🥳! It finally happened! With 876 days left to reach my $500,000 net worth goal, I’m officially at the halfway mark.

Currently at $254,041 with ~$212,000 of that invested in low-cost index funds (mostly FSKAX and VTI). The market’s been hemming and hawing, but it seems like things are on an upswing.

Historically, April is a good month for earnings. The last 15 out of 16 Aprils have had gains. And I have a feeling that Q1 earnings will reveal the positive effects of inflation.

It’s been a rough quarter, so I’m glad things are finally starting to shift. That losing streak was tough to get through, but I stuck to my plan: regular investing in index funds, automated every two weeks. I’m always amazed at how simple it is and how it just works. It hasn’t failed me yet.

April 2022 Freedom update

• Link: Track your net worth with Personal Capital

March was a mostly fun month. We got more snow and many sunny days that made it feel like spring. Flowers and dandelions are blooming in the yard and I’ve taken to having my morning coffee outside on the deck as I ponder my days. Life is simple, and we’re all doing well.

Getting to the halfway point in my goal feels like a big mental win that I really needed. Now the first half is officially done. Now it’s just getting over the $300K hump (which I’ll likely accomplish this year), and building toward $500K. I want to make sure to celebrate this each step of the way.

As of now, I plan to put away everything I can toward savings. I still want to rebuild my account to $30,000 this year, and then put any excess into my taxable brokerage account.

Warren, my son, continues to grow like a weed. His verbal and physical development was astounding this month. As soon as I can, I’m going to open up a custodial account for him and start him on the investing path early and often. Something like that would’ve completely changed my life. I hope I can change his.

We still have a few more things to pay for, but I feel like I’m getting somewhere even with upcoming big expenses.

Professionally, I’m working with NextAdvisor to provide ongoing commentary about the stock market every week at this dedicated page. The first entry went live last week, and I’m excited to keep working on it every week.

I also have a couple of small trips coming up. Maybe I’ll write about those. I used free night certificates and credits from my Capital One Venture X card to book them.

Life’s been peachy keen with lots to look forward to. So, so very glad I reached the halfway point! I was really starting to wonder if it would happen this year.

Equity

The bulk of my progress has come from my house appreciating faster than anticipated. Some people don’t include their primary home in their net worth. I likely won’t live in this house forever. When I move, I’ll buy another place and convert it to a rental. Right now I’m my own “tenant.” Seeing it that way helps it make more sense for me.

It would be pretty easy to sell this place, I think, but I’d like to one day give it to Warren. For now, the value keeps increasing. I view that as future growth, and include it in my calculations.

By the numbers

As mentioned, the equity and appreciation on my house are now at ~$27,000, which is incredible.

I think I’ll be able to add a little more to savings this month and next. And I’ll keep adding to my 401k all year. So far this year, I’ve thrown $5,000 in there – in addition to the $6,000 I put into my Roth IRA already.

I’m now excited to see what the stock market will do in Q2 and have a feeling we’re about to catch another big upswing.

I just need to clear a few personal hurdles and then will have plenty of news to share as we get into summer. All good stuff, I promise. ☺️

	Current	Last month	Change	2022 Goal
ASSETS
Overall investments	$211,622	$202,627	+$8,995	As much as possible
401k (contributions only)	$5,000	$3,333	+$1,667	$20,500
401k (overall balance)	$27,095	$23,998	+$3,097	As much as possible
Traditional IRA	$116,374	$111,939	+$4,435	xx (can't contribute)
Roth IRA	$52,719	$50,993	+$1,726	$6,000 (in contributions)	COMPLETE!
Taxable brokerage	$9,769	$9,436	+$333	$25,000 (total invested)
Savings	$7,119	$7,117	+$2	$30,000
Primary home equity + appreciation	$27,170	$21,876	+$5,294	$20,000	COMPLETE!
Net worth in Personal Capital	$254,041	$239,845	+$14,196	$500,000 (overall goal)	Track your net worth with Personal Capital

So there it is, all written out. Hopefully those pluses stay that way for a while. I’d love to have some meaningful progress before another backslide (if there’s gonna be one).

April 2022 Freedom update bottom line

• Link: Track your net worth with Personal Capital and get a $20 Amazon gift card

In the last 30ish days, I:

• Got to the halfway mark of my $500,000 goal!
• Continued to invest in my 401k every pay period
• Felt the effects of positive market movement
• Saw my home equity and appreciation make some big jumps

Q1 was difficult to get through, because of the market and also things going on in my life. But March had a lot of good news. I still have a few big things coming up in April and then I’m looking forward to sharing some huge news when I’m able to (not to #vaguepost too much). I know these updates have been rather simple for a while, but they’ve really kept me going and given me a touchstone along my way, which has been very meaningful and given me the strength to keep going.

Thank you to everyone who reads these updates. It means the world to me. 🌌

Stay safe and scrappy out there! ✨

-H.

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