After a long stretch of stumbling and trying to keep tabs of finances by feel, I finally feel I have some things in order.

I never thought I needed to budget or watch spending, and while I never got in trouble, I think I've been set back in cash savings because of this negligence.

No more.

Got rejected for the Heloc today. Back to the drawing board.

Net asset value for 2009 rose to $530146.10, give or take a few bucks. This is the first real yearly increase of any substance in two years. I wasn't crushed, but wasn't growing, either. There's a lot of room for improvement.

This year I'll plan to keep my to-do list manageable, before adding new goals/tasks. Right now the top three priorities are:
1. Rebalance/review 401(k) and brokerage holdings
2. Consolidate accounts
3. Taxes

Tangentially, I'll try to reduce costs where possible and be more mindful of spending. For instance, our Verizon bill is relatively high and we make only minuscule use of the features. Cable. Etc.

It's been a very long time and I've gotten off course financially, but now I'm aiming to get back through renewed discipline and focus. After tallying up my third-quarter figures and enduring the market tumult of the past two years, I think it's about time.

For the third quarter, net asset value totaled $508950.10. That is up markedly from earlier this year, largely due to stock-market appreciation. Surely the pace, if not the direction, can't be maintained, so it's probably time to take some money off the table and shore up cash positions.

Over the next two weeks, my goal is to strategize how to secure $25000 for a rainy day and repay a debt to my father of $7500. Of course, this must be done in the context of having to pay for a recent big-ticket purchase...

Cost of insurance

I passed up potentially better rates on car insurance today, simply because I ddidn't feel like doing the legwork and breaking a longtime relationship with my current insurer. Not sure if it's the right move or not.

I've been pretty cavalier about spending and saving lately, doing too much of the former and too little of the later. Maybe the third-quarter picture will jolt me into a new savings push.

I just filed for the homestead rebate, and should be getting a $500 check.

This reminds of two other outstanding rebates: the Energy Star A.C. rebate and the Verizon cellphone rebate. Semi-free money.

First-Half Review

First-half net asset value came in at $531,526.11, give or take.

While this represents about $20,000 in growth since the end of the first quarter and puts me ahead of pace for retirement planning, I am disappointed in a number of areas.

First, spending: Since moving to the new home, we've been spending with little regard for cost. In some way, I like this, since we do need to spend, but I think it's time to set up a plan and stick to it. Time to rein in some spending and do so more smartly.

Second, saving: Although we still put a fair sum into our 401k's, I've been terrible about formalizing a college savings plan and we've almost certainly been spending more than we take in each month of late. The cash cushion makes this barely perceptible, but it's dwindling and I have to prop this up and stop the bleeding.

Here's the breakdown:
- Cash and cash equivalents: $38,624.91
- Stock and bond holdings: $118,046.51
- Retirement savings: $282,917.17
- Personal holdings: $444,382.36
- Liabilities: $352,444.84

Retirement savings is the only category to have moved up since the end of the first period, although most of the declines were insignificant. The increase in retirement savings is attributable mostly to actual savings, as the stock-market hit late in the period no doubt drove down the value.

As for cash holdings, I will set $35K as the base for 6 months of expenses, and even then I think such a worst-case scenario would require a lifestyle tightening.

The goals for the second half, thus, must be aimed at curbing spending, increasing savings and investing wisely. Of course these are always the goals, but they had been, until now, unarticulated.