Family Financial Report

2011 Expense Report: Final Report + Bonus 2012 Goals

2012-01-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

If there was one word to describe 2011, it would be GROWTH.

We are expecting another child.

We are growing as a family. We're learning as a family.

I got a promotion.

I'm growing in responsibilities.

But you came here to hear about our budget... so here it is: We spent a lot last year.

Our biggest expense is HOUSING. With the refinance, we were paying almost $1100 a month, saving us nearly $300 each month on PMI and Interest payments.

Next up is our Giving. Giving dropped a few thousand from 2010. Not sure really, just got a little bit lazy. We did start supporting a staff worker with Campus Crusade, Church tithing, china missions and a 14 year-old boy through Compassion International.

Food Expense is always on our mind. This year we hosted a bible study every Thursday which included dinner, including a "Fatted Calf" Night - in which we had steaks all around. We also had various other gatherings that I think added to the higher grocery bill than 2010. Eating out at restaurants were higher than 2010, but fast foods were slightly lower, I think due to my health conscious attitude. Who knows.

Bills and Utilities - fairly consistent, a couple differences due to different cell phone service provider, and internet provider raising their prices after the 1 year introductory offer. Gas and Electric were nearly equal.

For another year, we did not have any major auto repairs or accidents. Praise the Lord for that. We did however drive a lot and as a result fuel bills were larger than 2010. That's also including the trip we took in the end of 2010, so that means we drove a lot this year... Kind of strange, since I worked from home. But that probably was one of the reasons. Every other category was lower in the auto group except fuel.

For Travel: we took one major trip in early 2011 to attend my wife's friends wedding. We took another vacation to visit my college buddy Solomon's Island MD during the summer and then another trip to OBX in October. These beach trips were easy on the budget. So overall, besides flying my mother-in-law into town to help out my wife, our travel expense was lower than 2010.

For Education, I took the Spring semester off and took a 2 credit class in the Fall. I wish I had taken more... would have kept me out of trouble. I'm realizing now that for school, it's probably best you try to finish as quickly as you can because you never know what's gonna happen to you. In my case, expecting child#3 may throw me for another loop.

And finally I'll include Misc Shopping. This year I actually went clothes shopping. I know, strange right? My wife's brother actually donated A LOT of clothes to me and I've been sharing them around. I've been guest speaking to a bunch a youth group at another church once a month, so in order to be "presentable" and look somewhat "hip" my wife decided I needed improve my wardrobe. No more tattered pants or wholly underwear... Major electronic purchases for 2011: Olympus Camera off craigslist ($300); Logos Bible Software ($440); Small flatscreen TV for living room ($200) Major electronic purchase for 2010: Macbook ($500) + PC upgrade ($100)

That does it for 2011.

I'm thinking of selling my 1999 Ford Ranger and contemplating getting another mini-van. Our 1999 Nissan Quest is being used a lot, almost every day, so we might need another van to off-set... especially with child#3 coming.

Goals for 2012:

Financial
- Fully fund emergency fund 6-months (Currently around $12k)
- Increase giving by $2-3k
- Up retirement savings to 15%
- Continue to invest in college funds
- Sell 1999 Ford Ranger ($2-3k) + Buy used mini-van (around $6-7k range)

Family:
- Take 2-3 week long vacations this year
- Prepare Child#1 for school
- Continue reading and playing with Child#2
- Read 2-3 books with wife including "Meaning of Marriage" and "Shepherding a Child's Heart"

Personal
- Take 3-4 classes this year
- Lose 5-10lbs. Need to stay in shape and eat better.
- Get my wife to workout with me (especially after the baby is born)

Church
- Improve in preaching and teaching
- Continue to host bible study at our house
- Read bible in a year
- Maintain a vibrant prayer life

Career: 2011 I have attained the GS-13 level at my current work. It will take me some time to attain the next level due to much stricter requirements. I will press on.
- Maintain 115% Production
- Keep good relationship with supervisor and other co-workers especially while I telecommute.
- Increase efficiency and quality of work.

Visual Budget for 2012

2011-12-16T18:18:00.001-08:00

Here's the updated visual budget for next year. I find it very helpful to remember what each day of work is for...

