This is my official February 2016 Net Worth Update. Below are my actual numbers for ALL my investments and liabilities as of 02/29/2016. Explanations and quick summary below chart. If you would like to see my previous months net worth posts, please visit my Net Worth Tracker.
TOTAL NET WORTH: $367,279
Quick Summary and comments: +$12,834
Wow! February ended up being a very good month for me. This is actually my new record high increase for one month since I started tracking my net worth. I am very excited to see this and the main reason why I had such an increase was mainly because of my cash position. In mid February I received my yearly bonus from my day job and it was quite hefty at around $7k. That is what made my February net worth update nice and sweet! Although it is good to see a jump like this it also saddens me because I know this will all go away in the near future. I have a lot of big expenses coming up in the next 1 to 3 months and it will bring my increasing net worth to a screeching halt. I may even have a negative month if I have to pay 2 or more of these expenses in the same month. I will try to spread the expenses in the next 3 months though so I don’t get hit too hard in one month. Here are the big expenses coming up for me in the near future.
1) Wedding Costs
2) Honeymoon Costs
3) FBA/Private Label Costs (this is my new side hustle that I am concentrating on to generate more income, more info on this below.)
4) Pay the Tax Man! I am anticipating on owing 10k or more this year in taxes. I have an appt with my CPA later this week to see what the damage is going to be.
So as you can see, it will get worse before it gets better. But that is okay with me, this is going to be a unique year for me because of those first 3 items listed above and to be honest, I am really excited about all 3 of them. Anyhow, February was a very busy month for me because I have spent countless hours reading and listening to podcasts regarding my new side hustle. I mentioned in a previous post that 2016 will be the year I side hustle for the sole purpose of generating more income so that I can buy more rental properties. That’s right folks! Im side hustlin for rental properties! Ha! At the end of the day as I have said numerous times, it will be the passive income I receive from my rental properties which will make me financially free so I need to figure out more ways to buy more rental properties. That new way will be selling private label products on amazon. From what I have read and heard, this can be a very lucrative side hustle with a lot of potential to fast track my journey to financial freedom. I will be writing up some more posts about this in the future so stay tuned if you are interested in hearing what I have to say about this and how I will pull this off successfully.
Now let’s get to the breakdown of each asset.
Assets: Explanations of each of my assets.
Cash: +$13,118
My cash shot up drastically this month because I received a $7k yearly bonus from my day job. I was very pleased to receive this and it came just in time because I will have to use this money to go toward some of those big time expenses coming up.
My cash as noted above in the spreadsheet consists of two different checking accounts. My normal checking account and my REI (Real Estate Investing) checking account. Very Satisfied!
HSA account: -$294
HSA went down this month because I actually had to go to a few doctor appointments for an issue I am having with one of my ears. It’s really strange and I would rather not get into it but my medical insurance did not cover a bunch of these costs hence the negative HSA amount.
My HSA deductible is $1300 for the year and I have close to $5k in this account so with that being said, since I am maxed out already I am only taking a very small amount out from my day job paycheck to fund this account. Any money after that deductible will just sit in that account not making me money. I know I can use the money that I don’t put in there to get better returns as long as I invest it in more real estate. This number should increase each month a tiny bit. Not Satisfied!
Company Stock Options: -$2,096
Darn stock options! I had it up to here with watching these go down every month. I have nothing more to say about these. 😐
These are stock options from my day job. I am fully vested. I may end up selling a bunch of these in the future if it hits a certain price. I would like to use the money to buy another rental property. I’m not in a hurry to sell it so I will play along with the market and see what happens. Not Satisfied!
Stock Portfolio: +$1,833
This went up mainly because I made another $1k deposit to my TradeKing account in February so I could buy more stock that I wanted. Overall though, I am actually up about $1k in this portfolio so I am quiet satisfied with it. Satisfied!
401K: –$23
I lost a little money in the old crappy 401k but it’s not really a big deal because I do not contribute any money in this account. I made an executive decision awhile back to take money out of my 401k and no longer contribute any more money to it. Mainly because I do not get matched contributions from the dreadful day job. But also because I KNOW I can make better returns using that money on rental properties. I really don’t like the idea of having an account that punishes me to take money out because of age. Satisfied!
Property # 1
I have updated the value on this property and it went up $10k in January. This has really helped me boost my net worth updates. Thankfully this house is in a great hot market and I have very good equity in this property. Over 100k worth!
This is my primary residence. The market I live in is extremely hot and I expect the appreciation on this house to continue to grow however I will only update the market value once a year, in January of each new year. Satisfied! Here are more details on this future investment property.
