# Young Couple - General Thoughts?



## Pigzfly

My apologies if this is not very logical or well laid out, I will mostly just type as I think of things!

We are: 25 years old, couple, living in a small town for one partner's employment, both graduated with master's degrees in April and August 2008. 

Numbers:

~ 110K gross household income (majority his, I am very underemployed) 

Liabilities:

~ 140K mortgage (Condo purchased in July 2009)
~ 50K to parents for down payment (no interest, no timeframe, details below)

Assets:
~ 300K Condo (aprox market value)
~ 2008 Truck (cash purchase - savings and inheritance)
~ 17K employer matching DC
~ 2500 his RRSP (tax optimization purposes)
~ 1100 my RRSP (birthday present; global MF)
~ 150 K permanent life insurance policy for me (cash surrender 50 or 60K I think; birthday present from my parents at 21)
~ Several thousand in stock options (cashed out all vested stocks for a very very healthy profit and applied to the mortgage in early November)
~ 5 K cash in high interest acct

~ 150K employer provided life insurance for my partner (much higher payout if on-site/work related death)

Mortgage Details:
3.67%, 5 year fixed, 20 yr original amortization, bimonthly payments (currently doubled). We shopped for a lot of flexibility in prepayment. Currently over half the year's prepayment space is utilized, 4 months in. In hindsight, a variable rate would have been a better choice, however it was a first house purchase and we went fairly conservative. Also, we expected interest rates to be higher by now.


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## Pigzfly

Financial Goals for the moment

1) Pay off the mortgage in 5 years. We are on track for this.
2) Find myself a career-job. This will increase household income 40-60K.
3) Return 50K to parents (within 5 years). Time frame requires me being properly employed.
4) Repay the $8000 I owe in our internal accounting system. (no interest, no timeframe) This will be put towards the mortgage when paid. 

I supplement my income with a very high risk portfolio, using leveraged money. I am currently around 20% realized return for the year, after the cost of the money, before taxes. This equates to slightly more than 1 month's wages for me. As I am in a very low tax bracket, this will not result in a lot of capital gains. We are both okay with my high risk. This is essentially backed by my partner, should I lose a bunch of borrowed funds.

I would like to open a TFSA trading account (which I am sure many of you will recommend), however the withdrawal limits and my lack of funds are limiting. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to approach this? Currently I transfer out any realized gains and use them as income.

We spend approximately $31K after tax/year on life, not including housing costs. We live fairly frugally (esp compared to our friends), but we don't want or need for anything. There have been some major purchases this year and who knows what there will be next year. The next planned major purchase will be a large one (road bikes) at approximately $4000.


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## the-royal-mail

Welcome to the forum!

That doesn't look TOO bad. No debt? (other than parents, mortgage and car pmts)

The debt to family (which may be causing them financial strain) could have been avoided by saving for the property first BEFORE moving in.

Please consider establishing 3 tiers of savings for yourselves. If you feel you might want to start a family in the future as well, add a 4th tier to save for that or any other major items you might want to add (trips etc). Save save save. Then you'll be safer as you go through life and won't need to rely on family for loans.

Just my opinion.


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## plen

Is that 5 K cash in high interest acct in a TFSA?

What are your monthly expenses? Are you saving?

What are your plans for the future? Children? Retirement when?

Looks like things are not too bad. Figure out your goals with your hubby, once you do that, use resources around the internet like this forum to develop a solid plan.


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## Pigzfly

Debt to parents = zero financial strain for them. They gave us way more than we expected. We put down about the same (saved in 10 months of working) of our own funds. The parents are much happier to see us pay the bank off. (Both accountants). 

Mortgage started at 211K in July 2009. 

No car payment - purchased in cash.

