Hello, April. Let’s talk about net worth, shall we?

I’m buying a condo, so these charts will dramatically change in the coming months. Wait, if I don’t close until May 23, then I won’t have anything to report until June. But still, this is the calm before the storm.

I have just under $1500 left to pay on my car loan. And the credit union is doing the same thing that my student loan provider did: every time I made a higher-than-necessary payment, they pushed my next due date back. So, now, I don’t owe anything until August.

You’ll see in this next chart that I do have enough savings to pay off my car, but just like in business, cash is king when it comes to buying a condo.

I’ll be glad I didn’t use all my cash to pay off my car when I have to buy a washing machine.

It will be interesting to see if my net worth goes down before it goes up. My guess is that it will.

I’m feeling very zen about the whole thing, though.

In fact, thinking about this condo purchase in terms of net worth is what calms me down. No longer am I putting rent money toward something that builds someone else’s net worth.

As an aside, I never bought in to the idea that renting is “throwing your money away” — where does that idea come from? I suppose I could live in a tent or something and not have to pay anyone anything, but that’s not realistic. You have to live somewhere. And last I checked, unless you live with your parents (if so, grow up, they do not want you in their house long term!) you cannot possibly live for free.

That’s like saying eating in a restaurant is throwing money away. You still get to eat food that the restaurant gives you, and you have to eat. That’s not throwing money away. It’s paying more than you should, to be sure, but that’s definitely not a throwaway.

What is throwing money away? So glad you asked! Throwing money away is buying something and losing it. Or buying produce and taking it from the grocery bag to the refrigerator to the garbage can. Or putting money in a pocket that has a hole in it.

My net worth is up a whopping 10% since March, and 55% since January. I’ll take that!

Like I said, this will get worse before it gets better. But it’s always fun to see the growth!

I’m 100% sure that I won’t be showing a 240% net worth increase this year like I did last year. Hey look at that, two percentage signs in one sentence! Some English teacher (or Econ!) is getting upset right now, and for that, I apologize.

If you want to see my numbers on @flexo’s site, you can read that here. But those are now nearly a month old. These are much fresher.

Things HAPPENED in these parts in February. I paid off my student loans! I put a chunk of money toward my last car loan! I have money in savings, now!

For my least favorite month on the calendar, I’m very happy with how things went.

zero looks so good on you!

Look at that. That’s the zero line. Oh, what a beautiful dot that is! I love you, x axis.

More empowering/terrifying is the total debt. I have just over $2000 left to go, before I become a zero-aire!

Wait, what do you call someone who owes no money to anyone, other than a month-to-month rental agreement?

Free. That’s what you call her. Free to do things without the fear of not being able to afford it. Free to enjoy things with her friends without wondering how on earth she’ll pay for this happy hour when the credit card bill is due.

Net worth is climbing, too. Up 17% from February, and 41% since January. I’ll take it!

I still like my calculation of net worth better than @flexo’s because when I cook the books, I don’t have to consider my credit cards, since they’re paid in full each and every month.

Hey, I never said I was a professional. This will be the last year that I’ll take my car as an asset, too, since I think it’s a silly addition to net worth. But since it’s a liability, it may as well be an asset, right?

How funny, this post, the monthly check in, used to be my absolute favorite part of writing this blog. It kept me accountable, kept me in line, and made me focus, focus, focus!

I was motivated by the charts. Every time I threw more money on a pile, I’d go in and update the spreadsheet and watch the lines change. I’d project the same growth, draw the lines out to the end of the year and try to beat my projections.

And now? I’m still happy to do them. Really. But these are no longer my favorite posts. Not by a long shot. I much prefer writing stories about my life.

I’m okay with that. Focus and determination got me here. The energy to connect will keep me here. I’ll still do charts, absolutely. But once my debts have been settled, I’ll focus on another metric, and I’ll gauge my success on whether I was able to save half of my income.