August 2007 Net Worth Review (+0.19%)
September 1, 2007 by Pinyo.
Thanks to the positive stock market close on the 31st, August was not as bad as anticipated. Last month, I started using NetworthIQ to track my net worth. After I entered all my information, the result was +0.19% net worth. My liquid assets went up by +2.71% from 21.74% to 22.33% of $1 million goal; which is not bad compare to S&P 500 +1.29% growth. Overall, this is a nice recovery from July market slides.
Here are key activities for August:
- My retirement portfolio grew by +2.35% from net new money and stock market recovery:
- I sold Hennessy Cornerstone Growth Fund (HFCGX) because I tried to trade out high expense ratio mutual funds for low expense ETFs. Coincidentally, the fund suffered from some unknown meltdown since mid-July.
- I bought shares in 3 ETFs: Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VB), Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR), and Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) to add to my small-cap and technology positions, using proceed from HFCGX.
- My non-retirement portfolio grew by +5.02%, also from stock market recovery.
- My estimated home value dropped slightly by -0.83% (how I estimated my house value at $625,965).
A couple of concerns:
- Most money is going toward retirement savings, so there is little left for non-retirement investment.
- The baby is coming. I have to start looking at options.
- The house renovation is about 80% done. A rather large bill is on its way.
Overall, August was not a bad month. Hopefully, next month will be better — even with the big invoice on the way.
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- Sep 4, 2007: How I estimated my house value | Moolanomy
You’re doing great! Your numbers are going in a positive direction!
Looks like a pretty good month considering the volatility the market had at times.
As for ETF vs. Mutual Funds, I’m finding that it seems to be more advantageous to invest in the ETFs (as long as you aren’t buying and selling frequently and getting hit with brokerage fees). Is that why you chose the Vanguard ETFs vs. their similar mutual funds?
Thanks, Lynnae and Eric.
Regarding, ETFs vs. Funds, that’s exactly why. It is advantageous over long term to save even 0.25% on expense, as long as you limit the number of trades. You can do the math on $10,000 investment and see that a fund that charges 1% expense ratio means $100 per year. That’s a lot of trades using my discount broker.
Considering the weak real estate market and stock market craziness, I think you did well.