Sick Days
A recent Financial Post article suggests that the most important determinant of your sick leave use is whether or not you work for the government. On average, public sector employees take about 10.6 sick days annually, which is a 47% increase from 7.2 sick days back in 1987. Meanwhile, sick leave use in the private sector is only up 5% from 6.1 days to 6.4 days over the same time period.
Of course the mainstream media does not get into the underlying cause of this dramatic gap between public servants and private sector workers. But I think we all know what’s going on here. 😉
Obviously government jobs are so demanding and stressful that they cause public sector employees to become sick more frequently than their private sector counterparts. It’s either that, or people are taking advantage of privileged opportunities. But your guess is as good as mine. ?
Market News
Speaking of uncertainty, we have received some unprecedented market signals lately. Oil closed lower than $40/barrel. Yet the banking sector announced record profits again. The financial markets have been overwhelmingly bullish over the past 5 years even though the underlying economy has been worryingly weak. That’s why it pays to be financially prepared. Anything can happen. So always maintain a diversified portfolio of fixed income and equities. Stay away from high-fee, actively managed mutual funds. Stick to dividend stocks or index ETFs. 🙂
My Personal Finance Update
I’d like to give a big shout out to the Smart REIT units I purchased a few months ago. This investment is already up 10%. 😀 Yay! Real estate is a major part of the Canadian economy so it makes sense to have at least some exposure to it. Railways also keep the economy chugging along. 🙂 I’m really grateful for our railroads, for keeping us on the right track. ?
November was a great month for my finances. Luckily I live in Vancouver, B.C., where the cost of living is quite low, so I managed to save about $1,200 from my full time job. The rest of my net worth increase this month came from a combination of currency fluctuation, part-time job, passive income (dividends and interest), and appreciating share value. Details below.
*Side Incomes:
- Part-Time Work = $500
- Dividends = $500
- Interest = $200 [bond interest]
- Fun = $200
- Debt Interest = $1400
*Net Worth: (MoM)
- Assets: = $923,400 total (+9,500)
- Cash = $2,500 (+300)
- Stocks CDN =$101,800 (+5900)
- Stocks US = $71,900 (+3000)
- RRSP = $61,400 (+300)
- MICs = $15,800
- Home = $259,000
- Farms = $411,000
- Debts: = $502,000 total (+2,700)
- Mortgage = $191,300 (-500)
- Farm Loans = $198,300 (-500)
- Margin Loan CDN = $30,500 (+2800)
- Margin Loan US = $29,000 (+2000)
- TD Line of Credit = $23,500 (-500)
- CIBC Line of Credit = $10,000
- HELOC = $18,200
- RRSP Loans = $1,200 (-600)
*Total Net Worth = $421,400 (+$6,800 / +1.6%)
All numbers above are in $CDN. Conversion rate used: 1.00 CAD = 0.75 USD
I picked up two new positions in November: 100 shares of TransCanada in my Canadian margin account, and 100 shares of Match Group in my U.S. margin account. The stock market was pretty flat overall. I did receive $200 of interest from my Sherritt bonds which was nice. The growing strength of the U.S. dollar was helpful as well since I hold many U.S. equities.
Speaking of stocks, here’s a look at my TFSA portfolio at one of my brokers, TD. I like how its online software can track the performance of my account over time. Due to the purchase of more defensive stocks since 2014, my TFSA has experienced positive returns while the S&P/TSX Composite index has fallen.
I try to be mindful about what I put in my TFSA so it complies with my tax efficiency plan. I don’t have any secrets to picking winners or beating the market. But if anyone is curious to know, here are all my holdings in this TFSA.
I have other tax free savings accounts. One of which is worth about $11,000 and is with a different brokerage company. I’ll share the details of that next time.
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Random Useless Fact:
Both male and female walruses have tusks that can grow to be over 2 feet long.
Thanks for sharing your details, Liquid. That account looks pretty flush with some great performance numbers. Interesting to note that you are holding BBD there – I am tempted to make a speculative purchase in BBD myself…I just need to make up my mind on the gamble.
That net worth chart looks fantastic! Keep up the great work
R2R
Thanks R2R. I think BBD is one of those companies that if you are willing to gamble with your money then it might as well be done with this stock lol.
Thanks for the detailed report Liquid. You’re doing fantastic bud. Chart is trending upwards nicely. Stay focus and committed bud. Wish you continued success and cheers to our journey. Take care and keep hustling hella hard aight bud.
You too Dividend Hustler. It feels good to be productive. Let’s both retire early.
You are doing great liquid. So great! As a government employee I can say its probably a bit of both reasons you gave. Being a drone sucks and we don’t get much appreciation. It can wear you down buddy. It can suck the life right out of you. I am on the down hill slide of my work life, 4 years left. Do I take some “mental health days” Hell to the yes.
You deserve it because you work so hard DebtGirl. Only 4 more years to go for you. Think about all the good times you’ll have after you leave the rat race. That’s what motivates me to get through a mundane work day if I feel bored.
I was absolutely unaware that Vancouver was such a low-cost city. Seemed rather pricey to me. Good job with the liquidity!
For sure. I think it depends on someone’s personal financial bracket. Vancouver is one of those diverse cities where you have both wealth and poverty. But since it’s usually the high end lifestyles and events that make it into the news most people around the world only see one side of a multifaceted city. $20,000 annual income is enough to provide a comfortable living for a single person here. That money will stretch further in Vancouver than any other major Canadian city. The mild weather we have is a huge savings. We also have government subsidized electricity, and anyone making less than $20,000 doesn’t pay any medical insurance premiums (MSP or OHIP equivalent in Ontario.) So it’s great to live in for thrifty folks. But if you make and spend $100,000 then your lifestyle would be a lot better in Toronto because there’s more entertainment, better night life, and other choices that comes with a larger city.
I just read the Globe and Mail article on TFSAs featuring your progress. The commentors are a negative bunch and are not prepared to do any reading or any research on how they can help themselves to retire early or on how you are reaching your goal. Good for you to reply to the comments with information instead of attitude.
This was my favourite comment “Where is this guy living -parents basement not paying rent, eating Fancy Feast?”.
Thanks beth. You always have my back. Yes, some of the comments there are hilarious. I’m just grateful to be featured in that article.
Chug, chug, chug… Your actions speak volumes, sir. – Cheers
Haha. Thank you friend. Although December is not looking very good so far. Fingers crossed the markets will turn around by the end of the month to finish the year strong. 🙂
Unfortunately that seems unlikely at this time… Something is brewing, and it will make next year very dynamic me thinks… Strong research will be key for short to mid term investing. Technology and software infrastructure to me looks to still be a strong and growing opportunity. Barrel scraping and value misrepresentation by association in most other sectors seems to be the norm though, which makes for heavy research to uncover potential future gems… Luck will have more to do with successes in 2016. fear is still festering… – Grim, I know, but knowledge is power – Cheers.
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