Updated Budget for 2012

2011-12-09T21:03:00.001-08:00

Judging from my expense report and updated salary figures, here is the breakdown for next year's budget.

Home = 20%
Giving = 20%
Food = 10%
Auto = 7.5%
Utils = 6.7%
Travel = 5%
Shopping = 2.5%
Education = 5%
Retirement = 5% +(5% matching)
Savings = 20%

My goal is to have a fully funded emergency fund of 6 months expenses. My education budget went up, just hoping I can finish up some of my classes before the baby comes. The food budget has increased slightly, but everything is down relative to higher income except for savings and giving.

I always have this tension when it comes to giving and saving. On one hand it is good to be generous, on the other hand we need to save for the future. I think that is one of the reasons why I love Dickens' A Christmas Carol so much. I relate very much like Ebenezer Scrooge. One side of me always wants to save and accumulate as much as possible, but I also know that in the end it isn't how much you've saved, but how well you used the resources and talent you that God has given you.

To those who were given much, much is required. I know that and I keep that in mind every time I spend on things. Maybe that's why I struggle so much to buy things... and struggle so much to be generous and struggle so much to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I need to be a faithful steward of the things God gave me. Not to spend it on self, but to use this stuff to point people to our future where we will live in mansions with many rooms, where we will eat the finest of foods, the best of meats and the finest wines... I await the wedding feast, the New Heaven and the New Earth, the City of God, the New Jerusalem... where we will have new bodies, resurrected bodies, living and eating and enjoying and worshiping God... everything we long for here on earth, just in a more perfect way.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Saving, and Happy Giving!

Expense Report: FY2011

2011-12-03T07:11:00.001-08:00

Here's the breakdown for FY2011. From October 2010 to September 2011.

So for this past year, judging from after tax income the breakdown is this:

Home = 24%
Giving = 20%
Food = 11%
Auto = 9%
Utils = 8%
Travel = 6%
Shopping = 3%
Education = 2%
Retirement = 5% +(5% matching)
Savings = 14%

Net Worth November 2011

2011-11-30T15:37:00.001-08:00

Here it is. I'm still doing my Mint stuff, but finding it hard to maintain my money in this volatile market. Markets were down for the Thanksgiving holiday and just coming back up.

On a brighter note, I finally asked my boss for a raise. After the end of FY2011 I performed fairly well, making 110% production and a bonus, so I asked for the promotion. He agreed. That means more work, but a good chunk of change... increase in salary.

That's that for 2011. I'm looking forward to some major changes next year... i.e. an addition in the family.

We are in the middle of furniture shopping as well. We bought a Scandinavian Teak (mid-century) dining table for $795 this month as well as two Ikea Malm dressers for $75. My wife has been active on the Craigslist. We are on the lookout for a bunk bed for the kids... something not too high and with a slide.

I need to sell more things though and teach my kids not to be hoarders. That is going to be a seriously tough thing to do.

Until next time, happy saving!

Net Worth Oct 2011

2011-10-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! or for you reformed people, happy reformation day!

This month was a huge increase due to several factors. We went on a nice vacation, so some of our expenses went down while others went up. We had extra family come stay with us... which meant some sharing of the burden. But after looking at our spending, we didn't save much because of that. It was largely due to bounce back in stock market. Investments increased significantly over last month because of some perceived notion that Europe might have a plan for their debt. As well as some nice earnings from some companies.

I currently have large percentage of investments in retirement.

We have about 3 months worth of emergency fund, but I hope to have it to 6 months by the end of next year.

My savings for college is a little bit behind (according to Mint) but overall, savings are mostly ahead of schedule.

On a side note, we are expecting our 3rd baby, so we need to save up on that.

Average Savings Rate

2011-10-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting chart demonstrating how much Americans save compared to other nations.

Net Worth (Sept 2011)

2011-10-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the market is going down, economy is shot... what are we to do?

This is updated net worth for September. We should be going up... here's for hoping.

Net Worth August 2011

2011-09-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

A little late, but here's the update for August's net worth. Seems like the market is still going down. Spending seems to be ok. We entertained a bit this month and gave some money to college students as gifts. We'll see what happens. Oh well.