We have savings which would fall into a blended tier 1 and 2, as well as the tier 3. Not too interested in saving for retirement at this point in time (no one freak out!) due to the generally higher return for increasing net worth and reducing debt at a young age. We do not have the discipline problem of "waiting until tomorrow to save" so when the mortgage is gone, the funds will be redirected. Given our ability to live on substantially less income than we earn, as well as less than we currently spend (we make a decent number of capital acquisitions per year, such as freezer, skis, new tires), and we both have very large LOCs with fairly good rates, we feel that highly liquid and low-return cash/GICs have high opportunity costs. 

We both plan to obtain second master's degrees (one MBA, one unknown) in the future, which we will be able to pay for by selling the condo. Hoping that employers will pay for some without massive golden handcuffs.


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## Jungle

Wow you guys are doing REALLY well. The only thing I don't like is a permanent life insurance policy. There's no need for permanent insurance+ investment, you can use term to cover risk until you have no debts and enough cash/investments to cover periods of undue hardship or financial support. You know how to invest anyway, why let the insurance company take your profits?

Other than that, I calculated your net worth at $150,000, basing your truck at $15k. I did not use your stock options, as you listed them with no value, but I am confused, you said they were cashed out and applied on mortgage debt? 

This is excellent, you are only 25 and if you continue living frugal and paying debt, you will be well off/millionaire before you are 40. By being 25 now, you have so much time to compound your investments, this is what really makes you rich. (but first you must manage money well). To really achieve this, you need to put money in the markets. All equity, maybe a little bit fixed income. You are young, time is on your side and compounding can grow your wealth. 

For tax reasons, be sure your BF maxes out RRSP first, at his tax rate, they are very advantageous. Put the full refunds right back in the RRSP. Put all fixed income/emergency fund savings (your $5000K) in TFSA. 

I believe you can beat your mortgage rate of 3.5% + investment taxes by investing in the markets, heck the TSX/s&p/international indexs are paying a dividend of like 2-2.5% alone, not including growth. And looks like were up around 10% this year, no dividends. (approx) I would use low cost index funds or ETFs. Just plow all your money in the markets by dollar cost averaging. I like ETF's/index funds because they track the benchmark, and reduce risk or company failure by holding the basket, also no reading up on financial reports/keeping on top of companies all the time. 

You are in a perfection position to stay at home and raise kids while your BF makes 6 figures. No daycare costs. 

I should listen to my own advice


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## Four Pillars

You guys seem to be doing reasonably well for your age.

Is this small town near a big city? I'm curious as to how/why you paid $300k for a condo in a small town?

Debt level:

Your debts are $190k vs $110k income - not great, but obviously you are working very hard on that ratio.

Life insurance:

It is up to you, as to how much coverage is right. How employable are you if your hubby passed away? I'm not familiar with permanent life insurance - is the payout $150k if you have to make a claim? I guess $300k should be enough, assuming you can find a decent job with a year or two.

Savings:

I know you want to pay down the mortgage, but you should consider having your hubby make some extra rrsp contributions, at least for a little while. Partly because he is in a high tax bracket, but also because an RRSP account can act like an emergency savings account ie if he is unemployed for a long time. Even $20k or $30k would be a good (and tax efficient backup) if the career takes a tumble.

Income:

Are you looking for better work?

Education:

Is there a time table for the 2nd degrees? That could be pretty expensive.


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## Pigzfly

*Ugh* this is very frustrating, I had written the first piece, then immediately followed it with a list of financial goals and more specific questions - but it never posted. x 2

@Jungle - we cashed out the vested stocks, there are some which are not vested but I am not sure how many at this point. I think ~$4000? 

I was given the permanent life insurance policy as a birthday gift, so that I would never have to worry about it. A friend of my mother's had a son get cancer at 31 and he is now uninsurable, young family, high chance of death, etc. Ie he is living the scare scenario that insurance peddlers use. So - for the cost to me, and the risk mitigation, I am okay with it. I have no plans to increase this insurance. 

