Net Worth Update - April

I wish I could say that I'm keeping up with this blog as much as I hoped. My original goal was to capture an audience and perhaps give a little, and learn a lot at the same time. The month of April was great for both the domestic and international market. Not only have I made up for the slip in February of this year, I have made great gains in most of my investments.

This month, I increased my net worth by $3,369.43 which is 4.44% of my previous net worth. This coming Tuesday, May 8th, is the quarterly announcement for CSCO and I plan to liquidate a good percentage of my holdings. This brings me to my next question...

When do I sell? Knowing that CSCO has performed well, and will continue to perform well, do I sell and accept the annualized return of about 8.5%, or do I sell a significant portion and diversify? I need to do more research but in the past few weeks stocks suck as Amazon, Baidu, Apple, etc have all perform exceptionally with me standing behind wishing I had thrown my money in earlier.

More importantly, I am showing significant gains with my mutual funds and they are out performing my stock selections. The concept of "beating the market" is difficult to comprehend since index's is the market average- for every seller there is a buyer. For everyone selling, there is another opportunist. I must continue to learn how to choose the best selection for my portfolio while remebering that mutual funds do very well in the long run although boring.

Please, provide any feedback about my portfolio or any other ideas. My upcoming update will be about the account aggregator program on www.yodlee.com .

First Monthly Portfolio/Net Worth Update - March

I really haven't updated this and need to get back in the gist of things. It was a lot easier to stay active in the initial phase of my blog because I was learning, finding what allocation I wanted, etc. This does not mean I have stopped trying to learn but rather have no insightful information to put down that wouldn't be a repeat of another blog. However, Below is my first monthly update that I will be doing from now on. My net worth increased approximately 4.66% from $72,587 to $75,969. This was largely due to my tax refund and recover from the stock market dip in late February. Since my portfolio updates are done the first Monday of each month, this month did not take into account the upward spike that occurred this Tuesday. Relatively, I bought into GOOG much later than I hoped for, but I believe I know enough about this company and see it as a long term investment.

In the coming months I hope to liquidate some of my holdings in CSCO. After the last quarterly announcement, I sold 600 shares for $28.5 and hope to do the same or better before the end of the year. Also, I have been researching my local real estate market and the possibility of buying a townhouse/condo in the $200k-$300k price range. Although it is a buyers market, I cannot guarantee that I will be here for more than 3 years and my current rent is approximately $1000 after all utilities. Does anyone have any advice or suggestion regarding this? If I purchased a place here in South Jersey, real estate tax will be about $5k-$7k a year alone!! I have done several rent vs buy calculators (the eloan one is great) and it is hard to know whether I'd come out on top. There are a few possibilities still: If the market here is a renters market, I could probably rent out my house for a large percentage of my mortgage if I moved. Any suggestions?
Lastly, my next goal in the coming months is to stay active with this blog and welcome readers and obtain feedback!

Filing Federal and State Taxes + e-File

I just filed and submitted my own taxes. This is the first year I have filed my own taxes finally setting me free from the depedency i've had on my parents all these years. Let me tell you, filing taxes was a blast. I'm not sure if I took ever opportunity, but I got an amazing $3978 back from federal taxes, and $595 from state taxes. Note, my income was approximately $32000 for the 2006 year.

Details: I used Taxact.com because the e-filing fee ($12.95) was much lower than what H&R TaxCut ($29.95) was charging me. H&R was a bit smoother, and visually appealing, but the numbers came out the same. I recommend checking between different websites since its free if your annual gross income is less than $52000.

Why was my tax return so large? Correct me if I am wrong..
-My annual salary is approximately $60k, so I was taxed at a higher tax bracket
-I received a tax refund amount for $818 dollars for the "Lifetime Learning Credit" from Form 8863
-I received a $30 dollar long distance phone tax credit

I am curious if I am actually applicable for the Lifetime Learning Credit. I am sure my parents would probably overlook that field, so I filed it on my tax refund. Although "technically" the money was given to me from my parents to pay the tuition. Any comments?

As for my investments, I plan to sell a significant share of Cisco once the price rises a bit more. I am (overly?) optimistic about the outlook of the stocks based on what I have read lately, and the earnings report will be announced this afternoon.

I plan to sell approximately 500 shares sometime this week and redistributing the money among my Vanguard funds.

Lastly, I am excited/reenergized/stoked/going nuts over the fact that a visitor has posted a comment (CPA1298, thank you!).

Work has been ridiculous lately but I will make it a priority to update this blog!

Enjoy!

Other Interests

I have a few other interests that may not go so well with the intention of the website. Let me know what you all think. Would it be okay/appropriate if I put in restaurant reviews, news (unrelated to finance), and bargain purchases? Thanks!

My Current Investments

Long story short, I have been blessed that my family fully funded my college tuition and I am completely debt free. In addition to that, some my funds were given to me to allow me invest in my future. Specifically, I would like to purchase property (if realistic) before December of 2007.

These are my current Assests as of Jan 21st, 2007:

Vanguard Roth IRA:
Vanguard STAR: 192.78 shares * $21.06 per share = 4059.95

Taxable Account:
Vanguard Total Intl Stock Index: 226.76 shares * $17.77 = 4000.05
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045: 207.90 shares * $14.44 = 3002.08
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index: 87.08 shares * $34.43 = 2998.16
Cisco Systems = 1500 shares * $26.70 = 40,050.00

Cash Available: $16,000 in a high yields saving account at emigrantdirect.com

Total Assests: $70,000.

Quite a chunk of change to handle for a financially dumbo. I really need some financial advise, and quick. The 1500 shares of Cisco Systems and $16k was just passed on to me via a custodial account my parents had setup for me. The rest has been from money I have saved from work and prior to work. Let me explain my current dilemma. TAX, TAX, TAX, and RISK, RISK, RISK. I am young and able to take a hit, but I would like to receive all the feedback I can about my current situation.

This is my story.

Hello world. I am currently 23 years old and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in May 2006. I am currently working in the Delaware Valley trying to discover what I love to do and where I want to go. This is my story in my efforts to bring myself from being one step behind, to being one step (or ten steps!) ahead of my peers. Since becoming (relatively) financially indepedent from my parents, I have been trying to optimize my personal finances. I have became a big fan of http://www.pfblog.com/, http://www.mymoneyblog.com/, and recently, http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/.

Let me provide some background about myself and what I aspire to do with this blog. I come from a middle upper class family and have lived in California, Asia, the Midwest, and now, the Delaware Valley area. I have been surrounded by peers whose families have been made rich by the dot-com revolution as well as traditional wealthy families that own their own businesses. My point is, I have always felt a step behind financially compared to my peers. However, with this blog I hope to log my journey in becoming financially fit, as well as providing the audience several tips I learn along the way.

Please post any comments, suggestions, or questions that you may have. I will try my best to answer all of them.

In the next few weeks I want to discuss my Roth IRA, 401k, and personal taxable account. I know I'm way behind to the blogging scene but I promise to provide something new.

Enjoy.