Taking a dip in shark infested waters

2011-08-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

After last week's falling knife and uncertainty in the market I know people are closing their eyes and plugging their ears. I fortunately have been immune mostly to the noise as most of my investments are in retirement accounts and I've decided to play a hands off approach for the time being.

I've fooled around too much in my personal portfolio that I've seen the damage I've done due to irrational, emotional, impatience, and risky behavior.

I owned NFLX and played around with it around $20-30 range. It jumped to $60. What do you do? Not a bad return. But it is near $300 today. Who would have thunk it?

I was playing with LULU options around $60. I sold it around $80. It jumped to 100. Then did a 2:1 split. It's near back to $60 (or $120 pre-split).

I owned APPL and fooled around with it $120-200 range. It's now almost $400. Did I keep any of these stocks? No. because I liked to trade in and out, getting it while it's NOT and selling while it's HOT. But I am realizing now that if it gets HOT, it gets REALLY HOT.

I guess it's kinda like dating. I've been a stock slut for a long time. Maybe not willing to make that commitment for the long term.

In any case, recent weeks have made stocks relatively cheap. If you haven't been in the market in a while, I suggest you put a little bit of money in now. Buy low, sell high. That's the key. I was fortunate to have balanced my portfolio before the crash. And I just adjusted it again to take advantage of the drops.

But nothing is certain. The sharks may still be in the water, taking a dip may mean you get eaten. So don't put all your eggs in one basket. But this is a good opportunity to test the waters if you haven't done so in a while.

With that, happy investing.

Net Worth July 2011

2011-08-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Was a little bit busy this end of July, so here's the latest chart. I think investments are down due to Debt/uncertainty/and just about everything else. i'm not surprise.

I hope to be saving a bit more... still on the prowl for that nice house upgrade. We'll see.

Midyear Review: Overall Expenditures

2011-07-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

So here are our latest numbers:

Home = $1361/month
Giving = $893/month
Food = $595/month
Auto = $407/month
Travel = $357/month
Utils = $340/month
Misc = $250/month

How does it compare with original budget?

23% Mortgage
17% Giving
11% Food (groceries, eating out)
7% utils (phone, gas, electric, internet, water)
7% auto (gas, insurance, etc)
5% travel
3% Education
3% misc
24% savings/investment

We are currently OVERSPENDING: FOOD ($50/month), AUTO ($50/month), TRAVEL ($100/month)

We are ON BUDGET: HOME, UTILS and MISC/EDUCATION

We are UNDERBUDGET: GIVING

Our travel budget was used up earlier this year with winter vacation and trip to Cali. It'll even out if we don't do any major traveling for the rest of the year...

As for food and auto, I think these are ok. I might have been too conservative with the numbers. I'm going to check again with auto insurance to see if maybe we can reduce that expense. Considering that we have nearly 30 people in our house every Thursday for bible study... AND we've been feeding them, I think we are doing VERY well keeping costs down.

As for giving, we have not been tithing regularly... so that's something we need to be more consistent in doing. We have been however, generous to other causes, but I think we still need to be consistent in supporting our local church.

Okay, until then, WHAT CAN A BUDGET DO FOR YOU?

Net Worth: June 2011

2011-07-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so half way through the year. We in a bit of a slump, but seems like stocks are recovering. We just spent $350 moving a piano, $200 on a new tv, and another $200 on food... this was all this week. I'm a bit overwhelmed, but it's ok. I think we are ahead this month. We're kinda behind for the year, but small victories, right?

Here is our latest:

Promotion or No Promotion

2011-06-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

I still remember Star Trek IV when Admiral Kirk was demoted to Captain Kirk. Kirk was adventurous and throughout his career he was saved the Federation many times over. But as he got older, he was placed in a "desk" job. Becoming admiral meant he was overseeing other captains. His adventure days were over. Kirk's heart however was in the adventure. His promotion only brought him sadness and regret.

As the movie came to an end, Kirk was before Starfleet council and he was under trial. Because he disobeyed a direct order or something from Starfleet, they had no choice but to reprimand him. THey took away his desk job and demoted him to Captain and gave him command of the Enterprise. This was actually a way to reward him, but outwardly it was a "demotion." But inwardly, Kirk was ecstatic, this was his dream, to command a starship once again.

