May 2020 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on May 11th, 2020:

Asset	Apr 2020	May 2020	Change
Checking	3,775	3,227	-548
Money Market	54,697	56,375	1,678
Savings Bonds	162,269	162,556	287
Treasury Bills	0	0	0
CDs	95,516	95,764	248
Brokerage	169,168	174,290	5,122
401k	207,362	219,701	12,339
Roth IRA	159,027	165,781	6,754
SEP IRA	803,206	837,556	34,350
529 Savings	184,766	186,582	1,816
Total Assets	$1,839,786	$1,901,832	$62,046
			3.37%

In spite of the health and economic fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic, the S&P 500 has climbed 5.03% since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for April spiked from 4.4% to 14.7% (the highest since the Great Depression), with 20.5 million jobs lost. The massive job loss and 80,000+ COVID-19 death toll is particularly sobering considering that the US had one COVID-19 death three months ago before the economy was shut down. *sigh* Oil prices have rallied a bit to the $26 level (from $23), which translated to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $1.75 at my last fill up.

On the financial front, there isn't much to report. I did decide against buying April 2020 Series I bonds since the 0.2% fixed rate wasn't compelling enough in the low inflation environment that I think we'll be seeing for the foreseeable future.

As for Coronavirus-related financials, Mrs. Frugalson and I did receive our partial stimulus payment courtesy of the CARES Act last month. My Paycheck Protection Program loan with Bank of America also came through last week, which should help shore up my S Corp payroll for a couple of months while my largest client's retail locations have been closed since March.

As for the non-financial, I'm becoming somewhat accustomed to "pandemic living". Other than getting stressed when we have to go out in public and worrying about keeping parents and grandparents healthy, we are very fortunate to be sheltering comfortably with a roof over our collective heads and enough food and financial security to weather the storm. I'm very appreciative of whatever combination of luck, hard work, and careful planning have made that happen.