# Life - Act III: Working for Money



## peterk

I am _finally_ in a stable point of my life where I feel I can make this money diary. It's been a long time coming.

Act I of my life being "childhood", and Act II of course "paying for education". I am very glad to be moving on from those parts of my life.

To recap Act II - At christmas last year I had no job prospects, was struggling to finish one final course to get my degree, and had stretched the hospitality of (and relationship with) my parents to a near breaking-point - as I had been living with them like a lazy jobless slob for the 6 months prior. My net worth had just slipped into the negatives for the first time (-$2000), and I was starting to get pretty bummed out with my life.


I managed to somehow turn it around though, finish my degree, and had the good fortune of an amazing job landing in my lap! I have just crossed the 6 month mark at work, and things are going great. The work is interesting, busy but not too busy, and the commute situation is such that I don't need a car nor have to pay for public transportation.


Due to a substantial signing bonus and moving allowance, combined with agressive savings, I've been able to pay off my entire student loan ($7000) and now have a net worth of $36,000.

This money diary will provide a place to report my monthly spending and income, and where I can identify (with the help of you kind folks of CMF) any problems with my spending or savings plans.

Cheers!


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## peterk

August 2013

Age 26

*Assets*

Stocks - $19,500
---TFSA: $7000
---RRSP: $12,500

Cash - $16,500
---TFSA: $12,500
---Savings: $4000

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$36,000


*Income*

$6300 after tax monthly
18-25k in annual and quarterly bonuses

Total annual before tax income is around 120-125k plus overtime (although I'm not getting the opportunity to work much overtime yet).


*Expenses*

I generally don't track my exact spending breakdown, just do a monthly review of how much I spent and if anything went unusally high, investigate why that happened.

*Core Expenses*

Rent (all in): $900
Groceries: $300
Phone: $32
Gym: $59
Transportation: ~$60 (I buy a tank of gas for my girlfriend's car here and there. Don't drive much)
Eating Out: $50
Alcohol: $20
Household nick-nacks: $30

Total: $1450

*Variable Expenses*

This parts a bit harder to nail down. But I'll post my best estimates based on previous spending and future projections.

Bi-monthly "mini vacation" to another city: $120
Furnishings/household: $40
Vacation: $600
Electronics: $30
Fish Tank stuff: $10
Other: $100

Total: $900

*Total:* $2350

Total spending for the past 6 months has been $16,000 - equating to $2700/month, but that has included a few flights across the country and other various moving/one time costs, so I think $2350 is a reasonable breakdown going forward.


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## the-royal-mail

No emergency fund tiers? The way your plan is structured doesn't reveal where you are in relation to saving for tier 1, 2 etc. Perhaps you could include this in future updates. You seem to be doing very well.


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## physik3r

26 and 120/yr? What field are you working in?


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## MoneyGal

TIME TO BUY A SWEET-*** CAR, amirite? 

Seriously, not a lot to criticize here. I hope my kids are as practical and conscientious as you. (Gosh. That makes me sound REALLY OLD. My kids are a long way from university...they are going to be "lazy jobless slobs" for many more years!)


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## peterk

MoneyGal said:


> TIME TO BUY A SWEET-*** CAR, amirite?


Tell me about it! Could lease an Audi S5 for $810/month. *drools* But I've got bigger goals in mind than cars...

Physik - I'm an Engineer in the oil sands. This salary would be difficult for me to achieve elsewhere (perhaps Australia).

I would like to be out of here after 5 years and relocate to a warmer climate, like Calgary (lol), where I can gain financial independence before 40. This will require some aggressive saving and even more aggressive money making.


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## physik3r

Nice! A fellow engineer Us city engineers don't make that kind of dough. And with quarterly bonuses, I figured you were a banker!


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## MoneyGal

(bank bonuses are paid yearly, not quarterly, almost everywhere now...even Lloyd's just ended quarterly bonuses this March)


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## Jon_Snow

So you are 26 and able to save around $4000 every month. My friend you are on a fast track to finanical independence. If you are fortunate enough to meet a professionally minded partner, combine your incomes, well.... you can join me in retirement in your 40's. :biggrin:

Your future is bright indeed. :encouragement:


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## Four Pillars

MoneyGal said:


> TIME TO BUY A SWEET-*** CAR, amirite?


Not yet - first he has to save up 99 tiers of savings, which he can then use to buy a sweet-*** car!!

Kudos Peter!


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## marina628

Or he can marry a good poker player and retire at 27


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## peterk

haha are you offering? :biggrin: I just lost $40 in poker last week actually - I could use some lessons!

TRM - I'm pretty comfortable with a small cash cushion. In fact the only reason I have 16k not invested is because I'm uncertain about what my housing situation will be next year. I may consider buying so I don't feel comfortable being all-in (heh) the markets at this point.


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## marina628

I am 46 and a 27 year old sounds good to me , let me just ask my husband about that lol


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## kcowan

Maybe you could adopt him to take over when you retire in 10 years? :tongue-new:

peterk. Keep at it. You are on the right track. But watch out for degenerative diseases. As a petroleum engineer in Sarnia and a salesman in Edmonton, I was familiar with many engineers who were struck down early after working in those conditions for their productive lives. My wife's cousin (an entrepreneur) became very rich during a lifetime in Ft Mac but both he and his wife died in their 60s from degenerative diseases. :upset:


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## marina628

I am training my 10 year old to take over from me ,I will retire when I am 80 )


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## peterk

Holy! That's pretty scary. What exposure do you think the cousin had to get such an illness?

I don't work in upgrading or with chemicals or anything. Mostly office and often fieldwork in the mine. There is more dust in the air up here though than I'm used to. You literally must sweep the patio every few weeks because of dust settling from the air...

Either way - I'll be out of here in 5 years, 10 tops!


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## marina628

peterk said:


> Holy! That's pretty scary. What exposure do you think the cousin had to get such an illness?
> 
> I don't work in upgrading or with chemicals or anything. Mostly office and often fieldwork in the mine. There is more dust in the air up here though than I'm used to. You literally must sweep the patio every few weeks because of dust settling from the air...
> 
> Either way - I'll be out of here in 5 years, 10 tops!


My brother spent 3 years in Fort McMurray ,he spent 31 years in Military including 4 years in Afghanistan and he said that place was the worst he felt.


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## kcowan

Cousin spent whole working life there. Not in the plants but running the bus lines to/from the work sites in Ft. Mac. Moved to Edmonton/Phoenix when he was 65. Died 2 years later. Wife died one year after that.


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## Karen

Please stop the tales of woe - Peter knows the situation in Fort McMurray and doesn't need to be told over and over about everyone we all know who lived there and died young. I know a number of people who spent most of their working lives in Fort McMurray and are living long and healthy retirements. You`re doing really well, Peter, and congratulations for getting your finances in such good shape at your age.


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## FrugalTrader

+1 to Karen, I also know a number of retirees living healthy lives after working in Ft. Mac.


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## peterk

haha - thanks guys. I'm not too worried. Even if Fort Mac is messing me up somehow, I'm not gonna be here forever!


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## GalacticPineapple

peterk said:


> August 2013
> 
> *Core Expenses*
> 
> Rent (all in): $900


How are you living for $900? Are you sharing a basement suite with 8 other people? I live in Fort McMurray too.


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## peterk

September 2013

Big update since August: 3 pay cheques, $1900 quarterly bonus, 10 hours overtime, and about $1500 market gains

*Assets*

Stocks - $23,300
---TFSA: $10,800
---RRSP: $12,500

Cash - $21,350
---TFSA: $12,500
---Savings: $8,850


It appears I'm building up quite a cash hoard that I'm not sure what to do with. I _may_ be looking at buying a house in the next couple years but I also may not. It'll depend on career decisions that are unpredictable at this early stage, relationship decisions that are up in the air, and the housing market. I've pretty much decided that I'll be renting until at least spring 2015 (when my retention contract is up and when I'll have a big enough down payment).

I'm leaning towards keeping an asset allocation as if I'm not planning on buying a house and not worrying about it. This would mean mostly stocks, with a reasonable cash pile for emergencies and/or investing opportunities. I'm not sure what reasonable is at this point. I think having 20k cash seems OK...

*Liabilities*

Zero - Or is it? I have some stipulations on the signing bonus and the rental subsidy that I received that would require me to pay back many thousands of dollars to my company if I were to terminate employement today. I have every intention of fulfilling the vesting periods of these monies. 

Do you guys think this should this be considered a liability in a net worth calculation?

*Net Worth*

$44,650


*Income*

$6350 after tax monthly

After 6 months employement my company matched savings plan kicked in. Gives me an extra ~$60 net each month.


*Expenses*

Non-essential expenses in September included new shoes, new winter coat, new clothes, and a trip to Edmonton.

September Spending --- $2238
August Spending --- $1907
6-month moving average --- $2724


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## Jon_Snow

Pretty damn good... Not sure you will be retiring at 35 though. 
(You are the guy that mentioned ER at 35, right?)


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## peterk

Hopefully Jon! My goal is more to be financially independent by mid 30s. I could always work until 40-45 I suppose if my lifestyle isn't too constricted by a job and I want more money for fancy things.

At age 36 I come up with a net worth of $800k @ 3% raise, 3% returns and increased spending $500/month. $1.2m @ 5% raise, 9% returns and current spending levels.

There's of course a decent chance I'll change jobs between now and then for a lower salary and things may get set back by a couple years.

I'm also in the brainstorming & learning phase of building up some online income. At the end of my engineering career I hope to have something in place where I can work part time on a computer to make an extra 1-2k monthly and supplement investment income. 

Working a leisurely 10-20 hours/week from a home office is the end game. Half the year in a cool Canadian city like Montreal, Halifax, Kelowna, or Vancouver - Half the year in some interesting southern destination. Buenos Aires, Lima, Christchurch, Bangkok, or maybe the Mediterranean. (working on getting my European passport)


Well, now I've gone and spilled the beans on "the dream" haha.


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## GoldStone

peterk said:


> At age 36 I come up with a net worth of $800k @ 3% raise, 3% returns and increased spending $500/month. $1.2m @ 5% raise, 9% returns and current spending levels.


Pro-tip:

Do your projections in today's dollars, to take future inflation out of the equation. To calculate future NW in today's dollars, use real rates of return and real (above inflation) raises.

3-4% real return is a good assumption. 9% is not, unless you think you are the next Buffett.

3% raise = 1% real, if inflation runs at 2%.


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## Four Pillars

GoldStone said:


> Do your projections in today's dollars, to take future inflation out of the equation.


+1!

Makes things much easier.


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## My Own Advisor

If you get 9% returns, I want your KoolAid 

Seriously, well done and killer savings rate peterk.

Just remember, planning is good but don't forget to live. You're only young once.


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## peterk

Thanks for the tip!

How do you determine what inflation is? CPI? real world inflation? personal inflation? What if I move cities or countries where it's cheaper or more expensive? What if canadian housing is at the top of a bubble and these highs won't be reached again for another 40 years until all the boomers are dead and gone and the world economy picks up again? Seems all too nebulous for me to properly predict...

MOA - due to my excessive indecision & jackassery in university, I'm 3 years behind all my same-age peers career-wise. This period of intense savings and working in the boonies is somewhat of a self inflicted punishment and an attempt at playing catch-up. 

"not forgetting to live" in Fort Mac would involve paying $2500+ rent, buying a 40k truck, 3-4 apple devices, and $7 beers on the weekend. I don't see the bang-for-buck of doing this while living here, and have resigned myself to being reserved in my spending/"living" for the time being.

Not to worry though, heading home for 3 weeks at Christmas with a side trip to NYC. Planning a 3-4 week Asia trip in the winter, 1 week in the rockies next summer, and 2-3 weeks in Europe next fall. Life ain't so bad


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## GoldStone

peterk said:


> How do you determine what inflation is? CPI? real world inflation? personal inflation? What if I move cities or countries where it's cheaper or more expensive? What if canadian housing is at the top of a bubble and these highs won't be reached again for another 40 years until all the boomers are dead and gone and the world economy picks up again? Seems all too nebulous for me to properly predict...


This is precisely why you should do your NW projections in today's dollars, using real rates of return. This method takes future inflation out of the picture. You don't have to define what inflation is. You don't have to guess the rate. It doesn't enter the calculations in any way.

You might ask: how do we know future real rates of return?

While we can't know future returns in advance, the estimates of expected ranges are widely available. For example, see this article on Bogleheads wiki:

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Historical_and_expected_returns


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## Janus

First off, well done on the progress. You're in a good situation, glad to see you're making the most of it.

Change in CPI is the definition of inflation. And yes it does change over time, but the thing to remember is that most central banks set an inflation target - i.e. the new Mark Carney will change Canada's monetary policy in order to keep inflation between 1-3%, targeting 2%. I know what you mean about inflation overall, but if you're building a 10-year model, 2% is the way to go. You'll certainly experience some deflation when leaving Fort McMurray, but then again your salary might take a hit too.

You don't want too much cash sitting around, but when your portfolio is small you don't need to worry about having a strict percentage in the market. I think more important is that having SOME skin in the game from an early point is conducive to learning. Make those mistakes as early as possible and with as little capital as possible (so start now! :biggrin.

Cheers,

Janus





peterk said:


> Thanks for the tip!
> 
> How do you determine what inflation is? CPI? real world inflation? personal inflation? What if I move cities or countries where it's cheaper or more expensive? What if canadian housing is at the top of a bubble and these highs won't be reached again for another 40 years until all the boomers are dead and gone and the world economy picks up again? Seems all too nebulous for me to properly predict...
> 
> MOA - due to my excessive indecision & jackassery in university, I'm 3 years behind all my same-age peers career-wise. This period of intense savings and working in the boonies is somewhat of a self inflicted punishment and an attempt at playing catch-up.
> 
> "not forgetting to live" in Fort Mac would involve paying $2500+ rent, buying a 40k truck, 3-4 apple devices, and $7 beers on the weekend. I don't see the bang-for-buck of doing this while living here, and have resigned myself to being reserved in my spending/"living" for the time being.
> 
> Not to worry though, heading home for 3 weeks at Christmas with a side trip to NYC. Planning a 3-4 week Asia trip in the winter, 1 week in the rockies next summer, and 2-3 weeks in Europe next fall. Life ain't so bad


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## peterk

October 2013

No net-worth update this month.

I took a >$4000 business trip at the beginning of October, which was spread over two credit cards and two billing periods, some of which was personal expense, some of which is paid for, none of which is reinbursed yet. Add in that it's a 3-pay month and the fact I'm still owed a bunch of overtime, and it's looking just a bit too messy to report a net worth at this time.

I'll update at the end of November when all the dust settles and I'm squared up with Mastercard and my employer.

*Assets*

Stocks - $27,300
---TFSA: $14,200
---RRSP: $13,200

($3000 added into TFSA and ~$1000 gains)

Cash - Currently in flux


*Expenses*

$2300 total spent in October - though much of the October expense is being spread to a November payment on the credit card.

Non-essential spending included ~$800 in personal expenses while on my business trip (extended the stay with personal time), $300 for a new suit, $400 annual gym membership, $150 road trip to Calgary for thanksgiving, $150 photo radar speeding ticket on said road trip (thank you City of Edmonton), and a $250 house warming gift for my sister who just got a new job and new place to live in Alberta herself!

All-in-all a pricey month. That'll be toned right down for November though, where I don't plan on paying much more than rent and groceries. 

But at least, for this month, no one can accuse me of wasting my youth! :biggrin:


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## MasterCard

Crazy income for a new grad. I graduated in 2012 and make around half of what you make.
I have only $35K in assets, paid about $14K in loans and YOLO'ed probaly $15-$18k.


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## My Own Advisor

Kicking a$$ peterk (can I say that here in the CMF?) , well done man.


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## Jon_Snow

It strikes me reading these money diaries that all these young guys (fewer females tend to post here I find) that seem to really have their financial **** together are not in any way close to representative of the larger Canadian public. Daily I read story after story of the horrendous financial reality out there. Maybe the media is sensationalizing things to a degree, but it still shocks me.

Kudos to the young folks bucking the trend.


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## jcgd

I hope the general public isn't represented here because I try to excel at whatever I deem important, and when it comes to income and investing I am nowhere near the top, or best. It makes me feel a little better that the average person posting here is much more financially savvy than the average Joe on the street. At least I like to think so.


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## peterk

Jon_Snow said:


> It strikes me reading these money diaries that all these young guys (fewer females tend to post here I find) that seem to really have their financial **** together are not in any way close to representative of the larger Canadian public. Daily I read story after story of the horrendous financial reality out there. Maybe the media is sensationalizing things to a degree, but it still shocks me.
> 
> Kudos to the young folks bucking the trend.


I think I've lost the ability to be objective on such topics for some time now. Surrounded by fellow engineering students for years, particularly in my engineering field, no one has had any concerns regarding money. Everyone was making over $20/hour on our co-ops, some of us over $30/hour. In my class of 13, 9 had jobs locked down before graduation, 2 were going to grad school, and 1 simply wanted to spend the summer fishing and boating, knowing that he could get a job in 6 months when the nice summer weather ended, which of course he did. I was the only one who screwed around a bit and didn't graduate on time, and things still worked out swell.

I try not to think about it too much though. I truly think it's bad for your mental health. I consider it anti-motivation. In my last year of school I would frequently justify my slacking and tomfoolery with thoughts of "well, I'm STILL better of than 95% of young people out there". I believe it was actually quite harmful to my motivation for success....

Which I suppose comes back full circle to the youth unemployment problem. If everyone around you isn't very successful, and you aren't also, you really don't feel any any looming stress or anxiety to succeed, when perhaps you should.


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## Janus

jcgd said:


> I hope the general public isn't represented here because I try to excel at whatever I deem important, and when it comes to income and investing I am nowhere near the top, or best. It makes me feel a little better that the average person posting here is much more financially savvy than the average Joe on the street. At least I like to think so.


This forum is absolutely not the general public. The selection bias on a personal finance forum is enormous - most people don't even want to think about their money, much less write to strangers about it. The level of investment knowledge here seems to vary, but in general people people here seem to be taking a better approach to money than most Canadians.



peterk said:


> I try not to think about it too much though. I truly think it's bad for your mental health. I consider it anti-motivation. In my last year of school I would frequently justify my slacking and tomfoolery with thoughts of "well, I'm STILL better of than 95% of young people out there". I believe it was actually quite harmful to my motivation for success....
> 
> Which I suppose comes back full circle to the youth unemployment problem. If everyone around you isn't very successful, and you aren't also, you really don't feel any any looming stress or anxiety to succeed, when perhaps you should.


I can see how that statement would be bad for your motivation (and for personal development - it's very unhealthy to think career prospects or a single aspect of your life make you "better" than someone else).

As to your last statement, I think you're right. The bar for people in their mid-20s is set very very low right now. "Life doesn't start 'til you're 30, especially career and money" seems to be the new dogma. I wish I could believe that and take the next few years spending my paycheques on champagne and a nice loft apartment.


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## humble_pie

Jon_Snow said:


> ... (fewer females tend to post here I find)


there are actually more women here than you've guessed each:

perhaps ratchet up your intuition? like when you're in the kayak & you read the ocean.


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## MoneyGal

I assumed he meant the "Money Diaries" section - which does (seem to) skew young and male.


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## Pigzfly

Well, I guess I'll have to go update mine then.


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## peterk

November 2013

I've had about 35 hours of overtime paid out in the last two months, no quarterly bonus for Q3 unfortunately. 

*Assets*

Stocks - $26,000
---TFSA: $12,800
---RRSP: $13,200

I've injected $2000 since September, everything else is going to cash. Had about $1300 market loss since last update.

Cash - $29,300
---TFSA: $12,550
---Unregistered: $16,750

I am in the process of shutting down my ING savings account and transferring over to Canadian Direct Financial. With a substantial cash pile that I'm keeping for a potential down payment in a year or 2, the extra interest offered by CDF is about $300/year. Nothing to sneeze at.

I've got no complaints about ING - They always did what I wanted correctly and promptly, been with them for about 7 years, but the benefit of CDF was too great.

In my September update I said:



> I'm leaning towards keeping an asset allocation as if I'm not planning on buying a house and not worrying about it. This would mean mostly stocks, with a reasonable cash pile for emergencies and/or investing opportunities. I'm not sure what reasonable is at this point. I think having 20k cash seems OK...


Since then, my employer has changed their housing incentive program and it's starting to look like more of a real possibility that I'm going to buy in the next year or 2. I've decided to hold off on any further stock purchases for now and only contribute to cash going forward in 2014. I suppose if the market drops severely in the near future I may jump in. But after this run-up I'm seeing much more downside potential than upside over my timeframe of 1-2 years.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$55,300


*Income*

$6350 after tax monthly

*Expenses*

Most of my big ticket purchases were outlined in the October and paid for in November - Total November spending was $2800.

My girlfriend and I have decided that over the winter we're going to go out for a breakfast or dinner once a week so we don't go stir crazy. As long as we're being reasonable and not having cocktails and fillet it's only about $40-50 per outing ($20-25 per person per week). In the grand scheme of things it's not really that big of an expense for something that I think adds some worthwhile variety to the week.

October Spending --- $2336
November Spending --- $2810
6-month moving average --- $2502


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## MoneyGal

What about lunch!? 

We go out to eat once a week - this week is lunch in the Roncey area of Toronto. Me + hubs + 2 kids (who now eat like adults) = usually $80.


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## peterk

December 2013

*Assets*

Stocks - $26,600
---TFSA: $13,000
---RRSP: $13,600

No new investments at this time. Adding to cash 100%

Cash - $33,300
---TFSA: $0
---Unregistered: $33,300

Moved everything from ING over to CDF for the 1.9% interest. Will be moving some cash into the TFSA at 2.25% shortly.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$59,900

My target for year end was 60k. So pretty much bang on. Mostly by fluke of course as my stocks could have gone higher or lower.









*Income*

$6350 after tax monthly

*Expenses*

Most Christmas spending was spread over a few months. I spent $2200 during 3 weeks back home at Christmas. Including the flight to Ontario, presents, and a bit of lavish spending with old friends.

December Spending --- $1950
November Spending --- $2810
6-month moving average --- $2360

*Year End Numbers*

Total spending for the year - $26,000
Gross Income - $123,000
Take home pay - $83,800
Estimated tax return for next April - $8,700

Total savings rate for the year was 72%, which is higher than my targeted 2/3 (66.6%).

My monthly spending on non rent, non grocery, non vacation items (i.e. "stuff") was $750/month. I'd like to get this down to $500/month which I think is feasible now that I've bought a lot of "new city/moving" things over the course of the year. I think there's going to be a couple big vacations this year as well. I'm budgeting about $7-8k for holiday spending in 2014.

So my 2014 monthly target spending will stay roughly the same as 2013. About $2300/month.

Target net worth for End of 2014 is $133,000.

Happy new years CMF!


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## peterk

January 2014

Nothing too exciting for January. I've got all my savings transferred into CDF now earning at least 1.9%. I renewed my student status at BMO (new grad) for another year, so it won't be until 2015 that I have to decide if I'm sticking with BMO or switching.

One point of interest is that I'm now making over $100/month in interest and dividend income! ($126/month by my estimation). I know it's not a big deal, but it feels like an exciting milestone for me. That $126 could pay for my cell phone, gym membership, and beer and wine for the month!

*Assets*

Stocks - $26,500
---TFSA: $13,800
---RRSP: $12,700

No new investments at this time. Adding 100% of new contributions to cash. 

Cash - $36,300
---TFSA: $1000
---Unregistered: $35,300

Other than a minimal amount in chequing, everything is in a CDF savings account earning 1.9% and a TFSA earning 2.25%. I'll be trasferring a large chunk to the TFSA presently.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$62,800

*Income*

$5,800 after tax monthly. 

That blasted CPP and EI started up again! 

On the topics of CCP and EI, I feel that despite my hating taxes, free market, libertarian leanings, CPP should be increased. The primary reason is that I think all the people under 30 that are having a hard time starting up a career are going to be in some serious **** for their retirements. More CPP means less OAS and welfare, means less tax dollars paid by me to those unfortunate and/or lazy people! (I believe there's plenty of both).

EI on the other hand, I think should be eliminated or optional. It amounts to another tax on the rich (with much more stable jobs) paying for the poor (who are much more likely to make use of EI)

*Expenses*

Paid off the remainder of the Christmas bills in January. Total spending for the month was $2,324.

January Spending --- $2324
December Spending --- $1950
6-month moving average --- $2260


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## Jon_Snow

I hear what you are saying about investment income covering some monthly expenses... it's exciting to see.

My monthly CPG dividends alone cover all my housing costs + internet/phone/cable. In fact, I am pretty much at the point where dividend income is completely covering all my monthly expenses. Dividends rule. 

And yes, I own a ton of CPG. :tongue-new:


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## richard

Peter, since the CPP is mainly based on income I don't see how an increased CPP would help people who can't find jobs. Unless it's a sudden increase when they're 64 years old like many are asking for now  If anything is increased I would like to see it solve one of the biggest problems in retirement planning, figuring out how long you will live. Something that kicks in at a really high age would give us a lot more certainty and wouldn't cost as much to provide. Some people are probably put off from saving by the fact that a financial planner can't honestly tell them whether they will need $200,000 or $2m. Not having to worry about the really unusual situations would be an added incentive to plan for more predictable things. I'm currently awaiting a call from the government when they're ready to hear more of my brilliant ideas 

On another note it is very nice to see what your investment income could cover. I do an estimate based on a reasonable withdrawal rate rather than actual dividends. At one point I set up a chart so I could see which expenses it was covering as it grew. I also do everything as a 12-month moving average so it includes all the annual stuff.


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## peterk

Sounds like it's time to pull that plug then Jon_Snow. I see you've been over at MMM getting your ducks in a row before the big day!



richard said:


> Peter, since the CPP is mainly based on income I don't see how an increased CPP would help people who can't find jobs. Unless it's a sudden increase when they're 64 years old like many are asking for now


Well, most young people will have to get SOME sort of job eventually. I'm sure that the majority of those living in their parents' comfortable homes who "can't find a job" would magically find entry level employment and money making opportunities galore if they were literally on the cusp of being homeless and dying in the streets.

Bumping up CPP contribution rate would certainly help those that can't seem to get a career launched and are stuck making <$15/hr for 35hrs/week for most of their adult lives. Those are the people I'm worried about. When I'm 65 I don't want half my peers living in trailer-parks and dilapidated apartments because the couldn't or wouldn't save any money when they were younger. And I certainly don't want them relying on OAS/GIS and the taxes paid from my bountiful dividend income either! :rolleyes2:



richard said:


> On another note it is very nice to see what your investment income could cover. I do an estimate based on a reasonable withdrawal rate rather than actual dividends. At one point I set up a chart so I could see which expenses it was covering as it grew. I also do everything as a 12-month moving average so it includes all the annual stuff.


Yes once I have a proper balanced retirement portfolio going I would call the 4% SWR on my capital my "monthly income". But for now while I'm saving in mostly cash for a house I think it's more accurate to just call it as it is with the actual dollars coming in. (Dividend yield on my stock portfolio is 3.3%)


----------



## Jon_Snow

peterk said:


> Sounds like it's time to pull that plug then Jon_Snow. I see you've been over at MMM getting your ducks in a row before the big day!


Not sure I've seen you post over at MMM but yeah, I go there quite a bit. Feel a bit out of place there - my net worth is much higher than most of the Mustachians over there. Feel a bit guilty sometimes. :tongue-new:

2014 is indeed the "getting my ducks in row" year. If things don't fall in place, I can always work another year. "Freedom at 43" doesn't quite have the ring of "Freedom at 42", but I'll take it. :biggrin:

Peterk, is ER a big goal for you? (too lazy to reread thread)


----------



## peterk

Jon_Snow said:


> Peterk, is ER a big goal for you?


Well, I really can't see myself wanting or needing to do anything other than casual part time work beyond the age of 45, barring some income/economic disaster. I also feel pretty happy about my current career and the opportunity I'm being given here in Fort Mac to do interesting work, learn a lot, and get paid a ton for it. This I could see doing for another 10 years (age 36) until I have ~$1m and some basic financial independence. 

It's the age 36-45 part I don't have quite clear in my mind yet, but I guess that's ok. I don't even have the core questions of "do I want children?", "what country would I like to live in?", "what kind of career/work-life balance do I want to maintain?" figured out. So I guess we'll have to wait and see on those fronts. :encouragement:

For the next ~10 years though I'm pretty set on the "make a ton of money and don't piss it all away" phase. (with the necessary amount of travelling, excitment and debauchery - for you YOLOers)


----------



## Jon_Snow

"Make a ton of money and don't piss it all away" is what we have been doing for the last 10 years - it does work.:encouragement:

2014 will be a record year for income for us (240k pre-tax), and a low for spending (24k). This is as straightforward a recipe for ER/FI as you are going find. Not sure how many making this kind of income would be willing to spend so little. I'm guessing not many. Its a no-brainer for us.


----------



## RBull

Very impressive indeed peterk. You've done well professionally and also have financial street smarts well beyond your years. Good luck with your future.


----------



## peterk

Thank you very much RBull.


----------



## RBull

^You're welcome. Looking forward to your updates.


----------



## peterk

February 2014

Nothing too exciting to report for February either, except that I just passed the 1 year mark at work! Got my Q4 2013 bonus; $600... Not great but not bad either. Total quarterly bonuses for 2013 was $3,000.

*Assets*

Stocks - $26,700
---TFSA: $13,500
---RRSP: $13,200

No new investments at this time. Adding 100% of new contributions to cash. It's quite strange that at the end of each month my stocks seem to all get back to around $26,500. My portfolio has swung from 25k to 28k several times over the last few months. But at the end of the month when I login to my broker to get an accurate number for this update, it's right back to ~26,500 again. Go figure.

Cash - $40,200
---TFSA: $6000
---Unregistered: $34,200

I'm hesitant to max out my cash TFSA but I'm not quite sure why. I guess it's because I'm "saving it" just in case there's a large market crash and want to load up on stocks.

I am still completely on the fence about whether I want to buy a house or not. No headway there. Some days I think I'll definitely be buying a house next year and should be saving cash, then the next day I'm positive a house is a horrible idea and I should be throwing it all in stocks. 

So I think I'll just continue to stay the course. All new savings will go to cash and I won't increase or decrease my stock holdings. 

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$66,900

*Income*

$5,850 after tax monthly. 

Just passed the one year mark at work so my company matched savings plan got bumped up another $60/month after tax. Right now it's 2.5%, from myself and the company, directed straight into a sunlife mutual fund account. I promptly withdraw every 2 weeks, but not before they get their sticky fingers in there with some a $12 monthly service fee! Can't fight em though. Gotta pick your battles...

*Expenses*

Nice low spending month. $1050 on food and life, $900 on rent.

February Spending --- $1950
January Spending --- $2324

6-month moving average --- $2268


----------



## peterk

March 2014

Age: 27

Been slow going during the winter months it seems. No overtime and CPP/EI deductions is causing me to fall a bit short of my $4000/month savings goal. By the end of May I'll have my Annual bonus, tax return, my raise, and CPP/EI paid up. So I expect things will speed up in the summer, savings wise.

*Assets*

Stocks - $26,350
---TFSA: $13,350
---RRSP: $13,000

No new investments at this time. Adding 100% of new contributions to cash.

Cash - $44,000
---TFSA: $12,000
---Unregistered: $32,000

Increased my TFSA to $12,000. Still have $6,800 of room but I think I'll just keep that for "just in case" a while longer.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$70,350

*Income*

$5,850 after tax monthly. 

*Expenses*

I've done some extravagant spending in March, but that will all come on the April bills. Went on a ski trip to Banff for a long weekend, and another trip to Edmonton for a long weekend. Also spent a day at the local ski-hill in Fort Mac. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Not quite as high or challenging as Blue Mountain, but it beats everything else in Ontario by a bit. And no line-ups from the millions of Ontarians all trying to go skiing for the weekend makes it's all the better.

March Spending --- $1,534
February Spending --- $1,950


6-month moving average --- $2,150


----------



## Cdnwife

peterk said:


> Not quite as high or challenging as Blue Mountain,


Lol this made me chuckle. I remember driving as a kid past blue Mountain thinking it was so big.... Then I moved West. Now it seems like a blip after living on the Icefields Pkwy. 

No matter, as long as you enjoyed it, that is what matters.


----------



## peterk

Haha yes. Skiing at Lake Louise a few weeks ago we did 6 runs the ENTIRE DAY. You can probably do 6 runs an hour at your typical Ontario hill. Maybe you'll do 6 runs at Blue Mountain in a day because you spend 3 hours standing in line at the chairlift!

Of course it costs me a day off work, $500, and 10 hours 1-way to go to Banff. The local hill is 30 minutes away on a Saturday afternoon for $50. :hopelessness:


----------



## peterk

April 2014

Age: 27

Big things this month for me were my tax return (just a few bucks shy of $10,000) and my first raise at work: 5.6%.

Also, another milestone reached. In April I received my last GST rebate cheque ever, along with a large tuition credit in my tax refund. This was the last vestige of my old life as a student with little income who took more than he gave. I am now officially part of the demographic: "High earning men who will pay far more in taxes than they could possibly hope to receive in services". I feel so privileged. :rolleyes2:

*Assets*

Stocks - $27,800
---TFSA: $14,400
---RRSP: $13,400

A good month with my stocks (+$1,500). Only $2,000 in new savings, which went towards cash, was managed to be saved due to some big bills. But the 10k tax return sure beefed my accounts up nicely.


Cash - $56,100
---TFSA: $12,000
---Unregistered: $44,100

Moved 10k into Tangerine and will collect the 2.5% bonus interest rate until the end of june. I already have the account open so I figure might as well.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$83,900

*Income*

$6,100 after tax monthly. Got my raise in April of 5.6%. Was hoping for 6-7%, but I guess we can't have everything. I got a very middle-of-the-road peformance evaluation. Next year I am shooting for above average and a 7-8% raise.

*Expenses*

Big credit card bills in April from all my travel spending in March. The whopper though was just over 1k for plane tickets for a vacation we're taking in the summer. Most vendors charge your credit card when the "item ships". Not so with airlines. Doesn't matter how far out the flight is, you owe us all the money upfront now!

April Spending --- $3,629
March Spending --- $1,534


6-month moving average --- $2,366


----------



## peterk

May 2014


Pretty much the biggest month possible money-wise I could get! 3 regular pay cheques, Annual bonus of $18,200 (gross), Quarterly bonus of $3,400 (gross) and $1,000 of overtime. Tax withheld was BRUTAL! Net worth has now breached the $100,000 barrier after 15 months of work.

*Assets*

Stocks - $27,300
---TFSA: $13,800
---RRSP: $13,500

No new money in stocks. Everything is going to cash.


Cash - $75,100
---TFSA: $12,050
---Unregistered: $63,050


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$102,400

*Income*

$6,100 after tax monthly. 

*Expenses*

Nothing too lavish this month. A couple fancy dinners and some stuff off ebay. Going to be taking a vacation to California in June so I expect that to be fairly pricy.

May Spending --- $2,207
April Spending --- $3,629


6-month moving average --- $2,265

*Weightlifting*

I think I will start reporting my weightlifting accomplishments here as well. Seems like a good place to put a monthly update and will motivate me to avoid embarrassment by not reporting any progress!

Body Weight - 192lb

Squat ---------- 205 x 8
Bench Press ---- 175 x 9
Dead Lift ------- 295 x 6
Overhead Press - 115 x 9
Pullups --------- (30) x 9


----------



## peterk

June 2014

Pretty decent month. Just got back from a holiday and most of the expenses from that trip will come in the July bills. Got to go a business trip in June and fly on the corporate jet, which was completely baller.


*Assets*

Stocks - $28,500
---TFSA: $14,430
---RRSP: $14,070

No new money in stocks. Everything is going to cash. Had decent market gains of about $1,200 this month.


Cash - $79,250
---TFSA: $12,100
---Unregistered: $67,150


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$107,750 (+$5,350)

*Income*

$6,850 after tax monthly. CPP/EI is all paid up so I have a nice bump in my pay cheques for the rest of the year.

*Expenses*

No huge expenses this month. Most of the holiday bill will come in July

June Spending --- $2,567
May Spending --- $2,207


6-month moving average --- $2,368

*Weightlifting*

No update since I was on vacation for 2 weeks and haven't been going to the gym. Hope to have some gains to report by the July update.


----------



## ashin1

Awesome progress! your holding an insane amount of money in cash op, any reason why? do tell me your secrets haha:biggrin:


----------



## peterk

A few reasons I suppose.

1 I think markets are too high right now.

2 I may or may not be saving for a downpayment on a house. Although I am undecided as of yet whether I want to spend the next 5+ years in Fort Mac.

3 I am not comfortable yet with such a high dollar amount in stocks. I thought I would be when I was a broke student and shooting my mouth off around here about being 100% in stocks when I was playing with 10 grand... turns out that "comfortable asset allocation", a popular phrase when advising those new to investing, has not so much to do with the percentages and much more to do with how many actual dollars you have in the stock market.

I'm starting to realize that suggesting a 70/30 split is quite useless without knowing the size of the portfolio. Having 70% in stocks is absolutely totally different regarding risk whether you have 10k or 100k or 1m! I thought it would be the same, but it's not.


----------



## ashin1

Peterk, what is the housing economy in fort mac, do you imagine it would be hard to sell a house? 
this situation has came up with me buying a house but ultimately i factored not buying one because, of how poor the curb appeal houses are in my area, can take years to sell, and frankly i do not want to take that risk, however if i were in Edmonton that may be a different story
The market is pretty pricey right now there is no doubt about it, but even with it being at such prices i couldnt stomach having that much cash not doing anything for me. would you ever consider just buying a blue chip company DRIP with it and not do anything with it after any years of compounding?

call me crazy but almost 90% of my assets are invested in solid dividend growth companies. capital gains are nice, but im all about the passive income from dividends, and compounding interest.


----------



## peterk

It is a buyers market in Fort Mac for sure. Prices are on the decline. I think many people are attempting to sell and then pulling their listing after several months with no offers. I had a co-worker who had to sell due to changing jobs and cities. She had to drop her price twice and it still took 2 months to sell and she has taken a loss from when she bought 3 years ago.
I also have some extreme incentives from my company to buy a house (about 120k in additional compensation over 5 years if I buy a house), but I'm still on the fence about it. Going to wait until my retention contract is up next year and see how I feel about the whole situation.

I don't think blue chips are any more immune to decline than anything else. The DOW is at new highs as is the TSX 60. And I have been trying not to think about dividends. Total return is all that matters, and dividends are taxed poorly compared to capital gains, considering their payouts are forced taxation events.

As Buffet says: Cash is like having a call option with no expiration date, on every asset class, with no strike price. In the mean time I'll keep collecting my 1.9% 

That said I'm considering dropping another 5-10k into the market with buys of PM and MCD.


----------



## ashin1

Well Peterk, looks like you may be in a good position. With your company wanting to compensate you for your house thats pretty awesome. but yeah seeing as how your not 100 certain you will stay its good to be on the fence. Sometimes i feel like corporations dont want their employees to have many job choices. So they encouraged them to own homes. So they can’t move away and get new jobs. Job salaries is a function of supply and demand. If you can’t move, then your supply of jobs is low. You can’t argue the reverse, since new adults are always competing with you.

This is true the market can crash tomorrow, but call me stupid but i would just sink more money into it if it were to crash, hell i would even pull out a loan just to invest as much capital as possible if the market were to crash lol.


"dividends are taxed poorly compared to capital gains"

but what if they were in a TFSA 

the reason why i'm so obsessed with dividends is because i would like to be able to live off of them one day.
i guess im just a lazy person haha


----------



## kcowan

Is there a minimum hold for the company contribution? It is an interesting source of leverage if you can use it to time the market.


----------



## peterk

Do you mean for the home purchase? It's a 5 year contract/mortgage. The company provides some money upfront for a downpayment and also subsides the interest rate on the mortgage down to 1%. If I break (quit) before 5 years are up I owe all the downpayment and subsidy back to the company.

I would be more interested in leveraging if markets weren't at all time highs at the moment...


----------



## RBull

peterk said:


> A few reasons I suppose.
> 
> 1 I think markets are too high right now.
> 
> 2 I may or may not be saving for a downpayment on a house. Although I am undecided as of yet whether I want to spend the next 5+ years in Fort Mac.
> 
> 3 I am not comfortable yet with such a high dollar amount in stocks. I thought I would be when I was a broke student and shooting my mouth off around here about being 100% in stocks when I was playing with 10 grand... turns out that "comfortable asset allocation", a popular phrase when advising those new to investing, has not so much to do with the percentages and much more to do with how many actual dollars you have in the stock market.
> 
> I'm starting to realize that suggesting a 70/30 split is quite useless without knowing the size of the portfolio. Having 70% in stocks is absolutely totally different regarding risk whether you have 10k or 100k or 1m! I thought it would be the same, but it's not.


RE # 2 this is of course a very personal decision and affects the amount of cash you may need/want to have on hand. 

RE # 1 & especially #3 it feels different but it is the same, regardless of the amount. You've built wealth rapidly and your ideas/fears on the split and numbers now are quite natural. As you have more $$$ it just gets more serious. Perhaps you just need a lower allocation % to stocks.

Wait until you're into 7 figures and and/or retired, and have gone through some real market ups and downs. You'll weather the storm. 5 years ago I lost 45% of what I had (on paper) that took 28 years to build, and now it's back and more and I have retired at age 55. That was a good test of patience and belief. (My allocation to equities was too high then.) You need to have faith in your investment and allocation decisions *over time*. Resist the temptation to market time. I've gone through bouts of it like many folks and it doesn't work. To paraphrase a well known comment- a lot more money has been lost being out of the market than in it. Will there be a correction- 100%- when? - who knows- how much?- who knows. Set the investment game plan and stick with it. Otherwise the decisions will get even tougher trying to figure out exit and especially market entry points vs. just staying it; especially if the correction delays for a year or two. Just one persons opinion. 

G/L


----------



## peterk

July 2014

Not a great month. Just two regular paycheques, no overtime or bonuses, and some big bills from my holiday in June. Managed to save $3,000 from my salary but want to see that at $4,000+ from now on.

*Assets*

Stocks - $29,300 (+$800)
---TFSA: $14,900
---RRSP: $14,400

No new money in stocks. Everything is going to cash. Was up over 30k for the first time ever but then tumbled with everyone else last week, unfortunately. 

Thinking about buying some PM. Will continue to think about it for a bit longer.


Cash - $82,300 (+$3,100)
---TFSA: $12,100
---Unregistered: $70,200


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$111,600 (+$3,850)

*Income*

$6,850 after tax monthly. 

*Expenses*

Big credit card bills from my holiday to California in June. :hopelessness:

July Spending --- $3,687
June Spending --- $2,567

6-month moving average --- $2,595


*Weightlifting*

No update since I was on vacation again for a week at the end of July, and I've been changing my technique at the gym a bit. I WILL have a August update for this next month.


----------



## cashinstinct

Congrats for your high savings.

For your high cash savings, I did personally DCA (dollar cost average) by investing regularly small sums each month. I was in a similar situation (had "too much" cash) and I decided to DCA to avoid "market timing" and not being able to invest.

Since markets rose a lot since 2012, I should have lump sum maybe, but I was more comfortable with small purchases each month and not try to "time" the market. It felt right to me.

The funny thing is that I did not decrease my cash by too much in actual $$$ (more money came in than I expected to save, a good problem to have), but my $$$ decreased in % of net worth because of my regular stock purchases.


----------



## peterk

August 2014

Pretty decent month work-wise. A bit of overtime, an $1,100 quarterly bonus, and a milestone was passed so that my matched savings plan increases and part of my pension kicks in. Essentially, it amounts to a ~5% raise! Woo hoo!

