# My Money Journey



## Daryl-Manitoba

Well since I enjoy reading these diaries so much I figured I would do one of these for myself. I’m going to go back to January 2011 and will make a couple posts right off the bat. My goal will be to make a post a few days into the next month for the previous month.

To start off with I will give you a brief bio as of January. I’m 24, my wife is 26 and we have a 3 month old son. We live in rural Manitoba and each drive about 45 minutes to work each day in opposite directions, although currently my wife is on maternity leave. We bought our house in July of 2008 and did extensive renovations to it with lots of help from the father-in-law for a few months following the purchase. The house was reassessed about a year ago when we applied for a HELOC and was appraised at double the purchase value.

Our house is on a 10 year amortization and we are half way through our 5 year term. The rate is Prime -.5% and so we have knocked about a year off the amortization as a result of the low interest rates. The HELOC is at Prime + .5% and holds all of our other debt with the exception of a car loan at 0%. The “other debt” is a combination of student loans, a car loan and renovation expenses.

I don’t have an emergency fund at the moment as all savings is just dumped on the LOC. If we really need money we have thousands of dollars worth of LOC available. Once the LOC is paid off however I do have immediate plans to start building an emergency fund.

As for our assets, I appreciate our house by 0.16% a month or about 2.0% a year. I depreciate our vehicles by 2.5% a month or about 30% a year. Once our debt is paid off we will start putting money into a TFSA and group it with the RRSP as one portfolio in a tax efficient manner with some sort of “couch potato portfolio”. Ideally I don’t want to take money out of either for the long term. Finally I plan to start investing in some Canadian dividends in a non-registered portfolio once my other plans are settled (so this interest is going to be tiny for now). I want to use this income to slowly work towards financial independence. I do have some savings for my son however I keep that separate from our net worth.

Also I want to mention that both my wife and I have DB pension plans with our employers.

Now I’m going to follow this post up with a January post, a February post and then a March post in a couple weeks.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*January 2011*

*January 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.08

*Assets - $107,200*

->Possessions - $101,400
--->House - $83,900
--->Vehicles - $17,500

->Registered - $3,800
--->TFSA - $0
--->RRSP - $3,800

->Non Registered - $2,000
--->Bank Acc. - $2,000
--->Invest Acc. - $0

*Liabilities - $68,900*
->Mortgage - $31,000
->Consumer Debt - $37,900

*Net Worth - $38,300*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$4,491.31 paid onto $31,982.04 = 14% Complete


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*February 2011*

*February 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.59

*Assets - $106,400*

->Possessions - $101,100
--->House - $84,100
--->Vehicles - $17,000

->Registered - $3,800
--->TFSA - $0
--->RRSP - $3,800

->Non Registered - $1,500
--->Bank Acc. - $1,500
--->Invest Acc. - $0

*Liabilities - $64,800*
->Mortgage - $30,600
->Consumer Debt - $34,100

*Net Worth - $41,600*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$8,248.33 paid onto $31,982.04 = 26% Complete


----------



## the-royal-mail

Hi Daryl, thanks for posting. Question: what's a DP pension? Also, it is good that you have a plan. I agree with your approach re the emergency fund and paying things off first (since you have LOC available to you and will build up e tiers later) but have to ask, how the heck did you rack up $64K in consumer debt? That is an enormous amount of money. Please tell me it went to something more worthwhile than e-waste.

Rather than posting each month here, I would suggest setting up a simple excel sheet where you can plot the numbers from your 4 categories and create a graph to see your progress offline. I did this last year when I was losing weight and it was an excellent motivator. That will also be easier to read in the future.

Good luck.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

My bad, that was supposed to be DB Pension Plan. The $64,800 is total liabilities inclusive of the mortgage. The consumer debt is $34,100 and is mainly student loans, a car loan and house renovations.

I actually have a nice little graph in excel, however I wanted to post this here so others can read it and pose questions. It should also help to keep me on track.


----------



## the-royal-mail

Thanks for clarifying - makes perfect sense!

IMO you'll be fine.

Last comment: do you have any timelines after which you want to have accomplished certain $ goals for yourself? Like "$x of debt paid back by date y" and the like.


----------



## DavidJD

Good work Daryl.

I think that a really detailed budget would also be of use to you at this time. You may avoid spending habits that are unsustainable and discover costly things that you did not appreciate before. Likewise you may find ways of earning more income.

Once you and your wife work this out, and then follow and tweak for a couple more months, your plans will be more realistic and tracking your progress more rewarding.

Try to be a detailed as possible at the beginning.

Good luck.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

I have some goals in mind for each of the next five years. By the end of this year I would like to have our LOC paid off, which is about $20,000 of debt. Once the end of the year rolls around I'll create a new 5 year goal and revise the rest of them based on current information.

