Welcome to May! The first week in May means that it’s time for April’s Review and Net Worth Update. For those who are new to The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer, each month I write a financial review to xatu my net worth by writing down my thoughts on the previous and following months. I share these summaries so everyone can gain insight into my personal finances and my thoughts behind them. I started tracking my net worth to measure my progress, inspired by Budgets Are Sexy, which has helped me pay closer attention to my personal finances. I have been tracking my net worth since January 2015 and writing monthly financial reviews for myself since 2016. I recommend tracking net worth because it has been such a helpful tool to see my personal finances stat changes all in one place. Summary of activity: It was a really busy month of wedding prep and getting fillings at the dentist. Our schedule was pretty much booked the entire month. We had family come to visit us for Easter and my mom’s birthday. Then we made a trip out to Minnesota for food tasting and to see our venues again.
Income Unusualness: Nothing unusual in April. However, I do appreciate having sick leave, personal days and vacation pay. May looks like we’ll be pretty busy at work, which will be nice. Overall Budget: Last month I wanted to pay attention to my grocery budget to determine if I needed to raise it to $30. I was fine, but I did get some help by having family in town and visiting family while away. I think I can stay suction cupped to $25 for one more month. The magnitude of my credit card payments varied a bit and did not go as planned. However, I did manage to pay each of the minimums, which is the most important thing sometimes. Budget changes: How much money I direct to each bill just copycatted April’s budget. However, there was a format change. I replaced my goals section with the leftovers section. I feel that it is more important to focus on paying my credit card bills, without my feint attacks, and my one goal should be to put my money towards our wedding. Net Worth: Although it dropped, it is great to see that it didn’t fall below February’s net worth! Only my credit cards dropped, yet withstood a critical hit from both my doctor and dentist. I just have to keep training them until their stronger. Savings Accounts: Our wedding accounts have taken their first big hits. Our line of credit to savings ratio has greatly fallen. The line of credit will need to act like a blissey in order to withstand how much damage it is about to take these next four months. It can handle what’s to come with both natural cure and soft-boiled relieving any concerns. Ally grew by holding my tax return until I determine where to move it to. I may just keep it as part of the emergency fund. Egg, HM02, and unemployment accounts are on hold until after the wedding. Investments: My Roth IRA, still all in Nintendo stock, has improved. I think it’s important to just have some stocks for fun. I would like to purchase some other stock to defensive curl my retirement more, but I would have to use my tax refund for it. My Acorns is currently giving me a market gain of 6.34%, with a total loss of 3.75%. It’s doing fine for me not having contributed anything to it in April. I paused them from their regular round-ups and deposits for the month. I knew it would be a heavy spending month and wanted all of my cash available to me. Blackrock went up since it just rides the rapids of the stock market. I haven't started an UTMA investment account, or saving for one, for my nephew yet. Maybe for his second birthday, I’ll get it started. Credit Card Relationship: I maxed out my Visa’s pp and even used an extra pp on my Amex. I feel justified about it though. I used them mostly for medical bills. After all, there was a surprise bill and a trip. ;) I didn’t plan April’s pp usage very well, but I have another chance with May. I also thieved from my digit savings to wide guard both cards from using even more pp. Credit Card Extra Thoughts: I am now considering getting a new credit card.. It would be nice to volt switch some of my credit card balances onto a 0% interest card for 18 months to pay down that debt. There are a few things to do first. First, I would need to learn everything I could about credit card balance transfers. Second, I would need a plan for those 18 months that would not just pay the debt down, but pay it off. Third, I want to wait until I know if we will renew our lease for another 2 years. I want to keep my credit score sturdy for potential landlords. I don’t want too many hard pulls over the next six months. (When applying for apartments in the past I have experienced both soft and hard pulls.) Student Loans: They are skill linking their spike cannon and staying the course. UAS and ACS are going down, while Nelnet goes up. Using my tax return to double last month’s payment for UAS gave a good helping hand. Also, one of the ACS loans payment due finally reached $0.00 due. I now have two loans with ACS with $0.00 due each month, but I will keep regularly attacking it while it sleeps. I do feel it’s about time to xatu my student loan plan and figure out when I need to start shifting overpayments. Other notes: The blog is going well. I have no worry seed about getting income from it yet. Being ad free is nicer for everyone, I assume. I am just trying to focus my attention on content. (Keep a keen eye out for a survey in the following weeks.) I am also happy that I have decided to not take any design gigs until the wedding. I realized this month that wedding preproduction is over and production has begun. Now is the time for detail decisions and the product gets to be fleshed out. I can’t wait! It was a wild minun of a month. Do you think you can intimidate me May? Let’s battle! How was your April? Did you have good luck filing taxes? Did you start spring activities yet? Do you have any big plans for May? Further reading: Rockstar Finances Blogdex Net Worth Tracker- over 200 other bloggers’ net worths March 2017 Review and Net Worth Update- Last month’s review and update *A few notes about my net worth* My net worth only tracks my personal assets and liabilities. My fiancé’s finances are not included. I include our wedding accounts on a separate line because it’s a gray area for me. The numbers are taken from each month’s statements. I don’t use dollar signs because looking at just the numbers helps me focus energy easier for analyzing by removing any prior attachments, emotional or otherwise, so I can look at the numbers as just numbers. (In my excel file, I don’t use commas either.) I use plusle-red, and minun-blue for illustrative purposes. (In my excel file, they are all in black.)
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