January 2014 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on January 10th, 2014:

Asset	Dec 2013	Jan 2014	Change
Checking	3,068	3,032	-36
Money Market	44,861	47,747	2,886
Savings Bonds	81,626	81,745	119
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	69,878	61,966	-7,912
Brokerage	108,943	116,254	7,311
401k	132,908	135,832	2,924
Roth IRA	85,770	87,627	1,857
SEP IRA	420,002	430,055	10,053
529 Savings	96,292	98,669	2,377
Total Assets	$1,043,348	$1,062,927	$19,579
			1.88%

The S&P 500 is up 2.21% since the last update, continuing to hover around all-time high levels:

(chart courtesy of msn.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for December fell from 7.0% to 6.7%, which was yet again considered disappointing. Oil prices fell to around $92 over the past month, which I wish would translate to lower heating oil prices in light of the recent Polar Vortex that brought dangerously low temperatures to much of the country.

On the financial front, my asset levels have again surpassed the all-time high I reached last month. In terms of money moves, I did have a Penfed 1 year CD @ 1.25% APY mature last week and used most of the proceeds to pay for Christmas 2013 as well as the balance of my new central air conditioning system. I'm probably in a holding period for further money moves until April when I'll evaluate Series I Savings Bonds once the March CPI-U numbers come out though.

As for the non-financial, I'm getting started on my 2013 personal and S Corp income tax return prep. I'm also dealing with the personal hell that is the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Apparently the new car I purchased last fall wasn't titled properly and the RMV is making the process of getting this resolved as tedious as possible. If nothing else, it would be nice if the lady who answered the phone last week didn't act like I had interrupted her nap when I called. Fun, fun, fun...