# Journey from a Quarter Century



## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Hi everyone,

I completely suck at budgeting and saving. But, I feel keeping a log of my finances for everyone to see may help me keep my eye on the prize of being able to retire by 55.

*Age:* 25
*City:* Calgary, AB

*Net Worth*

Assets
Cash - $730
TFSA - $39,976
Employee Share Plan - $250
RRSP #1 - $32,368
RRSP #2 - $4,140
PAR Account - $6,157
*Total - $83,621*

Liabilities
Credit Card - ($1000)
LOC - ($1171)
Auto Loan - ($9274)
*Total - $11,445*

*Net Worth* = $72,176

_* PAR account is based on Guaranteed Cashout value, PAR20 via SunLife_

*Key monthly expenses*
Rent - $1380
Utilities - $30
Internet - $80
Gym Membership - $35
Car Payments - $352
Auto Insurance - $114

*Investments*
All of investments are currently split between US Equity, Global Equity, and Bond Index mutual funds (though I plan to switch to ETF soon enough).

I know, I know. I have some work to do, but I hope to post monthly updates with where my money is going.


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## redsgomarching (Mar 6, 2016)

What work? You are 25 and have nearly 100k banked. I would say thats work well done! Keep it up!

I am a similar age. My goal is to save 50%+ of my take home pay. I don't set specific guidelines as long as I am at +50% I am able to adjust if I go off the handle.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Just noticed I missed some key expenses - likely $250-300 a month for groceries and $175 a month for PAR life insurance.



redsgomarching said:


> What work? You are 25 and have nearly 100k banked. I would say thats work well done! Keep it up!
> 
> I am a similar age. My goal is to save 50%+ of my take home pay. I don't set specific guidelines as long as I am at +50% I am able to adjust if I go off the handle.


I've been pretty lucky - I grew up in Newfoundland and studied there. Tuition is very cheap and I finished a 5 year business degree for about $17,500 all in over the course of 5 years. I worked 15-20 hours a week during academic semesters, and completed a year of Co-ops. In 2014, oil was still over $100 per blue barrel and landed my first contract with an oil company in SCM before graduating.

Some other things helped - I lived with my grandmother from 2012 to early 2017 so rent was free.

Now that I'm moved out west, I have some more significant expenses and am trying to take better control of my finances - I'm very cash poor at the moment.


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

Not many 25 year old's have that much money saved (many 65 year olds don't).
But I do question why you are carrying a line of credit balance, unless it is super low interest it's probably better to use a bit of your investment money to pay it off. Possibly the car loan too.

Also I would strongly urge you to do some research into the life insurance you have and make sure if it is really a good product or not. Most products with that kind of a structure are good for separating you from your money quicker.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

CalgaryPotato said:


> Not many 25 year old's have that much money saved (many 65 year olds don't).
> But I do question why you are carrying a line of credit balance, unless it is super low interest it's probably better to use a bit of your investment money to pay it off. Possibly the car loan too.
> 
> Also I would strongly urge you to do some research into the life insurance you have and make sure if it is really a good product or not. Most products with that kind of a structure are good for separating you from your money quicker.


You're right - I really haven't been in the mindset of optimizing my money (prior to moving to Calgary I've never had any balance at all). The past few months I have invested several thousand dollars in having my car pass AB inspection, and furnishing my apartment. Because these were expenses I weren't able to completely bulldoze from my credit card in one paycheque - I decided putting them on my LoC was a better idea.

Of course, after doing some reading now - it definitely isn't. Next paycheque I plan just pay off my line of credit and just put another chunk of money down on my credit card so I don't have any interest oweing on either. I don't mind the car loan so much - interest is under 2%, so I would prefer to use the next few months to get out of short term debt and build a nest egg. Once I receive a bonus in early 2018 I'm hoping to get rid of the auto loan.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Loonies said:


> The past few months I have invested several thousand dollars in having my car pass AB inspection, and furnishing my apartment. Because these were expenses I weren't able to completely bulldoze from my credit card in one paycheque - I decided putting them on my LoC was a better idea.


Perfect move. I certainly would not cash out investments either, especially registered, for a couple thousand $ in debt that you will pay off in a few months anyways. 

Well done.


