Author Topic: Net worth increase in 2012!  (Read 24547 times)

Zaga

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Net worth increase in 2012!
« on: December 31, 2012, 08:13:35 PM »
I thought I'd share here, our net worth increased in 2012 by $51,000!  That's the best year yet for us!  I count investible assets only, not cars or houses which I consider consumption items in my calculations.  So this is a combination of increased savings and decreased debt.

How did others do?  Anyone else with a personal best year?

Will

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2012, 08:15:45 PM »
Just under $40k here.

Melissa

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2012, 08:18:37 PM »
We reached $50K here.  Now that I am working part-time (was a SAHM before) we are hoping to boost that number in 2013.

Congrats on the savings Zaga and Will

directionseeker

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2012, 11:24:12 PM »
I paid off 12K of student loan in 2012. Is this considered net worth increased by 12K?

gooki

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2013, 12:16:40 AM »
Somewhere between 20-30k this year. Not our best ever, but still happy as this was our second year of being a one income family.

Hamster

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2013, 01:01:21 AM »
I paid off 12K of student loan in 2012. Is this considered net worth increased by 12K?

Probably yes, with caveats. Net worth is assets minus liabilities (e.g. savings minus debt). If you reduced your student loan principal by $12k using new income, then it's basically a 12k increase in net worth. If you paid your principal down by $8k, and the other $4k went to interest payments, then you'd only increase your net worth by $8k. So, I'd look at your outstanding balance on Jan 1st and Dec 31st to see how much those payments increased your net worth.

To take an extreme opposite example, if you took $12k from your savings and paid $12k toward interest on your student loan as it accrued, so your total principal owed at the end of the year was the same, but your savings was $12k less, then it would be a decrease of $12k in net worth.

directionseeker

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2013, 01:55:04 AM »
I paid off 12K of student loan in 2012. Is this considered net worth increased by 12K?

Probably yes, with caveats. Net worth is assets minus liabilities (e.g. savings minus debt). If you reduced your student loan principal by $12k using new income, then it's basically a 12k increase in net worth. If you paid your principal down by $8k, and the other $4k went to interest payments, then you'd only increase your net worth by $8k. So, I'd look at your outstanding balance on Jan 1st and Dec 31st to see how much those payments increased your net worth.

To take an extreme opposite example, if you took $12k from your savings and paid $12k toward interest on your student loan as it accrued, so your total principal owed at the end of the year was the same, but your savings was $12k less, then it would be a decrease of $12k in net worth.

Thanks for the explanation. This $12K went into principal, interest paid was $600 which I excluded for net worth calculation.

Anyway, my target is finish up the remaining $11.4K principal in 6 months(before July 2013)!

marty998

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2013, 03:08:30 AM »
Up 78k for me. Sweet

Ozstache

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2013, 03:33:05 AM »
$47K for me for 2012. With my new-found badassity skills, I'm aiming for over $70K to stash away this year.

arebelspy

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2013, 09:38:35 AM »
Up about 90k.

Considering our base gross pay as teachers is about 86k combined, I'm pretty happy with it.  (Basically we covered our living expenses with extra tutoring, summer school, and some rental profits and saved all of our "normal" income.)

Wouldn't mind improving on it, but it'll be tough to do.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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mugwump

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2013, 10:30:20 AM »
Up $83k.  Up $322k in the four years since I "retired". A lot of that was due to fortuitous rebalancing shortly after the market low in early 2009.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2013, 10:35:24 AM by mugwump »

plantingourpennies

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2013, 12:34:10 PM »
Wouldn't mind improving on it, but it'll be tough to do.

Same here, would love to improve on our figure next year but not sure how we could.

AlexK

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2013, 12:52:35 PM »
Net worth up $76,368 in 2012.

What really makes me happy about that is my salary is less than that, so my other income is paying my expenses plus some. I have 4 properties and I get their values from zillow, which is not accurate but it's the best I have.

smalllife

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2013, 01:17:36 PM »
9k increase in cash/investments on an income of 30k.