Now, to try for the third time:

Financial goals

1) Pay off the mortgage within 5 years (on track)
2) Pay off the parents (requires me to be gainfully employed)
3) Acquire a career-related job (this would increase our gross by 30 to 60K)
4) Figure out how to utilize a TFSA in our situation
5) Pay off $8000 of "internal accounting" to partner (this will be applied to the mortgage)
6) Buy road bikes ~$4000

Lifestyle:
We live about a 31K after tax lifestyle, not including housing. We are fairly frugal, but we do not want or need for anything. We have made young people and "new toy" capital purchases each year. (Most of which has a long life). If something happened, we could cut that to 21K tomorrow and probably pare down after that. The next 

Investing:
I currently supplement my income with a very high risk portfolio, using leveraged money. This year I have a realized gain of 20%, after cost of money, before taxes. As I do not earn much, my capital gains are quite low. The 20% equates to slightly more than one month's wages&tips for me. 
We are both okay with this level of risk, as it is offset by conservative mrtg paydowns and I am basically underwritten by his income in the case where I lost my shirt in the market.

The problem - I would like to have an investment TFSA account, however the withdrawal limit is a problem. Currently I am living off of that investment income and therefore transferring out profits every time I make a sale. Plus, it is always nice to be able to return principle (ie went on vacation for 2.5 weeks, so don't need to be paying interest on some of the borrowed principle that I cashed out and wouldn't be able to reinvest in that period). So - anyone have any thoughts on how I could make use of this savings vehicle?

Re being able to beat the mortgage - I agree. We originally started paying down the mortgage as it was a guaranteed 3.67% after tax, when GICs and the market definitely couldn't match the return. Then we kind of got hooked, as you get that nice little statement where you can see the interest costs plummet and the amortization ratchet up. I personally would like to see slightly less of a focus on the mortgage. I think that by this time next year, we may have excess funds beyond what we can put against the mortgage (ie max out this year and have saved to max out next year within 4 months). I would like to see more things making a larger return already though. 

Re RRSP and tax rates - the accountant figures out our optimal RRSP contribution. (Don't worry, we have a very good accountant with a vested interest in our well being - his dad). 

I really hope this posts, as I am getting weary of trying to type things out and I am sure that I missed several of my questions!!


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## Pigzfly

@Four Pillars

300K - yes, we paid $264 + GST during a developer fire sale. Thankfully, values have increased.
This is because we live in a small town with a tourism/skiing habit, combined with a bimodal income distribution. Those that work in the primary industry are very well paid, everyone else is paid approx minimum wage because of the oversupply of overqualified ski bums (Oz/NZ/Canada). IE - everyone I work with has at least some post secondary education, some have professional designations, we all earn approx min wage.

Yes, I am looking for better work. This may involve me relocating to a city. I got a kick in the face from the recession (no experience, many looking for similar work who had been laid off, coupled with hiring freezes). 

Degrees - this would be around age 29. Partner wants to finish the rotation program he's in (between 5 and 6 years). Returns to the education are positive for him. For me, it totally depends upon what I end up doing in the next while.


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## Four Pillars

Ah yes - ski town. Whistler/Banff etc would explain the expensive small town real estate.

The TFSA doesn't have a federal withdrawal limit - are you talking about one that is imposed by your financial institution?


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## Pigzfly

Oh, my understanding (rightly or wrongly) was that I could only withdraw once per calendar year from a TFSA.

Please let me know or direct me if this is wrong!

So I should be able to withdraw the profits repeatedly, but leave the principle there, provided I do not withdraw then redeposit the funds beyond the 10K space that I have?

Thanks for your help!


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## andrewf

You can withdraw as often as you like. But you can't replace what you've withdrawn during each calendar year until Jan 1, when you get the contribution room back. Basically, use it as medium- to long-term savings, not a chequing account.


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## the-royal-mail

The only "limit" you may have on wd's relates to any transaction fees the banks may charge. Otherwise I believe you can keep taking money out until there is none left, as many times as you like.