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## redsgomarching (Mar 6, 2016)

Loonies you say its luck but if I could quote Uncle Ben from the 90's TASM series. good or bad luck is nothing but the right or wrong mix of opportunity, preparation, and confidence. You have your head on right. That is always a step into the right direction. I would say start understanding your short term, intermediate, and long term goals and set your course there. The next is to understand your risk tolerance and start looking into investments or even companies that you feel comfortable with investing in. 

Furthermore, think about your work situation and look at ways you can solidify you future. (not sure if you work in oil still but its taken a pretty big hit aha).


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Loonies said:


> I've been pretty lucky - I grew up in Newfoundland and studied there. Tuition is very cheap and I finished a 5 year business degree for about $17,500 all in over the course of 5 years. I worked 15-20 hours a week during academic semesters, and completed a year of Co-ops. In 2014, oil was still over $100 per blue barrel and landed my first contract with an oil company in SCM before graduating.
> 
> Some other things helped - I lived with my grandmother from 2012 to early 2017 so rent was free.
> 
> Now that I'm moved out west, I have some more significant expenses and am trying to take better control of my finances - I'm very cash poor at the moment.




it doesn't look like luck to me, it looks like outstandingly good management by a young person in his student years. It would be normal to feel cash poor when setting up an independent life, but in reality you are not poor, in reality you've built a strong financial base.

the only incongruity is the insurance account. Do you perhaps work for this company or is the insurance policy obligatory? 

also wondering if the PAR account is related to the same insurance company. Does this account have better rates or other perks? if not, perhaps it could make sense to ditch it & keep emergency cash at competitive rates.

.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

Term insurance for you would be like 175 a year, rather than a month. Though it's questionable whether you even need insurance as you have no dependents and your 'estate' is net positive. For someone of your age, the insurance included from your employer should be more than adequate. And already paid for.

You should be able to do as well or better than any permanent life investment plan. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

Otherwise, as others have said, you're doing wonderful. At your age, in a similar position, i probably had a net worth of $0 to negative.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Thanks everyone for the kind words,

My goals for August:
1. Eliminate short term LoC and Credit Card debt
2. Raise cash balance from $730 to $1000

My goals for remainder of 2017
1. Build nest egg of $5000 by Dec 31
2. Add additional $5000 to RRSP

I know you're all questioning my Life Insurance, and part of me is as well.. so here's some background.

My first role out of university was a contractor role, where I just received an hourly wage and nothing more (no RRSP, vacation time, insurance, etc.)

I decided I definitely needed health & dental, so visited SunLife to get myself set-up. I was pitched a 20-year SunLife participating life insurance (I was probably 22 at the time) - the deal is that I pay $175 per month for 20 years, and each year I receive SunLife dividends which buy-up additional insurance. *The policy will cost $41,041 over 20 years.*

My thought was to buy the life insurance to help cover my significant other for when we have a mortgage and to cash this out in retirement.

For example, at the end of my 20 years of payments - my death benefit would be $205,000 or I could take the policy in cash for $51,500 which would be a modest growth to the money I have spent to buy the policy.

After 40 years (at age 62), my expected death benefit would be $406,000 and cash out value would be $187,000. I count the money I've contributed as an asset, although my actual cashout value at the moment is probably only about $260.

There are a few things that make me feel OK about spending $171 a month on this -
1) Apparently the dividends paid to a PAR account have some sort of tax sheltering impact on cash-out, but I need to research more
2) At some point, I will have a mortage - and between my employer and PAR account - I'll feel really good knowing my family have a good estate
3) The installments only account for about 2% of my gross income and 3% of my net income, so it isn't crippling me

But, again.. I'm fresh to this - so if someone thinks this is a very bad idea, please let me know.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

redsgomarching said:


> Loonies you say its luck but if I could quote Uncle Ben from the 90's TASM series. good or bad luck is nothing but the right or wrong mix of opportunity, preparation, and confidence. You have your head on right. That is always a step into the right direction. I would say start understanding your short term, intermediate, and long term goals and set your course there. The next is to understand your risk tolerance and start looking into investments or even companies that you feel comfortable with investing in.
> 
> Furthermore, think about your work situation and look at ways you can solidify you future. (not sure if you work in oil still but its taken a pretty big hit aha).


Fortunately, I'm still in what I now call "the energy industry" - when I graduated I would have definitely just called it oil. A portion of my new role here in Alberta is still in petro but another portion of my role focuses on biofuels/renewables which is nice.


