Today’s posting contains the details of our March networth. While we bloggers are a well meaning bunch, we often don’t include enough critical analysis of what’s really working to build wealth. So, I wanted to put this information up to give you a sense of whats helping our growth and what’s hindering it.
First off, I’ll list whats not working for the DINKs.
1) Student Loan Debt: You’ll see in picture below that we’ve got about $52,000 in student loan debt. Some of this is costs due to my wife Miel, some is due to my education expenses. My loans are reverse amortizing, and the interest rate on a big chunk of Miel’s loans is variable. At least some of Miel’s is still subsidized by the gov, so they are paying her interest for the next year or so. At the same time we’re obliged to spend a portion of our income to pay the interest on the loans. That’s not helping us build wealth.
2) Buying Savings Bonds and Precious Metals: In the past, we’ve put small amounts in savings bonds and precious metals. The savings bonds don’t pay a great deal, 3-7% over the past few years. Since we only buy small amounts of gold and silver, we also aren’t earning a great deal in appreciation. In the future, we might be better served by thinking about putting this money into prosper.com, or stocks.
Okay, now to discuss what is working.
1) Real Estate: Both our primary residence and our investment property have continued to increase in value because the market in DC seems to have bucked the national trend of softening prices. While real estate can be a pain, the increase in value has added substantially to our bottom line.
2) Stocks: We are off our Hansens induced high of $100,000 back in 2006, but shifting about $80,000 of our stock funds to income producing securities appears to be paying off. In conjunction with my getting a better job at the university, we have basically eliminated the need to borrow to cover my portion of the mortgage and household expenses. For us, this means some modest degree of success.
Our March net worth details are below.
Best,
James
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