My Net Worth Update - End of 2015

My net worth increased from $574,595.14 to $643,161.31 from 12/31/14 to 12/31/15. In 2015, my net cash inflow (from active income less expenses) was $111,983.62. 

Organic growth = ($643,161.31 - $111,983.62) / $574,595.14 -1 = -7.56%.

Inorganic growth = $111,983.62 / $574,595.14 = 19.49%.

Organic growth corresponds to growth in my net worth from interest and dividends (passive income) and capital appreciation without infusion of new money; inorganic growth corresponds to growth due to new money infusion.

Ideally, I would like to see increase in my net worth primarily from organic growth, to be sustainable in the event I no longer have earned income. My return was horrible in 2015 and my net worth increase is solely due to inorganic growth, partly offset by the negative organic growth.

My liquid assets of $464,655.25 is currently 81% of my net worth, comprised of 7.7% cash, 3.0% bonds, and 89.2% stocks. My retirement accounts make up 26% of my net worth. My leverage is 101%, which is extremely conservative.

Income & Expenses For December 2015

Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. For perspective, this budget is for a household of two in a small US city. By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspirations for your own budget.

Below is my income and expenses for December and all of 2015. You can see all my monthly budgets here.

	Dec 2015	Cum 2015
Income
Wages	$8,422.47	$136,069.64
Dividends	$1,397.81	$11,801.95
Other Income	$1,098.07	$6,190.53
Total Income	$10,918.35	$154,062.12
Expense
Federal Tax	$397.20	$12,708.36
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)		-$683.12
FICA-SS	$356.13	$4,273.56
FICA-Medicare	$83.29	$999.48
Rent	$450.00	$5,400.00
Student loan repayment	$155.80	$1,900.79
Grocery	$58.89	$679.77
Gasoline		$133.20
Car Insurance		$254.40
Car Reg/Tax	$20.50	$22.50
Cell phone	$17.83	$214.58
Electric	$34.07	$508.63
Clothing/laundry	$11.50	$155.10
Donation		$12.00
Amazon sale costs	$9.16	$41.01
Ebay fee		$9.10
Other Expense		$184.74
Total Expense	$1,594.37	$26,814.10
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$757.75	$9,515.82
Surplus/(Deficit)	$9,323.98	$127,248.02
Before Tax Saving Rate	85.40%	82.60%
After Tax Saving Rate	92.48%	93.04%

Income
Dividend income on the high side this month, as most of my stocks pay dividends on the Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec cycle. Here is a chart of my dividend income by month in 2015:

Total dividends received in 2015 was $11,801.95, which was 20% higher than 2014's $9,843.75.

Expense
Expenses remained low this month. Student loan repayment will go up next month due to increase in interest rate.

Savings
My after tax saving rate was 92.48% for the month of December and 93.04% for the full year of 2015, which is great. My monthly savings rate for 2015 is shown below. I reached my goal of saving at least 90% of my income in 2015 and will set the same goal for 2016.

How's your budget? Did you save as much as you wanted to? On track to meet your savings goals for the year? 

Thanks for reading.

Portfolio Update December 2015

The time has come for my monthly portfolio update. At the end of every month, I will update my portfolio and comment on any changes. I do that for accountability and also so you may glean some ideas on how I allocate my capital. You have the opportunity to learn from what I do well, so you can do the same, as well as what I do poorly, so you will not have to repeat my mistakes.

