Net Worth Update: March, 2020

Our net worth dropped since this time in February by 12.16% in USD and 12.48% in EUR to $52,448 and €47,985 respectively.

The reason is obvious. Our stock portfolios fell precipitously as Europe and the United States responded aggressively to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big Picture

Thankfully, I still have my salaried job, and my employer has stated that we're at no risk of dissolving. My wife's work hours have dried up considerably, but she is still working over Zoom for those clients who can still manage it. My sibling still has a job despite vast layoffs. Both parents have Social Security at least and one has a healthy retirement portfolio.

Most importantly, none of us have caught the virus yet. However, I don't know how long I can expect that. Two family members live in one of the hot-spot cities in the US. One parent is working again and coming into contact with people. I have nagged them to take precautions as far as is reasonable, and I have to trust them to take care of themselves.

As of right now, I feel like I'm in an enviable position, and I consider myself very lucky. But when I see charts like this:

Or this:

I recognize that anything that affects so many people will eventually affect me as well. It's just a matter of time, and I've been mentally preparing as best I can.

Savings Rate and Other Factors

Our savings rate of our mixed pre/post tax income was 46.3%. Easiest way to get your savings rate up is to hold expenses steady when you earn more money, and this month is clear evidence of that.

I received an outsized payment at the end of February due to some extra work I did. My employer also gave me too much money, and that will be taken out of my end-of-March payment. That will obviously hurt April's savings.

We paid estimated taxes in March. Fun fun.

We spent much too much on groceries this month. We didn't stockpile aggressively at all, but we ended up well outside of our budget.

We received a refund for overpayment of health insurance for my wife. Because she's self employed and utilizes the public system (the gesetzliche Krankenkasse), her payments are based on income and fluctuate every year.

April

April is going to be tight. I wish I had a lot more money to throw at the market or our emergency savings, but it's not going to happen unless we get one of these stimulus checks from the IRS in the next few weeks.

Good luck and stay healthy.