# Money Diary: A second try



## ArchViz (May 14, 2018)

Hello all,

For a few years now I have been lurking on CMF, reading the various discussions and topics and decided to put up a money diary of my own.

I am a 45 year old self employed that specializes in Architectural Visualization. No children, and recently separated from my common law wife...just in time for my mid-life crisis and a Porsche

Up until i was in my 30's my retirement savings were in GIC's but about 2007 I became curious about investing and making those savings go further. I eventually decided to go with the Couch Potato portfolio and with a huge amount of luck invested just before the markets bottomed out in 2008. I made great returns as the markets bounced back, and then I got cocky.

I thought I could pick individual stocks for fun. Only fun turned into a money losing addiction. While on occasion I did have some winners, most of them were losers. Thanks in part to my lack of knowledge, bad advice and lack of patience. In only a few years I went from being in the green to over 50% in losses.

Some of the stocks I have picked I decided to hold on to with the thought of them bouncing back. While some have miraculously done so, others haven't. I will still hold on to them in the hope that they bounce back enough to justify selling.

With all of that said, I have decided to go back to what works...Couch Potato Investing. You don't need to overthink it, the approach is simple enough for an idiot like me to grasp and the returns are good.
All of my accounts are with TD, so the index funds are the trusty E-Series funds.

I don't have a mortgage and my expenses are minimal, except for the recent purchase of a sports car to soothe the pain of middle age and divorce. Other than the car, I live very frugally or cheap as some like to call it.
After the separation I moved in with my ageing parents in order to assist them (one has Parkinson's/dementia and the other is having a hard time coping with caring for the other) , as well as to give me some space in which to figure out where I am going in the next part of my life.

Here are the numbers:

INCOME: This oscillates between $40,000 - $50,000 a year depending on the amount of work that comes in.

MAY 23, 2018

SAVINGS/CHEQUING: $ 36,000

CASH INVESTING ACCNT: $ 22,500
TFSA: $15,000
RRSP: $48,500
TOTAL: $128,000

CREDIT CARD DEBT: $0

_ LINE OF CREDIT: $4,5000 owing at 4.99%. This will be paid off end of August, beginning of September. EDITED_

MONTHLY EXPENSES: $ 55- Internet
$ 140 -Vehicle Insurance
 $ 50 Parking
$ 150-$ 200 Gas
$ 35 Mobile Phone
More to come


ASSETS: Sports car. Hardly an asset, more like a hole one throws money into never to be seen again.

VACATION HOME: $230,000 - I may end up selling this at some point in the next 2-3 years. I don't think I will be needing it anymore.

SAVINGS/INVESTMENT PLAN: The plan here is to divide my income from each project into 4 equal parts; savings, taxes, expenses & debt repayment.
The part from savings will go into a TFSA to be divided into the 4 TD Eseries funds of the Couch Potato Portfolio. In order to not have to think about saving, I look at it as an expense. Every month i have set a minimum to be automatically withdrawn into the TFSA (up to the $5,500)
Any surplus from either of the categories at the end of the year are put into a rainy day fund that can be used for adding to savings.

RETIREMENT: This is all conjecture, but with my income, meager savings and the cost of living in Canada, I will most likely not be able to retire here. I have been looking at countries where the cost of living is low, and nice enough to live in without worrying about being murdered for a pack of Chiclets. The list so far, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Costa Rica.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

Is there a reason why you don't take some of your cash investing account to pay back the LOC?


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## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

You only have $15,000 in your TFSA. You should have a ton of unused room like $30- 35,000. You should move your cash investments into the TFSa to save on yearly taxes on dividends, interest etc. Less book keeping headaches too.

If you have 2 houses, you need to look at which has had the largest capital gain/yr to designate as the 'principle residence' and get the capital gains exemption. If they are similar, you may want to designate the one you are selling to avoid current cap gains.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Welcome to CMF ArchViz.
I wanted to offer kudos on your willingness to help out your folks. It is a stressful and usually thankless task. They are fortunate.
Please make sure you look into provincial resources that might be available to help - care workers, respite assistance, etc. and don't be shy about advocating for them (always politely and tactfully of course). In my experience it can be a confusing mess. I don't know how much that experience varies across provinces but I suspect not much.


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## ArchViz (May 14, 2018)

I have edited the original "old" message from a few months ago that never appeared after posting.



Spudd said:


> Is there a reason why you don't take some of your cash investing account to pay back the LOC?


Hello Spudd, I should have edited that amount. It's an old post from a few months ago that for some reason never posted. I just copied and pasted the original message. In regards to the LOC, I have payment for a project coming in August that will more than cover the remaining $4,500. As of beginning of September it will be paid off.



Jimmy said:


> You only have $15,000 in your TFSA. You should have a ton of unused room like $30- 35,000. You should move your cash investments into the TFSa to save on yearly taxes on dividends, interest etc. Less book keeping headaches too.
> 
> If you have 2 houses, you need to look at which has had the largest capital gain/yr to designate as the 'principle residence' and get the capital gains exemption. If they are similar, you may want to designate the one you are selling to avoid current cap gains.