*Assets*

Stocks - $34,800 (+$5,500)
---TFSA: $15,550
---RRSP: $19,250

I've put $6,000 into the markets this past month. So things are about to take a turn for the worse, I'm sure. :stupid:


Cash - $81,500 (-$800)
---TFSA: $12,150
---Unregistered: $69,350

Pensions - $232
---Supplemental: $116
---ECO: $116

The Supplemental pension is a 1.5% + 1.5% matching contribution plan, directed to a sunlife fund of my choosing. Essentially it's a small DC pension supplemental to the main DB pension (which is not vested yet).
The ECO , as described at length here, is a tax deductible 3% contribution that I make which provides indexing and other bridge benefits upon retirement.

Do you folks think that the pension should be it's own category in a net worth report? The Supplemental pension is in an index fund, and is essentially the same as a stock RRSP. The ECO is stuck in an interest bearing account, and is essentially fixed income.

Still, both accounts are truly "locked" until 55, unlike an RRSP, and in my mind it doesn't really matter what asset class the funds are in since any volatility can't be realized by cashing out the account in any circumstance.

So do you think it's more appropriate to label the pension funds under their respective asset classes, or as a separate "Pension" class, as I've done above?


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$116,500 (+$4,900)

*Income*

I don't really see the need to keep reporting/updating my monthly income. My takehome pays varies month to month depending on what's going on. Total annual compensation (including pension and benefits) is around $145k.

*Expenses*

August Spending --- $2,243
July Spending --- $3,687

6-month moving average --- $2,644


*Weightlifting*

Had some fits of starts and stops. Currently I'm working on the "Starting Strength" program.
Results are as follows completing the required reps for each lift (usually 3x5):

Squat - 215lb
Deadlift - 300lb
Bench Press - 185lb
Overhead Press - 115lb
Clean - 115lb


----------



## peterk

September 2014

Pretty awful month money wise. Worst ever actually since I started working full time! :hopelessness: Managed to save a normal amount but lost a fair bit on my stocks. I'm heavy in mining companies, which have be hurting real bad lately...


*Assets*

Stocks - $31,800 (-$3,000)
---TFSA: $13,450
---RRSP: $18,350


Cash - $85,250 (+3,750)
---TFSA: $12,150
---Unregistered: $73,100

Pensions - $665 (+433)
---Supplemental: $315
---ECO: $350


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$117,700 (+$1,200)


*Income*

I don't really see the need to keep reporting/updating my monthly income. My takehome pays varies month to month depending on what's going on. Total annual compensation (including pension and benefits) is around $145k.

*Expenses*

September Spending --- $2,957
August Spending --- $2,243

6-month moving average --- $2,881

Heavy spending it seems. Can't recall on what exactly. There was a vet bill for a couple hundred bucks in there that was unwanted.

Planning a big international trip in November so that's going to hit the wallet hard as well. 


*Weightlifting*

Also a terrible month. I injured myself by stupidly lifting something too heavy around the house. Pulled a muscle and it's been sore for 4+ weeks without getting better. I swear this would have healed much quickly 5 years ago... a Chinese man I know told me that an old proverb says "to heal a torn muscles takes 100 days" So I guess I got 2 months to go! :eek2:

Squat - 220lb
Deadlift - 315lb
Bench Press - 185lb
Overhead Press - 115lb
Clean - 115lb


----------



## peterk

October 2014

3 pay cheques this month. Added $4,000 to my TFSA stocks (bought XEG and TCK.B) and I am down $1,100 in the markets from last month. (Own a bit of goldcorp - oops)

Kinda crazy, but with the money I have now I could move back to southern Ontario, living a very nice lifestyle, without working a single day for the next FIVE YEARS! Pretty wild considering I've been working a grand total of 20 months so far in Alberta...


*Assets*

Stocks - $34,700 (+$2,900)
---TFSA: $16,050
---RRSP: $18,650


Cash - $88,300 (+3,050)
---TFSA: $12,200
---Unregistered: $76,100

Pensions - $1,372 (+707)
---Supplemental: $668
---ECO: $704


*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$124,400 (+$6,700)

*Expenses*

October Spending --- $2,470
September Spending --- $2,957


6-month moving average --- $2,688

Nothing extravagant this month, except that I bought a new (used) DSLR camera. My old was was with me since first year of university... it was time.

*Weightlifting*

Eked out minor gains. Still a bit sore from my muscle injury that occured more than 2 months ago (seriously wtf).

Squat - 230lb (+10)
Deadlift - 320lb (+5)
Bench Press - 190lb (+5)
Overhead Press - 120lb (+5)
Clean - 115lb


----------



## Underworld

I like the title to your Money Diary "Life - Act III: Working for Money". It is good to identify working as a chapter in life rather than an indefinite and never ending task.


----------



## peterk

Thanks Underworld. Yes I have every intention of this only being a "chapter" in life. Not sure what chapter 4 will be called yet. Maybe "Living off investments" ?


----------



## peterk

November 2014

Normal month pay-wise, except for a nice $2000 quarterly bonus (was only expecting ~$500). I also went on a 3 week holiday to Argentina! And spent $5000 on it! Completely worth it though...

*Assets*

Stocks - $34,750 (+$50)
---TFSA: $15,550
---RRSP: $19,200

Very volatile month with several times swinging up or down 1-3% per day. In the end no gains or losses for the month though.


Cash - $85,700 (-$2,600)
---TFSA: $12,200
---Unregistered: $73,500

Needed a lot of cash for my holiday, credit card bills, and a $4,500 one-time contribution to my ECO.

Pensions - $6,367 (+$5,000)
---Supplemental: $917
---ECO: $5,450

Back-paid into the ECO for service in 2013 that I did not contribute for previously.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$126,800 (+$2,400)

*Expenses*

November Spending --- $5,297
October Spending --- $2,470


6-month moving average --- $3,203

Paid most of the credit card bill for the Argentina vacation plus all the spending cash while there. Still have a bit of this holiday and going home for Christmas as part of my December bills...

*Weightlifting*

Nada this month...

*Vacation*

Argentina was an interesting country. Patagonia was arguably more impressive than Banff. Better mountains, glaciers, and huge vast sweeping vistas... Although the lakes in Banff do edge out the lakes in Patagonia by a hair. 

Overall the country is very under developed compared to Canada. When you think of Argentina I thought Mountains, Malbec, world class steak, Paris-of-the-south (and a fickle currency). What you get though is amazing mountains surrounded by 2nd class towns, regular wine, overrated steak (do NOT go to Argentina for the food) and no doubt there is some nice architecture, culture, and opera, but Paris of the south? Please. The primary endearing quality of Argentina is that it's cheap (right now). Dinner for two at the finest restaurants in Buenos Aires with apps, steaks, and a bottle of wine will cost you ~$90. At a normal restaurant for 1: App, tenderloin steak, and a half bottle of wine will be $25. 

Do go if: you want amazing trekking and mountains, you love tango, you speak Spanish at an advanced conversational level at least, if not fluently. Unfortunately I only met one of those criteria.

Overrated/annoying things about Argentina:

Wine - You can buy Malbecs in Canada...

Food - Completely overrated. Steaks come from traditionally raised cows in the pasture, great, practically every other part of the dining experience at restaurants is not properly executed though; from seasoning, cooking, presenting, side dishes, to service. I think out of 30ish restaurants I ate at I was completely satisfied with exactly 2 meals. You will find better restaurants in any North American city >200k people. (Buenos Aires metro population is 12M...)

Infrastructure - Most structural items in BA are crumbling or never existed in the first place (although the paved roads are decent). And things get much more 3rd world as soon as you step outside of downtown BA.

Women - Yes there are a number of beautiful women in BA, like you would expect from any city of 12m people.... better speak fluent Spanish if you want to meet them though.

El Chalten is practically the ideal mountain trekking capital of the world. Unfortunately El Chalten is a dump. If you took Banff and dropped it exactly over top of the town of El Chalten it would be an unparalleled, world class destination for hiking, treking and sightseeing. 

Spanish - Don't go to Argentina unless you can speak Spanish quite well. It is not the same as going to Mexico, the caribbean or northern South America. Many Portenos do not speak a word of English, have no interest in learning it, and the "Spanish" spoken is vastly different than standard Latin American Spanish.
It's not a complaint - It's my problem I can't speak the language well enough. Just don't go into the country thinking that it works like every other Latin American country where combining your half-*** Spanish and their half-assed English you will be able to communicate effectively with a local.

All that being said it was still a fantastic trip. Definitely DO go to Argentina for the amazing natural wonders. The mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls (Iguazu) were second to none, and handsomely beat out Banff/Jasper/Niagara Falls IMHO. 

Just don't go for the wine, steak, woman, or "Paris of the south" culture, nor be under the impression that Argentina is a 1st world country to travel to.


----------



## My Own Advisor

Took a 3-week vacation to Argentina a few years ago, loved it. Agreed with most of what you said, although food in Mendoza was outstanding. The Andes are very impressive, almost awestruck.

Iguazu makes Niagara Falls look like a garden hose. Phenomenal.


----------



## Spudd

Did you see the penguins? 

I went to Chile & Argentina several years ago on the same trip. In Chile I couldn't understand a word people were saying... when we crossed into Argentina suddenly it was possible to communicate again. So if you think Argentina is bad wait till you try Chile.


----------



## rford

ya, just popping in to say argentinan pizza is garbage. had some at a microbrew in bariloche. their idea of olives on a pizza is a single pitted green olive per slice.

i loved the chimichurri and i could eat milanesa's for days!


i like that picure of fitz roy. trying to figure out where you took it from.

and i hope chalten never becomes like banff.

as for chile, 

si, po!


----------



## peterk

Haha yes that pizza is a joke. As was most of the pasta I tried (had some amazing ravioli once though). I think it's the local's Italian roots trying to express themselves, improperly.

I unfortunately didn't make it all the way down to the Penguins. It was a bit early in the summer and still ~0 degrees down there. Not my idea of a winter holiday.

The Fitz Roy picture was taken from the Miradors de los Condores trail to the south of town. In the photo El Chalten is behind the ridge on the right side of the image, about 3-4km away. Ironically after 5 days of difficult hikes around Fitz Roy I took my best photo on the very easy Condores walking trail meant for old-folks and children haha.


----------



## rford

Ahh okay. 

That's one of the trails I didn't get to. I did talk to another traveler when I was there and they said good things about it. I went to Laguna Torre as a day hike. Next day I went to Lago de Los Tres but unfortunately Fitz Roy was clouded in pretty well when I got to the lagoon. Camped overnight in Campamento Poincenot.


----------



## peterk

December 2014 & Year End Summary


Nothing good happened in December for me. My grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago and I had to fly home unexpectedly early for Christmas. At least it was nice to see everyone in the family all together during the holidays... Barely stayed in the black for the month, financially.

*Assets*

Stocks - $35,600 (+$850)
---TFSA: $16,600
---RRSP: $19,000

Added ~3000 into ACQ and XEG this month. Had dumped $3,800 more into my RRSP trading account but of course by the time the funds cleared it was the second day of the energy rally and I chickened out putting any more in… Lost out on about $1000 in gains due to slow bank transfers.  Overall down $2100 for the month. 


Cash - $84,500 (-$1,200)
---TFSA: $0
---Unregistered: $80,700
---RRSP: $3800

Emptied out my TFSA of all cash and will be utilizing the room in my brokerage account in 2015.

Pensions - $6,847 (+$480)
---Supplemental: $1,156
---ECO: $5,691

Normal contributions for the month.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$126,950 (+$150)

Wow what a terrible month. Just over $2000 saved and just over $2000 lost in stocks. 
Was targeting 133k at the beginning of 2014. Savings was adequate to achieve it but my stock returns were not. Que sera sera.

*Expenses
*

Paid the rest of my Argentina trip plus some Christmas stuff, for a well above-average month.

December Spending --- $4,576
November Spending --- $5,297

Total spending for 2014 - $35,441 ($2,953/month).

Breakdown as follows:
Rent: $11,250
Vacations/weekend trips: $11,680
Groceries: $3,464
Other Expenses: $9,047

Overall I’m quite satisfied that the “other expenses” hasn’t increased much ($8,200 in 2013). Obviously vacations broke the bank (was budgeting 7-8k) but I’m not too upset about that either. I spent 2 weeks in California, 1 week in Banff, 3 weeks in Argentina, 2 weeks home for Christmas, and 4 to 5 long weekends in Edmonton/Calgary.

*Weightlifting*

Nope. Made it a couple times to the gym but if anything I’m regressing. Hope to get things back on track this month.

*2015 Goals*

Target spending is 32-33k.

Target net worth for year end 2015 is $220,000 (revised from $205k)

I’m also going to attempt to keep my “cash” from going up any higher than ~90k. I’ve got a solid down payment saved now if I choose to buy a house (still no intention of doing so). I really can’t justify keeping additional savings out of the stock market at this point.

I want to continue dumping more into oil and mining companies but perhaps I should diversify a bit more due to all my employment opportunities being in the oil and mining sector. I’ll have to put a bit more thought into it now that I’m intending on increasing my stock exposure and not adding to cash any longer.


----------



## peterk

Monthly net worth chart from Jan 2013 to Dec 2014


----------



## Underworld

Hey peterk - $205k net worth is quite a jump from 126k. What is your plan of action?
Also what is the plan with the 85k cash?


----------



## peterk

Underworld said:


> Hey peterk - $205k net worth is quite a jump from 126k. *What is your plan of action?*Also what is the plan with the 85k cash?


Good question, and thanks to it I've looked a bit closer at the numbers and I'd like to revise them UP actually. Didn't take into account my pension vesting or tax return.

I expect I'll clear about 95k, and will save around 60-65k of that. Additionally, my pension vests in 2015, adding 11-12k, plus an additional 11-12k in new pension contributions for 2015. Plus a 4-5k tax return, and 4-5k investment gains (just a wild guess obviously).

So that should be about +95k for the year if all goes well. Let's change that 2015 year end goal to $220k.

As far as the 85-90k in cash goes, it'll be sitting in a HISA at Canadian Direct Financial making 1.9%. I'd like to keep this aside as a 20% down payment on a house should I decide to purchase, but with the current drop in oil I doubt I will be buying anything at all this year... I could be swayed into putting a bit larger allocation into stocks or some alternative investment if it presents itself, but I also very much like having a nice large cash pile and safety cushion for whatever may come...


----------



## Janus

Hey Peter,

Well done on a great 2014. 

Quick question. Do you mind commenting on what you're seeing out in the oil sands right now? I imagine your on-the-ground view into layoffs, peoples' plans to leave/stay, their thoughts on Calgary housing, etc. would be extremely insightful.

Hope none of this affects you.


----------



## peterk

Hi Janus.

Things are bleak. You only hear of major news articles saying "300 Shell and 1000 Suncor employees layed off" but never mentioned is all the ancillary work that isn't going to be getting done, and all the layoffs and/or removal of overtime as a result.

OPEX budgets are getting cut in a big way. Anything that can be deferred for a year or two is. Minor projects are being stopped in their tracks. Consulting work will be minimal, and cheaper. Consultants are either offering up discounts or discounts are being demanded of them. There's also been talk of the company considering to scale back some major work, but that may still be proprietary so I best not talk about it here. Suffice to say it would save us huge money.

We have not heard of layoffs yet at my company. The feeling we get from managers is that there won't be, but that should be taken with a grain of salt obviously. Far more likely is our pay is going to be cut back significantly. Our retention contract is up in 2015, and I expect won't be renewed, or at a much lower payout. Quarterly performance bonuses will probably be gone. They may even reduce or eliminate our uplift pay. For reference, my base salary is only 88k, but I made 137k last year (plus pension). Some or all of that additional compensation is at risk, if not this year due to contracts, then in 2016. 

Calgary will be hurting bad from this as well. Almost all professional consultants are based out of Calgary, and all of the technical departments there will Shell, Suncor, CNRL, Syncrude are at risk as well. I hear people down there are twiddling their thumbs and begging other departments for work since all of their projects are getting back burnered.

Housing: A whole hell of a lot of people are going to get ruined by this. Like bankruptcy ruined. My biggest financial success so far in my career was not buying a house in Alberta in 2013 or 2014. Prices in Fort Mac were already falling in early - mid 2014 when oil was $105. That was as a result of a huge glut of new construction in 2010-2013, and a huge exodus of highly paid employees who now live in Calgary and work Fly-in Fly-out. My colleague has a renter in their house who is moving out and skipping town. That person is a realtor...

The rental market: Things are popping up all over. I am looking for a new place myself. Tons offering 1 or 2 months free rent. My own building is now advertising units for rent cheaper than what I currently pay. I have the day off today and am going up to their office to negotiate a major reduction in rent (Probably 1600 to 1300).

What's ahead: I don't know. The Saudis don't care much about Alberta's measly 3BB/day I don't think. They are going after the shale producers in the US. My feeling is that the we are going to see 45-55 oil for a year or more, as they attempt to break the shale producers backs. I don't think that is going to happen. I think the US will continue to reduce costs through fracking improvements and labour cost reduction. At that point, the Saudis might get really aggressive and drop oil to $30/B, or they may admit defeat and jack things back up to $150 and just accept they have lost market share. Either way, I actually think the US is going to win this oil war, and the Saudis will find that crashing oil will only temporarily hold shale back, and that the US will be a lot more nimble at ramping up production rapidly when prices rise than the Saudis had expected.

My plan: While it is sad for the people who are going to lose their jobs and all their money in real estate, I am hoping I can make the best of this situation for myself. I won't even be looking at buying a house in 2015. In fact I don't think I'll be buying a house until we see more stability and $70+ oil again. The housing market doesn't move as fast as the stock market. Trying to catch the COS falling knife with 5 grand of play money is one thing. Trying to catch a half a million dollar house with 5:1 leverage is a whole different kettle of fish! I'm willing to pay an extra 20k for a house that I know won't be falling off the face of the earth 6 months after I buy it.

I'm planning to keep my down payment set aside in cash for the eventual opportunity, and keep the rest pouring into depressed oil, mining, and bank stocks. If things get extremely depressed in Calgary I may also buy a second home there and rent to a relative, with the hope of moving my career to Calgary sometime in my mid 30s. 

As far as employment demographics in Alberta goes, I think it's going to play out as follows: Fort McMurray jobs and housing are going to dry up. Salaries will be slashed. As FM becomes cheaper in the next couple years, all the big oil producers who are going FIFO are going to start realizing that paying for planes and camps is actually more expensive now than FM labour. 5-10 years, FIFO will be reduced, labour will become more expensive in FM than before, and salaries and housing will rise high once again. And the whole cycle will repeat. Calgary will be on a somewhat opposite cycle, with their housing market staying depressed longer as all the FIFO workers move their jobs back to fort mac.

Of course that is just my hopes and dreams of how this will all play out for me to best take advantage of! It may be a total disaster and I might be crawling back to my parents basement in Ontario within a few years. hahahah *nervous laughter*


----------



## Jon_Snow

Great (and scary) update from Alberta peterk...best of luck.

After sitting in the catbird seat for so long, looks like Alberta may be the place "not to be" for a while. Yikes.


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## SkyFall

wow I would be pissing in my pants if I would have bought a house in Alberta..... man I can't imagine the stress level there....

Best of luck, really hope OPEC (especially the Saudis ) drops their pride!


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## ashin1

And this is one of the reason why i love to rent!


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## peterk

Yes scary indeed. I'm eased a bit by finding out that my job isn't currently in jeopardy. Of course that could change if oil decides to stay <$50 for 5 years...

I'm now trying to determine what to do with my money and how aggressive I should be. One side wants to reduce cash a bit and buy more Alberta stocks. The other wants to hoard more cash in case the worst happens and I am out of work. With all metal mining hurting so hard right now as well as oil, I very much doubt I would be able to get a professional job in my field if I were laid off. But with no house and 80k in cash I could alway just go travel the world for 3-4 years and wait for it to all blow over! :eek2:


----------



## Janus

peterk said:


> Yes scary indeed. I'm eased a bit by finding out that my job isn't currently in jeopardy. Of course that could change if oil decides to stay <$50 for 5 years...
> 
> I'm now trying to determine what to do with my money and how aggressive I should be. One side wants to reduce cash a bit and buy more Alberta stocks. The other wants to hoard more cash in case the worst happens and I am out of work. With all metal mining hurting so hard right now as well as oil, I very much doubt I would be able to get a professional job in my field if I were laid off. But with no house and 80k in cash I could alway just go travel the world for 3-4 years and wait for it to all blow over! :eek2:


First of all thanks for that long update, it was extremely informative.

Personally I'd be conservative, not because I don't think you should be aggressive when the chips are down but because I don't think things have gotten bad enough yet.


----------



## Terminator

Just got done reading through this whole thread. First off, congrats peterk, you are putting yourself in a very good position! Seeing the growth of your net worth over the last couple years has inspired me to step up my own game. I look forward to seeing your future updates.

P.S. - You don't have any contacts for Power Engineers do you?  I just finished up my 4th Class and I'm having a real hard time breaking through (I realize I'm now the only one considering our economic situation right now haha)


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## peterk

Thanks Termi. Hoping you aren't going to hurt too much over this downturn either. You too ashin!

I don't know much at all about how the Power side of things work though. You should make sure you're in contact with any appropriate unions in Edmonton that can help you in your job search. You'll probably be a cut above most with just finishing your certification.

cheers.


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## 299889

Just finished reading all ten pages and was disappointing I couldnt wait maybe another week or so to see how your January month turns out and your stocks (You say you are heavy in the mining interesting to see how that plays off)

Nice to see how well your doing out there! Keep going loved reading this.

Also nice work on your weight lifting, I have a personal squat record of 275, I was just shy of getting three plates on either side, Keep up with the weight training! Leg day is always the best day.


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## peterk

Thanks Cody! Made some bad buys/sells this past few weeks, but think I am still in the black overall for the month. I'll do up the numbers this weekend.


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## peterk

January 2015


Pretty mediocre month of January. I seem to keep making bad investments. Would have been way better off if I had followed a couch potato portfolio for the past 2 years...

*Assets*

Stocks - $41,000 (+$5,400)
---TFSA: $18,600
---RRSP: $22,400

Added $8,000 and am only up $5,400. You do the math!

Stock market blunders for the month:

Sold G and ABX right before they rocketed
Bought Vale and SBS (Brazil stocks)
Bought more COS at the wrong price
Bought more COS the day before Q4 earnings but had the purchase cancelled due to the halting
Sold MCD a week before earning and a 5% spike

Pretty much the only good stock purchase I've made in the past many many month is Apple. *sigh*


Cash - $80,800 (-$3,700)
---Unregistered: $80,800


Pensions - $7,426 (+$580)
---Supplemental: $1,420
---ECO: $6,006

Normal contributions for the month.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$129,200 (+$2,250)


*Expenses
*

January Spending --- $2,722
December Spending --- $4,576

Spending back to normal for January, finally! Predicting February to be record lows!

*Weightlifting*

Squat - 200 lbs
Dead Lift - 295 lbs
Press - 120 lbs
Bench - 185 lbs
Clean - 120 lbs

Off of my peak of several months ago. Getting back on track though. Eating more meat.


----------



## SkyFall

Hey Peter,

You might think you made bad investments, but the way I see it, you simply made rational decisions base on what informations you had. I mean, nobody will be able to have 100% of his call right. My brother and I call this ''executive decisions'', tough decisions that needs to QUICKLY be taken and can go in your favor or go tits-up. 

1. G lost approx. 33% since July then bounced up, and with the oil price bleeding as well, I wouldn't have touch gold... it was pretty hard to tell that it was about to spike up. (Funny thing is, I had a client who ''gave'' me a tip and told me to stack up on gold stocks right before they skyrocketed.... I never act on tips.... should have hahhaha).

2. Who would have thought that MCD's ceo would step down? The way I see it, you got blind sided! With the current problems MCD had, I would have done EXACTLY the same as you did before earnings releases.

3. COS, COS, COS, COS.... You know my position on that. My analysis of the situation is, people look at it with a zoom-in-view too much. Yes I am down on COS and others oil stocks... but we all know that current prices (oil) won't stay at these levels 5 years from now! Look at it with a zoom-out-view.... If you would have average down during the 2008-2009 market turmoil, you would have cry for weeks on weeks.... I mean sometimes (myself included) tend to have a too narrow view on the market... People knew that the 2008-2009 crisis wouldn't have last forever and somehow the market would reverse back up, but still some people dumped their stocks and made their losses real.

Just imagine, now it's hard to look at the figure on our portfolio (anyone holding oil stocks), but if the market reverse in a few weeks, months or years, those who kept their stocks will be walking around with a pretty HUGE smile.

Bad luck don't last forever, you just have to hold on tight until good fortune comes to you 

my2cent


----------



## donald

To be fair re:Mcd,that spike up was more to do with the ceo getting tossed than the earnings(or at least that is m.o)
You very well have made a good call on that one
I am holding steady but it is the one in my portf that i am concerned with
Nice job though!impressive stats


----------



## peterk

Thanks guys. I may have made a few bad buys and holds that lost me 5-10k over the past year, but at least I didn't buy a house! I have an unfortunate colleague that purchased a house in Fort Mac in 2011. They sold it in 2014 for a 50k loss, moved to Calgary, and promptly bought a condo there. I imagine that property is now hitting or about to hit the skids as well. They have been out of school for 4 years and have hardly any money at all to show for it. Bad times are here for Alberta homeowners 

Some good news though that I forgot to say.... NO LAYOFFS! My company has announced that they are not laying anyone off so long as we reach our cost cutting targets. Of course this isn't permanent, and if oil stays at $45 for years who knows... but at least for the next 12 months or so I think we're all safe up here 

Bonus structures and raises will be Announced in Feb though, should be a doozy.


----------



## peterk

Boom! Entire stock portfolio is up 6.5% in a single day. Suck it, couch potato. :biggrin: (still doing awful compared to couch potato)


----------



## RBull

peterk said:


> Yes scary indeed. I'm eased a bit by finding out that my job isn't currently in jeopardy. Of course that could change if oil decides to stay <$50 for 5 years...
> 
> I'm now trying to determine what to do with my money and how aggressive I should be. One side wants to reduce cash a bit and buy more Alberta stocks. The other wants to hoard more cash in case the worst happens and I am out of work. With all metal mining hurting so hard right now as well as oil, I very much doubt I would be able to get a professional job in my field if I were laid off. But with no house and 80k in cash I could alway just go travel the world for 3-4 years and wait for it to all blow over! :eek2:


This can be one of the most useful benefits of an RRSP for someone who becomes unemployed. Especially someone who makes good money and then finds themself with no income. Good tax incentive going in and no tax paid coming out.


----------



## 299889

peterk said:


> Boom! Entire stock portfolio is up 6.5% in a single day. Suck it, couch potato. :biggrin: (still doing awful compared to couch potato)


What was the big change?


----------



## peterk

^ Mostly COS and ACQ and XEG I believe. Up to 46,500 from 41,000 last update. Of course I'm sure that will be short lived!

RBull, let's hope it doesn't come to that!


----------



## RBull

peterk said:


> ^ Mostly COS and ACQ and XEG I believe. Up to 46,500 from 41,000 last update. Of course I'm sure that will be short lived!
> 
> RBull, let's hope it doesn't come to that!


Yes, I am with you 100% on that, although being prepared is always good. From the sounds of it your company is still on solid footing and a sharp guy like you will land on your feet regardless.


----------



## peterk

You are too kind RBull. Must be that good Scotian blood in you. I spent half a year working in Halifax/Dartmouth back in the day, and was blown away by how pleasant and friendly everyone was! Highlights included: my new boss picking me up from the airport without ever meeting me, new landlord driving me around the city to help me pick up cheap furniture with his truck, and standing at the side of major 4 lane city streets and having everyone come to a halt to let me cross.

Would love to go back there to visit or live someday.


----------



## peterk

February 2015


Good month overall. $1,100 quarterly bonus for Q4. Probably the last we’ll see of those for a long while… And I moved. Got a good deal for an upgraded apartment for not much more than the previous place. Exhausted from moving furniture and things for the past month, plus a ski trip down to BC on family day weekend.

*Assets*

Stocks - $49,900 (+$8,900)
---TFSA: $24,400
---RRSP: $25,500

Solid month. Added $2,000 to the TFSA and $6,900 gains. Big upswings on COS,XEG,ACQ and AAPL

Cash - $81,700 (+$900)
---Unregistered: $81,700


Pensions - $7,985 (+$560)
---Supplemental: $1,700
---ECO: $6,285

Normal contributions for the month.

My DB pension is now vested. But I’m not really sure what it’s worth. The pension website at my company doesn’t seem to be working properly. I emailed Benefits and hopefully they can give me an accurate estimate of the CV.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$139,600 (+$10,400)


*Expenses
*

February Spending --- $2,366
January Spending --- $2,722

Nice cheap month, but I’ve got some big purchases in the Mastercard that is going to make March a doozy.

*Weightlifting*

Haven’t done much this month. Too busy with moving and other things. Just joined up to a new gym right next to my new place though. I still have 6 months membership left at the old rec center but the location of the new gym is hard to beat.








Panorama Ski Resort


----------



## RBull

peterk said:


> You are too kind RBull. Must be that good Scotian blood in you. I spent half a year working in Halifax/Dartmouth back in the day, and was blown away by how pleasant and friendly everyone was! Highlights included: my new boss picking me up from the airport without ever meeting me, new landlord driving me around the city to help me pick up cheap furniture with his truck, and standing at the side of major 4 lane city streets and having everyone come to a halt to let me cross.
> 
> Would love to go back there to visit or live someday.


You are welcome. We need more good young people here. 

Congrats on Feb results. 

Keep the pedal down with your savings. I have been enjoying the fruits of my savings efforts, now in retirement since May/14. It feels good.


----------



## 299889

Looked down at my watch today and realized I hadnt worn it in a couple days and it read the 30th and changed it to the second then it hit me. February is over Peter must have updated his money diary by now. and here I am reading it! 

Holy look look at your gains in the TFSA! 

Also the picture looks too surreal it looks fake! The mountains are huge. Wish I could get a closer look at the mountains other then flying over them going to Prince George BC!

Congrats on the new place.


----------



## peterk

March 2015


*Age 28*

Tons of spending this month and market losses. The only thing that kept me in the black is my DB pension that just vested in February and added 15k to my accounts. 

Interesting story about that. There was some legislation change a couple years ago that wasn't handled right by my company's pension calculator tool. The error made the CV reported about 20x less than it aught to be. I contacted the benefits department and they naturally assumed I was a dummy who didn't know how to read the website correctly. Upon further insistence from me, they replied and said there was actually an error in the program due to this legislation change, and it has now been fix. 

The surprising part is this. In a company of over 5000 people, anyone who was hired in the past 2 years would have seen this same problem with their pension estimate. No one in two years questioned this except me. The pension tool has been generating bad estimates for two years to probably 500 or more people and not a single one spoke up about it until I did. Scary stuff.

*Assets*

Stocks - $50,700 (+$800)
---TFSA: $28,300
---RRSP: $22,400

Not a good month. Added $6000 into my TFSA and but portfolio are only up $600 from last month. (-$5,400)

Cash - $76,200 (-$5,500)
---Unregistered: $76,200


Moved all my cash into Tangerine back in February to get the 2.5% special interest rate that expires March 31st. Will be moving it all back to CDF next week earing 1.9%. The swap gained me about $60 bucks in extra interest. Not bad for 15 minutes of clicking.

Pensions - $24,250 (+$16,260)
---DB Pension: $15,569
---Supplemental: $1,883
---ECO: $6,794

As mentioned above, DB is now vested. This is worth more than i was expecting. From the pension tool, it looks like value of the DB is rising about $680/month! Additional funds to the ECO and Supplemental contributions add $460/month to the plan, of which I pay $350 personally. So overall my pension value is increasing $1,140/month and I contribute $350 of that.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$151,150 (+$11,550)

_*INCOME*_

Big updates based on new compensation info from my company. This oil crash has hurt bad. Highlights include:

-No more quarterly bonuses (replaced by an annual bonus that is a long shot to pay-out, based on stellar company performance)
-No more annual retention bonuses after 2015 (replaced by stock options that don't vest until 2018, no details announced yet)
-Minimal raise
-No overtime

Overall I made 137k in 2014. I expect this will be $135k in 2015 and $125k in 2016. My original estimates, had this oil crash not happened, would have been about $147k in 2015 and $156k in 2016. So that kinda blows. Don't count your chickens before they hatch, as the saying goes...

But, at least they haven't laid me off... yet. 

*Expenses
*

March Spending --- $4,816
February Spending --- $2,366

Doozy of a month! 

Big bills this month. Round trip tickets to Hawaii in May, new mattress and bed stuff for new apartment, new bar chairs for new apartment, moving expenses, new gym membership, paid off trip to Banff in February. Looks like April should be more reasonable though. Back in the $2,500 range.

*Weightlifting*

Still lifting, but have stopped keeping rigid track of my gains as I've switched my focus to weight loss. Currently at 190 lbs with a goal to be 180 lbs before the Hawaii trip in 7 weeks. I will accomplish this by:

Weighlifting minimum 3 times per week.
Reducing weight from 5 rep sets to 10 rep sets
Badminton once/week
Cutting back on carbs and not eating meals until stuffed.
Intermittent fasting two days per week - This involves skipping breakfast and lunch on days with no physical activity. This will cut calorie consumption by about 15%/week. I've only done it once so far this past Wednesday. I was very hungry, bit it wasn't that bad. In addition to fat loss, fasting is supposed to provide other benefits such as boosted immune function and can even reverse ailments such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease.


----------



## m3s

peterk said:


> The surprising part is this. In a company of over 5000 people, anyone who was hired in the past 2 years would have seen this same problem with their pension estimate. No one in two years questioned this except me. The pension tool has been generating bad estimates for two years to probably 500 or more people and not a single one spoke up about it until I did. Scary stuff.


Well done! I've had similar experiences with pay statements and mortgages etc. The vast majority of people have no clue or desire to read statements or double check the math.. and there is often mistakes.

Where did you get this information on skipping breakfast? I have to listen to the nutritionist at work brief every now and then and this contradicts any professional advise. When you skip breakfast, your metabolism may just go into survival mode to store fat.


----------



## peterk

m3s said:


> Where did you get this information on skipping breakfast? I have to listen to the nutritionist at work brief every now and then and this contradicts any professional advise. When you skip breakfast, your metabolism may just go into survival mode to store fat.


As far as I can tell, the latest information, that has only been making the rounds of the internet for less than a year, shows that in fact the opposite is what's happening!

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-mike-hart/skip-breakfast-weight-loss-tips_b_3384569.html?



> "But wait, I was told breakfast is the most important meal of the day."
> 
> There are many myths surrounding the nutrition industry. Until recently it has been considered blasphemy to tell people to skip breakfast.



People are having much success using "carb backloading". I.E not eating carbs in the morning, "a healthy breakfast", and forcing your newly awoken body to burn fat for many hours throughout the day before eating substantially.

http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/carb-backloading-to-get-lean?page=2



> Your body’s sensitivity to insulin is highest in the morning and lowest in the afternoon, leading many to believe that we should eat carbs first thing in the morning because much insulin won’t be required to keep blood sugar under control.
> 
> The problem is that if you raise insulin even slightly by eating carbs—30 or more grams will do it—you seriously impair your body’s ability to burn fat for the rest of the day. Worse, you may even get fatter because of the presence of another hormone—cortisol. A stress hormone, cortisol will break down fat all morning, but combined with raised insulin, it can actually cause your body to create new fat cells.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21475137



> A simple dietary manipulation of carbohydrate distribution appears to have additional benefits when compared to a conventional weight loss diet in individuals suffering from obesity. It might also be beneficial for individuals suffering from insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome.


----------



## Jon_Snow

Good on ya peterk, lookin' to your health while still working hard in your career.

I kind of "let myself go" in the last 5 years of my working career. I managed to keep a remnant of fitness because I was in construction, buy my diet...terrible. In the past 6 months I've lost almost 60 pounds, gone from 28% body fat to my current 12%...two hours a day at the gym, a mix of cardio and weights. I have utilized fasting very well...I don't really eat much of a breakfast, although I will eat something before my gym workout to provide energy. After the gym, big protein shake, then a fairly healthy dinner. My journey to fitness has been the best thing about retirement so far...should have done what you are doing though, and tried to maintain it while working...oh well, better late than never.


----------



## peterk

Jon_Snow said:


> In the past 6 months I've lost almost 60 pounds, gone from 28% body fat to my current 12%...


Holy Jon! That's mighty impressive. I'm in low 20s, BF% and would like to cut to below 15% before I start hitting the weights heavier and increasing strength.


----------



## RBull

Jon_Snow said:


> Good on ya peterk, lookin' to your health while still working hard in your career.
> 
> I kind of "let myself go" in the last 5 years of my working career. I managed to keep a remnant of fitness because I was in construction, buy my diet...terrible. In the past 6 months I've lost almost 60 pounds, gone from 28% body fat to my current 12%...two hours a day at the gym, a mix of cardio and weights. I have utilized fasting very well...I don't really eat much of a breakfast, although I will eat something before my gym workout to provide energy. After the gym, big protein shake, then a fairly healthy dinner. My journey to fitness has been the best thing about retirement so far...should have done what you are doing though, and tried to maintain it while working...oh well, better late than never.


Nice job Jon. A great side benefit with retirement. 

I still have my midget hockey jacket from when I was 16 years old. I'm about 10 pounds heavier but it fits perfectly now at age 55!! Ten years ago my BF was just over 6% when I was running seriously, and was about 17 pounds lighter than now, and very fit. BF is much higher now though since retirement has fattened my up some!!


----------



## peterk

peterk said:


> _*INCOME*_
> 
> Big updates based on new compensation info from my company. This oil crash has hurt bad. Highlights include:
> 
> -No more quarterly bonuses (replaced by an annual bonus that is a long shot to pay-out, based on stellar company performance)
> -No more annual retention bonuses after 2015 (replaced by stock options that don't vest until 2018, no details announced yet)
> *-Minimal raise*
> -No overtime
> 
> Overall I made 137k in 2014. I expect this will be $135k in 2015 and $125k in 2016. My original estimates, had this oil crash not happened, would have been about $147k in 2015 and $156k in 2016. So that kinda blows. Don't count your chickens before they hatch, as the saying goes...
> 
> But, at least they haven't laid me off... yet.


Damn. Got a 6.3% raise. Totally unexpected. Was thinking it would be 2% or 3% at best. :biggrin:


----------



## peterk

April 2015


Good month. 3 paycheques and a raise. Good gains in the markets. I'm still waiting for my tax return (expecting $6300), was hoping it would arrive in April.

I've also done some XIRR calculations to figure out my returns for the last 2 years that I've been keeping track of my stocks.

*XIRR

2013 --- 23.2%
2014 --- negative 25.4%
*

I'll report back my 2015 XIRR return in December. Hopefully it's not a repeat of 2014.


*Assets*

Stocks - $61,900 (+$11,200)
---TFSA: $34,500
---RRSP: $27,400

Very good month. Added $3,000 cash into my portfolio and had gains of $8,200! The big winners this month were: COS, XEG, CXV (was going to sell half at 75c but decided to keep it all - oops), VALE, CWB and LRE.

Cash - $79,100 (+$2,900)
---Unregistered: $79,100


Pensions - $25,055 (+$805)
---DB Pension: $15,377
---Supplemental: $2,232
---ECO: $7,446

My DB pension CV actually adjusted _down_ this month. I'm not sure why. The pension calculator updated with the new salary after getting my raise. I would have thought that would have adjusted the CV up instead of down. Chances of getting an explanation from the HR-benefits department is slim, I'll just let it slide.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$166,000 (+$14,850)

*Expenses*

April Spending --- $2,878
March Spending --- $4,816

Normal month really. Extra spending included a trip to Calgary for Easter, $300 of clothes, and flights booked flights home for a wedding later this summer.

*Weightlifting*

Still lifting decently. Benched 210 lbs (up from 195 last month) 1RM.

I'm not really following much of a routine anymore. I'll do a Starting Strength routine one day, 1 rep max sets another, 15 rep sets on another. Just trying to mix it up so I don't get bored.

I only fasted 3 times this month (was aiming for twice/week). Haven't lost any weight. Still 192lbs. 
I need to start juicing more consistently (juice, not steroids lol) and eating fewer carbs on non-gym days.


----------



## ashin1

Net worth looking thick solid tight brotha, congrats on the raise too!

also i have been meaning to ask, how long have you been lifting weights and what are your goals with your weight lifting program? is it to become stronger, leaner, healthier, or all three?


----------



## peterk

Thanks man. The goals are to have a good looking body, be healthier and more flexible, and stronger. In that order.

In the short term I'd like to lean down to ~180lbs while continuing to lift. Longer term I'd like to bulk up and be at about 200-210lbs and 12% BF.

For lifting, I'm conscious of not overdoing it with the weights as far as long term joint health goes. That being said, most guys who say that are pussies who can't and don't want to lift more than little 20lbs dumbbells cause they're scared. I'd like to get my dead-lift, squat, and bench up to 405, 315, and 250lbs x5 reps, respectively. I think at that point I'll stop focusing on raw strength increase and more endurance, flexibility and body composition. I mean, does someone who can squat 500lbs look that much stronger than someone squatting 315? I don't think so. Nor is it necessary from a useful strength perspective. I'm not sure if going to 500lbs is bad for you, but why take the chance for no appreciable benefit...

I should be able to hit those lifting goals in 6 months I figure (not the 210lbs 12% BF goal - that'll take 2 years probably). Of course I've said that before... It's really hard to stay consistent... But I figure I'm not working overtime anymore, and my new place is right next door to very good gym with excellent bars and weights. I've got the best shot of getting in shape as I ever had in my life. Just gotta stay focused!

Just back from the gym as I type this. Benched 185lbs 5x3, and deadlifted 290lbs 4x2. Came straight home and ate 2 pork chops, half a sweet potato and watched an episode of Spartacus.

Feelin' good.


----------



## Karlhungus

m3s said:


> Well done! I've had similar experiences with pay statements and mortgages etc. The vast majority of people have no clue or desire to read statements or double check the math.. and there is often mistakes.
> 
> Where did you get this information on skipping breakfast? I have to listen to the nutritionist at work brief every now and then and this contradicts any professional advise. When you skip breakfast, your metabolism may just go into survival mode to store fat.


Recent and unbiased research has shown this to be false. Have you ever eaten breakfast and then an hour later been really hungry? This used to happen to me all the time and was very frustrating. Also goes against the theory of "survival mode to store fat". Why would I be more hungry if I ate breakfast then if I hadn't?. Switched to a high fat, low carb breakfast/diet, lost 30 pounds, and am never hungry. I can now eat a big breakfast and go all day until dinner without the hunger. Life changing.


----------



## peterk

Woo! Just got my tax return deposited. $6,300


----------



## RBull

Congrats on the raise at work and also on the return. Good job on the weight goals. I've done some myself and still do at age 56 but much lighter and high rep stuff since I'm leaner with a runner body (good thing). Leanest ever was 10 years ago at age 46 under 7% but I was only 152 lbs at the time. 

Is there a way you can reduce taxes at source so you can invest that money along the way instead of waiting until tax time? My wife and I have returns coming too but small amounts. This retirement stuff with income splitting really does help.


----------



## james4beach

peterk, congrats on the continuing good fortunes, raise, etc.

One thing I can't understand though is why you hold XEG/energy sector investments. You work in the energy industry, right? I figured you're some kind of engineer or consultant in energy/oil (what is your job anyway?)

By buying stocks in that sector you're just increasing your overall personal exposure. Wouldn't it be better to _avoid_ investments in that sector so that you don't amplify your losses?

*You* are an "oil stock", so to speak. When the industry does well, you get big bonuses and have secure income.


----------



## peterk

Thanks guys!