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## Mookie (Feb 29, 2012)

Hey Loonies, despite your proclamation that you “completely suck at budgeting and saving”, you seem to have done a great job so far in building your net worth, and overall, I think you’re on the right track. 

A couple things for you to consider:

1.	You mention assets, liabilities and “key expenses”. It seems to me you need to get a clearer picture of all your expenses, not just the key ones. Try tracking every last expense for a period of a few months, or even a full year to get a better picture on expenses. You also didn’t mention income. Once you know your true income and expenses, you can determine how much you’re able to save per month/year.

2.	You haven’t mentioned whether your current employer provides employee life insurance, but if they do, you probably don’t need the extra life insurance. If you really feel you do still need extra life insurance, then term life insurance would be way cheaper. Have you calculated how much you’d have after 40 years if you just invested the $171 / month at a modest rate of return? The difference between this and the policy cash-out value is the insurance company’s profit margin.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Mookie said:


> Hey Loonies, despite your proclamation that you “completely suck at budgeting and saving”, you seem to have done a great job so far in building your net worth, and overall, I think you’re on the right track.
> 
> A couple things for you to consider:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback. I'll try and really focus on counting everything this month to provide a more detailed income vs expense report at the end of August.

I do have $171,000 coverage from my employer, so my current death benefit between two policies is about $275k - which is likely excessive considering I don't have a mortgage right now.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Hey folks,

So - since my first update about 2.5 months ago, a lot has changed. My long time girlfriend finished school, and moved to Calgary with me. She just started a good job earlier this month so that will definitely help reduce my expinditure on housing to under 20% of my net income. More importantly, it just makes me a way happier person.

I've had several larger expenses since July 31, including:

- more furniture for the apartment - sofas, barstools, etc.
- trips to BC, Fort McMurray, and Toronto
- a new cellphone (used for $200)
- just fun money for summer

I've still managed to increase my net worth, but I'm back into budgeting mode now. I'll give a full October breakdown in a couple of weeks.

Here's my short net worth updates since my first post:

July 31 - $72,176
August 31 - $73,561 (+1.9%)
September 30 - $75,781 (+3.0% Month to Month, +5.0% since July 31) _Also turned 26 in September_

My goal to end October is to finish with a net worth of above $80k.. I want to be at $100k by 27.

Will provide a full report of where my money in October was spent, and what my current asset/liability mix looks like.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

The market did great in October, and my net worth increased to reflect this. I closed September at $75,781 and grew to above $80k in October.

*Assets*
Cash - $850 (+21.4%)
TFSA - $42,486 (+4.8%)
Employee Share Plan - $250 (No change)
RRSP #1 - $34,681 (+5.0%)
RRSP #2 - $7,532 (+21.2%)
PAR Account - $6,670 (+2.6%)
Total - $92,469 (+6.1%)

*Liabilities*
Credit Card - No Balance (-100%)
LOC - $2,106 (+169%)
Auto Loan - $8,262 (-3.9%)
Total - $10,368 (-8.5%)

*Net Worth = $82,101 (+8.3%)*

If you're wondering why I still have a Line of Credit Balance - mainly finishing furnishing my apartment.

In July, my girlfriend moved from Eastern Canada to live with me. Obviously, I've been footing the bill to keep the apartment running until she finds a full time job in her field. Thankfully, she found a job in the field she studied which she started this month - so beginning November, my housing & grocery costs will be lower.

Here’s a full breakdown of my expenses in October:

Total spend = $5,829

*Housing = 26.3%*
Rent, Utilities, and Internet - $1,532

*Transportation = 14.6%*
Car Payment - $351
Insurance - $112
Gas - $107
Maintenance - $265 *This number is much higher than usual, general wear and tear service 
Uber - $13

*Savings = 33%*
TFSA Contribution - $150
RRSP Contributions (including employers) - $998
LoC/CC Debt Reduction - $625
Cash - $150

*Life = 26.1%*
Groceries - $428
Eating Out - $423 (Wow, didn’t realize my spend was so high in this area)
Banking Fees / LoC Interest - $18
Gifts & Entertainment - $470 (High, but had a couple of birthdays + I need to stay sane)
Life, Dental, Health Insurance (PAR Insurance) - $233
Misc. - $185 (Covers clothes, subscription fees, renewing license & registration, etc)

Overall, I’m feeling OK about October.. but do recognize I need to reduce some expenses. Hopefully the reduced costs for food and housing in November will allow me to save more aggressively and also start to put a dent into Christmas shopping.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

November was an OK month in terms of net worth growth, but a trip up North to visit my girlfriends family and some major Christmas shopping definitely brought my expenses up way too high and forced my debt repayment down too low.

