When the Toronto stock exchange dropped 8% in the first 2 weeks of December I thought 2014 was going to end on a down month. But fortunately confidence came back to the market and investors pushed stocks back up. In the end it was a pretty flat month with minor gains in some sectors. 🙂 Had the TSX stayed down at 8% below November’s close, my net worth would be down $13K right now instead of actually being up by $3,300 for the month. Phew. 😎
*Side Income:
- Part-Time Work = $700
- Dividends = $500
- Fun = $200
- Debt Interest = $1500
*Net Worth: (MoM)
- Assets: = $837,400 total (+1,700)
- Cash = $2,800 (+800)
- Stocks CDN =$87,900 (+500)
- Stocks US = $53,300 (-500)
- RRSP = $51,400 (+900)
- MICs = $15,000 (same)
- Home = $254,000 (same)
- Farms = $373,000 (same)
- Debts: = $517,800 total (-1,600)
- Mortgage = $195,700 (-300)
- Farm Loans = $203,500 (-400)
- Margin Loan CDN = $26,900 (-300)
- Margin Loan US = $25,100 (+700)
- TD Line of Credit = $30,000 (-400)
- CIBC Line of Credit = $10,400 (-400)
- HELOC = $18,200 (same)
- RRSP Loans = $8,000 (-500)
*Total Net Worth = $319,600 (+1.0%)
All numbers above are in $CDN. Conversion rate used: 1.00 USD = 1.18 CAD
Overall it’s been a terrific year. I’m almost worth $320K now. Yay! Here’s a comparison to last year.
| Dec 2014 | Dec 2013 | |
| Assets | $837,400 | $742,500 |
| Debts | $517,800 | $533,600 |
| Net Worth | $319,600 | $208,900 |
So that’s a six figure annual increase. Not too shabby. It’s actually the best year for me so far. 😀 Most of this wealth surge in 2014 was due to the continuing increase of asset prices. About 5 years ago I went on a mission to build up my financial assets. By the beginning of 2014 I had accumulated about $750K of gross assets. Most of that amount is financed by long term bank loans.
I’m a big believer in the profitability of the financial markets so I often blog about new stocks I’m buying. 🙂 A couple of years ago I shared my experience about buying a farm and how to purchase one. I also wrote about the real estate market and how to invest in someone else’s mortgage.
The overall North American stock markets were up about 10% in 2014. My other investments also returned about 10% on average.
10% of a $750K portfolio is $75,000, which represents the bulk amount of my net worth increase in 2014. 😀 $75K is even more than my gross annual income. The best part is I’m now able to start this new year in 2015 with even more assets than before, over $800K. Hurray for owning productive financial assets that earn perpetual dividends! The remaining part of my net worth increase came from paying down debt, side hustling, and savings.
I started buying stocks $1,000 at a time back in 2010. I still have the first few stocks that I purchased like Enbridge and Rogers. Today they are worth a lot more. In 2011 I increased my stock portfolio to over $50K with the help of borrowed money. I had over $100K in stocks by the end of 2012. Investing doesn’t have to start with a lot of money. It just has to start somewhere. 🙂 Sometimes things aren’t clear right away. That’s why we have to be patient and persevere and see where things lead. It’s not always easy. But it is worth it. 😉
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Random Useless Fact:
Apparently women find salad hilarious.
Awesome work, Liquid! Sure is nice to see the upward motion towards the seven digits club 🙂
Is your MIC value not changing because it’s not publicly traded?
That’s right. My $10K investment in the private MIC is interest producing only. However I do also have some publicly traded MICs like Timbercreek and Atrium. So far it looks my TMC shares are down, but AI is up. I think I will update my total MIC holdings in $500 increments.
Congrats on the massive increase in year over year in the networth.
Thanks. 🙂 It was largely the huge increase in Saskatchewan farmland prices that helped me. I don’t think 20% growth is sustainable though so I’m expecting the appreciation to be much more tame going forward.
Good job Liquid! Your year over year chart really puts it into perspective!
Have you considered reporting your monthly debt decreases with a green font instead of a red font? I am thinking that both an increase in assets should be green, along with a decrease in debt because both actions expand your net worth.
Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂 I’ve considered that option before. Another way might be to list my debts with negative values. Then add green numbers to them to show I’m paying down the balance. It’s hard to find a good compromise that’s consistent. I would like to see examples of how businesses colour code their balance sheet changes, but haven’t found any examples yet.
[…] worth has grown to $320K. Once again the majority of the year’s net worth growth came from investment decisions I’ve made in previous years like buying farmland and stocks. In 2015 I hope to end the year with $400K in net […]
Congratulation a 6 digit increase is pretty impressive. If you look at the % you increase your networth by 52% in a year !
Do you plan on keeping the same level of leverage for the next few years or do you have a plan to lower the risk at some point ?
Good question. It will probably depend on where interest rates go in the next few years. If they continue to be low then I will keep my current level of leverage. If they move higher I will give a higher priority to pay down debt. In the long run my overall leverage should decrease over time naturally as the value of my assets increase.
Wow. That is a crazy fantastic year! 😀 Good job.
Random AP Fact: My profile pic on WhatsApp is of me eating salad. I am nowhere as thrilled as these girls. In fact, I am down right grumpy. Steak > Salad
The images above are probably all just vegan propaganda lol. Yes, steak > salad any day. 🙂
Do you think you’ll be buying any more farmland now that the rents have gone down? Would you recommend buying a farm now just to have one in my portfolio? What would you recommend investing in now that would bring about passive income now that oil prices have dropped so significantly?
I don’t think I’ll be buying any more farmland. Over 40% of my assets are tied to farms right now and I don’t want this number to get any higher because I want to maintain a diversified portfolio. The problem with farmland is you have to buy one of high quality in order for it to appreciate in value over time, but one quarter of high quality farm usually goes for $200K or more nowadays which makes it unaffordable for many beginning investors. I was able to pay a small 13% downpayment in order to secure my first farm, but not everyone is comfortable borrowing 87% of the value of the land because that’s a lot of debt to carry. I think buying a little bit of silver is a good idea now, either bullion or stocks in streaming companies like SLW. I would also keep 5% of my net worth in cash. Then when oil prices start to go back up and show 3 months of consecutive increase I’ll add to my position in energy stocks.
Thanks for replying! 🙂
Great post and what an amazing 2014 that you had.
Thanks. Here’s hoping to an even better 2015. 🙂
Way to go! You just moved up a cple notches on our Net Worth Tracker 😉
http://rockstarfinance.com/blogger-net-worths/
Nice to see I’m moving up on the list. Thanks for keeping it updated. 🙂