My Current Portfolio Holdings, as of Dec 31, 2015:

Ticker	Current Price	Shares Held	Cost basis	Market Value	Weight	Dividend Yield TTM
BDX	$154.09	157.10	$13,686.55	$24,207.54	5.29%	1.60%
VWO	$32.71	615.82	$24,965.34	$20,143.47	4.40%	3.24%
AFL	$59.90	252.26	$13,142.75	$15,110.37	3.30%	2.64%
XOM	$77.94	186.01	$16,223.79	$14,497.62	3.17%	3.69%
EXC	$27.79	498.10	$15,221.94	$13,842.20	3.03%	4.47%
MCD	$118.14	107.41	$9,939.72	$12,689.42	2.77%	2.91%
AZN	$33.95	344.45	$7,612.35	$11,694.08	2.56%	4.12%
EMR	$47.83	228.45	$12,649.28	$10,926.76	2.39%	3.94%
LMT	$217.20	44.57	$4,715.95	$9,680.60	2.12%	2.83%
WMT	$61.31	152.76	$10,062.30	$9,365.72	2.05%	3.20%
MHFI	$98.58	86.89	$4,419.23	$8,565.62	1.87%	1.34%
BRK.B	$131.96	64.81	$7,363.06	$8,552.33	1.87%	0.00%
BMTC	$28.72	281.27	$7,206.14	$8,078.07	1.77%	2.72%
NSC	$84.59	83.65	$6,610.02	$7,075.95	1.55%	2.79%
INTC	$34.45	199.39	$5,132.30	$6,868.99	1.50%	2.79%
MAT	$27.17	248.89	$7,401.99	$6,762.34	1.48%	5.59%
MSFT	$55.48	119.52	$4,325.43	$6,630.97	1.45%	2.33%
CVX	$89.95	71.00	$7,016.93	$6,386.45	1.40%	4.76%
MOCO	$14.54	431.07	$6,427.25	$6,267.76	1.37%	3.01%
ESLT	$88.33	70.54	$2,576.83	$6,230.80	1.36%	1.63%
UL	$43.12	143.67	$5,999.66	$6,195.05	1.35%	3.06%
SON	$40.87	143.54	$5,338.25	$5,866.48	1.28%	3.35%
PEP	$99.90	56.75	$4,528.65	$5,669.33	1.24%	2.76%
T	$34.40	162.93	$5,319.66	$5,604.79	1.22%	5.46%
PEG	$38.68	139.91	$4,947.22	$5,411.72	1.18%	4.03%
CINF	$59.17	91.00	$4,684.68	$5,384.47	1.18%	3.11%
PG	$79.39	67.27	$4,630.87	$5,340.57	1.17%	3.31%
YORW	$24.94	206.15	$4,228.14	$5,141.38	1.12%	2.42%
VIG	$77.76	60.71	$3,646.24	$4,720.81	1.03%	2.34%
VEA	$36.72	126.04	$3,940.01	$4,628.19	1.01%	2.91%
OGZPY	$3.67	1,248.78	$7,954.73	$4,583.02	1.00%	6.14%
ABBV	$59.23	76.00	$4,684.64	$4,501.48	0.98%	3.41%
SAN	$4.87	915.31	$6,260.72	$4,457.56	0.97%	9.07%
CHL	$56.33	78.05	$3,717.52	$4,396.56	0.96%	3.33%
HCP	$38.24	113.00	$5,202.52	$4,321.12	0.94%	5.91%
NUE	$40.30	107.00	$4,684.46	$4,312.10	0.94%	3.70%
ED	$64.26	67.00	$4,684.64	$4,305.42	0.94%	4.05%
DV	$25.31	167.07	$3,695.59	$4,228.54	0.92%	1.42%
BCR	$189.44	20.53	$2,052.59	$3,889.20	0.85%	0.49%
BBL	$22.65	165.90	$5,733.50	$3,757.64	0.82%	10.95%
K	$72.27	51.10	$2,904.52	$3,693.00	0.81%	2.74%