So... what's your dream? What's the "Enterprise" of your life? Does the next promotion bring you closer or further away from the Enterprise of your life? Or are you content at where you are?

I'm actually at that place right now. After the end of this quarter, I have the opportunity for a promotion. This however means more cases each week and probably more responsibility in terms of the cases I do. I currently spend over 15 hours each week doing church stuff, a little bit over 30 hours of flexible/family time, 6 hours physical activity and 12 hours for personal reading/television time. My work time is spread throughout the week and would probably use more just to do the extra work.

In any case, evaluating my spending habits, my time with family, our giving, and other financial/time constraints, an extra 2 cases a bi-week should be doable. I just have to be vigilant in maintaining the right schedule and discipline.

God's generosity

2011-06-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

GENEROSITY
Just reminded today how rich we really are. When it comes to money, we always look for more. We compare net worth with others or compare salaries with other people. The funny thing is we look at those who are above us. We want to be at the top of the pyramid. But God continually reminds us in the scriptures that "blessed are the poor in spirit"; that His people are poor made rich... that Jesus, though he was rich became poor for our sake. We have been given every spiritual blessing...

How generous have you been with the money and wealth and resources God has given you?

It's easy to say, I've done well for myself... I got this college degree, I made this money, I'm working a good job. I did this all by myself. I've supported myself and no one has helped me...

THE LIFE YOU HAVE
But it's VERY hard to see that all of this depended on where we were born, who we were born to, the time period in which we were born... we might think we did this all by ourselves, but we forget that the opportunities we have came not out of our choice, but rather chance, or if you believe in a higher being, by the sovereign hand of God. We could have been born in a different time period, or instead of America, I could have been born in China... or some other country... or even to different parents.

But what if I was born in China... what if instead of competing with the 300 million people in the U.S. for jobs... I'm competing with 1.3 Billion people in China... what if instead of a country that desires life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, I was born to a country that desires pursuit of national pride and community rather than individual freedoms? Or born in South America... my friends from South America are more laid back, they know how to enjoy life and party, Asians are WAY too driven... but that's the only way we think to get ahead in life.

WHAT THE WORLD TELLS YOU
I was told to get 10x my salary for life insurance. I was told I needed $3 million for retirement. I was told I needed to own a house. I was told I needed a garage, I need at least 4 bedrooms. I was told I need 6 figure income. I was told I need more and more money so I can buy more and more stuff.

STATS
Do I? Is this what life is about? Half the world live on less than $2.50 a day.

80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. (2005 stats)

WHY DO WE COMPLAIN?
Do you ever complain about AC, heating, toilet, shower... half the world poops in a hole in the ground.

We complain about our cars, our houses, our jobs, our food, our cell phone plans, we complain about internet speeds, we complain about the movies and television we watch, instant streaming too slow, not enough video games... 90%+ would give up what they have for our place in life. They deal with diseases that can be cured (if they had healthcare), wars, crime, corrupt government... poverty is not the exception... it is the norm for the world, we, living in an industrialized nation, are the exception.

BIG QUESTION
So the big question is: What will you do with the wealth and resources and riches God has generously given you? Will you spend it on yourself or will you be GENEROUS... as God has been generous to you?

My desire is to be generous. But I'm not. I'm stingy. I'm a complainer. I worry that I don't have enough. I worry my retirement isn't enough. I worry my children may not have enough.

God change my heart.

I'm the 46,279,569 richest person on earth!

Discover how rich you are! >>

Net Worth 05-31-2011

2011-06-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Forgot to update my net worth back in the end of May. Been too busy.

SO here it is, June 10th.

Investments are down a bit, credit card bills are up and cash is down. We continue to pay down, but seems like always buying more stuff.

We really need to up the cash savings.

Life Insurance

2011-05-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't really talked about life insurance. But with the death of family friend and many recent deaths this year and last, I have to face reality and look at what I am leaving my family in the case I die. When we first got married, I think we got 200k for me and 100k for my wife. After two kids, we upped it to 300k for me and 150k for my wife. My policy allows me to get up to 1/2 of my current coverage.