Yeah I know it's a risk particularly for me to be in oil investments. However it was precisely for that reason that I didn't have any oil investments prior to the oil collapse.  Whether I work in the industry or not, I still see the current opportunity just like everyone else here on CMF does, although I did jump in COS too early ($15) on the way down. 

I'd say it's especially hard to pass up when I'm front and center in the middle of it as well. Would feel like a damn fool if I didn't invest anything and then everyone else in town is getting rich if/when things turn around in a year or two.

I think the stock investing at this point is a secondary decision. No matter how I invest with only 50-100k involved you're only talking about a 20-40k swing either good or bad. Sure it would suck to lose that much money, but I wouldn't be financially devastated.

My real big decision is whether I'm going to be staying in Fort Mac for the next several years of my career, and buying a house or not. That would expose me to potentially 100-200k+ swings that could either go very good or VERY bad (ie bankrupt me).

I am certainly very glad I didn't buy a house here. I was very close to doing so last spring. It would have been a disaster.

Even if I lose my job tomorrow and my stocks all tank another 50%, I still have no debt and 70k+ in cash to hold me over. I'd be ok. 

And yes, I am an engineer and work as a direct employee at one of the big surface mining sites.


----------



## james4beach

Wow, you only got into oil investments _after_ the collapse? That's great then... no problem there. Buying distressed securities and sectors is the way to go. (Which is why I've been buying more gold lately btw)

Yeah you'll be OK  70k in cash sounds terrific. My personal benchmark is an absolute minimum of 60k in cash but I'm sitting at 80k cash right now. Like you, no debt, and find that I fear absolutely nothing.

Cheers, brother, from a fellow engineer (EE). I've been working my *** off lately and just made our small company a couple million$.

Let the good times continue to roll


----------



## peterk

Good job man! I hope you see some of that millions through bonuses/raises! I've worked for small companies before and they are generally way more fun and normal. Working for a huge oil company is not amazing. I like the actual position and subject very much, but dealing with so many rules and procedures and meetings isn't the best. Soul crushing, really. I'd love to work in South America someday, the "wild west" of mining.

Just did a quick calculation. In the last ~7 months I've invested 29.5k into "Alberta related" stocks. Those holding are now at 31k, after this bit of run-up we've had. So overall I've missed the mark on the bottom by a bit, but wasn't too far off. 

I would actually like to see another drop to $45 oil this summer and plunge in stocks. Followed by a rally to $70 by year end, and back to $90+ by 2016 year end. That would be ideal for me. If that happens I'll drop another 30k into oil stocks this summer, and would be looking to buy a house in early 2016.


----------



## peterk

May 2015

Pretty great month. Got my tax return ($6,300) and my annual bonus ($12,000 net). Negative returns though.

Also, went to Hawaii!


*Assets*

Stocks - $59,200 (-$2,700)
---TFSA: $32,800
---RRSP: $26,400

Not a great month for my returns. Added $2000 to TFSA and returns of negative $4,700

Cash - $97,600 (+$18,500)
---Unregistered: $97,600


Pensions - $25,457 (+$402)
---DB Pension: $15,280
---Supplemental: $2,535
---ECO: $7,642

My DB pension CV adjusted down _again_ this month. I'm still not sure why. I'll give it another month and if the pension calculator still seems to be spitting out screwed up numbers I'll give the benefits department a ring to figure out what's wrong.

*Liabilities*

Zero

*Net Worth*

$182,200 (+$16,200)

*Expenses*


May Spending --- $3,628
April Spending --- $2,878
March Spending --- $4,816

High spending this month. Paid for part of the trip to Hawaii (more next month)

*Weightlifting*

Not the best month. No real improvements (no worse either). Weighing 194lbs these days. Need to get that down. Finally bench pressed 225lb 1RM which is a big hurdle, but now my wrist is sore. June is going to be for cutting down on carbs to only gym days, and upping the meat and vegetables intake. Also successfully skipped lunch a couple times this past week.


----------



## RBull

Life is good! Keep up the focus on finances and health. Good luck.


----------



## peterk

June 2015

Nothing special this month, kinda boring. Couple grand in market losses and high expenses from paying off the Hawaii trip.

*Assets*

Stocks - $62,800 (+$3,600)
---TFSA: $35,900
---RRSP: $26,900

Pumped 5-6k into the market and am down a couple grand on investments.


Cash - $94,700 (-2900)
---Unregistered: $94,700

This actually includes several grand in my broker accounts. But I’ll just lump it together in unregistered as I’ll be spending it soon I’m sure.


Pensions - $26,477 (+$1,020)
---DB Pension: $15,925
---Supplemental: $2,738
---ECO: $7,814


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$184,000 (+$1,800)


*Expenses*

June Spending --- $3,597
May Spending --- $3,628
Total spending for the first half of 2015 is $20,007. Kinda over budget here by quite a bit. Mostly it’s the trips, and I’ve got 2 more major trips planned for the summer and fall. Overall I think it is a worthwhile expense. Hopefully I can NOT spend another 20k in the next 6 months. I’m not super hopeful though.


*Weightlifting*

Wrist is still not 100% from last month’s injury so I’ve just been going lighter on the weights. I think July will be a good month for fitness. I’m feeling it.


----------



## RBull

Net worth is up so that's good. Hasn't been a great investment month for me either, and being retired my net worth goes south when markets retreat or soften; although I'm still up about $75k from this time last year after withdrawals...until the market turns. 

I think your spending is more than reasonable, since you're able to save too and your NW statement is pretty darn good for your age. You have to live, you've got a great income, and the time is now before (if) your life changes to tighten up the finances. 

I like the positive attitude on your fitness training. I feel the same about mine, since I've been doing a weekly lactate threshold workout (3 so far) for the first time in about 10 years. No parts of my body have fallen off yet and extra time heals the soreness! LOL


----------



## peterk

July 2015

Early and quick update, as I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and haven't packed!

*Assets*

Stocks - $66,000 (+$3,200)
---TFSA: $31,900
---RRSP: $34,100

Awful month. As said before I'm sure, I'm heavy into oil stocks. Keeping on buying. Invested about ~10k this month and am only up $3,200


Cash - $86,100 (-8,600)
---Unregistered: $86,100

Pensions - $27,282 (+$805)
---DB Pension: $16,425
---Supplemental: $2,909
---ECO: $7,948

Pension tool is wonky, spitting out random numbers it seems each month. Now using my annual statement estimate and adding a calculated amount each month to make things a bit smoother.


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$179,400 (-4,600)

This is my first month ever in the red since starting full time employment 2.5 years ago. 


*Expenses*

May Spending --- $2,870
June Spending --- $3,597

Good month for expenses. August will be absolutely brutal. Probably 6-7k with a big holiday on the bills.

*Weightlifting*

Update next month.


----------



## peterk

Added up all the active positions in my TFSA & RRSP. In total I am $23,000 in the red currently :frown:. I have some closed positions from last year and the year before that I was up a few grand on, so maybe it's only ~$18k-20k that I'm actually in the hole.... hah.

My TFSA is maxed out, yet only has $28k in the account...

Think I might stop adding to my commodities. I can't take much more of this. About 50k of my 70k portfolio is in Oil/Metals/Alberta stocks.

I want to add more U.S. equities but the dollar so bad it's keeping me from converting. Maybe I should just suck it up and do it though.


----------



## peterk

Down 3 grand today, in one day. Almost a whole month's worth of savings. Posting these updates so that my fears do not remain bottled up inside and cause me to do something rash like sell it all (although maybe that would turn out to be the best decision).

I don't think I'll invest any more into Canadian small-medium energy companies. If Oil prices remain depressed, which is sounds like they will be, I'm going to start buying the US majors: XOM, CVX(already own CVX) which are now finally going on sale. AAPL is also down so I'm going to start buying more of that too.


----------



## peterk

Up 6 grand today... What a rollercoaster!


----------



## RBull

It's all about balance. If I had known about indexing in my 20's I would be a much wealthier man. 

Good luck.


----------



## peterk

August 2015

Despite being up $8,000 in the last two days, the up-tick in oil was only enough to turn a disastrous month into a merely abysmal one... On top of that, I saved zero new dollars this month as I paid for nearly my entire Europe trip in August. Overall networth is down $7,000 since July.

*Assets*

Stocks - $71,800 (+$5,800)
---TFSA: $28,500
---RRSP: $43,300

Worst month ever. Added about $14,000 towards Canadian energy stocks. Started buying heavily in July as oil tumbled to the low 50s, and continued buying down to the low 40s this month. Then I simultaneously ran out of cash in my broker account and ran out of confidence in my plan. I didn't do any buying in the past week during the best time when oil has been sub $40. Oh well.


Cash - $72,000 (-14,100)
---Unregistered: $72,000


Pensions - $28,277 (+$995)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $16,900
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $3,156
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $8,221

Added a bit of explanation above of where these pension contributions are coming from.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$172,100 (-7,300)


*Expenses*

August Spending --- $6,654
July Spending --- $2,870

Paid off my whole Europe trip this month. Spent about $5,100 for a two week vacation. The biggest expense was that plane ticket at $2,100. Using the Amazon.ca Visa card for cash withdrawals worked flawlessly. Until I decided to pay for a rental car with it, and didn't realize that the card has no rental insurance (I checked before hand on the internet, and everywhere unofficial has said that it DID have rental insurance...) The car company (Sixt) hit me with some bullshit damage claim about scratches on the wheel rims, which I absolutely did not incur. Think I'll just chalk this one up to bad luck and lesson learned. A $350 lesson.

*Weightlifting*

Not gonna report lifting progress for a while now. I've changed gears and am now lifting slightly lighter weights with the goal of fat loss. I'm going to spend the rest of the summer on lighter weights, higher reps, and controlling my diet. Down to 184lbs now from 190lbs. Almost all this loss was from my Europe holiday though where i did tons of walking and cycling and didn't eat as much as I do here at home. Once I hit somewhere in the 175lbs range I'll switch gears and start lifting heavy for strength. I want to get lean first though, still can't see my abs.


----------



## peterk

September 2015

Another down month. Not as bad as last, at least. That makes 3 months in a row with a decrease in net worth. :hopelessness:

*Assets*

Stocks - $67,200 (-$4,600)
---TFSA: $25,400
---RRSP: $41,800

Energy stocks down again. Used my last bit of RRSP funds to start a position in POT at $33 (oops). TFSA and RRSP are now maxed with $41,000 and $51,700 contributed. They are sitting at -$15,600 and -$9,900, respectively. So this is the opposite, dark side of the registered accounts that everyone warns about, no capital losses.

Cash - $73,000 (+1,000)
---Unregistered: $73,000


Pensions - $29,500 (+$1200)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $17,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $3,314
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $8,565

Normal pension contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$169,700 (-2,400)


*Expenses*

September Spending --- $2,403
August Spending --- $6,654

Nice cheap month. The only extra expense was a couple hundred bucks for the minor damage on my rental car that it turns out I had no insurance for.

*Weightlifting*

Gained a few pounds and lost them again. Still at 184lbs. Starting to participate in a fitness challenge at work with a group so I think that will help motivate!


----------



## ashin1

I know your pains when it comes to a decreasing net worth. But lucky for us we are young and time is on our side! keep it up man dont stop


----------



## peterk

October 2015

Great month! Low spending, 3 pay cheques, and a big pop on the stock market (mostly due to COS). 


*Assets*

Stocks - $75,800 (+$8,600)
---TFSA: $29,000
---RRSP: $46,800

Holdings peaked at $81,000 in early October but have since slipped to the above value. About $7,000 of this stock balance is actually cash from the COS sale, which I'm converting to USD for US stock purchases in my RRSP. I'll not confuse this diary by flip flopping around registered cash and reporting it here as such. It will no doubt be deployed shortly to buy more equity.

No new investments this month. TFSA/RRSP were maxed already. I'm going to open an unregistered account in November but haven't decided which broker yet. Either TDDI, BMO, or Interactive Brokers (already with Questrade and don't want to keep all my eggs in one basket).


Cash - $81,300 (+8,300)


Pensions - $31,500 (+$2,000)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $19,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $3,800
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $8,700

3 pay cheque pension contributions. The CV went up more than I expected and the Indexing fund up less than I expected. This pension calculator tool is certainly a bit wonky and never seem to spit back a number that I except. I guess it's better than no info though, which sounds like what a lot of employers with DB pensions give. The only account that actually behaves properly is the DC pension because it's invested in something visible that is easily tracked (50% TSX fund / 50% S&P 500 fund).

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$188,600 (+18,900)


*Expenses*

October Spending --- $2,372
September Spending --- $2,403

Another good month with no excesses. Rent all inclusive is $1200, all purchases, bills and spending go on the Mastercard ($1072) and $100 in cash that I don't know where it got spent.


*Weightlifting*

Back up to 186lbs. Overall I'm doing better than I was a couple months ago, but still nowhere near where I want to be. I have to control my diet better. I have all these goals for that never amount to anything because I have no discipline. Ate a lot of Halloween candy this month... My arm is still sore from my injury 5 months ago. Finally went to a doctor and he agrees it's probably a strained ligament. I'm going to go to physio to see if there's anything they can do.


----------



## peterk

November 2015

Regular month. Lost a few thousand in stocks. Haven't added any new positions, but am opening a IB unregistered account to begin investing again (TFSA and RRSP are maxed)

*Assets*

Stocks - $71,700 (-$4,100)
---TFSA: $26,900
---RRSP: $44,800

Nothing exciting to talk about here. Bought some HSE, IPL, TRP, VALE, BBL and AAPL with the cash left in my accounts from the COS sale last month.


Cash - $83,600 (+2,300)

Think I screwed up a bit last month and included rent money in my net worth that shouldn't have been counted. Corrected now.

Pensions - $32,500 (+$1,000)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $19,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $4,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $8,800

Usual contributions


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$187,800 (-$800)


*Expenses*

November Spending --- $2,573
October Spending --- $2,372


Another good month with spending under control.

*Health*

Major setbacks. I'm off of doing any strenuous activity with my arm completely now, and wearing a wrist brace to try and heal it. Turns out my strained muscle or ligament from the 5 months ago overdoing-it is probably a TFCC tear in my wrist. From all the reading I've done it can be quite a serious, debilitating, permanent injury I'm playing it safe and going to physio regularly, wearing the brace all the time, and only exercising legs at the gym.

God I hope this gets better and I don't need surgery. If I can pull through I promise not to be so stupid and wreck my body on purpose. Exercising "through the pain", Christ that was dumb. I also got another old injury from years ago that I never sought treatment for that's getting worse too. Been trying to get the doctors to take it seriously. I have a feeling it's going to need surgery too.

It seems like my body has been falling apart over the last 6 months. I feel old and I'm only 28.

All that "silly, stupid advice from old people" over the years:

"don't overdo it"
"take care of yourself now or you'll regret it later"
"you only get one body"
"just wait till you get old"

Man, was I ever wrong.

Further issues:

One of my best friends from back home has not asked me to be part of his wedding party. That cut pretty deep. I guess that's what I get for moving out west and only seeing him once a year.

Also, while I am satisfied in my relationship, my girlfriend is not. She wants to get married, and is pushing harder and harder. I just don't think it's a good idea for me. Things are probably going to come to a head in the next few months...

Overall I feel at a very low place right now. The worst I've felt in 3 years since moving out west. Wondering if it was all worth it. To top it off, winter is here, and oil is still $40/bbl.

Edit: Oh yeah, and possibly the biggest disappointment, I applied for a job in Calgary. What luck an ideal position in my field would turn up at such a bad time for Alberta. Got an interview. Turned down.


----------



## scorpion_ca

Is it possible to add monthly income before expenses?


----------



## peterk

Hi scorpion.

Bi-weekly net is $3,200.


----------



## scorpion_ca

You might have already explained but curious to know why you have so much cash in hand whereas you could max out your TFSA. Are you planning to buy a house soon?


----------



## peterk

TFSA and RRSP are already maxed with stocks at Questrade. TFSA is severely underwater that's why there's only 27k in the account! :hopelessness:


----------



## ashin1

hows it going peterk?

funds are all looking thick solid joocy and tight, keep it going my man!

I'm liking the addition of IPL, fantastic company and despite the fact i have 500 shares of them already I'm looking to add more.
You have a gander at CWB.TO yet?

Your TFSA is 27k? what you got inside of it?


----------



## peterk

Not really saving for a house at this point. I was before but plans have changed. I'm much less confident I'll be working in any one place for 5+ years to make the plunge of buying a house. All the cash is letting me sleep well at night knowing I could live for 3 years off it if I lost my job. I'll keep buying stocks with my new money buy want to keep cash in the 70-80k range. If there's a major market correction (one of these days!) then I'll probably reduce that down to 20-30k cash and invest heavily.


----------



## scorpion_ca

You already missed market correction of this year, which was on Aug 24, 2015.

I think you don't need savings in cash for three years at this stage of your life. If you lose your job, you will get EI for around nine months. EI might not be enough but cut your coat according to your cloth. If you keep cash in 20-30 range and invest rest, your money will grow faster.


----------



## peterk

I would like to invest more, but my detailed internal assessment (gut feeling) says otherwise.

1: Markets seem very expensive right now. Concurrently, the CAD dollar is in the tank, making it even more expensive outside the country.

2: My employment and job prospects lie entirely within the oil/mining/construction sector. I am a junior engineer with limited technical expertise, only an "OK" performance rating at my current employer, and below average grades from school a few years ago. If I were unfortunate enough to get the ax I could realistically be unemployed or underemployed for many years if this commodities downturn sustains.

It's all about sleeping well. I sleep super amazingly knowing I have many years of savings in the bank for come-what-may. If I only had 6 months or a year, i wouldn't sleep as well. Pretty easy decision.


----------



## none

Plus your diversification is terrible. You don't invest where you're employed. Being employed in oil is similar to have 2million invested and receiving 100K a year in oil dividends. Adding more resource based commodities into the mix through stocks is a risky move.

Stocks are not expensive by many historical measures plus the Canadian dollar is not in the tank. It's exactly where it should be.


----------



## m3s

You have a solid foundation and lots of flexibility and time. Don't sweat the short term market/life fluctuations because those always rise and fall.

Diversification does help mitigate the lows, for example USD cash/stocks are up now relative to CAD. Probably applies to life somehow as well.


----------



## Taraz

scorpion_ca said:


> I think you don't need savings in cash for three years at this stage of your life. If you lose your job, you will get EI for around nine months. EI might not be enough but cut your coat according to your cloth. If you keep cash in 20-30 range and invest rest, your money will grow faster.


Agreed. You don't have a house, so you can easily downsize to a cheaper place (or move to a better paying job) if you need to. If you're worried about overvalued markets, ease in slowly and look for the bargains (like Apple, perhaps), or buy globally-diversified (U.S., international) index funds. Lean and mean!


----------



## peterk

none said:


> Plus your diversification is terrible. You don't invest where you're employed. Being employed in oil is similar to have 2million invested and receiving 100K a year in oil dividends. Adding more resource based commodities into the mix through stocks is a risky move.
> 
> Stocks are not expensive by many historical measures plus the Canadian dollar is not in the tank. It's exactly where it should be.


I agree, I'm not diversified, and the problem is compounded when I'm buying from my own industry, and it is why I'm so conflicted. On the other hand, it is hard to pass up the value when I see it, even if it's within my own industry. I also don't see the cheapness of the general indices that you are seeing, and fear the global economy is teetering on the edge of massive deleveraging. I acknowledge that I may be completely wrong. Overall I feel being 50% cash and 50% commodities-heavy equities is less risky than 100% broad equities, at the moment.




m3s said:


> You have a solid foundation and lots of flexibility and time. Don't sweat the short term market/life fluctuations because those always rise and fall.
> 
> Diversification does help mitigate the lows, for example USD cash/stocks are up now relative to CAD. Probably applies to life somehow as well.





Taraz said:


> Agreed. You don't have a house, so you can easily downsize to a cheaper place (or move to a better paying job) if you need to. If you're worried about overvalued markets, ease in slowly and look for the bargains (like Apple, perhaps), or buy globally-diversified (U.S., international) index funds. Lean and mean!


I'm not worried about "short term fluctuations" or volatility or jumping in all at once. I'm worried about a large and sustained correction. From that perspective I don't think "easing in slowly" is going to offer any benefit over just jumping all in! I am indeed focused on picking up cheap stocks (like Apple) that I think will be punished less than the overall index in a market correction.

I would love to be convinced that another strategy is the way to go, as I realize that buying commodities stocks is really bad advice for someone working in the oil industry. I just don't know what to do. Bonds? no. Canadian real estate? hell no. Canadian stocks? Maybe, but a looming housing plunge could see Canada suffer greatly, and I don't think the energy correction has been priced into other sectors yet. US stocks? Maybe, but they are expensive, their politics are a disaster, and the dollar is against us Canadians. International stocks? No way, China and Europe are on the brink.


----------



## Moneytoo

peterk said:


> I would love to be convinced that another strategy is the way to go...


I'm curious to see how this guy's strategy will play out next week:



insurance1 said:


> For next week's OPEC decision, here's what I recommend. I usually do it when I know oil will go big either way.
> 
> I usually put in a limit order to buy both the TSX oil bull and bear ETFs (leveraged) of $0.10 or so higher than their current prices. Therefore, one will be bought big pretty much as soon as it starts to tick up. I usually make a quick few thousand doing this every time!


But am at a bit of cross-roads myself at the moment, long-term investing looks more like a gamble than short-term oil or volatility plays...


----------



## kork

peterk said:


> I would like to invest more, but my detailed internal assessment (gut feeling) says otherwise.
> 2: My employment and job prospects lie entirely within the oil/mining/construction sector. I am a junior engineer with limited technical expertise, only an "OK" performance rating at my current employer, and below average grades from school a few years ago. If I were unfortunate enough to get the ax I could realistically be unemployed or underemployed for many years if this commodities downturn sustains.
> 
> It's all about sleeping well. I sleep super amazingly knowing I have many years of savings in the bank for come-what-may. If I only had 6 months or a year, i wouldn't sleep as well. Pretty easy decision.


I can actually completely relate to this. I work in the high tech sector and while I have job security, the industry moves so quickly I'm not sure when I will find myself left behind. The peace of mind having money in the bank to weather a storm is very reassuring.

But my storm is different and my looking glass is a bit different. I'm not looking to have savings to weather a storm because I could easily get a job to "feed the family" if push came to shove. Tim Hortons is always hiring and there's always freelance work to be done. In the meantime, while the sun shines our current financial strategy is to get AS MUCH into our couch potato RRSP's and TFSA's as possible and let compound interest be my friend. Second goal is to pay off the mortgage in the next 6 years and third goal is non registered investments. I want to make sure that when the time comes for me to "move on" I've been able to save as much as possible.

And there's much to be said about sleeping amazingly. But what allows me to sleep (most nights unless my mind is racing) is knowing that I've got enough in investments to grow over the next 20-29 years to be very comfortable in retirement, even if I were to lose my job tomorrow. Tomorrow and the day after are easy... It's making hay while the sun shines and leveraging long term market gains as opposed to trying to "play the market."


----------



## m3s

peterk said:


> International stocks? No way, China and Europe are on the brink.


US was on the brink of the "fiscal cliff" not so long ago. I held my nose and bought.. just like during the "financial crisis" before. Based on my asset allocation, some new contributions are going to VEA and VWO for now, while holding my nose again. I had to google the buzz word for "fiscal cliff" because it seems the word itself went over a cliff. My US diversification has been my saving grace lately, so I hope VEA can do the same in the future.

Similar to you I also sat on a pile of cash throughout most of my 20's. Most of that is tied up in a house now. You're not missing much, besides spending your weekends doing more spring cleaning, general maintenance, weeding, mowing lawns, preparations for winter, shoveling show etc etc. Sucks that this market punishes the conservative saver though. Diversifying some cash into USD or maybe some CHF could have been worthwhile.


----------



## none

peterk said:


> I agree, I'm not diversified, and the problem is compounded when I'm buying from my own industry, and it is why I'm so conflicted. On the other hand, it is hard to pass up the value when I see it, even if it's within my own industry. I also don't see the cheapness of the general indices that you are seeing, and fear the global economy is teetering on the edge of massive deleveraging. I acknowledge that I may be completely wrong. Overall I feel being 50% cash and 50% commodities-heavy equities is less risky than 100% broad equities, at the moment.


I think you over-estimate you wisdom in this regard. For the vast majority of investors the efficient market hypothesis is an adequate approximation of stock value. That's the entire foundation of couch potato investing - people don't do it because it's fun (it's not), that it'll make you rick quick (it won't) but rather that it maximizes the probability of ending a time frame with the most amount of money. That's the whole point. To accept your ignorance and inability to not be ignorant about the future of stock value is not an easy pill to swallow.


----------



## peterk

I am sure you are right none. Thanks for the tough love. I am considering putting future funds into more diverse holdings.


----------



## Janus

I just read the last few pages of your entries. What a rollercoaster!

First off, given the stock market losses you've faced your net worth still looks fantastic for your age. You've certainly been going more hardcore than me in terms of aggressively going for your goals! I hope the big oil bet works out for you. 

Secondly, chin up about all the other stuff (wedding, girlfriend, exercise) - you're young, doing well, learning life lessons. I'm going though some similar things too - in physio for the first time in my life, just got out of a 4 year relationship, etc... 2015 was a weird year for me and just about everyone I know in their late twenties. Maybe it's just that kind of age. But as long as you're working hard, saving, investing, learning, and spending time with the right people in your life, then you're doing the right things. Oh, and you still have a job! :biggrin:

What's your total dollar value and % of total assets in oil and gas?


----------



## peterk

Thanks Janus. I'm hoping 2016 will be a better year than 2015 on a number of fronts. That said, it wasn't awful. I've just felt a bit down for the last few months. I'm sure things will pick up for me by the spring. I'm hoping to volunteer for a turnaround in early 2016 (they shutdown a portion of the upgrader for repairs/maintenance) and gain some interesting experience in an area that i know nothing about. Plus make about 10k overtime in 6 weeks. :biggrin:

The portfolio is around ~70% in Oil/mining/pipeline/Alberta stocks. Not super diversified, but at least more diversified among those sectors than I was a few months ago. At one point I had nearly 20k in COS! :hopelessness: Been adding more to IPL, XEG, CPG, BTE, POT, PD, TCK, WJA, AAPL lately. If the oil majors dip down another 10% or so I'll likely add more to XOM and CVX.


----------



## Janus

peterk said:


> Thanks Janus. I'm hoping 2016 will be a better year than 2015 on a number of fronts. That said, it wasn't awful. I've just felt a bit down for the last few months. I'm sure things will pick up for me by the spring. I'm hoping to volunteer for a turnaround in early 2016 (they shutdown a portion of the upgrader for repairs/maintenance) and gain some interesting experience in an area that i know nothing about. Plus make about 10k overtime in 6 weeks. :biggrin:
> 
> The portfolio is around ~70% in Oil/mining/pipeline/Alberta stocks. Not super diversified, but at least more diversified among those sectors than I was a few months ago. At one point I had nearly 20k in COS! :hopelessness: Been adding more to IPL, XEG, CPG, BTE, POT, PD, TCK, WJA, AAPL lately. If the oil majors dip down another 10% or so I'll likely add more to XOM and CVX.


Glad to hear there's still lucrative work out there. I hope it doesn't all dry up for you.

70% oil... you mean 70% of your ~$190,000 is oil?


----------



## peterk

Noooo that'd be crazy. Just look at the asset breakdown in my last update. I have about 75k in equities, so around ~50k in resource-related stocks.


----------



## Janus

peterk said:


> Noooo that'd be crazy. Just look at the asset breakdown in my last update. I have about 75k in equities, so around ~50k in resource-related stocks.


Oh. No reason to be worried about you after all! Maybe I should buy more XOM...


----------



## peterk

*December and Year-End*

Updating a bit early as I'm heading home for Christmas tomorrow and am not bothering to bring my computer.

Overall it was a decent month. I opened an IB non-registered margin account and invested another 15k in stocks. I've been going back and doing a lot of re-reading about taxes and investing, and I've put together this handy spreadsheet that ranks all my stocks by it's dividend 'tax yield' liability. 


*Assets*

Stocks - $86,300 (+14,600)
---TFSA: $26,400
---RRSP: $44,000
---Unreg: $15,900

I have about $6,000 cash among these 3 accounts currently, but I'm just going to call it all stocks as soon as the money is in a trading account. Too hard to keep track of.

I've rearranged some of my holdings to keep the equities with the lowest dividend tax yield liability in the unregistered account. I've tried to also consider the riskiness of the stock and account for that in my account-type allocation. Mistakenly, I moved over all of my BTE to unregistered, and after yesterday's run up now have a $950 capital gain (hypothetically, if I sold). Guess I shoulda kept it all in the TFSA, oops

Cash - $72,300 (-11,300)

Tangerine 3% deal is over. I opened up a ZAG bank account for 2.5% interest until March. I put 30k in there and the rest back into CDF @ 1.5%

Pensions - $33,700 (+$1,200)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $20,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $4,400
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $9,100

Usual contributions.


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$192,300 (+$4,500)


*Expenses*

December Spending --- $3,516
November Spending --- $2,573

Paid for half my Christmas vacation and the rest of the bill will come in January.

*
Year-End 2015 Summary*

Gross pay: $136,900
Net pay: $93,700
Annual Spend: $40,500
Annual Savings: $53,200 (Including Employee contribution to pension but not Employer contribution to pension)
Savings Rate: 56.8%

Spending breakdown:

Total: $40,500
Rent+utilities+insurance: $13,950
Groceries: $3,800
Vacations: $11,700
Other: $11,050

This totally blew my budget of ~$32,000. Mostly from moving to a nicer place with much higher rent, spending way too much on vacations and way too much on stuff/entertainment. In 2013 and 2014 my "other" spending was $8,200 and $9,000. So this is creeping steadily higher it seems. I'm going to have to get that in check.

*Year-over-Year Net worth*

Overall I've done very poorly on the stock market this year. Down about $25,000 in the past 6 months and have barely increased my networth over that time period.

Year-over Year net worth increase was $65,400.


----------



## Janus

Well done on a big year of savings. Those are only paper losses, nothing to feel bad about until/unless you sell...


----------



## peterk

*30 Day Health Makeover Challenge*

New year's resolution time. I'm starting with a 30 Health/Lifestyle makeover challenge. I intend on doing all of these activities perfectly for 30 days in a row. When you only commit for 30 days, it takes the pressure off. I will update daily here to ensure that I am not cheating. If I cheat a day I will post it here in big red font for all to ridicule! edit: OK *bold*, since CMF doesn't seem to have font colours!

Challenges:

Gym - 4 days/week. Sat, Sun, Tues, Thurs. Full body lifting, moderate weight, 10 reps/lift. I don't want to push this on account of my wrist still not being back to 100%, and right now I'm trying to lose fat instead of increase raw strength. If I miss a day I have to go the next day to make up for it.

Stretching/Yoga - Minimum 10 minutes of stretching on non gym days. Mon, Wed, Fri.

Diet - Cut out hydrogenated oils as much as possible. Minimum 2 salads/week. Meat/protein every day. Minimal carbs and smaller portions on non gym days. Minimum 2L fresh juice/week.

Supplements - Take all supplements every day. For some reason I have a hard time taking these. I just forget and maybe take them 1 or 2 times/week. My current formula is: Magnesium, Vit D, Vit C, Vit E, Zinc, Fish oil, creatine powder, Collagen powder, protein powder.

Hygiene - Brush teeth twice per day, with toothpaste. Sometime I only do one, and sometimes not at all. Floss Mon, Wed, Fri. Vinegar scrub minimum 3 times/week. Shampoo maximum 2 times/ week.

Bad habits: Pulling/twirling my hair when I'm stressed. Picking my nose. Spitting on the ground when I'm outside. Biting my nails. Resting my right shoe on top of my left shoe.

Challenge started January 17, 2016.


----------



## peterk

January 17: Good
January 18: *Only 1 tooth brushing*
January 19: Good
January 20: *No stretching*
January 21: Good. Still doing some bad habits, but catching and stopping myself regularly. I really think I need someone to shame and ridicule me about these disgusting habits. I've had a hard time with spitting and picking my nose all my life. Sometimes I think I should go see one of those ear/nose/throat doctors as I always seem to have gross mucuses/phlegm that my body insists on expelling. At the same time I think most of it is psychological/bad habit. I can sit inside for hours without feeling a strong urge to spit, but as soon as I step outside it's like my body has been holding it in and I'm just compelled to! Working in a mine surrounded by tons of other men doing disgusting things also doesn't help in my efforts to quit... Anyways, TMI, but I just had to get it out there.
January 22: *No stretching, brushed teeth only once*
January 23: Good
January 24: Good
January 25: *No Stretching. Only 1 tooth brushing*
January 26: Good
January 27: *Terrible. No stretching, forgot some of my supplements, and my girlfriend brought me pizza and wings so I at those... It wasn't a gym day.*
January 28: Good
January 29: Good, but ate popcorn on a non-gym day.
January 30: Good. Skipped the gym today but really needed to. My body was very tired from the previous weeks of gym and was saying no. Ate lighter as a result
January 31: Good
February 1: *No stretching*
February 2: Skipped Gym but going Wednesday instead
February 3: Good. went to gym.
February 4: *No stretching*
February 5: Good
February 6: *Skipped gym and ate carbs*
February 7: Good
February 8: *No stretching, didn't floss*, fasted
February 9: Good, only one tooth brushing though
February 10: *No stretching*
February 11: Good
February 12: Good but didn't floss


----------



## peterk

*January 2016*


*Assets*

Stocks - $85,400 (-900)
---TFSA: $31,300
---RRSP: $40,900
---Unreg: $13,200

Made the full $5,500 TFSA contribution to my Questrade broker. Oil tanking from $38 to $26 in 2 weeks and then back to $33 beat me up real good. Bought a bit more CPG, BTE, G, POT, AAPL and WJA at good lows in the last 2 weeks. Overall my stocks are down $6,000 for the month.


Cash - 69,200 (-3,100)

Opened a new EQ bank account for their 3% saving account. I'll probably put most of my cash in there going forward.

Pensions - $36,100 (+$2,400)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $22,100
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $4,500
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $9,500

Usual contributions. Not sure why my DB CV jumped up so much. Perhaps it's because the CV tool knows I'm at 3-years employment now I don't know.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$190,700 (-$1,600)


*Expenses*

November Spending --- $3,591
December Spending --- $3,516


Another expensive month, paying for Christmas presents and part of the Bahamas vacation.


----------



## peterk

30-day Challenge Results. I will report my percentage achieved in each category.

Gym - *90%* - Did really good with this. I think I only skipped 2 gym days in the whole month.

Stretching/Yoga - *20%* - Terrible. Think I only did anything 3 or 4 times the whole month.

Diet - *60%* Overall decent. Managed to keep the carbs minimal on days with no activity except for a few slips. I don't use any poly unsaturated fats at all, but there is still tons of soybean oil and canola oil in everything. To really step this up I'm going to have to make my own salad dressings, not eat ANY pre-fried processed foods (like chips, crackers, croutons, hashbrowns, etc). This is quite hard to do, these bad oils are ubiquitous and insidious. I did not juice nearly enough, only once the whole month.

Supplements - *80%* - It's not hard at all to take a few pills, but damned if I struggle to do it daily and consistently. I've much improved this month, but it still feels like an unwanted chore. I probably skip 1 or sometimes 2 days/week.

Hygiene - Teeth Brushing - *90%* - Much improved at this. Flossing - *60%* - Still skipping quite a lot. But much better than my once/month previous record.

Bad habits: *30%* - Mild improvement. But I'm having a lot of stress lately at work and pains from old injuries still.

I'll refresh and repeat the same 30 day challenge starting March 1.


----------



## Ag Driver

Congrats on hitting the gym so often. This month, I have certainly lacked in that department. My mind is elsewhere, and my fitness focus took a back seat. Unacceptable. 

Great job on flossing (as weird as that sounds?). Brushing AND flossing is one daily routine that I can not believe people do not perform on the daily. Keep it up and consider it daily! I prefer butlerweave to fine and hit both paste and twine twice a day.


----------



## gladaki

peterk said:


> January 17: Good
> January 18: *Only 1 tooth brushing*
> January 19: Good
> January 20: *No stretching*
> January 21: Good. Still doing some bad habits, but catching and stopping myself regularly. I really think I need someone to shame and ridicule me about these disgusting habits. I've had a hard time with spitting and picking my nose all my life. Sometimes I think I should go see one of those ear/nose/throat doctors as I always seem to have gross mucuses/phlegm that my body insists on expelling. At the same time I think most of it is psychological/bad habit. I can sit inside for hours without feeling a strong urge to spit, but as soon as I step outside it's like my body has been holding it in and I'm just compelled to! Working in a mine surrounded by tons of other men doing disgusting things also doesn't help in my efforts to quit... Anyways, TMI, but I just had to get it out there.
> January 22: *No stretching, brushed teeth only once*
> January 23: Good
> January 24: Good
> January 25: *No Stretching. Only 1 tooth brushing*
> January 26: Good
> January 27: *Terrible. No stretching, forgot some of my supplements, and my girlfriend brought me pizza and wings so I at those... It wasn't a gym day.*
> January 28: Good
> January 29: Good, but ate popcorn on a non-gym day.
> January 30: Good. Skipped the gym today but really needed to. My body was very tired from the previous weeks of gym and was saying no. Ate lighter as a result
> January 31: Good
> February 1: *No stretching*
> February 2: Skipped Gym but going Wednesday instead
> February 3: Good. went to gym.
> February 4: *No stretching*
> February 5: Good
> February 6: *Skipped gym and ate carbs*
> February 7: Good
> February 8: *No stretching, didn't floss*, fasted
> February 9: Good, only one tooth brushing though
> February 10: *No stretching*
> February 11: Good
> February 12: Good but didn't floss


Really nice to see that you are tracking it as well


----------



## gladaki

peterk said:


> *December and Year-End*
> 
> Updating a bit early as I'm heading home for Christmas tomorrow and am not bothering to bring my computer.
> 
> Overall it was a decent month. I opened an IB non-registered margin account and invested another 15k in stocks. I've been going back and doing a lot of re-reading about taxes and investing, and I've put together this handy spreadsheet that ranks all my stocks by it's dividend 'tax yield' liability.
> 
> 
> *Assets*
> 
> Stocks - $86,300 (+14,600)
> ---TFSA: $26,400
> ---RRSP: $44,000
> ---Unreg: $15,900
> 
> I have about $6,000 cash among these 3 accounts currently, but I'm just going to call it all stocks as soon as the money is in a trading account. Too hard to keep track of.
> 
> I've rearranged some of my holdings to keep the equities with the lowest dividend tax yield liability in the unregistered account. I've tried to also consider the riskiness of the stock and account for that in my account-type allocation. Mistakenly, I moved over all of my BTE to unregistered, and after yesterday's run up now have a $950 capital gain (hypothetically, if I sold). Guess I shoulda kept it all in the TFSA, oops
> 
> Cash - $72,300 (-11,300)
> 
> Tangerine 3% deal is over. I opened up a ZAG bank account for 2.5% interest until March. I put 30k in there and the rest back into CDF @ 1.5%
> 
> Pensions - $33,700 (+$1,200)
> ---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $20,200
> ---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $4,400
> ---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $9,100
> 
> Usual contributions.
> 
> 
> *Liabilities*
> 
> Zero
> 
> 
> *Net Worth*
> 
> $192,300 (+$4,500)
> 
> 
> *Expenses*
> 
> December Spending --- $3,516
> November Spending --- $2,573
> 
> Paid for half my Christmas vacation and the rest of the bill will come in January.
> 
> *
> Year-End 2015 Summary*
> 
> Gross pay: $136,900
> Net pay: $93,700
> Annual Spend: $40,500
> Annual Savings: $53,200 (Including Employee contribution to pension but not Employer contribution to pension)
> Savings Rate: 56.8%
> 
> Spending breakdown:
> 
> Total: $40,500
> Rent+utilities+insurance: $13,950
> Groceries: $3,800
> Vacations: $11,700
> Other: $11,050
> 
> This totally blew my budget of ~$32,000. Mostly from moving to a nicer place with much higher rent, spending way too much on vacations and way too much on stuff/entertainment. In 2013 and 2014 my "other" spending was $8,200 and $9,000. So this is creeping steadily higher it seems. I'm going to have to get that in check.
> 
> *Year-over-Year Net worth*
> 
> Overall I've done very poorly on the stock market this year. Down about $25,000 in the past 6 months and have barely increased my networth over that time period.
> 
> Year-over Year net worth increase was $65,400.
> 
> View attachment 7594



Your net worth grows from 36,000 to 192k in 3 years amazing.
My cousin just got job in Fort mac, as issuer/receiver,making 35$ per hour
14 days in, 7 days off


----------



## peterk

Thanks guys. For me, flossing teeth is the worst... Have to force myself to do it, I hate it, don't know if I'll ever get to "once/day", probably not.

That's great news about your cousin Gladaki, there certainly are less people working such high-hour schedules with sever cuts in overtime these days. Is he working 12 hour days or just 10 or 8? 12s are absolutely brutal when you add on the commute time after too.

I just got approved this week to work our maintenance shutdown coming up, so I'll be working some 250-300 hours in the month of April. Not sure what the exact schedule is yet or whether I'll be working 10s or 12s) But I'll probably make some 8-10k in overtime, which is sweet and will pay for most of my vacations for the year.


----------



## none

That's weird about flossing. Yes, you should floss your teeth every day. You should also wash that part between your scrotum and your leg every time you bathe as well. 

It's simple hygiene people. Yeash - this isn't France!


----------



## nathan79

It might seem simple but I know some people who don't floss. At all. Of course, one of those said people also only showers once a week.

I could never remember to floss daily, so I just do it when I think of it (every 2-3 days). 

You're doing great overall, peterk.


----------



## donald

Use Mouth wash PeterK
I don't know if it's a substitute but I use it myself(2-3 times a day)
KILLs a ton of **** in your mouth(got a good kick to it 2 lol)
I find tooth picking about the grosses thing on the planet
I can't stand people who use tooth picks in public
its disgusting as all get out and go
brush teeth daily with a mouth wash
You will be good to go bro
my 2 cents


----------



## donald

Got to be a dentist around here somewhere to maybe chime in
I get a good *** teeth cleaning once a yr(I pay out of my own pocket so just once a yr)
Teeth cleaning from a professional is UNder-rated (cost a couple hun though or something each time)


----------



## birdman

When I was young I went to the dentist every 6 mos during all my adolescent years. Never once did my dentist xray my teeth or tell me to floss. My mother had severe dental issues and went to a periodontist and managed to save her teeth. In light of this I went to another dentist in my early 20's and all hell broke loose. Most of my teeth were rotten under the fillings which was not noticed due to the lack of xrays. I needed about 8 or so crowns, root canals, etc. Also was referred to a periodontist who got me on track and FLOSSING EVERY DAY. Had 3 surgies for my perio problem. Anyways, to make a long story short I sued my dentis (we settled) and reported him to the College of Dental Surgeons and he had to go back to school. He was a nice guy but incompetent. Anyways, be sure to FLOSS!!


----------



## none

^ this guy gets it


----------



## RBull

I was a regular teeth brusher twice a day and saw a dentist twice a year for most of my life. However, I developed periodontal problems due to lack of flossing. Food deposits that can only be removed by flossing made their way into pockets in my gums over time, weakening my gums and loosening my teeth. In my mid 30's I required several unpleasant surgeries to cut the 8 surfaces of my mouth gums and remove skin to minimize and heal the gums/openings. 

Everything is still good now 20 years later other than sensitivity, and intentional larger openings than normal openings between my teeth (to make it easier to remove food that always gets caught now), where a pick is needed after most meals or snacks. I brush at least twice a day and floss once or sometimes twice a day as well as using my pick. I also see either my regular dentist and my perio specialist each once per year, down from 3x / yr due to my better habits and passing grades for many years now. 

