May 2018 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on May 10th, 2018:

Asset	Apr 2018	May 2018	Change
Checking	216	954	738
Money Market	60,664	59,351	-1,313
Savings Bonds	153,537	153,860	323
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	42,363	42,478	115
Brokerage	151,373	155,277	3,904
401k	174,174	176,709	2,535
Roth IRA	151,064	153,890	2,826
SEP IRA	724,160	743,198	19,038
529 Savings	174,147	175,463	1,316
Total Assets	$1,631,698	$1,661,180	$29,482
			1.81%

We've had a bit of an uptick since the last update, with the S&P 500 rising 2.49% during that time:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for April fell to 3.9% with 164,000 jobs created (the lowest rate since December 2000). Oil prices have continued to rise to the $71 level (up from $66), with prices potentially headed considerably higher courtesy of the POTUS opting out of the Iran nuclear deal.

On the financial front, May has been a slow month. I've been pleased with my recently-opened Fidelity solo 401k plan, although I am a bit surprised that I have to actually mail in my contributions instead of doing so electronically. I do like the ability to be able to make both employee and employer profit-sharing contributions, which was not possible with the my longtime Vanguard SEP IRA.

As for the non-financial, the big thing on the agenda is that my oldest child will be graduating from high school in less than a month! It's amazing how quickly the first eighteen years have passed.