I'm told I should get 10x my current salary. I'm thinking I need to up it some more. Maybe to 400k or 500k, but not 10x my salary... I definitely can't afford that.

I'm currently paying $28.25 for 300k/150k.

If I up it to 400k/200k the premiums would be: $37.61
If I up it to 500k/250k the premiums would be: $47.08

So yearly payments:
300k/150k = $339
400k/200k = $451
500k/250k = $565

That means for each extra 100k I want to insure, it would cost an extra $110 each year. In the case of my death, I know 500k would help my wife and kids tremendously. For the past few years, my insurance has refunded up to 25% of premiums. So in actuality that $565 is actually $423... which means it's not as bad as I first calculated.

How much are you covered for in case of death?

Productivity: Maximizing Time

2011-05-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Time is another commodity that we have that is limited. Like money, unless we budget it and know where it is going, our time will slip right through us.

The past couple of weeks I have encountered this verse in scripture. Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain wisdom.

Our life is finite. We will die someday. We need to balance the possibility that we may die tomorrow with the fact that we may live to 80-90 years old. It requires wisdom to say "yes" to important things and "no" to not so important things. It requires wisdom to put down toys and other time wasters to spend time with loved ones and building relationships. It requires wisdom to say no to good things, and say yes to best things.

Here are some tips I've been reading about:

- Wake up an hour earlier
- Streamline email
- Do similar tasks in blocks
- Use a TIMER
- Learn how to delegate
- Hire Great People

Another great technique is mapping out your week.

Setting a weekly schedule like this and seeing where you are wasting time and what times you are most productive helps. I set my workout in the mornings, and so every morning after waking up I go straight to the basement to get it done.

Gray: Personal disciplines exercise and reading
White: Flexible time with family
Blue: Work
Blue striped: work, but flexible
Red: meal times with family
Yellow: Church time

Overall, I've noticed that as I get more systematic with my budget, other areas of my life becomes more disciplined as well. This includes diet, exercise, spiritual activities, family time, etc.

How do you number your days? Are you using it to further your goals or are you wasting it away?

Your life is limited. You may die tomorrow or in 80-90 years. What will you do with it?

Net Worth 4-30-2011

2011-05-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Net worth. Mint's been acting up. Our credit card is actually $2.6k not the $4.7k. Some retirement stuff down due to bad investment.

Overall spending has been down thanks in part to living close to family and lots of church activities.

For some reason being part of a community helps in sharing the cost of things... especially food. Go figure.

401k Loan Repaid

2011-05-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Back in late 2008 we purchased a house with 10% down. We decided to renovate the house so that required taking out a loan. We took it out of our TSP, the government version of 401k.

THis was a little hasty and poor decision mainly because the stock market was at its bottom at that time. Late 2008 and early 2009, had we left the money in the stocks would have doubled by 2011. In any case, what's done is done.

At that time we had about $28k and they allowed for the residential loan to take up to 50% of value of the account. So we took out $14k.

Currently our account value is nearly $63k, thanks in part to a rising stock market and early repayment of the loan. But it would probably be well over $100k had we left the account alone. Lesson learned: delay gratification is usually wiser.

So the loan began in Feb 2009 and we finished paying it off in May 2011. 27 months. Two years and three months. Even though the loan interest was only 2.75% and we had 15 years to pay back at $47 a bi-week, it was a waste not to accelerate the repayments especially with the rise in the S&P and small cap stocks.

So over that 27 months, we averaged $518.52 a month or about $240 per bi-week. It could have been much faster, but emotionally, at times I wanted to have more paycheck/emergency fund. At times the low payments of $47 didn't seem that bad (had we waited for 15 years to pay back). The past half year we had been paying about $800 a bi-week or over $1600 a month. This was a large chunk of change each month, but a necessary sacrifice... however we did not even feel it. The only thing that felt it was the relatively small balance in our checking account each month. But again, well worth it. And thank God we did not have any major emergencies.

LESSONS LEARNED
Looking back:
- We should not have borrowed from the retirement.
- We should not have waited so long to pay off.

