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#1 Net Worth Update – The Starting point

Dear Reader,

Today is the day of my first « Net Worth Update ». Basically, I want to share my current financial situation with you and see how much I saved during my time studying at the university. I still need to figure out the exact format of the net worth update, so don’t hesitate to give me a feedback on what to improve.

As you may know, I am starting a new job. This new job in a new city also means high monthly expenses. This will impact this month saving rate and probably the next ones as well, but I will try to keep it to a reasonable level. Now let’s check how much I saved while pretending to study!

Net Worth 1 September 2017

Bank account: CHF 557.2

Saving account: CHF 200.-

Brokerage account:

Stocks: CHF 11’555.40 / USD 10’566.11/ EUR 0.-

Cash: CHF 225.71 / USD 197.85 / EUR 527.61

Total: CHF 12’538.31 / USD 10’763.96 / EUR 527.61

Consolidated Net Worth in CHF: 23’528.38

I’m quite happy to see my current net worth at this level, even though I had the goal to save CHF 30’000.- before starting my professional life. I failed at saving 30K but having more than 20K is not bad at all, I guess not everyone is starting his professional journey with some money set aside.

I would like to pause for a moment and think about all the students (especially Americans) starting their professional life with huge debt amounts… I am very thankful that the Swiss education system allowed me to study for 600.- per semester! It is now my turn to pay taxes in order to keep it that way for the next generations😉. I am also very thankful to my parents who financially supported me all this time and gave me the opportunity to study for 5 years, Thank you for your support and your love.

On the whole amount, CHF 22’771.18 is invested in stocks. It represents more than 95% of my current net worth invested in stocks. That’s a bit too much, it leaves me with almost no cash at hand. I am vulnerable to almost every unexpected expense (health, accident, my cat being use as ransom, etc…) Consequently, the next paychecks will be used to increase my stash of cash and build an emergency fund.

My first paycheck!

The first time I checked my bank account and saw that huge amount of money transferred by my employer! That feel!! More than 6K coming in each month, Bling bling bling! Oh boy, how can someone get used to it! 😉

From an expenses perspective, it has been a frugal month and I will try to keep it that way in the future. No lifestyle inflation for me, thank you!

I spent 2’272.35 this month and earned 6446.- (net salary). That leaves me with a surplus of 4’173.65. Not bad for a first month! This represents a saving rate of more than 64% for this month, note that taxes are not included. My goal until the end of the year is to reach an average saving rate of 50% of my net income. It will be very interesting to monitor how my saving rate will fluctuate in the next months.

Net worth 31 September September: CHF 27’702.03 (+4’173.65/+17.73%)