David I actually do have quite a detailed budget that I've been using since November. It is working out quite well and its amazing to see how much extra money you have at the end of the month, and you begin to question where you wasted your money before.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*March 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.71

*Assets - $106,600*

->Possessions - $100,800
--->House - $84,200
--->Vehicles - $16,600

->Registered - $3,800
--->TFSA - $0
--->RRSP - $3,800

->Non Registered - $2,000
--->Bank Acc. - $2,000
--->Invest Acc. - $0

*Liabilities - $59,900*
->Mortgage - $30,100
->Consumer Debt - $29,800

*Net Worth - $46,700*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC
*$10,281.93 paid onto $31,982.04 = 32% Complete


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*April 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.55 (-22.5%)

*Assets - $105,600 (-0.9%)*

->Possessions - $100,500 (-0.3%)
--->House - $84,300 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $16,200 (-2.4%)

->Registered - $3,800 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,800 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $1,300 (-35.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,300 (-35.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $57,700 (-3.7%)*
->Mortgage - $29,700 (-1.3%)
->Consumer Debt - $28,000 (-6.0%)

*Net Worth - $47,900 (+2.6%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$11,606.26 paid onto $31,982.04 = 36% Complete (+4% to Goal)


----------



## ramy98

I like how each month your are knocking down that consumer debt!
Way to go, keep at it and after you can start saving money.


----------



## steve41

OK Darryl, if you want a proper projection/plan, I need to know...

Gross salary by spouse
amount in rrsp and nonreg (also by spouse)
current ages (of each spouse)
retirement age (estimate)

details of DB pension (%, number of year worked)


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the offer but I'm going to hold off for a bit on that. Over the next 6 months to a year I have quite a few unknowns and all those values could change. With that in mind I think a projection would be much more useful when things have settled down a little bit.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*May 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.54 (-1.8%)

*Assets - $106,200 (+0.6%)*

->Possessions - $100,300 (-0.2%)
--->House - $84,500 (+0.2%)
--->Vehicles - $15,800 (-2.5%)

->Registered - $3,800 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,800 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $2,200 (+69.2%)
--->Bank Acc. - $2,200 (+69.2%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $51,300 (-11.1%)*
->Mortgage - $29,600 (-0.3%)
->Consumer Debt - $21,700 (-22.5%)

*Net Worth - $55,000 (+14.8%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$15,914.35 paid onto $31,982.04 = 50% Complete (+14% to Goal)

Good month this month, tax refunds from this year came in, corrected taxes from previous years and received refunds and collected auto insurance rebates (45% of last years premium). All this worked out to increasing Net Worth up over 50K


----------



## KaeJS

Nice! 

Congratulations on reaching over that $50k mark.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*June 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.33 (-38.9%)

*Assets - $105,700 (-0.5%)*

->Possessions - $100,000 (-0.3%)
--->House - $84,600 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $15,400 (-2.5%)

->Registered - $3,700 (-2.6%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,700 (-2.6%)

->Non Registered - $2,000 (-9.1%)
--->Bank Acc. - $2,000 (-9.1%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $48,800 (-4.9%)*
->Mortgage - $29,000 (-2.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $19,700 (-9.2%)

*Net Worth - $57,000 (+3.6%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$18,508.01 paid onto $31,982.04 = 58% Complete (+8% to Goal)

6 months in and over halfway to my goal, things are looking good.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*July 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.55 (+66.7%)

*Assets - $105,600 (-0.1%)*

->Possessions - $99,700 (-0.3%)
--->House - $84,700 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $15,000 (-2.6%)

->Registered - $3,700 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,700 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $2,100 (+5.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $2,100 (+5.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $46,900 (-3.9%)*
->Mortgage - $28,900 (-0.3%)
->Consumer Debt - $18,000 (-8.6%)

*Net Worth - $58,700 (+3.0%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$19,097.55 paid onto $31,982.04 = 60% Complete (+2% to Goal)

Little bit of a slower month than last month due to a lot of travelling


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*August 2011* 

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.52 (-5.4%)

*Assets - $104,800 (-0.8%)*

->Possessions - $99,500 (-0.2%)
--->House - $84,900 (+0.2%)
--->Vehicles - $14,600 (-2.7%)

->Registered - $3,600 (-2.7%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,600 (-2.7%)

->Non Registered - $1,700 (-19.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,700 (-19.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $45,500 (-3.0%)*
->Mortgage - $28,300 (-2.1%)
->Consumer Debt - $17,200 (-4.4%)

*Net Worth - $59,300 (+1.0%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$19,250.26 paid onto $31,982.04 = 60% Complete (+0% to Goal)

Last couple months have slowed the LoC debt repayment down as we wind out the last few months of my wife's maternity leave. Networth growth still looks good though.


----------



## Karen

You're doing remarkably well, Daryl - I'm impressed!


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*September 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.59 (+13.5%)

*Assets - $104,700 (-0.8%)*

->Possessions - $99,300 (-0.2%)
--->House - $85,000 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $14,300 (-2.1%)

->Registered - $3,500 (-2.8%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,500 (-2.8%)

->Non Registered - $1,900 (+11.8%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,900 (+11.8%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $44,300 (-2.6%)*
->Mortgage - $28,100 (-0.7%)
->Consumer Debt - $16,200 (-5.8%)

*Net Worth - $60,400 (+1.9%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$19,823.87 paid onto $31,982.04 = 62% Complete (+2% to Goal)

Well wife is back to work from her mat leave and so should start seeing some accelerated debt repayment again. Those last few months were a fair bit slower than earlier in the year.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*October 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.58 (-1.7%)

