For something a bit different I thought I would do a blog post for my net worth update for October. I thought this would be a great way to break it down a bit further and give you an idea as to what my net worth is made up of! This month I was able to increase the total value by a little over $4000, which considering how volatile the stock market has been and how expensive my month has been, I thought was great!
Read on further to see a full break down of my total net worth.
Home Equity
My home equity is sitting just under a third of my total net worth at 31.2%. I calculate this based on my purchasing cost minus my loan amount. This isn’t all useable equity but is the amount I could get back if I were to sell. I bought in July 2020, and now that the market has gone a bit crazy my house is most likely worth more than what I originally paid for it. I haven’t added this into the equation, so I assume my equity may actually be higher than what I’ve used here.
Superannuation
I’ve been in the workforce full time since I was 20 years old, which has allowed me to build a decent super balance. Working as a paramedic, we are also required to make extra contributions. I was told this was due to our high burn out rate, and is mandatory for all SA Ambulance Staff. Before the increase in the super guarantee in July, our employer was also paying us an extra 0.5% (9.5+0.5= 10% total) on top of that contribution. That means that I have been paying about 14.5% into super for the last five years. Our employer is no longer paying any extra, so they are continuing with the 10% (in alignment with the whole of Aus) as well as our 4.5% contribution. I have not made any additional payments on top of that as I would rather invest outside of super so I have access to it before I am 60.
I also received the annual report from my super company and my net investment earnings outweighed my net contributions for the year! This means that my balance is already doing the heavy lifting and compound interest is already starting to take effect.
Shares
October is generally a pretty crazy month in share markets around the globe and is known by some as “The October Effect”. October has had a bad name in finance for over 100 years thanks to a few marked events during the month of October over the years. The last significant downturn was in 1987 yet there is fear that still remains. The stock market generally rises and falls with peoples expectations, so because of this “October Effect”, there seems to be plenty of volatility as people become worried and sell out of fear. This year has been no different, and my shares have been all over the place. It also doesn’t help that China’s second largest property developer Evergrande has been on the brink of collapse, scaring a lot of investors and causing issues in the market over the last couple of months. The Evergrande news brought stocks down in price quite a bit, and I was seeing drops of over 5% some days. As I am a long term investor, this was only good news for me and I saw it as a 5% sale, making October the perfect month to buy. I had some extra cash sitting in my offset so decided to buy some extra shares at a cheap price. The market has rebounded now so my shares are again back into the positive for this year.
This month was also a dividend month, so I was paid about $500 in dividends and that was all either reinvested through a DRP (dividend reinvestment plan) or transferred back into my investment account ready to use for my next investment.
- US- a combination of two ETF’s – IVV & VTS
- AUS- VAS ETF
- NDQ- Nasdaq top 100 ETF (tech)
- ACDC- Battery & Lithium Tech
- VEU- All World – US ETF
- Crypto- Bitcoin & Ethereum
- Individual Stocks- couple of small cap stocks
Cash
My total cash allocation has decreased in the last month. As I said earlier it ended up being quite an expensive month, I bought and had fans installed in all four of my bedrooms in preparation for the three hot days we have in Mount Gambier in the summer. I also had my electricity, gas and water bills all come in at once which set me back about $400, and I had to buy a new phone as that unfortunately died on me. Despite these extra costs, I still have more than three months of living expenses saved in an emergency fund which is why I also funnelled a bit extra into my shares this month with their decreased costs. Even if I were to have another big expense come up next week I would still be able to pay for it, which is why I felt comfortable contributing extra to my investments.
I am looking to start increasing my cash reserves now that it has been announced that borders are being open. I love to travel and can’t wait to get back into it and to visit my overseas friends. I want to be ready for when I can do this and that means having some cash in the bank!
Disclaimer
Overall, I hope this post gave you a bit of insight into what I do personally. Obviously, it isn’t financial advice and I don’t want you to copy anything I am doing, as it will depend on your individual circumstances. If you have any questions, or want to learn how to invest, please feel free to message me, either on here, Instagram, or Facebook.
If you want to calculate your own net worth, feel free to download my Net Worth Excel Spreadsheet below!
And if you are keen to get started investing but don’t know where to start, give Pearler a go! It is such a simple platform, makes it so easy to get started and also has a great auto-invest feature so you can set up a regular payment and never worry about it again. Click on the link and use the code MINDOVERMONEY for two free trades if you sign up in November!
Mind Over Money 