September 2007 Net Worth Review (+1.24%)

September was a good month for the stock market. The S&P 500 index rose +3.58% from 1,473.99 to 1,526.75 — thanks to the boost from Federal Reserve interest rate cut by half a point on the 18th. However, consider that the U.S. Dollar lost about -2.26% against the global currencies [1], most Americans are actually less wealthy than they were a month ago.

After I entered all my information into NetworthIQ, the result was +1.24% net worth improvement. My liquid assets went up by +5.72% from 22.33% to 23.61% of $1 million goal.

Here are key activities for September:

I didn’t make any change in August, except for reducing 401k contribution down to 19%. I was over-contributing and this should put me back on the $15,000 target for the year.
My retirement portfolio grew by +4.57%, or +3.83% if I discount new money contributed during September.
- This slightly better than market performance is due to strong performance by my REIT investments like (SSREX) and international investments like (JAOSX) and (PIEQX).
My estimated home value dropped by another -0.72% (how I estimated my house value).

A couple of concerns:

Weakening U.S. Dollar is an overall concern, but I am not ready to increase my international allocation beyond 30%, nor am I willing to get into the more speculative foreign exchange market.
The house renovation is done, but we are in dispute due to certain surprise charges.

[1] U.S. Dollar relative value compared to British Pound, Japanese Yen, and the Euro. The calculation was based on data from FXHistory: historical currency exchange rates.