Matt’s Financial Checkup

Matt started LMM knowing very little about personal finance but almost 200 hundred episodes in, he’s learned a lot.  We’ll see how he’s doing now.

We all should have financial goals.  It helps keep us on track and helps us see, in real numbers, that our dedication is paying off.  If you use Mint, make sure you put all your numbers in there.  It makes you feel good to see a positive net worth but if you left out your mortgage, the picture is not accurate.

Matt’s goal is to get to a zero net worth.  Which sounds bad but isn’t.  It means that his net worth is no longer negative and that’s a big accomplishment.  He still has a car payment and is still about $10,000 underwater on his house.  He has four credit cards with no overdue balance on any of them and his credit score is a whopping 788!

He has $4000 easily accessible in a checking account and $1000 in a business account and about $700 in “miscellaneous” money.  In this Betterment account there is $10,652.  Six months ago he had $0 invested, a great improvement!  All total, he has a positive net worth of about $2900, surpassing his goal of a $0 net worth.

Now that he has met and passed the net worth goal, his next is to pay off his car.  He could do it right now by taking money out of the Betterment account.  He plans to keep contributing $500 a month to Betterment and throw any extra money to the car which has a $300 a month payment.  Once the car is paid off, he’ll contribute that $300 to Betterment.

Once Matt has a $25,000 emergency fund in Betterment, he’ll use all his extra money to pay off his house and then continue to rent it out for the extra income.  And he plans to start an IRA and invest in Vanguard as well.

Remember, this podcast is not even a year old.  In one year, Matt has made huge strides.  He listened, read, and learned about personal finance.  He did it and we can all do it too.

Show Notes

Mint:  See where your money is going.

Best Travel Awards Cards:  Start collecting miles today.

Betterment:  Start investing now.

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