Networth update in 2018

2018 is a rather slack year for me. I don't think I work as hard as I do in previous years in terms of work, so the time that is otherwise spent working is channeled to my family, especially my growing child. This year is also a bad year for those who invested in equities. It seems like if you put money under your pillow, you'll end up being better. Will it affect my net-worth? Let's see.

The last I wrote on my net-worth was back in 1st Dec 2017, here. I'm going to do the same below.

There are so many ways to calculate networth, but I've always done mine this way. It's essentially assets minus liabilities but how you define assets and liabilities makes all the difference. Like in the past, I excluded the asset part of my stay-in property, but included the liabilities portion. This year I incurred new debts too, in the form of a car loan of 3 yrs. I'm also not going to include the value of my car in the assets part, but will include the liabilities part.

The assets part include:

1. Cash in my wallet
2. All the money in my various bank accounts
3. Cash holdings under mattress and milo tins at home
4. Money in my paypal account
5. All the money in the 3 accounts in my CPF
6. Money market fund account
7. Marked to market investment portfolios
8. Surrender cash value of whole life insurance plans

Again, I do not include the value of my 5 room flat that I'm currently staying in, and also the value of the family car that I own.

The liabilities part include:

1. Credit card bills
2. My portion of the HDB mortgage loan (total remaining loan amount divided by 2)
3. My portion of the car loan I took this year (total remaining loan amount divided by 2)

Here goes:

2014: Assets: $226k, Liabilities: $220k, Networth: $6k
2015: Assets: $295k, Liabilities: $207k, Networth: $87k
2016: Assets: $351k, Liabilities: $188k, Networth: $163k
2017: Assets: $449k, Liabilities: $182k, Networth: $267k
2018: Assets: $483k, Liabilities: $191k, Networth: $291k

There's a few things I should be glad and grateful for in 2018. Firstly, despite the downturn in the stock market, my networth is still up. Of course it didn't go up as much, like the crazy almost 100k increase from 2016 to 2017, but the fact that it is still positive is good enough for me. This year is also when I paid a hefty down payment for my new car, so that is also why the asset didn't go up as much. Secondly, overall I saved about 55k this year and that surprises me. These days, I no longer consciously check how much I saved. Just perhaps a brief look every half a year or so to make sure I'm generally on the right track. Not all the savings are in cash too, because I transferred a part of it into my CPF to fulfill my self-employed contribution, and also to shore up my OA for my reserves. My work income dropped a bit, but my dividends pushed it up, so net net I'm not that far off. That is exactly what the dividends are for, and I'm thankful for stabilizing my income.

Market can go up and down, but my net worth must go up all the time. That's the philosophy that I adhere to. If not, there's nothing to show for at the end of a year of hard work.

Financially, there's more things to look forward for year 2019. It looks like my work income is going to have a boost as I have a very robust order book for the coming year. If all things go according to plan, I should be running when Jan 2019 comes, instead of strolling. There's also more expenses to come, because I'm sending my child to a child-care center next year.

Till December 2019 then!