The key is that you may not recontribute any of the withdrawn amounts in the same calendar year. You must wait until the new year.

Anyone wanting to do this, should do so now. 2011 is less than a month away. If you wait until January, you'll have to wait an entire year to recontribute.


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## the-royal-mail

Oops I didn't see that post above mine when I posted.


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## Pigzfly

Thanks for your help!


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## Pigzfly

Update:

Mid Term Goal - $500,000 in investments (This is my rough estimate of what is required for financial independence, assuming some lifestyle inflation in the time required to get there, plus inflation will happen)

I received a raise at my (practically minimum wage) job today of $2.50/hr, with a retroactive additional dollar if I stay through the entire season, for becoming a manager. This few hundred a month will be the difference between break even-ish every month and being able to pay down some of my debt to my partner (we have separate finances) woo hoo!

Time to pray that the market treats me well on Monday.

Does anyone have any experience using a TFSA trading account with Qtrade? I spoke with them on the phone briefly and it sounds like it is 3-4 days to open an account, and it will take 2-3 days to process any withdrawals, after the forms have been received.

I've asked the accountant, but does anyone have any tips on dividend taxation when my rate would be negative for eligible dividends? This may make some returns worthwhile on my borrowed funds. 

Thanks again for your help.


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## Jungle

Pigzfly said:


> Does anyone have any experience using a TFSA trading account with Qtrade? I spoke with them on the phone briefly and it sounds like it is 3-4 days to open an account, and it will take 2-3 days to process any withdrawals, after the forms have been received.


I think you got it all, the only downside is they have a nasty account closing fee, I believe you need to hold a minimum balance too. Might be $200.



Pigzfly said:


> I've asked the accountant, but does anyone have any tips on dividend taxation when my rate would be negative for eligible dividends? This may make some returns worthwhile on my borrowed funds.
> 
> Thanks again for your help.


Just invest in Canadian stocks that pay eligible dividends, so you can apply the dividend tax credits.


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## Pigzfly

It appears that the account closure fee is now $50. I am not sure if opening a TFSA in addition to my unregistered account will count as another account (say that 5 times quickly). The fee is waived after 1 year. 

Of note - they have also reduced their "high net worth" qualifier down to $50,000. That puts it within reach much sooner for me. 

I couldn't find a minimum account balance, I know that there was one when I first opened my account there.


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## Jungle

Pigzfly said:


> It appears that the account closure fee is now $50. I am not sure if opening a TFSA in addition to my unregistered account will count as another account (say that 5 times quickly). The fee is waived after 1 year.
> 
> Of note - they have also reduced their "high net worth" qualifier down to $50,000. That puts it within reach much sooner for me.
> 
> I couldn't find a minimum account balance, I know that there was one when I first opened my account there.


What does their "high net worth" qualifier do?


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## Taxsaver

Liabilities:

~ 140K mortgage (Condo purchased in July 2009)
~ 50K to parents for down payment (no interest, no timeframe, details below)

Good debts. If most of it had been bad debts (owing money but having no asset to pay them), it would have been awful.


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## Four Pillars

Jungle said:


> What does their "high net worth" qualifier do?


$50k is the amount of assets to qualify for the $9.95 trades vs the $19.00 trades. 

You need a minimum of $1,000 to open up an account with Qtrade.

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/canadian-online-discount-stock-brokerage-comparison


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## Pigzfly

Recently received the annual mortgage summary in the mail.

We managed to pay 53K in principle, just over 6K in interest, this year.
5 yrs 1 month left on amortization at this point.

Treating interest as rent, that would be $262.50 each per month.

89.8% of monies paid went to principle.



Also, on Monday I started a part time, temporary job that won't really go anywhere, but pays well. It should increase my monthly income by about $1000 (here 3 days/wk, old job 2 days/wk).


