# My money diary- 26 yrs old



## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

Hello everybody.. I have been reading the forum for years and finally want to hold myself more accountable by making my own money diary. A little about me.. 26 year old male, I went to school in Michigan on a baseball scholarship, didn't finish which is a long story. I came out of school with a 26k student loan which has been paid off for a few years. I now work in manufacturing and I'm almost done my real estate licence, which I'll have in may assuming i pass. I rent out a room to my buddy for $450/month. I just started using mint so I'll be able to track my spending come feb.

Assets:
Chequing- 6609
TFSA- 7186
Pension- 46,907.47
DPSP- 7736.94 (deposted once a year around february)
RRSP- 25,325.67
Home- 310,000 (living in a hot real estate market so hopefully this will take off in the summer)
Rental- 290,000
- Leaving car out of it.. bought a 2012 jetta in the summer for 9k

Liabilities:
Credit card- 0
LOC- 0
Principal home mortgage- 215,753
Rental- 201,195

Net worth: $276,816

My goals going forward.. get my spending under control so I can catch up on my TFSA, sell real estate on my off days and all money goes directly in tfsa, I'd like to start some kind of online business, keep investing in dividend stocks to raise my passive income. Travel. Thanks in advance for any feedback you guys can give me.


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## cashinstinct (Apr 4, 2009)

Really nice net worth and situation for 26 years old. Congrats. Reasonable car purchase too and no LOC / credit card.

What kind of pension do you have?

Tracking your spending is a good idea to show where your money goes.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

*Lunch Meeting*

thanks! my pension is defined contribution.. i put in 6% and they add 7%. I put an additional 10.75% into my rrsps through my work plan as well. I just recently paid off the LOC which I'm pumped about.. finally can ramp up the TFSA payments


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

I just realized I didn't put my income in the post..In 2016 I earned 108k net. As well as 30500 rent which was from my duplex (980 upper, 1000 lower, and 150 for garage, 450 from friend). My employment income was higher than normal because of 2 production bonuses and lots of overtime. I recently got a small promotion so I'm hoping that will replace the bonuses that I likely won't get this year. The plan is to make some money as a realtor and from dividends to replace my overtime income in the future.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

If you are pumping that extra into your workplace RSP, you might want to weigh your options. In my experience these programs are suspect wrt choices and you might do better in some ETF's or stocks in a trading account of your own. Well done so far at 26!


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

Thanks for the input.. I just looked online and the management fees are .9%.. I only do it through work because its so convenient and comes off pre tax, maybe i will transfer it to my questrade account to buy some u.s dividend payers


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

RLJB said:


> Thanks for the input.. I just looked online and the management fees are .9%.. I only do it through work because its so convenient and comes off pre tax, maybe i will transfer it to my questrade account to buy some u.s dividend payers


Just make sure the Questrade account is a self directed RSP!


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Well done sir. I had no idea in mid-twenties someone could make that much money in "manufacturing" in Ontario... What exactly is it that you do?

I wouldn't be too worked up about the RRSP. Those GRRSPs are at least neat and simple, set it and forget it.

Perhaps think about whether it is something you want to keep or not after you've maxed out your TFSA and played around with your dividend stocks for a while.

Welcome to CMF.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

I work at a papermill.. We get alot of perks like 1.5x on weekends.. Triple on holidays.. Production bonuses. I definitely lucked out for a college drop out


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

RLJB said:


> thanks! my pension is defined contribution.. i put in 6% and they add 7%. I put an additional 10.75% into my rrsps through my work plan as well.


Isn't the maximum 18% per year?


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

umm i'm not sure.. I have been doing over 18% for 2 years now.. I looked at my 2016 contribution limit and had the room, but honestly not sure


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Could be you were under limit in prior years so the room was available. I'd double check with your GRRSP payroll person at work to see if your contributions need to be reduced in 2017 to not go over limit, or it may happen automatically if your payroll dept. already had all the info from 2 years ago.


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

Yes definitely check - it can happen for some time while you have room but from your post I read as if it's "ongoing" which is over the 18% limit. I'm surprised HR/payroll let you do it without raising this issue.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

Feb. Update
Somewhat of a rough month fridge died, trip to Niagara Falls, renovating basement. 

Assets:
Chequing-8416
Pension- 47,853
Profit Sharing- 12,491 ( lump sum just deposited)
RRSP- 26,368
TFSA- 9228.16 (bought 30 shares of BCE at 57.30)
House- 310,000 (house a few doors down just sold for 344 in 2 days.. so will probably update this in a few months)
Rental- 290,000
Total: 704,356

Liabilities
Credit Card- 0
L.O.C- 1350
House- 214,400 (estimate, the wesbite isn't letting me log in
Rental- 200,515
total: 416,265

Net Worth- 288,091

Also me and the girlfriend have been tracking the rental market and can rent the principle residence for roughly 1700-1800 + utilities.. we are in the early stages of looking for houses, if I can find a duplex or Triplex at a decent price we might act on it once I get my license. Who knows, might not just something we are looking into.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Isn't your leverage a bit on the high side? Leverage = assets / net worth = 2.4x, the amplification factor.

