May 2014 Monthly Net Worth

Asset	Amount	Liabilities	Amount
Checking 1	$9,186	CC Debt	$568
Checking 2	$3,778	Home Mortgage	$96,181
Saving Accounts	$72,272	Rental Home	$59,800
Lending Club	$9,813
Scottstrade	$48,778
401k	$63,697
Roth Ira	$42,457
Traditional IRA	$7,455
Taxable Investing	$97,984
Personal home (Zestimate)	$148,007
Rental Home (Zestimate)	$105,886
Total:	$610,777	-	$156,549
Networth:	=	$454,228

This is my May 2014 monthly net worth as you can see my expense is really low, besides my personal spending on my CC debt for entertainment and mortgage payment. The reason why it’s so low is that my housing and food is being cover for. Cha Ching! That’s the benefit of working oversea on government contracts. Although it has more cons than pro, you can check out my article here about the benefit of working oversea Here.

Let’s dig into my financial record:

Checking account #1: I normally use this to pay my cc debt, personal mortgage, and my paycheck gets deposited here. I try to keep a minimum of at least $10,000, normally when I get paid I set aside for some expense and invest in my taxable accounts.

Checking account #2: I have dedicated this checking account for only my rental property. All of my deposit goes in here and any expense that needs to be paid will come out of this account. I would like to have at least $5,000 for emergency expense for the rental house. Then I would like to pay extra on the principal payment later on.

Savings: The reason why I have a big saving fund is for when I decided to move back to the states, not sure when I will move back. This will be my fund to buy more rental properties, car, take a long vacation, and my emergency fund. I have a separate fund in my saving account for different goals. I currently use GE Capital Bank and I am earning 0.90% interest rate.

Saving Accounts

1)Emergency Fund: $40,668 – I probably can cut my emergency fund in half and still be fine, but I like the idea of having a big buffer, with the contract work I do I can get laid off at anytime. So I feel more comfortable with this amount.

2)Car Fund: $15,074 – I have allocated this amount for a used car when I am done working oversea. I donated my old car to my brother since I will not need it anytime soon. I will look into buying a used car, since a new car will lose its value as soon as you drive it out the dealer lot. My budget will be under $15,000 and I hope to get a decent used car and not drain too much of my car fund.

3)Vacation Fund: $10,008 – I know this might be a big budget, but working 12 hour/ 7 days a week can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Also I am in a danger and hazardous area and, I think I deserve a decent vacation that I can spoil myself a bit. So hopefully I can get 2-3 vacation out this budget.

4)Rental house fund: $6,502 – This fund will be dedicated to buy more rental house in the future, I hope to purchase another one this year. With the working schedule I have and limited amount of vacation, it’s hard to try to buy a rental house. I did buy my first rental house when I went on my first vacation from working oversea. The process probably took 2 – 3 month, but it was hard since I was only home for about 3 week. I was able to do a power of attorney when I was home and was able to sign most of the document electronically.

Lending Club: $9,805 - I been experimenting with P2P lending and have been satisfied so far. The return is decent enough although some of my loans have default, but the key is diversification. I still make some money out of this. In the near future I will post a more detailed description about my lending club experiment. I been back and forth deciding if I should contribute more to this, but I have decided to add $500 monthly from now on and see how that goes. I might change my mind later on but for now I will add $500/mo.

Scotts trade: $48,778 - I currently hold 4 individual stocks that I bought awhile back. I have educated myself more and more knowledgably now then I was back then. Although I have adopted the index investing philosophy, I like to take a little bit of risk.

My stocks

1) AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) – Purchase Price: $3.84, Shares owned: 5208, Current market value: $20,832
2) CLNE (Clean Energy Fuel Corporation) - Purchase Price: $14.00, Shares owned: 550, Current market value: $6,094
3) BAC (Bank of America) – Purchase Price: $13.00, Shares owned: 792, Current market value: $12,233
4) GA (Giant Interactive) – Purchase Price: $6.41, Shares owned: 790, Current market value: $9,619

I know this is a big portion in my portfolio, but I would like to hold it for long term investing. In the future I may liquidate these stocks and invest in index funds later on. I believe that since I am young I can tolerate more risk. Although I don’t recommend this for everyone, but if you do have the finance and the mental capacity then you can try it. So far 3 out of 4 stocks are appreciating except for 1. Clean energy fuel is down a bit, but I am in it for the long haul.

