policy and am putting the $55/month savings in my Roth. I've calculated that I need an annual return of approximately 3.7% to make this experiment worthwhile.
I've paid $4,628 in premiums to date and my ROP balance is $2,646.83. I've recouped 58.98% of my premiums and the annual return on my investments is currently 3.79%, which is slightly above my target.
| LAST MONTH | THIS MONTH | DIFFERENCE |
| $241,536.92 | $256,353.60 | $14,816.68 |
The majority of the increase in my net worth came from increases in my 401k and investment accounts.
The history of my net worth can be found here.
2 comments:
Although I’m wondering if it’s okay to be too transparent about your financial accounts, I think you’re doing just fine in atoning for your past financial sins, as you worded it. You’re balancing it just fine that I think I’m starting to feel envious. Kidding! You see, I’m not really good with numbers and figures, so I just leave all these things to the pros. But seeing someone as attentive as you about this matter, I think it’s time for me to start getting my hands busy with my financial status as well. Thank you for inspiring me.
Melody Rosenbaum
I agree with Melody that it's a little worrying that you're very transparent with you finances, but I also think that seeing your plans and progress make for great learning tools for people in debt or for those who want to learn how to avoid it. Other than the credit card, you're pretty on track with everything else, so I say you've done a great job so far. How was your progress for February and March?
-Allan
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