GIS	$57.66	62.89	$2,768.42	$3,626.24	0.79%	3.00%
NKE	$62.51	57.14	$2,650.15	$3,571.82	0.78%	0.93%
HIMX	$8.20	421.22	$1,069.90	$3,454.00	0.75%	3.66%
JNJ	$102.72	32.90	$2,058.55	$3,379.49	0.74%	2.87%
HPE	$15.18	220.82	$2,157.41	$3,352.05	0.73%	0.36%
KO	$42.95	77.32	$3,199.50	$3,320.89	0.73%	3.07%
BUD	$125.00	25.71	$2,849.95	$3,213.75	0.70%	3.16%
RBCAA	$26.41	118.94	$2,508.44	$3,141.21	0.69%	2.96%
DGS	$35.08	83.87	$3,691.12	$2,942.16	0.64%	3.24%
VALE	$3.29	894.25	$9,532.71	$2,942.08	0.64%	2.95%
VFC	$62.25	46.76	$3,100.19	$2,910.81	0.64%	2.14%
LUKOY	$32.49	89.42	$4,412.88	$2,905.26	0.63%	7.90%
WBA	$85.15	33.43	$1,243.26	$2,846.56	0.62%	1.64%
CSX	$25.95	108.27	$2,272.59	$2,809.61	0.61%	2.70%
HPQ	$11.84	230.36	$2,098.58	$2,727.46	0.60%	5.37%
LLY	$84.24	28.91	$1,065.91	$2,435.38	0.53%	2.37%
FNDE	$18.34	129.85	$3,199.50	$2,381.45	0.52%	2.01%
PNY	$57.02	41.11	$1,535.87	$2,344.09	0.51%	2.31%
AGNC	$17.34	130.35	$2,639.59	$2,260.27	0.49%	14.30%
PPL	$34.13	65.78	$2,020.76	$2,245.07	0.49%	4.39%
SKM	$20.15	110.63	$1,454.78	$2,229.19	0.49%	4.68%
CEO	$104.38	21.29	$3,080.88	$2,222.25	0.49%	7.04%
PAYX	$52.89	38.99	$1,466.02	$2,062.18	0.45%	3.03%
SBRCY	$5.79	346.00	$2,138.28	$2,003.34	0.44%	0.56%
TOT	$44.90	40.72	$2,124.36	$1,828.33	0.40%	6.01%
IBM	$137.58	13.02	$1,923.84	$1,791.29	0.39%	3.63%
BP	$31.25	57.32	$2,236.63	$1,791.25	0.39%	7.68%
VMI	$106.02	16.52	$1,907.40	$1,751.45	0.38%	1.41%
CIG.C	$1.74	1,001.67	$3,405.68	$1,742.91	0.38%	6.70%
JOY	$12.61	136.00	$1,705.44	$1,714.96	0.37%	4.84%
SGTZY	$4.56	371.00	$2,392.95	$1,691.76	0.37%	2.22%
TESS	$19.47	86.73	$1,077.19	$1,688.63	0.37%	4.11%
SC	$15.85	105.00	$1,840.65	$1,664.25	0.36%	0.00%
TLK	$44.40	36.14	$1,162.62	$1,604.62	0.35%	2.54%
RDS.A	$45.79	34.17	$2,178.68	$1,564.64	0.34%	8.21%
APOL	$7.67	194.00	$3,686.00	$1,487.98	0.33%	0.00%
TLSYY	$20.32	72.99	$1,087.55	$1,483.16	0.32%	5.53%
OGS	$50.17	28.69	$1,041.45	$1,439.38	0.31%	2.39%
SBS	$4.60	307.00	$1,510.44	$1,412.20	0.31%	0.00%
VIAB	$41.16	31.59	$1,750.09	$1,300.24	0.28%	3.72%
NAT	$15.54	82.75	$1,617.76	$1,285.94	0.28%	8.88%
DO	$21.10	59.44	$2,031.06	$1,254.18	0.27%	2.37%
PKX	$35.36	35.13	$1,930.74	$1,242.20	0.27%	1.19%
PBR	$4.30	285.38	$2,562.71	$1,227.13	0.27%	0.00%