This amplification effect works both on the way up and down. For example if your assets were to decline by 25%, say due to a housing decline & stock market correction, you'd see your net worth decline by 2.4 x 25% = 60% ish. (A more precise calculation shows it's about 55% decline). That's a pretty big hit to take and those kinds of declines are plausible.

If your investments & real estate were to fall by 40%, you'd basically be wiped out -- your net worth would fall to about $33,000.

That 2.4x amplification helps you a lot when asset prices rises, though. Since they've only been rising since you started doing this, you haven't experienced the downside yet.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

I agree i am leveraged, but i need a place to live and a friend pays 1/3 of the mortgage. and if there is a downturn in the economy the pool of renters gets bigger.. But yes i agree with you.. I am going to establish an emergency account once my l.o.c and basement is renovated. If something happens i sell my house and move back into the duplex. Lots of options. Thanks for the input its definetely something to think about


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

RLJB said:


> if there is a downturn in the economy the pool of renters gets bigger..


I don't understand this... The number of houses and people still remains the same - i.e. if they sold their house someone who buys it either moves out of their house/rental or buys it as an investment to rent out. However in a downturn people lose jobs and/or have less money. How is a downturn going to help you?


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

Saniokca said:


> I don't understand this... The number of houses and people still remains the same - i.e. if they sold their house someone who buys it either moves out of their house/rental or buys it as an investment to rent out. However in a downturn people lose jobs and/or have less money. How is a downturn going to help you?


In the US when this happened, a lot of the homes became owned by the banks. They tried to sell them, but couldn't and weren't interested in being landlords, so yes, rental demand went up, along with rents.


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

nobleea said:


> In the US when this happened, a lot of the homes became owned by the banks. They tried to sell them, but couldn't and weren't interested in being landlords, so yes, rental demand went up, along with rents.


Is there any data so support this? I'm genuinely interested because it doesn't make sense to me. I would think that they would need to own a lot of housing for a very long period of time. If they try to sell and can't they would have to lower the prices and if rents go up investors would be swooping in.

Banks have liabilities too - they can't be holding houses for too long.

P.S. We're hijacking the thread but it may still be worthwhile for the OP.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

My thinking was if there was a downturn in the economy people lose jobs, making it hard to buy a house making them a renter for longer.. thats all I meant by it.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

April Update

Assets:
Chequing-7024 (-1392)
Pension- 49,516.28 (+1663.28)
Profit Sharing- 12,607.83 (+116.83)
RRSP- 27,614.33 (+1246.33)
TFSA- 10,144 (+915.84)
House- 310,000 
Rental- 290,000
Total: 706,906.07

Liabilities
Credit Card- 0
L.O.C- 481
House- 213,833.37
Rental- 199,803
total: 414,117.37

Net Worth- 292789.07 (+4,698.07)

I had the owner of the brokerage I will be working for through both my houses.. He said I could easily get 325k for my duplex, which I will most likely sell this summer. Also, said once my kitchen is done at my principal I could get close 380ish.. I will update what the principle once the kitchen is done in May and see what the duplex is truly worth once its sold.


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## RLJB (Jun 24, 2015)

Alot has changed since my last update.. I got my real estate license and sold a few houses while still working full time. I refinanced my rental in the summer and pulled out some equity to do some reno's on my principle. Also, last summer I purchased a used jeep wrangler for a summer vehicle. The real estate market where I live has done really well in the past year so I got lucky there. I havent done any updates in almost a year so I'm hoping this is the start to getting back on track.

Assets:
Chequing- $9900
U.S savings- $14,900
Pension- $64,346
Profit Sharing- $18,018 
RRSP- $33,314
TFSA- $8900
House- $410,000
Rental- $355,000 (appraised in september for $360k)
Money owed to me- $3000
Total: $917,378

Liabilities
Credit Card- 0
L.O.C- 1300
House- 201,900
Rental- 246,550
total: 449,750
Net Worth-$467,628 (+174,838 since last april)

My mind is blown that my net worth has gone up that much without me paying too much attention to it. Most of that increase was real estate prices in my city. My goal was to be a millionaire by 30.. I will be 28 in May. I will be hard pressed to get there but fingers crossed. 

Goals for 2018
- make 150k in income ( employment, rental profit, real estate sales)
- start putting more money into TFSA
- find a good work life balance
- go on 2 vacations


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