*Assets - $104,400 (-0.3%)*

->Possessions - $99,100 (-0.2%)
--->House - $85,200 (+0.2%)
--->Vehicles - $13,900 (-2.8%)

->Registered - $3,600 (2.9%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,600 (+2.9%)

->Non Registered - $1,700 (-10.5%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,700 (-10.5%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $43,900 (-0.9%)*
->Mortgage - $27,800 (-1.1%)
->Consumer Debt - $16,200 (0.0%)

*Net Worth - $60,500 (+0.2%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$21747.79 paid onto $31,982.04 = 68% Complete (+6% to Goal)


Getting to this one a little late but oh well. Forgot that I would have to squeeze one more month out before I saw the results of my wife's paycheck. Very slight increase in networth this month, however next month is already looking much better.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*November 2011*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.53 (-8.6%)

*Assets - $104,200 (-0.2%)*

->Possessions - $98,800 (-0.3%)
--->House - $85,300 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $13,600 (-2.2%)

->Registered - $3,600 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,600 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $1,700 (0.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,700 (0.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $40,100 (-8.7%)*
->Mortgage - $27,400 (-1.5%)
->Consumer Debt - $12,700 (-21.6%)

*Net Worth - $64,100 (+6.0%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$25,134.04 paid onto $31,982.04 = 79% Complete (+11% to Goal)

Well it looks like the year is rounding out pretty good. Looks like I'm probably going to fall just a little short of my goal but $25,000 is a pretty impressive feat in 11 months, especially when 6 of those months my wife was only collecting EI for maternity leave.


----------



## MoneyGal

Way to go!


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*December 2011
* 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.46 (-13.2%)

*Assets - $103,200 (-1.0%)*

->Possessions - $98,600 (-0.2%)
--->House - $85,400 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $13,200 (-2.9%)

->Registered - $3,500 (-2.8%)
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $3,500 (-2.8%)

->Non Registered - $1,100 (-35.3%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,100 (-35.3%)
--->Invest Acc. - $0 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $38,000 (-5.2%)*
->Mortgage - $27,200 (-0.7%)
->Consumer Debt - $11,200 (-11.8%)

*Net Worth - $65,200 (+1.7%)*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$26,420.84 paid onto $31,982.04 = 83% Complete (+4% to Goal)

Well this is the year end, didn't quite pay off the line of credit but made an impressive attempt. I should be able to get that finished off within the first few months of this new year. I've also added some additional goals.

I want to pay off my other loan that I have which amounts to $3,500 currently. This is expected to grow by about $150 a month until the LoC is paid off and that I should be able to clear it away quickly.

I've been slowly putting money away in a savings account for the past year for putting into an RESP, but I haven't actually pulled the trigger. This year I want to put $4,000 into an RESP for my son.

Also my wife has a DB Pension and she can buy back the service from when she was on maternity leave. I would like to get this funded. I believe this is about $6,300 total, however we are going to transfer over her current RRSP filled with mutual funds. This should leave about $4,000.

I would also like to get atleast one stock enrolled in a Canadian DRIP plan outside of a broker account. Currently I have a list of about 20 that I'm looking at, need to decide on which ones I'm interested in an buy them.

Finally I want to make sure that I don't acquire any new debt this year. However I am willing to entertain two exceptions to this rule depending on the circumstances.
1) A new mortgage
2) A tax deductible investment loan

*New 2012 Financial Goals*
No New Debt
Acquire Canadian DRIP
Pay off LoC – $5,561.20
Pay off other Loan – $3,500.00
Fund Pension Buy Back ~$3,500.00
Invest $4,000 into RESP


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*January 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $0.58 (+26.1%)

*Assets - $103,800 (+0.6%) [-3.2%]*

->Possessions - $98,400 (-0.2%) [-3.0%]
--->House - $85,600 (+0.2%) [+2.0%]
--->Vehicles - $12,900 (-2.3%) [-26.3%]

->Registered - $3,700 (+5.7%) [-2.6%]
--->TFSA - $0 (0.0%) [0.0%]
--->RRSP - $3,700 (-5.7%) [-2.6%]

->Non Registered - $1,600 (+45.5%) [-20.0%]
--->Bank Acc. - $1,400 (-27.3%) [-30.0%]
--->Invest Acc. - $200 (+∞%) [+∞%]

*Liabilities - $37,300 (-1.8%) [-45.9%]*
->Mortgage - $26,700 (-1.8%) [-13.9%]
->Consumer Debt - $10,600 (-5.4%) [-72.0%]

*Net Worth - $66,500 (+2.0%) [+73.6%]*

*2011 Financial Goal - Pay off LoC*
$26,420.84 paid onto $31,982.04 = 83% Complete (+4% to Goal)

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – 135.96 paid onto $5,561.20 = 2% Complete (+2% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3,500.00
Fund Pension Buy Back ~$4,000.00
Invest $4,000 into RESP

Overall a pretty good month, what isn’t shown here is that I had just under $2,000 worth of car repairs and it didn’t harm my Net Worth all that much. As a result of the car repairs the LoC payoff was a little slow this month. 

I also enrolled in a few Canadian DRIPs directly through the transfer agents. Not planning on doing any actual purchases in these just yet but want to have them on hand for when I do.

