Cash – $24,028
We bought a house and our cash reserves took a hit.

Stocks – $1,454
Our two cars are completely paid for. So instead of sending a monthly car payment to the bank, we’ve recently started investing $350 per month in a mutual fund. There are some risks associated with this strategy, but they are risks we are both comfortable with. This strategy was solely inspired by Dave Ramsey’s Drive Free, Retire Rich.

Retirement – $21,299
We are still saving roughly 15% of our gross pay for retirement.

Cars – $11,975
The value of our cars is an estimation from Kelly Blue Book.

Home – $142,000

Student Loans – $7,406
Still looking forward to getting rid of these next spring.

Mortgage - $130,000

Credit Cards - $114

Who wouldn’t enjoy having a cool million to their name? J. Money over at Budgets are Sexy is one of the most entertaining personal finance bloggers that I regularly read, and has established a “Million Dollar Club” for anyone who has “dreamed about becoming a millionaire – and actually want to DO SOMETHING about it.”

I’ve been thinking about joining for some time now and thought, “what the hell, why not today.”

From what I can tell, it looks like J. is only counting cash, thus leaving out the value of his home.   (Maybe you can clarify when you get some time J.?)   My only problem with not including our home in the calculation is that my new million dollar goal is going to compete with another important goal of ours, to be completely debt free including the house in 7 years.  Because I value the peace of mind that debt freedom brings over obtaining $1,000,000 in cash and investments, it will just take a little longer before officially reaching J’s million dollar mark. I guess it’s really a moot point since I’ll eventually reach the “Million Dollar” goal (God willing), regardless of how it’s calculated.  So with that in mind, drum roll please…

My Millionaire To-Do List:

1. Continue to Contribute 15% of our Gross Income to Retirement Accounts (until #3 is completed)
2. Completely Pay Student Loan Debt by 4/1/2010 Leaving $0 in Consumer Debt!
3. Completely Pay Home Mortgage by 12/1/2016 – DEBT FREE!
4. Max Out Roth IRA For Both of Us After Contributing Enough in 401(k) To Receive Match – beginning 1/1/2017
5. Max Out My 401(k) – beginning 1/1/2017
6. Establish Multiple Streams of Income Through Rental Property or other Part Time Ventures – starting now!

To be honest, I’m not sure I can even guestimate the day I’ll officially complete the million dollar goal.  But I know it will be sooner rather than later thanks to J. providing an open forum enabling me to post my goals for all to see!  Feel free to track my progress at The Broke M.B.A. under the networth category.

It’s been an exciting month and full of random expenses such as the $225 home inspection fee and weekly expenses associated with our Saturday morning tailgates. However, we still managed to show a positive increase in our total net worth. It’s nice to still have significant influence over this number, through either reducing expenses and/or earning income. I don’t think it will be too long before the market is the primary indicator of our total gain or loss each month.

Cash – $42,126
Our cash reserves have still been growing in anticipation of our closing date this Friday.

Stocks – $1,030
Our two cars are completely paid for. So instead of sending a monthly car payment to the bank, we’ve recently started investing $350 per month in a mutual fund. There are some risks associated with this strategy, but they are risks we are both comfortable with. This strategy was solely inspired by Dave Ramsey’s Drive Free, Retire Rich.

Retirement – $18,531
We are still saving roughly 15% of our gross take home pay for retirement. I believe the market is down slightly from my last update, but our contributions and employers’ matches still made for a slight positive increase.

Cars – $11,875
The value of our cars is an estimation from Kelly Blue Book.

Student Loans – $7,405
Still looking forward to getting rid of these next spring. After sending our lender the $8,000 from our first time home buyer’s tax credit, I’ll still have a few hundred dollars left.

It’s the start of new a month and time to take a look at the ol’ networth.

Cash – $40,577

Our cash reserves have been growing steadily over the past year as we have been saving for a down payment on a new home. We had a slight decline in cash thanks to the title company depositing our $2000 check made out for earnest money.

Stocks – $706

We decided two months ago to begin depositing our “car payment” into a mutual fund. I put “car payment” in quotes since we aren’t really sending the payment to a bank. We are simply saving money in an account so that we can pay cash for a car when the time arrives. You can read my thoughts on Dave Ramsey’s Drive Free Retire Rich concept here.

Retirement – $17,897

We are currently saving 15% of our gross take home pay for retirement. I contribute 4% of my gross pay to my company’s Roth 401(k) account in order to get the 4% match. The remaining 7% is deposited into mutual funds inside a Roth IRA at ING. My wife contributions are deposited into her 403(b) at work.

Cars – $11,875

The value of our cars is an estimation per Kelly Blue Book.

Student Loans – $7,493

The dreaded student loans. I can’t wait till these are gone, and they will be. Soon. It turns out I have just under $8k left which is the exact amount of the first time home buyer credit! If everything turns out as planned, we will be proud homeowners without any consumer debt by next spring.  Check out an interesting post at Financial Highways regarding this First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit.