I still don't actually know my net worth as although one pension company managed to update my address, they seem to have lost the request for an updated statement of benefits so I need to phone them again on Monday to request that. However, from the other pension I have in Ireland, I received the statement of benefits in the post today and it has spurred me on to consider perhaps doing a monthly, or at least an every-few-months update on my net worth. It might even just be an annual thing, as I don't think I can get a statement of benefits for my Irish pensions more than once a year. But perhaps I'll manage to keep track online. We'll see. I'll probably keep doing this as long as it keeps going up and quit if the markets start to tumble again anyway!
I am currently calculating my net worth as being made up of the following:
Irish Pension
Irish Retirement Bond
German Riesterrente
German BAV (starting soon, this is the pension with employer matching benefits)
Vodafone shares
I will not be including bank accounts, at least for the moment. Ideally I'd like to get around 5,000 in place as savings/emergency fund. After that, I'm thinking that every additional 1,000 I save should be moved into a proper investment of some kind, i.e. something that offers more than the approximately half a percent interest currently available for ordinary savings accounts. That day is pretty far off in the future though, so plenty of time to figure it out before then.
And my net worth has risen by 0.11% since the last time I checked, which was only about two weeks ago, so that's alright. I'll take any gain as a good thing. Now to go and see if my prize bonds once anything this week.
It is great to put it all down on paper and keep track of it.
ReplyDeleteWe don't usually calculate our net worth though. For us, it is all tied up in our house (which we don't ever want to sell) and Superannuation (not accessible by law until age 65.) Our net worth adds up to a lot
'on paper'...but we can't really access any of it any time in the forseeble future. I think I've given up tracking it!
All those pensions are like your superannuation and only accessible at normal retirement age. But at least it makes me feel that despite the years of debt, I haven't quite done nothing either. :)
ReplyDeleteWe've just started tracking ours and I update it every month as our debt goes down and our retirement accounts go up (not much else changes). It makes me feel like we're actually getting somewhere!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear yours went up - every little bit counts! :)
Hi moonwaves.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice, that you got an answer to your questions regarding the German Riester and German BAV in the MMM forum? I just wanted to make sure, you don't miss some relevant information before signing any long-term contracts.
Best regards
Woody
Thanks for letting me know that, Woody, I hadn't been back to the forums for a while. And thanks for your detailed reply. I'll give it a proper read through at the weekend. Although typically, I just signed up for the BAV on Monday. Still, I came across an interesting job posting yesterday so every spare minute until Friday (deadline) is devoted to getting a kick-ass letter of application done. And at some stage I have homework to do for my translation course tomorrow as well. So it's all go here at the moment.
ReplyDeleteWell, moonwaves. That's typical in life. Sometimes everything happens at once.
ReplyDeleteAfter having written a really great application letter, I hope you'll take the time to think about your BAV plans. AFAIK if you decide to change your mind, you would have 14 days to revoke(?) the contract. Of course, it's up to you. It's your money and I just wanted to share my thoughts.
I'll cross my fingers for your application.
BR,
Woody