I’ve never tracked my net worth before. And since my mom just sent out a Christmas letter telling all of our relatives about this blog, you won’t be seeing any specific numbers here today. 
What I will tell you is that for the first time in our married life, my husband and I are starting the year with a positive net worth. Our debt repayment efforts last year paid off, and our assets are now more than our liabilities. How is this possible, considering the rough year 2007 was for us financially?
First of all, we don’t own our home. We have no mortgage, which is a big help in boosting our net worth. And truthfully, in our area, considering what houses cost and what we’re paying for rent, buying a house wouldn’t be a smart financial move at the moment. It would break our budget, and we will be able to accomplish our other financial goals much more quickly by continuing to rent. I do hope to buy a house someday, but now isn’t the time.
Second, we own our cars outright. Another big source of debt that most people have is a good sized car loan. Since we don’t have one, it lowers our debt to asset ratio.
That leaves only our credit card and our student loan as liabilities. Our credit card will be paid off by the end of the year. My original goal was to have all of our debt paid off by June, but that is clearly not going to happen. I’d like to see our student loan debt gone by 2010.
We don’t have much debt, but we don’t have many assets either. We have a small amount in savings and a small IRA. But the two combined are larger than our debts, so I’m pleased with that.
Being new to figuring my net worth, I’m going to set a small goal of doubling our net worth by next year. That goal should be easy to reach. While it’s tempting to get discouraged comparing my small net worth to the larger net worth of other people, I think it’s important to focus on improving my own situation. As long as I’m moving forward and not backward, I will be happy.
For other great posts on net worth, check out the following blogs:
- It’s Hard to Get Back to Zero - I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
- Net Worth for the New Year - Rocket Finance
- Net Worth Update - My Dollar Plan
- December Net Worth Review - Single Guy Money
- New Years Net Worth - Mrs. Micah
- How We Increased Our Net Worth By More Than 170% In Less Than A Year - Gather Little By Little
- Net Worth Goals for 2008 - Cash Money Life
- The M-Network + Annex NetWorthapalooza - Credit Withdrawal
- December 2007 Site and Net Worth Review (+0.72%) - Moolanomy
- Net Worth 2008? - Plonkee Money
- Trying to Figure Our Net Worth - DebtFREE-Revolution
- The M-Network Shares Their Net Worth - You Know You Want to Peek - My Two Dollars
- Net Worth or Net Worthless? - Brip Blap
Photo by cw3283.
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January 2nd, 2008 at 4:03 am
Congrats on being in the black! It is a great feeling! I wish you and your family the best in 2008!
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:09 am
Congratulations Lynnae! I think you make a really good point about not owning a home makes good financial sense for you. There is a common misunderstanding that you need to own a home. I think you are proving that isn’t necessary and not always the best thing to do!
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:41 am
Congrats on reaching positive net worth. When I reached that point it felt so good. Even though it was only a few dollars over at first I knew they were my dollars!
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 am
Ha! I love it, your mom is outing you as a blogger in a Christmas letter.. . hee, hee. . . still chuckling. . .
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:50 am
That’s great! Care to take on a wee bit of my student loans?
Oh, OK–off to buy another property then.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:56 am
Congratulations! That’s quite an accomplishment.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
Congratulations! I’m working toward the black myself, but I can imagine how good it must feel!
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
Congrats! I pray that your financial situation will improve in 2008 and that you’ll be able to more than double your net worth. God Bless
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
That’s great, Lynnae!
P.S. This is why you must edit mom’s Christmas letters. Mine was going to out me too. I didn’t prevent her from telling most of my extended family, but at least people I haven’t seen since I was 5 aren’t coming on…
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Excellent job! Woo hoo!
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:43 am
That’s awesome!! Congratulations!!
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Congratulation on making it out of the red zone. Best of luck in 2008!
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Wonderful job Lynnae! I think you’ll make your goal for this year and double your net worth. I look forward to following as you do it.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Congratulations.
Well done and may you achieve all your 2008 goals and more.
January 4th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Awesome! What a great way to start the New Year
January 31st, 2008 at 9:53 am
Thanks for the linkey, Congrats on being in positive range.