Hello Jimmy, You are right, I need to top up my TFSA. Some of the cash investments have gains and others are in the red. If i move them to my TFSA wouldn't that trigger capital gains on the ones in the green? 
In regards to the homes, my ex-gets to keep her home which was we shared (no mortgage), but I get to keep my vacation home in Spain (also no mortgage) Lot's of memories in this one, but I don't want to rush into selling while feelings are running high. A friend suggested renting it out on AirBnB to cover expenses until I figure it out. 



OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Welcome to CMF ArchViz.
> I wanted to offer kudos on your willingness to help out your folks. It is a stressful and usually thankless task. They are fortunate.
> Please make sure you look into provincial resources that might be available to help - care workers, respite assistance, etc. and don't be shy about advocating for them (always politely and tactfully of course). In my experience it can be a confusing mess. I don't know how much that experience varies across provinces but I suspect not much.


Thank you OnlyMyOpinion,

The ending of my relationship came just in time for me to step into helping them (if you want to look at it positively) My father wishes to return to his native country to spend the remainder of his days. They are both adamant that there will be no nursing home or caregiver(s) other than family for as long as is possible. While I understand their wishes, I do not agree with their stance. If they decide to take my father back to the old country, he will not be returning, as his mental and physical state are not conducive to multiple long flights. 
This brings the issue of having to deal with CPP and his investments as he will no longer be a resident, even though he leaves behind his Condo and belongings. I will need to ask about this.


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## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

Hi Arch,

That is true. But if you move the assets into the TFSA, you will pay no further tax on the future cap gains. Another option maybe is to sell some in the red and have the cap losses offset the gains, them move some over.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Arch, I don;t get what you invest into non-reg account.... you have enough room for TFSA and probably RRSP, so you have to max it first.... You can convert RRSP to RRIF at any time and withdraw minimum w/o paying taxes at all..

Sure, your vacation home you can easily rent on AirBnb or HomeAway.

Regarding investing .... for equity portion, I'd would just put money into VBAL, VGRO or VCNS depending on your risk tolerance. Another option, to make 4 ETFs passive portfolio. I personally prefer investing into dividend kings/champions when they are undervalued/fairy valued.



> The list so far, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Costa Rica.


 I agree completely with Portugal and Spain. Costa Rica is overvalued. Czech Republic is very nice (I toured all country ), but real estate is surprisingly very expensive. Also, for Czech and Bulgaria , you need to speak any Slavic language. I gave up trying to speak English with locals one Day 1 and communicated mostly in Russian . Same in Bulgaria.


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## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

Be careful not to transfer your winners or your losers to the registered accounts heedlessly. Moving the losers will mean you cannot claim the capital loss.


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## ArchViz (May 14, 2018)

gibor365 said:


> Arch, I don;t get what you invest into non-reg account.... you have enough room for TFSA and probably RRSP, so you have to max it first.... You can convert RRSP to RRIF at any time and withdraw minimum w/o paying taxes at all..
> 
> Sure, your vacation home you can easily rent on AirBnb or HomeAway.
> 
> ...


Gibor, just responded to your PM.

I have had those investments in my non-reg for since 2010. Since 3 of the 4 were in the red I decided to keep them there. If they recovered, great! if they didn't i could sell at a loss to lower taxes, which I may do this year. My income increased significantly this year.
At this point I am topping up my TFSA's unused contribution room and any excess will go to my RRSP to lower taxes further.

For the equity I am sticking with the Couch Potato Portfolio E Series TDB909-TDB900-TDB902-TDB911. Which is what I had originally when I started in 2008. It's boring, but it's easy to manage, and for me probably the best approach. Fixed contributions every month to those 4 funds. I will add more, if and when I see drops. 
I still have a few single stock picks which I am keeping for now but there won't be any further stock picking for me. I've learned my lesson. 
A few laddered GIC's as well to round things out. Looking for a good rate currently...Oaken maybe.

It looks like you are well traveled, good for you. You have to enjoy before the knees and back go out. Have you tried Portugal yet?


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> A few laddered GIC's as well to round things out. Looking for a good rate currently...Oaken maybe.


 5 years ladder - EQ bank, less than 5 Y - Oaken. I personally don't buy GIC longer than 3 years, current difference between 18 months and 5 years is only 0.5%.



> For the equity I am sticking with the Couch Potato Portfolio E Series TDB909-TDB900-TDB902-TDB911.


 It's fine, but I'd probably prefer VBAL (no any rebalancing is needed)



> It looks like you are well traveled, good for you. You have to enjoy before the knees and back go out. Have you tried Portugal yet?


 No, didn't go to Portugal yet... the reason is the same, our kids (now is only our daughter as our son lives independently ) have vacations in July-August and I don't like when it's too hot . In Europe, I've been to Spain, England, Germany, France (3 times ), Austria, Czech, Hungary, Northern Italy, Cyprus, Switzerland .... Asia: Israel, Egypt, Turkey. NA - Mexico, Cuba (20 times ), Aruba, Dominican, Honduras, Grenada ..... maybe I missed something lol


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