March 2008 Site and Net Worth Review (-1.01%)

Net Worth Review

March was another down month, but the second half certainly showed some promise for the stock market. For the month of March, the S&P 500 index dropped -0.60% from 1330.63 to 1322.70. According to NetworthIQ, my net worth actually went up +0.94% but net investable assets went down -1.01%, or from 22.32% to 22.09% of $1 million goal.

Highlights

My alternative investment through peer-to-peer lending networks grew:
- Prosper grew from $257.24 to $340.56 with 5 loans and interest rate of 11.48%. One thing I did notice is that the average lending interest rate is dropping due to the Federal rate cuts.
- Lending Club grew from $225.61 to $476.93 with 19 loans and interest rate of 10.91%.
Due to a mistake made by my broker, I had to contribute $2,000 to my Roth to finish off 2007 before April 15th contribution deadline.
And I was hit by the expected (but forgotten) property tax.

As I’ve mentioned a few days ago, I may have to reevaluate my plan to reach the $1 million mark by 2017. Specifically, I may have to increase my yearly savings rate to make up for the weaknesses in the economy and the stock market.

Blog Review

As always, I owe the success of this blog to the support from my readers and fellow bloggers. So a big THANK YOU to all! If you missed it, I am giving away $100 worth of prizes to my readers and fellow bloggers (no, it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke)

Performance

I am very happy with March performance:

Subscribers grew +15% from 966 to 1,108 — if you are not a subscriber yet, subscribe now…it’s free.
Search traffic grew +62% from 3,867 to 6,258
Unique visitors grew +10% from 26,924 to 29,751
Page views grew +9% from 48,271 to 52,675

My second quarter goal is to grow these numbers by 10% each month. Wish me luck!

Top 10 Referrers

Although I wish I could list everyone that sent visitors, it would be an impossibly long list. I do appreciate everyone’s help, regardless of how big or small. Here are the top 10 referrers:

And close runner-ups include Quest For Four Pillars and The Dough Roller.

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

8 Comments

Bunny
April 4, 2008, 6:50

Good luck with your 2nd quarter goals! I hope to win your contest
Vered@MomGrind
April 4, 2008, 7:56

If the goal is 1M by 2017, you could probably ride out the current bear market without changing your saving habits, and then enjoy the bull market that would likely follow. Of course, it is always a good idea to save more if you can, but I think that even if you can’t, there *will* be a bull market that would compensate for the current slowdown and help you catch up.
Christine
April 4, 2008, 10:18

You are very welcome! Keep up the good work!
Mark @ TheLocoMono
April 4, 2008, 18:38

Is the Prosper growth from interest? What exactly is net investable assets? I am surprised yours went down. Mine went up slightly but not by much, mostly because of my small cap fund’s exposure to gold.
Shanti @ Antishay Ventenne
April 4, 2008, 22:15

Well done! I am still wary of Prosper, though I do have an account. Having a net worth go down 1% isn’t bad at all, considering how crazy the market’s been
Pinyo
April 5, 2008, 7:25

@Bunny — Good luck
@Vered — That’s my hope too that the market will make up for itself. But it doesn’t hurt to take some action — assuming I can afford it. I just got my raise, but it’s already less than the increase in my gas and electric bills
@Mark — No, most of the growth in P2P lending was due to new money I added. Year to date, I earned 4.15% from Prosper and 0.46% from LendingClub (the big difference is dues to when I added new money).
I checked more carefully, and I can attribute the decline to the property tax payment of $700+ and addition of $1800 in debt I didn’t previously accounted for.
@Shanti — It’s not for everyone.
Four Pillars
April 5, 2008, 11:25

Runner up! Woohoo!
Mike
Finally Frugal
April 6, 2008, 10:32

Like Vered, I also think you’re going to eventually benefit from an ‘up’ market when the recession retreats. However, I think it’s a smart move to increase your savings anyway—-regardless of lower interest rates. It looks like you’re doing well with peer-to-peer lending, and increasing your savings now could allow you to develop this income source even more in the future.
I’m nowhere near ready to start increasing my investments (still in debt repayment mode), but am reading your blog with interest so I’m ready when the time comes!