January 2013 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on January 10th, 2013:

Asset	Dec 2012	Jan 2013	Change
Checking	795	837	-42
Money Market	41,925	37,584	-4,341
Savings Bonds	67,413	67,570	157
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	72,490	80,712	8,222
Brokerage	99,768	106,897	7,129
401k	107,297	111,939	4,642
Roth IRA	65,347	67,911	2,564
SEP IRA	320,469	330,805	10,336
529 Savings	74,578	77,167	2,589
Total Assets	$850,082	$881,422	$31,340
			3.69%

The S&P 500 has continued to rise over the past month to a five year high, up 3.78% since the last update:


(chart courtesy of msn.com)

It has been interesting watching the stock market run-up since the folks in Washington finally stopped grandstanding and came up with a deal on the fiscal cliff (such as it is). I know of one person who spent their lunch hour getting out of the stock market in late December based on the advice of the so-called "investment gurus" at their company with the intent of getting back in when things settle and "reaping" their gains. Of course, the S&P 500 index is up about 3% since then so perhaps there is something to the "stay the course" mentality after all. I do wonder when these "investment gurus" will advise getting back into the market though. :)

So, on to the next partisan battle over the debt ceiling where Democrats and Republicans will spend so much time trying to screw each other that the end result will be all of us getting screwed instead (thanks guys!). On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for December was flat at 7.8%. Oil prices have risen a bit to $93, as I know all too well when I paid about $500 for half a tank of heating oil last week (which would have been less than $200 a decade ago).

On the financial front, once again my assets have surpassed their previous all time high from December. I should get a bit of a boost to that number in the first quarter when I fund my 2012 SEP IRA contribution, so the $900k asset level could be within reach as long as the stock market continues to cooperate. On a lesser note, I did shift a bit of cash into a Penfed 1 year CD @ 1.25% APY this week. It's a pretty competitive rate in this environment, but it's basically just a way for me to punt into early 2014 and hope that better opportunities for cash are available one year from now.

As for other matters, it's tax time! I've already sent my 2012 S Corp accounting data to my CPA, so I've already started on the road toward working on the annual Q1 burden of business and personal tax returns. One thing I'm curious about is how having Mrs. Frugalson back in the workforce will impact my tax situation. It's been years since we've been in that situation (a nice problem to have), so I have to admit I'm going into this like a babe in the woods. Either way, I'm guessing that I'm not going to be covered in diamonds and furs any time soon. :)