Monthly Update: March 2007(-$74,352.32, +$7607.95)
Wow, is it April already? The first quarter is over and I am excited to see that we have managed three solid months of consecutive growth of our net worth. While not as impressive as some of the more established bloggers, this has been a solid quarter for our family.
Most of this gain has come from merging our households in January and the decreased expenses we have seen because of it. Amazingly our earnings have declined by about 27% compared to a year ago but we are financially better off. I guess it goes to show that your income is only one side of the equation. Not having a wedding to pay for also helps.
Here are the numbers for March 2007: 
Some Guidance to our numbers:
- The large increase in our savings is the result of March being a 5 week month and my wife getting 3 paychecks instead of 2. We will continue to place the majority of our monthly savings into our online savings accounts until we have an adequate emergency fund. Based upon our average monthly expenses this year, our goal for this account will be around $18,000.
- Our investments continue to follow the market. I remain a simple investor at this time, invested 100% in mutual funds. I do not expect our portfolio to outperform any index. Heck I am not even sure what our expenses are on most of our funds. Getting that house in order remains a challenge for another day.
- As I mentioned before, I have started to contribute to my Roth for 2007 and hope to convince my wife to do the same.
- Our debt continues to be manageable with 2/4 of our school loans in repayment and our credit card debt at 0% until November.
Over all we are pleased with our progress. We continue to work on forming better habits and making good decisions. I wish we had more time to devote to other activities but it appears now that our spare time will be at a premium until I finish Residency. Good thing its only about 2 more years!!