Since it has been a full years since I started reporting this, I’ve also included the 1 year percent change as part of this Net Worth update (that is the second percentage in square brackets). So basically over the last year, assets have remained pretty flat, mostly due to the amount of vehicle depreciation. Liabilities have been annihilated by over 45% with consumer debt being annihilated by over 70%. As a result of this Net Worth has increased by over 70% in the last year.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*February 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
Unregistered Investment Income - $1.78 (+206.9%)

*Assets - $101,200 (-2.5%)*

->Possessions - $98,300 (-0.1%)
--->House - $85,700 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $12,600 (-2.3%)

->Registered - $1,500 (-59.5%)
--->TFSA - $100 (+∞%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (-62.1%)

->Non Registered - $2,400 (+50.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $2,200 (-57.1%)
--->Invest Acc. - $200 (+0.0%)

*Liabilities - $35,300 (-5.4%)*
->Mortgage - $26,300 (-1.5%)
->Consumer Debt - $9,000 (-15.1%)

*Net Worth - $66,900 (+0.6%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – 199.42 paid onto $5,561.20 = 4% Complete (+2% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3,800.00
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto ~$4,000.00 = 57% (+57% to Goal)
Invest $4,000 into RESP

Well this month I got the RRSP transferred over to the RPP and so now I just have about 1,800 that I need to come up with to pay that off. It was car insurance month this month as well so that put quite a dent into our cash flow.

I collected my first dividend this month, a grand total of $0.70 which has been invested back into itself through the DRIP plan. The increases on my other loan should be done now too so that should start going down in the next couple months.

Finally I put a little bit of a start into my TFSA account as well. As I start to accumulate some savings, this will be the location that it gets parked.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*March 2012*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $2.59 (+45.5%)

*Assets - $104,900 (+3.7%)*

->Possessions - $98,100 (-0.2%)
--->House - $85,800 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $12,300 (-2.4%)

->Registered - $1,900 (+26.7%)
--->TFSA - $500 (+400.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $4,900 (+104.2%)
--->Bank Acc. - $4,700 (+113.6%)
--->Invest Acc. - $200 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $37,500 (+6.2%)*
->Mortgage - $25,900 (-1.5%)
->Investment LoC - $1,000 (+∞%)
->Consumer Debt - $10,500 (+16.7%)

*Net Worth - $67,500 (+0.9%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – 978.73 paid onto $5,561.20 = 18% Complete (+14% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $300.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 8% Complete (+8% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto ~$4,000.00 = 57% (+0% to Goal)
Invest $4,000 into RESP

This should be the last of the slow months for a little bit, I think I have all of the large annual bills taken care of for now. I took advantage of a 0% Balance Transfer and temporarily paid off my line of credit, the credit card will need to be repaid by May 2013. This would be the reason that I have a little more cash lying around this month compared to previous month.

I made my first contributions to my DRIP plans this month; however the payments haven’t been processed yet. These payments have been funded from my investment LoC.

As it stands right now the debt payoff is going to slow for a bit and I am going to begin some asset growth instead. The reason being is that all my current debt is low interest, no interest or tax deductible.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*April 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $2.26 (-12.7%)

*Assets - $106,500 (+1.5%)*

->Possessions - $97,900 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,000 (+0.2%)
--->Vehicles - $11,900 (-3.3%)

->Registered - $1,900 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $500 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $6,700 (+36.7%)
--->Bank Acc. - $5,500 (+17.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $1,200 (+500.0%)

*Liabilities - $36,400 (-2.9%)*
->Mortgage - $25,600 (-1.2%)
->Investment LoC - $1,000 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $9,800 (-6.7%)

*Net Worth - $70,100 (+3.9%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – 2183.15 paid onto $5,561.20 = 39% Complete (+17% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 21% Complete (+13% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto ~$4,000.00 = 57% (+0% to Goal)
Invest $4,000 into RESP

I’ve changed my Unregistered Investment Income so that it is now my trailing 6 months of income instead of just the last month. This should better reflect changes since most dividends are paid quarterly. 

This month was definitely an improvement over the previous few months. Finally broke the 70K mark which is excellent. The payments for my DRIP plans were processed this month and so my unregistered DRIP plans increased quite drastically.

I’ve noticed that I am actually accumulating cash in my bank accounts now, which is something we’ve never really been able to do. Not quite enough to fully pay back the 0% balance transfer yet but getting close. Debt goals are coming along nicely and so far I'm on track to meet them.


----------



## Young&Ambitious

Hi Daryl,

I am curious, what are the possessions? Eg. art pieces? I wonder if their market value is as stated on your balance sheet.


----------



## Spudd

Young&Ambitious said:


> Hi Daryl,
> 
> I am curious, what are the possessions? Eg. art pieces? I wonder if their market value is as stated on your balance sheet.


It's his house and car, they are sub-bullets of the "possessions" bullet.


----------



## marina628

Glad to see you stuck with this and have updated it.Always good to have some cash on hand


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

Y&A, Spudd has it right, just a heading for my House and Car.

