April was a pretty eventful month financially. Gold had a big correction but has regained some of its loss now. Many companies which I own shares in such as Apple and Suncor reported their quarterly earnings. Most were good news 😉 Precious metals and other commodities were cheaper in April due to slower than anticipated growth in Asia. Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite index fell about 2% but the S&P500 in the US gained about 2%. Part of the reason why my portfolio didn’t do worse is because over $50K of my stocks are US companies 🙂 I love investing in Canada, but it’s important to diversify.
I also did my income taxes and received a nice tax return of just under $1K. This is thanks to the large sum of RRSP contribution I made last year (about $10K.) Thank you CRA 😀 I will use this money wisely by not spending it on expensive souvenirs like I did last month.
But the biggest impact to my net worth in April was when I found out that farmland in Saskatchewan grew by nearly 20% last year and increased the value of my farm by $2,500. I love investing in stocks, but again, diversification is paramount 😀
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- Part-Time Work = $400
- Dividends = $400
*Discretionary Spending:
- Eating Out = $100
- Others = $2,400 (bought a silver coin)
*Net Worth: (MoM)
- Assets: = $577,200 total (+$27,200)
- Cash = $1,500 (-$700)
- Stocks CDN =$80,800 (+$5,700)
- Stocks US = $40,500 (+$1,700)
- RRSP = $32,600 (+$700)
- Home = $252,000 (same)
- Farm 1 = $152,500 (+2,500)
- Farm 2 = $17,300 (new)
- Liabilities: = $411,100 total (+21,000)
- Mortgage = $203,200 (-$300)
- Farm 1 Loan = $110,900 (-$300)
- Margin Loan CDN = $26,200 (+$3,700)
- Margin Loan US = $22,900 (+$100)
- TD Line of Credit = $33,900 (+14,900)
- CIBC Line of Credit = $14,000 (+4000)
*Total Net Worth = $166,100 (+3.2%)
All numbers above are in CAD. Conversion rate used: 1.00 USD = 1.01 CAD
On the Assets side I’ve bought about $7K of new stocks in my Canadian portfolio for the swing trade which I started a couple weeks ago. Otherwise the portfolio would have decreased in value instead of increased. On the Liabilities side I’ve borrowed some money in my Canadian margin account for the swing trade. Borrowed about $19K between my two line of credits most of which was used to pay for the farm deposit which you all know about from my post earlier this week. I’m going to consolidate my debt later this year so it’s less messy 🙂
Overall, that’s a $5,200 net worth increase in one month so I’m pretty happy with that (^.^) Thank goodness for property appreciation, a tax return, dividends, diversification, a part-time job, and savings. I almost feel guilty because most of that stuff just happened automatically without me even doing anything 🙂
That’s the way I feel about my own net worth increase this month as well!
I have a feeling next month will be even better for us 😀
Amen. 🙂
$166,000+ Net Worth. NICE !!! 200K seems just around the corner for you (hopefully later this year) I better buy some farmland before you pass me 🙂
Farmland is really expensive around Ontario, but for some reason the price there is still growing at double digits. Well my goal for this year was to reach 190K which would represent a decent $50K net worth increase, but now that you mention it, I think I might go for $200K just for fun (^_^)
If you take you house out of the asset column you actually have a negative net worth. Remember a house is the bank ‘s asset (they make money off your mortage interest) therefore it is actually a liability for you. Same analogy with income and expenses. I am not against people owning houses but as Kiyosaki says “If you stop working, assets FEED you and liabilities EAT you”
1. do you even know how net worth is calculated? if you take away the house from asset side, you also take away the mortgage from liability side. 2. house is NOT bank’s asset. MORTGAGE is an asset on the bank’s books. your mortgage is secured against the house. on banks balance sheet, liabilities are deposits. assets are loans like mortgages. on a person’s balance sheet, the mortgage is a liability, the house is an asset. 3. Kiyosaki is not someone that gets you credibility when you quote him. he’s a shill not much different than the likes of Peter Schiff
If your house is an asset, than so his your car, boat, truck and golf clubs. Basically these are liabilities that people think are assets, which Kiyosaki refers to as Doodads. Your personal residence is not an asset as it takes money out of your pocket every month. You have to pay insurance, upkeep, maintenance and the mortage if you still have the mortgage. If you stop working, your personal residence doesn’t pay you money. Kiyosaki is not against owning a house for you personal residence.
A rental property is an asset if it is cashflow positive. Its mortage would be in your liability column. This for for an example.
People are entitled to go with the traditional way where they consider there house an asset or Kiyosaki’s way. Putting this aside, the important thing is the income your assets generate.
Net Worth = assets – liabilities
wow talk about regurgitation of Kiyosaki
by Kiyosaki’s definition, gold, cash, are all not considered assets, because they dont generate any cash flow, and cost money to hold onto. by his definition, things like intellectual property, copyright, land, hard commodities, are all not assets, because they dont generate cash flow
you’re confusing the specific terms productive asset with generalization of asset, which is anything with economic value.
just like a stock includes both dividends (cash flow) and appreciation (capital gains), assets can produce income, and gain in value. the capital gain in value is typically correlated with the expected potential cash flow of the asset, even if the asset is currently unutilized. this doesnt mean the asset isnt an asset, just that its currently unproductive.
Kiyosaki is an inspirational speaker who’s main business is selling books and seminars. his credibility in the investment community is practically nil.
Interesting, but I don’t buy it. I own my house, mortgage free now… Does it count as an asset now?
Now on to the guy who likes to sell you thoughts and knowledge – You may want to look into his background a little, as he is not quite the guy who i’d trust for advice, although some of his ideas do have merit, I’d be interested to know how much he really lived by what he preached. Liquid is well on his way to being a financial superstar, maybe one day i’ll be teaching my son with him as the example – Cheers.
Good point anonymous, I’m not generating any income from my home at the moment. I was thinking about renting out one of my bedrooms but decided I value privacy more than the extra income :0). Nicely said Alex. That’s exactly how the banks do their balance sheets :0) I think it’s a matter of semantics. The words “asset” and “liability” can have different interpretations. For the purposes of accounting and making a balance sheet I think assets should include a primary residence. Otherwise someone’s net worth might fluctuate a lot if they make a lump sum mortgage payment or when they move. But if we’re not talking about wealth, net worth, or the balance sheet of personal finances then it’s important to realize what we have and how much income we can generate from those productive assets to see how sustainable our financial situations are. You’ve both made some interesting points (^_^) It could be a coincidence but my friend just went to one of Kiyosaki’s talks a couple days ago. She said she left the presentation early after it started to turn into a sales pitch for his new book lol. But now I’m kind of curious to read… Read more »
nice job man! keep it up! the most important thing to building wealth is time. 🙂
Yup, good thing we young people still have lots of it 😀 If only our taxes in Canada was a bit lower like in the US, then we could build wealth even faster ^_^
May the fourth be with you 🙂
Happy Star Wars day to you too 😀 Just saw on today’s news how fans in Vancouver were celebrating by getting R2D2 tattoos lol. Free comic books were given out as well apparently.
Great job growing your net worth. I hope that May is just as good to you.
Thanks, I have a feeling it’s going to be even better. I’m aiming for at least $6K because I’m getting paid rent in May :0)
Well done a $5k increase is a great gain… I haven’t done our Net Worth update but it will be this week on the blog. You are so inspiring though how you just dive right in. I like your enthusiasm for not waiting around you just get it while it’s hot!!
As Robin Williams would say, Carpe Diem 😉