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## Pigzfly

Working on some 2011 Goals

1 - Get 13K in RRSP by February cut off (tax purposes)
This should be accomplishable, but we need to pay attention to cash flows and it will deplete some cash savings.
2 - Rebuild said cash savings ~$5K
3 - Open a TFSA and figure out what to hold in there
4 - Buy some more Canadian dividends
5 - Repay internal accounting
6 - Get at least one of my passive income flow ideas off the ground
7 - Get hitched for a reasonable price
8 - Get a real job
9 - Net at least 10% on portfolio

That's what I can think of for now...


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## Pigzfly

Pigzfly said:


> Working on some 2011 Goals
> 
> 1 - Get 13K in RRSP by February cut off (tax purposes) *8K, done*
> This should be accomplishable, but we need to pay attention to cash flows and it will deplete some cash savings.
> 2 - Rebuild said cash savings ~$5K *done*
> 3 - Open a TFSA and figure out what to hold in there*half done, need to fund the acct*
> 4 - Buy some more Canadian dividends*have some, want more*
> 5 - Repay internal accounting*progress made*
> 6 - Get at least one of my passive income flow ideas off the ground*need to work on this*
> 7 - Get hitched for a reasonable price *what a ridiculous industry!*
> 8 - Get a real job*1/2. real pay, poor job.*
> 9 - Net at least 10% on portfolio *not there yet, trying to change financing of investments*
> 
> That's what I can think of for now...


Also bought the road bikes recently. 

Household income is a fair bit higher now that my job's changed.


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## I'm Howard

Could be Collingwood, highest sales are in the $1,000,000 plus range?


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## Pigzfly

I'm Howard said:


> Could be Collingwood, highest sales are in the $1,000,000 plus range?


??


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## Pigzfly

So, job changes, weddings, more job changes coming... life is full of changes!

Commentary on the below:



Pigzfly said:


> Working on some 2011 Goals
> 
> 1 - Get 13K in RRSP by February cut off (tax purposes) *- I think we did like 8 grand?*
> 2 - Rebuild said cash savings ~$5K *- Done, then depleted again for wedding, then rebuilt again. Current goal is 10K because it looks like we are moving across the country. *
> 3 - Open a TFSA and figure out what to hold in there *- Sold off all but one of my stocks (badly underperforming), to generate cash for wedding. So, no account. *
> 4 - Buy some more Canadian dividends *- Had some, sold, due to above.*
> 5 - Repay internal accounting *- repaid approx $4K; zeroed this out as part of the marriage business.*
> 6 - Get at least one of my passive income flow ideas off the ground *- it turns out planning weddings is a time consuming royal pain in the butt. abandoned all hope for this year. *
> 7 - Get hitched for a reasonable price *This is quite a challenge. I would say that we did moderately well, but I am still disgusted at the grand total that was spent for these two events.*
> 8 - Get a real job *- this is a matter of perspective. I have a job with real pay that is not challenging, is going nowhere and is not in my field. This is the major reason we plan to move. *
> 9 - Net at least 10% on portfolio *- It is very hard to net on a basically non-existent portfolio!*
> 
> That's what I can think of for now...


Current plans:
1 - Sell our condo for at least our principle. This may or may not be possible in a reasonable timeframe, talking to some people over the next week on the subject. I have a decent idea of the market. I worked in real estate for a bit here. 
2 - Tidy up some odds and ends around the condo for said resale.
3 - Find myself a "real" job somewhere in Canada... or anywhere really.
4 - Top up the cash savings fund to 10K to facilitate moving/bout of unemployment for me/rental deposits/storage rental/etc/etc.
5 - Figure out all of the details regarding divesting ourselves of our current positions benefit packages and such. 


The mortgage is at 120K currently. The penalty to break the mortgage is $2500 as of today, which is better than anticipated. We can also muck with using a LOC to prepay in order to decrease the penalty, though we (okay, the person at the bank) do not know enough about the breaking fee in order to calculate the reduction vs interest costs. 

ps - if anyone would like a ski condo, I know one for sale


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## Pigzfly

It's been a long time, so I thought I would update my mostly unchanged position.