FUTURE
So what about that other big debt we have? the HOUSE? We will accelerate payments as well. And make sure we are saving 15% for retirement.

That's that. Let's celebrate!

The Fifth Discipline

2011-04-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

Peter senge (MIT) wrote a book back in the 90s about management called The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization.

The Five disciplines (taken off of Wikipedia) for better/learning organization:

1) "Personal mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively." (p. 7)
2) "Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action." (p. 8)
3) "Building shared vision a practice of unearthing shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance." (p. 9)
4) "Team learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into genuine thinking together." (p. 10)
5) Systems thinking - The Fifth Discipline that integrates the other 4.

Seven learning disabilities responsible for organizational failure (taken from greathumancapital.wordpress.com

[1]-I am my own position: is when people focus only on their position within the organization and have little sense of responsibility for the results produced -when all positions interact.

[2]-The enemy is out there syndrome: is when we focus only on our position; we do not see how our own actions extend beyond the boundary of that position.

[3]-The illusion of taking charge: is that we should face up to difficult issues, stop waiting for someone else to do something, and solve problems before they grow into crises but proactiveness is really reactive ness in disguise.

[4]-The fixation on events: leads to “event” explanations that are true for now but distract us from seeing the longer-tenri patterns of change behind the events and understanding the causes of the patterns to events.

[5]-The parable of the boiled frog: is in relation to the maladaptation of organizations to recognize gradually building threats to survival; just as the frog placed in a pot of water brought to boiling temperature will not attempt to jump out of the pot but adjusts to the temperature and slowly dies.

[6]-The delusion of learning from experience: is when our actions have consequences in the distant future or part of the larger operating system, which makes it impossible to learn from direct experience.

[7]-The myth of the management team: because teams in business tend to spend their time fighting for turf, avoiding anything that will make them look bad personally, and pretending that everyone is behind the team’s collective strategy.

--
more links:
Manager's learning disabilities
Learning traps
Friday reflections

2011 1st Quarter Expense Report

2011-04-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here it is. Jan-Mar expense report. I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate because Mint.com has been acting up lately. I'll check again in a few days, but I was fairly pleased with our expenses. Like I said in the earlier post, travel expenses have been high, but overall we've been doing a great job.

I'll break it down each category versus my take home pay.

Home: 28%
Gifts: 15%
Travel: 13.5%
Auto: 8.33%
Food: 7.67%
Utils: 6.5%
Misc: 2%
Others: 2%

Compare to our budget and you'll see we're doing ok.

Finance Update: March 2011

2011-03-31T23:46:00.000-07:00

As the end of quarter approached this past Monday, I was able to put in nearly 50 hours of overtime at work. In the process, we have paid down our $14k loan from my retirement plan to less than $2k. Putting in $800 each paycheck to pay down this debt. I wouldn't recommend borrowing from retirement for future reference. I think had we left our money in the TSP, it probably would have grown to about $80k+, but because of borrowing, it is about $10k shy at nearly $60k.

Our college fund has continued to grow from less than $2k a year ago to nearly $5k, thanks in part to continued funding and the rise in the stock market.

I hope to continue to rack up more overtime as well as pursue other interests. Our trip to California was pretty hefty.

Expenses:
Plane Tickets = 4x$300 = $1200
Rental Car = 7*40+tax = $330
1 night hotel = $70
Gas = $75

Total = $1675

Thanks to family and friends we were able to keep most of our costs to a minimum especially food and lodging.

In any case our travel expense for 2011 is pretty high considering our road trip earlier in the year.

So for now, I'm hoping to put a pause on our traveling and settle down to save some money.

What can a budget do for you???

Net Worth (Mar 2011)

2011-03-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Net worth down about 10% due to poor investments. Did not listen to my own advice. I had a high of about $97k last month in investments, but fast gains led to BLOCK HEADED moves which meant equally quick losses.

In any case. I still stick with my original plan of diversify, index funds, decline of U.S. dollar, decline of U.S. dollar, China, and commodities (silver, coal, copper, oil, fertilizer).

I hope to recover soon.

Net Worth (Feb 2011)

2011-02-28T14:39:00.001-08:00