Cash & Savings: $44,819 ==> $53,763 (19.96%)
Foreign Currency: $39,625 ==> $39,690 (0.16%)
US Brokerage: $296,068 ==> $303,577 (2.54%)
Overseas Brokerage: $247,942 ==> $251,943 (1.61%)
Retirement Accounts: $308,215==> $312,383 (1.35%)
Business Investment: $65,000 ==> $65,000 (0%)
Charitable Account: $11,774 ==> $11,900 (1.07%)
Total: $1,013,443 ==> $1,038,256 (2.45%)
Yes, it finally happened...after months of speculation I finally joined the millions of Americans who got laid off at least once in their career. In the consulting industry that I am in, you need to maintain a high billability by being on a client project as much as possible, unfortunately, there wasn't that much to do in the last six months so I got laid off for the first time in my career.
Clearly that isn't something I enjoy, especially when planning a wedding. In April I paid $3,700 to book vendors and venues for my wedding and also paid off the remaining payment of the engagement ring and wedding bands.
It did come as a surprise to me that my total asset increased by 2.45% after losing my job and made so many big payments. A few things were at play though: 1) I still got paid for the first half of April; 2) stock market appreciation and dividends; 3) I asked a friend to pay a $5,000 personal loan back to me; 4) I received a tax refund of close of $10,000.
Other strategies I deployed were: 1) cut my cable bill by $9 by using just one TV; 2) lower utility bill by using less power; 3) stopped contribution to my investment accounts; 4) paid off a few credit card bills using the cash back bonuses I accumulated; 5) sped up medical reimbursement; 6) sold one stock to boost my cash position and formed a strategy to sell a few more stocks that will only lead to little capital gains but increase my cash position by a potentially $17,000 (it will be throughout the year since my current cash position is very strong).
If there is time later this month I will talk about how I deal with job loss and the pressure from my fiance and the wedding.
April 2015 - Planning my wedding while being unemployed
May 8th, 2015 at 06:01 am
May 8th, 2015 at 11:40 am 1431081610
May 8th, 2015 at 02:19 pm 1431091171
May 9th, 2015 at 06:17 am 1431148660
CB, yes, my fiance has been trying to lower the cost of certain items in our wedding although we have different views on where to cut the cost.
May 10th, 2015 at 01:30 pm 1431261006