Not making regular brushing and flossing a daily habit is foolish. This is very important to your health and I assure anyone the prevention of perio disease and dental surgery is well worth the small time it takes to floss.


----------



## donald

Why do people find it ok to pick teeth in public though?
A person who picks teeth in public(esp at a restaurant)
I find worse than someone spitting flem on a sidewalk
Do people think it is socially acceptable to pick at there teeth in public?(lots do it)
It's one thing in the private,another in public
I notice the boomers generally seem to find pleasure on public displays of tooth picks
It is fuc&ing gross period 
don't care what anybody says
it's horrendous to look at in public


do it at home than!!!!!


----------



## peterk

Alrite alrite! I'm gonna floss more! :cower:


----------



## peterk

*February 2016*

Good month overall. Highlight were getting a 1.25% scheduled raise for passing the 3 year mark, and getting our rent lowered by $400/month ($200 for me). The raise, rent savings, and tax reduction combined, increases my disposable income by $328/month compared to December (not counting CCP/EI witholdings). 

*Assets*

Stocks - $95,200 (+9,800)
---TFSA: $33,300
---RRSP: $41,300
---Unreg: $20,600

Added 5k to unregistered and another 5k in gains. Picked really good bottoms on G, TCK.B, POT and WJA in the past 2 months. 

Cash - 67,200 (-2,000)

Pensions - $38,200 (+$2,100)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $23,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $4,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $9,800

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$200,600 (+9,900)









As you can see, my first 100k (14 months) came much faster than my 2nd 100k (21 months). This was primarily as a result of being in a negative position on my stocks (about -$20,000) and secondly from spending more money in 2015 than 2014 or 2013.
Hopefully the next 100k will come much quicker with more aggressive savings and better market returns.

*Expenses*

February Spending --- $3,302
January Spending --- $3,591


Finished paying off the Bahamas vacation finally. March should be much cheaper (especially with the rent decrease).


----------



## ashin1

looking good Peter!
Mirining hard at the 200k+ NW

Congrats on the raise too btw


----------



## peterk

Thanks ashin.

After three years of working in Alberta, moving away from my friends and family back in Ontario, it's nice to know that I've got something to show for it. 

With 200k, I could theoretically quit, cash out, and move back to Ontario, living a carefree and jobfree life off my savings for the next TEN years! I'm not going to do that, it would ruin my future plans, but it's a nice feeling to be able to dream about such a life, from time to time.


----------



## mind_business

Well done Peter! We made the same move three years ago ... from Ontario to Alberta. Was definitely worth it for us! If I remember right, you are living up in Ft. Mac. I see you had a significant rent decrease, obviously due to the vacancy rates with the work slowdowns. I'll be heading up there in a couple of weeks to get one of our jobs set up. It'll be interesting to see the changes in traffic / people.


----------



## peterk

Thanks MB. Congrats on your almost 1M!

Things around town definitely seem a bit slower, but it's still fairly lively actually. Restaurants are still full of people, you just don't have to wait in line anymore. People are out and about doing stuff around town (maybe they aren't working as much overtime haha).

Housing situation here is grim for owners I would say though. As I've noted before, the housing prices were already coming down in Fort Mac in 2014 before the oil drop even started. Big big oversupply. Everyone and their dog wanted a house or duplex or townhouse with a basement suite. We could've saved another $500+/month if we were willing to move to a nice basement suite up-town...there's a million to choose from. But we like our fancy downtown 2+2 apartment condo with underground parking, and the landlords are real nice and don't give us any trouble. Plus moving in the winter sucks.

There's a lady at work I know who owns 4 detached homes for rentals. I think she's going to be in big trouble real soon. I know it's not very accurate, but I'd say probably 50% of the people I work with who are over the age of 35 own a second or 3rd property in Fort Mac or Alberta, either rental or vacation home. A lot of those will be underwater shortly, especially the younger ones with newer property. I'm glad you only have one house MB! 

Lots of 20 somethings I'm working with now are starting to buy for a supposed deal. I think they're nuts. If this oil route lasts too much longer the housing market panic will start to set in as more and more high-wage professionals get laid off and can't afford to keep their 2nd and 3rd properties. Interesting times ahead!


----------



## Janus

Well done Peter, good to know you're still gainfully employed and doing some ballsy investing.

Maybe you can help me understand something... I read recently in the G&M that for every U-Haul entering Alberta, 7 are leaving. Plenty of people have been laid off, obviously. But what I wonder is this.... if oil went back to $60 tomorrow, would any of these people move back? Or more importantly, would any of the oil companies start hiring again? I kind of get the impression that the E&Ps are just going to learn how to be efficient with a smaller number of employees - it often takes extremely harsh conditions for some of these commodity players to realise "oh yeah, i guess we CAN cut costs!".

So while oil stock may recover as these companies become profitable again, when you see all the capex that's been cut... do you think oil at $60 or $80 would lead to better levels of employment? I'm sure the layoffs would stop, but would people be moving back in droves? I suspect the answer is no, but you'd know better than me.

If the answer is no, it means a lot for calgary housing - the oil companies might recover, but that's a lot fewer people in the province making lots of money and pushing up house prices. In other words, perhaps the housing bust there would continue unabated even as oil rises.


----------



## peterk

Well, I'm just an engineer, not a business guy...but my layman's take would be this:

For one, $60 isn't all that high. I think most of these companies are only barely making a profit at $60 when you look at CAPEX and *all *long term costs. Maybe we can get by at $30 with just OPEX, and CAPEX being slashed beyond sustainable limits for effective maintenance and expansion, for a few years...

Salaries, I expect, are going down in the near future. Probably lots of layoffs and rehiring among the oil-sands services industries to force down wages. It goes like this: Consultant underbids an existing service provider and wins a new contract, the old company is kicked out, and they layoff most staff... New company with the new contract swoops in and hires the laid off employees at reduced wages. Maybe the overlapping service companies even do an informal swap, switching contracts, switching employees, and lowering wages all around.

As a full time employee for a canadian oil major, I'm saved from much of this in the near term. I expect my wages will be reduced this year coming up though, as the labour market is reevaluated and HR realizes that all us employees are in no position to move as no one anywhere is hiring...

I agree that many of these changes are PERMANENT. Or at least very long term. Even if oil went to $100 tomorrow I wouldn't expect things to get "back to normal" for at least 2 or 3 generations of oil sands company executives being flushed through the system among the Suncor, Shell, Nexen, Exxon, CNRL upper management. That'll take 10-20 years to "forget" this traumatizing episode.

All this is going to be great for oil company profits though, if things turn around. It's why I'm long oil companies. The oil services sector though, I think will still be hurting for a long time to come. Industrial services, trades, and professional consultants are never going back to normal. Not for decades. We're going to be very very hesitant to hire outside help, demand more from employees, and preferring in-house solutions. That's going to hurt service sector profits, and services sector employee wages and employment levels even more...

And like I've said before, there is a glut of 35+ professionals in Alberta that own multiple properties. The older of which have been here for 20-30 years, are stinking rich, and will be retiring soon, to be replaced by young people like myself who make half their salaries...
Housing has gotta be the most at risk, I would think. If I could short Alberta housing I would have a year ago, and I would double down today (Can I?). 

Overall the Alberta private sector is going to get by with fewer employees, making lower wages. And there aren't even any other thriving sectors in Canada that will be luring Alberta employees away from the province. There will just be a bunch of layabouts who look for whatever odd jobs they can get, eventually crawling back back to their home provinces after a number of years (I have no idea why anyone would want to live in Alberta if they weren't here to work a good job.)

Seriously, does anyone know how to short housing?

Anyways, I'm off to bed. Working on a Saturday tomorrow (time in lieu - no more paid overtime).


----------



## peterk

*March 2016*

Crazy month. Big ups on oil stocks, and 3 paycheques.

*Assets*

Stocks - $115,900 (+$20,700)
---TFSA: $37,900
---RRSP: $46,600
---Unreg: $31,400

+$3,000 to unregistered, and the rest gains.

Cash - 71,300 (+4,100)

Pensions - $39,700 (+$1,500)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $24,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 match) : $5,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $9,900

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$226,900 (+$26,300)

*Expenses*

March Spending ------- $1,793
February Spending --- $3,302
January Spending --- $3,591

Nice cheap month. No big expenses, just rent groceries, phone, odd-and-ends.

Anyways, bed time. Just started working a coker shutdown. 72 hours/week for the next 6 weeks. My life basically sucks right now. Won't be on the forum very much.

Peace out.


----------



## mind_business

Turnaround seasons are brutal on the guys working up there. Don't envy you for the next 6 weeks. Great job on the NW bump. Impressive.


----------



## peterk

mind_business said:


> Turnaround seasons are brutal on the guys working up there.


Losing my mind. Spent all day yesterday sitting on a log waiting for **** to happen, it didn't. Usually I just walk around picking up garbage and cleaning up chemical spills. Spend a lot of time in the lunch trailer playing cribbage when there's nothing to do... we had a major power disruption the other day and weren't allowed to work. I'm the highest paid garbage man and dog ****er in the country right now (eat your heart out Toronto sanitation workers).

Anyways, off to make some food for the week.

3 weeks down, 3 to (hopefully) go.


----------



## peterk

*April 2016*

Huge, crazy month. Up again on oil stocks, $11,600 tax return, $7,900 (gross) annual bonus, and $5,000 (gross) overtime. Probably will never be another month like it for many years to come!

*Assets*

Stocks - $133,000 (+$17,100)
---TFSA: $44,400
---RRSP: $47,500
---Unreg: $41,100

Haven't added any new cash to investment accounts. No time to think about stocks, really. I bought some more AAPL today at $93.xx, and some DLR a few weeks ago (oops, bad timing) to hedge the CAD-USD. I'm just planning on stacking cash for the next month until shutdown is over and life is back to normal.

Cash - 93,400 (+22,100)

Pensions - $42,200 (+$2,500)
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $26,700
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $5,400
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $10,100

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$268,600 (+$41,700) !!


*Expenses*

April Spending --------- $2,509
March Spending ------- $1,793

Another good cheap month.


----------



## peterk

*May 2016*

May has been the most hectic month of my life because of the fires and evacuation, and May will no-doubt be substantially topped by the upcoming June...But I am still going to make this entry to try and keep some normalcy in my life and hold it together. At least my house didn't burn down, nor did get laid off, and I know many people in one or both categories, including my girlfriend who is being temporarily laid off for a few weeks.

In the end, with the insurance money plus AB government plus Red Cross, I think we're only going to be a couple thousand bucks out of pocket when all is said and done. Not bad, considering.

*Assets*
_
Stocks - $125,800 (-$7,200)_
---TFSA: $41,400
---RRSP: $47,800
---Unreg: $36,600

No new cash put towards stocks or new positions started. Just regular volatility of my resource-heavy portfolio. Haven't really had time to think about investing much... Will revisit in July/August.

_
Cash - $103,300 (+9,900)_

Just stacking cash at EQ bank. Heard of lots of people that are all of a sudden struggling to get by now. This is certainly where a cash emergency fund comes in handy, and keeps me from stressing out too too much.

How many people would feel comfortable using a HELOC emergency fund if they just lost their job and their _house burned down_ in a falling real estate market???


_Pensions - $43,900 (+$1,700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $27,400
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $5,900
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $10,600

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$273,000 (+$4,400)


*Expenses*

May Spending --------- $2,181
April Spending --------- $2,509


----------



## NorthKC

peterk said:


> *May 2016*
> 
> How many people would feel comfortable using a HELOC emergency fund if they just lost their job and their _house burned down_ in a falling real estate market???


This right there is exactly why I tell people to keep an emergency cash fund. I have had a couple of friends whose houses burned down shortly after they lost their jobs and they couldn't use their HELOC while they were waiting for the insurance settlement. So, they ended up maxing out their credit cards. Not a fun spot to be in.

I'm glad that everything is okay with you and you're smart to keep things on hold for now. Stay safe!


----------



## peterk

*June 2016*

Finally done shutdown! Holy hell that was painful, finished it off with 17 days in a row for 12 hours/day. Looking forward to a nice relaxing 4 day weekend starting now. Earned 21k gross in the month of June with salary + overtime, most of it coming on my next cheque in July.

*Assets*
_
Stocks - $138,200 (+$12,400)_
---TFSA: $44,600
---RRSP: $48,800
---Unreg: $44,800

No new cash put towards stocks or new positions started. Just regular volatility of my resource-heavy portfolio. Haven't really had time to think about investing much... Will revisit in July/August.

_
Cash - $110,800 (+7,500)_

Just stacking cash at EQ, ZAG, and Tangerine, all unregistered.


_Pensions - $45,300 (+$1,400)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $28,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $6,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $11,000

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$294,300 (+$21,300)


*Expenses*

June Spending --------- $544
May Spending --------- $2,181

Weirdly low month. Didn't have to pay June rent at end of May. Haven't paid rent yet for July and might not have to, will clarify with landlords this weekend... I paid cash for some evac expenses in May, and girlfriend paid for most on her credit card, but some/much of this cost will be covered by insurance. I may have to come back and adjust this month's spending based on what our rent and insurance settlement is.


----------



## Janus

Peter, your work ethic and ballsy investments in oil & gas are both incredible. You took a risk when everyone else was running for cover, and even the "opportunists" like me were only committing $10,000-$20,000 to oil & gas in what was the opportunity of a lifetime. You're clearly going to continue to do well for yourself!

All that said, are you flossing? :biggrin:


----------



## peterk

Janus said:


> Peter, your work ethic


Well I didn't have much choice in how much I work. I'd've rather worked much less in the past 4 months than I did (300hrs overtime between March and June, with a month off for the fire...), but it's nice to get the overtime ( Still haven't been able to convince anyone in charge that I deserve above average ratings and raises. But that's mostly because I care about doing good quality and thoughtful work, and don't care much about praising and being distracted by whatever dumbass new safety system or web service or file organizing tool the VP-de-jour decides to hand down from on high every 6 months. I'll let the suck-ups do that, at least I can live with myself when I go home.



> and ballsy investments in oil & gas


Yet to be seen how well that'll work out. Currently up quite a bit though. However, I made a mistake back in January. I chickened, out, and sold my BTE and TCK.B out of my TFSA (at a substantial loss), and bought them in unregistered. The thought going that if I'm going to hold these things into the ground then I should at least be able to get a capital loss out of it. Now I'm looking at around a 20k taxable capital gain from these two stocks alone. 



> All that said, are you flossing? :biggrin:


Yes actually! I recently got these amazing flossing sticks. I keep and use them at work. It makes it way more enjoyable to floss while procrastinating and getting paid than the chore of flossing at home when I'm tired right before bed!


----------



## Janus

One thing just occurred to me, and apologies if you've already addressed it somewhere in the thread. But what's the long game here? You're killing it up in Fort Mac, but are you wiling to be up there when you're 35, from a lifestyle perspective? I don't know how your field works, as you progress in experience will you be able to apply your skills without living somewhere so harsh? Are you going to get into the business end of things perhaps?


----------



## peterk

Nah not really. Looking for a way out of here, it's alrite though. At $100 oil I had hoped for a transfer to or a new job in Calgary. Calgary I could live in for a long while. Also there is the dream of working somewhere international and exotic. My field is growing, as mines around the world are being dragged into the 21st century to up their safety and environmental standards, but that's just a pipe dream for now.

Or I could realistically see myself amassing 500k-1M by working up here another several years, the calling it quits and living a simple life, maybe with some low stress part-time job mowing the lawn for my neighbors in Kelowna...

Excited to do interesting work and learn about my field, which I've always had a keen interest in. Not really excited to attend team meetings and do interventions pretend to care about explaining things to my bosses who pretend to care about what I'm talking about.

If I could do it all again I would definitely not go into this field, but overall it's still pretty decent. There are much worse jobs, I reckon.


----------



## 1980z28

peterk said:


> If I could do it all again I would definitely not go into this field, but overall it's still pretty decent. There are much worse jobs, I reckon.



Stay where you are,put some cash away,you are young and balanced



At your age you can still have fun and a future that will be great


----------



## Janus

peterk said:


> Nah not really. Looking for a way out of here, it's alrite though. At $100 oil I had hoped for a transfer to or a new job in Calgary. Calgary I could live in for a long while. Also there is the dream of working somewhere international and exotic. My field is growing, as mines around the world are being dragged into the 21st century to up their safety and environmental standards, but that's just a pipe dream for now.
> 
> Or I could realistically see myself amassing 500k-1M by working up here another several years, the calling it quits and living a simple life, maybe with some low stress part-time job mowing the lawn for my neighbors in Kelowna...
> 
> Excited to do interesting work and learn about my field, which I've always had a keen interest in. Not really excited to attend team meetings and do interventions pretend to care about explaining things to my bosses who pretend to care about what I'm talking about.
> 
> If I could do it all again I would definitely not go into this field, but overall it's still pretty decent. There are much worse jobs, I reckon.


Sounds like it's sustainable for you for a while, then. How long are you expecting the journey to $1m to take, if you just think about adding savings to the current (and impressive) "pile"?


----------



## peterk

Thanks Z28 for the words of inspiration and the PM. If I can turn out as happy and comfortable as you when I'm retired I'll be a successful man. 

Janus, my spreadsheet says $1M is projected at April 2023, based some unknowable assumptions, of course. I'll be 36 years old then... I'd like to do better than that.

More importantly though, I'd like to develop some skill where I can work in/around my home for just a couple hours/day with no stress, obligations, and a high hourly rate. I haven't exactly figured that out yet. What's easier... Saving $500k, or finding an enjoyable part-time skill that will earn you $2000/month? For me, it's the latter. For you though, you're shooting for the $1M salary, so obviously you need to keep that focus, and I'm sure you'll get it soon enough!


----------



## peterk

*July 2016*

Earned $13,200 net in July (lots of overtime), plus got reimbursed $3,500 in profits from my insurance.

*Assets*
_
Stocks - $142,900(+$4,700)_
---TFSA: $45,100
---RRSP: $53,100
---Unreg: $44,700

Have added $9,900 to top up my RRSP, but no new stocks or new positions started, most of the cash in the account is converted or being converted to USD.

_
Cash - $123,100 (+12,300)_
---Unreg: $114,200
---RRSP: $6,850 USD

All of my cash savings is going into Tangerine currently, where I'm getting promotional interest of 3.25% until Sept 30. 

I'm also building a USD cash holding in my Questrade RRSP, and am trying to commit to not spending these funds on US stocks unless there is a drop in the markets.


_Pensions - $48,100 (+$2,800)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $30,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $6,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $11,500

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$314,100 (+$19,800)


*Expenses*

July Spending --------- $3,516
June Spending --------- $544

Bit higher than usual month. Paid for flights back home and a new BBQ. August will be a very expensive month too, with most of my Ontario holiday expenses coming up.


----------



## humble_pie

.

i believe you have/had heavyweight holdings in energy & resource stocks, plus you are working in the sector, no? conventional wisdom would prescribe that such a party must Invest Strictly Elsewhere.

so i'm sending coals to newcastle with this post. As it happens, a beat-up sector i'm eyeing is drillers. These subdivide into drillers per se & well service companies. They say the deep ocean rig companies are the very last group among the drillers to recover after the kind of oil price thrashing we've seen. Certainly RIG is near record lows while trying to cope with its mountain of debt in a zero-revenue cost drain situation.

i've started by selling OTM puts in RIG. See how it goes. Schlumberger options are not as lucrative, i don't know haliburton & precision drilling US options are too tied & arbed back to canadian option prices.


.


----------



## peterk

Indeed I am not following conventional wisdom, it could all go very badly, I realize. Still, I can't help feel that a 50/50 stock/cash allocation with heavy resource exposure is the best risk/reward at the present time. Compared to 80-100% in index funds, which would be the traditional advice for a young person with a 20+ year investment timeline. I am trying to diversify, though, and not keep all my coals in one basket..

I've already got 600 shares of PSD that I've luckily managed to be up about 40% on so far. I'm not sure I can handle the math behind options trading, and don't want to delve into just yet, or perhaps at all. But your endeavors to tempt me, and your in-depth posts on the subject are much appreciated.


----------



## humble_pie

actually i was posting about a deeply disfavoured sector - O & G drillers - which has caught my eye. Options were only mentioned because frequently i commence a new interest by selling puts ...

seriously i think that for someone like yourself - good work experience by now, good investment experience by now - your portfolio has a promising setup. The strong cash component is a superb hedge in these low-interest times & i hope you will keep it. There is a high risk aspect but you will be able to outlive & outproduce a disaster scenario.

the energy industry is not going to disappear in our lifetimes. Plus you're looking to diversify when opportunities present. Altogether your setup looks well-grounded imho. What else would one expect from a soils engineer!


.


----------



## amack081

peterk said:


> *July 2016*
> 
> Earned $13,200 net in July (lots of overtime), plus got reimbursed $3,500 in profits from my insurance.
> 
> *Assets*
> _
> Stocks - $142,900(+$4,700)_
> ---TFSA: $45,100
> ---RRSP: $53,100
> ---Unreg: $44,700
> 
> Have added $9,900 to top up my RRSP, but no new stocks or new positions started, most of the cash in the account is converted or being converted to USD.
> 
> _
> Cash - $123,100 (+12,300)_
> ---Unreg: $114,200
> ---RRSP: $6,850 USD
> 
> All of my cash savings is going into Tangerine currently, where I'm getting promotional interest of 3.25% until Sept 30.
> 
> I'm also building a USD cash holding in my Questrade RRSP, and am trying to commit to not spending these funds on US stocks unless there is a drop in the markets.
> 
> 
> _Pensions - $48,100 (+$2,800)_
> ---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $30,000
> ---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $6,600
> ---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $11,500
> 
> Usual contributions.
> 
> *Liabilities*
> 
> Zero
> 
> 
> *Net Worth*
> 
> $314,100 (+$19,800)
> 
> 
> *Expenses*
> 
> July Spending --------- $3,516
> June Spending --------- $544
> 
> Bit higher than usual month. Paid for flights back home and a new BBQ. August will be a very expensive month too, with most of my Ontario holiday expenses coming up.


Jumping the gun a little bit but you've managed to go from $36,000 net worth to $314,000 in nearly three years. That's a 872.22% overall increase. That's fantastic. Congrats


----------



## peterk

Thanks Amack! But I consider the % increase is mostly a meaningless number, it's almost all savings anyways and very little in investment return (possibly negative investment return until recently).



humble_pie said:


> actually i was posting about a deeply disfavoured sector - O & G drillers - which has caught my eye. Options were only mentioned because frequently i commence a new interest by selling puts ...


Hah yes I realize that Humble, but as you've noted, my stocking is already rather full of lumps, so I'd rather not be tempted to venture into yet another oil ancillary sector! I managed to unload my much-too-large COS position for a very slight capital gain during the buyout, and got hammered on LRE at around -40%. My only outrageous, huge positions left are BTE and TCK, which I'm stuck with huge taxable gains on as well, and I have much more reasonably sized holdings across some mid-large cap energy, resource and Alberta companies, plus the XEG index. 

I am thinking about unloading TRP and WJA next week, as I've been fortunate to have quite decent bottom picks on both and with strong run-ups in recent months I don't see too much deep value in either company anymore.


----------



## peterk

Janus said:


> *10-day Euro Trip, the Damage*
> 
> *Transportation, including the flight to europe plus all travel within Europe (3 countries)*: $1,076
> *Accommodation:* a few free nights with family plus Airbnbs in 2 countries: $406
> *Food, Drink, and other Spending*: $619
> 
> Total Cost: ~$2100





james4beach said:


> The wedding is over. Total cost for the bachelor party + destination wedding came to $4,309 USD = $5,560 CAD


Looks like I land in the middle of you guys. Total vacation expenses for 2 weeks in Ontario was $4,400. $2300 allocated to the bachelor party and wedding, and $2,100 for everything else, including 6 days of road trip around Ontario.

Ontario is actually incredibly good value and cheap, aside from Toronto, compared to the many expensive places in the world. Bruce peninsula and Northern Ontario have spectacular scenery, probably the best fresh water swimming in the world, and hotels are ~$100/night in the peak of summer.


----------



## peterk

I waste probably $10-15/week on throwing away food. This amounts to $1,000 pre-tax income/year down the drain. In retirement parlance, it is $25,000 in additional savings to pay for this wasteful habit.

Likely culprits are: Pineapples, zucchinis, cucumbers, green beans, leftover meats.

I will mitigate this by:

1) Committing to juice and drink leftover vegetables/fruits minimum 1 time per week
2) Committing to explore the bottom drawers of my fridge minimum 1 time per week
3) Setting an alarm on my phone at 9PM every evening so that I will check my lunch bag for food. I don't know how many times I've had to throw away some smelly vegetables or a nice piece of meat because I didn't eat my entire lunch at work, and forgot to refrigerate the leftovers when I got home. Happens at least once per week, sometimes twice!
4) Not buying fruits and vegetables at the store because "that looks tasty". I've thrown away tons of plums, pineapples, pears, other fruits, beans, celery that I wanted at the time, but don't have any actual plans for cooking or eating them.
5)* Writing a list* on my fridge of things that are about to go bad and need eating ASAP.

Hopefully with these small changes I can save $10+/week, stop contributing to filling up the landfill with methane producing organics, and stop disrespecting our hard working Canadian farmers who's labour I am throwing away!


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> I waste probably $10-15/week on throwing away food. This amounts to $1,000 pre-tax income/year down the drain. In retirement parlance, it is $25,000 in additional savings to pay for this wasteful habit.
> 
> Likely culprits are: Pineapples, zucchinis, cucumbers, green beans, leftover meats ... I've thrown away tons of plums, pineapples, pears, other fruits, beans, celery that I wanted at the time, but don't have any actual plans for cooking or eating them.



my goodness. What an unusual problem. I've never heard of anybody with this problem - not even families with 5 kids, double frigos & lots of serious grocery buying.

here's a humble suggestion re compressing vegetables if there are too many in the crisper (they do have to still be fresh though.)

cook em until just about done & then purée em in food processor. You'll end up with a thick soup (add miso) or a tasty sauce for meat, fish or pasta dishes. What will happen is that 5 or 6 cups brimming with chopped raw vegetables will purée down into roughly one cup of soup/sauce. Something nutritious - plenty vitamins & minerals - that can be consumed by one person at one meal.


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## cashinstinct

What an unusual problem ? It's really frequent.... many studies about that.

Soup/sauce is a good idea.


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## humble_pie

cashinstinct said:


> What an unusual problem ? It's really frequent.... many studies about that.
> 
> Soup/sauce is a good idea.



really it's frequent? who knew? i guess all the cooks i'm acquainted with are tasty cooks ... each:

you do realize that in haute cuisine france, the time-honoured model is to go out early every morning in search of ultra-fresh-fresh provisions for one's family, just for that day only, right?

ps for a sauce, one would add sour cream or butter. Both can be frozen. If our young engineer ever found his crisper brimming over with far too many vegetables, it would be efficient to cook up a whole batch, then freeze individual or family-sized portions.

a couple more steps & he'll be growing his own carrots, tomatoes & chards. Some practice & he might approach Plugging Along's level of skill. Not to speak of economy.


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## Plugging Along

I am embarrassed to say that I do still waste, and as Peter and cash stated, it is actually a really common problem. They say that most families throw out over $100 a month, on unused groceries. Even if I don't count the food that has been on my children's plate that they don't eat, we still have wastage here. Usually, my kids leave food because they don't like it, so there is no point in forcing it. 

I am better than most, but our wastage comes from, leftovers that don't get eaten, the fruit and veggies that we had too much of, or something comes up, so we don't end up using it as planning. This is usually happens most when I get too busy or am feeling too tired (usually from being too busy). Right now, some of my spoilage is from being busy, having both my gardens come into bloom, and also being a member of a community farm, so some of the produce I cannot plan as well.

Here's my tips thought for Peter:

Please continue to eat fruits and veggies, they are good for you. To prevent wastage, I have been making smoothies for the fruits and veggies that are looking a little wilty. I will actually blend larger batches (depending on how much extra fruits and veggies I have). Any smoothie extra I have, I will pour into Popsicle molds. I add a splash of vain all for those ones, and they have been very good. You can put them in ice cube trays and reblend for further smoothies too. 

Cut up really ripe fruit (like that pineapple) and freeze it in chunks on a cookie sheet. You can do this with most flirts except apples and pears. I make sauce out of the apples and pears. 

Veggies, make salads, however, we have been lettuce, kale do, spinach out, so again they have been going to smoothies. I do steam and puree them as humble said. Great for soups. 

If you have some random veggies, little pieces of cooked meat, ect that you don't want to eat, cut them up in small bit size, stick them in a ziplock and freeze. They make a good base for a vegetable soup. 

Thanks post, it reminded me that I have to get my game back on as school is about to begin.


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## humble_pie

Plugging it can be overwhelming at this time of year when all the harvests are busting out at once. I didn't know that people are wasting food on a scale like this though. Somehow i can't imagine you doing this.

my solution is to avoid acquiring too much. I'm good at this. Although it kills me already that drop dead delicious local cantaloupes are finished for the year. Only this week. There are still some leftovers, but the main crop of local melons has come & gone. Oh they were so nice! perfumed like a fruit from an 11th century walled garden in persia ...

i have a cousin who's more like you. Four kids & she cultivates a fairly large truck garden in the country. She grows things that keep on ripening from may to october. Every day - in the country kitchen - she blanches & freezes a smallish quantity for her freezer. By smallish i mean enough of one vegetable for a table of eight.

she says that doing one small quantity every day hardly gets noticed, is not too much of a burden.

.


----------



## Plugging Along

My problem is when I see all the beautiful variety of produce I cannot stop myself at times. Especially if I know it's seasonal. Even though we had geat fruit at home this week, we did a little surprise sto to the farmers market, and I couldn't help myself but buy some Corantion grapes, and the crispest honey crisp apples, even though I already had grapes and apples at home. The apples I had were started to get a little less fresh, so they will be made for applesauce. Still a little bit of a waste in terms of costs, but it won't get thrown away. 

I missed when I was able to get food for just the day or two. I did that when we lived in NY for the summer And I didn't have a child other than a stroller which my kids in it. Since I wasn't working, I would go every day for food at the little stores. Now, I shop every couple of weeks not including my community garden pick up. 

When the weather cools a little more, as it has started, I will be cooking large batches more often. The amount of food wastage though is quite crazy. I was reading much of the food that gets thrown out doesn't even make it on the shelves because it's not perfect. The community farm we belong to has 'less than perfects' they give on top of our weekly harvest. There is often quite a bit. Often people don't want theirs. I some are a little more dented, or have a few bug bites. We take them and try to use them up. We still wast more food than I would like, but at least with my large freezer, if I am on the ball most of it gets refrozen. When I was really frugal, I didn't have anything thrown in the garbage. My grocery bill was a even less, but it was a lot of work and planning. Heck, I still have pumpkin from my last Halloween adventure.


----------



## peterk

humble_pie said:


> Plugging it can be overwhelming at this time of year when all the harvests are busting out at once.





Plugging Along said:


> My problem is when I see all the beautiful variety of produce I cannot stop myself at times. Especially if I know it's seasonal.


Now that you mention it, _this_ was the inspiration for my post at this time. On Saturday I bought a bunch of fresh farmer's vegetables from this truck that comes to Fort Mac. Fresh carrots, beautiful red pears, big wide green pole beans, tomatoes, and a big beef brisket. I don't think I can stand to watch this stuff go to waste like so much other grocery store produce over the years.

Been working my way through the pears, carrots have been for snacking, tomatoes for my hamburgers and just cooked up a nice batch of beans on Sunday. Boiled until just before they aren't squeaky, drain, half a stick of butter melted in the pot, minced garlic for 30 seconds, then mix back in the beans with some chopped up cooked bacon, and salt and pepper.


----------



## Plugging Along

Peter do not give up healthy delicious produce to save a few dollars. I have going through different areas to cut out, and this is one where I will stick with for my kids because of the health benefits. I don't have to buy the freshest, most expensive. What I have fund is that my kids (well at the least the youngest) love fruits and veggies and finding interesting new things to try. They will choose fruits and veggies over sweets and baked goods. This is worth whatever premium I have paid to always have them in my house. I know you are a young guy, so make sure you keep the options of healthy yummy fruits and veggies. I know I sound like a mom, but I am.

in terms of saving the, eat your fruits and veggies intelligence to ly. I mean eat the things that go bad first, then the other ones. Buy some things intentionally underripe, to give more time. Once ripen then stick in fridge. If they are in season, buy and freeze. I am planning to buy a few cases of berries this weekend, so probably about 20 lbs. I will freeze 75% of it. It's less expensive than the frozen bags from Costco and fresh. Do this in smaller scales for you.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> ... nice batch of beans on Sunday. Boiled until just before they aren't squeaky, drain, half a stick of butter melted in the pot, minced garlic for 30 seconds, then mix back in the beans with some chopped up cooked bacon, and salt and pepper.



what a great recipe.
these are the fresh green beans, right?
i hadn't thought of mixing crumbled cooked bacon with, but i bet it would be delicious.


.


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## peterk

They aren't green wax beans. They are wider and flatter, I _think_ they are some variety of kidney bean, I just call them Grandma's beans though.







My family has been growing a similar strain of these beans since at least my grandparents lived in Guelph, 25 years ago, carefully saving dried beans each year to plant the next. It's possible this particular lineage of bean came with them from Europe 49 years ago, but it can't be confirmed. Though visiting my great Aunt and Uncle last summer in Europe, they had the exact same beans growing in their garden...


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion

Look like flat beans to me, also called Romano beans. Yum.


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## humble_pie

^^

onlyMO scores again! i had to look this up since the only Romano beans i know are the dried version, spotted dark red & cream, plump, already shelled & dried.

Q to the flat bean experts: there must be 2 kinds of Romano beans? one kind are these spotted dried beans which we soak overnight, then simmer for a long time?

then the other kind of Romano seems to be the fresh flat green bean pods shown in peterk's picture & in other google photos? one reads that these have thin small white seeds inside the pods. I'm thinking these must be a different variety of the bean species, even though in english they've wound up with the same name Romano.

if they're not 2 different varieties of bean, then the flat green version would have to be harvested when it's still very young, before the bean seeds have had a chance to grow.

i'll look out for flat beans from specialty farmers in the markets in the future, they're said to be tastier than the regular green beans we grow & know. If i find some i'm going to try them with garlic & bacon, bonne-bouffe-peterk.

lol here's a green bean discussion thread which shows that some cooks are as fiercely argumentative as cmffers, the french, the italians & the copy editors are having it out:

http://www.chowhound.com/post/difference-green-beans-haricot-verts-643147?page=2


.


----------



## peterk

humble_pie said:


> if they're not 2 different varieties of bean, then the flat green version would have to be harvested when it's still very young, before the bean seeds have had a chance to grow.
> 
> .


I think this might be the case, and that all these varietals of flat beans look relatively identical on the vine when they are young. Certainly what I've pictured above looks like a Romano according to the internet. What we've grown at home looked just like that when young, but then fatten up with big beans inside as they continue to grow.


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## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Certainly what I've pictured above looks like a Romano according to the internet. What we've grown at home looked just like that when young, but then fatten up with big beans inside as they continue to grow.



definitely could be the whole bean picked when it's still very young & flat. 

some photographs show romano bean pods ripening on their vines into pink speckled pods. I've seen them harvested, baskets of pods that are spotted dusky beige-pink. Inside are the big plump spotted Romano beans, waiting to be shelled out & dried.

do you recall in your childhood, whether your family's european bean pods turned pink as they matured on the vine?

il va sans dire that a bean pod like that would be inedible. Too fibrous & tasteless.

.


----------



## peterk

*August 2016*

Nothing special happened this month.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $140,200 (-$2,700)_
---TFSA: $44,500
---RRSP: $50,700
---Unreg: $45,000

Just a couple small trades in my TFSA. Sold my TRP position and doubled up my SU position.

_
Cash - $130,700 (+$7,600)_
---Unreg: $119,100
---RRSP: $8,900 USD

All of my cash savings is going into Tangerine currently, where I'm getting promotional interest of 3.25% until Sept 30. 

I'm also building a USD cash holding in my Questrade RRSP, and am trying to commit to not spending these funds on US stocks unless there is a drop in the markets.


_Pensions - $53,800 (+$5,700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $35,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $6,900
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $11,900

Usual contributions. I don't know what's up with my DB CV value. It went up 5k last month according to my pension tool website, which is a bit wonky. Sometimes it shows minimal changes, and sometimes a huge change like this. I'll just report it as-is and hopefully it all smooths out to something accurate over the years...

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$324,700 (+$10,600)


*Expenses*

August Spending --------- $2,065
July Spending --------- $3,516


Low spending just this month because most of my holiday expenses are on my new air miles credit card, and I don't have to pay that until next month. September will be a whopper.


----------



## peterk

Last week I used all the leftovers from making shrimp risotto (with a homemade chicken stock) to make shrimp stock. Shrimp shell, green onions ends, shallot ends, and bay leaves. This then was used yesterday as the sauce/base for a vegetable stir fry. The shells and leftover veg ends only made about 1.5 cups of stock, and the onion flavour was a bit more powerful than the shrimp flavour, but it was still nicely shrimp-tasting still.

This isn't really helping me save money, that' stuff was just garbage really, but it helps to get my creative kitchen juices flowing. I'm keeping a list of all the food I throw out, and will update with my diary here monthly.


----------



## peterk

*September 2016*

3 pay-cheque month, and a big credit card bill.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $144,800 (+$4,600)_
---TFSA: $45,700
---RRSP: $51,900
---Unreg: $47,200

Nothing much going on with stocks, just had a nice bounce of a few thousand yesterday with the OPEC announcement. Been selling some shares of TCK.B recently as I have way too much Teck.


_Cash - $136,800 (+$6,100)_
---Unreg: $125,100
---RRSP: $8,900 USD


_Pensions - $56,000 (+$2,200)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $36,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $7,300
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $12,700

Usual contributions, but for 3 pays instead of 2.


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$337,600 (+$12,900)


*Expenses*

September Spending --------- $4,543
August Spending --------- $2,065

Expensive month, paid off all the vacation spending from in August.

*Grocery Garbage*

_Total - $33_
---Veggies : $17
---Meat : $ 14
--- Other : $2

Threw away $33 of groceries this month, and that was trying to be conscious about it and keep track. Short term goal will be to get it under $20/month.


----------



## peterk

*October 2016*

Decent month. Some nice gains and keeping more USD cash in my RRSP as I sell USD stocks. I'm also laid-up in bed for a month at the moment from a surgery I had 2 weeks ago. Am starting to be able to walk around now though, and even went out for dinner. I'm taking this time to study up for my professional engineering exam that I'm writing next month, and also to watch a lot of Star Trek. :eagerness:

*Assets*
_Stocks - $149,300 (+$4,500)_
---TFSA: $46,500
---RRSP: $51,600
---Unreg: $51,200

Continuing to sell shares in TCK.B each times my total amount goes over $30k, which keeps happening. Been buying Goldcorp and POT with the proceeds.

Sold 1/3 of my shares in SBS (Brazilian water utilities) at above $10 for a nice 40% profit. Been holding this for 2-3 years and it's finally bouncing back strong. Also enjoyed a nice 200% increase in VALE this year, but am still underwater on that one, holding. Planning to buy more Ford with the proceeds under $12, and also keeping the USD as cash. Will buy more AAPL if it hits $110 again.


_Cash - $143,400 (+$6,600)_
---Unreg: $128,000
---RRSP: $11,500 USD

All unregistered cash is back in Tangerine now, getting 2.23% until year's end.


_Pensions - $59,100 (+$3,100)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer paid) : $38,500
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $7,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $13,000

Usual contributions.


*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$351,800 (+$14,200)


*Expenses*

October Spending --------- $4,111
September Spending --------- $4,543

Another spendy month. Had a 5 day weekend down in Jasper/Banff/Calgary for Thanksgiving. It snowed/rained the whole time...

*Grocery Garbage*

_Total - $15_
---Veggies : $12
---Meat : $ 0
--- Other : $3

Much better month, only threw away $15 of groceries. I'll continue to endeavor to keep this below $20/month.


----------



## 1980z28

Well done


----------



## Janus

Peter you're absolutely killing it - it's actually exciting to watch your net worth skyrocket like this. You're leaving me in the dust!


----------



## peterk

Thanks guys. It's entirely just luck (good stock market gains for me so far this year) and circumstance (~25k of forced overtime worked in 2016, ~10k in living expenses paid by insurance/government/red cross for 2 months during the fire) that I've managed to do so well this year.

I'm growing more and more worried about a commodities and oil crash if there is a major market decline. I'd like to exit some of these positions, and have been a little bit here and there, but still have massive exposure to oil and metals that I'm not willing to give up yet.


----------



## peterk

*November 2016*

An OK month, but I'm extremely disappointed with my stock picks. I was trying to bet on a surprise Trump election win, and, despite being very right, I was still very wrong and lost lots of money. I had sold some stocks, bought some gold stocks, and also bought SPY puts and ABX calls right before the election. Overnight when Trump was declared markets were melting down, gold was surging... then by 9am the next morning everything had calmed back down and I managed to very quickly turn $900 into $100. Bah! 

Also, my little 250 share gamble on PSG didn't go so well. Thanks for that hot tip HP. each:

*Assets*
_Stocks - $157,600 (+$8,300)_
---TFSA: $46,200
---RRSP: $54,300
---Unreg: $57,100

Been Selling: Teck, Vale.
Buying: AAPL, G, F, PM. 
Moved my SU from TFSA to RRSP after this latest run up to $42.

_Cash - $145,300 (+$1,900)_
---Unreg: $130,800
---RRSP: $10,700 USD

All unregistered cash is back in Tangerine now, getting 2.23% until year's end.


_Pensions - $57,700 (-$1,400)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $36,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $8,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $13,400

Usual contributions, DB adjusted down for some reason. Just the pension tool being wonky as it often is.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$360,600 (+$8,800)


*Expenses*

September Spending --------- $3,668
October Spending --------- $4,111

Fairly pricey month... Paid $600 for a new coffee table, and $1000 for the road trip at Thanksgiving (Didn't actually pay for that in October like I had reported last month).

*Grocery Garbage*

Forgot to keep track this month. Oops.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> *Also, my little 250 share gamble on PSG didn't go so well. Thanks for that hot tip HP. each:*


*


phooie. why didn't you sell in late april? i did, as soon as the april options expired. Rec'd 3.94. The short options were the only reason i held as long as i did. 

i believe early researchers had already published that the desmarais family & other significant holders were likely intending to sell the company for its parts? i distinctly remember posting that info & you could have taken the trouble to read it instead of gambling blindly.

you should have been able to figure out what selling the parts would mean for the PSG debt. If you can't calculate like this, then it would be better to stay away from exotic situations.

your loss appears to be half your new coffee table. A third of your election night binge loss. Did you blame your cmf vote night tipsters, whoever they were? (recall seeing their odds & talk early on the night of nov 8th, somebody was saying it was a can't lose situation, but i don't remember who they were)

it's poor form to blame others for one's very own mistakes, imho you are now a tiny tad too old for this .each:

.*


----------



## peterk

Oh my... Is this outrage because I forgot to take seriously my food waste this month HP!? I know it is important to you that we all follow the 3 Rs, me too. Sometimes I slip up... I'm terribly sorry. :angel:

In fact rather than blame, I wished only to acknowledge by name a person who is on a list of 2 or perhaps 3 individuals who I would ever contemplate acting on a stock tip from. The others most certainly does not reside anywhere near that nasty Trump thread...
As you've of course correctly noted, the failing was not in the listening, but in not listening closely enough. I'll try harder next time. 