MDLZ	$44.84	27.29	$486.03	$1,223.68	0.27%	1.43%
BVN	$4.28	282.50	$2,607.48	$1,209.10	0.26%	0.00%
HCN	$68.03	17.39	$1,081.31	$1,183.04	0.26%	4.85%
RYAM	$9.79	106.83	$2,890.82	$1,045.87	0.23%	2.86%
OAOFY	$26.44	38.00	$1,086.42	$1,004.72	0.22%	3.78%
CICHY	$13.61	73.00	$995.72	$993.53	0.22%	7.23%
STRA	$60.12	16.00	$768.00	$961.92	0.21%	0.00%
BCMXY	$18.00	52.00	$835.64	$936.00	0.20%	6.14%
BRGYY	$14.52	64.00	$1,011.20	$929.28	0.20%	1.98%
VSS	$92.87	10.00	$878.20	$928.70	0.20%	2.66%
DTEGY	$17.88	50.94	$637.26	$910.81	0.20%	3.15%
MRK	$52.82	17.24	$597.71	$910.62	0.20%	3.43%
PDLI	$3.54	255.36	$1,544.93	$903.97	0.20%	16.95%
MBT	$6.18	142.00	$1,525.08	$877.56	0.19%	13.32%
MYTAY	$6.94	124.00	$1,634.32	$860.56	0.19%	0.00%
KSS	$47.65	18.05	$850.16	$860.08	0.19%	3.78%
FSBK	$8.56	100.29	$453.31	$858.48	0.19%	1.17%
BEN	$36.82	22.00	$960.08	$810.04	0.18%	1.71%
OJSCY	$3.41	236.00	$1,109.20	$804.76	0.18%	4.23%
FTD	$26.17	30.00	$967.50	$785.10	0.17%	0.00%
GSH	$24.72	31.59	$597.37	$780.90	0.17%	1.65%
ITYBY	$105.75	7.16	$448.36	$757.17	0.17%	5.36%
POT	$17.11	43.87	$1,279.25	$750.62	0.16%	8.70%
AEO	$15.50	45.30	$549.94	$702.15	0.15%	3.23%
KHC	$72.76	9.58	$312.40	$697.04	0.15%	1.55%
CTL	$25.16	27.47	$1,068.03	$691.15	0.15%	8.59%
PTR	$65.59	10.31	$1,086.47	$676.23	0.15%	3.88%
MPC	$51.84	13.03	$290.44	$675.48	0.15%	2.20%
DRI	$63.66	10.34	$532.10	$658.24	0.14%	3.46%
SCL	$49.69	13.00	$499.98	$645.97	0.14%	1.47%
BFR	$19.08	33.32	$369.85	$635.75	0.14%	0.00%
SWRAY	$11.33	53.35	$610.32	$604.46	0.13%	4.46%
TLKGY	$16.50	36.34	$711.90	$599.61	0.13%	4.18%
CRC	$2.34	255.00	$1,259.70	$596.70	0.13%	1.29%
ARLP	$13.49	41.00	$1,093.88	$553.09	0.12%	19.74%
PNW	$64.48	8.51	$374.10	$548.72	0.12%	3.74%
EZPW	$4.99	109.00	$997.35	$543.91	0.12%	0.00%
IDCBY	$11.96	45.00	$548.10	$538.20	0.12%	6.99%
PB	$47.86	11.00	$499.73	$526.46	0.12%	2.33%
ICE	$256.26	2.03	$173.02	$520.21	0.11%	1.13%
HSY	$89.27	5.81	$525.34	$518.66	0.11%	2.50%
RAD	$7.84	66.00	$528.00	$517.44	0.11%	0.00%
MPLX	$39.33	13.00	$221.52	$511.29	0.11%	4.33%
MWE	$41.53	12.26	$0.00	$509.16	0.11%	0.00%
BACHY	$11.09	45.00	$495.00	$499.05	0.11%	7.00%
NUS	$37.89	12.07	$490.04	$457.33	0.10%	3.69%
NTT	$39.74	11.12	$248.42	$441.91	0.10%	1.94%
HNNMY	$7.07	61.56	$403.22	$435.23	0.10%	3.35%
