September 2022 Updates: Disappointing Net Worth
September was a crazy roller coaster of a month when it came to my net worth.
For the first time since I started tracking my net worth, despite working full time and not blowing off all my money, my net worth has gone down this quarter compared to what it was six month ago when I last reported.
3rd Quarter Net Worth
I touched the elusive $250k net worth last month a couple times but it never seems to be able to stay there. By mid-September when the market looked poised for a recovery, I actually got all the way up to $260k net worth and thought I was finally in the clear.
I ended September with $230k meaning I lost $30k in the span of 2 weeks. It’s crazy and I’m trying not to freak out because I’ve definitely been there (hey 2020 and 2021) where I would clap in ecstasy when the opposite would happen.
It’s a roller coaster but I’m buckled up for the ride. I don’t plan to take the money I’ve invested until retirement so it’s just paper loss at this point. In the long term, the market will make a recovery so I am not freaking out (just a little 😅).
September Budget
Fixed Spending
Internet + Streaming Services – I don’t think I ever mentioned the fact that I had such a huge issue discontinuing my old internet service and starting a new one and after 10+ phone calls it is finally sorted out.
Between the credit from my old place and the company crediting me for the ongoing issues, this is actually the first month I’m starting to pay my monthly payment.
Internet is now an added budget item that will be grouped together with streaming services.
Otherwise, nothing new to my fixed spending category.
Variable Spending
Utilities – I received some credit on Gas & Electric this month so that definitely helped offset some of my AC bill. I previously said internet would be in this category but I actually pay a fixed bill for internet hence why I took it out of here.
Gas – Ah, gas prices are outrageous! I am 100% glad I work from home. I’d imagine that I would be spending 4 times this amount had I still commuted to my old workplace.
Entertainment/dining out – Raising up my dining out budget to $250/month was a good move. I’m definitely working hard to stay under it.
Groceries – Pretty low.
Shopping – Bought some personal care items and miscellaneous shopping on Amazon.
Miscellaneous
Travel – I had the privilege of paying an extra $95 to get a new passport that will now say, “This passport is a replacement for a lost passport,” when the passport processing center were the ones who lost it!
At least now I have my passport in hand and it’ll be another 10 years before I have to deal with them again.
Health – I also had the privilege of paying $376 for an allergy test only to tell me I don’t have any allergies when I clearly do.
Mind you, I was billed $700+ before contesting that my actual visit (preventative care) and the lab work that went with it should be covered. After months of back and forth, it is finally all sorted out.
Also, thanks to Reddit, I learned that just by calling and offering to pay in full, I was able to get 10% off the total bill. The crazy part was there’s an option to also pay in full online which doesn’t give this discount. Only by calling and directly asking were they able to honor this request.
Gift – I gifted an Amazon gift card for my close friends’ wedding shower (they had a joint one). I was debating between getting an actual gift or a gift card but I figured if I had a choice, I’d opt for a gift card so I can use it on whatever I want.
Investments
Yep, that wasn’t a typo on my Investment line. I really did put $22k this month to my brokerage account. I know, I know. I specifically said last month that my plan was to dollar cost average. And here I went and did the complete opposite.
As I looked into my accounts, I realized I have fallen victim to a crime I always accuse my mom of committing – leaving too much money in her checking/savings account instead of investing it.
After adding up all my checking and savings account total, I debated how many months of emergency fund I should keep and went with 6 months. 3 months just seemed a little too risky now that I have a mortgage and 1 year seemed too much of an overkill and too conservative.
Looking at all the accounts closely and actually adding them all up made me realize that I have overfunded my savings/emergency account by ~$20k! That’s $20k that could be working for me in the market!
But what happened to dollar cost averaging? Well, I was just really anxious with the cash sitting around in my savings account and my hands were really itching to get those into the market while the market was in a downturn.
I technically did dollar cost average over the month of September. In total I made 10 transactions over one month, so that was my version of dollar cost averaging for September.
