Hi everyone. I hope you’re all doing well. I am back from my extended break. 😀 It was nice to take some time off but I’m glad to return to my regular blogging schedule.
Financial freedom has been very enjoyable so far. I don’t really worry about money anymore. So I’ve been focusing on personal growth and learning new skills. I also signed up for Amazon Prime so I can receive my packages sooner. By the way, what do you call an Amazon driver who just went on maternity leave?
Out for delivery.😎
Personal update
It’s been awhile since my last post in August so here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to.
- I bought a house.🏡
- I moved to a more suburban neighborhood.
- I got married in October. 💍
- I bought some new technology and pharma stocks.
- I started buying Bitcoin again.
You’ve probably heard about the urban exodus of people moving from crowded condos to detached single family homes. Well I am one of those people. I went from 800 sq.ft living alone, to sharing 2400 sq.ft. with my partner. The extra living space is fantastic. I can dedicate a separate room as my office since I’m currently working from home. The only complaint would be the yard work and extra cleaning I have to do. But it’s a small sacrifice relative to the overall gains.
I will dive into this and other mentioned topics in detail in the near future. Alternative investment ideas and my 2021 plans will also be coming soon. I will update everyone as my portfolio shifts over time.
Speaking of changes, my budget has expanded after combining finances with my wife. Luckily we are mostly on the same page when it comes to deciding how to spend money. Our assets have also combined so we can start to use income splitting strategies going forward.
Me: My Apple shares are up 50% this year!
My wife:
Naturally we’re both still working at this time since we enjoy our jobs and don’t have any dependants yet to keep us busy.
Moving forward with the blog
I will be writing new blog posts every week. And thanks for everyone’s feedback and ideas from earlier this year. The most popular request is for me to produce personal finance videos. I will record and upload something onto YouTube in the new year. 🙂
Podcasting is another area readers want me to try. I don’t know enough to start my own series. But I’m open to collaborating with other podcasters that has already established a workflow. Montreal podcaster Alain Guillot actually released a fun interview with me in September. I still feel shy behind the mic but speaking can be a more effective way to communicate than writing.
Since I am married now and have combined finances with my wife I don’t feel comfortable disclosing fiscal details anymore. So in terms of net worth updates moving forward I will only be updating the liquid part of our net worth including stocks, bonds, etc. And I will do quarterly updates instead of monthly.
And finally you may have noticed some changes to the website design. I wanted to give the blog a more modern look after using the same outdated theme for the past 10 years, lol. Let me know if you have any feedback.
Looking forward to engage in comments and thoughtful discussions with everyone in the upcoming weeks.
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Random Useless Fact:
The squiggly shapes you sometimes see are called eye floaters.
And here I was wondering why they changed their driver LOL
Will be interesting to follow your story as you now have double the money, so to say, to increase compounding.
Congrats on your marriage and future family. Don’t know if you tube has any “How To” videos on that though. You’ll have to work it out on your own.
Ricardo
Thanks man. My wife’s work is commission based and varies month to month so it will be an interesting challenge to budget and invest new savings for us. 🙂
Glad to see you back. Have been following your journey for some time now. Wishing you continued success and keep those random useless facts coming! 🙂
It’s good to be back. 👍 I couldn’t stay away for long. There are too many useless facts to share.
Congrats on your marriage!
-I actually loved the old blog’s theme, lol. But change is usually good and this one is clean. 🙂
-Can you touch on how your expenses have increased (with a new home, if they have) and how you think about that?
-With increased expenses, do you think about how you’ll need to increase your passive income to continue to be “financially free” and create some more buffer there?
All the best,
J
Thanks Jay. I’m totally with you. I actually like the old theme more myself. So I conducted a Twitter poll and it appears most people like the cleaner look. So I will give it a chance. But it will probably take some time to get use to. My expenses has gone up quite a lot. One reason is because the budget for food, transportation, and other expenses is now for 2 people instead of just myself. And the other reason is the mortgage payment on the new house we own which costs about $4,000 a month. On the other side, income has increased substantially as well. My wife makes about 2/3rd of my salary. But it varies depending on her commissions. Furthermore, I have rented out my old apartment for $1700/month of passive income. Lastly, the new house we bought and moved into also has a rental suite so we can use that as a mortgage helper. 🙂 Overall we are still financially independent. But the margin of safety has gotten tighter so there’s a smaller buffer compared before I was married. Since we both plan to be working for at least another year or so, generating additional passive income… Read more »
Awesome.
