Instead of monthly reports, I will be releasing quarterly reports on my net worth. While I do track my finances on a regular basis, if not daily, I find it is easier to look at the bigger picture instead of focusing how I did month to month.

January. The stock market’s wild ride which began during the tail end of last year reared its’ ugly head in January of this year. I also purchased a new laptop through the Dell Financial program which added to the steep drop in my net worth. I did not want to dip into my cash reserves and purchase the laptop outright because I am now in a routine with my monthly PF management.

February. Nothing major happened this month. I began the first of my monthly payment on my laptop. With a little effort, my net worth actually rose. It was pretty obvious that paying down the balance on my laptop helped. Also, steady contributions to my retirement fund helped keep the fund growing if not in value, then at least in number of shares.

March. With a steady budget and my monthly payment to Dell Financials, my total debt went down from $1,000 to $850 dollars. I thought it would go down more before I got the statement and realized that I forgot to account for the finance charges. However that didn’t bother me at all since my net worth grew 2.75 percent over the previous month. This was partly due to the stock market improving slightly, the shrinking balance on the laptop, and my state income tax refund.

Lessons I Learned This Quarter

1. Increasing my cash flow
2. Decreasing my expenses
3. Regular contributions to my retirement portfolio
4. Increasing my assets that are not tied to the stock market

My monthly trailing average so far this year has been a positive growth of .13 percent despite the negative growth in January. Ideally, I would prefer to see a 3 percent average monthly growth which translate into a yearly net worth growth of 30 percent.

My trailing average over the past 12 months (the average growth of my net worth compared to the same time a year ago) has been hovering close to 28 percent. This is less than my expectation for a 30 percent yearly growth.

My Thoughts

It is pretty obvious to me that having two years worth of my financial data to work with is a huge asset. This asset certainly can’t be measured in dollars. I know this much because of my trailing averages. By seeing how much my net worth is growing month to month, I can figure out whether I am able to maintain a target goal of growing my net worth at 30% a year.

While my “passive” income increased with my dividends, interests, and revenues, seeing the finance charges on my laptop opened my eyes. Now I can understand how all these financial companies make their money. As a result of this, I have increased my monthly payment starting in April which should lower the finance charges each month until I pay off the balance by the end of summer. As my favorite quote last week, Brilliant Business Model Needed, it is obvious when it comes to personal finance management, if you are working hard to build your “passive” income, giving it back in finance charges is not a brilliant strategy.

The biggest news is that I am now getting closer to my 25K target goal for my net worth. This will certainly happen in the 2nd quarter with several approaches. With the combination of the stimulus check and my federal income tax refund, bolstered by an increased payment on my laptop balance. While I certainly can’t predict the stock market’s upcoming performance, I also know with my regular contributions as well as scheduled dividend payouts, the balance of my retirement portfolio should rise a little more as well. My net target is 35K which should happen some time this year (despite the poor performance of the stock market).

Budgeting and planning certainly helps, especially on a regular basis but it doesn’t give you the overall picture. That is where having a picture of your net worth and its annual growth comes in.