I've been at this for almost a year and a half now, its a slow process but with each passing month, things get a little easier, even in the rough months. Not sure what it is but it seems like every few months we have something new come up that sinks some of our savings, not enough to concern us now, however I can't imagine how screwed we would have been at this point if I didn't change things up a year and a half ago.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*May 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $3.80 (+68.1%)

*Assets - $106,500 (0.0%)*

->Possessions - $97,700 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,000 (0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $11,600 (-2.5%)

->Registered - $1,900 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $600 (+20.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $6,900 (+3.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $5,700 (+3.6%)
--->Invest Acc. - $1,200 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $35,600 (-2.2%)*
->Mortgage - $25,200 (-1.6%)
->Investment LoC - $1,000 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $9,400 (-4.1%)

*Net Worth - $70,900 (+1.1%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $2983.62 paid onto $5,561.20 = 54% Complete (+15% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $1000.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 26% Complete (+5% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto ~$4,000.00 = 57% (+0% to Goal)
Invest $4,000 into RESP

This was a little bit of a slower month, but still positive so good overall. I’ve slowed down my house growth from 0.16%/month (~2%/year) to 0.08%/month (~1%/year). This should help cover me if the house is not worth as much in the future, and should also help cover some fees if we sell it.

This month I received a dividend for $4.00. This is the first time I’ve received a dividend for more than just my single starter share. My debt payoff goal is on target as it stands right now.

I went in and got the account opened for my son’s RESP and sent in the paperwork to get it converted to an e-series account.


----------



## jet powder

Hi Daryl

I have a lot of respect for people like you that take responsibility & examine thier plan & develope one for being financialy independent.

Not everyone considers a house an asset (asset put money into pocket, liability takes it out) insurance, taxes, maintenance etc takes money out of your pocket. Of course having a place to live will most likely be a liability. The smaller the liability the better. The problem with putting the house as an asset it can fool people if they do not undestand it might be a bigger liability then they realize. Not realy sure of the best way to put it dowm maybe list under assets but also put monthly or yearly liability in brackets next to it & perhaps also the % amount it is increasing or decreasing monthly. One could even do a chart for their home showing expenses a red line & blue line showing increase or decrease in value.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*June 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $4.89 (+28.7%)

*Assets - $110,900 (+4.1%)*

->Possessions - $97,500 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,100 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $11,400 (-1.7%)

->Registered - $2,000 (+5.3%)
--->TFSA - $700 (+16.7%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $11,400 (+65.2%)
--->Bank Acc. - $10,200 (+78.9%)
--->Invest Acc. - $1,200 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $36,900 (+3.7%)*
->Mortgage - $24,800 (-1.6%)
->Investment LoC - $3,000 (+200.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $9,000 (-4.3%)

*Net Worth - $74,000 (+4.4%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $3278.99 paid onto $5,561.20 = 59% Complete (+5% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $1000.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 26% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto $3,913.90 = 58% (+1% to Goal)
RESP – $100.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 3% (+3% to Goal)

Overall this was a very good month with a fair bit of growth. Unregistered investment income was up a fair bit as well. Our mortgage has one year left on it until renewal so hopefully we can do some real damage to that in the next 12 months (I sense a goal for the first half of 2013).

I got the RESP opened up for my son and it is now converted to an E-series account. Besides one little hiccup the process was pretty smooth. I’ve put $100 into this account and I’m going to wait for the Education Savings Grant to show up before I put more in there just to make sure everything is working right.

My Investment LoC rose this month as I have a bunch of optional cash purchases pending on my unregistered shares. These should be purchased at quite a discount as most of the prices are quite depressed from a few months ago.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*July 2012*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $9.54 (+95.1%)

*Assets - $111,700 (+0.7%)*

->Possessions - $97,300 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,200 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $11,100 (-2.6%)

->Registered - $2,300 (+15.0%)
--->TFSA - $900 (+28.6%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $12,100 (+6.1%)
--->Bank Acc. - $9,500 (-6.9%)
--->Invest Acc. - $2,700 (+125.0%)

*Liabilities - $36,000 (-2.4%)*
->Mortgage - $24,500 (-1.2%)
->Investment LoC - $3,000 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $8,600 (-4.4%)

*Net Worth - $75,600 (+2.2%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5471.90 paid onto $5,561.20 = 98% Complete (+39% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $2800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 74% Complete (+48% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto $3,913.90 = 58% (+0% to Goal)
RESP – $100.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 3% (+0% to Goal)

This was another good month for the year. There were a lot of dividends this month, so a big increase in the unregistered department this month. We also got a lot closer to our debt payoff goals with being able to put some of the gas and daycare money on them. My wife is a teacher so in the summer work expenses go down and we don’t have daycare anymore.

The RESP still hasn’t been funded anymore than the $100. I’m going to wait a few more days and five them a call if the CESG grant doesn’t show up.

