Monthly Net Worth Statement

I haven’t made any posts regarding my Monthly Net Worth Statement is a few months. Frankly, it’s been depressing living the Broke Wall Streeter lifestyle. Eating $5 footlongs, cans of tuna, and hot dogs every day apparently doesn’t make you lose weight. I’m now crossing over the 210 pound mark. I wish I had some Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch right now.

So let me start off that, by miracle, my sister is finally employed again. It’s been over 15 months, so we were all breathing a little easier. Well, for a little while anyway. Last week I got a call to “be ready”. I wish I didn’t know what that implied, but layoffs were coming. The last time was 16 months ago, so I guess things haven’t improved. I survived again, but we let another 16% of the company go, which is better than the over 50% last time. The hottest chick in the company was one of them. The top brass will take a 50% pay cut. We were also told no 401(k) match and profit sharing, so I stopped my contributions. I’m going to save as much cash for the near term. I have layoff insurance through CSI which will pay me $1000/month for 3 months in case I get laid off. My projected unemployment benefits will be $550 per week if Governor Christie gets his way (down from $600). It looks like I would get 1 month severance since I haven’t been there for more than 3 years. Oh well, it’s better than nothing. I lost my Top Rated Seller status on eBay since closing my store. My Powerseller status is in jeopardy next. At least my sister can start paying me rent again.

As for the house, it looks like the Zillow estimate is off by a little. Due to lack of interest and anxious sellers, we have units offered at 10% lower than the Zillow estimate. The condo approved replacement porch lights, so I was happy to see these new wrought iron looking lights installed on my front porch and patio. I came home on Friday to find the dishwasher backed up and the garbage disposal making an abnormal sound. Thanks to my sister putting huge strips of meat trimmings and fat down the sink and I even found some inside the dishwasher. WTF?!?!? I fixed the drainage issue thanks to YouTube, baking soda, and vinegar. The garbage disposal works, but it vibrates the entire house. Maybe I can save this project for when I get laid off. No other home maintenance issues.

My retirement funds did OK. Ford is still doing well for my IRA. After the final profit sharing and company match on March 31, hopefully the totals will not go down, but I really don’t like the market right now. If I had any spare $, I’d short this thing, maybe buy puts on SPY.

My Kelley Blue Book car value rose a tiny bit for no reason, but I’ll take it. My air conditioning broke and my new radio is shorting out again. Go Hyundai! There has to be a leak somewhere since every time it rains for a long time, there is a burning electrical smell that fills the cabin when I turn on the radio. The dealer doesn’t see or smell it of course, so I’m stuck with no music on my 2 hour commute. Since gas prices have gone up in the past 2 months, I am looking for another apt I can share during the work week. The monthly commute has gone from $800 in gas and tolls to over $920 due to the gas price going from $2.44/gallon to $2.66/gallon. Not to mention an oil change every 3 weeks.

Things must still be bad since there are so many apartments and roommate ads on Craigslist that have been reposted since March and some from February. Usually there is a line for the monthly parking pass at the main light rail station off the NJ Turnpike since they sell out, but I completely forgot for 2 days and I ended up getting one without a problem. There are much fewer cars in the lot come to think of it. If you look across to the office buildings from my office, you can see more vacant floors than occupied, so things still aren’t looking so great despite the rosy picture CNBC might be spewing lately.

My cash reserve got a nice bounce due to my tax refund of $4400+. I spent some of it to pay off my Capital One card. What’s in your wallet? Not my Cap one card at 21.99%. I didn’t owe state tax, but I need to pay some of my local since I didn’t prepay enough quarterly, so I’ll hold off for another week or so to pay that. No accounts receivable from my website gig. My NCAA bracket entry is doing poorly, but I am still in 3rd place. Fingers crossed. I did turn $25 free play money from an online bookie to $120+ in real cash, so I’ll try to keep that going as far as I can. No poker in Atlantic City this month, but I’m going to research becoming a poker pro for my next career since this whole Wall Street thing isn’t going so well. Good luck until next time.