I recall asking my grade 7 teacher for help with some art project we were working on (I hated art - music, geography and science were my subjects). She said: "Peter, I'm sick of giving you advice... Every time I tell you how to do something you never listen to me anyways and just end up doing it your own way, so go figure it out yourself!"

As an aside, I did used to enjoy being described as old, taking it as a compliment in my early 20s. Nearing 30 though, struggling the past 2 years to combat several ailments and bodily failings, I now endeavor to avoid reminders of my fragile mortality and gradual decay. *sigh*


----------



## peterk

*December 2016 and Year-End*

2016 will be a year to remember!

- Made it through the Fort Mac fires unscathed except for being displaced from our home for a month; somehow my aquarium fish survived without being fed for 32 days.
- Worked 72hrs/week for 5 weeks (coker shutdown) before and up to the fire, then was forced back to working the same schedule for another 4 weeks immediately after the fire. This was one of the most grueling times of my life, and throwing a fire/refugee situation in the middle of it was not at all ideal.
- Had a surgery this fall and was off on sick time for 4 weeks because of it, and am also healing from two other injuries/ailments of my miserable body. I'm not sure I'm through it all yet, might possibly need another surgery. Overall I'm stable though or improving, wishing I was pain free and carefree like I used to be. I hope to God that in 2017 I'll be able to get back to 100% health. I'd give anything to be in full health, and if the Canadian medical system fails me, I might have to spend some serious money to get fixed up...Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
- Went on 3 great vacations. Bahamas in January, Ontario for my best friend's wedding and a road trip to Northern Ontario in July/August, and just back now from Maui/Kauai in Dec. Not to mention the month in Calgary as an evacuee, some parts of which felt like a vacation due to helpful friends and family.
- Made quite a bit more money than anticipated!

*Assets*
_Stocks - $158,100 (+$500)_
---TFSA: $48,300
---RRSP: $57,100
---Unreg: $52,700

Haven't done much with stocks in December. Think I bought a bit more PM

_Cash - $146,800 (+$1,500)_
---Unreg: $134,500
---RRSP: $9,100 USD

_Pensions - $58,600 (+$900)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $36,500
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $8,500
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $13,600

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$363,500 (+$2,900)


*Expenses*

December --- $3,345

*Year End Summary*

This breakdown may be a little wonky, since I had weird cashflows during the fire and various insurance, government and company payments, but I'll try and reconcile it the best I can.

Gross pay: $153,400
Net pay: $107,400
Annual Spend: $35,100 (Reduced by 2 months rent not paid during the fire)
Annual Savings: $72,300 (Including Employee contribution to pension but not Employer contribution to pension)
Savings Rate: 67.3%

Spending breakdown:

Total: $35,100
Rent+utilities+insurance: $11,400
Groceries: $3,350
Vacations: $9,200
Other: $11,250

The main thing I'm looking at here is "other". I've managed to keep that relatively in check. Same as last year.

*Year-over-year Net worth*

Overall it's been a fantastic year, with a net worth increase of $171,200.

That increase is broken down roughly as follows:
Savings from Salary: $48,800
Savings from O/T and Bonus: $18,500
Pension contributions: $24,900
Excess cash payments from fire beyond expenses: $3,500
Stock gains: $75,500

This is less impressive than it seems, as my stocks were down $25,000 in 2015, and oil, along with my portfolio, were at all time lows at the start of 2016.

Merry Christmas everyone. I must go now and buy my GF a present still! :hopelessness:


----------



## peterk

Heck ya. Just got bumped up out of my "Junior Engineer" status, and got a 10% raise! Monthly take-home will increase by ~$600!! :biggrin:


----------



## NorthKC

Congratulations and great results on your year-end net worth given the circumstances. Best of luck for 2017!


----------



## bobsyouruncle

Your net worth is now ten times what it was when you started this thread. 

Impressive.


----------



## peterk

*January 2017*

New Year, new position at work, hopefully a better year than last! I barely have time or energy to think about investing these days, I'm so swamped in my new job. Trying to remain positive about it though and think about all the new stuff I will learn. As I said up post, I got a nice 10% raise too .

*Assets*
_Stocks - $173,000 (+$14,900)_
---TFSA: $56,200
---RRSP: $60,400
---Unreg: $56,400

Haven't done much investing. Sold a bit more TECK and bought 100 shares of EMP.A. 

There's some ~$6k in cash in the TFSA from my new 2017 deposit. I'll just call it stocks since it'll be invested shortly into something.

_Cash - $144,700 (-$2,100)_
---Unreg: $132,600
---RRSP: $9,200 USD

_Pensions - $53,600 (-$5,000)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $31,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $8,800
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $13,800

Usual contributions, don't know why the heck my CV dropped and fluctuates so much, it does this all the time. Some months are up way more than expected, others down. The only thing I could think of is the interest rate is fluctuating? But that's not happening that I know of. Or it could be the 2017 year and new MPE are affecting the formula?

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$371,300 (+$7,800)


*Expenses*

January 2017 - $5,537

Bad start to the year! Lots of Christmas stuff to pay off and still part of the Hawaii trip from early December. Next month will be a doozy as well...We're going to Mexico!


----------



## Saniokca

peterk said:


> Usual contributions, don't know why the heck my CV dropped and fluctuates so much, it does this all the time. Some months are up way more than expected, others down. The only thing I could think of is the interest rate is fluctuating? But that's not happening that I know of. Or it could be the 2017 year and new MPE are affecting the formula?


Check this link - these are the rates that are used to calculate the CV ("Commuted value interest rates for...." either non-indexed or indexed depending on whether your pension is indexed or not).

https://www.eckler.ca/rates-library

P.S. If your pension is not indexed I would guess that for your December estimate they were using the November rates and for the most recent one they used December (rates barely changed from December to January).


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> *December 2016 and Year-End*
> 
> 2016 will be a year to remember!
> 
> - Made it through the Fort Mac fires unscathed except for being displaced from our home for a month; somehow my aquarium fish survived without being fed for 32 days.
> 
> - Worked 72hrs/week for 5 weeks (coker shutdown) before and up to the fire, then was forced back to working the same schedule for another 4 weeks immediately after the fire. This was one of the most grueling times of my life, and throwing a fire/refugee situation in the middle of it was not at all ideal.
> 
> - Had a surgery this fall and was off on sick time for 4 weeks because of it, and am also healing from two other injuries/ailments of my miserable body. I'm not sure I'm through it all yet, might possibly need another surgery.
> 
> Overall I'm stable though or improving, wishing I was pain free and carefree like I used to be. I hope to God that in 2017 I'll be able to get back to 100% health. I'd give anything to be in full health, and if the Canadian medical system fails me, I might have to spend some serious money to get fixed up...Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
> 
> - Went on 3 great vacations. Bahamas in January, Ontario for my best friend's wedding and a road trip to Northern Ontario in July/August, and just back now from Maui/Kauai in Dec. Not to mention the month in Calgary as an evacuee, some parts of which felt like a vacation due to helpful friends and family.
> 
> - Made quite a bit more money than anticipated!




this is last months' post, but reading all this from afar, i am struck by the marked tone of increasing strength & maturity. Good for you peterk. Fire tempers the steel. Adversity tempers the soul.

not surprising that you have been promoted. As per the chinese new year, little red packets full of good luck & financial benefits will follow.

PS would a physiotherapist help with the aches & pains? i'm known for lecturing young people on How to find a physiotherapist, sorry about that, but here goes: one needs to find a physio specializing in orthopedics, aka muscle & joint rehabilitation. Usually these are sports physiotherapists. All will be able to teach exercises designed to repair injured tissues, strengthen weakened muscles & restore full function as quickly as possible. Most will also be trained in manual therapy & some will have those magic hands that will be able to find all the pain pressure points & spirit them away.

the physios one wants to avoid are the kind that hook patients up to machines for the full physio hour. It's an older treatment modality that is pretty much disappearing. Sports physios, by contrast, are geared to restoring a patient to full health as fast as possible.

how to find one of these physio angels? if fort Mac has a home hockey/football/basketball team, you could find out who are their official physiotherapists. The athletes are likely to patronize mostly one clinic.

alternatively, which alberta university has the biggest physiotherapy teaching faculty? you could phone or e-mail them & ask for a list of their graduates who specialize in sports rehabilitation who are practicing in the fort Mac area.

.


----------



## Saniokca

humble_pie said:


> PS would a physiotherapist help with the aches & pains? i'm known for lecturing young people on How to find a physiotherapist, sorry about that, but here goes: one needs to find a physio specializing in orthopedics, aka muscle & joint rehabilitation. Usually these are sports physiotherapists. All will be able to teach exercises designed to repair injured tissues, strengthen weakened muscles & restore full function as quickly as possible. Most will also be trained in manual therapy & some will have those magic hands that will be able to find all the pain pressure points & spirit them away.
> 
> the physios one wants to avoid are the kind that hook patients up to machines for the full physio hour. It's an older treatment modality that is pretty much disappearing. Sports physios, by contrast, are geared to restoring a patient to full health as fast as possible.
> 
> how to find one of these physio angels? if fort Mac has a home hockey/football/basketball team, you could find out who are their official physiotherapists. The athletes are likely to patronize mostly one clinic.
> 
> alternatively, which alberta university has the biggest physiotherapy teaching faculty? you could phone or e-mail them & ask for a list of their graduates who specialize in sports rehabilitation who are practicing in the fort Mac area.
> 
> .


Sorry for the seemingly unrelated post but I'm glad I stumbled into your thread peterk  thanks humble_pie for the tips - I am looking for one now actually


----------



## peterk

Thanks for the kind words HP.

Only one of my three ailments is joint/muscle related (wrist), the other two being abdomen and head issues. I did see a physio about my wrist probably a year ago for a couple months. He did some massage with ointments put little electric pads on me. It was dubious whether it helped or not. I found a brace to wear (on my own, no help from the physio or Doctor) that was for my injury and it helped quite a bit. Overall my wrist is mostly healed, not 100% but good enough. Not worth subjecting myself to further appointments, I think the next step would be an MRI.

Getting a CT scan for abdomen issue in a few weeks. Hopefully they see something noteworthy this time.

Saw an Audiologist and ENT for my ear/head issue. They didn't see anything wrong and sent me away. Suggested I go to the dentist for a jaw Xray. I really don't think that's the problem though...


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Only one of my three ailments is joint/muscle related (wrist), the other two being abdomen and head issues. I did see a physio about my wrist probably a year ago for a couple months. He did some massage with ointments put little electric pads on me.


that sounds like a TENS machine. They do help some patients. Don't work for me, though.

me i avoid physios who use machines. It's an older modality & the orthos who teach exercises to repair muscles & who nearly always treat elite athletes tend to obtain faster & better results. The thing is to get to them ASAP after an injury, your wrist is a bit old to retrain after a year, there could even be calcification on bone tissue ...

i used to have (she's retired now) a physio who had served through 4 olympic games. A top orthopedic surgeon told me he would never allow any physiotherapist near a new fracture except for KA. But KA herself, he said, could work on a new fracture only hours after it had happened, with his full blessing.

when i broke my elbow i hired KA to come to my house the next day. We sat opposite each other on small chairs, with our knees touching. She had placed a pillow on her lap, i bent the broken elbow into the pillow (the hospital had given me a 3/4 detachable cast because i'd insisted on it, so the cast was off.)

with the fingers of an angel, KA began the tiniest of oscillations. The eye would have seen nothing, but as the patient i could feel the almost imperceptible flutters in the fracture zone. The purpose, KA told me, was to re-start blood circulation in the traumatized zone, so that healing could gradually get underway.

she gave me gentle exercises to do with the elbow submerged in ice water (fill bathroom sink with cold water, dump in a tray of ice cubes, she said.) It was just before christmas, i was going out-of-town to meet my daughter's boyfriend's parents for the first time & i was worried about how incapacitated i'd appear with a 3-day-old arm fracture (wear more jewellery, she said.)

me i swear by the sports physios, they are angels sent from heaven to help suffering mortals on earth.





> Saw an Audiologist and ENT for my ear/head issue. They didn't see anything wrong and sent me away. Suggested I go to the dentist for a jaw Xray. I really don't think that's the problem though...



i suppose they are thinking temporomandibular joint syndrome? these are tricky syndromes with a big repertoire of symptoms. It's even possible a patient could have a TMJ issue plus he has an ENT disorder as well ... 

wondering if the ear problem is one-sided? if so, is there any hearing loss, even slight as of yet?

if so, you could PM me, not going to hi-jack the forum any further with ailments.

(laughter) i see i am rabbitting on the exact same way i do with my own children, even though they are mostly all grown. They for their part always roll their eyes & go YeahYeahYeahYeah YeahYeah MOM.

still, i continue to rabbit about their health because i feel it's better, on the whole, to have a mother who cares than one who doesn't ... :biggrin:

.


----------



## Spudd

I had TMJ 2 years ago and what fixed it for me was physio. My therapist did use the TENS pads as well as a laser thingy, but I think what really did the trick were the homework exercises he gave me and some of the manual manipulations he did.


----------



## peterk

Alrite alrite. I'll go get the X-Ray! Thank you mother and father. :biggrin:

I heard a very very loud bang in my left ear a while back that trauma'd my ear, and a month later my ear/head starts hurting constantly. It's why I'm skeptical it's TMJ. I think it's ear related, but the ENT doesn't see anything wrong...


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> I heard a very very loud bang in my left ear a while back that trauma'd my ear, and a month later my ear/head starts hurting constantly. It's why I'm skeptical it's TMJ. I think it's ear related, but the ENT doesn't see anything wrong...




this i think is a concern. Can you find another otorhinolaryngologist for a 2nd opinion.

if they do an MRI of your ear/head, be sure you get the hospital to burn you a copy. There should be a radiologist's written report with it. You might eventually want to see a specialist in edmonton or calgary & it's always totally useful to be able to bring along your own portable medical file.

what i find is that MDs will gladly consult prior histories & recent tests whenever a patient can simply hand these over in person. But they will never take the time - in today's rushed medical world - to obtain these from the original testing clinic or hospital.

what happened to hearing in the left ear, is it still normal?

at the same time, look how active you've been, in spite of these trials. Travel à go-go. Constant hard work. High performance. A job promotion.

i hope these medical challenges start to clear up in 2017. 

.


----------



## peterk

*February 2017*

Spendy month. Took another vacation; to Cancun this time, it was lovely with fantastic snorkeling and beach. Much better than the 2 weeks in Hawaii in December, which was half rain and twice the price.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $165,500 (-$7,500)_
---TFSA: $54,300
---RRSP: $62,200
---Unreg: $49,000

I think the only thing I bought this month was 50 more shares of CPG (at $14.06  ) Lost a fair bit with Teck and BTE continuing to decline. Still have 6k cash in my TFSA.

_Cash - $143,800 (-$900)_
---Unreg: $131,600
---RRSP: $9,300 USD

_Pensions - $52,200 (-$1,400)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $29,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $9,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $14,000

Usual contributions. Now we have a NEW pension tool which is different from the old website. The CV is lower again now with the new website. Hopefully it is more consistent month-over-month when I check in the future.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$361,500 (-$9,800)

DOH! My first negative month in 13 consecutive month. I was on such a good roll  Ah well.

*Expenses*

February 2017 - $5,263
January 2017 - $5,537

Expensive month again with going to Cancun. Should be better going forward.


----------



## peterk

humble_pie said:


> this i think is a concern. Can you find another otorhinolaryngologist for a 2nd opinion.
> 
> if they do an MRI of your ear/head, be sure you get the hospital to burn you a copy. There should be a radiologist's written report with it. You might eventually want to see a specialist in edmonton or calgary & it's always totally useful to be able to bring along your own portable medical file.
> 
> what i find is that MDs will gladly consult prior histories & recent tests whenever a patient can simply hand these over in person. But they will never take the time - in today's rushed medical world - to obtain these from the original testing clinic or hospital.
> 
> what happened to hearing in the left ear, is it still normal?
> 
> at the same time, look how active you've been, in spite of these trials. Travel à go-go. Constant hard work. High performance. A job promotion.
> 
> i hope these medical challenges start to clear up in 2017.
> 
> .


Thanks HP, I'm not all-that though. My job has been easy as pie for the last 1.5 years, I was filling in for someone on mat-leave and automated most of the work with my computer (I hate computers but will begrudgingly make use if it makes my life easier), and while I think I work smart and do good for my company I can't get higher than "average" on my performance reviews. Despite being a dirty mine in northern Canada, it is still corporate America up here in the office. I don't have it in me to be a cheer-leader for the latest productivity or loss-prevention programs du-jour, or make grandiose pronouncements of certainty and simplicity when the reality is uncertain and complex. The people who do always seem to be the ones the managers love though. I'm looking for a way out, not sure how though. It's great that I'm learning a lot right now in my new position. In 1 year my resume will look way better than today.

Medically, I'm going to get a requisition for MRI next week. I just want to get everything wrong with me scanned at the private clinic in Alberta and pay for it. Should be about $1500 I figure, $900 after the tax deduction, a bargain. I wish I knew about private pay MRI clinics in the summer, I never would have done that surgery in the fall with such shoddy information as an 4 month old inconclusive CT scan.

Went to the dentist and got an x-ray and TMJ assessment. Inconclusive also, though he readily admitted he was not a TMJ expert and I should see a specialist; didn't know anything about scans, he thought an MRI gives you radiation... So I'm gonna get that MRI'd too. Hopefully it's the miracle machine of diagnosis that I'm looking for.


----------



## peterk

*March 2017*

Pretty good month. 3 pay cheques and a $6,800 tax return. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $168,600 (+$3,100)_
---TFSA: $52,800
---RRSP: $66,200
---Unreg: $49,600

Bought some Cenovus yesterday, added to Ford, ACQ, DOL. Didn't sell anything this month. I'm down to a couple thousand in TFSA. I'll top up my RRSP account with ~10,000 when I get my NOA, hopefully next week.

_Cash - $154,700 (+$10,900)_
---Unreg: $145,400
---RRSP: $7,000 USD

_Pensions - $54,200 (+$2,000)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $29,900
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $9,800
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $14,500

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$377,500 (+$16,000)

*Expenses*

March 2017 - $2,228
February 2017 - $5,263

Nice Cheap month. Some big expenses on the credit card coming up though. 2 trips to Calgary and a big medical bill for MRI scans. Hopefully they accept it as a deduction through my HSA.


----------



## peterk

*April 2017*

Had a nice Easter weekend in Calgary, and got one final MRI on my head done then as well. They saw something potentially concerning in the first one back in March and ordered another. So I spent about month with a diagnosis of "It's most likely nothing... but it's _possibly_ a brain tumor" - That was a bit stressful, but I tried not to dwell on it. It just turned out to be a common, slight abnormality in my head, nothing to worry about.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $172,100 (+$3,500)_
---TFSA: $52,200
---RRSP: $72,100
---Unreg: $47,800

Added $5,000 to my RRSP. Will add another when I've allocated this. Don't want to deposit too much now because I'm getting a good rate at Tangerine.

_Cash - $153,200 (-$1,500)_
---Unreg: $145,200
---RRSP: $5,900 USD

Tangerine is paying my 3.21% on my unregistered cash at the moment, until June 30.

_Pensions - $57,700 (+$3,500)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $32,400
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $10,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $15,100

Usual contributions. Turns out this new CV tool isn't any different than the old one. Still spitting out wildly varying numbers month-over-month. C'est la vie. 

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$383,000 (+$5,500)

*Expenses*

April 2017 - $2,262
March 2017 - $2,228


Nice Cheap month. Some big expenses on the credit card coming up though. 2 trips to Calgary and a big medical bill for MRI scans. Plus an expensive airBNB for Ottawa on Canada day.
My private MRI scans were a write off with Blue Cross at least, so that is nice as it saves me cash up front, and gives me a deduction off my pay cheque.


----------



## scorpion_ca

How much does a private MRI cost in AB?


----------



## peterk

It was ~$800 for the first imaging, and $400 for each additional (I had a few things wrong I wanted looked at). The cost was deductible through my health spending account at work though, so 60% of that was my final price.


----------



## kelaa

What are your plans for all that cash? Are you waiting for a market opportunity? Almost half of your liquid assets is uncommitted.


----------



## peterk

I am afraid of commitment. Just ask my girlfriend.

I'm fairly happy with a 50:50 cash:stocks portfolio. Looking for new investments but most things are very expensive right now. I'm usually saving money faster than I can find something to invest it in.

No real plans - The cash is good for house savings, emergency fund, car savings, market correction, job loss. Anything really.


----------



## canew90

@peterk: Congratulations on your continued commitment to invest and save for your future. Being young you have the advantage of time and in the long term should do well provided you avoid heavy losses. Like most old timers, we are in our mid 70's, the old cliche has been used many times "If I was starting out and knew what I know now....there are many thing we'd have done differently"

Having said that, we eventually found a direction which allowed us to invest in a manner which, over time, generated enough Income to retire financially satisfied. We don't have a DB pension so needed to have enough Secure Income from our investments to be sure we'd have the funds needed. 

What we eventually did was follow the advice of the Connolly Report http://www.dividendgrowth.ca/dividendgrowth/
which for us was the Slow, Steady, Safe (as one can get) and we saw our Income grow monthly, quarterly and yearly, regardless what the price of the stocks did. Check out his site, lots of free invormation.


----------



## peterk

Thanks canew, though I am now officially not young (30). :hopelessness:

I haven't put much thought into investing for dividends specifically, other than to understand how they are taxed and what to watch out for as good or bad signs about a company, as much as a dividend can indicate, anyway.


----------



## peterk

*May 2017*

Normal month. Been doing a bit of overtime at work lately, lots of field work. Got a small bonus, but most of it was clawed back from the company for the cash advance they gave everyone last summer during the fire, so that's break even.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $174,500 (+$2,400)_
---TFSA: $49,300
---RRSP: $80,500
---Unreg: $44,700

Teck is down a fair bit, but is still my biggest holding. AAPL is hot on its heels though with large increases lately. 

Been adding significantly to Cenovus and Ford, and started small positions (~$1000) in American clothes and department retail with Macy's, Nordstrom, and Ralph Lauren. This whole contrarian, value investing thing is hard... Hasn't been going well for me at all so far... I definitely should just have bought Amazon instead, like I was thinking about back in 2011. 

_Cash - $148,200 (-$5,000)_
---Unreg: $148,200

Used up all the USD cash in my RRSP on stocks.

Tangerine is paying my 3.21% on my unregistered cash at the moment, until June 30.

_Pensions - $61,900 (+$4,200)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $35,900
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $10,500
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $15,500

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero


*Net Worth*

$384,600 (+$1,600)

*Expenses*

May 2017 - $7,557
April 2017 - $2,262

Big bills from back in March and April paid off.


----------



## kelaa

> I'm fairly happy with a 50:50 cash:stocks portfolio. Looking for new investments but most things are very expensive right now. I'm usually saving money faster than I can find something to invest it in.
> 
> No real plans - The cash is good for house savings, emergency fund, car savings, market correction, job loss. Anything really.


We have opposite approaches. I typically have a hard time holding onto cash. The sizeable amounts go to individual stocks. The ends and bits of dividends go to e-series funds. I think you can always find relative value. At the moment the energy and pipeline names look to me good opportunities again.

The thing with waiting for the market correction is the question of whether you will actually commit the money when the time looks right (and at that moment you can never be sure if you are at the bottom). For instance, in Feb/March 2016, did you pour cash into the TSX? Did you, for instance, buy your Teck holdings at that time?


----------



## peterk

*June 2017*

Not the best month. Oil stocks are down significantly. Enjoyed a nice holiday back east for Canada day and Montreal for Jazz Fest. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $160,100 (-$14,400)_
---TFSA: $44,500
---RRSP: $75,900
---Unreg: $39,700

Topped up my RRSP at Questrade with cash and it's maxed now. Sold a bit of Westjet and bought a bit more IPL.

_Cash - $153,100 (+$4,900)_
---Unreg: $147,100
---RRSP: $4,600 USD

Buying USD with my RRSP contributions.

Did the ol' switcheroo at the end of my 3.21% promotion period, June 30th, at Tangerine. Now getting 3.1% this time around until Sept 30th. 

_Pensions - $66,100 (+$4,200)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $39,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $10,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $15,900

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$379,300 (-$5,300)

*Expenses*

June 2017 - $3,468
May 2017 - $7,557

Pricey month again. High spending on Ottawa/Montreal.

I've spent $26,300 so far in 2017...not good. Noticing spending creep each year. Will try to focus on keeping that in check and not being frivolous.


----------



## peterk

*July 2017*

Plain month. Nothing financially interesting going on. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $162,000 (+$1,900)_
---TFSA: $46,200
---RRSP: $71,600
---Unreg: $44,200

Sold and trimmed a few stocks, and started positions in GM and Exxon. Been converting available money to USD cash. Jumped in a little early and started buying at 77c but have been buying all the way up and have a good price (79c average).


_Cash - $163,200 (+$10,100)_
---Unreg: $152,000
---RRSP: $9,000 USD


_Pensions - $63,100 (-$3,000)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $35,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $10,700
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $16,600

Usual contributions. CV went down, perhaps due to interest rate increase? I'm skeptical the calculation takes that into consideration so fast though.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$388,300 (+$9,000)

*Expenses*

July 2017 - $2,912
June 2017 - $3,418


----------



## peterk

*August 2017*

Decent month. 3 pay cheques and stocks are up a bit. Went to Sylvan Lake/Waterton/Glacier for vacation. It was smokey from the BC/Montana fires the whole time.

Been fishing to relax, still have lots of pain in my ear/head and body but they don't feel so bad when I'm fishing. I'm trying to decide if that is diagnostic of lifestyle and/or stress inputs to my pains, but I'm certainly not going to mention that to any doctor. I'm having a hard time getting them to find anything wrong or take me seriously. 

Going to see a oral facial specialist next month and see if they can find anything wrong with my jaw/head.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $178,700 (+$16,700)_
---TFSA: $46,500
---RRSP: $79,000
---Unreg: $53,200

Bought more GM, XOM, IPL, CNR. Started little gamble positions in UAA and AOBC.


_Cash - $160,300 (-$2,900)_
---Unreg: $153,300
---RRSP: $5,600 USD

More cash being invested in unregistered and RRSP. TFSA is full. Been shuffling stocks through RRSP>TFSA>Unreg to minimize dividend taxation with consideration of potential capital gains. Got a pretty big spreadsheet to keep track of the "tax yields".

_Pensions - $64,800 (+$1,700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $36,900
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $11,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $16,800

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$403,800 (+$15,500)

*Expenses*

August 2017 - $3,471
July 2017 - $2,912








Hanging out by Waterton Lake


----------



## Mukhang pera

peterk said:


> *August 2017*
> 
> 
> View attachment 16130
> 
> Hanging out by Waterton Lake


Nice house! How much are your property taxes?:tennis:


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Going to see a oral facial specialist next month and see if they can find anything wrong with my jaw/head.



please refresh. Have we gone on about temporal-mandibular joint syndrome.

it actually does bother a lot of people. There are TMJ specialists in dental faculties. Often they recommend bite appliances, preferably only to wear at night.

other approaches would be physiotherapy for the neck. Because if you've got the neck wrong, then you're holding your head wrong.

not just any old physio will do. You'd need one with speciaized experience in sports physiotherapy, in orthopedics (muscle & joint damage), in sports injury rehab. Perhaps there are none in fort Mac or perhaps they are very difficult to find in fort Mac.

there will be several in edmonton, though, treating the professional athletes & the dancers (does edmonton have resident dance companies?) through the U of A physiotherapy faculty you could find out which physios in fort Mac are doing manual therapy with athletes. Substitute injured oil rig workers & you'll find em in fort Mac.

.


----------



## peterk

Thanks for the interest HP. 

I've had pain in my ear, as well as constant head pain and mild dizziness ever since some dummy set off an airhorn in my ear, over a year ago now. I did an MRI on my head and jaw, looking for a diagnosis. The MRI saw TMJ dislocation on both sides, with no degeneration, I think meaning that it's not that bad. I went to two dentists in town, both of whom advertised "tmj" services, but both refused to give me any bite appliance (I already have a simple nightguard), and would only refer me to TMD oral specialist at U of A, which I've been waiting for months for, and now have an appointment in October.

I've also had 2 hearing/ear tests done, with nothing wrong discovered, and am on the wait list to see the (supposedly) best ENT doctor in Calgary. My thought is is that this is an ear problem in some way, due to the symptoms starting with an ear sound trauma, and the TMJ dislocation diagnosis is incidental and not symptomatic. Either way, I'm pursuing both avenues simultaneously.

Thirdly, for the MRI I did, my family doc put "Ear and possible TMJ pain" on the req. form. Seemingly the imaging center doesn't have "ear" on their checklist, so the booking person checked "brain" instead, so I had both TMJ and brain MRIs done. The TMJ report said as I stated above, and the brain MRI came back with an ominous and vague description of a "possible mass-like lesion" on a ventricle, which was concerning... They recalled me for a contrast MRI of the brain, this time diagnosing it as a simple nodule heterotopia, which is apparently well correlated with epilepsy patients, but that is almost always onset during childhood and more often in girls, so is a diagnosis of little concern to me, so the report and the internet tells me.

When I see the specialists I'm going to ask if someone can re-look at the 3 head MRIs that I had. None of the radiologist reports mention a single word referring to my ear, and I feel like the "mass like lesion" took the full attention of the radiologist away from my actual ear and head pain symptoms. I'd actually like to send these MRI image DVDs out in the mail for someone to take a look and get a second opinion, which I'm willing to pay for, before I see the ear specialist, so that I can get the ball rolling a bit quicker. I haven't looked into whether this is possible though in Canada, or maybe I can send it to some radiologist in the States?

I also have other ailments which are at times semi-debilitating and mostly all I can think about. The last ultrasound showed a small hernia which my surgeon say he could operate on, but doesn't think it's a good idea since my pain isn't that bad and probably won't help. The last surgery was pretty terrible, and I'm uncertain that it helped and not sure I want to go through it again. Then there's other abdominal, hip and groin pain that is undiagnosed, which he refuses to send me for further ultrasounds for. Can't forget the "low level" cartilage tear in my wrist from two years ago which likely no hand Dr. will be willing to treat, but causes irritation when lifting heavy things or twisting weird. And for icing on the cake, I dropped a big piece of metal on my foot a month ago, which hurt for a few days, but sometimes still hurts when I walk. Wondering if I should see the Dr. to get X-ray'd, there's another 2 mornings off work...

And I have a huge report due in November, don't have time for any of this, and am trying my damndest to go to the gym and get in shape, with the hope that the abdomen, hip and shoulder pains go away on their own if I can get myself back into a reasonable level of fitness. But with the constant pains in all part of me, and being out of the house for 10.5 hrs of the day for work, it's hard to get to the gym. I'm taking Serc for the dizziness, which doesn't help, and usually 2-4 advils a day to cope, sometimes T3s and Torodal. 

I would like to try a physiotherapist but haven't had the gumption to do it yet. You're right though, I should. I'm just so sick of phone calls and appointments and travel and slowness and nothing ever making any damn difference. 

Thanks for listening.


----------



## peterk

On a positive note though, I never sold those TECK covered calls.


----------



## kcowan

I have an Iranian acupuncturist who specializes in Chinese medicine. (Also a graduated Chemical Engineer.) She is a magician! Don't knock until you have tried it. Go for a referral.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Thanks for the interest HP.
> 
> I've had pain in my ear ... (cont'd)





oh my, this looks quite serious. Hopefully it will not turn out to be serious on the purely medical level. So far, so good, no serious official diagnosis yet.

my first thought was What could make this laddie feel better. Never mind "get" better for the time being. Baby steps. Feeling better will hasten improvement. It's a step in the right directon while one is going through a prolonged period of medical testing.


# 1. one proposal is a really good massage therapist. There are medical benefits to circulation & to the musculo-skeletal system from massage, but the benefit i'd be hoping for you is just pure & simple bliss.

please note i'm not referring to kinky here. What you'd want to find is a professional massage therapist. There must be an association in alberta, possibly practitioners even hold licenses in alberta.

there are all kinds of sub-categories of massage therapy, ie shiatsu, reiki, reflexology, even acupuncture with its meridians & pain pressure points is related. What i'd hope for you at first is to find a plain vanilla medical massage therapist. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massage#Foot_massage


# 2. the other proposal is equally simple. It's about remedies/prescriptions for the dizziness.

Serq is a drug with known side effects, in a minority of cases it can actually increase dizziness, according to the pharmaceutical manual that every pharmacist is obliged to make available to the public. If Serq is not helping you, perhaps you could discontinue? Hint: i wouldn't stop cold turkey. Instead diminish gradually over a week or 10 days, noting what happens as you go.

what i'd propose instead are two inexpensive non-prescription remedies. One is gravol. Good old gravol. Often used for motion sickness, but dizziness, vertico, nausea, the eyes, the inner ear & even the sense of touch are all closely related to the body's ability to keep its balance.

there will be a maximum daily dose on the package, not to exceed that. If it helps, long-term you'd want to cut down on the dose to the minimum that will help. The effective chemical is dimenhydrinate.

the 2nd possibility is a homeopathic remedy. This class of "remedy" is controversial, but the facts go like this: a) classical homeopathic remedies are tiny little sugar pills with no side effects, they are harmless, also inexpensive; b) favourable double-blind test results for some homeopathic remedies, particularly for allergies, have been published in prestigious medical journals; & c) when patients are desperate, they are usually willing to try any low-cost remedy that has no side effects & no prescription interaction.

the particular homeopathic remedy i'm proposing for dizziness is called Tabacum. Its source is nicotiana, the tobacco plant. There are "strengths" in homeopathic remedies, the CC numbers increase. A 30C in the middle of the range would be about right to begin with.

it's a good thing you're an engineer because my last suggestion is lab-oriented. If you would be willing to try the above, try them one at a time only, in order to observe & test the effects. Me i'd start with the Gravol. Give it a good 2-week trial by itself.

the idea is not so much to find a miraculous cure - probably not going to happen - but rather to build a repertoire of inexpensive remedies with low or no side effects that will ease the symptoms & improve well-being.


.


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## peterk

Thanks HP, after much procrastination, I've just booked a massage (not the asian kind lol). I've always thought I should but just never pulled the trigger, it's all covered by benefits anyways so it can't hurt. I go tomorrow!

And I will look into the Tabacum and give it a try. Thing is is that the dizziness is secondary to the pains. I wouldn't even care if it was just dizziness. I've also tried self treating using the vertigo maneuvers where you tilt your head around. It's a physiotherapy treatment that I could go get the pros to try, but it seems pretty simple and that I can do it at home by myself just watching physiotherapists on youtube instead...but that didn't help.


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## humble_pie

^^


no gravol? me i'd try the gravol first. It's also an inexpensive over the counter remedy. 

not to overlook is kcowan's acupuncture recommend. Acupuncture has lowered pain & treated illnesses in asia for i don't know how many thousands of years. It's a great idea.

then there's the physio. Best to add these ladies to your life veree veree slowlee, imho. One at a time. Then the next one perhaps couple months later. Too much bliss all at once could be de-stabilizing.

seriously i think it's great the way you work on your diagnosis & you keep looking for hints & info in the internet.


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## nobleea

Until a few months ago, I used to have dizzy spells. Like almost unable to stand up, fall on the floor. They were very sporadic. Then there was light dizziness and lightheaded ness that would happen almost every week. My wife was suitably very concerned.

Turns out I just wasn't eating enough. Or I was, but not enough 'heavy' foods. I have an extremely fast metabolism so not eating proper meals and not snacking through the day would set off the dizziness. Probably mild hypoglycemic or something like that.


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## humble_pie

^^

i'm taking the great risk of replying with yet another alternative therapy. Before you can say Pshaw, please allow me to sneak it in.

burdock root. Yup that homely despised towering weed plant with its burrs that snag clothing, hair & every pet that passes by, has a deep tap root that contains a rare sugar named inulin.

so? what's so good about inulin? this is a sugar that burns extremely slowly in humans, thus stabilizing the regular blood sugar level for many long hours & preventing those lightheaded, dizzy, almost fainting attacks. Many persons don't reach the level of outright fainting, they just feel a bit wasted in the afternoons, especially if they've skipped lunch. A common remedy is fruit or tea with crackers or toast, etc. But an inulin tincture of burdock root in the morning will prevent all of that nonsense in the afternoon.

it's a folkloric kind of thing, but the most susceptible patients are often tall, thin or lean, somewhat ectomorphic "vata" types. Air is their overly dominant element, which is why they need a bit of "earth" as noblea says, to offset the airiness. But the inulin in burdock root keeps them grounded all the time.

it's best to make one's own inulin tincture. Burdock roots vary greatly. Some roots have no inulin at all, others precipitate out half a cup of the amazing plant sugar within hours of maceration in brandy or vodka. It's also important to know in which year to harvest the plant, also which month would be optimal. The burdock plant is a biennial, so by late april of its 2nd year all the inulin has left the root & travelled upwards in the plant, in order to nourish the developing flowers & seed pods.

coincidentally, coming up very soon - after the first frost - is the exact right time to harvest first year burdock. After frost, all the inulin from the plant's first year of green leafy growth will have travelled back down into the root for the winter dormancy period. Burdock gatherers who miss this october's offering of first year burdock roots will have a 2nd chance very early next spring, before the 2nd year above-ground growth appears. Still, i'd choose first year fall roots every time.


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## OnlyMyOpinion

Somewhat reluctantly here - since I'm not nearly as informed as you HP, but might I suggest chicory root for inulin. I seem to recall that dried chicory root was also used during the war as a coffee substitute.


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## humble_pie

^^

that's interesting but i've never heard of inulin (it's a sugar) in chicory. Substitute for coffee, yes. Inulin, idk?

to best of my knowledge, the only other plant that makes inulin is calendula. I'm not knowledgeable on this use of calendula. On the other hand i have quite a bit of experience with burdock root, even to the point of digging up 2nd year roots in late august in order to prove that they contained no inulin whatsoever.

what the plant sugar had done in the 2nd year of this biennial is move up into the flowers & seeds of the plant. All the better to fertilize the growth of the next generation. There is a whole school of herbologists that advocates collecting inulin from the purple burr/flowers.

me, i'm not going to do that, though. Those burrs are too prickly & too messy to work with. It's much easier to dig up a nice first-year burdock root in early october. One would scrub it off with a brush, chop it up, macerate the pieces in a small jar of brandy or vodka over the winter. If it's a good root, the inulin will commence precipitating out as a pale powder within the first couple of weeks. One would leave the roots in the brandy or vodka until at least 2018, although through the winter would be fine too.

eventually, one removes the root pieces (don't strain the solution) & stores in small dark glass bottles. Can be dropper bottles. In these, one should see the pale sugar precipitating out of the alcohol medium, so one needs to shake up the bottle with every dose.

believe it or not, it really does work.

(signed)
tall willowy vata vancouver dad


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## humble_pie

*oops*

.
googled chicory + inulin & i can see from the headlines that onlyMO is absolutely right, chicory roots do contain inulin.

i must read all this & learn all about it.

does not totally surprise because chicory is so closely related to dandelion, whose roots are known to be helpful in treating diabetes, also a sugar disorder.

to think i used to grow what turned out to be chicory every year in my backyard! i'd buy a couple flats of baby dandelion plants every spring at the italian farmers' market. For a couple of months there's be yummy dandelion salads, chopped dandelions as fines herbes on fish & in hard-boiled egg salad.

everything would be perfect until the plants would flower. Not golden dandelion flowers. Blue chicory flowers.

to think i put all those roots into the compost every year, though! who knew they'd be edible!!


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## peterk

humble_pie said:


> no gravol? me i'd try the gravol first. It's also an inexpensive over the counter remedy.


Alrite I got some gravol, will try and take a few a day for a few days. I also went for my first massage ever! It was nice, but kind of underwhelming. I didn't really feel all that different afterwards. 

I don't think there's any burrs growing up here though...

I'll also try and start eating breakfast again, but I really don't think that's it. At first when the dizziness started I tried to correlate it to hunger but even an hour after eating a heavy meal the symptoms didn't change.



> seriously i think it's great the way you work on your diagnosis & you keep looking for hints & info in the internet.


Ha, well it's out of necessity not choice. If I wanted to do all this I'd have become a doctor and would be making way more money... I'd rather not have to think about it at all and just show up at a hospital, have the 3 specialists I need be there to do _thorough_ exams, tests, and fix me all up by Monday.  I guess that's a pipe dream though.


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## peterk

peterk said:


> On a positive note though, I *never sold those TECK covered calls*.
> .
> .
> .
> Started little gamble positions in UAA and *AOBC*.


I swear I am jinxing myself by saying these things lol.

Portfolio was down 2.5% on Friday.


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## Mukhang pera

humble_pie said:


> It's much easier to dig up a nice first-year burdock root in early october. One would scrub it off with a brush, chop it up, macerate the pieces in a small jar of brandy or vodka over the winter. If it's a good root, the inulin will commence precipitating out as a pale powder within the first couple of weeks. One would leave the roots in the brandy or vodka until at least 2018, although through the winter would be fine too.
> (signed)
> tall willowy vata vancouver dad


hp, perhaps you would be so kind as to prepare a couple bottles of burdock brandy/vodka for M. peterk. Even if he does not appreciate the gift, I am sure he'll appreciate the spirit in which it was sent. :smile:


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## humble_pie

Mukhang pera said:


> hp, perhaps you would be so kind as to prepare a couple bottles of burdock brandy/vodka for M. peterk. Even if he does not appreciate the gift, I am sure he'll appreciate the spirit in which it was sent. :smile:




the burdock root was for noblea, however he appears to have turned up his aristocratic nose at the idea. By coincidence burdock root works for me. I have an older sibling who also gets a bit faint sometimes in the afternoons, it works for her as well.

noblea described a completely different kind of dizziness from peterk. Burdock root would do nothing for peterk imho.

.


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## Mukhang pera

humble_pie said:


> the burdock root was for noblea, however he appears to have turned up his aristocratic nose at the idea. By coincidence burdock root works for me. I have an older sibling who also gets a bit faint sometimes in the afternoons, it works for her as well.
> 
> noblea described a completely different kind of dizziness from peterk. Burdock root would do nothing for peterk imho.
> 
> .


Thanks for setting me straight, even though my suggestion of sending the magic potion to peterk was wholly in jest.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Alrite I got some gravol, will try and take a few a day for a few days.



i think you should give gravol a fair trial. A low-normal dose for something like 10 days. The capsules/tablets/lozenges come in 50mg or 100mg sizes, they say the maximum daily dose is 400 mg but me i think that is far too high. What i would do myself is one in the am, one in the afternoon, maximum 200 mg daily. I'd keep that up faithfully for at least a week-10 days.

if any improvement appeared, i'd start gradually cutting down on the mg. Once i knew what gravol could or could not do for me, i'd start working in the Tabacum. 






> also went for my first massage ever! It was nice, but kind of underwhelming. I didn't really feel all that different afterwards


by contrast, this is a remedy where, if it doesn't help at the first take, i'd immediately discontinue. That particular massage therapist should be crossed off the list.

i've had good luck all my life finding physios with the magic hands. Once i found a massage therapist with the special hands, but alas in no time she moved to work in a district that was hours away.

don't forget kcowan's acupuncture suggestion. Then there are the physios. After i thought about it, i found myself wondering if fort Mac might be a magnet for the best practitioners of these therapies? i mean, there must be a lot of work-related injuries up there, not to speak of stress-related injuries; & at the same time there is plenty of money to hire the best professionals ...







