The ides of March left the DINKS essententally flat in our ongoing efforts to build wealth. In February we were worth 318 thousand, in March we’re down to 311. Many other personal finance bloggers have made substantial month to month progress. Why have we not become more wealthy?

First, my income is barely covering expenses. This means that I haven’t been socking away hundreds into my retirement accounts like before graduate school. Unfortunately, this has been reflected in our networth growth or lack thereof. This is an ongoing challenge.

Second, we refinanced both our primary residence and our investment property. This means that we’ve put nearly $10,000 into getting out of our adjustable rate mortgages. So, we are slightly more cash poor this month.

Third, our stock market holdings are flat. Some of our stocks, such as Southern Peru Copper Corp (PCU) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) have done well. Some of our other stocks, like the Canetic Energy Trust (CNE) have declined by nearly 30%. The long and the short of these price movements is that our stock market holdings haven’t increased much in the past few weeks.

A quick graph of our networth fluctuations over the past six months is below:

Best,

James

MANAGE YOUR MONEY TOGETHER

Here are some simple guidelines for DINKS to build wealth:

1) Collaborate: Meet regularly to talk about money, set goals together, track and monitor them.

2) Understand and respect your partner. Take time to understand your partners values about money.

3) Watch the numbers. Get a budget, monitor your spending and track your net worth.

4) Max your retirement. Maximize contributions to your tax deferred retirement accounts.

5) Invest in stock. Stocks perform better than bonds or cash.

6) Avoid high interest debt. Credit cards and title loans are financial cancer.

7) Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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