# Late start (but making progress!)



## Electric (Jul 19, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback, all.


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Next step for many is to analyse day to day and longer term expenses and see where money is going that might otherwise be applied to get a late savings program into a higher gear. 

First steps are always good. Keep on track. 

Keep an eye on the cost of keeping assests over the long run. High MER's or trading expenses, if applicable, can really munch into returns over time.


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## Electric (Jul 19, 2013)

In fact, I have extensive records about spending in Quicken, going back several years.

Most of it is individual stocks and low-MER index funds; no big carrying costs. Trading fees are $9.99 but I am suffering on currency exchange of dividends with my current broker. I have one fund that is high-MER but so far it has outperformed the relevant index after expenses.


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## techcrium (Mar 8, 2013)

Hi, I am just wondering, if you started in 2010, how come your market value portfolio is not much higher than book value?

stocks have gained 30% last year...


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## techcrium (Mar 8, 2013)

Electric said:


> Not sure why I didn't do better last year, but Bombardier and Goldcorp are definitely implicated. Nothing I can do about it now. Attached are my current holdings as of a few days ago.


ahhh ok I see. bombardier and goldcorp was holding you back

What I don't understand is that you have 3K in goldcorp and $15K bombardier but just $500 in coca cola and just $1500 in BRK.

goldcorp is a tiny company compared to conglomorates like coca cola or berkshire hathaway...unless you were doing a play that gold miners were going to soar or....

Same deal with bombardier.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

what's your annual dividend yield percentage if not a secret ?


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## Electric (Jul 19, 2013)

Not sure of the dividend yield percentage, sorry.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

It seems like there's quite a bit of trimming you could do from that 99k budget. Good job on the stock purchase plan, RRSP, and pension contributions though!


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## Electric (Jul 19, 2013)

I wish I knew where to start trimming. Cancelling the Costco membership seems like a good start - the groceries are marginally cheaper but I seem to come out of there with all kinds of dry goods that I didn't go in looking for.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Well if you trim 10% off everything you are saving $9900  I know what you mean about Costco ,we try to go 5-6 times a year .


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## b_foot (Dec 16, 2010)

Are you looking for additional $1M at retirement? 

Roughly speaking -- your gross is $220K - 80K tax = 140K. You spend about $100K. You save 40K a year. You're 23 years away from retirement. Assuming that you invest this money and makes 4% in income, the future value of this cash flow alone is about $1.5M. If additional $1M is truly your retirement goal, you do not need to cut ANYTHING. In fact, one would argue that you should spend more.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

b_foot said:


> Are you looking for additional $1M at retirement?
> 
> Roughly speaking -- your gross is $220K - 80K tax = 140K. You're 23 years away from retirement.... you do not need to cut ANYTHING. In fact, one would argue that you should spend more.


Why would anyone want to work for another 23 years if they could cut some minor wastefulness out of their budget and retire in 15 years instead?


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

I've been thinking about budgets a lot lately so this pops out to me; hopefully you take this as constructive criticism:

Three of your categories - Costco, Cash, and Misc. - take up about 15% of your spending in total, but they're not really spending categories and could cause some deceptive numbers elsewhere. For example, your grocery category amounts to $10,305. Which might seem fine to you. But if (for example) 75% of your Costco spending is for groceries, and 20% of your cash spending is for those quick trips for a couple items to the store, then your grocery spending is closer to $15,500.

I mean, you don't want to have categories for everything under the sun; you still need a place for miscellaneous stuff. But I think having 15% of your spending essentially uncategorized is a bit much and can distort your view of how much you are spending in certain categories.

Aside from that, from my perspective as someone a little more than half your age, I'd be happy if I were in your position 20 years from now.


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## hboy43 (May 10, 2009)

Hi:

I see no rhyme or reason to your holdings. Just looks like random selections with random dollars invested. I'd put some thought into this. Work on your spreadsheet too. You should be able to see what you have, what you paid (ACB), percentage of portfolio, percentage gain, percentages in economic sectors, portfolio yield (which you indicated above you do not know), etc. Otherwise you are flying blind (given you work at Bombardier I declare the preceding a pun!).

The good stuff is that your income and net worth are well above average for your age.

Cheers

hboy43


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