I will continue to dollar cost average the rest of the year as well but of course it will be closer to ~$1k investment per month.
Student Debt
Student debt paid this month: $880.77
Student debt remaining: $29,170.18
I can finally say I made it into the $20k’s after getting just within a touch of it last month! Here are all my previous student debt statements.
It’s been a slow grind and is it strange to say I do sometimes miss the adrenaline rush back when I was in six figure student debt and paying off huge chunks rather than just making minimum payments?
It took me one whole year to bring down my student loans by $10k. Not to say that’s not great, it just pales in comparison to when I would bring my loans down by $10k in a span of 2 months.
I’m still researching Biden’s new announcement on student loan forgiveness. It looks like the application will open sometime in October so I am ready to get my hands on it!
I believe I will qualify based on the $125k income limit as long as the income limit is based on adjusted gross income (AGI) which deducts 401k contribution.
Luckily (or unluckily), I still have about $4k that I did not refinance and is still under federal loans. Hopefully that can qualify for loan forgiveness!
Goals for Next Month
I truly hope that my student loan forgiveness will be processed next month which means I’ll reduce my student loan debt by a good $4k!
Other than that, I’m really looking forward to just having fun on my first international trip in 3.5 years.
I think my dream of $300k net worth by the end of the year is completely dashed but I hope I can at least get to and maintain $250k net worth in this last quarter of 2022.
11 thoughts on “September 2022 Updates: Disappointing Net Worth”
You are always really hard on yourself but that was a pretty good September! CONGRATULATIONS on making it into the $20s. I am so very envious. Your post caused me to check on my on 403b accounts and yea…not pretty. But eh. For whatever reason, in my mind, that’s not real money because it fluctuates so wildly. I “believe” in the money in my savings account more. I know that doesn’t really make sense but I think it’s because I don’t really understand the “market.” There. Admitted.
I totally know what you mean! The money in the savings account just seems more concrete and there’s the security in knowing that what I see today will be what I see tomorrow versus my brokerage account.
Haha well you can feel better that most “experts” can’t even beat the market so you can make the argument that no one truly understands the “market”.
I was blindsided when I recently called my doctor’s office and they no longer had the discount. I asked why and they said it was because they called around and no one else was doing it. So sad.
What?! That’s a tragedy. The only bigger tragedy is how much we pay for healthcare (even with insurance and especially without).
Sometimes (not just for doctor’s office), I like to ask an open-ended question along the lines of, “What discounts can you offer for me?” I’ve been surprised by some of the answers I’ve received so it may be worth a try. Maybe the pay in full discount is gone but they might have something else.
Nicely done, avery! I am having to up my food budget as well. Unofficially for the rest of this year, but officially in 2023 🙂
Thank you 🙂 I have to say the same to you too! I read your budget update and I’m here to tell you the truth. I’m absolutely green with envy over your housing cost. Glad I’m not the only one having to increase my food budget. Seems like inflation is really taking its toll.
Ahh, yeah the stock/bond market has been pretty rough this year. Wish I had some more I-bonds lolll. Have you posted your investment asset allocation here before?
I don’t even have any I-bonds so you’re already better off than me 😅.
I’ve never posted my investment allocation because there’s really nothing to it. I’m almost 100% invested in stocks. VTI and VOO for my Vanguard accounts and the equivalent of those in my 401K.
Aha I couldn’t resist guaranteed returns. And ah, 100% stock and all US stock. Your risk tolerance seems extremely good! I’m 85/15 stock:bond with 40% international for my stock allocation.
Haha when you put it that way, I sound like a daredevil. I do plan to be more conservative as I get closer to retirement but I wanted to be really aggressive in my early years of investing.
I do plan to split my allocation into U.S. stocks, U.S bonds, and international stocks down the line. Where that “down the line” is — still undecided.
I think being aggressive is good; I’d have a higher % stock allocation if I didn’t plan on using some of my money in a few years. And hmm, US has been doing better than international for quite awhile now, so good decision by you in retrospect.