Picking up Nickels

Friday, May 12, 2023

May 2023 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on May10th, 2023:

Asset Apr 2023 May 2023 Change




Checking 953 6,411 5,458
Money Market 62,718 51,646 -11,072
Savings Bonds 225,628 228,152 2,524
Treasury Bills 60,000 60,000 0
CDs 53,803 63,985 10,182
Brokerage 313,601 323,881 10,280
401k 249,704 255,080 5,376
Roth IRA 241,614 243,958 2,344
IRA 1,236,709 1,244,141 7,432
529 Savings 167,031 167,427 396
Total Assets $2,611,761 $2,644,681 $32,920
      1.26 %

The S&P 500 has been a bit volatile, rising 0.69% (+7.77% YTD) since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for April fell to 3.4%, matching the January 50+ year low with a better-than-expected 253,000 new jobs added. Oil prices fell to the $72 level (from $80), which translates to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $3.36 per gallon at my last fill-up. In addition to that, the FOMC raised rates by an additional 0.25% and our good friends in the House of Representatives may decide to burn the world economies to the ground by forcing a default on our debt. :(

On the financial front, I did the usual Fidelity 401k transaction (FSKAX) and Vanguard VTI purchase in my taxable brokerage account. I plan on taking the funds from my maturing 13 week T-Bills (4.708%) and moving that $20k into a 3 month Fidelity brokered CD @ 5.15% APY due to the debt ceiling "crisis". I also took a distribution from my S Corp and opened a Alliant 5.15% APY 23 month CD to lock in some cash at that rate for the next two years. We also received our 2022 personal tax refunds, which included a decent amount of paper May issue Series I savings bonds.

Due to having a lot going on at work and home, I didn't make my usual update on the April CPI-U inflation data's impact on I Bond rates. In April I leaned toward buying I Bonds before May, but we had a surprise 0.9% fixed rate announcement with May issue I Bonds, which is the highest it has been since 2007. I haven't bought my 2023 annual allocation of I Bonds yet, so I will likely be buying my share before the end of October 2023 to lock in that fixed rate. I guess being wishy-washy pays off every once in a while.

As for the non-financial, we're actually getting close to the end of the school year. Before you know it we'll be enjoying the warm weather and heading out on a summer vacation road trip.

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