Not included in those numbers were a home purchase and major renovation - net positive overall but I haven't decided how to best count those figures yet. 

2013 goal: 15k (income should go up to around 35k)

 I can't decide whether the numbers on this thread are depressing or inspiring.

EDIT: I like the way some people are including percentages.  This represents an overall 30% increase in total net worth, housing excluded. For 9 months of full time employment that's not too shabby :-)
« Last Edit: January 02, 2013, 06:10:43 AM by smalllife »

twinge

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #14 on: January 01, 2013, 02:49:12 PM »
Up just a tad over 100K increase this year.  2nd best year (our best was between 2008-2009, but that was after a big drop).  Glad to see we can do it with two young kids in high COL area with decent but not outrageously high incomes because it makes it more likely we'll be able to live on a lot less when we move somewhere cheap and our youngest is out of daycare.

Devils Advocate

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2013, 03:27:39 PM »
141,000 & change
Gross income with wife 210k

Not a bad year!

DA

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #16 on: January 01, 2013, 04:12:13 PM »
98k for me. Will be hard to replicate next year since I'm now semi-retired - will be aiming for 70k.

Phoebe

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #17 on: January 01, 2013, 04:33:13 PM »
$212,081.70 here!!!  I can't even believe I'm typing that!

My husband and I are 28 and last year made a combined income of $170,000 (pre-tax) but got raises at the end of the year and will be making $200,000 next year.  This probably won't happen again since I got a large chunk of company stock at the beginning of the year as compensation, but on the other hand, Ive never had this kind of money invested before and it's pretty shocking watching our networth increase at a steady climb each month.

BTW - we were in $65,000 of debt just a few short years ago.  Once you change it's amazing what you can accomplish so anyone still in debt, don't get down, you can get to the other side and start growing your wealth very quickly!

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2013, 06:30:00 PM »
Up about 90k.

Considering our base gross pay as teachers is about 86k combined, I'm pretty happy with it.  (Basically we covered our living expenses with extra tutoring, summer school, and some rental profits and saved all of our "normal" income.)

Wouldn't mind improving on it, but it'll be tough to do.

That's impressive! Well done!

Able was I ERE

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #19 on: January 02, 2013, 03:38:36 AM »
Up 106% of net income, our personal best.  By source of increase:
  - 49% Mortgage pay down
  - 31% Market increases
  - 25% Retirement contributions (including employer match)
  - 1% Misc (student loan pay down, cash increase)

For next year, would be happy if we match our best, but I suspect we'll fall short unless the market has a big jump.

galaxie

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #20 on: January 02, 2013, 07:36:36 AM »
Ours is up $123k, which is more than my pre-tax salary.  Means that we basically lived off what my husband made, while investing or paying off debt with all of mine (also made a little bit on investments).  I feel pretty good about that!

chicagomeg

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #21 on: January 02, 2013, 07:51:08 AM »
Ours is up about $15k. Next year I'll be working full time the entire year and my goal is a more ambitious $50k.

ketchup

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #22 on: January 02, 2013, 08:34:00 AM »
Up about $7K this year, not including buying a car (cash for $1000) and a house (five year payment with 20% down), with a total gross income of about $27K.  Not too bad for 21 and no degree yet, if I do say so myself.

Bakari

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #23 on: January 02, 2013, 08:38:41 AM »
$17,606

But this is on an income of only 34k, so i'm quite happy with it

destron

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #24 on: January 02, 2013, 08:55:23 AM »
Total gains: $35,646
-- ($14,076 pay down of debt including mortgage, $21,570 savings and investments)

Income: $65,200 (net)

Savings Rate: 51.5%

It is breathtaking looking at those numbers, but I feel so wasteful. I could be doing much, much better in my opinion. I spend way too much on my car, way too much on food/restaurants and way too much on crap I don't really need. I am planning on changing my entire work and living situation this year so I cannot predict what my income and savings will be, but I know that if I did not change my situation that I could do at least 10% better without much effort.

frugalman

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #25 on: January 02, 2013, 11:44:18 AM »
I don't keep enough data to figure this out.  But it's definitely up.  Guessing $50,000, on one income of $109,000.  Just finished paying off my mortgage.  My money is starting to work exclusively for me!  I'm proud of all the MMM community.  You've taken the namby pamby mainstream "you need to save 10 percent of your income" to a whole new level.  Look at a guy like Bakari who saved 50% of his income of $34,000.  The thing is, he is further along than someone with 5 times his income, who is only saving 10%.  Bakari only needs $17,000 a year to live on, as he proved in 2012.  Therefore, he has saved one year of "not working", and could sit on his ass for one year with no worries!

