It’s the last month of the year – Dec 2017. This year has gone by quite quickly for us and it was full of ups and downs with our work and travels. But still better overall compared to last year (2016). Anyway, I updated our Net Worth Nov 2017 numbers last night and wasn’t too pleased with some of the figures. Thought I should write about it since my last net worth update post was for Aug 2017.
Cash (+3.36%)
Cash holdings went up significantly because of our sale transactions in Nov 2017. I decided to take profits on some of our individual stocks to reduce exposure to certain sectors. And to restructure and simplify our investment portfolio. Given that my wife’s bonus payout is this month, we are expecting cash holdings to have a higher than average increase for Dec 2017 as well. But I reckon the latest round of wedding anniversary and Christmas celebrations spending might wipe out some of that increase.
Investments (-4.86%)
Sigh. I know it makes no sense to get upset because selling individual stocks will obviously lower our investment portfolio value. But I’m still not happy about this drop. I’m hoping my monthly automatic and manual investing will increase to the point where it makes up for any sale transactions. After all, I prefer to have the value go up from positive net investment.
Retirement & Medical (+0.88%)
Slow and steady with our Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions to the Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA) and Medisave Account (MA). I have no plans to invest the balances in the OA and SA and also don’t plan to do cash top-ups to the SA. I have to admit the tax relief benefit is certainly tempting, especially for my wife. But losing access to the liquidity for at least 25 years is going to hurt us more.
Our normal contributions from salary and bonus income should already keep us on track to have a decent level of retirement funds as long as we remain employed. I don’t see a need to accelerate the rate of increase for now. I reckon the world will undergo a massive shift in the next two decades in areas such as technological advancements, job creation and investing. This is around the same time we start to really develop our careers and enter our peak earning years. Which suggests most of our wealth is going to be built in the next 20 years. Hence the need to have more rather than less access to liquidity.
Net Worth (+3.24%)
It’s a respectable increase given how the big mortgage continues to weigh us down. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thankful for all the benefits and advantages we reap from staying close to my parents-in-law i.e. access to car on the weekend, enjoying home-cooked food on weekdays, lifts to and from our apartment on weekdays, etc. These are things we are grateful for but they do come at a cost. Mainly the high monthly housing loan instalment payment and large mortgage liability. It’s annoying but is still a price we are willing to pay. No point complaining but I can’t help it!