Picking up Nickels

Thursday, August 11, 2022

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. :(