A native Californian transplanted in southern Illinois.
And here is my net worth report. Dipped back under 100k again.
My house value has hit a new low. It seems I say that every month!
I hadn't checked Kelley Blue Book for my car value in a few months and was surprised that it booked a few hundred higher. I must have put in the wrong mileage last time.
March 2011 Net Worth
April 1st, 2011 at 05:22 am
April 1st, 2011 at 12:40 pm 1301658046
April 5th, 2011 at 12:01 am 1301958081
April 5th, 2011 at 03:49 am 1301971764
I started saving for retirement in 1998. For several years, it was just $20 per paycheck. For awhile there when I was still married, I was shoveling a lot into those accounts, as I knew single motherhood was in my future. I made a lot of mistakes with my investing choices in the early years, but as I didn't have much money invested, those mistakes didn't cost me too much and I learned from them. Once your principal starts to grow, it gets very important that you get the big stuff right (have a sensible asset allocation plan, watch your costs, do not try to time the markets).
Santa Cruz is more expensive than where I live(Modesto), so my dollars probably go a bit further than yours.
My suggestion is to start from where you are and try to increase the dollar amount you are saving, even if just a few dollars at a time. Make certain you are keeping costs as low as you can (costs eat into your money). If you feel you need to learn more about investing, I suggest the free investing classroom available at Morningstar. Some of the "classes" are very basic, some are more advanced.
http://www.morningstar.com/cover/start-investing.aspx