Much earlier than last month, this is April’s installment of my monthly net worth report.  Great news this time, unlike last month.  My net worth grew by a solid 4%, or $1655.  So, what went right, and what went wrong?  Let’s dig in.

Liquid Assets

A drop here for the second month in a row isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring, especially with the economic situation as it is.  Dropping 4% isn’t catastrophic, but not really acceptable.  My cash drop was actually more significant, when you consider the stock market rally, and the increase in my Zecco account and mutual funds.

My Cars

Ahh 23% less negative equity – back under $5k.  I’ve tossed around the idea of selling my Civic and buying a used Fit or something similar… but I can’t bring myself to do it.  With the low miles and incredible fuel efficiency that I get out of the Civic, I’d hate to take a chance.  So for now, I’ll continue to work on these loans – Civic first, CR-V second.

My House

Another month, another 1% bump here.  I’m back over $17k in equity.  A 3% drop from a year ago – due to the write-downs I took in prior months.  I have no plans on selling in the near future, so this really is of little concern to me.

Retirement

A stock market rally helped me to a 10% increase across my retirement funds.  The ugly part?  I’m still down 11% vs a year ago.  AFTER a single-month 10% jump.  Damn.

Business

Down 1% – no worries.  Plenty of cash on hand to keep the business running smoothly.  Thankfully I don’t have huge overhead costs involved.  Aren’t online businesses wonderful?

Overall

Well up is up is up.  4% is great, in times such as these.  I do need to work on building my cash reserves back up, as they’ve been falling for a few months now.  I also need to get some consistency going, so it’s not back and forth so much.

That being said, there’s still a lot to do here, especially with my back yard project.  The biggest expense is handled, but furniture isn’t cheap to be sure.  I’ll be taking my time and purchasing carefully to minimize the cost, but it will have an impact on my finances to be sure.  Big enough to swing me to another loss?  We’ll find out next month.