# Diary to get me on a road to Financial Stability



## gladaki (Feb 23, 2014)

Its been 8 years since I move to Canada and I love this country.
3 year of school and 5 year of work so far.
Lost job in 2013 and then took sometime to find a right one.
I will call my self financial ignorant till 2014, never started RRSP, left company contribution from my previous companies
Learned lot from this group and great thank you for sharing experience here.

My Diary is to get me on road to financial stability.
Will update this Diary on Monthly basis...Its still not too late for me to achieve financial freedom

Age:33
Spouse :30
No kids so far, but planning for next year

Debt:0 (Spouse just finished her student loan)
My Salary:75000
Salary :65000
Net Family income: 140k$ 

RRSP:42,000 (Invested in TD eseries) (Currently, I contribute 18% of my salary close to maxout for this year so will get contribution down to 6% to get 3% from employer)
TFSA:10,500 (Invested in TD eseries) (600$ Monthly goes here)
Chequing:0 (Emergency Fund)
Travel Fund @ Tangerine:100 (Just booked tickets to see my parents so down from 2600) (contribute 200$ monthly)

Spouse 
RRSP:700
TFSA:700
Chequing:0 (She just paid her student loan)


we both are expecting 10 - 15 % increase in our packages during next year)

Our Expenses:
Rent:1000
Cable/Landline/Internet:99$ 
Insurance rental & Car:123+22 = 145 (2010 Used Subaru SUV with 80k km on it )
Monthly Account Fee:3.95
Grocery:400
Gas:250
Bus Pass:200

Misc :400$ (Eating out, movie, coffee etc)

--------------------------------------------
Total: 2500$

TFSA contribution:600 
Travel fund:200

Left over for me:700$ (Emergency fund)

Spouse : She usually save 70 80% of her salary:2500$

Goals:
1.I am planning to get down my contribution from 18% to 6%. I will focus on saving more in my Emergency Fund and House downpayment.
2I really want to do 20% down payment ..My Target house range is 450k$. Hopefully price in Calgary doesnot
go through the roof again.
3.We will be planning kids soon in 2018, so I need to make realistic goals and can always use your advise.

I will update this Diary more in future to keep myself on better financial path.


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## mordko (Jan 23, 2016)

This looks like a good start. One comment... You and your wife should pay more attention to TFSA in preference to RRSP. By all means, make sure you max employers contribution. After that don't contribute a penny to RRSP. If you expect your salaries to grow, as they should, TFSA is a much more tax efficient tool for the likes of you.


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## gladaki (Feb 23, 2014)

mordko said:


> This looks like a good start. One comment... You and your wife should pay more attention to TFSA in preference to RRSP. By all means, make sure you max employers contribution. After that don't contribute a penny to RRSP. If you expect your salaries to grow, as they should, TFSA is a much more tax efficient tool for the likes of you.


Thanks mordko for your comments. Me & my spouse will focus on RRSP now.
I already max out my RRSP & She just started her job (in training) so we need to build some contribution limit.

TFSA will be our focus in future, especially when focus is getting a house. Its lot of peer pressure at this age to buy house.
But, I am pretty strict on 20% downpayment criteria.

Thanks


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## mordko (Jan 23, 2016)

@gladaki,

Not sure I follow your logic. What do you mean "to build RRSP contribution room"? You do that by getting paid.

In general, it makes no sense to max out RRSP in the early years of your career when your salary is rapidly growing. It means you get little tax back; when you withdraw in the future they will tax you/your spouse based on your much higher future income. RRSP is good when your pay is near it's peak. Obviously there are special cases, like when the employer is contributing. 

TFSA works much better than RRSP in the early days of your working life.


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

mordko said:


> @gladaki,
> 
> Not sure I follow your logic. What do you mean "to build RRSP contribution room"? You do that by getting paid.
> 
> ...


 cycles

The oil patch workers were making big money now not so much. The roaring 20s then in 30s hard to find work. Booming good times put into RRSP zero wage or low wage times take some out


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## gladaki (Feb 23, 2014)

Agree...Calgary is really in bad shape...
I dont know if house prices here really reflects true value or its over priced.

But still better than Van & toronto..

Mordko, Thanks for your comments again. 

Whole idea to fill RRSP was to have forced saving for HBP. I will focus on TFSA now
Thanks Again..Diary to be continue...


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