Starting Net Worth: $143,078
March brought one major financial event for us. We received our 2024 tax refund, which came in at about $5,000. While it was frustrating to realize we had overpaid so much during the year, we viewed the refund as an opportunity to make meaningful progress on our financial goals. Instead of spending it, we put the entire $5,000 toward debt repayment.
This is something we often teach our clients. When you receive extra money, you have three choices: save it, use it to pay off debt, or spend it. Only one of those options does not help you improve your financial life. For us, applying the refund to our debt felt like the best way to move closer to our goals and reduce the portion of our income that must go toward mandatory payments each month. To prevent large refunds in the future, we also adjusted our payroll withholding so more of our money reaches us throughout the year instead of being returned at tax time.
The stock market continued its downward trend in March, which caused our investment balances to decline despite our ongoing contributions. Because we have experienced market downturns before, we stayed focused on our long term plan. History has repeatedly shown that remaining invested and continuing to buy during market dips is one of the most effective strategies for long term growth. With that in mind, we stuck to our plan and kept investing while we waited for the next rebound.
Ending Net Worth: $146,181
None of the above information is a recommendation. This blog is purely intended as commentary on things that have happened along our financial journey.