Assets
Cash - $1,245 (+46.5%)
TFSA - $43,394 (+2.1%)
Employee Share Plan - $250 (No change)
RRSP #1 - $35,302 (+1.8%)
RRSP #2 - $8,695 (+15.4%)
PAR Account - $6,845 (+2.6%)
Crypto Currency - $750 (+100%)
Total - $96,481 (+4.3%)

Liabilities
Credit Card - No Balance (No change)
LOC - $1,993 (-5.4%)
Auto Loan - $7,923 (-4.1%)
Total - $9,916 (-4.4%)

Net Worth = $86,565 (+5.4%)

I really hate seeing a Line of Credit balance, but realistically - this should definitely be cleared by the end of February when bonuses are issued and I am able to save more money once Christmas and my trip home East is finished with.

I decided to buy $500 worth of Bitcoin as a fun/speculative investment.

Here’s a full breakdown of my expenses in October:

Total Spend = $6,571

Housing = 16%
Rent, Utilities, and Internet - $1,050 

My girlfriend now contributes $500 per month to reduce housing costs)

Transportation = 10%
Car Payment - $351
Insurance - $112
Gas - $30.5
Maintenance - $36.75 
Uber/Cabs/Public Transit - $136.33

Taxi/Cabs are higher due to trips to and from the airport, and a couple of nights out... gas spend was super low as I try and walk most places.

Savings = 33%
TFSA Contribution - $50
RRSP Contributions (including employers) - $998
LoC/CC Debt Reduction - $113
Cash - $395
Crypto - $500

Life = 41%
Groceries - $497
Eating Out - $454
Banking Fees / LoC Interest - $26
Gifts & Entertainment - $1,221
Life, Dental, Health Insurance (PAR Insurance) - $233
Misc. - $267

Every category in life went up, which isn't ideal. Most of this is based on taking a mini-vacation, and completing about half of my Christmas shopping. There is some lifestyle creep happening, but overall I'm happy so I guess that is the main thing.

$90k here I come


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

So, it's been an expensive December! I definitely overspent on Christmas, and the markets didn't perform so hot. The one aspect that looked okay this month is that my initial $500 into Crypto in November is now closing in on $3k.

I'm closing 2017 with over $100,000k in assets, and a net worth above $90k. I want to close 2018 with a NW of $150k.

*Assets*
Cash - $1,645 (+32.1%)
TFSA - $43,361 (-0.1%)
Employee Share Plan - $250 (No change)
RRSP #1 - $35,219 (-0.2%)
RRSP #2 - $9,690 (+11.4%)
PAR Account - $7,016 (+2.5%)
Crypto - $2,960 (+294.7%)
Total - $100,141 (+3.8%)

*Liabilities*
Credit Card - No Balance (No change)
LOC - $2,111 (+5.9%)
Auto Loan - $7,584 (-4.3%)
Total - $9,695 (-2.2%)

*Net Worth = $90,446 (+4.5%)*

Visual: 









No spend breakdown for December! I'm currently out east on vacation.. I'll get back to tracking spend more carefully once I'm in Calgary.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

Mixed 2018 so far!

*The Bad:* My Crypto money crashed pretty heavy, and my spending is still slightly high compared to what I would like.

*The Good:* I've paid off my Line of Credit, and started to build an emergency fund! Well on my wak to $10k cash on hand and a $100k NW.

*Assets*
Cash - $4,184 (+200%)
TFSA - $44,258 (-0.5%)
Employee Share Plan - $790 (32.3%)
RRSP #1 - $35,828 (-0.7%)
RRSP #2 - $12,050 (+10%)
PAR Account - $7,358 (+2.4%)
Crypto - $480 (-12.7%)
Total - $104,948 (+3.7%)

*Liabilities*
Credit Card - No Balance (No change)
LOC - No Balance (-100%)
Auto Loan - $6,905 (-4.7%)
Total - $6,905 (-29.2%)

*Net Worth = $98,043 (+7.2%)*


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

March Highlights:
Markets are hurting right now, contributed to employee share plan, booked and pre-paid for a summer vacation, NW has grown about $26k since August 1, 2017.