TLV

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #26 on: January 02, 2013, 12:07:13 PM »
About $91k here. $80k from savings on a net income of $114k, and $11k from investment returns.

I expect to beat it this year, mostly because net worth is more than double what it was last year so investment returns have a lot more potential.

mustachecat

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #27 on: January 02, 2013, 02:28:54 PM »
We're up $27K.

Pumped to do better in 2013!


sol

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #28 on: January 02, 2013, 02:44:58 PM »
Up $116,400, not counting real estate.  Next year won't be as good, due to tax increases and a new baby.

iamsoners

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #29 on: January 02, 2013, 02:50:24 PM »
58k for us. Just about half of gross income. 

The major contributor in our case was pumping 401k contributions way up--not having to pay those taxes up front was a big boost.  BUT, it caused the growth of our cash stash to slow--something that's important to us as we prepare to put a large downpayment on a house.  We'll ease off on the 401k contributions in 2013 (I expect our taxes to be much lower so the need to avoid them isn't as important) and re-evaluate after the major life changes of this year are over.

flygirl

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #30 on: January 02, 2013, 02:52:34 PM »
Around 16k for me alone, similar salary range to Bakari, so I'm gonna piggy back his positivity! Yay!

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #31 on: January 02, 2013, 03:25:28 PM »
I feel uncomfortable with hard numbers, but my networth has increased by more than 50% of my previous pre-tax salary over the past year. 

I spent a couple of months unemployed, and am now working at a company where I make a bit less (but it comes with other benefits, for example, I can bike commute) so that's pretty good, but as a person with no dependents and a pretty good salary I definitely could be doing better.

James

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #32 on: January 02, 2013, 03:33:13 PM »
Retirement accounts went up by $80,000, but I have no idea about where our net worth shakes out due to unknown value of current house.  I'm most happy this year about paying off the last of my student loans, meaning our mortgage is the last of our debt.  Since we still owe more than the value of the house, that is still a very painful debt.

c

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #33 on: January 02, 2013, 04:48:37 PM »
I increased my net worth by $67k in 2012. On paper it looks good but 60% of that was 401k contributions/match/gains, 10% was principal payoff, 10% was bonus.

I'm not sure how people calculate the value of their house. I use what I payed paid for it minus what I still owe. According to Zillow it's up quite a bit, but I'm not sure how accurate that is, so I ignore it.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2013, 06:39:04 PM by c »

twinge

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #34 on: January 02, 2013, 06:28:00 PM »
Quote
I'm not sure how people calculate the value of their house. I use what I payed for it minus what I still owe. According to Zillow it's up quite a bit, but I'm not sure how accurate that is, so I ignore it.

That's what I do.  According to the last appraisal, that's undershooting it by 80K, but I figure that helps me figure in all the costs of selling and remain conservative on it.

NWstubble

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #35 on: January 02, 2013, 09:50:49 PM »
Increased by about 60%, pretty happy with that but hoping for more in 2013 with optimization of our spending and more employees out working for me.

marz1982

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #36 on: January 03, 2013, 01:57:31 AM »
Only saved 35.5% of our salary this year :(

But 54% in December since we started reading RE blogs and discovered ERE and MMM's brilliant posts, so looking forward to a bad-ass 2013!!

2012 also saw us dropping our car debt like it was hot (Wow, what an expensive lesson on depreciation and debt cost...), quitting our current jobs and spending 2 months living off F-you money, and then moving to another country and getting jobs that pay a lot more.  Yeah!