Since things never go as planned, I’m expecting that the second half of this year will definitely slow down in the networth growth department. My wife and I will both be taking leaves from work and will be living off a very small percentage of what we currently make. I’m hopeful that I can keep the networth growing positively however, even if we don’t, I’m not expecting to get too far into the red.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*August 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $12.64 (+32.5%)

*Assets - $111,600 (-0.1%)*

->Possessions - $97,000 (-0.3%)
--->House - $86,200 (0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $10,800 (-2.7%)

->Registered - $2,800 (+21.7%)
--->TFSA - $1,400 (+55.6%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $11,800 (-2.5%)
--->Bank Acc. - $8,800 (-7.4%)
--->Invest Acc. - $3,000 (+11.1%)

*Liabilities - $35,300 (-1.9%)*
->Mortgage - $24,100 (-1.6%)
->Investment LoC - $3,000 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $8,200 (-4.7%)

*Net Worth - $76,200 (+0.8%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100% Complete (+2% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3000.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 79% Complete (+5% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 2265.95 paid onto $3,913.90 = 58% (+0% to Goal)
RESP – $1600.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 40% (+37% to Goal)

This was another decent month. We cleared away one payment off our balance sheet due to the fact that we made our last car payment this month (hopefully forever). Our unregistered investment income continues to grow which is nice to see, also helps that our investments in Canadian banks also all rewarded us with a dividend increases this quarter.

I confirmed that we got the CESG grant in the RESP account and I finally got another $1500 put into that account. I’m planning to put another large payment into that shortly.

Finally we are just tuning down our expenses to meet our income levels for the next few months. It is going to be tight but overall looks like we won’t be going into the red if my projections are on track.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*September 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $13.60 (+7.5%)

*Assets - $114,400 (+2.5%)*

->Possessions - $96,800 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,300 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $10,500 (-2.8%)

->Registered - $2,900 (+3.6%)
--->TFSA - $1,400 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,500 (+7.1%)

->Non Registered - $14,700 (+24.6%)
--->Bank Acc. - $11,700 (+33.0%)
--->Invest Acc. - $3,000 (+0.0%)

*Liabilities - $35,800 (+1.4%)*
->Mortgage - $23,700 (-1.7%)
->Investment LoC - $4,000 (+33.3%)
->Consumer Debt - $8,000 (-2.4%)

*Net Worth - $78,600 (+3.1%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100% Complete (+2% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 100% Complete (+21% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 3265.95 paid onto $3,913.90 = 83% (+25% to Goal)
RESP – $3100.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 78% (+38% to Goal)

Overall a very good month for knocking down some goals. Amazing what you can do when you get rid of the daily commuting even on a very reduced income. All debts have been paid off, and Pension Buy Back and RESP only have a little left on them.

Good Net Worth gain this month overall as well. I increase my investment LoC by another $1,000 although the purchases have not been processed yet.

As a result of the leaves from work, life is in a bit of turmoil but I think we are going to make it through this alright from the looks of it.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*October 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $18.66 (+7.5%)

*Assets - $116,500 (+1.8%)*

->Possessions - $96,600 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,400 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $10,300 (-1.9%)

->Registered - $2,900 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $1,400 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (-6.7%)

->Non Registered - $16,900 (+15.0%)
--->Bank Acc. - $12,700 (+8.5%)
--->Invest Acc. - $4,200 (+40.0%)

*Liabilities - $35,200 (-1.7%)*
->Mortgage - $23,200 (-2.1%)
->Investment LoC - $4,000 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $8,000 (0.0%)

*Net Worth - $81,300 (+3.4%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 3913.90 paid onto $3,913.90 = 100% (+17% to Goal)
RESP – $3400.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 85% (+7% to Goal)

A little late on this one but once again a good month, especially considering we are on a reduced income. Apparently most of what we make just goes to working expenses. We knocked another goal off this list this month, so there is one remaining for the year.

Liabilities are at a new low now and assets are at an all-time high. Consumer debt is essentially level at this point and will remain that way until my 0% interest balance transfer offer expires in May.

Time to start thinking about goals for 2013.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*November 2012*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $20.57 (+10.2%)

*Assets - $117,500 (+0.9%)*

->Possessions - $96,500 (-0.1%)
--->House - $86,500 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $10,000 (-2.9%)

->Registered - $2,900 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $1,500 (+7.1%)
--->RRSP - $1,400 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $18,100 (+7.1%)
--->Bank Acc. - $13,900 (+9.4%)
--->Invest Acc. - $4,200 (+0.0%)

*Liabilities - $34,900 (-0.9%)*
->Mortgage - $23,000 (-0.9%)
->Investment LoC - $4,100 (+2.5%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,800 (-2.5%)

*Net Worth - $82,600 (+1.6%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 3913.90 paid onto $3,913.90 = 100% (+0% to Goal)
RESP – $3700.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 93% (+8% to Goal)

This again was another good month with some decent growth. Our assets are once again up to a new record level and our liabilities are now down to a new record level. We inched our one remaining goal closer to being done and should have no problems getting that done for the end of the year. 

This coming month will see another group of investments into my unregistered DRIPs and so that will once again increase my liabilities. 

Still impressed that this is what we can do with such a shattered income.


