We are now 6 months into 2020! I’ve made some really good progress towards my net worth and investment portfolios. I’ve been able to really increase my portfolio value due to the market durntown for the few months before bouncing back to almost what it was.

Net Worth

For my net worth, it unfortunately dropped 0.5% from the end of June 2020, this was mainly due to my portfolios not changing much as well as my HECS debt slightly increasing due to indexing (+$650ish).

Over the past 6 months, I’ve been able to grow my net worth from $25,677.84 to $51,560.71, an increase of $25,882.87 (50.19%) or $4,313.81 per month. I was really happy to see this growth over only 6 months. However, for me to reach my goal by the end of the year ($100,000), I will need to increase it by $48,439.29 (94%) or $8,073.21 per month. Going from the previous 6 months, I won’t achieve it if I don’t either drastically increase my income or decrease my spending (this will help to increase income / savings rate per month contributing to a positive result). While it’s hard to see how it will go over the next 6 months, if I earn more, save more, my investment portfolios grow, and debts (HECS debt) decrease, I may be able to do it.

Investment Portfolio

As for my investment portfolio, I’m currently at a total return of 12.9% due to some stock market recovery over the past month. For the first 6 months of the year, I have grown my portfolio from $37,589.66 to $53,682.85. A total increase of $16,092.34 (42.8%). To reach my goal of $70,000 by the end of the year, I will need to increase my portfolio by $16,417.15 – almost exactly how much it has grown over the first 6 months. If I keep doing what I’ve been doing, and hoping that over the next 6 months the market is up, I will be able to reach that goal.

New Goal: Saving for a House

Something that I will be doing a little differently for the next 6 months of the year is saving up for a house deposit. I’m doing this for multiple reasons, which includes having somewhere to live which is my own, buying now so that in the future when I do retire, I will have the house paid off and therefore have very minimal actual living expenses, as well as using my rent money towards my own house. My goal for this is to save as much as possible in 6 months. Going on what I’ve been saving for investments (~$2,000) per month, then I should be able to grow it to a minimum of $12,000. However, I will be trying even harder to save money for this, as the more I can save now, the better it will be.

This new goal will impact my investment portfolio goal for now. I’m still planning to keep on track with my yearly portfolio goal to retire at 40. But I will have to see how thing go with work, where I’m living, what I’m doing, etc. If I get to the end of the year, and I need to put a little in to reach the goal, I may focus on topping it up rather than my house deposit – as it will most likely be a year or so before I’m looking to actually buy (combined with partner).

Savings Rate

For the first 6 months of the year, excluding paying for a certificate IV in fitness (which has its reasons for the future), I managed to have a savings rate of 52%. When I include the course, which was $5,500, then my savings rate is 37%.

I’m happy with my spending for the first half of the year. However, I can definitely optimise my spending in the shopping/items category, which includes any purchase from a shop that doesn’t directly relate to other categories (new phone $850, etc).

Everything else has been going well. The car costs are quite low due to having my car recalled in February 2020 – so those current costs are from sharing my partners car. This has definitely helped my savings rate this year as last year my total car costs were between $3,000-$4,000.

So if I keep up my current spending rate, without any wild, large purchases, I should be able to maintain 52% or even higher.

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That’s my update for the first 6 months of the year. As I mentioned, I’m happy with my progress to date and really excited to see where I am closer to the end of 2020.

Do you track your net worth? I’d love to hear your experience towards financial independence.

Nathan