Climbing Out of Debt

Near $4,000.00 increase in my net worth - not a bad start to 2009 if I do say so myself. Well don't get used to this type of monthly report. This was a direct benefit of my end of the year bonus. Now this is where you would naturally say, "Hey, wait a minute, KC...what's this bonus talk?! Just a post or two ago you were talking about getting fired. What gives?

Yeah, I lucked out. Our year-end bonus is based upon that year's profitability in terms of a percentage of our annual pay and we did okay in 2008. Now the job insecurity is based a little bit on the 2009 outlook and some other issues I'm going through - namely the perception of my performance from my superiors. Can't please everyone, I guess. Anyway, that's a whole other post.

Now in terms of my bonus and just how it affected this months' net worth update. More than 70% of my bonus went directly to paying off credit card debt. The rest helped me buy some last minute Christmas gifts for my family.

You'll notice that my retirement account went up by a little more than $1,000. I assure you I did not contribute anything extra to that account. That is soley the benefit of a small and unexpected rebound. However, that being said there are a few expected (knock on wood) things that I can look forward to in the next few months such as a tax refund and the closing of at least one more credit card account which will help me speed up my snowball. So far, so good for '09...and yes I know it's only been 12 days.