We listed the condo in early November... it's still for sale. (As are the others listed in our building)
Spouse gave resignation, I received a job offer from the GM *sigh.* So still trying to leave, but in the meantime I have more meaningful work and a better paycheque.

Trying to move has led us to continue dropping every penny into the mortgage to reduce breaking fees.


My car was involved in a bit of an odd incident, which resulted in it being written off. We decided to replace it with a new one (2 or 3 years ahead of schedule).
Financing was available on the entire amount for 2.9% fixed for 36 months. That's a pretty good rate (less than the mortgage), so we financed the whole thing including taxes.
The plan is to pay mortgage debt before car debt and when the condo sells, pay off the whole car.
The annoying part is the increased cost of insurance, vs my 12 year old car. Operating and maintenance should be better though. We splurged a bit and got most of the available options, given that we plan to drive this for 10 years. 
The monthly payment, while large, will not affect our cash flows at all, as it was money going to savings/mortgage anyway.

*sigh* the curve balls of life. I am very thankful that we are in a position where we had the option to go buy a new car.


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## Jungle

There is also a MBNA 0% credit card for 15 months you can use to save money on the car loan. (if it's open) 
You just need to make sure you can pay the balance in full in 15 months and service a monthly payment of 1% balance total. There is a 1% transfer fee, 0% interest on the debt. 

This is what we did with our new car and then just paid it off last year.


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## Pigzfly

Darn, that would have been good to know.
For some reason though, MBNA doesn't seem to like giving me very much credit.
Most of the other options we priced out were much, much steeper.


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## Pigzfly

So... given that it's raise discussion day, I thought I would post back here.

Gave up on moving across the country and accepted the "good" job offer here. While not where I'd like to live, the career opportunity is (finally) good. Part of the decision to stay has been a conscious decision to vacation more (aka spend money). This year we went to Cuba, Ontario and Victoria, plus a few smaller trips.

We're getting close to being the 6% in Canada now, haha. ($200K+ household income = 6.4% of tax filers)

While the condo was for sale, the parents lent us more to help avoid mortgage breaking fees. We are slightly behind our goal of paying off the mortgage in 5 years, but the current bank portion will be done in less time than that. 

The short term goals from above:
1 - Sell our condo for at least our principle. *abandoned*
2 - Tidy up some odds and ends around the condo for said resale. *Completed. Now that it's no longer for sale, doing some other projects as well.*
3 - Find myself a "real" job somewhere in Canada... or anywhere really. *Check!*
4 - Top up the cash savings fund to 10K to facilitate moving/bout of unemployment for me/rental deposits/storage rental/etc/etc. *Check, maintaining about this in cash these days.*
5 - Figure out all of the details regarding divesting ourselves of our current positions benefit packages and such. *That was a pain.*

*New*
1 - Get back on track for complete mortgage payoff. (It's approximately equal to $1350/month, or a bit more than the car payment, which caused most of the derailing.) My bonus will have us fully on track through the end of Dec, but after that we'll have to get this out of cash flow. 
2 - Continue to generate a (tiny) bit of side-hustle income. 
3 - Finish massive woodworking project
4 - Buy this year's sporting goods toy 
5 - Ensure we have cash on hand to top up RRSP contributions as necessary, at tax time.


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## Pigzfly

Recently received the annual mortgage summary statement. In 2012 we paid $50,857 toward principle, which slightly exceeds our annual goal. Also put about $8K toward the car loan.
Other savings happened in the form of RRSP contributions and accumulation of employee shares. My spouse switched jobs once last year and will get a small tax return as a result. 

