February Net Worth Update (-0.69%)

Another drop in my net worth this month. Down 0.69%. I suppose that's not a huge drop, but it's movement in the wrong direction. I look at the numbers and just shrug. There's not a lot I could do about it. The loss is mostly due to the downward movement in the market. In terms of cash accounts, the decrease was very small, and the fact that I already paid my state taxes but haven't received my federal income tax return was part of the reason I wasn't in the black. So I can take faith in the fact that my spending is under control.

It is interesting to see the variety in how my investments are playing out. Two of my mutual funds dropped by a small percentage, but one plummeted by almost 3%! My TSP (Thrift Savings Plan - the government version of the 401(k)) is doing ok. My Roth IRA is still down over $400 since I opened it last fall. I should start putting money into that while the market is down.

On the other hand, the six shares of Yahoo that I've had since the late 90's did quite well this month, with all the talk of a buy-out. Those are the only individual shares of stock I own. Years ago, I had a Geocities website, and when they went public, a number of us got 10 shares of Geocities stock. They were bought out by Yahoo, and I ended up with 6 shares of Yahoo stock as well as a check for what I believe was about $300. Since then, I've just let the stock play. I got it for free, and I've already gotten $300 from it. For now, I'm just letting it ride.

One of my 2008 goals is to increase my net worth by 20%. So far for 2008, my net worth has dropped 2.65%. I still think it's possible to come back from that though. I'll just keep plugging along.