About Me

Dido

GOALS for 2008

1. Continue to save 15% of earnings (ideally 20%). To do this, I will make special effort this year towards cutting food costs.

2. For 2008 only, put most of that towards short-term savings (CD ladder) to give myself sufficient liquidity during a career change.
Jan 1, 2008 cash balance: $8023
Mar 31, 2008 balance: $8200
June 30, 2008 balance: $8606

3. Do everything possible to make that career change happen! Planning to do an internship this summer and apply for jobs in the fall. Although I'm not a traditional college student, that's what the market is geared for, so I expect the career changeover to occur in June 2009. I am set with employment until then (phew!)

4. Continue paying extra on the mortgage. Goal is to cut my payoff date down to 22 years total (age 67) or ideally 20 (age 65).
Jan 1, 2008 balance: $89,300.
Mar 31, 2008 balance: $89,000
Jun 30, 2008 balance: $88,560

5. Continue investing for retirement--at least 1 million. Goal is to get there by no later than age 65, ideally age 60. Currently I'm on track to do so, as long as I can (1) earn an average of 8%/year on my retirement savings and (2) get some contributions towards my retirement from my employer.
balance 1/1/08: $127K
balance 6/30/08: $121K (market drop)

6. Nonfinancial goals: Lost at leat 15% of my weight (so far I lost weight during Jan & Feb and regained it during Mar & Apr), exercise daily, and maintain at least a semblance of a social life.

ABOUT ME

I grew up just outside of Beverly Hills in a family characterized by both a Depression-era fear of want and a tendency to solve many problems by throwing money at them. I still struggle with both tendencies myself. About 15 years ago, I had a "financial awakening when I read "Your Money or Your Life" and I've made significant progress since then, but I still find the journey a struggle on a daily basis.

Net Worth

November 25th, 2006 at 01:07 pm

I started keeping track of my net worth on NetworthIQ around the same time as I started keeping this blog. It's good to see that things are moving in a positive direction. Increases are mostly a result of increases in the estimated worth of my house (I use Zillow.com for the estimate for my house, and also Kelly blue book for an estimate on the worth of my car) and the rising value of my retirement accounts, since what with the unexpected $5000 in veterinary expenses I've had over the past few months, I've actually spent a little more than I've brought in in income during the past 5 months.

Posted in nifty tools and sites, $$ balances | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Net Worth”

Ima saver Says:
November 25th, 2006 at 01:59 pm

That is great! And fun to keep track of too!
moneycents Says:
November 25th, 2006 at 04:55 pm

That's great Dido! I hope the doggie is doing well!
Broken Arrow Says:
November 25th, 2006 at 06:40 pm

Thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to see the net worth of other people on this forum, how they got there, and what they did.
rduell Says:
November 26th, 2006 at 05:07 am

Thanks for the info about Zillow. According to them our town doesn't exist though. LOL!
paulettegoddard Says:
November 26th, 2006 at 03:03 pm

Keep up the good work!
LdyFaile Says:
November 27th, 2006 at 05:50 pm

Awesome! I can't wait to get out of the negative myself. I also need to figure out how to put the graph in my entry, I usually just list the totals with the changes.

Fiscal Fitness

Aiming to save 15% of my earnings and to lose 15% of my weight in 2008!

Net Worth

6 Responses to “Net Worth”

Leave a Reply