CPLP	$5.52	75.76	$646.23	$418.20	0.09%	17.07%
TSCDY	$6.59	63.00	$504.00	$415.17	0.09%	0.00%
SJI	$23.52	16.98	$402.60	$399.37	0.09%	4.33%
E	$29.80	13.00	$518.44	$387.40	0.08%	7.13%
ABEV	$4.46	85.02	$510.97	$379.19	0.08%	0.80%
OPTI	$0.58	600.00	$1,392.00	$348.00	0.08%	0.00%
EVEP	$2.81	123.76	$1,211.61	$347.77	0.08%	71.17%
MRO	$12.59	27.26	$514.40	$343.20	0.08%	5.40%
RAVN	$15.60	22.00	$497.20	$343.20	0.08%	3.33%
ATW	$10.23	33.00	$495.00	$337.59	0.07%	9.78%
CQP	$26.07	12.93	$223.17	$337.09	0.07%	6.52%
ELNK	$7.42	45.36	$369.68	$336.57	0.07%	2.69%
CACQ	$6.81	48.00	$504.00	$326.88	0.07%	0.00%
DYN	$13.40	24.00	$764.16	$321.60	0.07%	0.00%
POM	$26.01	12.14	$194.36	$315.76	0.07%	4.15%
OIBR	$0.46	682.30	$3,008.94	$313.86	0.07%	0.00%
APA	$44.49	7.03	$475.93	$312.76	0.07%	2.25%
GPS	$24.70	11.74	$300.07	$289.98	0.06%	3.68%
CIG	$1.50	184.45	$959.14	$276.68	0.06%	0.00%
SB	$0.81	314.89	$2,260.91	$255.06	0.06%	9.88%
IEMG	$39.39	6.25	$316.44	$246.19	0.05%	2.51%
TPUB	$9.22	26.00	$494.00	$239.72	0.05%	7.59%
LYG	$4.36	50.00	$162.00	$218.00	0.05%	2.11%
IAG	$1.42	150.00	$253.50	$213.00	0.05%	0.00%
NGLS	$16.53	12.50	$212.00	$206.63	0.05%	19.84%
TGT	$72.61	2.57	$149.75	$186.61	0.04%	2.97%
BND	$80.76	2.23	$177.82	$180.09	0.04%	2.48%
CLD	$2.08	82.00	$993.02	$170.56	0.04%	0.00%
QCCO	$1.46	113.87	$412.21	$166.25	0.04%	0.00%
CEL	$6.20	23.13	$644.40	$143.41	0.03%	0.00%
BCS	$12.96	11.00	$163.13	$142.56	0.03%	3.07%
AMC	$24.01	5.56	$100.08	$133.50	0.03%	3.33%
LC	$11.05	10.00	$150.00	$110.50	0.02%	0.00%
MVC	$7.37	11.69	$105.56	$86.16	0.02%	7.33%
SOUHY	$3.82	20.00	$180.00	$76.40	0.02%	0.00%
WPG	$10.61	7.00	$123.13	$74.27	0.02%	8.11%
ISHC	$1.45	37.06	$796.42	$53.74	0.01%	0.00%
LGCY	$1.75	29.19	$439.89	$51.08	0.01%	83.43%
TLN	$6.23	8.00	$123.52	$49.84	0.01%	0.00%
BK	$41.22	1.08	$27.26	$44.52	0.01%	1.65%
GOOGL	$778.01	0.05	$27.24	$38.90	0.01%	0.00%
ZAHLY	$0.25	118.00	$200.60	$29.50	0.01%	0.00%
ALN	$1.22	15.00	$31.65	$18.30	0.00%	0.00%
BKS	$8.71	1.00	$8.70	$8.71	0.00%	3.44%
BPI	$7.61	1.00	$17.85	$7.61	0.00%	0.00%
BBEP	$0.67	1.50	$20.36	$1.01	0.00%	87.05%
NUOT	$0.05	10.00	$5.00	$0.50	0.00%	0.00%
LPHIQ	$0.00	130.10	$870.37	$0.00	0.00%	0.00%
			$451,019.36	$457,571.38	100.00%	3.44%