Property # 2
My tenant in this property informed me he will not be renewing the lease which is coming due in June so I will be looking for a new tenant in May. I am my own property manager on this one so will be screening and finding my own tenant. Other than that, no issues, repairs and rent paid on time on this one. This is my first rental property. It used to be my primary residence. I expect gradual appreciation from this property as well because it is in the suburbs of this HOT market I live in. Love me some HOT markets! 150K is about what its worth now based on MLS comparisons. Satisfied!
Property # 3
Rent paid on time. No issues or repairs. This is my first turnkey rental property I purchased out-of-state. I do not expect much appreciation on this property. I purchased this for CASH FLOW purposes only. Satisfied!
Property # 4
This has been my problem property because there is horrible property management running this. I have been waiting on the lease to expire on this one to transfer this over to my other property manager and the process for this has finally begun. Beginning April 1st, this house will be under new property management and I am pleased about that. The house is fine and the tenant is fine, its just the PM is a horrible communicator and they slack off in a lot of areas where a PM should shine.
This my 2nd turnkey rental property. I do not expect much appreciation on this property. I purchased this for CASH FLOW purposes only. Satisfied!
Property # 5
Mortgage paid on time. No issues. This is a note that I own from a house that I sold via owner finance. If you notice though, the reason why this asset will continue to go down from the spreadsheet above is because it is a note and the principal balance on it goes down each month as the buyer pays me. Remember, I’m the lender on this one. Satisfied!
Property # 6
Rent paid on time. No repairs, no problems. This is my 3rd turnkey rental property, I purchased it in early June 2015 and I absolutely love this house. I do not expect much appreciation on this property. I purchased this for CASH FLOW purposes only. Satisfied!
Property # 7
Rent paid on time, no issues, no repairs. This is my most recent turnkey rental property, I just bought this in late October 2015. I purchased this property also for CASH FLOW purposes only. I am not expecting appreciation gains on this one. Satisfied!
Liabilities: These are self-explanatory so I wont dive too deep into these however I would like to include the items below for informational purposes.
Credit Card
I only use one credit card (rewards card) that I use to purchase my everyday expenses. I pay this off in full every month. I am receiving 1.5% cash back on this card and am very pleased with it. Satisfied!
Car Loan
I purchased this vehicle before I had the proper knowledge on how to be totally awesome with finance and investments so that is the only reason why I have this loan. If I knew then what I knew now, i would have purchased a used vehicle all cash. It is not worth it to me to pay this loan off because the interest rate on this loan is 2% and I would rather use that money to buy more rentals where I will make a much greater return. I will continue to pay it down slowly. Satisfied!
Last 30 days net worth graph from Personal Capital
I really do love this chart, it looks great and its nice and big. The big increase at the end is from where I updated my property value on my primary residence. That is exactly what I want to see each and every month in this chart.
If you want to set up and track your net worth online like I do, create a FREE account at Personal Capital.
There you have it folks! How was your month? Subscribe here if you would like to receive emails on future posts including more net worth updates.
Looking good. Much better to have the cash to spend when you need it than not to. I’ve hearing about a lot of success with the FBA side hustle. Good luck.
Thanks Brian! The cash is good to have for sure. I just wish I could hold on to it.
Yeah the stories I have read about the FBA thing are amazing and I want in on the action. We’ll see how it turns out. I think at worst case I will break even. But i honestly do feel I will do very well at it.
Looks good and congrats on the bonus. Too bad the tax man takes so much of that away. I always remembered that from my past working years. It seemed almost half of the bonus was deducted for taxes.
I think for real estate investors like yourself and I, cash flow means much more than net worth. Cash flow is what takes us to the promised land of FI. Great to see the net worth improving though and it is very informative for us readers to see the details (particularly the rental portfolio line items).
Thanks bud! The bonus is nice and they did in fact take out the taxes for it so at least that wont come back and bite me in the butt for next tax year.
I also completely agree with you about the cash flow, that is actually my main objective and I am hoping I can increase that this year. I see a light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel is really really long! 🙂
Yeah I have some vacancies that might be coming up soon so I need to get on top of that and find out if the others will be renewing. I know for sure I have one spot to fill but I will be handling that myself and will be sure to do it right and fast!
Thanks for the insight.
I am also doing fba
Sum good info out but don’t be to mislead by big numbers a lot of cost in running but the profit u make is worth it.
Have u been studying a certain course? I have a few recommendations to help if want let me know.
John
Hey John,
That is awesome you are doing FBA. I may have to contact you for some advice. How is it working out for you?
Im still waiting on samples from multiple products but I have been running some preliminary numbers and its going to be a big expense to get up and running that is why I listed it in my post. I do obviously plan on making all that money and back and then some but for now I can only hope I pick a good product and launch it succesfully.
I have been reading up only free info on FBA from the amazing seller, passion into paychecks and a few others. There is so much good free info on those two I really don’t think I need anything more. Just need to go over it multiple times.
Send me an email at cashflowdiaries @ gmail.com if you have some recommendations for me.
