It finally happened - I became a fifth of a millionaire! Passing financial net worth milestones are a real good psychological boost if nothing else.

Also, it means I’m coming for you, Warren Buffett! Haha!

Crossing the $200,000 mark happened on April 19th when I received my tax return. It was a hefty return as all my income earned while I was working in Qatar for half of 2016 was untaxed. This left me with quite a small amount of AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) which gave me a large lump sum back, a lump sum that was turned around and invested in my 2017 Roth IRA. (You can read about what stocks I bought with my 2016 and 2017 IRA contributions of $11,000 here.)

Not too much of note happened in this last quarter. Life just goes on, ya know? I keep putting one foot in front of the other on the long path towards financial freedom while always on the lookout for deals to make some bank with and double my dollars.

Some small things have thrown themselves into my way. The house A/C was running continuously, I managed to find what was wrong and replace it myself. The contactor was stuck closed and I purchased a new one for less than $20. If I had no mechanical skills like so many people these days It would have cost over $100 easily.

Next thing to go wrong was the A/C in our Odyssey went out. I found that the Schrader valve in the servicing port was leaking. While I could easily replace the valve, I wanted my A/C to be in top shape and servicing it back up with those cans you can buy at any car parts place leaves a less than perfect cooling system. We need really good A/C here in Southern Arizona, so I took it to my local place and told them to replace both the high and low-pressure A/C valves and service it up with the proper equipment. It ran me in the neighborhood of $120 but A/C is life here, especially with two little ones.

The third thing to go wrong was when I was using the weed whacker I hit a small stone and it went directly into one side of my French doors, spidering the full pane glass. I got a quote for replacing the glass at $430 and also a couple quotes from different companies for replacing the French doors with sliding glass doors. The cheapest slider being in the range of $2,200. It just didn’t make sense to replace our nice (and now known to be expensive) wood with the cheaper vinyl so the wife and I just had them replace the glass.

While these things are minor, together they have added up to nearly $600 in unplanned expenses. Money that could have been made to work in investments for decades to come.

Additionally, I still haven’t gotten around to selling our 3rd car, the 2003 Ford Mustang. She ain’t no beauty queen but I still want to clean her up and have her looking at her best. I don’t want to leave money on the table by selling a messy vehicle (see How to clean car carpets for under $10!) like the people I purchased our Odyssey from.

Not to say the car isn’t being used as it is. I’ve been driving it as my transportation to keep miles off of my 2012 Mazda3 (sitting at 45,000). The Mustang is over 150,000 miles so any few thousand won’t do much, if anything, to its value. I plan on having the Mazda3 for MANY more years.

The family and I just got back from a vacation in the Boston, MA area. We went to see my family and show off my kids as some of them never met my daughter and all of them have never met my son. My daughter is just under 2 years old, so we were able to have them fly as lap babies. My wife had never been to the area either, so we all got to explore. Beaches, museums/zoo/aquarium, short hikes, and a whale watching trip as just some of the things we did. Total cost – about $2,000.

Vacations like this one are the things that decrease your financial wealth but increase your emotional wealth.

Well, that’s about it – on with the numbers. At the end of the first quarter of 2017, I had a net worth of $189,947.

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CASH

Starting $12,546 Ending $13,593 [+$1,047]

I like to have around $10,000 in liquid cash, spread between my emergency fund and checking account. The two large drops, one at the start and one towards the middle, are from me moving my money into my IRA’s. Other than that it is just the normal fluctuations of day-to-day life.

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INVESTMENTS

Starting $57,241 Ending $72,781 [+$15,540]

Through my work, I invest $1,000 per month into index funds. Add that to the $11,000 that was put into my Roth IRA and you get $14k. The rest of the increase is from growth and dividends. Investments have been trading sideways for the last month, as seen in the graph.

I did not contribute any additional money to throw into my Robinhood brokerage. I just haven’t been working my side-hustles with enough vigor. This comes down to two things, one being that I have been lazy and the other being that I have been spending much more time watching my children while my wife works her hustle selling LuLaRoe clothing.

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MORTGAGE

Starting $64,600 Ending $62,557 [+$2,043]

My only debt (credit cards are paid in full every month). I know there is a huge debate on what is better, buying a home or renting, but for where I live it is a very good choice. My mortgage is $715 (taxes and insurance included) per month on a 15-year loan but I round it up a little to $850.

It is a blessing to have no other debt and just a small mortgage like this. To know that I have enough in savings and other assets to be able to make the payments for years, even if I didn’t have a job. Of course, I would always find a way to earn something. Even a minimum wage job could cover it, but I would work my hustles.

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ASSETS

Starting $186,195 Ending $186,707 [+$512]

Three cars and a house are the only things that are included in this figure. Nothing else, not even the largish amount of cryptocurrency I have on Steemit.com. The house value estimate is automatically updated from Zillow’s ‘Zestimate’, I think it is relatively accurate for my area based on the latest sales.

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All together this comes out to a NET WORTH OF $208,460!

A TOTAL INCREASE OF $18,513!

I don’t know how I did it, but the second quarter was even better than the first!

I started the year with a net worth of $173,276 and increased it by 9.6% to $189,947 in the first quarter.

I have increased my net worth by 9.7% Q/Q!

From the start of the year, I am up 20.3%, or $35,184!

This is from my gross salary of about $65k/year. I think I am doing quite well. I just wish that I started caring about increasing my wealth earlier in my life.

I’m just a normal guy supporting my family on one salary. Like so many other people, I used to not prioritize increasing my wealth. Buying more things to occupy myself with was what I was doing, chasing the new and shiny.

I changed my mindset and am changing my life. (see Why Tracking Your Net Worth Is A Great Motivator To Become Wealthy)I want to be financially free and I will get there.

You can too if you want it.

Onward to financial FREEDOM!

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How about you? How are your finances progressing? Hitting any speed bumps (like I did) or roadblocks on your journey?

Missed my first quarter net worth update post? Check it out HERE.