August 2023 Financial Asset Roundup

Here are my current financial assets as of the market close on August 10th, 2023:

Asset	Jul 2023	Aug 2023	Change
Checking	1,809	7,065	5,256
Money Market	57,612	55,926	-1,686
Savings Bonds	230,549	231,585	1,036
Treasury Bills	40,000	40,000	0
CDs	84,430	84,656	226
Brokerage	388,015	369,092	-18,923
401k	291,333	289,242	-2,091
Roth IRA	259,879	255,093	-4,786
IRA	1,321,087	1,295,040	-26,047
529 Savings	168,713	167,328	-1,385
Total Assets	$2,843,427	$2,795,027	-$48,400
			-1.70 %

The S&P 500 pulled back slightly, falling 1.89% (+16.39% YTD) since the last update:

(chart courtesy of nasdaq.com)

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate for July fell slightly to 3.5%, as the job market continued to gently cool off with 187,000 new jobs added. Oil prices rose to the $83 level (from $75), which translates to a local regular unleaded gasoline price of $3.64 per gallon at my last fill-up. The economic picture is further muddied with news of the FOMC raising rates by another 0.25%, a downgrade in US debt, and a slight uptick in inflation.

On the financial front, I did the usual Fidelity 401k transaction (FSKAX) and Vanguard VTI purchase in my taxable brokerage account. I took a distribution from my S Corp and have that cash sitting in my checking account ready to help pay the bills from our summer vacation. I also made a modest addition to the fixed income holdings in my IRA with the July 10 year TIPS auction, which ended up with a lower-than-expected real yield of 1.495%.

As for the non-financial, Mrs. Frugalson and I are planning to enjoy a short getaway in the remaining time before school starts up again. We've also been talking a lot about what our retirement will look like as we're starting to see the end of our working lives approaching. After 30+ years of frugality, saving, and investing, it's looking like we'll both be retired within the next five years or so. While we've found our careers to be very fulfilling and rewarding, we're already looking forward to starting the next phase of our lives. If nothing else, it will be nice to leave the daily grind of the working world behind us.