December 2007 Site and Net Worth Review (+0.72%)

Before I begin, I’d like to say that this is a special edition of the net worth review, because following my review, I will be sharing what my friends are all saying about their net worth or the subject of net worth.

Net Worth Review

December was another weak month for the stock market, and the S&P 500 index dropped -0.86% from 1481.14 to 1468.36. According to NetworthIQ, my net worth went up +0.72% and net investable assets went up +1.25%, or from 23.64% to 23.93% of $1 million goal — that’s $10,615 short of the 25% goal.

Highlights

My wife gave birth to our son on 12/11/2007. Both are doing really well.
I started lending on Prosper to try out a new income stream (by the way you’ll get $25 bonus to sign up as a lender). So far, I have loaned out $50 on Prosper at 13.97%, and is trying to make a second $50 loan at 16.27% — the manual process is more time consuming than I anticipated.
Our parents generously contributed to our son’s 529 college savings plan; so it’s now up to $7,461 — exceeding our $5,000 contribution goal for the year!
My retirement portfolio dropped by -1.06% due to the market decline. The greater than market average decline is due to investments in REIT and financial sector.
My estimated home value dropped by -0.83%. However, I did change the way I estimate my house value — i.e., eliminated a few sites to simplify the process.

What my friends are saying about net worth

December Net Worth Review @ Single Guy Money
Net worth 2008? @ Plonkee Money
Net Worth: 43% Growth in 2007 and Goals for 2008 @ Cash Money Life
How we increased our net worth by more than 170% in less than a year @ Gather Little By Little
I’m in the black @ Being Frugal
It’s Hard to Get Back to Zero @ I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
The M-Network Shares Their Net Worth – You Know You Want To Peek! @ My Two Dollars
Trying to Figure Our Net Worth @ DebtFREE-Revolution
New years net worth – paid down debt in 20087 and bolstered savings @ Mrs. Micah
2007 Net Worth Update: +19.7% @ My Dollar Plan
Net worth for the new year @ Rocket Finance
The M-Network+annex NetWorthapoolaza @ Credit Withdrawal
Net worth or net worthless? @ Brip Blap

Blog Review

Before I proceed to my usual routine, I’d like to welcome Cash Money Life to the M-Network. As always, I owe the success of this blog to support from my readers and other bloggers. So a big THANK YOU!

Performance

Subscribers grew +28% from 418 to 537 — if you are not a subscriber yet, subscribe now…it’s free.
Search traffic grew +45% from 2,078 to 3,008
Unique visitors grew +46% from 12,754 to 18,605
Page views grew +7% from 29,744 to 31,884, but still lower than the 36,542 high

Top 10 Referrers

Top 10 referring blogs and their position on the referrers list:

Other Items

I started a Squidoo Lens: Top Personal Finance and Money Blogs. It’s not comprehensive, nor accurate yet, but you can make it better by adding and voting for blogs that you like.
I also started to write my first Personal Finance eBook. I think it will be a while before it’s ready. But I will let you know as soon as the first version is done.
On January 15, 2008, I will publish the Best of 2007 Personal Finance Blog Posts based on readers’ submissions. If you have a post, you’d like to submit, please contact me.

Again, a big thank you to my readers and fellow bloggers for your support.

9 Comments

Patrick
January 2, 2008, 6:06

Great progress (net worth and blogging), Pinyo. Thanks for the warm welcome, and multiple mentions!
Lynnae @ Being Frugal.net
January 2, 2008, 12:32

Congrats on the birth of your son and on your positive net worth and blogging growth!
And I’m always happy to refer traffic.
Pinyo
January 3, 2008, 10:05

@Patrick – thank you. Heck, I like cash, I like money, and I love life.
@Lynnae – Thank you. You are not doing back yourself. You are my #1 (literally)
Jason
January 3, 2008, 13:42

What a great idea. Have the grand parents contribute to the 529 plan! I wouldn’t have thought of it myself! Not that I have children, but who knows.
hank
January 3, 2008, 19:11

Hey Pinyo – nicely done – I like the statistics notes… You’ve always got good content, congrats on that, and that is the key to keeping those numbers up! Also, congratulations on the new child! Almost 1 month old now! I have one born in December too – Taxwise a good decision to have him before the end of the year because you get to write off the whole year as having a child… (like you had a choice, eh?)
Pinyo
January 3, 2008, 19:20

@Jason – Grandparents have the tendency to be very generous toward a newborn grandchild
We didn’t count on them giving so much, so it was a pleasant surprise.
By the way, you can start the 529 under your name any time. Most 529 plan has provision where you can change the beneficiary to your child without any penalty. We started ours before the baby was born and plan to transfer it once his Social Security Number arrive.
Pinyo
January 3, 2008, 19:22

@Hank – Thank you. I am a number freak, so I like to keep track of stuff like that. I am glad to hear that I provide content that people enjoy. It’s always encourage to know that I am not just writing for myself
Congratulation on your new baby as well. Yeah, I was praying my wife give birth before 2008 too.
Brip Blap
January 3, 2008, 20:18

Ah, babies – nothing to make you concentrate more on the future than babies, is there? Congratulations, and thanks for including me in the net worth roundup!
Ryan Williams
January 30, 2008, 11:41

Very nicely done Pinyo on the Net worth and I like the Squidoo lens. Great to see your work and progress on being one of the top money bloggers too.