I have to say, I love how thoughtful you are with your responses on this blog.
Legend!
Congrats on the marriage.
Looking forward to reading more posts.
Thanks. I plan to write about the wedding next week. We kept it pretty small and low budget. Invited 8 guests. 🙂
“I bought some new technology and pharma stocks.”
Glad to hear you are YOLOing on some $PLTR far OTM FDs
I don’t have $PLTR yet but looking into $PFE and $MRK currently. 🙂
Good to have you back. Congrats on all the life changes. Believe me, you’ll get sick of the yardwork eventually! LOL We’ll have to connect again about getting you on the podcast. Cheers
Got more home now, but got more problems too. Maybe I’ll hire a landscaper next year. 🙂
Congratulations Liquid on your marriage and new life! Wishing you all the best 🙂
So many achievements and positive changes in your life (in fact, in middle of deep recessions and pandamic). Congrats
Glad to see you back with new look and ideas!
Best regards,
Thanks. One topic I want to write about is investing in video games. 🙂 I hope readers will be open to learning about that market.
Welcome back! Congrats on the big life achievements :). I Look forward to reading your new posts in 2021!
Nice to be back. See you around. 🙂
Missed your posts! Welcome back and congratulations on the marriage. Enjoy your free time now before kids happen ohhhh boy. It’s life changing. Tiring but you get blips of happiness interspersed with the drudging and lack of free time to yourself.
I was curious about your new home payments, I see your mortgage payment is $4K a month. Have you thought of selling your apartment so that your mortgage payment isn’t so high?
Was it difficult to get a renter? I hear it is a renter’s market right now for rent.
I could sell my old apartment. It’s something I’ve thought about. Currently I have it rented at $1700 a month. The tenants are good and the mortgage payment is about $700 so I will keep the unit for now. But maybe I will sell it near the end of next year depending on the condo market.
You’re right. It’s very much a renter’s market out there now. We’re still looking for suitable tenants for the basement suite of our new home. Last year I bought an investment property around December as well and I didn’t find a tenant until February so I’m willing to be patient. 🙂
Good idea to wait and find a suitable tenant since you will be sharing a floor/ceiling/walls with them!
The “Our Apple Shares” joke really cracked me up. Also congratulations to the ‘Mrs. Liquid”.
The new website theme feels kinda cramped. Might be the color scheme. Otherwise I don’t mind the new theme too much.
Cheers,
Paul
Thanks for the feedback on the new theme. 🙂 The Mrs. thought the joke was funny too when I showed her.
Congrats on everything you have achieved. Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Looking forward to hear more about your portfolio shift posts, particularly income splitting strategies.
Happy holidays Hao. We’re basically going to put all new investments in my wife’s account because she is taxed less than I am. 🙂 We may consider using spousal RRSP as well.
Hey Liquid! Welcome back and congrats on your marriage and the purchase of your new house. You’ve been very busy!
I look forward to reading fresh content from you again. Happy holidays to you and your wife!
Hey Chrissy. Happy holidays to you and your family too. Thanks for welcoming me back. I missed chatting with the blogging community.
Congrats on your marriage!
So with more room does that mean a few babies are in the works for you and your wife? 🙂
Haha. The wife wants to grow her small business a bit more before she starts growing life. But a future family is on our radar.
Congrats on getting married and congrats to Mrs Liquid. I was wondering why you went MIA!?!?!?! Love the apple jokes lolz. Looking forward to hearing your income splitting strategies and which pharama/tech stocks you took a position in.
HK
I bought Pelton, AbbVie, and Microsoft over the last few months. I’ll write about why I bought these in the upcoming weeks. I’m currently looking at Pfizer.
Congrats on the marraige and the house!
Thanks. Both are long term investments for me, lol.