*Assets*
Cash - $4,813 (+15%)
TFSA - $43,156 (-2.5%)
Employee Share Plan - $1,288 (63.1%)
RRSP #1 - $34,943 (-2.5%)
RRSP #2 - $12,745 (+5.8%)
PAR Account - $7,529 (+2.3%)
Crypto - $384 (-19.8%)
Total - $104,860 (-0.1%)

*Liabilities*
Credit Card - No Balance (No change)
LOC - No Balance (-100%)
Auto Loan - $6,564 (-4.9%)
Total - $6,564 (-4.9%)

*Net Worth = $98,296 (+0.3%)*


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

So, it's been about a year since I last posted - I've spent like a bit of an ******* since then. I'm now 27, and haven't really added much to my NW in the past year.. 

I feel bad about not saving more. But in the past month I've tightened up and am trying to be more disciplined. Onwards and upwards!

Update as of 02/28/19

*Assets*
Cash - $7,670 (+59.4%)
TFSA - $38,601 (-10.6%)
Employee Share Plan - $1,655 (28.4%)
RRSP #1 - $36,524 (4.5%)
RRSP #2 - $25,712 (+101.7%)
PAR Account - $9,412 (+25.0%)
Crypto - $0 (-100.0%)
Total - $119,574 (14.0%)

*Liabilities*
Credit Card - No Balance (No change)
LOC - No Balance (No change)
Auto Loan - $2,786 (-57.6%)
Total - $2,786 (-57.6%)

*Net Worth= $116,788 (+18.8%)*


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

I think you're doing great.
Debt is cut in half (and is miniscule anyway), NW is up by 18%.
Congratulations!


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

What is the interest rate of your auto loan and what is the interest rate you are getting out of your cash savings?


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

scorpion_ca said:


> What is the interest rate of your auto loan and what is the interest rate you are getting out of your cash savings?


The auto loan is @ 1.79% and will be fully paid in October if I don't accelerate payments. I bought car in university while doing a co-op and financed it for seven years, probably not my best move. It still drives fine, but I've racked up about 220k km. I'll probably have it for another couple of years - since I moved to Calgary I only drive 10-15k km/yr.

My cash is just cash unfortunately, ScotiaBank doesn't seem to have very good HISA options. Do you think I should move this? I'm thinking about buying a place in the not-so-distant future, Calgary real estate feels so cheap now.

Here's my current savings strategy that I'm going to try and avoid straying from..

1. $150/wk ($7800/yr) is being deposited into my WealthSimple TFSA
2. $1,184/mo ($14,210/yr) is being deposited into my Employer RRSP (Optimized for match)
3. $100/mo ($1,100/yr) is going to the employee share plan (Every January, you get a 15% discount on the cheaper of the opening or closing year stock price) - I can contribute $9000/yr - but figure I should max my registered accounts first? Or should I take the guaranteed return on investment and high dividend that my company pays?
4. $173/mo to the PAR account which should be increasing on a SunLife dividend scale.


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## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

Loonies said:


> 3. $100/mo ($1,100/yr) is going to the employee share plan (Every January, you get a 15% discount on the cheaper of the opening or closing year stock price) - I can contribute $9000/yr - but figure I should max my registered accounts first? Or should I take the guaranteed return on investment and high dividend that my company pays?


Given that you are guaranteed at 15% return on money invested in company stock, I would max it out every year -- unless there are restrictions on selling it.
That's because most people should not own stock in the company they work for. Your entire future income is tied up in the company's fortunes; you don't want to tie up your investments in its fortunes, too. People at Nortel and Enron learned this painfully.
So, you could invest the max each year. Then, once you receive the stock, you immediately sell to lock in the gain of 15% (or more). You can then direct that money towards your RRSP.
But in no circumstances should you continue to hold the stock.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

^+1 Great advice from fireseeker.


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

fireseeker said:


> Given that you are guaranteed at 15% return on money invested in company stock, I would max it out every year -- unless there are restrictions on selling it.
> That's because most people should not own stock in the company they work for. Your entire future income is tied up in the company's fortunes; you don't want to tie up your investments in its fortunes, too. People at Nortel and Enron learned this painfully.
> So, you could invest the max each year. Then, once you receive the stock, you immediately sell to lock in the gain of 15% (or more). You can then direct that money towards your RRSP.
> But in no circumstances should you continue to hold the stock.