401k

My 401k consists of these vanguard funds that I am currently contributing to:

1) Vanguard Institutional Index Fund (VINIX) 50%
2) Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund (VSISX) 10%
3) Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTSGX) 20%
4) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Institutional Class fund’s (VBTIX) 20%

I am contributing monthly and will be able to max out my 401k for this year. My employer matches up to about 6% and I will be 100% fully vested in October 2014. YAY! I am looking forward to see my 401k nest egg grow. The percentage is what I am allocating in my 401k.

Roth IRA

This account consists of:

1) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
2) Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares

I plan on doing most of my rebalancing in my Roth, my 2nd option will be my 401k if I run out of space in my Roth.

Traditional IRA

1) Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares

Taxable Investment

1) Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
2) Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares

I will contribute the majority of my bi-weekly pay here, and I am planning on keeping this for the long term, and just letting it grow. Hopefully I can live off the dividend from these funds in the future.

Personal Home

This house wasn’t on my plan; my mother actually wanted the house so I decided to buy it for her. At least it is in my name. I am currently paying the minimum mortgage with a low interest of 3.5%, so I have decided that I can probably make more money in the stock market then trying to pay this house down. I don’t plan on living in this house; I only bought it because my mom wanted it. The good thing about this is I am only paying the mortgage, the utilities bill and tax is being paid by my brother who is living there.

Purchase date: Nov. 2012
Purchase Price: $133,500
Settlement Charges: $4,839
= $138,339
I put a 20% down payment for this house so my loan started at $110,136.
Mortgage Payment: $479.58

Rental Home

Purchase date: June. 2012
Purchase Price: $96,500
Settlement Charges: $4,234
= $100,734
I put 20% down payment for this house so my loan started at $76,031
My monthly mortgage payment include PITI (Principal, Interests, Taxes, Insurances): $584.58
Property Management: 10% of rent.
Later on I will post an analysis of my rental house and experience.

Expenses

CC Debt
1) Amazon: $101.95 – Purchase work items.

2) Newegg: $199.99 – Purchase a 5 terabytes hard drive to store movies and music.

3) Military PX (Post Exchange): $57.15 – Purchase personal supplies & snacks.

4) Sniper hill: $127.38 – This is our monthly internet services, Also me and my roommate decided to share the cost of the internet so next month I don’t need to pay.

5) T mobile: $11.81 – The reason why it’s low is because I normally suspend my account when I go back oversea. So the $11.81 was only the amount that I pay when I was back in the states. I have suspended my account again since I am back oversea again.

6) 1800 flowers: $69.97 – Purchase my mother flower for mother day.

Total: $568.25

Goals

Goals I want to accomplish at the end of 2014 and will post my progress in the monthly updates.

1) Taxable investing: Goal was 50,000+ - Currently contributed $41,000 and will be adding more until the end of year. I estimate at least $5,000+ a month that I can afford to contribute or more.

2) Rental House Fund: I will be contributing $1,500/mo+, I would like to purchase another rental property at the end of the year. This will be challenge since it will be hard to do anything working oversea.

3) Rental mortgage & Personal Mortgage: I will continue to pay the minimum monthly payment on this since my interest rate is low, I might add more later on but don’t plan on doing it.

4) Improve my blogging skills: I am still new to blogging and still learning how to design my blog. Any advice will be much needed.

5) Learn how to use Microsoft excel: I will need to learn how to use a spread sheet. I plan on looking for more tutorials and create a format that will make it easier for me.

6) I plan on taking a volunteer vacation in Peru for 2 week to learn about the culture, learn some Spanish, and explore a new country. I am looking at going in October and, I just recently got approve for my vacation. So I will be planning this trip soon and I am looking at several volunteer organizations and finding one that will fit what I am looking for.

Finally posted my first official net worth, now I can keep better track of net worth and show my progress. I will continue to update this at the end of every month and break down my income, investment, and expense. Feel free to add any suggestion and ideas. I am always looking for better opportunities and working my way to FIRE.