Picking up Nickels

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

February 2019 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on February 11th, 2019:


Asset Jan
2019
Feb
2019
Change
Checking 286 1,683 1,397
Money Market 68,295 56,792 -11,503
Savings Bonds 145,552 155,850 10,298
Treasury Bills 10,000 10,000 0
CDs 57,626 57,810 184
Brokerage 157,016 172,428 15,412
401k 168,106 175,947 7,841
Roth IRA 144,659 149,333 4,674
SEP IRA 717,085 749,409 32,324
529 Savings 170,838 173,596 2,758



Total Assets $1,639,463 $1,702,848 $63,385
   
 
3.87%


The market has recovered a bit since the last update, with the S&P 500 falling 4.36% during that time:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for January rose to 4.0%, with a strong 304,000 new jobs created. Oil prices have stayed relatively flat at the $53 level, which has translated locally to unleaded regular gasoline prices in the neighborhood of $2.25 per gallon. Despite the apparent strength of the economy, auto loan delinquencies are at their highest level in nearly seven years. That certainly seems surprising considering the low unemployment rate for the past 3+ years.

On the financial front, I continued to roll my maturing 28 day T-Bills into new ones with an investment rate of 2.428%. As mentioned last month, I also bought the max allotment of January 2019 issue I Bonds with the current 0.5% fixed interest rate. Finally, I took an initial equity distribution from my S Corp and stashed the cash in Vanguard's Prime Money Market Fund (VMMXX) until I make my 2018 Roth IRA contribution before my individual tax returns are due in April.

As for the non-financial, my 2018 business tax returns are complete and I have most of the documents on hand for my 2018 personal returns. I have to admit that I'm curious to see how the tax "reform" package will impact my effective tax rate. Will the $10k limit on SALT deductions hurt more than the 20% deduction on business income helps? I'll find out soon enough.