----------



## YYC

Very nice work. Only comment I might have is does it make sense to keep appreciating the house by 2% a year in this real estate market? I'm not sure that's a realistic expectation anymore.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

I actually dropped it to only 1% appreciation in the spring which could still be high, but does put it closer to where it should be.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*December 2012*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $21.04 (+2.3%)

*Assets - $118,400 (+0.8%)*

->Possessions - $96,300 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,500 (0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $9,800 (-2.0%)

->Registered - $3,000 (+3.4%)
--->TFSA - $1,600 (+6.7%)
--->RRSP - $1,500 (+7.1%)

->Non Registered - $19,100 (+5.5%)
--->Bank Acc. - $14,800 (+6.5%)
--->Invest Acc. - $4,300 (+2.4%)

*Liabilities - $35,500 (+1.7%)*
->Mortgage - $22,600 (-1.7%)
->Investment LoC - $5,100 (+24.4%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,800 (0.0%)

*Net Worth - $82,900 (+0.4%)*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan.
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Pay off other Loan – $3800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 100% Complete (+0% to Goal)
Fund Pension Buy Back 3913.90 paid onto $3,913.90 = 100% (+0% to Goal)
RESP – $4000.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 100% (+7% to Goal)

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year.
RESP – Valued at $10,000, so increase by $4,553.87
TFSA – Valued at $5,000, so increase by $2,879.47
Mortgage – Under $18,000, so decrease by $4,250.04
Networth – Valued at $100,0000, so increase by $17,112
Unregistered Income – Over $40.00/month, so increase by $18.96

Well overall this was a decent month. Not much growth but we did manage to knock off our last goal for the 2012 year. Investment LoC was up another 1,000 this month as I sent a new set of cheques off to my DRIPs. Next month also see me back at work again so we will be back to having an income along with my wife’s maternity benefits. I think overall we survived that dual leave with no problems, amazing actually.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*January 2013*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $23.32 (+10.8%)

*Assets - $121,900 (+3.0%) [+17.4%]*

->Possessions - $96,100 (-0.2%) [-2.1%]
--->House - $86,600 (+0.1%) [+1.2%]
--->Vehicles - $9,500 (-3.1%) [-26.4%]

->Registered - $3,700 (+23.3%) [0.0%]
--->TFSA - $2,100 (+31.3%) [+∞%]
--->RRSP - $1,500 (0.0%) [-59.5%]

->Non Registered - $22,100 (+15.7%) [+1281.3%] 
--->Bank Acc. - $16,800 (+13.5%) [+1100.0%]
--->Invest Acc. - $5,400 (+25.6%) [+2600.0%]

*Liabilities - $35,000 (-1.4%) [-6.2%]*
->Mortgage - $22,300 (-1.3%) [-16.5%]
->Investment LoC - $5,100 (0.0%) [+∞%]
->Consumer Debt - $7,700 (-1.3%) [-27.4%]

*Net Worth - $86,900 (+4.8%) [+30.7%]*

*2012 Financial Goals*
Don’t acquire any other debt beside Mortgage and possible a tax deductible investment loan. - Complete
Pay off LoC – $5561.20 paid onto $5,561.20 = 100%
Pay off other Loan – $3800.00 paid onto $3,800.00 = 100%
Fund Pension Buy Back 3913.90 paid onto $3,913.90 = 100%
RESP – $4000.00 of $4,000.00 Invested = 100%

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year.
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $253.00 of $4,553.87 = 6% (+6% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $17.88 of $2,879.47 = 1% (+1% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $0.00 of $4,250.04 = 0% (+0% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $0.00 of $17,112 = 0% (+0% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $2.28 of $18.96 = 12% (+12% to Goal)

Good start to the year; really good to see the gains again once I was back at work. I had lots of dividends coming in this month so drove that unregistered income up quite a bit. The numbers in the square brackets compare to the values from 1 year ago. Some pretty good gains with Assets increasing 17%, liabilities decreasing 6% leading to a total networth increase of 31% from last year. 2011 was all about debt payoff, 2012 was all about filling up the bank accounts, now for 2013.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*February 2013*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $23.87 (+2.4%)

*Assets - $125,500 (+3.0%)*

->Possessions - $95,900 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,700 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $9,300 (-2.1%)

->Registered - $3,800 (+2.7%)
--->TFSA - $2,300 (+9.5%)
--->RRSP - $1,600 (+6.7%)

->Non Registered - $25,700 (+16.3%)
--->Bank Acc. - $20,200 (+20.2%)
--->Invest Acc. - $5,500 (+1.9%)

*Liabilities - $34,500 (-1.4%)*
->Mortgage - $21,800 (-2.2%)
->Investment LoC - $5,100 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,600 (-1.3%)

*Net Worth - $91,000 (+4.7%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year.
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $762.97 of $4,553.87 = 17% (+11% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $236.08 of $2,879.47 = 8% (+7% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $473.06 of $4,250.04 = 11% (+11% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $8116.00 of $17,112 = 47% (+47% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $2.83 of $18.96 = 15% (+3% to Goal)

Overall this was a very good month with some large growth on the networth. Goals are coming along nicely. I’m thinking that the networth of 100,000 goal is going to be a lot easier than I was thinking. Although the second half of the year will have much slower growth. Our liabilities are the lowest they have ever been our assets are as high as they have ever been.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*March 2013*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $24.40 (+2.2%)

*Assets - $128,600 (+2.5%)*

->Possessions - $95,800 (-0.1%)
--->House - $86,700 (0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $9,000 (-3.2%)

