Because the stock market has been thriving and the economy is beginning to even out, my net worth saw a new high this month – just shy of $300,000 and nearly 60% of my ultimate $500,000 goal.

Yay! I’m thrilled/relieved for this update. On one hand, I cognitively know that investing during a downturn means huge gains down the road. On the other, that road felt (feels?) really long.

In fact, I hit $200K invested in November 2021 – the same month I moved to Oklahoma. Right now, I’m sitting at $241,320 invested despite maxing out my 401k and Roth IRA in 2022, and opening an UTMA for Warren, my three year old. I’d been flat and hovering around the same level for over a year and tbh these updates were starting to get same old.

But I know that powering through that slog will benefit me well in the future. It’s to the point where if the stock market has a good month, I can see gains of $20K+. This is the momentum I’ve been looking forward to. My hope is always cautious, especially these days, but I’m having a milestone month and I’m gonna celebrate those accomplishments.

As I work my way back toward financial stability and pay off lingering debt, I’m seeing the light again and am beyond ready to plow forward.

Let’s review.

July 2023 Freedom update

• Link: Track your net worth with Personal Capital

Next month, I’ll get my 401k fired up again. Not with the 25% I was doing before. I’ll start with 10% and nudge it up as I get other things paid down, like adjusting levers.

Those things are: paying down my 0% APR credit card, my lawyer, and a business card I’ve been using for expenses here and there (also 0% APR). All told, this is about $20K. Thankfully, my lawyer is allowing me to pay what I can and there’s no interest there, either. Still, I just don’t like owing people money. So those are my current liabilities.

Asset-wise, my home equity is going strong. I’m almost to $70K in equity and appreciation. It feels reassuring to know I could sell this place and come out with some profit. I’m not planning to sell any time soon, but do enjoy that feeling of security.

It’ll feel good to invest at regular intervals again, starting next month. In the next year, I want to be done with paying everyone and everything off and put all my extra income toward investments.

To that end, I’ve completely switched all my banking over to my Fidelity Cash Management account. That way when I have extra funds, I can easily dump them into my Roth IRA, taxable brokerage, or Warren’s UTMA. It’s been functioning well as my primary bank for over a month now. I’ve been using it for everything with no hiccups at all.

I’m working really hard on all these goals. It’s nice to see that start to pay off. I’m looking forward to $300K invested. 💸

Also: 60% of the way toward my goal! Getting over that halfway hump feels SO motivating. I’ll try my best to celebrate the wins and remain stoic about the losses and flatlines. 😬

This month’s progress

So this month was all about catching up (next month probably will be too). I was starting to drown there for a sec, but things are turning around.

This month, I:

• Opened and began funding an HSA account with $200 semi-monthly to start
• Rented an office space in OKC to get work done (it’s been a total panacea)
• Pulled Warren out of daycare. We reached a critical point with that. I was a hard decision, but so far it’s been much better for him.
• Paid $500 to get the mini split cleaned. It was spitting out black grime, which is apparently a common issue with them? 🤮
• Did NOT contribute to my Roth IRA again this month. $2,500 left to go. Ready to tackle that.
• Paid only the minimums on my 0% APR credit cards. Those are first on my hit list.
• Paid a lot of lot of crappy little outstanding bills, bought baby gates and a playpen for Beck (he’s crawling everywhere now), and made a few needed upgrades around the house.

This month felt like setting myself up for success. Now that things are stabilizing, I’ll can work on everything else.

I also keep reminding myself that paying down debts also increases net worth because it decreases liabilities. It doesn’t have that sweet compound interest like investing does, but I’ve been happy to “invest” in home upgrades and things for the kids.

Future goals (or maybe the rest of this year)

For the rest of 2023 (the next six months-ish), I want to:

• Start contributing to a 401k again. This is already set up to go into a Roth IRA with 10% to start in August.
• Max out my Roth IRA ($2,500 left).
• Pay down the credit card by December (that’s when the 0% APR expires).
• Rebuild savings and add funds into taxable brokerage and Warren’s (my son’s) UTMA.
• Break $300K net worth finally!

It looks like I’m about to break $300K (unless the market suddenly dips again). And I will start adding to a 401k again, so that’ll get checked off next month. I’m about to go into beast mode on that credit card, then can get to the investing portion of my goals.

This month felt like such a turnaround in so many ways. I’m excited and encouraged. The general funk I’ve been feeling cleared out in a big way, and I’m optimistic about the future again 😎

By the numbers

Here it all is, in cold daylight:

	Current	Last Month	Change	2023 Goal
ASSETS
Overall investments	$241,320	$229,940	+$11,380	As much as possible
Roth IRA	$56,491	$54,322	+$2,169	$6,500 (in new contributions)	$4,000 so far!
Taxable brokerage + UTMA	$13,253	$12,746	+$507	$25,000 (total invested)
Savings	$5,900	$5,390	+$510	$30,000
Primary home equity + appreciation	$62,407	$60,197	+$2,210	$70,000
LIABILITY
Credit card/HVAC upgrade	$10,372	-$10,381	-$9	$12,708 (starting balance)
Net worth in Personal Capital	$299,127	$280,014	+$19,113	$500,000 (overall goal)	Track your net worth with Personal Capital

The biggest opportunities here are to attack that credit card and finish maxing out my Roth IRA. That’ll probably keep me busy for the next few months. Typing all this out feels like a mantra, like giving myself marching orders. You can see how focused I get on a couple of particular ideas lol.

If the stock market could continue to hold, that’d be even better!

July 2023 Freedom update bottom line

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

All in all, I’m in a good spot. Things are leveling out, I have plenty keeping me busy, and life is returning to a sense of normalcy and momentum.

I can’t wait to burst past that $300K mark (maybe next week?), get things paid down, and invest again. Life’s good, the kids are healthy, and there’s never a dull moment.

I know where my opportunities are—and that’s controlling those liabilities so I can keep building assets. I look forward to hitting more milestones along this journey and getting back to slow and steady instead of sloooooow and all the place in a market dip.

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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