New
1 - Get back on track for complete mortgage payoff. (It's approximately equal to $1350/month, or a bit more than the car payment, which caused most of the derailing.) My bonus will have us fully on track through the end of Dec, but after that we'll have to get this out of cash flow. *check*
2 - Continue to generate a (tiny) bit of side-hustle income. *check*
3 - Finish massive woodworking project *still in progress, close*
4 - Buy this year's sporting goods toy  *check*
5 - Ensure we have cash on hand to top up RRSP contributions as necessary, at tax time. *check, minimal amt*

2013 Financial Targets
1 - Discharge mortgage
2 - Pay back a portion of a personal loan
3 - Pay off remainder of car

In 2014 we get to start making fun decisions, like what to buy in a TFSA  I can't wait.


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## Pennypincher

Wow! impressive!!

just curious, what industry pays around $90,000-120,000 in a small town? oil and gas? I'd love to get out of the city I am in, and move to a smaller town. 

You don't have to reveal what you are doing for work, but give me some job duties in a small town such as yours that pay in those brackets??


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## Pigzfly

Close to oil and gas - mining. One of us is an engineer and the other works in finance.
Usually the trade off is which small town you happen to be stuck in.


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## Pennypincher

Interesting, thanks. Basically the same professions that my spouse and I are in but not mining.


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## Pigzfly

2013 Financial Targets
1 - Discharge mortgage -*Check!!!!!*
2 - Pay back a portion of a personal loan
3 - Pay off remainder of car

Big day today, I get to drink some real champagne.
The final paperwork will have to be signed sometime next week, but we made our final payment and paid the discharge fee today. The mortgage is now at $0. 

On to numbers two and three, with deadlines of Aug 31 and Christmas, respectively.


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## Four Pillars

Pigzfly said:


> 1 - Discharge mortgage -*Check!!!!!*


Congrats! It's a great feeling.


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## Plugging Along

Congrats. You are doing great.


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## Pigzfly

Alrighty, it's been a few months.


2013 Financial Targets
1 - Discharge mortgage -Check!!!!!
2 - Pay back a portion of a personal loan - *check*
3 - Pay off remainder of car - *next month, right on track*

We also had a slight detour where we did some leveraged investing. We paid off the remainder of that LOC today, so the last remaining batch of stock will sell and we will have a 5 digit inflow of cash, which will more than pay for the car. The promo rate on the LOC ended three weeks ago, making it cost more than the car. Unfortunately, the stock hit our target price during a blackout period, so fingerscrossed that it heads north again next week. We will also both get a bonus in November. We should end up 10-15K ahead of our annual savings target, which is fantastic.

2014 Financial Targets
1 - Save 100K (in debt reduction and savings) - this is doable, but definitely aggressive
2 - Pay off outstanding personal loan from inlaws (Target mid year)
3 - Dump the rest into TFSAs


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## Pigzfly

> 2014 Financial Targets
> 1 - Save 100K (in debt reduction and savings) - this is doable, but definitely aggressive
> 2 - Pay off outstanding personal loan from inlaws (Target mid year)
> 3 - Dump the rest into TFSAs


1 - We chose to drop the target from 100K to 80K for a few reasons. One was to take a nice vacation, another was because our household income will drop a bit, due to the profit share not paying out at work this year. Oh well. We will make the 80K target, currently it's looking like 82 or 83K.
2 - SOON. Likely at the end of this month. It got bumped to later in the year due to electing to put more into our RRSPs at the start of the year than we initially planned (I believe it was around $11k)
3 - I opened up a $100 TFSA after some banking shenanigans resulted in me having to pay fees at one of my banks. Aside from that, the decision at the end of the year will be direct the funds toward a TFSA, or toward paying off another leveraged investment that I hold. The answer will probably be TFSA, but it might be to sit on cash until the new year, to make some RRSP decisions.

I can't wait until the inlaws loan is paid off, then we will be fully in the black, (aside from the leveraged investment, which isn't much money anyway). Then the fun decisions about what to do with all of our savings can happen.


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