April 2020 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on April 9th, 2020:

Asset	Mar 2020	Apr 2020	Change
Checking	2,093	3,775	1,682
Money Market	45,005	54,697	9,692
Savings Bonds	162,007	162,269	262
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	95,263	95,516	253
Brokerage	171,277	169,168	-2,109
401k	215,748	207,362	-8,386
Roth IRA	166,075	159,027	-7,048
SEP IRA	815,967	803,206	-12,761
529 Savings	185,174	184,766	-408
Total Assets	$1,858,609	$1,839,786	-$18,823
			-1.01%

As the fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic continues, the S&P 500 dropped an additional 3.21% since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for March rose from 3.5% to 4.4%, with 701,000 jobs lost. That number is headed much higher as millions of people file for unemployment benefits each week, with a recession being inevitable at this point. Oil prices have continued to drop by another third to the $23 level, which translated to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $1.69 at my last fill up.

On the financial front, I pulled my brokerage account cash out of money market funds and transferred it to my Alliant savings account (current yield 1.35%) for the better rate and NCUA protection. Also, the March 2020 CPI-U numbers came out on Friday and I intend to post about the rate situation and what my current thinking is with regard to Series I savings bonds.

Coronavirus-related economic stimulus is also on my radar. As I mentioned last week, I applied for a forgivable Paycheck Protection Program Loan with Bank of America. While the process currently seems to be in limbo for me, my hope is that this will help tide me over for a couple of months as my business revenue declines with my largest client having closed their retail locations 3+ weeks ago. Mrs. Frugalson and I are also eligible for a partial personal stimulus payment (calculator here), with the money to start flowing this week. Stay tuned for a Get My Payment online tool from the IRS, which should be available soon.

As for the non-financial, the youngest Frugalson made it official, choosing to attend college at a state school that offered a full merit scholarship. I was concerned that my 529 savings would come up short with a private school undergrad degree costing $200k+, but now I'm in the fortunate position of having saved too much. There is a provision to pull scholarship money out of 529 plans without penalty, so I will be researching the logistics of that in the near future. No matter how you slice it, it's a nice problem to have. Finally, it's scary out there and I hope everyone stays healthy and safe. Be well!