> I don't think there's any burrs growing up here though


the burdock root was for noblea. Plants that "might" help you - i mean peterk here - are ginger & ginkgo. I'd be hopeful about ginger because fresh grated ginger root is such a culinary treat, wonderfully accompanes all kinds of fish & chicken dishes, salads, mayonnaises, desserts, cookies, yum. Every fridge should have a fresh ginger root in stock.

other hacks that help some inner ear disorders are limiting salt/no salt, also one could try a prescription diuretic (ask for the mildest one) 

i have an inner ear disorder in one ear only, is why i've been through the drill. Mine is under excellent control, doesn't bother me, no one would ever notice anything. But i'm sure i've tried every single harmless remedy known to man.

there are hundreds of diseases with dizziness as a symptom so the presentation is baffling to doctors. Once we arrived at a diagnosis the ORL said to me Congratulations, because this is a disorder that is never going to kill you.






> Ha, well it's out of necessity not choice. If I wanted to do all this I'd have become a doctor and would be making way more money... I'd rather not have to think about it at all and just show up at a hospital, have the 3 specialists I need be there to do _thorough_ exams, tests, and fix me all up by Monday.



alas the medical system today isn't delivering such services to all citizens (if in fact it ever did). They say that patients who act as their own advocates - the way peterk is doing - tend to do better than patients who sit back, do nothing & wait passively.



.


----------



## peterk

*September 2017*

*Assets*
_Stocks - $179,800 (+$1,100)_
---TFSA: $50,700
---RRSP: $76,900
---Unreg: $49,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $2,300

My new GM position has taken off, which is disappointing as I'd just began purchasing and have only 75 shares. Was planning to build up 200 or 300 shares over the next month, but have stopped buying now.

I've also decided to let my work-matched savings account mutual funds at Sunlife build up. Previously I had always withdrew the money right away because I wanted to invest in my RRSP and TFSA, but since those are maxed and I'm using unregistered anyways I figure I should just let it build. There may be some slight inefficiencies tax-wise with received distributions and gains which are out of my control with the fund, but I figure it is a small price to pay to have regular savings and investing bi-weekly that follows a plan. If left to my own devices the money will likely end up in some crazy stock pick of mine that will just crash anyways. :rolleyes2: This way I'm buying $500/pay, 50%/50% in plain old TSX and S&P500 funds.

_Cash - $165,900 (+$5,600)_
---Unreg: $157,200
---RRSP: $7,000 USD

Was buying USD right up to the $0.82 peak, and have stopped. I feel like I have a good USD exposure now, but might buy a bit more if the mood strikes. My American holdings in cash and stocks Total $60,200 USD. 

I've also been thinking about buying one of those tax-efficient bond funds (HBB or ZDB) to get rid of some of my unregistered cash, but am a bit unclear about how bonds work. The YTM is essentially the total return, yes? So if the bond yield payment is 2.9% annually, but the YTM is 2.1%, one can expect that the price of the bond ETF will drop by 0.8%/year in capital loss, yes? All else being equal of course.

_Pensions - $64,300 (-$500)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $35,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $11,700
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $16,800

Usual contributions. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$410,000 (+$6,200)

*Expenses*

September 2017 - $2,169
August 2017 - $3,471

Finally a nice cheap month. My average spending for the year is terrible though, $3,600/month YTD.



peterk said:


> Going to see a oral facial specialist next month and see if they can find anything wrong with my jaw/head.


Got a call that my TMJ/jaw appointment in Edmonton in October is cancelled.  Luckily I had _just_ booked the one-way plane ticket the day before and was able to cancel it for a full refund. Not sure if it's worthwhile to re-book and take a whole trip down when I don't think that it's going to help anyways. I'm just pissed off about it. Also going for another ultrasound in Calgary to take a look for the 5th time to try and find what's wrong with my abdomen. *sigh*


----------



## Spudd

Have you tried physiotherapy yet? I had major face pain from TMJ and after like 3 visits to the physio it was 90% improved. I still get a twinge from time to time but I just do my physio exercises and it usually goes. I swear it was like magic (this after suffering from various dental bite implements and braces for like 2 years that didn't resolve it). Google on "physiotherapist tmj yourcity" if you haven't tried it yet to find someone who has experience in it. I have heard that dizziness/vertigo can also be resolved by physio if the root cause is muscular. I find my ears start ringing before the TMJ pain kicks in and they do it much less since I had the physio.


----------



## peterk

You know, I haven't, but now that you say it I think I will. I've heard a few anecdotes about physio being helpful and now that I have no Dr. help forthcoming I really should give it a try! Thanks Spudd.


----------



## ArthurFin

Very inspired by what I've read...


----------



## peterk

*October 2017*

*Assets*
_Stocks - $181,500 (+1,700)_
---TFSA: $50,200
---RRSP: $80,400
---Unreg: $47,400
---Sunlife (Unreg): $3,500

Haven't changed anything much with stocks this month. Bought 100 more shares of CPG and 50 more TECK.B.

_Bonds - $8,900 (+$8,900)_ 
---Unreg: $8,900

Bought some HBB in unregistered. Timing was off on this... got interested in buying when I saw it in the $43s, by the time I got the money into the account it was up to $44, and is at $44.40 now! Bah.

_Cash - $164,600 (-$1,300)_
---Unreg: $153,600
---RRSP: $7,000 USD

_Pensions - $68,500 (+$4,200)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $38,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $12,400
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $17,300

Usual contributions. Big change in CV this month, guess it makes up for decrease in CV last month? No explanation for why it's so volatile every time I pull the statement from my pension website. On average it goes up, so I guess that's correct. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$423,500 (+$13,500)

*Expenses*

October 2017 - $3,093
September 2017 - $2,169


A bit spendy this month. Still paid some of the trip to Wateron Lake on the Mastercard, and bought a plane ticket to Calgary for Thanksgiving. Next month will be pretty cheap.


----------



## peterk

*November 2017*

Good month - Stocks were up quite a bit. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $194,900 (+13,400)_
---TFSA: $52,500
---RRSP: $81,800
---Unreg: $55,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $4,700

Sold a few shares of DOL. And I bought a Jan 18 245 Call in SPY a few weeks ago. I've since rolled it up to a 250 and profited $450 CAD. I wish I knew more about this years ago, as buying these ~5% ITM calls seems exactly what I'm looking for as a skittish investor who's worried about a market crash but wants to invest still. I might think about buying a second contract once I'm a bit more comfortable. Yes, I understand that this is very risky, and I could lose my entire investment easily, but it is still less risky than buying 100 shares outright in my view. 

_Bonds - $0 (-$8,900)_ 

That was short lived - Sold my HBB rather quickly in the high $44s for a quick $100 and it's back in cash. Wasn't really my intention, but that's the way it went. If it drifts down I might jump back in. 

_Cash - $171,200 (+$6,600)_
---Unreg: $164,400
---RRSP: $5,300 USD

I'm not entirely sure if I did my arithmetic correct on my last update for October...something seems a bit off by a few thousand, I can't figure it out though. Regardless, I think it's correct now.

_Pensions - $73,800 (+$5,300)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $43,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $13,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $17,600

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$439,900 (+$16,400)

*Expenses*

November 2017 - $2,231
October 2017 - $3,093
September 2017 - $2,169

Cheap month - But we just came back from Vegas! So the December credit card bill will be a whopper.

Vegas was a bit eye opening and confusing for my money mind. We were totally reasonable in our spending and stayed in control, and still managed to blow $5500 on a 1 week trip. You can literally spend an unlimited amount of money in Vegas. Our household income is ~$220k/yr but I still felt like a poor person in Vegas. I have no idea who all these seemingly rich people are or what they do that they seem to be able to splash down $10k+ on a Vegas trip.

After a few days in Vegas we rented a convertible and drove to Red Rock and Death Valley for a few more days. - Amazing, highly recommended - I'm consistently impressed with America's awe-inspiring and diverse landscapes and National Parks. They are better than Canada's by a country mile, IMO.


----------



## kcowan

peterk said:


> I have no idea who all these seemingly rich people are or what they do that they seem to be able to splash down $10k+ on a Vegas trip.


Well one of them was a mid-level CIBC executive who spent a $1 million+ of CIBCs money over several years!


----------



## peterk

*Year End - December 2017*

Decent month and year. No major life changes really. Still struggling with unresolved health issues. I keep throwing money at it but no resolutions.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $205,300 (+10,400)_
---TFSA: $51,300
---RRSP: $90,500
---Unreg: $57,600
---Sunlife (Unreg): $5,900

Added to CPG, IPL, started buying ENB. Been dabbling a bit in buying ITM options. Been rolling 2 SPY calls, bought a DIS call, a CAT put, and a quick buy-sell on a Visa call. So far I'm up $1,800 and down $800 for a ~$1000 net on these plays. 

_Cash - $168,600 (-$2,600)_
---CAD: $163,100
---USD: $4,400


_Pensions - $77,700 (+$3,900)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $45,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $13,400
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $18,500

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$451,600 (+$11,700)

*Year-Over-Year Net worth Change: +$88,100*


*Expenses*

December 2017 - $5,449
November 2017 - $2,231

Expensive month - paid off the credit card bills for the Vegas trip.


Year End Summary

Gross pay: $132,000
Net pay: $102,000 (based on estimated 2017 tax return)
Total Spending: $44,820
Savings Rate: 56%

Spending Breakdown:

Rent+Utilities: $14,400
Groceries: $4,138
Vacations: $15,760
Everything Else: $10,522
Total: $44,820

Overall my spending was up significantly. Mostly due to rent and expensive vacations. I added it all up and I've spent $54,000 on vacations in the past 5 years! I am questioning whether it was worth it or not. This Christmas holiday I am just staying in town for the week and not traveling at all. This will be the first week-long vacation that I've taken where I _haven't_ left town to go on a trip, it's quite nice and relaxing.

The total for everything else, i.e. non-essential spending, has been pretty well flat over these 5 years, which I think is a good sign that I'm not experiencing lifestyle inflation too much, as long you don't count housing and vacations...


----------



## peterk

*January 2018*

Normal month. Still trying new things and spending money to fix my health problems. Will try and post about it soon.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $224,500 (+$19,200)_
---TFSA: $57,200
---RRSP: $90,500
---Unreg: $69,800
---Sunlife (Unreg): $7,000

Very volatile month - Huge swing up in the first 2 weeks and almost equally huge drop in the past week.
Topped up my TFSA with $5,500. Been buying more in my unregistered account. TFSA and RRSP are maxed and out of cash.

_Cash - $139,400 (-$29,200)_

Transferred a lot of cash to bonds and stocks this month, rest is in HISAs.

_Bonds - $17,700 (+$17,700)_

In HBB, unregistered.

_Pensions - $79,800 (+$2,100)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $47,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $13,700
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $19,100

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$461,400 (+$9,800)


*Expenses*

January 2018 - $3,175
December 2017 - $5,449


Typical month, but paid for some Christmas things, a new phone, and also 2 plane tickets for the spring. Hopefully next month will be less.


----------



## BigMonkey

Wow, good job! Really impressive increases in your savings in such a short period of time.


----------



## peterk

Thanks BM!


----------



## james4beach

peterk, amazing progress! And what good fortune that you have a high paying job in the oil & gas sector... your income is very high, especially with the additional boost of that employer-sponsored pension.

none brought up this point before, which I think is very important:



none said:


> Plus your diversification is terrible. You don't invest where you're employed. Being employed in oil is similar to have 2million invested and receiving 100K a year in oil dividends. Adding more resource based commodities into the mix through stocks is a risky move.


Back earlier in this thread, you described that you were heavily invested in energy sector stocks. Have you diversified and reduced your commodities/energy investments? You should really avoid investing in the sector where you work. There are various ways to do this, for example with a globally well diversified portfolio, or within Canada perhaps using the ZLB fund which has virtually no commodity exposure.


----------



## peterk

It's gotten better, but I'm still pretty heavy oil & resource stocks. Completely ditched all small cap stuff now though, except BTE. Been buying USD, US index and US blue chips for a while, thinking that more USD exposure will at least balance an oil heavy portfolio. Lately though I bought a fair bit of Suncor, CNRL, CVE, pipes and utilities...couldn't help myself...


----------



## peterk

Just got a 1.25% automatic raise this week for passing the 5 yr mark at work! More importantly, I _finally_ got a good bump up and received the above average performance rating I've been wanting. That was a pleasant surprise, I was only expecting to be bumped one level but they moved me up two! Presumably this will mean another raise in the spring...but I have no idea how much...


----------



## james4beach

That's great news, congrats on the 5 year anniversary and the raise.

Yeah if you can, try to diversify out of commodity-related stocks.


----------



## peterk

Just bring back the oil and commodity boom and I'll happily sell it all James!

Thanks in advance.


----------



## peterk

*February 2018*

Pretty crazy month! Of course I bought a bunch of stocks in Dec/Jan. Was down about 20k at the worst in early Feb, but have partially recovered now.
Got a small raise for passing an anniversary at work, which works out to about $75/month net.


*Assets*
_Stocks - $237,600 (+$13,100)_
---TFSA: $54,700
---RRSP: $92,900
---Unreg: $81,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $8,100

Added to ENB, NTR, CNR, SU. Been playing around with SPY calls, and have also bought 1 ITM call in each of XOM, DIS, WFC, and 10x Ford.
Sold more Teck and G.

_Cash - $122,200 (-$17,200)_


_Bonds - $22,100 (+$4,400)_

Bought another 100 shares of HBB.


_Pensions - $77,900 (-$1,900)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $44,400
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $14,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $19,500

Usual contributions, but the CV went down. Probably due to interest rate rise? I noticed someone else in the money diaries also reported this happening with their pension CV last month too. 
I suspect this will go up fairly quickly, as I got a nice raise last spring and think I'll get a good one again this spring, so my "3 year average earnings" will be increasing every month as my 2016 salary rolls out of the calculation.

*Liabilities*

Zero.


*Net Worth*

$459,800 (-$1,600)


*Expenses*

February 2017 - $3,655
January 2018 - $3,175

Normal month again. Actually the plane tickets were on February's bill, not January like I said last update. In line to spend <$40k in 2018, which I'll be perfectly happy with.


----------



## Janus

Everything looking good. To get the 30,000 foot view though, what's your asset allocation like now (stocks vs bonds and cash)? and how much of your stocks is in oil companies now? And what's your annual income now?

Your expenses look very reasonable.

What's your number for achieving FI, and what's the plan for once you do? Do you want to retire early, move around, start a business, etc.?

Sorry for all the questions but I find your case interesting - especially since we're the same age, same wealth, etc.


----------



## peterk

Hi Janus

Asset allocation is as posted in my last update... Pure oil stocks at about 40k. More with pipes and other commodities. Don't want to increase this, as per James above.

Gross income about 145k all-in + pension.

Not really sure what to say about FI anymore... Feels no longer an important criteria for life, and was a rather juvenile goal of my 20-something self who liked counting money and spreadsheeting.

More important things are coming to mind: How do I stay healthy into middle age? Do I want children one day? when? Do I want to live far away from my family forever? Should I marry my girlfriend? How hard do I want to work? Do I want a simple life or lavish life?

Seems kind of silly to be putting numbers on "retirement" or having a "plan" per se, when the unknown answers to any of these important questions will blow up any plan in an infinite number of ways.

How are you liking your move to Toronto?


----------



## Janus

My mistake, I mis read your allocation. 

Your response to the FI question seems like you've really got things figured out... the "i'm done" mentality has always seemed kind of negative to me, more about disengaging from the world rather than anything else. And you often see FI-obsessed people really missing the big picture and ignoring the joy of youth.

Toronto has gone well. While the pay started off lousy it seems to have ramped up well, and the cost of living in Toronto isn't that bad - at the end of the day i can't think of any other financial center in which you can pay $1800/month for a nice 1-bedroom apartment and walk to work every day. Property prices are obviously insane, but renting remains totally viable if you have a decent job. I don't know if I'll be here forever, but I'm enjoying it for now.


----------



## peterk

*March 2018*

3 paycheques and a $4,000 bonus (gross) in March. Other than that was a normal month. Finished up my taxes, going to get $3,400 back shortly.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $233,500 (-$4,100)_
---TFSA: $54,300
---RRSP: $91,900
---Unreg: $77,500
---Sunlife (Unreg): $9,800

Down month, not doing so hot with my investment choices lately.


_Cash - $127,900 (+$5,700)_

Just sitting in Tangerine at 2.5%.

_Bonds - $22,300 (+$200)_


_Pensions - $80,100 (+$2,200)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $46,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $14,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $20,000

Usual contributions. The company is going to change our pension program after next year's compensation plan is out. The DB pension will be reduced to be determined by base salary only, and the 50/50 match will turn into a 100% company funded DC. This sucks, but at least I am early career so it won't affect me that greatly. The people who are 45+ are getting hosed though, as their DB won't grow with their salary for the last few years of their career, and they won't have hardly any time with the increased DC company contributions either.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$463,800 (+$4,000)


*Expenses*

March 2018 - $3,715
February 2017 - $3,655


----------



## 1980z28

As again you are doing well,,,nice to read


----------



## peterk

Uhg - Well, I got my raise, and it was piddly. 2.5%. I was expecting 5% minimum... Also my annual bonus could have been 16k, but our corporate stats were in the sewer last year so I only got 3k. So even though I got an above average performance rating I only got an average raise and a tiny bonus.

Thinking about what little info I know of others salaries at work, I have a feeling I might be over estimating the raises that are coming my way. Seems after the first few years of good raises as a junior you end up in some mid-level zone of pain where your salary only increases something like 20% over 5-10 years, until/if you break out into the higher "senior" levels in your 40s...

Makes we want to re-focus on thinking about other ways to make more money on top of a salary!


----------



## nobleea

peterk said:


> Thinking about what little info I know of others salaries at work, I have a feeling I might be over estimating the raises that are coming my way. Seems after the first few years of good raises as a junior you end up in some mid-level zone of pain where your salary only increases something like 20% over 5-10 years, until/if you break out into the higher "senior" levels in your 40s...


That's what I've found as well. Unless you're a superstar willing to sacrifice decades of their life to climb the ladder fast, what you've listed is probably accurate. I would also rate as above average, consistently. Raises in the first decade of work were fast and furious as you take on more responsibilities, prove your worth, maybe take some supervision, but then you plateau in your mid 30's. You can continue on getting ok raises, nothing crazy, or you can take that next step and really climb the ladder. The raises in the first decade were 5-10% a year. Now they're only 2-4%. At the moment, I'm more happy to keep the low raises and get my extra income in other places. I don't have a desire to be the company guy at this point, traveling to far off places and working nights and weekends.


----------



## milhouse

Similarly, raises have slowed for me. I had a recent 3 year run without a raise even with above average performance reviews until I received a 5% bump last year and only due to some finagling by my managers who went to bat for me. But no raises again this year (corporate-wide). Prior to that, I had increases 12 of the last 15 years, though some were pretty nominal (<1%). To be honest, while raises would be nice to keep up with inflation a bit, I'm in a fairly good place salary-wise compared to spend so it doesn't bother me too much. 
IMO, once one starts plateauing in their mid to late 30's, if not climbing the corporate ladder, I think one needs to change companies if they want to keep their salary rising at a decent clip

Relatively early in my career, my separate business unit got absorbed back into the mothership as the company was migrating from a DB plan to a DC plan. We had an option to migrate into the mothership's DB plan before it was closed to new members. Not very well informed, I ended up going with the DC plan. I kind of fretted about making a bad decision but it's kind of worked out in the end because my DC plan has grown enough along with other pieces of my portfolio to support an early retirement. Whereas, if I went with the DB plan, I think I'd have to work a number of extra years to hit my magic number.


----------



## james4beach

Janus said:


> the cost of living in Toronto isn't that bad - at the end of the day i can't think of any other financial center in which you can pay $1800/month for a nice 1-bedroom apartment and walk to work every day. Property prices are obviously insane, but *renting remains totally viable if you have a decent job*.


I had the same feeling when I lived in Toronto. The cost of living was very attractive, especially versus salaries in my field. The apartment I had back then currently goes for $1600 (today), walking distance from the job. For a young, high income earning professional who can live in an apartment, Toronto offers a great deal. Unfortunately when my company did its layoffs, I was not able to find a similar well paying job, and at that point it didn't make sense to stick around Toronto.

Vancouver also looks much better than I thought. Downtown core (we're talking near Davie St / Robson St) rents look comparable, maybe just slightly higher than Toronto. A friend of mine pays $1700 to rent 1 bedroom to live in one of the best areas, near the coast. Salaries might be lower than Toronto, but the city is spectacular. Contrary to popular belief, I think Vancouver offers great income vs cost of living, _assuming you're in a high paying field_.

The key is to rent an apartment, ditch the car, and walk to work. Assuming these cities have well paying jobs in your field.


----------



## Janus

james4beach said:


> I had the same feeling when I lived in Toronto. The cost of living was very attractive, especially versus salaries in my field. The apartment I had back then currently goes for $1600 (today), walking distance from the job. For a young, high income earning professional who can live in an apartment, Toronto offers a great deal. Unfortunately when my company did its layoffs, I was not able to find a similar well paying job, and at that point it didn't make sense to stick around Toronto.
> 
> Vancouver also looks much better than I thought. Downtown core (we're talking near Davie St / Robson St) rents look comparable, maybe just slightly higher than Toronto. A friend of mine pays $1700 to rent 1 bedroom to live in one of the best areas, near the coast. Salaries might be lower than Toronto, but the city is spectacular. Contrary to popular belief, I think Vancouver offers great income vs cost of living, _assuming you're in a high paying field_.
> 
> The key is to rent an apartment, ditch the car, and walk to work. Assuming these cities have well paying jobs in your field.


Keep in mind though James that rents have gone up a ton in toronto in the last 12-24 months. My place would now go for 2200, not 1800... so you can still save, but it's not as good as it was 3 years ago.

As for the mid-career flatlining of income, that sounds frustrating. What's the solution? What can be done about it?


----------



## CPA Candidate

Why do you have so much cash?


----------



## peterk

^ Well, I dunno!

First I was saving for a house, that never happened.

Then I was waiting for a market correction, that never happened.

Then oil tanked and I kept saving cash in case I lost my job, that never happened!

Now I'm saving and investing too. Have more in stocks that I've ever had, and the least amount of cash in almost two years, so, I'm adjusting... Still, I think I'll always have a ton of cash, at least 100k. I like it.


----------



## peterk

*April 2018*

Got my $2,700 tax return this month, and a $3,000 (gross) bonus. Worked a little bit of overtime too for $700 (gross) extra in the month.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $251,500 (+$18,000)_
---TFSA: $57,900
---RRSP: $94,600
---Unreg: $87,700
---Sunlife (Unreg): $11,300

Good month of gains, and added $5,000 to my unregistered account.

_Cash - $131,400 (+$3,500)_

Still in sitting in Tangerine at 2.5% until end of May.

_Bonds - $22,100 (-$200)_


_Pensions - $79,400 (-$700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $44,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $14,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $20,200

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$484,400 (+$20,600)


*Expenses*

April 2017 - $2,369
March 2018 - $3,715

Nice cheap month. I'm on track to spend < $40,000 in 2018, which I'd be quite happy with.


----------



## james4beach

Nice, peterk!


----------



## peterk

*May 2018*

Normal month. Worked lots of overtime but am taking it as time in lieu for an upcoming week off. 2018 earnings will put me in the next tax bracket and just above the RRSP max for earning more contribution room, so why bother taking more paid overtime? Received $2,500 back from my health spending account for health purchases and medical travel last year. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $268,500 (+$17,000)_
---TFSA: $59,200
---RRSP: $101,200
---Unreg: $95,300
---Sunlife (Unreg): $12,800

Good gains again this month on up oil, though I just bought a bit more Suncor at the very tip top 2 weeks ago. Oops!

_Cash - $134,800 (+$3,400)_

Still at Tangerine @ 2.5%. Promotional rate was extended to Nov. 30th. 

_Bonds - $22,300 (+$200)_


_Pensions - $81,300 (+$1,900)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $45,700
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $15,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $20,400

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$506,900 (+$22,500)


*Expenses*

May 2018 - $2,211
April 2017 - $2,369


Super cheap month. Nothing extra really. Next month will be a whopper though, guaranteed!


----------



## scorpion_ca

Congratulations of becoming a half millionaire.


----------



## peterk

Oh yeah, thanks!

It doesn't really seem like anything at all...just another number.


----------



## peterk

*June 2018*

Normal month with normal pay. No bonuses or overtime, I'm taking all my overtime off as Lieu time.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $279,500 (+$11,000)_
---TFSA: $60,900
---RRSP: $109,500
---Unreg: $94,800
---Sunlife (Unreg): $14,300

Topped up my RRSP completely. Now it and TFSA are maxed. 
Pretty volatile month in the stock market, that just went back up the last few days. Holding a lot of ENB that I'm all of a sudden quite happy about, as of this very second anyways...

_Cash - $126,600 134,800 (-8,200)_

Still mostly at Tangerine @ 2.5%.

_Bonds - $22,500 (+$200)_


_Pensions - $87,800 (+$6,500)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $51,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $15,900
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $20,700

Usual contributions. Silly volatility from the DB CV tool acting up again. It'll probably drop back down or something next month.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$516,400 (+$9,500)


*Expenses*

June 2018 - $4,773
May 2018 - $2,211


Expensive month. Spent a lot on some stupid dental device, that doesn't even work, to try and cure my head pains. Plus a good chunk on a trip back to Ontario that cost $2,400 all in all.


----------



## peterk

*July 2018*

Normal month. Couple hundred bucks of overtime, got a $900 refund from my health spending account.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $281,100 (+$1,600)_
---TFSA: $59,700
---RRSP: $108,600
---Unreg: $96,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $15,900

Invested a few thousand in cash that was sitting in my unregistered account doing nothing.

_Cash - $127,400 (+800)_

Still mostly at Tangerine @ 2.5%.

_Bonds - $22,300 (-$200)_


_Pensions - $91,300 (+$3,500)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $53,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $16,500
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $21,200

Usual contributions. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$522,100 (+$5,700)


*Expenses*

July 2018 - $3,416
June 2018 - $4,773


Pretty normal month again. Going on a cheap camping trip in Jasper in August instead of an expensive holiday. Been thinking about going to Boston / Cape Cod in the autumn though, that will be outrageously expensive, might come up with something else...


----------



## peterk

*August 2018*

Decent month. 3 pay cheques and worked about 20 hours of paid-out overtime. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $282,200 (+$1,100)_
---TFSA: $57,900
---RRSP: $111,000
---Unreg: $95,600
---Sunlife (Unreg): $17,900


_Cash - $132,700 (+5,300)_


Still mostly at Tangerine @ 2.5%. And I've decided to try a little bit at Lending Loop - Just deposited $1000 last week.

_Bonds - $22,300 (+$0)_


_Pensions - $91,700 (+$400)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $52,500
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $17,100
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,100

Usual contributions. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$528,900 (+$6,800)


*Expenses*

August 2018 - $2,416
July 2018 - $3,416

Nice cheap month. Our camping trip to Jasper was a complete dud. We cut it short by two days to get out of the rain and smoke, and just went to a nice hotel in Edmonton instead.


----------



## peterk

*September 2018*

Pretty regular month. Had a brief business trip out east, then a week off for some nature in Montana!

*Assets*
_Stocks - $284,600 (+$2,400)_
---TFSA: $56,600
---RRSP: $113,400
---Unreg: $95,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $18,700

Added a few grand to unregistered. Stocks were down for me this month.


_Cash - $132,400 (-300)_


Still mostly at Tangerine @ 2.5%.

_Bonds - $22,100 (-$200)_


_Pensions - $91,000 (-$700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $51,400
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $17,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,400

Usual contributions. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$530,100 (+$1,200)


*Expenses*


September 2018 - $2,464
August 2018 - $2,416


----------



## scorpion_ca

Most likely you will have $550k by the end of the year. Have you done any projection when you started this journey? Are you ahead or behind of your projected amount?


----------



## peterk

Oh I probably have some old spreadsheet at home I could dig up... Though I'm rather not into that projecting stuff anymore. Life is far too unpredictable, and decision making regarding how to manage your affairs shouldn't be unduly influenced by some bar graph of the future. However recently I have made some projecting bar graphs regarding marriage, kids...sometimes I can't help myself and just need to do up a spreadsheet. :rolleyes2:


----------



## Plugging Along

I now want to know what a marriage and kids graph looks like. What is included in that. 

When I was sleep deprived with my first as a newborn, I did create a sleep, poop, pee, eat speardsheet to attempt to figure out any trends on how to get my kid to sleep. It wasn’t very successul, nor would the doctors help me make any sense of the info. I did mine in pie charts, and trend lines scatter diagrams, no bar charts though.


----------



## peterk

^ Wedding expenses, her combined assets with mine, mat leave, pat leave, reduced savings after kids. All in all it appears to be a wash for me up until about a 3rd kid. If she doesn't go back to work after that then I'm toast, but we might not want her to, regardless.


----------



## Plugging Along

^. We did something similar before kids. I found after the first, nothing was like we expected.


----------



## peterk

Ha - So what was the biggest shocker?


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> Ha - So what was the biggest shocker?


I had similar plans, they stayed pretty close when we got married and up to the point we had kids. When our kids were was born, everything changed. I was really career focused and assumed I would remain so. I still was moving in my career, but because of the extra hours I put in, a nanny was the better but more expensive option than daycare. We spent a lot more for education in the early years, and then a lot more for extra curricular based on their interest and activities. 

Things that were priority before kids have changed. As we have learned about our kids, and their abilities and interests, there is very little we can control.


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> Ha - So what was the biggest shocker?


I had similar plans, they stayed pretty close when we got married and up to the point we had kids. When our kids were was born, everything changed. I was really career focused and assumed I would remain so. I still was moving in my career, but because of the extra hours I put in, a nanny was the better but more expensive option than daycare. We spent a lot more for education in the early years, and then a lot more for extra curricular based on their interest and activities. 

Things that were priority before kids have changed. As we have learned about our kids, and their abilities and interests, there is very little we can control.


----------



## peterk

*October 2018*

Lousy month! Stocks down considerably. I've sold all my bond fund and sunk $23,000 more into stocks. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $289,900 (+$5,300)_
---TFSA: $51,000
---RRSP: $111,100
---Unreg: $108,700
---Sunlife (Unreg): $19,100

My TFSA and unregistered accounts always get hammered... The RRSP with boring investments always outperforms :tongue-new: Though it just took a big hit today with 120 shares of AAPL in my RRSP. I bought 10 more shares at $206


_Cash - $132,100 (-$300)_

Still mostly at Tangerine @ 2.5%. Interest rate expires end of November though. 


_Bonds - $0 (-$22,100)_

Sold all my bonds this month and bought stocks. 


_Pensions - $91,800 (+$800)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $50,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $18,800
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,800

Usual contributions. DC Pension is in 100% stocks so is down a bit. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$513,800 (-$16,300)

Ouch - Just check my records and this is actually my largest down month _ever!_ 

*Expenses*


October 2018 - $4,939
YTD Spending - $33,100

Pretty big spending month - Did a business trip back home, combined with some vacation days, as well as took a week holidays in the USA.


----------



## scorpion_ca

I am not sure you heard that Simplii Financial is offering 3.15% interest rate for all new deposits until the end of Feb, 2019.


----------



## peterk

Thanks scorpion. I just noticed now and for some reason had never even bothered to click in the Simplii thread up in Personal Finance section.

I will think about moving over at the end of November if I don't get another offer extension from Tangerine. Though I am rather sick of bouncing money around. I already have a ZAG account, Motive account and EQ account which I no longer even think about and haven't used in a year+


----------



## scorpion_ca

Check with those banks; as you don't use it, they may start to charge you inactive fee. Motive charges $20.


----------



## Janus

Hey Peter, think of it this way - it's only your largest down month ever because you're richer than you've ever been! Good move moving your bonds into stocks, I've just done the same thing. Hopefully it will end up having been the right call!

Do you still own a lot of Canadian oil stocks? What's your view on them lately now that oil has largely recovered (but with Canadian oil being insanely cheap relative to Brent)?


----------



## peterk

Janus said:


> Hey Peter, think of it this way - it's only your largest down month ever because you're richer than you've ever been! Good move moving your bonds into stocks, I've just done the same thing. Hopefully it will end up having been the right call!
> 
> Do you still own a lot of Canadian oil stocks? What's your view on them lately now that oil has largely recovered (but with Canadian oil being insanely cheap relative to Brent)?


Quite a bit - not a lot, and they've been hammered, maybe ~$50k worth of Canadian oil stocks left, not sure how underwater on it all I am. Overall I'm just holding my breath on Canadian oil, not buying more and not selling either.. I'm also holding a few shares and 2 DITM calls in Exxon. Lately I've been buying Canadian pipelines and utilities, and a bit also into TD bank and the Canadian telecoms. On the USA side I've been doubling, tripling down on Ford and GM. Overall a terrible, terrible investment so far - though the past weeks have been very positive. Perhaps finally the bottom is in?


----------



## peterk

Janus said:


> What's your view on them lately now that oil has largely recovered (but with Canadian oil being insanely cheap relative to Brent)?


I am just a layman, consult an expert 

Largely my take is that they are now a good value, and that all the headwinds are well known and perhaps at their peak of being detrimental to and priced-in for the industry' stock prices. 

1) The Canadian producers purchased back significant assets from Shell, Total, Conoco for good prices.
2) Cost cutting efforts and efficiencies in workforce.
3) Increased oil recovery chemistry/technology coming online
4) New Production coming online
5) New pipeline capacity with Line 3 and Trans mountain are seemingly a sure thing now, if only delayed by annoying roadblocks. The differential will ease. 
6) If the Canadian economy continues to be stagnant the CAD/USD will remain favorable for oil exporters.
7) Maturing regulatory and technology environment for understanding and managing tailings liability. (recent newspaper articles not withstanding) Will make new open pit mine expansion approvals inevitable.


----------



## peterk

*November 2018*

Invested about $5,000 more into stocks, and am down $1,500. You do the math ig:

*Assets*
_Stocks - $288,400 (-$1,500)_
---TFSA: $49,400
---RRSP: $105,800
---Unreg: $112,700
---Sunlife (Unreg): $20,500

_Cash - $132,300 (+$200)_


Still mostly at Tangerine, now @ 2.75% for 1 year. I've also moved 50K into EQ for their 3-month 3.33% GIC. And I've got $2000 in Lending loop loans, which I'll just count as cash for ease. 



_Pensions - $94,300 (+$2,500)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $54,200
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $17,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,900

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$515,000 (+$3,200)

Had a typo here last month with over reporting by $2000. It's fixed now this is the right number.

*Expenses*


October 2018 - $2,288
YTD Spending - $35,421

Super cheap month, hardly spent anything. But _next month_ I can promise is going to be a super big whopper! ! [/QUOTE]


----------



## peterk

First day of December and a +$8,000 day! Let's have a few more of these, please. :excitement:


----------



## peterk

peterk said:


> First day of December and a +$8,000 day! Let's have a few more of these, please. :excitement:


"Aaaaaaand it's gone!"

-$9,000 today :hororr:


----------



## scorpion_ca

peterk said:


> "Aaaaaaand it's gone!"
> 
> -$9,000 today :hororr:


I am down around 7,000 today. As we are in the accumulation stage, we should be celebrating. Bring it on more.


----------



## peterk

Yabut - I have a few Jan 19 Calls that are getting close to expiry that I'm planning to roll to Jan 20. Now some are almost ATM!

And I'm getting my GF to transfer 40k from her TFSA to RRSP shortly.

So year-end being down is not great timing for me at all... A nice bounce next week would be much appreciated.


----------



## peterk

*December 2018 - Year End*

Well - some big news...

1) Worst Money month ever - Minus $33k NW, Oil down, productions cuts in Alberta might hit my company inequitably hard... and I am again worrying about layoffs coming, which I haven't been since 2015.

2) I'm getting married!

*Assets*
_Stocks - $266,000 (-$22,400)_
---TFSA: $46,400
---RRSP: $96,600
---Unreg: $102,400
---Sunlife (Unreg): $20,600

Added $2000 to my unregistered for Stocks. Will be adding the $6,000 to my TFSA shortly, in the new year.

_Cash - $121,800 (-$10,500)_


Still mostly at Tangerine, now @ 2.75% for 1 year. I've also moved 50K into EQ for their 3-month 3.33% GIC. And I've got $2000 in Lending loop loans, which I'll just count as cash for ease. 



_Pensions - $94,200 (-$100)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $55,400
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $16,400
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,400

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$482,000 (-$33,000)

Holy Moly!

*Year-over-year Net Worth Change: +$30,400*

Yikes - not so good - hopefully just temporary


*Expenses*

December 2018 - $11,622
YTD Spending - $47,043

Most expensive month ever. Spent $6500 on the ring, plus a trip to Edmonton, a trip to the USA before Christmas, and now Christmas. Purchased a lot of expensive presents this year, too.

Year End Summary


Gross pay: ~$145,000
Net pay: ~$110,000 (based on estimated 2017 tax return)
Total Spending: $47,043
Savings Rate: 57%

Spending Breakdown:

Rent+Utilities: $14,400
Groceries: $3,310
Vacations: $10,219
Everything Else: $19,114
Total: $47,043

My "everything else" spending went up a lot, but that was mostly due to $6,500 on the ring, and quite a few thousand on "medical", which hopefully there will be less of next year. I'd like to have a better, finer breakdown of where the money is spent, but I haven't kept track and don't have it.


----------



## Plugging Along

Congratualtions on the enagagement!


----------



## nobleea

Congrats! I think most of us picked up the hints you were putting down the last few months.

I trust you are both on the same page for financial goals?
I say, with the right partner, getting married is one of the best financial decisions one can make.


----------



## peterk

Plugging Along said:


> Congratualtions on the enagagement!





nobleea said:


> Congrats! I think most of us picked up the hints you were putting down the last few months.
> 
> I trust you are both on the same page for financial goals?
> I say, with the right partner, getting married is one of the best financial decisions one can make.


Thanks!

She is quite responsible, most of the time. Not a fancy girl and doesn't buy expensive brand name stuff, except stupid candles! She's not super interested in the investing side of things, doesn't really know the details other than the notion that it's risky. I think she understands what a TFSA and RRSP are at least  But I've been coaxing her into it little by little and have a good chunk of her money in the Tangerine Balanced fund now, and her work RRSP just sitting in a Money market fund doing nothing. She's got a bit under $100k total, plus a fully paid newish car.

My plan is to start bearing more expenses now from my own income, most once we're married, and all expenses if/when she is off on maternity. Since she'll always have a lower income, and then mat leave(s), we need to start working on getting more money in her name, since I will likely have a sizeable pension some day, plus higher investment income. I'm getting her to make large RRSP contributions in 2018 and 2019 to use up her contribution room, in anticipation of Mat leave and only partial income in 2020 and beyond. Plus I'll start contributing my RRSP room into her name as a spousal RRSP, in 2019.


----------



## nobleea

Are you already expecting? Or the plan is to start a family asap?

If the former, congrats!
If the latter, don't make too many assumptions that it will happen quickly. I've had friends get pregnant just looking at each other, but the majority take well over a year. Some require 4-5 years of efforts. I would say we know over a dozen friends who've had to do IVF or some version of it at the fertility clinic.


----------



## peterk

With the large 36% tax bracket in Alberta, it doesn't really matter whether she stops working in the future or not, the right decision is to put 30-40k in the RRSP this year.

No not expecting, but we'll be doing the wedding fast, and starting to try right after. Thanks for the reality check nobleea - But hopefully I never need to re-read that post again, because I am highly optimistic - I can't handle even thinking about that possibility to be honestly. If it doesn't happen naturally and easily I'm going to be floored, devastated and it will make me question everything about my life...

You know, no big deal haha


----------



## peterk

*January 2019*

3 paycheque month and a nice stock recovery for January. And I received $2,500 from my parents as an early wedding gift.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $299,400 (+$33,400)_
---TFSA: $54,700
---RRSP: $103,300
---Unreg: $116,900
---Sunlife (Unreg): $24,500

Added 3K to my TFSA and 3K to unregistered for stocks. I'll try and finish up the TFSA room in Feb/March

_Cash - $120,800 (-$1,000)_

Still mostly at Tangerine, now @ 2.75% for 1 year. I've also moved 50K into EQ for their 3-month 3.33% GIC. And I've got $2000 in Lending loop loans, which I'll just count as cash for ease. 


_Pensions - $102,900 (+$8,700)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $62,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $18,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,900

Usual contributions with 3 cheques. Supplementary fund (all stocks) is up quite a lot. The CV went way up again, not sure why.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$523,100 (+$41,100)

*Expenses*

January 2019 - 5,428
YTD Spending - $5,428

Still a lot of Christmas spending to pay for in January. And now we'll have lots of wedding expenses arriving on the credit cards over the upcoming month. There is no doubt that 2019 will be the most expensive year yet! :very_drunk:


----------



## peterk

I've switched over my DC Pension contributions (3% of salary) to contribute to the S&P500 fund only, instead of a S&P500/TSX 50/50 split I've been doing up until now. Mostly because it's a good place hold US stocks vs. TFSA or unregistered, and also because I think that for long term, over the coming decades, the American markets might outperform the Canadian.


----------



## peterk

*February 2019*

Pretty normal month. Got my performance rating at work and scored above average again like last year. But I got the impression that it was a close call, and the supervisor had to fight for me among the other leadership. This rating means my bonuses will be pretty decent in the spring, but they also got chopped in half for poor company performance and the low low price of oil at the end of 2018. Could be good though, since now the $25 oil will carry forward and my bonus in 2022 should be massive as long as Canadian oil recovers somewhat by then. 


*Assets*
_Stocks - $320,800 (+$21,400)_
---TFSA: $59,200
---RRSP: $107,900
---Unreg: $127,100
---Sunlife (Unreg): $26,600

Another great month for gains!
Added 1K to my TFSA and used up a bit of the cash in my unregistered, but that's all I've been able to save this month. Will max out the TFSA soon. 

_Cash - $120,600 (-$200)_

Still mostly at Tangerine, now @ 2.75% for 1 year. I've also moved 50K into EQ for their 3-month 3.33% GIC, which expires soon, in March. And I've got $2000 in Lending loop loans, which I'll just count as cash for ease. 


_Pensions - $106,800 (+$3,900)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $65,100
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $18,900
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $22,800

Usual contributions. I've moved my DC pension to contribute only to the S&P 500 fund now instead of of a 50/50 split of US and CAD stocks. This is better because I can keep more US stocks registered and more Canadian unregistered.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$548,200 (+$25,100)

*Expenses*

January 2019 - $3,751
YTD Spending - $9,179

Normal month. I'm getting worried about these wedding costs... Haven't had the nerve to add things up yet, I'm getting worried we're going to blow the 25k budget....


----------



## m3s

peterk said:


> Still mostly at Tangerine, now @ 2.75% for 1 year. I've also moved 50K into EQ for their 3-month 3.33% GIC, which expires soon, in March. And I've got $2000 in Lending loop loans, which I'll just count as cash for ease.
> 
> Normal month. I'm getting worried about these wedding costs... Haven't had the nerve to add things up yet, I'm getting worried we're going to blow the 25k budget....


Does EQ still do referral bonus? I keep meaning to setup another savings account to play the Tangerine promo game

Maybe you can put it towards a drink at the bachelor party :very_drunk:


----------



## peterk

Thanks for the offer m3s! but it doesn't look like it, don't see anything on their site about referrals

On a related note, my 3.33% GIC just matured this week, and I'm moving it all out of EQ and back to Tangerine as we speak. I'm going to top up my TFSA at Questrade along the way, with the last $2000 needed to max out that account.


----------



## peterk

Saniokca said:


> Check this link - these are the rates that are used to calculate the CV ("Commuted value interest rates for...." either non-indexed or indexed depending on whether your pension is indexed or not).
> 
> https://www.eckler.ca/rates-library
> 
> P.S. If your pension is not indexed I would guess that for your December estimate they were using the November rates and for the most recent one they used December (rates barely changed from December to January).