As of Dec 31, 2015, my portfolio contains 181 holdings, valued at $457,571.38. This is a increase of $12,602.95, or 2.83%, over portfolio value of $444,968.43 a month ago.

My transactions in December are listed as follows:

Stock	Action	Cost	Price per share	Impact
BAMM	Sold Out	-$4,537.50	-$3.25	-0.99%
JOY	Add	$1,581.04	$12.35	0.35%
BBL	Add	$1,096.75	$21.94	0.24%
OGZPY	Add	$500.00	$4.00	0.11%
XOM	Add	$299.56	$78.00	0.07%
MPLX	New Buy	$221.50	$17.04	0.05%
EMR	Add	$218.03	$47.70	0.05%
EXC	Add	$215.49	$26.04	0.05%
WMT	Add	$200.00	$58.85	0.04%
SJI	Add	$152.74	$23.17	0.03%
BRK.B	Add	$150.00	$136.26	0.03%
MCD	Add	$150.00	$118.13	0.03%
VIAB	Add	$150.00	$40.41	0.03%
VMI	Add	$150.00	$107.76	0.03%
NSC	Add	$149.23	$86.36	0.03%
BDX	Add	$100.00	$157.30	0.02%
BMTC	Add	$100.00	$28.09	0.02%
BUD	Add	$100.00	$128.35	0.02%
INTC	Add	$100.00	$35.20	0.02%
KO	Add	$100.00	$43.84	0.02%
MAT	Add	$100.00	$24.72	0.02%
MOCO	Add	$100.00	$14.62	0.02%
MSFT	Add	$100.00	$55.93	0.02%
NKE	Add	$100.00	$132.42	0.02%
PEP	Add	$100.00	$99.91	0.02%
UL	Add	$100.00	$43.26	0.02%
VFC	Add	$100.00	$62.74	0.02%
YORW	Add	$100.00	$23.58	0.02%
FCPT	Sold Out	-$68.99	-$23.00	-0.02%
SON	Add	$49.03	$41.99	0.01%
MWE	Sold Out	-$31.04	-$2.59	-0.01%
MHFI	Add	$29.00	$94.89	0.01%
K	Add	$22.93	$71.43	0.01%
HCN	Add	$14.15	$58.23	0.00%
ESLT	Add	$0.16	$84.21	0.00%
RDSA	Add	$0.14	$46.67	0.00%
		$2,012.22		1.45%

Net cash inflow was $2,012.22 during this period. Factoring out the cash inflow, my portfolio returned 2.38% in December.

Purchases
This was a quieter month in terms of activities compared to the prior couple months. I added to my stake in Joy Global, BHP Billiton, and Gazprom, which are deep value bets. MPLX is a new holding from closing of the Markwest Energy L.P. merger. The rest of my purchases are mostly either part of my monthly investment plan, or dividend reinvestment.

Sales

Acquisition of Books-a-Million was completed, giving me a small loss. Acquisition of Markwest Energy L.P. was completed, giving me a small gain. I sold Four Corners in my IRA to concentrate my holdings in that account.

Turnover was 1.45% in December. 

My monthly performance against the S & P 500 is shown below:

2015	My Portfolio Return	S & P 500 TR
Jan	-1.52%	-2.99%
Feb	1.90%	5.75%
Mar	-2.71%	-1.57%
Apr	3.25%	0.96%
May	-2.39%	1.29%
Jun	-3.59%	-1.93%
Jul	-4.05%	2.10%
Aug	-5.20%	-6.03%
Sep	2.97%	-2.47%
Oct	1.54%	8.45%
Nov	-4.35%	0.31%
Dec	2.38%	-2.13%
YTD	-11.65%	0.89%

I trailed the index by 12.54% in 2015. This was a bad year for me. My concentration in value stocks and foreign stocks did not pay off, but I plan on sticking with my investing style which should pay off eventually as reversion to the mean takes hold.

What do you think about my portfolio? Thanks for reading.