A bit risky, but what a year :)

Khao

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #37 on: January 03, 2013, 08:21:13 AM »
Wow you guys kicked my ass into oblivion.
My net worth only increased by about $7k, but 2012 was still a great year for me : I went from negative net worth to positive net worth and I also accomplished two goals : http://imgur.com/BgJMc

SwordGuy

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #38 on: January 03, 2013, 09:58:51 AM »

Counting savings, 401k matching and paid off debt principal, we hit 37% of salary. 

I have no idea whether our 401ks went up or down over the last year.   I'll figure it out around the time I do the taxes.

I'm aiming for 57% savings/401k matching next year (and keeping the debt at 0).

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #39 on: January 03, 2013, 10:21:56 AM »
I think around $170k. I didn't have some of my big accounts linked to Mint.com until March or so but I think that's about right.

destron

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #40 on: January 03, 2013, 10:28:51 AM »
Total gains: $35,646
-- ($14,076 pay down of debt including mortgage, $21,570 savings and investments)

Income: $65,200 (net)

Savings Rate: 51.5%


Woops, forgot to add in the money automatically taken out for my pension (pre-tax):

Gains: $43,813
Net Income: $73,367
Savings Rate: 59.7%

forward

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #41 on: January 03, 2013, 12:17:59 PM »

My conservative estimate net worth increase was $64,000 in 2012.  I'm not happy with that and am wanting it to be higher in 2013.  I just began to understand the concepts of early retirement in October so now I have a plan in place.

Forcus

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #42 on: January 03, 2013, 01:31:28 PM »
Up $40k but more importantly from negative to positive net worth. Better late than never, I guess!

yomimono

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #43 on: January 03, 2013, 03:33:51 PM »
From -15K to around +20K. Yay!  Now all my interest rates are positive :D

cbr shadow

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #44 on: January 03, 2013, 04:04:54 PM »
This year our net worth's (wife and I) went up $50k.  This will go WAY up next year I hope.  We found MMM only a few months ago so that REALLY curbed our spending/saving, plus my wife got a new job which pays a lot more which was about 4 months ago.  2013 is going to be a big year and we're excited!!!

Zaga

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #45 on: January 03, 2013, 06:05:07 PM »
Quote
I'm not sure how people calculate the value of their house. I use what I paid for it minus what I still owe. According to Zillow it's up quite a bit, but I'm not sure how accurate that is, so I ignore it.

That's what I do.  According to the last appraisal, that's undershooting it by 80K, but I figure that helps me figure in all the costs of selling and remain conservative on it.
And the reason I don't include home equity is I have no idea what it is.  The last time this house was sold was 1970 when my husband's grandparents bought it.  And it's a unique property, so there are no comparables in  the area so zwillow is useless.

FiveSigmas

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #46 on: January 04, 2013, 12:24:53 AM »
Wow you guys kicked my ass into oblivion.
My net worth only increased by about $7k, but 2012 was still a great year for me : I went from negative net worth to positive net worth and I also accomplished two goals : http://imgur.com/BgJMc

Thats fantastic! Congratulations.

ToughMother

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #47 on: January 04, 2013, 05:56:42 AM »
Like Zaga, this doesn't include house or car computations, but up $49.1K, up 22% !!  I'm pretty thrilled with that - thank goodness for a year in which the market didn't tank.

DoubleDown

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #48 on: January 04, 2013, 09:17:36 AM »
This year our net worth's (wife and I) went up $50k.  This will go WAY up next year I hope.  We found MMM only a few months ago so that REALLY curbed our spending/saving, plus my wife got a new job which pays a lot more which was about 4 months ago.  2013 is going to be a big year and we're excited!!!

But will she get to wear some new fancy duds at that new job?? Kidding!! ;-)

Congratulations, you guys are doing great. And I've enjoyed all your posts.

meadow lark

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Re: Net worth increase in 2012!
« Reply #49 on: January 04, 2013, 11:21:55 AM »
So impressed by everyone!  Don't have figures, but I am going to keep track better so next year I will know!