Picking up Nickels

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

January 2021 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on January 11th, 2021:

Asset Dec 2020 Jan 2021 Change




Checking 2,525 2,810 285
Money Market 69,578 84,054 14,476
Savings Bonds 174,358 174,552 194
Treasury Bills 0 0 0
CDs 66,546 66,745 199
Brokerage 200,843 210,563 9,720
401k 318,490 337,566 19,076
Roth IRA 211,625 220,206 8,581
SEP IRA 1,021,649 1,058,036 36,387
529 Savings 186,000 186,824 824
Total Assets $2,251,614 $2,341,356 $89,742
      3.99%

Despite insurrection at the US Capitol and record Covid-19 deaths, the S&P 500 has continued to rise, up 3.59% since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for December remained flat at 6.9%, with a troubling 140,000 jobs lost last month. Oil prices continued rising to the $53 level, which translates to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $2.13 at my last fill-up.

On the financial front, my assets have once again hit an all-time high, surpassing the previous high from December 2020. My Penfed 5% APY 10 year CD will be maturing shortly, and sadly it may take ten more years to find a such a high yield fixed income investment again. I'll also need to start thinking about making the final 2020 contributions to my Roth IRA and solo 401k retirement plans.

As for the non-financial, we should be focusing on the frightening COVID-19 death rates we're seeing in our country, but we also have to worry about violent assaults on US democracy. These are incredibly sad times for the freedoms we enjoy in the USA.