Don't know how I missed this one over two years ago from you Saniokca... but this answers the question I had exactly! I just looked at my pension estimate website and it is quoting the March rates already displayed in that table. It says:* "CPM-2014Gen, ScaleCPM-B2D, 80.00% Male/20.00% Female, 2.70% for 10 years, 3.20% thereafter"
*
Corporate accounting question for anyone - Is a company obligated by accounting rules to refer to the most recently prescribed monthly rates when an employee quits and takes the CV? Or can they pull any shenanigans like using the average of the year, or year-end of the previous year, if it works in their favour? Just wondering if I were ever to think about hopping companies (not planned currently) and say, a large market correction had just occurred, along with an accompanying rapid drop in interest rates... well that would be a great time for an employee to take the CV money and run!

You'd have to be nimble though, with quick quitting, the company quickly assessing the CV at new lower rates, and quick at actually getting the money on hand and invested during the low market bottoming period.


----------



## fireseeker

So, markets are crashing and the plan is to ... immediately quit your job?? And then pour money into the market???
Boy, how many people have the stomach for that? And that's without taking into account the bureaucratic delays necessary for obtaining CV money.
Can you imagine doing this in 1930?


----------



## peterk

Ah well it's just a longshot idea... I'd have to get a new job first obviously!

What's the "bureaucratic delays necessary for obtaining CV money"? Do you have any anecdotal experience with this? We talking delays of weeks? months? years???

Anyways, just a silly fantasy. I'm sure it won't go that smoothly. 
Lately I've been thinking of buying a house here after the wedding, staying for 5-10 more years, and then looking to move to Calgary/back to civilization before my (potential future) kids get too old.
If it so happens that there's a major market correction in 5-10 years, and I'm in my late 30s - early 40s and sitting on a whopping CV, it might be the impetus to do the big move and change companies.


----------



## fireseeker

peterk said:


> What's the "bureaucratic delays necessary for obtaining CV money"? Do you have any anecdotal experience with this? We talking delays of weeks? months? years???


I did take a CV from a former job. I honestly don't recall the time frame -- I was too wrapped up in making the big career change.
To be fair, the delay was probably in the order of weeks.
But those would have been stressful weeks if I had my eye on Mr. Market! Any movement -- up or down -- while not being invested would have felt like either a lost opportunity or growing risk.
In a low-interest rate world, taking the CV can be very tempting. A colleague did just that at the age of 54.5 -- getting out just before he became locked into the pension plan. He had roughly 30 years of service.
But nothing can replace the security of a true DB plan (acknowledging there are rare corporate blowups that affect pensions). Annuities can, but they're hideously expensive.
I do realize this is a thought game for you ...


----------



## peterk

fireseeker said:


> I did take a CV from a former job. I honestly don't recall the time frame -- I was too wrapped up in making the big career change.
> To be fair, the delay was probably in the order of weeks.
> * But those would have been stressful weeks if I had my eye on Mr. Market!* Any movement -- up or down -- while not being invested would have felt like either a lost opportunity or growing risk.
> In a low-interest rate world, taking the CV can be very tempting.* A colleague did just that at the age of 54.5* -- getting out just before he became locked into the pension plan. He had roughly 30 years of service.
> *But nothing can replace the security of a true DB plan *(acknowledging there are rare corporate blowups that affect pensions). Annuities can, but they're hideously expensive.
> I do realize this is a thought game for you ...


Good points! and yes doing the 54.5 route seems like a bad idea. Lots of old guys around here are talking about it though...

But for a mid career move, as an example, you're likely giving up all the bridging benefit of the DB anyways (I would be in my company) and taking a strictly deferred until age 65, non-indexed pension with no survivor benefits.

Since at mid career you're at about ~90% of peak salary the CV will be high, and you'll also have another 15-20 years of potential growth on those funds, 25 years if comparing to the deferred pension at age 65. It only takes about 4% returns to get way ahead of the deferred pension. And if you're in the midst of a market downturn, the likelihood of getting >4% over 25 years is high, IMO. It's also the perfect time to take the CV while it is still not so large that the maximum transfer limit kicks in. 100% would go to a LIRA and you wouldn't have to take any as cash, unlike those age 54.5 CV takers who have a big whopping tax bill at the end.

An actual example calculation from my pension tool:

If I left at age 40: The CV would be $260,000 or the deferred pension (starting at 65) would be $2500/month.


This taken as the CV would need just a 2.7% return from age 40 to age 65, and then a 6% payment annuity purchase at age 65, to equal the deferred pension. Those are less than GIC rates and equal to big insurance co. annuity rates. So actually more guaranteed than a company pension.

If I got 4% returns and a 7% annuity, still very conservative, that's $4,000/month. 
@ 6% returns, and an 8% annuity, entirely possible, it's $7,400/month. 

So if one is going to retire early, that seems like an easy decision. It gets harder to justify if you're going to switch companies though and plan to work to 55-60, because then you are talking about giving up 15+ years in your first pension, and giving up the humongous bridging benefit. I did that math too but it's harder and I don't remember the numbers... the gist of it though is you needed much higher, historical-stock-market-style returns to break-even.

But if you *must* switch companies anyways while around age 35-45, for other reasons, then taking the CV instead of the deferred pension seems like a winning decision.


----------



## peterk

*March 2019*

Pretty normal month money-wise. Crazy busy at work, and had to go to Calgary to give a presentation the other day. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $330,900 (+$10,100)_
---TFSA: $61,000
---RRSP: $113,000
---Unreg: $128,700
---Sunlife (Unreg): $28,200

Maxed out my TFSA with another 2k, plus added 2k more to my unregistered account.

_Cash - $113,500 (-$7,100)_

Bleeding through cash with wedding bills. Paid another deposit to the venue and deposit to the photographer.

_Pensions - $119,800 (+$13,000)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $75,800
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $19,600
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $24,000

Usual contributions - but holy my CV has skyrocketed due to dropping interest rates! As described above just last month, now the rates for the CV calculation are *2.40% for 10 years and 2.90% after*. I quite like that my pension is updated live on the company website. From what I hear lots of people only get annual statements.

It seems a bit strange reporting the pension like this in my NW... a pension is a long long term thing and the value is a somewhat nebulous payout 30 years in the future... yet I am reporting that my pension is "up" this month... but I *do * have the info and technically it is true that the "present value" of the pension changes drastically with interest rates. What do you guys think I should be reporting?

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$564,200 (+$16,000)

*Expenses*

March 2019 - $6,919
YTD Spending - $16,098


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> It seems a bit strange reporting the pension like this in my NW... a pension is a long long term thing and the value is a somewhat nebulous payout 30 years in the future... yet I am reporting that my pension is "up" this month... but I *do * have the info and technically it is true that the "present value" of the pension changes drastically with interest rates. What do you guys think I should be reporting?




i lean towards including it - in your own diary

diaries are, after all, unique personal instruments, posted here as guidelines for OPs plus offerings of hard-won knowledge to other investors who are mostly younger wage earners.

the combined pensions are roughly 20% of your NW, why not track em if you like. You are paying very good attention to the 80% that lies outside the pension parameters, so it's not as if this large independent fraction is suffering from any kind of neglect.

pretty impressed that you are already paying wedding bills plus you are still able to save significant $$ into the registered plans. That's invincible!

.


----------



## peterk

Ya you're right - why not eh? 

It hasn't been too bad making payments. There's no way we would be doing this if it were a financial hardship! Before we decided on what to do we talked about all the crazy people who had saved up for months/years and blew it all on a wedding...

I'm purposefully keeping 10k or so in chequing, more than normal, just in case I lose track of things and need to pay a big bill on short notice. This is countered though by my bonuses coming in April, as well as tax refund (and her tax refund, which is 12k) , and in May I should get a large refund from my health insurance as well. I'm also working more overtime these days, so will take some OT pay as well as extra days off. 

We're going a "pre-honeymoon" trip to Europe in April which will cost 6k, plus more upcoming wedding payments, so definitely at about peak spending for the next 2 months! ig:

After the wedding I'll simmer down and start looking at the whole family asset allocation and thinking about investments again.


----------



## Eclectic12

peterk said:


> ... Corporate accounting question for anyone - Is a company obligated by accounting rules to refer to the most recently prescribed monthly rates when an employee quits and takes the CV? Or can they pull any shenanigans like using the average of the year, or year-end of the previous year, if it works in their favour?


I am pretty sure that the rates are set. I used to have a link from the Canadian Actuarial society that walked through the factors and defined what rates. I am not finding it right now but did find that the 2018 was supposed to have changes.
https://www.morneaushepell.com/ca-en/insights/pension-commuted-values-new-rules-expected-2018

I think this is the article I was looking for .... https://www.cia-ica.ca/about-us/actuaries/ask-an-actuary/faq---pensions

The authority the pension is under may adjust this though .... https://www.advisor.ca/retirement/retirement-news/are-you-entitled-to-a-commuted-value/




peterk said:


> ... Just wondering if I were ever to think about hopping companies (not planned currently) and say, a large market correction had just occurred, along with an accompanying rapid drop in interest rates... well that would be a great time for an employee to take the CV money and run!


YMMV ... with a lot depending on how well you manage the funds.

I seem to recall that Quebec changed their rates to give companies a break as they companies were complaining that too many employees leaving and taking the CV in a low interest environment meant more stress on the pension that already was having problems because of the low rates.




peterk said:


> ... What's the "bureaucratic delays necessary for obtaining CV money"? Do you have any anecdotal experience with this? We talking delays of weeks? months? years???


For my two DB pensions that I left, getting the letter outlining the options was something like four to six weeks. As I recall, the options letter didn't have the CV $$ figure in it. The two seemed to be on similar timelines where having a LIRA already opened made the tax sheltered transfer easy.

Maybe the archives still has a copy so that I can confirm the timeframe as well as when the dollar figure showed up ... or maybe not. :biggrin:


Cheers


----------



## peterk

Thanks E.

I guess I'm just a bit annoyed to see/learn that a pension isn't as "stable" as I thought it should be. These monthly updates should reflect the progress of my saving and spending and investing activity, but sometimes it's overpowered by pension activity or market activity, which I had nothing to do with. This will get even worse going forward as the CV grows. Will my saving an extra 2k in a given month have any meaning when my pension CV just fluctuated by 20k because of interest rates? Annoying.

I think in the future I might consider just making quarterly updates here... this monthly stuff is becoming more and more meaningless.


----------



## peterk

Got a 3% raise this month, I was only expecting around 2%. And my bonuses totaled $12k in April, was only expecting about $10k.


----------



## james4beach

Congrats on the raise!



peterk said:


> I think in the future I might consider just making quarterly updates here... this monthly stuff is becoming more and more meaningless.


Interesting, and I've had a similar observation about some of these numbers becoming less meaningful. I've always tracked my numbers in detail but as I get older, I see that huge changes are inevitable at some point. Whatever "pattern" of savings or net worth I have now is not going to continue like clockwork.

I still think tracking is a good exercise and it's important to be aware of what's going on. But let's face it, the moment there are kids or other big life changes, the whole picture will change pretty dramatically.


----------



## scorpion_ca

Any suggestions for men's wedding band since you are getting married soon. Have you purchased the band yet?


----------



## nobleea

scorpion_ca said:


> Any suggestions for men's wedding band since you are getting married soon. Have you purchased the band yet?


I bought a simple titanium one off ebay for thirty some dollars. Actually I bought two since I wasn't sure on the sizes. So I'm good to gain 80-100lbs and one of the rings will fit the sausage fingers.


----------



## scorpion_ca

nobleea said:


> I bought a simple titanium one off ebay for thirty some dollars. Actually I bought two since I wasn't sure on the sizes. So I'm good to gain 80-100lbs and one of the rings will fit the sausage fingers.


I am thinking to buy this one from Costco. It's not expensive though. https://www.costco.ca/Tungsten-Carbide-Men’s-Wedding-Band.product.10322686.html

I cannot wear any gold. So, I think my options are limited to Tungsten or platinum. Platinum is expensive and I read that its scratches easily and need to polish regularly. Don't want to buy something and waste a lot of money and time to maintain it.


----------



## Saniokca

peterk said:


> Thanks E.
> 
> I guess I'm just a bit annoyed to see/learn that a pension isn't as "stable" as I thought it should be. These monthly updates should reflect the progress of my saving and spending and investing activity, but sometimes it's overpowered by pension activity or market activity, which I had nothing to do with. This will get even worse going forward as the CV grows. Will my saving an extra 2k in a given month have any meaning when my pension CV just fluctuated by 20k because of interest rates? Annoying.
> 
> I think in the future I might consider just making quarterly updates here... this monthly stuff is becoming more and more meaningless.


Some random points - sorry didn't have time to put the together properly:

- When you have a DB plan the *pension *itself is the "stable" (and guaranteed - unless the company goes belly up and the plan) part that mostly always goes up. Think about it as a perpetual preferred stock where you reinvest the dividends - the market value may fluctuate (if rates increase/decrease) but the total dividends would always increase (obviously ignoring the risk of default). Also your investing activity would fluctuate with the market over which you also don't have any control .

- The valuation is mostly like that of a bond and the rates are based on the 7-year and the long term Gov of Canada bond rates (for pensions that are not indexed), with adjustments.

- I would update it annually, if at all. I just list the CV as an aside note and don't really include it in the total (but in my head I always say "I have X net worth plus CV of approx Y ). After all you're not including the present value of the CPP and OAS in your net worth calculation. Probably because it's not as easy to calculate and you'd have to do it yourself, but it is possible to estimate it.

- Once you have enough in the market the contributions do seem meaningless sometimes but they definitely aren't (e.g. 2k per month is 24k a year so over 4 years that's almost 100k! which will hopefully double in value every 10 years so in 30 years that's 800k).


----------



## peterk

Ya you're right, my CV went up just like if I were holding a 70k worth of long bonds. I think next year I'll start a new diary and only update every quarter or so to smooth out the volatility.


----------



## peterk

*April 2019*

Good month - my stocks up quite a bit, except for the last few days when they've cratered.. Got all the wedding stuff booked and finalized. Got my other annual bonus which was $10k gross, and paid off CCP

*Assets*
_Stocks - $360,100 (+$29,200)_
---TFSA: $63,000
---RRSP: $121,300
---Unreg: $140,300
---Sunlife (Unreg): $30,400
---Tangerine (Unreg): $5,100

Put $5000 in to the Tangerine growth fund. I know it's not exactly the most tax efficient or free option, but I wanted to keep it simple and have a bit of a whole market fund, and have an equity account opened at Tangerine so that I can perhaps move more cash in there some day without having to do another withdrawal out and deposit elsewhere. 

_Cash - $117,100 (+$3,600)_


_Pensions - $117,000 (-$2,800)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $71,600
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $20,700
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $24,700

Usual contributions

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$594,200 (+$30,000) - Well that's a nice round number. I'll take that ever month please!

*Expenses*

April 2019 - $7,587
YTD Spending - $23,685

Been spending like a drunken sailor! More wedding stuff, and just got back from a pre-honeymoon to Europe!


----------



## peterk

I totaled up all of my Stock assets, including whole market ETFs and funds (which I just list as country etfs, not by sector), and DC pension, to determine their country breakdown and sector breakdown. As I suspected, it's pretty bad and not very diverse.

*By Country*

Canada - 45%
USA - 53%
International - 2%

*By Sector*

Oil and Gas - 18%
Automotive - 18%
Utilities - 12%
Information Technology - 11%
Financials - 5%
Consumer Staples - 3%
Materials - 3%
Telecom - 1%
Industrial - 1%
Consumer Discretionary 1%

S&P 500 funds - 17%
TSX funds - 9%

I will work towards balancing this out more over the next year, adding to the whole market ETFs, and perhaps focusing more on the bottom 5 sectors, Financials, Consumers, Materials, Telecom, Industrial.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> I totaled up all of my Stock assets, including whole market ETFs and funds (which I just list as country etfs, not by sector), and DC pension, to determine their country breakdown and sector breakdown. As I suspected, it's pretty bad and not very diverse ...
> 
> I will work towards balancing this out more over the next year, adding to the whole market ETFs, and perhaps focusing more on the bottom 5 sectors, Financials, Consumers, Materials, Telecom, Industrial.




don't be too hard on yourself though

the good side of the coin is that you are the proud owner of a stellar savings & investment portf, doing extremely well for a young person in his or her 30s

portf if i recall some details of holdings is well-thought out, if a bit heavy in the sectors you already know so well. But then, there are financial wizards incl the fabled buffett himself who solemnly advise Buy What You Know. What's a body to do?

you could indeed increase your bottom ranked sectors. You could utilize the dMoney approach. If you recall, dMoney would rigourously sell puts in stocks he intended to own, thus always obtaining them at prices roughly 2% below market. As a young person with a high salary plus a long time frame, dMoney was always in accumulate-&-hold-high-quality-stock mode.

be cautious though. Some say markets are toppish. China trade wars & all. Plus big wedding coming up, time to be distracted into the roses, the pinks, the wines, the bridal party attire, etc.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> ... just got back from a pre-honeymoon to Europe!
> .


.


wow, is that holland? à part les tulipes, that's a very subdued dutch calvinist protestant church spire going on there

after such gorgeous pre-honeymoon scenes, one has to wonder what you are going to do for the honeymoon itself!


----------



## peterk

Yes it sure is HP. Spent a great week in April cycling around the dutch towns and tulips. She's dutch heritage, so we also went to her grandmother's home town to see their old place. We had the location on good authority, next to a mill and creek, but now there was a bavarian restaurant (near the German border) instead of the old farm house. So we had to use our imaginations a little, while we had a lovely schnitzel dinner.

No real honeymoon plans, just relaxing around Ontario for a week after the wedding - doing a few back home things that we don't get to do much anymore now that we're out west.


----------



## peterk

*May 2019*

Not a great money month, though I did get a large health insurance refund, plus a few hundred in overtime. My stocks are down.

*Assets*
_Stocks - $340,500 (-$19,600)_
---TFSA: $59,400
---RRSP: $117,900
---Unreg: $163,200

Added nearly 10k from cash to stocks this month, but am down 20k...


_Cash - $114,000 (-$3,100)_

_Pensions - $123,800 (+$6,800)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $78,000
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $20,200
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $25,600

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$578,300 (-$15,900)

*Expenses*

April 2019 - $4,205
YTD Spending - $27,890

Caught me between wedding payments. June update will be a good one... :satellite:


----------



## joetheneighbour

peterk said:


> I totaled up all of my Stock assets, including whole market ETFs and funds (which I just list as country etfs, not by sector), and DC pension, to determine their country breakdown and sector breakdown. As I suspected, it's pretty bad and not very diverse.


Both Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger does not promote diversification. Just watch some YouTube video of what they say about it. They say if to invest within your circle of competence and focus on a few winners. Another concept they talk about is how a lot of investor associate risk with volatility. They argue that volatility are base on human emotion(market price) and not intrinsic value. Very interesting concept, dig into it if you have some spare time.


----------



## peterk

joetheneighbour said:


> Both Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger does not promote diversification. Just watch some YouTube video of what they say about it. They say if to invest within your circle of competence and focus on a few winners. Another concept they talk about is how a lot of investor associate risk with volatility. They argue that volatility are base on human emotion(market price) and not intrinsic value. Very interesting concept, dig into it if you have some spare time.


Ah, more and more I'm coming to realize that I have no special knowledge, no special insight, no special method. Sure I might get good returns or bad returns, and maybe it's because of good decisions or bad decisions or good or bad luck, or anything. Probably best to not waste too much time thinking about it.


----------



## milhouse

peterk said:


> Yes it sure is HP. Spent a great week in April cycling around the dutch towns and tulips. She's dutch heritage, so we also went to her grandmother's home town to see their old place. We had the location on good authority, next to a mill and creek, but now there was a bavarian restaurant (near the German border) instead of the old farm house. So we had to use our imaginations a little, while we had a lovely schnitzel dinner.
> 
> No real honeymoon plans, just relaxing around Ontario for a week after the wedding - doing a few back home things that we don't get to do much anymore now that we're out west.


That's a pretty picture and sounds like a great trip. I love the Netherlands.


----------



## peterk

*June 2019*

We did it! Got hitched last week. I think this will be my last individual entry in this money diary. I'll probably start a new update with a couple of changes next time...

Got paid a few hundred in overtime this month, plus some good stock gains to offset a lot of spending. 

*Assets*
_Stocks - $356,800 (+$16,300)_
---TFSA: $58,900
---RRSP: $126,400
---Unreg: $171,500


_Cash - $113,700 (-$300)_

_Pensions - $127,900 (+$4,100)_
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $80,500
---Supplemental DC Pension (50/50 matched): $21,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee paid) : $26,400

Usual contributions, plus higher CV valuation with the continuously falling interest rates.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

$598,400 (+$20,100)

*Expenses*

June Spending - $12,031
YTD Spending - $39,921

Wedding all paid up now. July will be a big bill too with Ontario honeymoon expenses and a few wedding expense stragglers as well, nothing much to worry about though.


----------



## Janus

Congrats on getting married! 

Someone wise once told me that Buffett and Munger's statement on diversification - that it's protection against ignorance - was actually advice that you SHOULD diversify. To think that you know everything about the stocks you own is foolish. You need protection against ignorance, because we're all ignorant to a large extent, including the professionals.


----------



## peterk

Thanks J!

I have a hard time trying to avoid stock picking. But it makes no sense. I'm not that smart, and I don't even have a system really. Definitely lean towards "value investing" with companies that have low-ish P/E and have had stock price hits recently (currently thinking about CAT and PFE?) and appear to make products/services that are in demand and aren't going anywhere. I also really like the idea of large cap tech stocks that have immense product development divisions, and hold immense government influence, they appear to be unstoppable (currently adding to QQQ in TFSAs). 

But I'm really trying to hold myself to just adding to the main indexes - XIU, SPY, QQQ - in all the new money being saved going forward, now that I'm married, and that I'll only play around with stocks in my historical accounts. This way, 1) the stock picking portfolio will shrink and the index portfolio will grow over time, 2) My wife won't have to look at a crazy mess of investing screens that she'll never make sense of or take interest in. My goal is to slowly keep showing her how these things work, so that she'll actually be able to execute a transition to managing a working portfolio (like a couch potato portfolio) if I up and die - so she won't just throw up her hands and pass it all over to Mrs. mutual fund seller at the bank.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> This way, 1) the stock picking portfolio will shrink and the index portfolio will grow over time, 2) My wife won't have to look at a crazy mess of investing screens that she'll never make sense of or take interest in.
> 
> My goal is to slowly keep showing her how these things work, so that she'll actually be able to execute a transition to managing a working portfolio (like a couch potato portfolio) if I up and die - so she won't just throw up her hands and pass it all over to Mrs. mutual fund seller at the bank.



this was DMoney's strategy exactly. Slow but sure. Start right away.

i seem to recall that The Bride is earning something like $90-100k at present? now any lady who can take down that kind of salary is likely to surprise you with speed & skill, once she gets past the initial block with your steady help.

one never knows, theoretically speaking it could be yourself who might end up years hence as the little old indexer, while missus peterk will be romping on as the proud owner of a hedge fund's worth of exotic stocks


----------



## peterk

^ Hopefully!

If she ends up not going back to work full-time later on, we'll have to figure out a solid 5-10 pack of high div. CDNs, to take advantage of the low low dividend tax. I'm also wondering if she might be more inclined to taking on something like a rental property instead of market investing, an idea that's becoming more and more appeal in Alberta as the prices tick lower.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> I'm also wondering if she might be more inclined to taking on something like a rental property instead of market investing, an idea that's becoming more and more appeal in Alberta as the prices tick lower.



the world is her oyster. And she's so lucky to have a great husband by her side.

PS (your earlier post) nothing is going to happen to you or to either one of you, for that matter. It'll just be so much more fun to have a real financial partner.


----------



## peterk

*September 2019*

First update as a married couple. Also, baby is on the way! Expected a bit before Easter.


*Assets*

_Stocks - $452,600_

His:
---TFSA: $61,700
---RRSP: $127,200
---Unreg: $180,600
---DCP: $22,400

Hers:
---TFSA: $13,100
---RRSP: $47,600

Been adding to my unreg XIU a bit, everything else is maxed. Her investments are in the Tangerine "Balanced" fund of 60:40 stocks:bonds.
I might start adding my own free cash flow to her TFSA next year (if there's enough), after my registereds are maxed for 2020. 

_Bonds - $42,600_

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $2,200

Hers:
---TFSA - $8,700
---RRSP - $31,700

Figured my lending loop account should be placed here under "bonds", instead of as cash. What do you guys think?

_Cash - $145,800_

His:
---Unreg: $110,900

Hers:
---Unreg: $7,500
---RRSP: $27,400


_Pension - $116,000_

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $88,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $28,000

Usual contributions. I've removed the DC pension from this category of my asset allocation and moved it up to with the stocks, as it's 100% in a stock fund, and essentially no different than a stock invested RRSP. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

His: $621,000
Hers: $136,000

TOTAL: $757,000

*Expenses*

Ah I've somewhat lost track of expenses, so I won't report any numbers right now. I'll try and total for year-end.

Since the wedding I've taken on more of the household expenses. She pays the utilities and insurance, which are under her name, as well as miscellaneous and whatever her personal purchases expenses are, and I try to pay for everything else. I've gotten her a credit card under my account to try and help this along.


----------



## nobleea

Wow, wedding and baby. You're not messing around. Congrats.


----------



## peterk

nobleea said:


> Wow, wedding and baby. You're not messing around. Congrats.


Thanks nobleea.

Last couple months have been the most brutal ever though. She's been sick the whole time, still hasn't stopped. I had a surgery back in August. And I've had to work 15hr of OT per week for the past 6 weeks! 

Don't think I can take much more of this. Luckily my work thing is almost over, and I really hope she's feeling better soon. 

On the plus side, stocks are up.


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> Thanks nobleea.
> 
> Last couple months have been the most brutal ever though. She's been sick the whole time, still hasn't stopped. I had a surgery back in August. And I've had to work 15hr of OT per week for the past 6 weeks!
> 
> Don't think I can take much more of this. Luckily my work thing is almost over, and I really hope she's feeling better soon.
> 
> On the plus side, stocks are up.



oh so very sorry to hear. Medicine says that it's the first 3 months. I'm not sure of the hormonal details because i never experienced this in my pregnancies. But when first trimester morning sickness does occur it can be extraordinarily distressing for the couple. Mercifully it should end with 90-100 days.

are you doing OK post-surgery yourself? enuf w the overtime, when the baby arrives you don't want to be an absentee father.


----------



## james4beach

peterk, strongly recommend avoiding overtime if you can. With a great financial position and good career options, I don't see any point in exhausting yourself and running the risk of burn-out, chronic injury, or generally getting worn out.


----------



## peterk

She's at 19 weeks, so this morning sickness coming to a close is now "late" - Uhg

My surgery went OK, but didn't solve the problem. I'm fully recovered now, but had to take 10 days off work and suffer for 4 weeks just to come to the discovery that it didn't accomplish anything - Annoying

The overtime doesn't happen all that often, 1-3 busy months per year. My Sr. engineer doesn't have a problem working 60hrs/week themselves, and always insists on everything getting done thoroughly and properly. A laudable goal for sure, but management won't give them the staff they need to accomplish such things, and I'm stuck in the middle of it all - Blech!

Edit: But - I'm getting over this slump soon hopefully. We're going to start house shopping in a few more weeks, I'm planning to get back into shape at the gym, and next year I don't think work will be so busy (hopefully). Plus I'm very much looking forward to taking 4-6 weeks off in the spring with baby K!


----------



## humble_pie

peterk said:


> The overtime doesn't happen all that often, 1-3 busy months per year. My Sr. engineer doesn't have a problem working 60hrs/week themselves, and always insists on everything getting done thoroughly and properly. A laudable goal for sure, but management won't give them the staff they need to accomplish such things, and I'm stuck in the middle of it all - Blech!



thorough & proper boss or not, generally human resources especially at big leading companies such as yours have come to understand that young families are to be protected & helped during the important life stage as they begin to raise their young children, buy their permanent homes, etc.

some big leading companies even practice this view, let's hope your boss can be counted on to be fair & modern.

i tend to think that an extra hour of overtime per day - or perhaps a couple of days with 2-3 hours overtime each week - might not handicap a young father's domestic life too much, although ideally it should not happen. But 15 hours per week is definitely a hardship on any young startup couple preparing for their first child.


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> Thanks nobleea.
> 
> Last couple months have been the most brutal ever though. She's been sick the whole time, still hasn't stopped. I had a surgery back in August. And I've had to work 15hr of OT per week for the past 6 weeks!
> 
> Don't think I can take much more of this. Luckily my work thing is almost over, and I really hope she's feeling better soon.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> Congratulations Peter! I am sorry that your wife is morning sick. I was sick for so long (almost 7 months), then one day it just disappeared. For me it was so sudden, I made an appointment to the dr to make sure everything was okay. I have found since becoming a parent, there is always something that one can be worried about. However, I have found its' been really worth, and I don't even like children that much.
> 
> For the overtime, definitely keep it in check. My priorities changed since kids. I used work easily 60-70 hour weeks before kids, and moved to another company for more balance after the second was born. I had a pretty good balance, until I took a big promotion and was back at 70+ hour weeks. It was then that I made a very conscious decision that my family would ALWAYS come first. I still do a great job at a lesser position, but I am much less conflicted about my priorities now. It only took me 11 years of being a parent to figure that out.
> 
> I spent a lot of time stressing over trying to balance work, only to realize that not everything needs to be in balance at the same time. Just some unsolicited advice.


----------



## peterk

Thanks HP, PA - I'm not at all a high-workload, Type A kind of person. I struggle to stay focused and accomplish a lot of output. I like to do creative things instead. I've just stumbled on this meticulous, high-work job by accident! That said it's not so bad, better than being _too bored_ and I'm going to try and rearrange some workload to spread out in the year so it's better balanced. I'm sure it won't last like this forever anyways, and if it does I'll just leave after 5 more years (should have >>$1M) by then. 

I'm timed out now, worked 18 days straight. So they forced my off for the 3-day weekend  Going to try and avoid the computer if I can... starting now! :smiley_simmons:


----------



## peterk

*2019 YE Update*

Big year for us! Got married, and now wife is 6 month pregnant. We'll buy a house next month too, most likely. I'm starting to withdraw funds to cash for the upcoming down payment.

Spent wayyy too much this year, but also had excellent stock performance.

*Assets*

_Stocks - $480,300 _ +$27,700

Withdrew $18,000 from my TFSA, added $10,000 to her RRSP. Net Q4 change is +$35,000 in gains.

His:
---TFSA: $45,700
---RRSP: $144,000
---Unreg: $197,300
---DCP: $24,700

Hers:
---TFSA: $13,500
---RRSP: $55,100


_Bonds - $47,900 _ +$5,300 

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $2,200

Hers:
---TFSA - $9,000
---RRSP - $36,700

Figured my lending loop account should be placed here under "bonds", instead of as cash. What do you guys think?

_Cash - $172,600_ +$26,800

His:
---Unreg: $132,400

Hers:
---Unreg: $11,700
---RRSP: $28,500

Starting to stockpile cash for the house down payment. Won't be anymore investing now, with the exception of adding to her RRSP in the next 2 months to get her income down.

_Pension - $126,700_ +$10,700

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $97,300
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $29,400

Usual contributions. 

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

His: $673,000
Hers: $154,500

TOTAL: $827,500 +$70,500

Very nice end to the year, with +$70,500 Q4 gains.

2019 Net worth increase for just me (don't have good info on Wife for pre-marriage) was +$191,000. But that's mostly due to the market low at December 2018, and the top right now.

*Expenses*

2019 - $76,670

That's just for me, a whopping year. Includes 25k wedding expenses though. My wife probably spent another ~40k on her own.

Next year I'll keep better track of the whole household spending, but it's too complicated for 2019.


----------



## peterk

*Q1 2020 Update*

Money - Ohh boy!
Family - It's a boy!

Our son was born last week, 7 1/2 lbs. It's been amazing so far, very tired though. Wife even more tired. But he seems healthy and everything is going well!! His birthday was only a week off of mine too, that's fun! I'm now 33.

She is taking the whole year off work, I am taking 1 month. We are both waiting for the EI payments to commence. We got our applications in about 1-2 weeks before the hoards...so let's hope it's not delayed. 

*Assets*

_Stocks - $337,400 - $142,900 !!!_

His:
---TFSA: $17,800
---RRSP: $110,600
---Unreg: $118,000
---DCP: $21,000

Hers:
---TFSA: $14,100
---RRSP: $55,900

Well that was a disaster...My TFSA practically disintegrated with smattering of various shitty holdings, the worst being things like XEG, IPL, BTE, ACQ, ACB, etc. Lesson learned.

I won't delve into it here. Suffice to say a bad quarter.


_Bonds - $48,900 +1,000_

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $2,300

Hers:
---TFSA - $9,400
---RRSP - $37,200


_Cash - 165,700 - $6,900_

His:
---Unreg: $124,900

Hers:
---Unreg: $11,300
---RRSP: $29,500

Been an expensive quarter with end of Christmas, and then baby things. From my cashflows it looks like my spending has been $3,000 higher than my net income this quarter! Mamma Mia! I also pay for nearly everything now though in the family. My wife has <$500 month is spending outflows now.

Going forward we'll have to be OK with 1 paycheque.

Pension - 149,600 +$22,900

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $117,700
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $31,900

Usual contributions. Plunging interest rates sent the CV to the moon. I must recognize that this isn't really available cash, however I still include it here. If I ever I quit or lose my job, this money IS technically going to be available to an investable LIRA account. _knocks on wood_

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

His: $544,200 
Hers: $157,400

*TOTAL: 701,600 - $125,900

Expenses*

2020 Q1 - $ 17,400

This is a bit high for my liking. Exceptional circumstances though... Trying to keep to a budget of $60,000/year or 15k/quarter.


----------



## Plugging Along

That's wonderful news. Congratulation the newest addition. It will be nice to enjoy your little bundle in these uncertain times. I don't think he counts as a Coronial though.


----------



## peterk

Thanks PA! It's weird, I'm strangely calm about this potential upcoming economic crisis... You'd think I'd be a nervous wreck about the poor timing, both for portfolio choices and family, but lately my thoughts have been more like "ah they can take all my money away, who cares, as long as I have my family."

So that's nice


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> Thanks PA! It's weird, I'm strangely calm about this potential upcoming economic crisis... You'd think I'd be a nervous wreck about the poor timing, both for portfolio choices and family, but lately my thoughts have been more like "ah they can take all my money away, who cares, as long as I have my family."
> 
> So that's nice


I totally get it. I had my second in 208 lost 40% of our portfolio, spoisue got laid off a month after kidlet was born with 3 days severance, and my stable company went through massive cuts. We were fine then, it was a test of ourselves if we could buckle down, so this time around we feel even better. It’s been not too bad stuck at home with the family. I am glad I have them. 

It means you have your priorities straight and you life was in good shape when starting a family. It’s just money, and right now you have more important things like Peterk Jr. it’s is calming to know that you have money to weather the storm or in this case the pandemic. Be grateful and enjoy the time.


----------



## peterk

*Q2 2020 Update*

Happy Canada Day!
Just had our first wedding anniversary, and our son is 3 months old.

We made it through this huge market swing with only minor losses, compared to my grim March update. I twiddled with some positions along the way but nothing major. As usual, a waste of time and effort - I should just be buying VBAL and forget it, but am stubborn.

Had huge tax returns in this update +16k, and a large bonus from work +30k gross, and my wife has been getting her mat leave EI, which is quite generous (thanks tax payers - thanks myself )

*Assets*

_Stocks - $423,000 (+ $86,000)_

His:
---TFSA: $33,000
---RRSP: $140,000
---Unreg: $145,000
---DCP: $26,000

Hers:
---TFSA: $17,000
---RRSP: $62,000

I think I trimmed about 15k out, but then put about 10k in for my wife and my TFSA, over the past quarter, so around breakeven with maybe a tiny bit of cash outflow from stocks. Overall pleased with myself for not cashing out much more in April, as I was tempted to do.

Still 60k off from the 480k in stock value in Dec 2019.

Obviously kicking myself for not following through with heavy investing in March, but it is what it is. I'm just glad I didn't lose my shirt and my family is doing OK and I still have my job.


_Bonds - $55,000 (+6,000)_

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $2,300

This is interesting to watch. I've expected my Lending loop portfolio to get cut in half... but so far I've only had 1 loan note that's categorize "late". I turned off my auto lend in March, and have accumulated $500 in cash already in paid back loans. Thinking about turning the auto lend back on and letting the cash re-deploy. Lending loop jacked up their rates recently as well, so an email has told me, to reflect economic conditions, and entice lenders back.

Hers:
---TFSA - $12,000
---RRSP - $41,000

The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.


_Cash - $220,000 (+$54,000)_

His:
---Unreg: $157,000

Hers:
---Unreg: $27,000
---TFSA: $6,000
---RRSP: $30,000


_Pension - $167,000 (+$18,000)_

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $137,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $30,000

Usual contributions. Plunging interest rates continue to inflate the CV. I must recognize that this isn't really available money, however I still include it here as part of NW.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

His: $670,000
Hers: $195,000

*TOTAL: $865,000 ( + $164,000)

Expenses*

2020 Q1 - $ 17,400
2020 Q2 - $ 14,000

YTD: $31,400

Spending has come back down to normal again. Might be on track to staying at my $60,000 annual budget. But then, that's an arbitrary number. We'll continue to spend more if necessary, and less if not required.


----------



## scorpion_ca

Hopefully you would be millionaire by the end of 2021...

Have you opened any RESP for your child? What are you planning to buy there?


----------



## peterk

Hopefully! hah.

Haven't opened an RESP. I guess I should - seems a low priority right now though just to collect $500. We're also considering buying a house still this year, so want to settle on that decision before I choose to lock away $2,500.

I think when when do we'll open the family plan for expected future children, and just put it all into VBAL. Opening yet another investment account doesn't actually sound appealing to me at all. It's already a lot to count and keep track of as it is...


----------



## scorpion_ca

I am planning to open and manage a family RESP for my nephew at Questrade. My plan is to buy XEQT for the next 15-16 years. After that, slowly convert it to cash until my nephew reaches to 18.


----------



## peterk

It just seems to me that an RESP doesn't need full equity level returns anyways. Fully fund with 4% returns gives $70k when the child is 19. Good enough. 7% stock returns gives $100k+

Just like an RRSP, it also makes sense that some Fixed income allocation is in this type of of deferred tax account (RESP is just like a Spousal RRSP in that sense, where the expected child/spouse is at a lower bracket than you are in the distant future), and your stock allocation is in unregistered and getting better tax treatment.

I know some people don't like to consider an RESP as "my money" anymore and so maybe wouldn't include it as part of their portfolio and asset allocation. But to me that is somewhat wishful thinking about a prosperous future that hasn't unfolded yet. If SHTF, people will be quickly discovering that the RESP is actually still their money, and they'll be extremely happy to find that there are some bonds in there, too.


----------



## scorpion_ca

My brother doesn't make much. I doubt we will be able to max out the RESP account. Also, I think tuition fee will be very expensive in 2040. So, $100k in RESP may not be sufficient to cover 4 years bachelor degree. Can the RESP money be used for monthly expenses along with paying the tuition fees?


----------



## nobleea

scorpion_ca said:


> My brother doesn't make much. I doubt we will not be able to max out the RESP account. Also, I think tuition fee will be very expensive in 2040. So, $100k in RESP may not be sufficient to cover 4 years bachelor degree. Can the RESP money be used for monthly expenses along with paying the tuition fees?


agreed, I think tuition by then could be over 100K for 4 yrs in current dollars (so even more in future dollars).
RESP money can be used for anything. tuition, books, rent, food, cars, travel, whatever you want. The only requirement is that the child is in proper post secondary. Some people are using it as an additional RRSP type investment (tax sheltered gains, but after tax $) once their RRSP and TFSA is full. Of course, there's no requirement that you fully fund your child's school (or even that they'll go) either. They should have some skin in the game too. The banks always ask about RESP balances when applying for loans, which tells you that they consider it to be your money as well...


----------



## peterk

*Q3 2020 Update*

Big news - We're buying a house! (not official yet, conditions not waived)

Budget was slightly blown, but it's nearly the perfect house that we've been shopping for forever and never thought we'd end up getting... so we went for it!

*Assets*

_Stocks - $442,000 (+19,000)_

His:
---TFSA: $42,000
---RRSP: $141,000
---Unreg: $148,000
---DCP: $28,000

Hers:
---TFSA: $19,000
---RRSP: $64,000


_Bonds - $57,000 (+2,000)_

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $2,400

Hers:
---TFSA - $13,000
---RRSP - $42,000

The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.


_Cash - $220,000 (+$0)_

His:
---Unreg: $154,000

Hers:
---Unreg: $5,000
---TFSA: $31,000
---RRSP: $30,000


_DB Pension - $167,000 (+$0)_

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $132,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $35,000

Usual contributions.

*Liabilities*

Zero.

*Net Worth*

His: $682,000
Hers: $204,000

*TOTAL: $886,000 ( + $21,000)

Expenses*

2020 Q1 - $ 17,400
2020 Q2 - $ 14,000
2020 Q3 - $ 14,700
2020 YTD - $ 46,100

Normal spending again this quarter, nothing outlandish. Q4 will be a disaster for sure, with new house purchase expenses etc. Definitely not sticking to $60k spending this year, probably closer to $70k.


----------



## scorpion_ca

Congratulations....Would you care to share your house buying experiences, price negotiation, mortgage rate and etc? Is the house price going up or down in Fort McMurray?


----------



## peterk

scorpion_ca said:


> Congratulations....Would you care to share your house buying experiences, price negotiation, mortgage rate and etc? Is the house price going up or down in Fort McMurray?


It went great! We had an excellent realtor, on a good recommendation from a colleague. 

Overall the housing prices still seem to be going down, especially on the more expensive end. We got the place for 25k below asking, which is pretty normal. Hard to know what will happen in the future though, these low rates might keep things from sinking much more, maybe. 

Mortgage rate was 2.00% through a big 5 bank, though my company offers a mortgage subsidy to the prescribed rate, so I only pay 1% personally to the bank. This is a very good deal, as from my $2500 mortgage payment, I only pay about $450 in interest (and the company pays $450 as well), and $1600 in principle.


----------



## Money172375

These Mortgage rates are insane. After hearing my parents/uncles paying 12-18%, I thought I scored when my first mortgage was 4.95. Now it’s less than half that.


----------



## peterk

About 2 weeks ago sold off $30k worth of XIU and $30k of a BAL fund to go towards our house down payment. So far that was excellent timing!


----------



## peterk

*Q4 2020 Year-End Update*

Well, we got the house, and have been moved in for 6 weeks now! Q4 spending was insane, $25,000. Moving costs, rent+mortgage in November, furniture, Christmas, plus all the usual.

*Assets*

_House - $735,000 (+735,000)_

We blew the budget significantly on the house (was shopping around $600,000)... but so far I have no regrets at all. It was a rare type of home to come up for sale that checked practically all the boxes. It is an absolute delight living here, and since we can't go on big vacations anymore anyways, it was a great time to move into a house that doubles as a vacation home. Who knows, maybe we'll get bored of it someday, but for now I have no desire to go anywhere else.

_Stocks - $487,000 (+45,000)_

Had about net $50k outflow from stocks from Q3 to Q4 (to go to the house down payment), so +$95k in gains. Quite lucky!

His:
---TFSA: $61,000
---RRSP: $166,000
---Unreg: $162,000
---DCP: $31,000

Hers:
---TFSA: $0 - Emptied for house down payment
---RRSP: $67,000 - The stock fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.


