Picking up Nickels

Friday, August 10, 2007

Happy Blogiversary to me!

Wow, it's been an entire year since I've started this blog. I'd like to take a moment to review how my financial assets have grown since August 2006:

Asset August 2006 August 2007 Change
Checking 160 195 35
Money Market 54,283 52,545 -1,738
Savings Bonds 16,761 4,575 -12,186
Treasury Bills 26,000 9,000 -17,000
CDs 0 58,600 58,600
Brokerage 80,922 105,368 24,446
401k 84,872 100,251 15,379
Roth IRA 24,606 33,152 8,546
SEP IRA 125,549 172,815 47,266
529 Savings 26,810 34,934 8,124
Credit Card 0% Balance Transfers 0 -19,075 -19,075
Total Assets $439,963 $552,360 +$112,397 (25.5%)



Thanks to a good year for my S Corporation, disciplined saving and spending habits and a strong stock market (the S&P 500 index is up almost 15% over the past year), I have managed a significant gain to my bottom line:

(chart courtesy of msn.com)

Although my posting frequency has gone down quite a bit since May, working on this blog has really made me take a closer look at maximizing my finances. In addition to starting this blog one year ago, I've also expanded my horizons by doing things like starting to invest in T-Bills, building a 5 year high yield CD ladder, and by playing the credit card arbitrage game by making money on 0% credit card balance transfers. I have no idea what's in store for the year ahead, but can only hope they it is as successful as the past twelve months have been: business has been good and I am fortunate to be happy, healthier (due to a 25 lb weight loss), and wealthier
.

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