End of February 2009 Financial Status

February was a blur. It’s the shortest month and it definitely felt that way. I discovered Yanik Silver’s “Moonlighting on the Internet”, which rearranged my priorities and put me on a whole new self-employed career path. I have already started on one of those online ventures and look forward generating meaningful online income. I will definitely share my progress on this blog. Recently, I completed my taxes and am awaiting a rather large refund due to the first-time home buyer tax credit. After receiving this refund in the near future, I will be investing in my retirement funds, which should  make my financial status for March somewhat more interesting. Now for February’s numbers…

Cash

In February, cash continued to be the driving force for increasing my assets. I received my yearly salary increase, which is good news. I was unsure if my company was going to offer salary increases this year considering the state of the economy. Additionally, they backdated it for January 1st, so my second paycheck this month was a little more to account for the backdating. I also found out that my boss is attempting to secure raises for our team after our project is complete, so that may appear in the next month or two. In March, my cash will most likely be depleted as I transfer funds over to retirement accounts.

Stock Market

The stock market continued its decline as all three of my stock market related investments decreased. I lost $679.88 in February due to the stock market. I almost wish I hadn’t done that calculation. I know my losses are significantly less than most everybody else, but it still hurts. One thing to remember, which is the reason why I’m not risk averse, is that the stock market will rebound and today is a great time to buy low. I plan on doing so in March, and for this reason my stock assets will increase for sure next month.

Liabilities

Once again my liabilities only decreased by the standard car and mortgage payment amounts. It was interesting to see that even though I made only two mortgage payments in 2008, I almost benefited by itemizing my deductions. I will be increasing my deductions by quite a lot next year with a full year of mortgage payments. In the next few months, I will most likely be refinancing my mortgage, which might increase my liabilities by rolling my closing costs into the loan. This will be beneficial in the end as it will decrease my monthly payment. I will keep you all posted.

Net Worth

My net worth increased by 1.5%. Barring some sort of unusual event (tax refund, laptop purchase, furniture purchase, lighting fixtures paid off), a 1.5% net worth increase will be pretty standard. At least until the stock market rebounds and my investments start to drive my net worth more than my income, or I start generating more income from online ventures. Here’s to hoping they both happen in the near future!