It’s time for that monthly financial review again, where I make sure I’m keeping up with my short-term financial goals. I generally break things down by evaluating my assets, my debts, and then my net worth, and then using these numbers, I attempt to set goals for the coming month. This is a useful exercise for everyone to do, simply so they can keep tabs on their overall assets and debts and make sure that they are consistently heading in the right direction. Let’s break it down.

Assets My assets increased in value only 1.7% this month. That untimely dip in the stock market on February 27 turned a nice month into a so-so month, but I can’t complain too much, as The Simple Dollar is starting to show some real financial rewards for the time invested in it.

Debts My debts dropped 3% this month. I was able to pay off an outstanding balance from a business trip that was sitting on my credit card at the end of last month. I probably won’t be able to match this reduction in future months, though, as the reduction was aided by a check that reimbursed the trip, applied directly to that credit card.

Net Worth With my assets going up and my debts going down, it was a good month for my net worth (assets minus debts). A 9% increase is very, very nice for the month, but now that my net worth is starting to actually build fairly nicely, the percentage increases aren’t jumping as much as they used to even though the dollar bump is healthy each month.

Last Month’s Goals (see last month’s review)
1. An asset increase of 1.5% I beat this goal with an asset increase of 1.7%. I would have done much better without the stock market volatility, though.
2. A debt reduction of 3% On the other hand, I was incredibly proud to meet this metric, as it made me realize that I am making real progress towards debt elimination.

Since I met both goals this month, I’m going to set higher goals for the next month. By doing this, I keep myself vigilant.

This Month’s Goals
1. An asset increase of 1.5% I simply want to maintain my rate of asset growth because I’m setting a big target for the debt…
2. A debt reduction of 5% As my debt gets closer and closer to zero, it becomes easier to hit monthly rates. So let’s set a big nice one and see if I can meet it. This will give me something to think about this month.