Welcome back to Dividend Dollars! This monthly update is where we will see the fruits of our labor. All the smart spending, saving, regular investing, and dividends earned will all add up over time and make this number steadily increase. At least that’s the goal!
You may wonder “why not just watch and evaluate the stock portfolio”? We do review and evaluate the portfolio regularly on this website (read our most recent portfolio update here). However, the answer to the question lies in our website’s tagline: “Finding Reliable Financial Freedom”. Having financial freedom means different things to different folks, but for me it means being able to live the lifestyle that I want to live without needing to worry about money because my money generates passive income that I can live off of.
In order to have your money work for you, you need to do more than just invest it. You need to be responsible with it. What good is a stock portfolio that provides you with a regular cash flow when that cash flow is eaten up by bad debt, interest owed, or poor spending habits? Calculating your net worth is a great way of checking in on that difference between your assets and liabilities in order to understand how responsible you are being with your finances. The more responsible you are, the easier it will be to reach financial freedom because you’ll be reinvesting dividends, you’ll continue to save money, invest it in your portfolio, you’ll build passive income, and you’ll prioritize paying down costly debts.
March 2022 Net Worth: $151,609.58
We increased our net worth by 13.3% from last month with a gain of just over $17k. As you will see further in the post, much of that increase is thanks to the appreciation of my house in this crazy market. We increased the size of our dividend portfolio by 21% this month with some fun adds to positions. The portfolio is up 2.74% for the month. As the dividend portfolio grows, ages, and compounds that is where we will see more significant net worth gain in the future.
Now that we know where we’re at for the month, let’s dive into how Net Worth is calculated. It really is a simple formula; it is all of one’s assets less all liabilities. The answer to that formula gives us a solid understanding of where we stand financially in this moment. Tracking your net worth regularly also helps you know if you are trending in the right direction. It does not, however, give any information into how you got to that number, but we will explore that pursuit in other articles throughout this website.
Below is my calculation broken out.
Assets: $472,136.28
This is the total value of all of my assets which includes my home, investment accounts, and a few other various assets. Total assets grew by 3.6% this month. Below are all of the individual assets that make up that total.
- Home: $448,500 – 3.9% Increase since last month
- Cash: $6,947.66 – 29% Increase since last month
- Dividend Portfolio: $7,425.73 – 21.6% Increase since last month
- Acorns Portfolio: $760.58 – 19.5% Increase since last month
This is my favorite way of automating investments into a diversified, low expense portfolio. Acorns also provides options to hold this portfolio in a ROTH IRA. I hold two portfolios, a standard aggressive one and an ESG one held in a ROTH account. If you are interested in using Acorns to automate some of your investments feel free to click the link above for a bonus $5 investment.
- Abra Crypto Portfolio: $274.19 – 13.7% Increase since last month
Abra is the app I use to hold my crypto currencies in interest bearing accounts. Depending on the coin, they have 2-4% interest rates paid out weekly based on how much you hold. If you are interested in using Abra, click the link above and use my code RCL33PVGS for free $25 in CPRX. https://www.abra.com/ref/?deep_link_sub1=RCL33PVGS
- Retirement Accounts: $465.12 – 84.8% Decrease since last month
- Other Assets: $7,763 – 8% Decrease since last month
Liabilities: -$320,526.70
This is the total value of all of my liabilities which consist of one large debt and a few other smaller debts. Total liabilities decreased by 0.4% this month. Below are all of the individual liabilities that make up that total.
- Mortgage: -$317,451.62 – 0.21% Decrease since last month
- Credit Card: -$0 – 100% Decrease since last month
- Garage Door Loan: $3,075.08 – 8.5% Decrease since last month
The mortgage is clearly my largest liability. I like to practice good budgeting in order to make sure I have enough cash to pay down higher rated, shorter term debts. Therefore, I like to keep my credit card balance low and focus on paying off my garage door loan while making regular mortgage payments.
It’s Simple Math
Now take the total assets and subtract the total liabilities and that is how you get your net worth. $472,136.28 for my assets minus $320,526.70 for my liabilities equals a net worth of $151609.58 for the start of March 2022. Overall, I love seeing the net worth increase a little and I hope I am able to continue doing that month over month.
This was a great month considering the market movement. The appreciation of the housing market really keeps my net worth looking good. My goal for this year is that we see more substantial gains and growth in my investments so that they start to have a greater weight on the net worth. It takes a lot of time and we are only getting started!