September 2018 Financial Asset Roundup

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

Asset	Aug 2018	Sep 2018	Change
Checking	1,083	1,198	115
Money Market	83,286	66,893	-16,393
Savings Bonds	154,824	155,168	344
Treasury Bills	0	5,000	5,000
CDs	29,590	29,695	105
Brokerage	161,653	163,709	2,056
401k	172,685	170,782	-1,903
Roth IRA	154,952	155,158	206
SEP IRA	776,046	789,634	13,588
529 Savings	177,101	176,470	-631
Total Assets	$1,711,220	$1,713,707	$2,487
			0.15%

It's hard to believe, but today is the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I'll never forget that day for as long as I live. :(

As for the business at hand, the market has continued to rise, with the S&P 500 up 1.55% since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for August remained at 3.9%, with 201,000 jobs created. Oil prices have remained relatively flat at the $67 level. We also have Hurricane Florence heading toward the East Coast of the US, which could bring a devastating mix of high winds and flooding. My best to everyone in the path of this monster.

On the financial front, my assets have once again hit another all-time high, breaking the previous high from August 2018. That's pretty surprising considering the outflow of money we've experienced over the past few weeks (a reliable used car for my new college student to commute to school with, college tuition and related expenses, a new roof for our house, Q3 estimated taxes, etc.). Even better, those expenses will be followed up a pretty significant credit card bill that is due before the next update. On the plus side, I actually dipped my toe back in to T-Bills for the first time in nearly a decade. I ended up putting $5k in 28 day T-Bills with an investment rate of 1.939%, with gives me a tax-equivalent yield north of 2%. I'll probably dabble in T-Bills a bit more this year, but figure to move toward CDs if the FOMC ends up raising rates one or more times in 2018.

As for the non-financial, I've been hard at work on all things lawn. It's a great time to dethatch and overseed, and I'm trying to build on the success I had with my grass in 2018.