| Global Economy: The EU continues to be a huge problem. It looks to me like the Euro is about to fail. What if that happens? I don't think anyone knows for sure, but my best guess is that it hurts everyone since most of our domestic growth is now tied to the rest of the world. It used to be "if the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold." It's likely that we have joined the rest of the world -- i.e., our fate is tied to theirs.
Local Economy: While Arizona is not doing terribly well, it's probably not much worse off than most of the country. That said, the home next door to mine sold this month for $1,425,000. Although the square footage is the same, my home is on a much bigger lot and has gorgeous, mature grounds and landscaping that make it much more desirable. This sale, along with others in the area, clearly support the value of my primary residence. In fact, I am probably undervaluing it by at least $100,000.
On that note, I think its important to note that I look at the cash-out value when valuing these types of assets. That is, I base my values to include the transaction costs of a sale so a $1,400,000 value on a property means it would really have to sell for about $1,475,000 since there are about $75,000 in anticipated transaction costs.
I am also aware that I'd need to sell my primary home for $1.7MM to break even after all improvement expenses I put into it. But I also consider that I "get to live here all the while." And that is worth something too.
Business: I have a friend that is unemployed in banking and it's been hard to watch him seek a new position for the last 9 months, but my business has never been better. My firm will have its best year ever.
Personal: I'm about to cross the threshold ... and turn 40. It's hard to believe, really. I don't feel 40, and when I meet people "my age" they look older to me. I'm not them. They're not me.
In any event, I am very please (and proud) to see that I will be making my personal goal of $4.0MM by 40 in the next few months (January-February 2012). I'd have made it sooner, but I made some expensive mistakes in 2009 (in the stock market) and had some bad personal investments in 2010.
The next milestone is $10.0MM by 50. I have a plan to achieve this goal and, in fact, hope to make it $10.0MM in "liquid assets" by that time, i.e., excluding the value of my business, my single largest asset. This will bring other aspects of my net worth into equilibrium. |