November 2009 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on November 9th, 2009:

Asset	Oct 2009	Nov 2009	Change
Checking	297	279	-18
Money Market	27,971	39,035	11,064
Savings Bonds	20,695	20,781	86
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	130,605	120,585	-10,020
Brokerage	78,851	82,599	3,748
401k	82,936	84,709	1,773
Roth IRA	33,314	33,705	391
SEP IRA	188,409	191,095	2,686
529 Savings	39,735	40,525	790
Total Assets	$602,813	$613,313	$10,500
			(1.74%)

The S&P 500 index continues to reach for yearly highs as it has risen 2.01% since the last update:

(chart courtesy of msn.com)

There's a lot to say, but not much time to say it (apologies for rushed content in advance). The recent rise in the stock market has been nice to see, but we still have a growing unemployment problem as it reached a new 26 year high of 10.2%. We're one step closer to health care reform as the House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill on Saturday. Crude oil has fallen back below $80 per barrel as the worry about hurricane Ida impacting oil production looks to be a short term problem.

As for money moves, I had already opened an ING Direct 2.10% APY 12 month CD in anticipation of my E-Loan 4.36% APY 12 month CD that matured a couple of weeks ago. I also have a 9 month Bank of America Risk Free CD @ 2.10% APY maturing in a couple of weeks and will probably use the cash to buy some November 2009 paper I Bonds (I bought electronic ones at treasurydirect.gov in April 2009) as well as fund my 2009 Roth IRA contribution. I'll still need to fund Mrs. Frugalson's Roth, but will probably hold off on that until next month.

On the business front, my projected 2009 S Corp revenue looks like it will be down about 9% from 2008 due to the loss of a long time client. And while it's hard to know for certain, 2010 revenue could be down an additional 7%. While that is a disappointment, things could be much worse considering the current state of the economy. I don't know how long those revenue levels will last, but while less money is coming in I may end up spending the next few years shuffling a good portion of my CD ladder money into Roth IRA's while still being able to make nice contributions to retirement and college savings. In any event, at least I've eclipsed my previous peak in financial assets for the second month in a row.

And finally, how about a quick word on grocery prices. Apparently, consumers aren't really noticing much of a difference in prices even though inflation has moderated quite a bit. Heck, even the Banking Guy at the Bankdeals Blog mentioned it last month. The thing is I have been seeing a pretty nice drop in my grocery spending over the past year, which I will examine more closely in a grocery price inflation update once my November 2009 numbers are in.