Net Worth Update: May 2008

Well, April 2008 goes down as a pretty decent month for me financially. It was my first full month without a credit card balance which sounds like it should be a good thing, but in actuality, it kind of left me in a haze.

I didn’t really know where to send my money at the start of the month, made a couple bad decisions midway through, and I’ll be correcting them this month.

I also found that I wasn’t keeping track of my accounts as diligently as I had in the past. For months — years even — I’d routinely log into each bank’s website each morning to check on my balances. Now, with so many of them just reading $0, I’ve lost interest. That’s not a good thing.

But the numbers don’t lie…

While not falling as aggressively as in the past, I still managed to knock another $1722 from my debts. In the coming months, I’ll begin to focus a lot more on the auto loan rather than the mortgage so as to free up more money each month (which will then just go towards the mortgage).

See, the mortgage payment isn’t about to change but by eliminating the auto loan, I can relieve myself of a $289 minimum payment each month.

On the assets end of things, though the total went dipped into the negative, everything that I can control was a plus. I’ve worked my checking account back up to $2000 and I’d replenished my savings account back up to $1000. Combined, that’s within $50 of where I started off the year (except now I’m not carrying $8k+ in credit card debt).

The markets were kind this month — my 401k balance jumped over 6% and I reached, then surpassed, my all time high.

The value of my house, however, dropped quite a bit. Maybe it’s the media’s housing crisis finally catching on in my neck of the woods and, honestly, even if it is, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest — I’m not looking to sell anytime soon anyway. I’m also not about to just stop paying the mortgage either.

The trade-in value of automobiles also dropped significantly this month, with my daily driver seeing a double digit percentage drop. I suspect that has a little to do with me surpassing the magic 30k mile mark. That’s okay though. As long as both vehicles are running just fine and I still owe less than they’re worth, it’s not something to worry about.

With the added padding of the Tax Stimulus check in May, I can’t imagine I’ll take a turn for the worse in the coming month…