_Bonds - $46,400 (-$10,600)_

His:
---Unreg Lending Loop: $1,400
I stopped investing in lending loop immediately in March when the crash happened, and have had $1000 paid back already (and I withdrew it from lending loop). Suprisingly, I only have 2 funded loans so far that are "late", for a potential $40 hit. This has held up amazingly well actually, I assume most of these small business loans are going to meltdown any second, but maybe not. I don't think I will be getting back into for many years, until/if there is stability and growth in the small business sector again.

Hers:
---TFSA - $0 - Emptied for house down payment
---RRSP - $45,000 - The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.


_Cash - $154,000 (-$66,000)_

His:
---Unreg: $115,000

Hers:
---Unreg: $9,000
---TFSA: $0
---RRSP: $30,000


_DB Pension - $152,000 (-$15,000)_

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $117,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $35,000

Usual contributions. Not sure why the CV dropped so much, was there that big of an interest rate change from the fall until now?

*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $585,000_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $989,000 ( + $103,000)

Expenses*

2020 Q1 - $ 17,400
2020 Q2 - $ 14,000
2020 Q3 - $ 14,700
2020 Q4 - $ 25,200
*2020 Total - $ 71,300








*


----------



## milhouse

The anotated graph is a nice visual.


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> *Q4 2020 Year-End Update*
> 
> Well, we got the house, and have been moved in for 6 weeks now! Q4 spending was insane, $25,000. Moving costs, rent+mortgage in November, furniture, Christmas, plus all the usual.
> 
> *Assets*
> 
> _House - $735,000 (+735,000)_
> 
> We blew the budget significantly on the house (was shopping around $600,000)... but so far I have no regrets at all. It was a rare type of home to come up for sale that checked practically all the boxes. It is an absolute delight living here, and since we can't go on big vacations anymore anyways, it was a great time to move into a house that doubles as a vacation home. Who knows, maybe we'll get bored of it someday, but for now I have no desire to go anywhere else.
> 
> _Stocks - $487,000 (+45,000)_
> 
> Had about net $50k outflow from stocks from Q3 to Q4 (to go to the house down payment), so +$95k in gains. Quite lucky!
> 
> His:
> ---TFSA: $61,000
> ---RRSP: $166,000
> ---Unreg: $162,000
> ---DCP: $31,000
> 
> Hers:
> ---TFSA: $0 - Emptied for house down payment
> ---RRSP: $67,000 - The stock fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.
> 
> 
> _Bonds - $46,400 (-$10,600)_
> 
> His:
> ---Unreg Lending Loop: $1,400
> I stopped investing in lending loop immediately in March when the crash happened, and have had $1000 paid back already (and I withdrew it from lending loop). Suprisingly, I only have 2 funded loans so far that are "late", for a potential $40 hit. This has held up amazingly well actually, I assume most of these small business loans are going to meltdown any second, but maybe not. I don't think I will be getting back into for many years, until/if there is stability and growth in the small business sector again.
> 
> Hers:
> ---TFSA - $0 - Emptied for house down payment
> ---RRSP - $45,000 - The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.
> 
> 
> _Cash - $154,000 (-$66,000)_
> 
> His:
> ---Unreg: $115,000
> 
> Hers:
> ---Unreg: $9,000
> ---TFSA: $0
> ---RRSP: $30,000
> 
> 
> _DB Pension - $152,000 (-$15,000)_
> 
> His:
> ---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $117,000
> ---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $35,000
> 
> Usual contributions. Not sure why the CV dropped so much, was there that big of an interest rate change from the fall until now?
> 
> *Liabilities*
> 
> _Mortgage - $585,000_
> 
> *Net Worth*
> 
> *TOTAL: $989,000 ( + $103,000)
> 
> Expenses*
> 
> 2020 Q1 - $ 17,400
> 2020 Q2 - $ 14,000
> 2020 Q3 - $ 14,700
> 2020 Q4 - $ 25,200
> *2020 Total - $ 71,300
> 
> View attachment 21026
> *


Nice graph. You are an engineer right?


----------



## kcowan2000

I am half way there with RESP for the GCs. Paid out $110k with $90k to go. Currently have a balance of $100k. All in equities. Maxed out the matching contributions.

Congratulations peterk.


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## peterk

Thanks folks! haha yes an engineer. We spend 10% of the time doing engineering and 90% making drawings, charts and graphs.


----------



## peterk

Finally my TFSA is back up to the contribution limit! lol. $70,000 + I haven't put in the new $6,000 yet. 

It's suffered through many bad energy stock picks and other bad picks over the years, plus one bankruptcy.


----------



## m3s

peterk said:


> It's suffered through many bad energy stock picks and other bad picks over the years, plus one bankruptcy.


I also had a bankruptcy in my TFSA. It's been a glaring red reminder whenever I logged in for years. Just sent the form this week to get it removed. That and I finally sold poor old CPG

Lots of opportunity in the markets lately but it's making me weary


----------



## peterk

m3s said:


> I also had a bankruptcy in my TFSA. It's been a glaring red reminder whenever I logged in for years. Just sent the form this week to get it removed. That and I finally sold poor old CPG
> 
> Lots of opportunity in the markets lately but it's making me weary


Yeah, added only $2k to my wife's BAL fund in Jan/Feb. I'm going to let my existing investing choices run, but I'm just adding to ETFs going forward. We have decided on a 70/30 allocation (though don't know why that in particular, really). It was bang-on 70/30 at the December update, so i guess will just build up cash now since the market run-up has pushed it to 73/27. I guess if the markets don't up from here our Fixed allocation will catch up in April/May, and then can start investing again, adding XIU in the TFSAs.

Trying to decide if with my US exposure (in RRSP) I should just stick with adding to SPY, or go with the less concentrated ITOT, or really steer away from the tech sector and go with IUSV. I already have about 40k USD combined in AAPL and GOOGL shares, plus my whole DC pension is SPY, plus 10k of SPY in my RRSP, plus 3 DITM SPY calls in unregistered. I think I'm already tech heavy, and adding to IUSV going forward might balance that out.


----------



## SuperGrover

For commuted values, the CIA (actuaries) changed the standard for calculating the cv for pensions effective in December 2020. Likely the reason for the drop, same thing occurred to mine.


----------



## peterk

SuperGrover said:


> For commuted values, the CIA (actuaries) changed the standard for calculating the cv for pensions effective in December 2020. Likely the reason for the drop, same thing occurred to mine.


Oh, well that sucks. Also just recently we had a company notice about how the DB pension was "overfunded" so they pursued and received a provincial exception to reduce this year's contribution.

The actuaries and accountants hard at work serving society lol.


----------



## peterk

*Q1 2021 Year-End Update*

Another crazy quarter. Major capital gains, $6k of overtime work, $17k incentive bonus at work, and sold all 1500 shares of IPL after its buyout announced. My portfolio is heavy on energy and automotive (except TSLA - Doh!) as well as S&P 500, all on a tear this past few months.

Baby turned 1 recently, and wife is going back to work shortly.

*Assets*

_Principle Residence - $735,000 _(purchase price)_

Stocks - $572,000 (+85,000)_

His:
---TFSA: $78,000
---RRSP: $197,000
---Unreg: $193,000
---DCP: $34,000

Hers:
---RRSP: $70,000 - The stock fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.
Added $4k to her RRSP over the past 3 months.

_Bonds - $56,000 (+9,600)_

His:
---Unreg. Lending Loop: $1,500
---Unreg. Bond fund: $7,500

Hers:

---RRSP - $47,000 - The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.


_Cash - $179,000 (+$25,000)_

His:
---Unreg: $140,000

Rolled some calls up in unregistered - so there was surplus cash that I didn't re-invest, plus extra saved cash from OT and bonus.

Hers:
---Unreg: $9,000
---RRSP: $30,000


_DB Pension - $135,000 (-$17,000)_

His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $97,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $38,000

Another massive drop in CV from rising interest rates. I thought reporting this CV quarterly would help "smooth" things - but not during these crazy times, it seems.

*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $579,000 (-6,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $1,098,000 ( + $109,000)

Expenses*

2021 Q1 - $ 20,200


----------



## peterk

*Q2 2021*

Lots of action this update - Still wild stock market returns, another +$100k quarter... Wife went back to work after baby turned 1, then promptly got laid off after less than a month of work...Then a month later again, back at work... She painted some ugly rooms in the house during the time off, very productive. She has a new job at work (not the same job as before the baby) and she doesn't like it very much. She's looking forward to leaving again, possibly permanently, for baby #2.

This week - heat dome, AC that doesn't cool the main floor, in-laws visiting, and a surprise emergency project at work that popped up which somehow landed on my plate that I really, really do not want to do... Feeling strained lately, health not improving (but at least not worsening), work relentless, wife has morning sickness that lasts the entire pregnancy... I am trying to consider it a blessing though, and a test of our fortitude. Hopefully this past 18 months of mostly suffering (except financially and family) will toughen me up for the future.


*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

_*Stocks - $657,000 (+85,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $99,000
---RRSP: $230,000
---Unreg: $211,000
---DCP: $38,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $79,000
Added $10k to her RRSP Balanced fund this quarter.

_*Bonds - $62,000 (+6,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $9,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $53,000 - The bond fraction of Tangerine Balanced fund.

_*Cash - $191,000 (+$12,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $146,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $15,000
---RRSP: $30,000

_*DB Pension - $138,000 (+$3,000)*_
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $98,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $40,000


*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $574,000 (-$5,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $1,209,000 ( + $111,000)

Expenses*

2021 Q2 - $25,800
2021 Q1 - $ 20,200

A whopper of a quarter for spending. Property taxes, some minor home repair stuff, plus all spring household/yard stuff to start up our new house on the 1/4 acre property (used to live in an apartment).

Anticipated annual spending is looking like $85-90k, way higher than my planned $70k, but I forgot to include $10k of childcare in that, and we are over budget on regular spending as well.

I think spending will calm down again by next year (maybe). If I could get down to $70k for 2022 (DW will be back home again with baby #2, so no daycare) I'd be happy. $27k of that is mortgage payments, so paying myself back.


----------



## peterk

*Q3 2021*

Just 5 weeks to go until Baby # 2!! Holy moly that went fast...

My grandma died in August (the last grandparent in both our whole families).

Nothing particularly exciting money wise, except that my company went through a major re-org, and was absorbed by another partner company (short story), and that I've come out the other side without being axed! Yay! So now I'm an employee of the new company, but we have most legacy company processes still in place, so it doesn't really feel like a big change to me.

Wife has kept adding to her RRSP, which is almost maxed now. Needing the largest deduction possible in 2021, as she will probably not be working at all for several years at least.

My wifes has no TFSA. I want to open a new account and start putting my money in her TFSA, as well as a new unregistered account and start putting her money in there. This has been delayed because we are already overweight stocks on our 70/30 allocation, and I've just been putting my free cash flow (which isn't much) into a savings account for now. In 2022 I plan to get on this and start steering these accounts to being more tax-effective. It's silly that I have a large unregistered account and she has an empty TFSA, but I just don't want to touch that account. Besides it's got plenty of capital gains that I'd need to trigger to empty out $80k to put into her TFSA, and it would be complicated. So I'm just leaving my unregistered as is, and I'll slowly add to her TFSA for the next few years from my free cash flow.

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

_*Stocks - $696,000 (+39,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $100,000
---RRSP: $231,000
---Unreg: $235,000
---DCP: $40,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $90,000
Added $15k to her RRSP Balanced fund this quarter.

_*Bonds - $68,000 (+6,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $8,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $60,000

_*Cash - $178,000 (-13,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $133,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $14,000
---RRSP: $31,000

_*DB Pension - $154,000 (+16,000)*_
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $112,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $42,000


*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $569,000 (-$5,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $1,262,000 ( + $53,000)

Expenses*

2021 Q3 - $23,300
2021 Q2 - $25,800
2021 Q1 - $ 20,200

Another above average (hopefully) spending quarter. Not sure where it went exactly other than regular, but I think we'll spend a bit less in Q4. It's looking like ~$90k for the whole year approximately.


----------



## peterk

What a day!

Wife is in labour - (leaving soon for the hospital!!)

Portfolio is up $20k - Thanks to Suncor and Ford

This is in stark contrast to the last time my wife was in labour - March 16, 2020 - When the whole world seemed to be falling apart.


----------



## Plugging Along

peterk said:


> What a day!
> 
> Wife is in labour - (leaving soon for the hospital!!)
> 
> Portfolio is up $20k - Thanks to Suncor and Ford
> 
> This is in stark contrast to the last time my wife was in labour - March 16, 2020 - When the whole world seemed to be falling apart.


I hope she still isn't in labour since you posted 6 days ago. I hope the labour went well.


----------



## peterk

We made it! It's another boy - Two boys!


----------



## peterk

*Q4 2021 - Year End*

Pretty eventful year - Had our 2nd child this fall! Finally getting some sleep now in December, hoping for a better January with a decent schedule.

2 deaths in the year. ..My grandmother at age 90, and an old close friend in his 30s from my hometown (not covid).

Got a pay promotion and 7% raise at work. More work... yay lol... And networth increase of nearly $400,000 YTD. Mind boggling market returns! Been thinking I should consider taking some of these winnings off the table. I'm not sure.

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

Perhaps the house value has gone up a bit since purchasing in 2020, but I don't think a lot. And we've probably depreciated it a bit from wear and tear. So I'll just call this even.

_*Stocks - $787,000 (+91,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $106,000
---RRSP: $262,000
---Unreg: $278,000
---DCP: $44,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $93,000
---TFSA: $4,000

DW opened up a TFSA investing account finally. Just wants it conservatively invested and we are already over the 70/30 target AA. So this is just going to VCNS. I know this is *** backwards and we should have had stocks in her TFSA this whole time instead of the RRSP, but she was focused on maxing out RRSP to get the deduction during her working years (now off indefinitely for children).

_*Bonds - $76,000 (+8,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $8,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $62,000
---TFSA: $6,000

_*Cash - $177,000 (-1,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $141,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $4,000
---RRSP: $32,000

_*DB Pension - $149,000 (-$5,000)*_
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $106,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $43,000


*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $564,000 (-$5,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $ 1,360,000 ( + $98,000)

Expenses*

2021 Q4 - $23,000
2021 Q3 - $23,300
2021 Q2 - $25,800
2021 Q1 - $ 20,200

*Total: $92,300*

Definitely spent more than I anticipated at the start of the year. But I didn't account for daycare. Considering approximately 20k in mortgage principle paid back, and 10k in daycare, we've only spent about $60,000 in living/consumer spending, which i think is OK. There was lots of "new house" expenses earlier this year as well, which will hopefully be less next year.

We'll probably buy a new car in 2022, though, so that will blow the budget.


----------



## scorpion_ca

peterk said:


> *Q4 2021 - Year End*
> Got a pay promotion and 7% raise at work. More work... yay lol... And networth increase of nearly $400,000 YTD. Mind boggling market returns! Been thinking I should consider taking some of these winnings off the table. I'm not sure.
> *Liabilities*
> _Mortgage - $564,000 (-$5,000)_


If I were in your position, I would definitely sell some of the winnings and reduce the mortgage debt. Many people will tell that the interest rate is low and make more profits on stock market. But the most important thing for me is the peace of mind.


----------



## peterk

scorpion_ca said:


> If I were in your position, I would definitely sell some of the winnings and reduce the mortgage debt. Many people will tell that the interest rate is low and make more profits on stock market. But the most important thing for me is the peace of mind.


Thanks Scorpion! Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. It's certainly the advice I'd give someone else in my shoes...

Couple of things/difficulties though that I'm thinking about for why not to do that...

1) The mortgage rate is insanely low. I have a company subsidized mortgage from my employer, so I only pay 1% interest (on an already extremely low 2% 5-year fixed mortgage)

2) Where do I take the money from? Unregistered has capital gains to pay if I sell, so that's throwing away 5-15% of the holdings' value. Sell and empty my TFSA maybe? Then I'll need to rebuild that and it seems silly to have an empty TFSA and a big unregistered account. Take from cash savings? But then that's just sitting there earning 1.3% before tax, and the mortgage rate is 1%, so that's a wash. And if were going to lock in my cash on the mortgage, then I might as well lock it into a 5-year GIC at 2% instead...

3) Will want/need to buy a new vehicle soon (~$50k), so I'll have to to figure out how to best pay for that too and how to extract that money out from the accounts.


----------



## peterk

Been a hell of a month and start to 2022...

Hot water tank burst - $2000 plus my own labour to dry/rearrange the basement (luckily caught it very fast so nothing important got wet and the water stayed in the concrete rooms only)

Then we all got Covid, all at the same time, even the little baby  We're all fine now, but it was a lousy week.

Then the car broke down. $600

And it was a horrible frigid Dec - Gas and hydro bill together were $850.

What else could go wrong!?!


----------



## peterk

peterk said:


> What else could go wrong!?!


Lol - Furnace just died yesterday - Peterk home repairs didn't cut it this time... Calling in the pros. $$$

Hopefully a quick fix.


----------



## OptsyEagle

Just keep in mind that, at the end of the day, those issues are not really problems. I try to classify them as annoyances. In my opinion, a problem in my life will not be explained to me by a mechanic or a plumber or a contractor. It will most likely be explained to me by a person wearing a white cloak with a stethoscope hanging from their neck.


----------



## peterk

*Q1 2022*

Ay - Life's been a slog for the last while, for two years really, but especially this winter since baby #2 in the fall. Been so tired and negative and grouchy lately. Wife thinks I have/had "male post partum depression". I dunno, maybe she's not wrong...

Trying to push through and see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I'm back to working at the office. I don't have to tolerate being cooped up here with screaming babies 7 days a week and trying to accomplish things for work. Workload is still too high, but I guess I'll just work the OT and do it and be tired. _sigh_

But, but, I've told my work that I'm planning on taking a parental leave for 3-4 months starting this summer, once a major project of mine is done this spring. Management seemed pretty amenable, and I'm using my F-U money to make it happen  I'm quite looking forward to that. Just 3 more months of hard work.

While I have a lot of aggravations from work, somehow, management still has considered me an above average employee for the last 5 years, and keeps throwing raises and bonuses at me...I appreciate it, but am trying to stay realistic and not let it go to my head or forget that it could all turn on a dime at any moment with the opinions of the next managers to come along. I've just lucked into work projects that are "visible" to managment, unlike many who work hard and are essential, but are invisible.

Despite my perceived hardship, the money situation has only improved. Gross income is around ~$200-250k now and going forward for the next couple years, with salary around $160k and the rest in highly variable bonuses and RSU's.

I try to remind myself frequently that there are plenty of people with the same problems as me, or worse, and they are poorer, sicker, unluckier, and with dead-end jobs. I can hardly even imagine it.

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

Definitely this has gone up a bit, maybe 50k, but I'll leave as-is. Perhaps will adjust at YE.

_*Stocks - $858,000 (+71,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $130,000
---RRSP: $275,000
---Unreg: $300,000
---DCP: $44,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $102,000
---TFSA: $7,000

Predominately oil stocks driving this big increase in stock value since Dec 2021. I've added the 6000 TFSA and my wife has added a bit of stocks through VCNS

_*Bonds - $98,000 (+22,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $10,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $78,000
---TFSA: $10,000

Have transferred over my wife's $30,000 workplace RRSP, which was just sitting in cash T-bills all along, and put it into VCNS. Been buying VCNS for a few months now in her TFSA as well. So far no good, with plunging bond prices. Hopefully this recent big purchase last week in her RRSP is bottom-ish.

_*Cash - $170,000 (-7,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $163,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $7,000
---RRSP: $0

_*DB Pension - $134,000 (-$15,000)*_
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $90,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $44,000

Pretty big CV dip with surging interest rates.

*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $558,000 (-$6,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $ 1,437,000 ( + $77,000)

Expenses*

2022 Q1 - $25,000

Unexpected expenses, reported above in previous posts already. On track to blow the ~90k annual budget. Hopefully lower expenses in the later half of the year to make up.

We ordered the minivan!  $500 deposit put down. Expected delivered is near the end of 2022...


----------



## diharv

You've probably been asked this before, but why is your wife's TFSA not fully maxed out? What with your massive income and all the non registered assets you have, the TFSA is a gift and should be maxed out I would think. Forgive me for asking if you've addressed this previously.


----------



## peterk

I might've answered that before I don't remember. But the short answer is she's been adding all her disposable income to RRSPs the last 3-4 years, in anticipating of stopping working for having children. Her income was 90-100k, so a good tax refund.

I figure, max that first while it's still deductible, and then tackle the TFSA later with whatever else she makes, plus my contributions eventually.

I could take money out of my unregistered to max her TFSA right now, but I want to keep that account intact for no more ins/outs, plus there's capital gains on most of the holdings in it.

Obviously in hindsight this wasn't the best decision. Could've had significant growth in the TFSA... but I didn't know that 3-4 years ago.


----------



## milhouse

peterk said:


> am trying to stay realistic and not let it go to my head or forget that it could all turn on a dime at any moment with the opinions of the next managers to come along. I've just lucked into work projects that are "visible" to managment, unlike many who work hard and are essential, but are invisible.


This is so true. I've been lucky too that any time that I've had new managers or moved to a different team, I've been fortunate to work on a major project that succeeded, which gave me some initial credibility with my new bosses to built upon. 
The missus on the other hand was very respected in her org but then her VP retired and they also decided to package out her director because the new VP wanted to bring along her right hand person from her previous org to serve as the director. They're from a different industry so they regularly _challenge_ her and her coworkers on historical decisions and practices that were made by her old director and VP. Some of the decisions on the surface looked odd but had method behind the madness and were appropriate for the circumstance. 



peterk said:


> I try to remind myself frequently that there are plenty of people with the same problems as me, or worse, and they are poorer, sicker, unluckier, and with dead-end jobs. I can hardly even imagine it.


+1. I regularly think about the circumstances and privileges I've been afforded that has put me in a position to be able to muse about early retirement while there are so many people dealing with serious crap life is throwing at them.


----------



## peterk

milhouse said:


> +1. I regularly think about the circumstances and privileges I've been afforded that has put me in a position to be able to muse about early retirement while there are so many people dealing with serious crap life is throwing at them.


Yeah. I'm finding it hard to know whether I'm just whining or if I have legit grievances... Either way though, I have no solutions, so I might as well stop whining and keep plugging away at it...

Mostly I think I'm just moaning that I used to have an easy life in my 20s and early 30s, and in the last 2 years there's been a crap load of new responsibility with my family and hardships with covid, work and health... It just all happened at the exact same time...

Sometimes I tell myself "you never know what is coming - it'll probably get better and easier in the future, but actually, it might get worse... today might still be the easiest and best day for the rest of my life, so I better appreciate what there is to appreciate of it."


----------



## off.by.10

peterk said:


> Ay - Life's been a slog for the last while, for two years really, but especially this winter since baby #2 in the fall. Been so tired and negative and grouchy lately. Wife thinks I have/had "male post partum depression". I dunno, maybe she's not wrong...


How's your sleep? I took me a (too long) while to figure this out but poor sleep definitely affects my mood and general mental health. And poor sleep is not the same as not enough sleep. If I get woken up at the wrong times in the night, my body can be reasonably rested but my mind barely rested at all. It's a really weird place to be because if I try to sleep more, it often fails because my body has had enough.

I've found only two things that help: sleeping on a separate floor from the kids every now and then to get high quality sleep. And working out.


----------



## peterk

^ Yeah I definitely get woken up by something almost every night. Sometimes I make it till 4 or 5am and it's not so bad, but usually not. I don't do any nighttime feedings/work, at least not after the first month when I took off work, that's all dear wife since then.

I've slept in the basement before but that's only after multiple bad nights in a row. Might be a good idea actually to just schedule in 1 day a week to go the basement.


----------



## peterk

*Q2 2022*

Pretty substantial money activity this quarter.


Received ~$50k in bonus (gross)
Energy stocks went way up and then back down again
Started a Spousal loan with $100k - invested exclusively in XIU - Already declined 6% - Oops
Took a leave of absence from work - (Today is my first day off. Happy Canada day! Back to work after Thanksgiving)

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

_*Stocks - $910,000 (+52,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $126,000
---RRSP: $266,000
---Unreg: $277,000
---DCP: $39,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $92,000
---TFSA: $16,000
---Unreg: $94,000 ($100,000 Spousal Loan)

Huge Volatility - Currently down $100k or so from a high 2 weeks ago.

+$52k for the Quarter, but we've added $120k from cash/bonds into stocks... so down ~70k

Investing focus into the future now for a couple years will be to add to wife's TFSA and VGRO. Once that's max'd I might think about starting RESPs, but am on the fence about that still.

I'm also in the process of buying ETFs only as I am slowly losing faith in some of my individual stock holdings. I'm not in a big rush to execute this, but will try to transform the portfolio over a couple years to have a high amount of ETFs and small amount of stocks.

_*Bonds - $84,000 (-14,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $9,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $71,000
---TFSA: $4,000

Bonds been declining - painful to watch. Sold her VCNS in TFSA and bought VGRO there - Selling bonds was awful, but the stock decline was too big a carrot to ignore, especially for the TFSA account. Have to remind myself that there's no reason to expect that bonds will "bounce back" like a depressed stock market might just...The only thing that can force bonds up to outperform the YTM is surprise interest rate declines... Stocks meanwhile could have any number of catalysts that lead to a positive outcome.

_*Cash - $87,000 (-83,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $72,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $5,000
---TFSA: $10,000

Transferred $100,000 to my wife through a spousal loan - Invested into XIU.

_*DB Pension - $121,000 (-$13,000)*_
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $79,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $42,000

CV continues to plummet with surging interest rates..

*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $553,000 (-$5,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $ 1,384,000 ( -53,000)

Expenses*

2022 Q2 - $27,900
2022 Q1 - $25,000

On track to blow $100k this year... yikes. This quarter had our property tax bill too. Really hoping I can keep it under $100k. The spending keeps going up, I don't know why. I don't think wife's buying too much crazy stuff and I know I'm not. Must be that inflation everyone's talking about


----------



## londoncalling

Great update Peter and the time off with family is a wise decision. I wish I had taken more time when my family was young then I did. It took a pandemic for me to really put my priorities where I wanted them to be. Enjoy the time as it will go by fast. I went back and read a couple years of posts just to refamiliarize myself with your journey. Looks like things are on track. I did notice that you are always over budget on your spending. I don't believe you have a spending problem but perhaps a budgeting problem. I think you underestimate the cost of home ownership and having a family. I don't think you need to cut spending based on what you have posted but I don't know your day to day spending habits. The reality there is always something to repair with a home and kids will always cost more than we hope. It is not affecting your savings rate too much either as you have money paying down your mortgage and going to savings. One should not live like a pauper or a prince while raising a family. The kids will remember activities and time spent together so one has to find a middle ground. I am sure your Q3 post will be one about how your time off went by so quickly. Lastly, I suggest you fund the RESPs if you have the money. The government top up makes for an outstanding return. Not taking advantage of that opportunity is akin to not taking and employer match option on pension contributions. Perhaps you view it differently and I would be curious to hear your reason for being on the fence. 

Cheers


----------



## m3s

peterk said:


> *Net Worth*
> 
> *TOTAL: $ 1,384,000 ( -53,000)*
> 
> The spending keeps going up, I don't know why. I don't think wife's buying too much crazy stuff and I know I'm not. Must be that inflation everyone's talking about


On the last NW chart I can extrapolate that momentum. Multimillion comes a lot faster than you think after the first 10 years maybe even within 10 with an energy spike

If you look back at how hard it was to get the first $100k NW vs the $100k increments to $1M you probably already see how the snowball picks up momentum

Might be a good period to DCA more of that cash into something. Smith maneuver might be worthwhile tax move if rates are higher (seems like it was forgotten during low rates)


----------



## peterk

londoncalling said:


> Great update Peter and the time off with family is a wise decision. I wish I had taken more time when my family was young then I did. It took a pandemic for me to really put my priorities where I wanted them to be. Enjoy the time as it will go by fast. I went back and read a couple years of posts just to refamiliarize myself with your journey. Looks like things are on track. I did notice that you are *always over budget on your spending. I don't believe you have a spending problem but perhaps a budgeting problem. I think you underestimate the cost of home ownership and having a family. I don't think you need to cut spending based on what you have posted but I don't know your day to day spending habits.* The reality there is always something to repair with a home and kids will always cost more than we hope. It is not affecting your savings rate too much either as you have money paying down your mortgage and going to savings. One should not live like a pauper or a prince while raising a family. The kids will remember activities and time spent together so one has to find a middle ground. I am sure your Q3 post will be one about how your time off went by so quickly. Lastly, I suggest you fund the RESPs if you have the money. *The government top up makes for an outstanding return. Not taking advantage of that opportunity is akin to not taking and employer match option on pension contributions. Perhaps you view it differently and I would be curious to hear your reason for being on the fence.*
> 
> Cheers


Thanks for the thoughtful reply LC! Yeah - I don't have it in me at the moment to figure out exactly where the spending growth is coming from - $20k/yr of it is principle paydown on the mortgage - so not really spending, and $6k is part time daycare. Utilities are much more expensive than previous years, and more than anticipated.

I don't really have a "budget". I only pretend like I do... Really I just say "Woa that's a lot - let's not spend more than that! That's our budget." But...whatever 

Literally the ONLY expensive thing that anyone could possible consider us having that is "above average" for the things we buy and do is this house that we live in. Everything else is ultra cheap and way below average in consumption for our income group...

Honestly I just know that we're so cheap and sensible from the 10 years prior of being cheap and sensible that I'm supremely confident that if $90-$100k is what we need to spend in a year, then I guess that's what it is! Obviously if we were not making as much money then I'd need to think long and hard about austerity, but fortunately that isn't the case.

Regarding RESPs - Firstly I can wait until they're 7 years old and then play catch-up with double contributions, and still get the whole grant. It's literally only $15k for two kids over 15 years, so I'm not really worked up about it either way. I guess more importantly though is that I feel I have too much networth already locked away in RRSP and pension accounts, and I'd rather consider my TFSAs as retirements accounts too. I can't see the next 5 years so clearly for our life plans, so I'd like to keep as much money available for whatever may come, specifically, the thought of just paying out the mortgage fully in 3.5 years once it's up. Lastly, I'm not so sure how I feel about giving the kids a free ride through college or not. I think it'll very much depend on how they're doing in life. I would likely lean more towards just giving them some small partial support through college, and then gifting them a big sum of money a bit later on. Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about yet (oldest kid is 2 lol) but the thought of having $200k in some RESP that my kids expect to be spent on them for schooling is something I'm a bit leary of. I knew a few kids like that when I was in university who were just flush with parental money flowing in, and I think it might've caused them more trouble than good honestly...


----------



## peterk

m3s said:


> On the last NW chart I can extrapolate that momentum. Multimillion comes a lot faster than you think after the first 10 years maybe even within 10 with an energy spike
> 
> If you look back at how hard it was to get the first $100k NW vs the $100k increments to $1M you probably already see how the snowball picks up momentum
> 
> Might be a good period to DCA more of that cash into something. Smith maneuver might be worthwhile tax move if rates are higher (seems like it was forgotten during low rates)


I guess we'll see! Pretty sure I've had outsized returns in the last two years that I wouldn't imagine will continue. Along with adding to my investments from income savings seems to have dwindled as well recently due to cost of living. I can only manage to save 30-40k/year now at most, instead of $60k+ previously.

Also though, my assumption going forward is that my wife never works again - that's highly unlikely. Any income she brings in will be practically 100% straight savings.

No need for Smith maneuvering right now - just paying the minimum payment of my 1% mortgage that I still have 3.5 years to go on... I will probably pay most/all of it off with unregisted assets when the mortgage is up, and then might re-leverage to some extent based on how I feel at the time about markets. So probably won't be engaging in any long-term Smith maneuver scheme, as per the intent.


----------



## scorpion_ca

peterk said:


> Regarding RESPs - Firstly I can wait until they're 7 years old and then play catch-up with double contributions, and still get the whole grant. It's literally only $15k for two kids over 15 years, so I'm not really worked up about it either way.


This is what happened with my nephew. His parents couldn't contribute earlier and now they are trying to catch up by contributing 5k per year. We bought all in one equity ETF in the last couple of years but the value of his RESP is down 5/6k now. He will need to use his RESP starting from 2024. Unfortunately we couldn't utilize the compounding on his account.

One the other hand, my another nephew is two years old and I am managing his RESP account and buying only XEQT with DRIP set up. Glad to see that compounding is working in his account. 

I would suggest to invest early in RESP and let the compounding works for them.


----------



## bigmoneytalks

peterk said:


> Thanks for the thoughtful reply LC! Yeah - I don't have it in me at the moment to figure out exactly where the spending growth is coming from - $20k/yr of it is principle paydown on the mortgage - so not really spending, and $6k is part time daycare. Utilities are much more expensive than previous years, and more than anticipated.
> 
> I don't really have a "budget". I only pretend like I do... Really I just say "Woa that's a lot - let's not spend more than that! That's our budget." But...whatever
> 
> Literally the ONLY expensive thing that anyone could possible consider us having that is "above average" for the things we buy and do is this house that we live in. Everything else is ultra cheap and way below average in consumption for our income group...
> 
> Honestly I just know that we're so cheap and sensible from the 10 years prior of being cheap and sensible that I'm supremely confident that if $90-$100k is what we need to spend in a year, then I guess that's what it is! Obviously if we were not making as much money then I'd need to think long and hard about austerity, but fortunately that isn't the case.
> 
> Regarding RESPs - Firstly I can wait until they're 7 years old and then play catch-up with double contributions, and still get the whole grant. It's literally only $15k for two kids over 15 years, so I'm not really worked up about it either way. I guess more importantly though is that I feel I have too much networth already locked away in RRSP and pension accounts, and I'd rather consider my TFSAs as retirements accounts too. I can't see the next 5 years so clearly for our life plans, so I'd like to keep as much money available for whatever may come, specifically, the thought of just paying out the mortgage fully in 3.5 years once it's up. Lastly, I'm not so sure how I feel about giving the kids a free ride through college or not. I think it'll very much depend on how they're doing in life. I would likely lean more towards just giving them some small partial support through college, and then gifting them a big sum of money a bit later on. Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about yet (oldest kid is 2 lol) but the thought of having $200k in some RESP that my kids expect to be spent on them for schooling is something I'm a bit leary of. I knew a few kids like that when I was in university who were just flush with parental money flowing in, and I think it might've caused them more trouble than good honestly...


You can have 200k and pull any.money to your rrsp. I rather have as much money in resp in case they become inspiring doctors and if that doesn't happen or they don't go to school,I'll just move the money to retirement. Point here is better have more money and be in a position to help.


----------



## peterk

scorpion_ca said:


> This is what happened with my nephew. His parents couldn't contribute earlier and now they are trying to catch up by contributing 5k per year. We bought all in one equity ETF in the last couple of years but the value of his RESP is down 5/6k now. He will need to use his RESP starting from 2024. Unfortunately we couldn't utilize the compounding on his account.
> 
> One the other hand, my another nephew is two years old and I am managing his RESP account and buying only XEQT with DRIP set up. Glad to see that compounding is working in his account.
> 
> I would suggest to invest early in RESP and let the compounding works for them.


Definitely I'll have to think that all through again once the TFSAs are maxed - Probably end of 2023 or so - and then do some RESP spreadsheeting!


----------



## peterk

1/2 Through parental leave now.

Had to phone up EI after 2 months to get them to ram through my EI application - apparently, according to forums, thing are falling apart at Service Canada and EI is pretty much not getting processed within a multi-months time frame unless you call and agitate for yourself. This seems to be a new issue that's developed in the last 6 months. Previously EI for my wife has been a breeze.

Should get $8k from EI for my time off work and about $15k in company top-up when I return after Thanksgiving.

Still no news about my minvan order - on edge waiting for that second vehicle. Luckily I've been able to use my neighbors truck all summer now for projects since they're on vacation.

Finding I'm not accomplishing as much around the house on projects and on personal hobbies as I'd like. Childcare is draining on me, more than going to work most days... I feel like there's constant tension between me and DW anytime I try to do anything, even critically useful things around the house, because it isn't participating in the childcare...Though it might just be me imagining this tension, usually when I talk to her about it she's fine - But regarding home repairs and improvements, it seems like she would still rather me pay service men thousands of dollars (even though I'm not working and we're not making any income) instead of doing it myself, so that I can spend more time alleviating her from the childcare...This is annoying me.

We talked about making a schedule for each of us to block off time to do things privately, but it's not working out, since things are too variable with the children's needs, with the weather and the scopes of each of our personal projects (sometimes indoors sometimes outdoors). And frankly, thinking about a schedule highlights the fact that even though I'm burnt out from doing childcare, she's still doing 3/4 of it (and more like 9/10th of it when I'm working). But it is what it is.


----------



## scorpion_ca

I hope it will get better for you.


----------



## peterk

Thanks scorpion - We certainly can enjoy ourselves some of the time along the way too... The kids are great and I have no regrets, we'll probably even have one more maybe, TBD; just I'm still getting over how it's all much harder than I imagined, and I bring my complaints to CMF since I can't complain in real life. 

Sometimes we talk about wishing our old cat, who we love, would just up and die already because of the little bit of extra work he brings to the household. That's where we're at mentally haha....

Anyways -The kids are beautiful and healthy, my wife is hard working and not crazy, our big fancy house is a lovely place to live (especially during covid) and I have a good job and tons of money. Life's pretty good.


----------



## nobleea

I thought I would get a lot more done in the 2 years that I've been a stay at home dad. With 2 preschool boys (plus another kid in elementary), it's been hard to find more than 1 hr a day to get anything done. The house is barely tidier. Yard is no better than it was before. The dozens of home projects on the plate are not progressing. When your kids are older though and want to spend time with their friends rather than you, you'll miss these days.


----------



## peterk

*Q3 2022*

September was the most pleasant month I've had in the past two years.  No major events, disruptions or illnesses in the family. Got to spend a lot of time outside and get a few chores done. Started potty training our toddler and getting him out of the crib - good activities for before I go back to work later in October, we figured. So that's been a bit chaotic, but we're handling it well I think.

Money was terrible - Just 1 EI cheque coming in, very high spending, dwindling savings, stocks crashing... We spent $2000 or so on unnecessary hobby purchases in the last few months. Needed to talk ourselves into it and give myself permission to do it. Funnily enough, the more I spend on various necessities (>$100,000 this year, it would seem) the more I _want_ to spend, because then I think *"Why the hell am I spending $100,000/yr and I haven't even bought anything I actually wanted to buy??"*

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $735,000 *_*(purchase price)*

_*Stocks - $885,000 (-$25,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $119,000
---RRSP: $279,000
---Unreg: $236,000
---DCP: $40,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $103,000
---TFSA: $16,000
---Unreg: $92,000 ($100,000 Spousal Loan)

No big changes here except that I swapped a small RRSP account of my wife's from VBAL to VGRO recently. I've also talked her into ditching the Tangerine mutual fund that is the bulk of her RRSP, and sending it over to BMO Investorline to invest in VGRO or VBAL as well. This will save her about $1,100/year in fees.

I never intend to do anything with her accounts other than these asset allocation funds, or maybe, at most, broad stock ETFs like XIU or VTI. If I ever start talking on here in the future about monkeying around with her accounts more than this, someone please remind me to stop.  I try to talk to her about it and ask her what she wants to do and explain to her what I'm suggesting, but she doesn't seem to have much interest... pretty much it's just: "OK - just don't lose all my money".

_*Bonds - $72,000 (-$12,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $9,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $59,000
---TFSA: $4,000

_*Cash - $79,000 (-$8,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $65,000
Hers:
---Unreg: $4,000
---TFSA: $10,000

_*DB Pension - $121,000 *_*(No change)*
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $79,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $40,000

Didn't bother looking this up on the company website since I'm not at work right now... will update YE.


*Liabilities*

_Mortgage - $548,000 (-$5,000)_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $ 1,344,000 ( -40,000)

Expenses*

2022 Q3 - $25,200
2022 Q2 - $27,900
2022 Q1 - $25,000

Q3 is only on par because I've managed to delay major expenses slightly, until October. Will definitely blow $100k by a large amount, not including the new minivan purchase even. The van is finally arriving, ahead of schedule, in a few weeks, and I'll need to find the cash to pay for this as I don't think I'll be back to work with any paycheques yet.


----------



## peterk

*Q4 2022 - Year End*

Fairly significant quarter again - They all seem to be these days! Net worth stayed flat, despite: Spending $50k cash on a car, write down of house value by $35k, pension CV dropping, low income in October (coming back to work from parental leave in the summer).

We are pregnant again! And my wife is going back to work again soon (for a few short months).

Am very heavy weighted to stocks now - I wanted to be even heavier and was ready to buy in September, but the above life events this last while prevented me from "backing up the truck". Oh well. I think I'm a bit low on cash now anyways - need to build up again.

I needed to take out a small LOC for $8,000 to cover the car purchase in October. This is almost paid off now. The cash amount below is net of the remaining few thousand to pay off on that LOC (I didn't want to start a separate line item in liabilities that would just be gone again by the next update in 2023).

*Assets*

_*Principle Residence - $700,000 (-$35,000)
*_
Writing down my house value by $35,000. 2020 purchase price was $735,000. This might even be still too optimistic, hopefully not. Will updated again as necessary.


_*Stocks - $1,002,000 (+$117,000)*_
His:
---TFSA: $128,000
---RRSP: $311,000
---Unreg: $275,000
---DCP: $43,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $131,000
---TFSA: $17,000
---Unreg: $97,000 ($100,000 Spousal Loan)

Further consolidated my wife's portfolio. Both RRSP and TFSA are fully VGRO now. No new funds added to stocks other than that. Had very nice returns on energy stocks and S&P 500 since Sept 30th update.

_*Bonds - $46,000 (-$26,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $9,000
Hers:
---RRSP: $33,000
---TFSA: $4,000

Moved wife's RRSP from VBAL to VGRO, so the reduction in bonds.

_*Cash - $20,000 (-$59,000)*_
His:
---Unreg: $6,000 (net of LOC balance - to be paid off shortly)
Hers:
---Unreg: $14,000

Purchased new car in cash this October ($50,500).

I need to build up more of an emergency fund again. This is not enough.


_*DB Pension - $114,000 *_*(-$7,000)*
His:
---DB Pension CV (100% employer funded) : $74,000
---DB Indexing Fund (100% employee funded) : $40,000

CV of my DB pension continues lower...


*Liabilities*

_*Mortgage - $542,000 (-$6,000)*_

*Net Worth*

*TOTAL: $ 1,340,000 ( -$4,000)

Expenses*

2022 Total - $109,100 ($159,600 including vehicle)

2022 Q4 - $31,500 (not including vehicle)
2022 Q3 - $25,200
2022 Q2 - $27,900
2022 Q1 - $25,000

Total spending was higher than I'm used to. But still, we don't do much that's extravagant. Home expenses and child expenses are much higher than I thought they'd be.

I'd estimate that we could cut back $5,000 from unnecessary personal spending on our adult luxuries (hobbies, restaurants, etc.) and maybe another $5,000 on household essentially by only buying the bare minimum and the cheapest things always, but we don't have any intention of doing that. It's too damn hard.

I wish someone explained to me in more detail what "kids are expensive" actually meant! Yes it means buying clothes and food and direct payments for all the things...
But it also means:


Can't buy the large size box of whatevers anymore because they won't fit in the cart with the baby/too hard to hold.
No, it can't wait for the sale next week.
Can't finish shopping - kids need to get home NOW. Will just have to drive back again later.
No time or energy to return wrong item to the store, just toss it in the garage somewhere.
I lost something in this mess of a house, no time to find it, better just buy a new one.
All rooms in the house need heating/AC 24/7
Just go to the more expensive store down the street instead of the cheap one way over there. It's faster and easier.
Out of food by accident on Wednesday - order pizza.
etc. etc.


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