Another month passes and my Net-worth continues to rise. With states reopening across the United States, investors appear to be hopeful the economy will return to normal soon. This optimism is causing the markets to rise.
I’m not as optimistic.
The American government isn’t taking COVID-19 seriously, leaving the market vulnerable to huge swings if the pandemic continues to get worse.
However,short term, my investment accounts continue to grow with this recovery and my net-worth is looking better, month after month.
Vietnam, like many countries, has taken a ‘closed borders open country’ approach to containing the spread of COVID-19. No foreigners are allowed in the country, but domestic travel is ramping up.
I will admit, they are doing a damn good job of fighting this virus. Unfortunately, it is too soon to assume the country is in the clear.
Domestic travel and almost all domestic businesses have returned to normal. The low case numbers and closed borders gives us some feeling of safety, but I’m nervous about a ‘second wave’.
I started a summer teaching job at an international school in DaNang. Management wants me to continue on for the 2020 – 2021 school year, and I’m thinking about taking them up on the offer. It all depends on if China opens its borders to non-Chinese citizens. My girlfriend has an amazing job offer in the city of Guangzhou.
Unfortunately with cases rising in the West, returning to China seems less and less likely as each day passes.
But let’s get to it. here is my Net-Worth for May 2020.
Assets
Investment Accounts
My investment accounts made a turn around this month! My balance ended at $11,719, growing by $582.57.
With the unemployment rate going through the roof (13.3% ), I’ll be happy to have any gains this year.
Fortunately, other investors and corporations have a positive outlook on the future of the economy regardless of how bleak situations look today.
The investor in me wants stock prices to fall, and the humanitarian in me is afraid to see what will cause them to fall. How much worse could things get?
- My ending balance included my $100 monthly contribution and dividends paid out for the month.
- For the new readers, I have three investment accounts; a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and a brokerage account.
- The majority of my contributions go to the Roth IRA, because of the long-term tax free growth. Vanguard has some of the lowest fees, therefore my accounts are all held there.
Cash
My available cash increased by $215 by the end of May. I’m not sure why this is the case, but it wasn’t planned. Hopefully I didn’t forget to pay a bill. Either way, I won’t complain about having too much cash.
Debt
Student Loans
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, my debt has been in forbearance under the Cares Act and I haven’t made any student loan payments. I want to use this forbearance to save more cash.
I know this isn’t the most optimal way to approach my debt. In a perfect world, I would use this opportunity to pay down more debt, interest free. If I made more money, I would do just that.
Since I have a low cash balance, I need the extra cash to make make it through these crazy times without going into more debt. I believe that short term goal is more important than the interest savings.
Credit Cards
I’m one responsible guy! I paid my credit card off 6 months ago and I haven’t gone into credit card debt since. Even through the pandemic and my job loss in China.
I’ve been paying the card off in full every month. Most of this success is due to budgeting and tracking my expenses. I’m going to keep this up, and hit my goal of not paying a dime of credit card interest in 2020.
Net-Worth
A recovering stock market and an increase in cash savings caused my Net-worth to grow by $890 this month! I can’t complain. This growth is more than I was expecting in the middle of a global pandemic.
My total net-worth is now $4,676.00.
I’ve come a long way from a net-worth of almost -$40,000.00. I enjoy writing these post every month because it give me time to reflect on how far I’ve come. I’m truly motivated every time I see that my net-worth has grown, even if it is just by one dollar.