Sorry for this late update. I could make elaborate excuses, but let’s not waste your time (*^_^*;)
The following details are my financial summary for the month of January, 2012. The first month of the year is when the gov’t assesses our home’s values. This is also the time I make adjustments to my apartment value for my net worth calculations. I calculate the value by taking my original purchase price in 2009 and add inflation to it every year. This year, I will raise my home’s price by $5,000 to $248,000. The assessed valued is actually more, and the market value is even higher than that, but let’s stay on the conservative side. As for stocks, I’ve decided to make my holdings easier to understand from now on. In the past I would add the net equity value of my margin account (securities minus loans) to my stock’s total, but now I will add the market value of all my securities held in my margin and move the margin loan under the Liabilities column. This doesn’t change my net worth of course. I’m just shuffling things around to show a better picture of what’s going on inside my investments. Numbers below.
- Part-Time Work = $400
- Dividends = $400
- Eating Out = $100
- Others = $300
*Net Worth: (MoM)
- Assets:
- Cash = $2,100 (-$2,200)
- Stocks = $71,800 (+$5,700) $16,700 added from margin securities.
- RRSP = $21,500 (+$300)
- Home = $248,000 (+$5,000)
- Liabilities:
- Mortgage = $208,200 (-$300)
- Margin Loan = $16,700 (new)
- Bank Loans = $5,400 (-$1,700)
*Total Net Worth = $113,100 (+10.56%)
* Numbers are rounded to the nearest $100.
That’s an increase in wealth of more than
$10,000 in 1 month. A couple weeks ago I wrote that one of my
financial goals in 2012 is to grow my net worth by
$40,000. Looks like I’m off to a good start ＼(^o^)／ It’s important to set goals.
It will push you to do amazing things. I love doing fiscal updates for January because on my net worth graph, every January since I bought my home shows a bigger jump than normal months. This is the
new year bump. Jan is one of the 4 months in a year when my
dividends are higher than normal due to the mix of quarterly dividend stocks I hold. I spent a lot of money on CDs and restaurants and blew my discretionary budget for the month :0( I used up some cash to buy
Goldcorp and pay down some debt. My stocks did well because the markets did well. My recent swing trade also helped with that. Home, like I mentioned earlier increased in price too because this is Vancouver after all. I’m glad I bought my home with a 5% downpayment rather 20%. Not only would 20% take longer to save for, but I would need to save
additional money just to keep up with growing prices in the last 3 years. It’s not an issue of strategic timing though. I time the stock market sometimes because I can handle losing a couple thousand dollars. But
I wouldn’t time buying my primary home because I can’t afford to be homeless (>_<) Buy buying early I save on rent, am protected from inflation, and will build up equity by regularly paying down the principle on my mortgage. I bought in 2009 simply because I wanted to move out, and I wanted to pay down my own mortgage rather than help someone else with their’s. But everyone’s different. If you travel around a lot for your job and don’t have a permanent city, then this plan probably wouldn’t work for you ヽ（´ー｀）┌ My bank loans include an RRSP loan and a LOC. Looking forward to see what surprises February will bring.
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my net worth also went up about $10k in January… It’s just a market bounce which I hope continues! Sadly with your number reassessment, you’ve pulled ahead of me on that net worth number, and you’re 10+ years my junior. You are WELL on your way my friend.
Thanks Cam. Wow if your net worth increased that much without a big boost from
housing speculationreal estate reassessment then you are one good securities picker. Yes I hope this market trend continues as well (^_^)I’m very REIT heavy in my porfolio… so I guess it’s the same!
I wouldn’t say I’m a great picker… but I do look for consistent track records, sound balance sheets and steady dividend payments for the bulk of my holdings.
And I do like to buy more when the markets are freaking out… I made a couple near steals in October during the big dip.
Wow, you did awesome in January! That’s a huge increase.
Thank you miss. I’ve just been fortunate that the financial markets moved in the right direction. You’ve accomplished some pretty amazing things in January yourself!
Saw your article on the G&M, NICE WORK!!!
Hey Simple Rich Living, I didn’t know you read G&M too. I got pretty lucky because it’s all thanks to Larry MacDonald for giving me the chance to share my story. Some of the readers’ comments on that article was really supportive as well.
Congrats on the G&M article. Just ignore most of the comments, that’s what I did. I think a lot of them just sit at their computer all day and have a hate on for life.
Thanks for the support :0) I didn’t realize so many of my blogging acquaintances read the G&M. I’m surprised how many comments that article received. Good luck with your migration to WP.
congrats on your hardwork man. I read the g&m religiously and i noticed your article. we also agree on most things financially. like you, i am a SAVER. a word of caution for you: your best move was a short hold. beware not to base your understanding of market effects on such a narrow timeframe or you will end up jumping in and out of the market all the time (gambling). Real money is earned by accumulating positions over time and picking up more on dips and having dividends reinvested. its not a sexy as trading in a month but its the snowball effect that is most powerfull. from an article on the G&M awhile back, Enstein said the most important concept in the universe is compound interest. my situation: age:26 2008 – graduated , started work, earned 40k, invested 5k in a GICRRSP (i blew a lot on weed) 2009 – earned 46k 2010 – 76k 2011 -139k With my savings, i put 70k down on a condo on whyte ave in edmonton, worth 280k (a little much of a dp, i agree) i got a 5-year variable at 2.1% I currently have 10k cash, 85k stocks (breakdown below),… Read more »
Wow, your accomplishments are amazing. Looks like we have many similarities in our investment strategies. I also own Suncor and Teck Resources (^_^)
That’s really cool you understand the importance of living within one’s means and you can live off just $2200 per month. But I’m most impressed with your income growth. Thanks for dropping by. Hope to get an update from you again in the future.
Cool man. Are you looking at any stocks right now? I think you made a good buy with G…. apparently miners are currently out of favor because of low production increase forecasts….
I’m waiting for another pullback on the TSX… personally, what i would like at this point is for greece to have an unorganized default, spiral the EU out of controll and pick things up mad cheap with margin (like 2009). althought I don’t think this is going to happen. But i do see another pullback on the tsx. I think the dow on the other hand has some room for improvement, given the low expectations and the the recent positive surprises in housing and employment.
Not watching any stocks at the moment. But opportunity could come at any time. If we see a pull back like you said then I will be sure to keep an eye out for any low hanging fruit (ツ)
At 113k net worth, your beating the Dividend Girl at her own game.
Congrad, courageous home owner 🙂
But the Dividend Girl has a bigger portfolio (^_~). When the market starts to perform better her assets will grow a lot faster than mine. It will exciting to see if she can hit $200K this year!
[…] was +$9,600. I remember being so excited (゜o゜) But last year in 2012, it was even higher at +$10,800. I didn’t think things would get any better than that. Yet this year in the month of January […]
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