August 2022 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on August 10th, 2022:

Asset	July 2022	Aug 2022	Change
Checking	1,698	4,167	2,469
Money Market	112,302	112,580	278
Savings Bonds	211,614	212,983	1,369
Treasury Bills	15,000	15,000	0
CDs	42,865	42,969	104
Brokerage	242,606	268,020	25,414
401k	369,415	404,915	35,500
Roth IRA	217,266	234,074	16,808
SEP IRA	1,002,229	1,078,095	75,866
529 Savings	163,936	167,320	3,384
Total Assets	$2,378,931	$2,540,123	$161,192
			6.78%

The S&P 500 has rebounded nicely, gaining 9.90% (-11.66% YTD) since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for July fell to 3.5% (matching the 50 year low from February 2020), doubling estimates with 528,000 new jobs added. Oil prices continued their slide to the $93 level (from $110) with local gasoline prices following suit. That translates to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $4.07 at my last fill-up. We also had some good news on the inflation front in July, with 0% month-over-month inflation. With a little luck we've hit the inflation peak and the FOMC won't have to continue to aggressively raise interest rates.

On the financial front, I did the usual 401k transaction and will shortly be making a Vanguard VTI purchase in my brokerage account. I'm also looking at another T-Bill purchase before the next update.

As for the non-financial, the weather has finally cooled off a bit after a couple of six day heat waves over the past month. Unfortunately, there's not much summer left with the school year starting in a few weeks. :(