Picking up Nickels

Monday, January 13, 2020

January 2020 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on January 10th, 2020:


Asset Dec
2019
Jan
2020
Change
Checking 202 2,586 2,384
Money Market 59,485 63,350 3,865
Savings Bonds 161,287 161,528 241
Treasury Bills 0 0 0
CDs 79,586 79,816 230
Brokerage 189,583 189,210 -373
401k 223,758 236,337 12,579
Roth IRA 174,817 181,363 6,546
SEP IRA 854,618 882,713 28,095
529 Savings 188,129 185,732 -2,397



Total Assets $1,931,465 $1,982,635 $51,170
   
 
2.65%


The market has continued to hit all-time highs since the last update, with the S&P 500 rising 4.24% during that time:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for December remained flat at 3.5%, with 145,000 new jobs created. Oil prices remain at the $59 level, with a surprisingly small impact from the US killing a top Iranian commander in a drone attack.

On the financial front, my assets have again hit an all-time high, surpassing the previous high from December 2019 (close to the $2m asset milestone!). And although I now take the standard deduction on my personal tax return, I did donate some stock (with a large capital gain) from my Vanguard brokerage account to various charities that we have supported over the years. I was pleased to see that Vanguard has improved the process where everything can be handled online, as opposed to the hybrid complete online/mail in paper forms mess that was in place earlier this year.

As for the non-financial, work has started on my 2019 business tax returns and my soon-to-be high school graduate has to make some decisions about where to attend college in the fall. Let's just say that state school tuition is looking pretty attractive right now. :D