Copper Cotton
I prematurely provided a net worth update last week because I was so excited about crossing the $50,000 milestone. But my excitement had little to do with the amount that I saved and more to do with the confirmation that I was now halfway toward one of the biggest, if not the biggest milestone of FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) seekers’ financial journey: The elusive first $100,000.
I have yet to verbalize or write on this blog what my net worth goal is. Not because I don’t know but because it’s huge. Seven months prior, I wondered if I would hit $50,000 this year. If I go back a year and seven months when this journey first started, $100,000 was just too big and too far away for me to wrap my mind around. I decided it was best for me to stay in the financial moment. This meant keeping my head down and doing all the things I know to do consistently.
Turns out, I’m not alone in thinking that the first $100,000 is a tough mountain to climb. Allow me to introduce Mr. Charles Thomas Munger, an American investor and businessman. He is the vice chairman of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock currently trades on the NYSE: (BRK.A) and you can pick up a single share of the stock for $301,705 at the time of me writing this. Munger has a net worth of $1.8 billion and his financial intellect is unparalleled. Here is what he had to say about saving your first $100,000:
“The first $100,000 is a bitch, but you gotta do it. I don’t care what you have to do—if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn’t purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000. After that, you can ease off the gas a little bit.”
There you have it. The road to wealth is not easy and the $100,000 milestone is the most difficult to reach. I’m halfway there but I still have a lot of road to cover before I arrive. So, I’ll continue to keep my head down and keep doing everything that got me to this point.
Time for my net worth update.
I track my net worth on Personal Capital and you may notice that the net worth graph looks different from the last graph I posted and that’s because one of my accounts wouldn’t update, so in haste I deleted it and reinstalled Personal Capital. This completely altered the look of the net worth chart. After reinstalling the account, I had a huge spike toward $50,000 instead of the gradual climb, which showed all of the financial peaks and valleys that I experienced along the way. The chart will go back to being a more accurate snapshot of my net worth journey in the next couple of months. Finally, the $1,400 difference between the graph and the assets listed represents an account dedicated to paying all bills that I don’t include in the assets listed.
July 2018 Net Worth Update
Assets
SEP IRA: $ 7,841.92
IRA: $12,567.65
CASH: $ 3,305.18
MM/E Fund: $ 6,824.77
Stocks (taxable) $ 5, 075.48
I-bonds: $10,855.14
Investing Fund: $ 423.21
Business Acct.: $ 3,703.42
Liabilities:
Credit Card: $4,200 @ 0%
- SEP IRA: I only put $150 in this month because the 0% on the credit card ends in December. I could transfer it to another card but I don’t really want to carry it into the new year.
- IRA: climbed nicely this month with an $87 boost from the market and automatic deposits.
- Cash: is up $70 this month
- The E/Fund: is headed in the right direction, a bump up in the interest rate to 1.75% was a nice surprise. I should be earning double digits
- Stocks: Purchased a few shares of AT&T and a boost from the market helped push the account over the $5,000 mark.
- Bonds: are up and I just missed earning the $20 in interest that I hoped to earn by just $0.09.
- Investing Fund: This account remains down having once again applied money for this account to my credit card debt.
- Business account is up this month so my spending remains in check.
- Credit card debt is down another $600. I used money designated for stocks and the SEP IRA to make this happen.