Thanks fireseeker and OnlyMyOpinion.

What do you think is a good amount of company stock to hold and not sell? I really do believe in the company I work for, it's relatively blue chip, and the dividend yield is very high 6~%.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

That's tougher to answer. A reasonable quideline might be no more than you would/should own in an individual stock within your portfolio. That is somewhere between 5% and 10% of your 'investable' assets. 
So at the extreme, I'd have 10 stocks at 10% each, representing 100% of my portfolio. Now some will feel that is still not sufficient diversity (like me) while others are much less diverse and willing to accept the risk (I'd say there is risk of both cyclical volatility and permanent damage (up to 10%) if one stock were to crater. Some may feel you should have next to 0% of your assets invested in the company because you are 100% exposed to them for your income. I think that is extreme. 

The way I look at it, as the company stock vests/becomes available to sell each year(?), you are still getting another tranche from the company as well, so you are always exposed to the upside they have, but you are constantly taking some 'off the table' to limit the downside and diversify. The point would be that you don't want to go along for 5 or 10 years and have $500k of your $1MM net worth concentrated in one company - the same one you depend on for your paycheck.

You mentioned a ~6% dividend yield. That is actually pretty high imo. You mentioned awhile back being in a field somewhat related to O&G. I may be wrong, but it suggests a company whose share price has been pushed down because of sector challenges.

Ultimately its your call. I've seen people do well hanging on to it all, but I've also seen people decimated (its not necessary for the company to go t^ts up for this to happen if they are in a cyclical industry).


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## Loonies (Jul 31, 2017)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> That's tougher to answer. A reasonable quideline might be no more than you would/should own in an individual stock within your portfolio. That is somewhere between 5% and 10% of your 'investable' assets.
> So at the extreme, I'd have 10 stocks at 10% each, representing 100% of my portfolio. Now some will feel that is still not sufficient diversity (like me) while others are much less diverse and willing to accept the risk (I'd say there is risk of both cyclical volatility and permanent damage (up to 10%) if one stock were to crater. Some may feel you should have next to 0% of your assets invested in the company because you are 100% exposed to them for your income. I think that is extreme.
> 
> The way I look at it, as the company stock vests/becomes available to sell each year(?), you are still getting another tranche from the company as well, so you are always exposed to the upside they have, but you are constantly taking some 'off the table' to limit the downside and diversify. The point would be that you don't want to go along for 5 or 10 years and have $500k of your $1MM net worth concentrated in one company - the same one you depend on for your paycheck.
> ...


Thank you, the rest of my assets are all in broad index ETF's, maybe I'll max the company stocks I hold at 2% of my NW. The share price you purchase at settles after the last trading day of the year, and the shares vest sometime around mid-January.. so you can almost immediately liquidate those.

Yeah, I just looked at historical dividend yields and the average is probably between 4-5% - though it's been above 5% and occasionally above 7% since 2014.


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## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

Loonies said:


> What do you think is a good amount of company stock to hold and not sell? I really do believe in the company I work for, it's relatively blue chip, and the dividend yield is very high 6~%.


I personally wouldn't hold anything. Remember, you are already deeply invested in the company in terms of counting on it for future income. If you earn $75K a year, you arguably have $750K in exposure to the company over the next 10 years. 
That said, 2% of NW shouldn't hurt you. 
But be careful about letting it grow, even if you see bright times ahead. If you're wrong -- if you under-perform and get laid off, or if your division gets outsourced, or whatever -- you may be out $750K.


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## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

Loonies said:


> The auto loan is @ 1.79% and will be fully paid in October if I don't accelerate payments. I bought car in university while doing a co-op and financed it for seven years, probably not my best move. It still drives fine, but I've racked up about 220k km. I'll probably have it for another couple of years - since I moved to Calgary I only drive 10-15k km/yr.
> 
> My cash is just cash unfortunately, ScotiaBank doesn't seem to have very good HISA options. Do you think I should move this? I'm thinking about buying a place in the not-so-distant future, Calgary real estate feels so cheap now.


I would open a Motive Savvy Savings account and transfer the cash there. The interest rate is 2.8%. In fact, I have done it last week. I am in the same boat like you.


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