Thanks!
Awesome, congrats on the huge bonus!
Blog traffic aside, I would think a less frequent check in on net worth would help even out some of the market swings. It produces short term thinking and “personal accounting tricks” like your comment: I will try to spread the expenses in the next 3 months though so I don’t get hit too hard in one month.
Would quarterly be a nice compromise? I’ve decided not to post net worth and just run my rental portfolio analysis every 6th months.
Thanks Brian! Actually I like to do the monthly updates because I get a better sense of the volatility in the market. I like keeping an eye on it plus when I do my monthly net worth updates, they also act as a life in general update for me as well.
Spreading out the expenses into 3 months is something I would be doing even without doing a net worth update. Each of those expenses are high dollar and I would never want to pay them all at the same time. I see your point though although I don’t necessarily think that way of thinking is a bad thing.
Makes sense. The volatility of the market isn’t something I enjoy being aware of, it makes me feel uneasy. I see that as a benefit to investing in rental properties, I’m not constantly confronted by the quote every time I use my iphone or open a newspaper.
Thanks for sharing your last month’s net worth. You mentioned that you use one rewards credit card for everyday expenses; have you found that makes it easier to track your spending? I have done it in the past but feel like it causes me to overspend.
Hi Aliyyah! You know to be honest i dont keep very good track of my spending but I have always been really good about not overspending. It just comes natural to me. However, with that being said, it is convenient to see all my spending in one location so I can track it if I want to.
Solid month! Always nice to get some extra cash around this time of year, especially with the decent size tax bill coming!
Hi Thias! Thanks so much! Yep love the extra cash! That tax bill is really worrying me I am starting to think now it is going to be more then I initially thought. I should know in a week or two.
Alexander,
Congrats on getting a side hustle going. I’ve been reading/following you progress for a little while. I found it a little ironic that you have properties in Texas and Indiana. We just moved from near Fort Wayne, Indiana to Houstn, TX. I’m looking at Turnkeys in Houston and possibly Indianapolis.
I also do FBA, but have put it on the back burner for the moment. Before you jump into private label, you might want to consider doing retail arbitrage/online arbitrage. This will help you get and idea of FBA model. To do private label right you need a minimum of $5k to get started with $10k being ideal per product.
Good luck!
Ha that is ironic indeed. I hpe you enjoy your new life in H-Town! I hear there is some decent real estate in Houston so im hoping you can find some good deals out there. It will be difficult to find the kind of returns you can get in Indy though.
Private label definitely seems to be the way to go for me because it appears to have the potential of higher returns and less competition then retail/online arbitrage. Plus I do plan on investing about 10k into this private label product so that I can get a better deal. Youre right thought, it does cost a lot of money to get into this especially if you want to get a good deal on bulk products. Im finding the really good price points when purchasing bulk seems to be around 1000 or more units.
We’ll see what happens with it and ill be writing about it in the future. For now, I am still just waiting on samples to come and then need to make a final decision on what product I will go with.
Impressive numbers CFD, you have a lot going on…do you ever sleep? haha You have to love those bonuses, my wife is getting hers this month and we are using it to pay cash for a car after I turn in my lease. No more car payments for us, got to free up that Cash Flow!!!
Great work, keep it going.
Hey Chad! Thanks man! Ha yeah I like to keep busy but its always doing something that will lead me one step closer to financial freedom. Holy cow that is amazing you are about to get rid of your car payment. That is HUGE!! Congrats on that. What are you going to do with the extra cash flow?
Hey man,
Look forward to reading your update every month. Congrats on the bonus and keep up the great work!
-Ryne
Thanks Ryne! Really appreciate it.
You’re killing it man! Although appreciate the wedding costs are going to hit you soon ;).. How is that all going for you by the way?
Love the side hustle ideas as well :)!
Hey Jef!! Yeah im about to get hit with all kinds of costs. Should be finding out my tax hit hopefully this week too. Im more scared about the taxes then the wedding.
Other then that, everything is going really well for me actually thanks for asking. Just looking forward to for the next few months to get the wedding knocked out and get this amazon business up and running. Should be good times!
Alex,
Wow, you are on your way and I want to grow up to be just like you. It looks like February was a good month – keep up the hard work.
Haha! You just made my day!! Thanks Nancy!
Nearly $13K in one month? You are doing amazing!
Thank you so much Elle. $13k is definitely not normal for me. That number will be much lower in the next few months but it was pretty awesome achieving that for February. 😉
A bot? What are you on about? :O haha
Haha, yeah that was a bot. Not sure how that one slipped through! I deleted the comment.
That’s incredible! I find using my credit card earns for me too, as well as helping me keep finances in check! Seriously good work my friend!
Thanks David! I feel weird now if I dont use my credit card to pay for stuff. I always make sure to pay the balance off though. 🙂