Good Money Blog

• Net Worth
  Our net worth dropped a whopping 6.7% (-$12,036) in October!
• Bank and Cash Accounts
  I thought it’s time for bargain hunting, so I moved about $6K cash to my taxable Zecco account for additional stock purchases. The majority of my cash is sitting in high-yield savings accounts such as E*Trade Bank (3.30% APY) and HSBC Direct (3.00%-3.25% APY). With the interest rates heading much lower in the near future, I moved a portion of my cash to a 6-month CD.
• Other Assets
  That’s not a Zillow estimate but the price we paid ($201K) two years ago. Zestimate for our house is currently around our purchase price.
• Investment Accounts
  • CDs
    As mentioned, I opened a new 6-month CD (4.00% APY) at HSBC Direct ($8K).
  • I-Bonds
    I also have some I-Bonds ($10K) bought in April 2008 (~4.43% APY).
  • Portfolios
    In October, our retirement portfolios took a big hit just like everybody else (-14.9% vs. S&P 500: -17.0%). Nevertheless, the 401(k) and Roth IRA accounts ($60K) are on track to be maximized this year. As Zecco offered unlimited free trades in October, I took advantage of the offer and bought stocks little by little in my taxable account (-0.3%) throughout the volatile month. As a result, I made a total of 30 transactions.
• Credit Cards
  I paid nearly all my expenses ($1K) with my favorite cash rebate credit cards - Chase Freedom (3% cash back in top 9 categories) and Chase Business Cash Rewards (3% cash back at gas stations,  restaurants, and home improvement stores). The total balance is to be paid off at the end of the billing cycle.
• Loans
  We still have 20 some years to go on our mortgage ($155K).