->Registered - $4,000 (+5.3%)
--->TFSA - $2,400 (+4.3%)
--->RRSP - $1,600 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $28,900 (+12.5%)
--->Bank Acc. - $23,300 (+15.3%)
--->Invest Acc. - $5,600 (+1.8%)

*Liabilities - $34,900 (+1.2%)*
->Mortgage - $21,300 (-2.3%)
->Investment LoC - $6,100 (+19.6%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,500 (-1.3%)

*Net Worth - $93,700 (+3.0%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year.
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $1186.54 of $4,553.87 = 26% (+9% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $246.56 of $2,879.47 = 9% (+1% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $951.53 of $4,250.04 = 22% (+11% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $10,809.00 of $17,112 = 63% (+16% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $3.36 of $18.96 = 18% (+3% to Goal)

Another month of good gains. I did another group of optional cash purchases on my DRIPs and so our liabilities did increase a bit this month. Assets are continuing to climb with a fair bit sitting in cash in the bank accounts. It seems strange having so much cash lying around, but the plan is to purchase a car out right in a few months. Completed our income tax this month and we will be getting a fairly decent refund which will come close to finishing off that net worth goal.

The mortgage renewal is coming up soon too, got the 120 day early renewal offer, that I will pass on for now. I will stick with my 2.5% rather than early renewing at 3.0%. I don’t really expect the rates to move much, and if they do, who cares, it is only 20,000.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*April 2013*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $26.50 (+8.6%)

*Assets - $133,900 (+4.1%)*

->Possessions - $95,600 (-0.2%)
--->House - $86,800 (0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $8,800 (-2.2%)

->Registered - $4,100 (+2.5%)
--->TFSA - $2,500 (+4.2%)
--->RRSP - $1,600 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $34,300 (+18.7%)
--->Bank Acc. - $28,000 (+20.2%)
--->Invest Acc. - $6,300 (+12.5%)

*Liabilities - $34,400 (-1.4%)*
->Mortgage - $20,800 (-2.3%)
->Investment LoC - $6,100 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,500 (0.0%)

*Net Worth - $99,500 (+6.2%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year.
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $1589.03 of $4,553.87 = 35% (+9% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $329.89 of $2,879.47 = 11% (+2% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $1426.60 of $4,250.04 = 34% (+12% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $16,653.00 of $17,112 = 97% (+34% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $5.46 of $18.96 = 29% (+11% to Goal)

Some pretty large gains this month, mostly due to getting a large income tax refund. Large refunds aren’t a great thing to get in the grand scheme of things, however there wasn’t much opportunity to mitigate that this year. 

From the looks of it the Networth goal is about as good as done at this point, as long as I don’t have a fall back at any point. Mortgage and RESP and Income goals are right on track, TFSA is lagging behind but I think I should be able to make that up in pretty short order.

It is also time to get out there and buy a car so that will probably be reflected in the next update, the key is to do that without taking on debt which shouldn’t be an issue with my current cash balance.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*May 2013*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $26.40 (-0.4%)

*Assets - $134,400 (+0.4%)*

->Possessions - $103,300 (+8.1%)
--->House - $86,900 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $16,400 (+86.4%)

->Registered - $4,300 (+4.9%)
--->TFSA - $2,600 (+4.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,700 (+6.3%)

->Non Registered - $26,800 (-21.9%)
--->Bank Acc. - $20,100 (-28.2%)
--->Invest Acc. - $6,600 (+4.8%)

*Liabilities - $33,900 (-1.5%)*
->Mortgage - $20,300 (-2.4%)
->Investment LoC - $6,100 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $7,400 (-1.3%)

*Net Worth - $100,500 (+1.0%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year. - Complete
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $2090.64 of $4,553.87 = 46% (+11% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $485.19 of $2,879.47 = 17% (+6% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $1904.09 of $4,250.04 = 45% (+11% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $17,112.00 of $17,112 = 100% (+3% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $5.36 of $18.96 = 28% (-1% to Goal)

A few things of note this month. First we crossed the $100,000 net worth mark, thus completing our first goal of 2013. Secondly we bought a new (used) car, and paid for it in cash, this completing another goal.

As a result of deploying said cash on a car purchase, our Unregistered Investment Income slid by 10 cents this month, which in the grand scheme of thing is pretty damn good. Stock market was up a fair but and I can actually start seeing the market causing small changes in my portfolio. The value of my portfolio is not just a measure of how much savings I’ve put in each month.

It is time to pay off our 0% balance transfer this next month which will drop a significant portion of our debt. Quite a few of our annual expenses come up at this time of year so growth should be slow for the next few months, but should take off again in the fall.


----------



## b_foot

Nicely done. wish that we started saving sooner


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*June 2013*
 
*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $25.74 (-2.5%)

*Assets - $129,900 (-3.3%)*

->Possessions - $102,900 (-0.4%)
--->House - $86,900 (0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $16,000 (-2.4%)

->Registered - $4,300 (0.0%)
--->TFSA - $2,600 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,600 (-5.9%)

->Non Registered - $22,700 (-15.3%)
--->Bank Acc. - $16,200 (-19.4%)
--->Invest Acc. - $6,500 (-1.5%)

*Liabilities - $29,100 (-14.2%)*
->Mortgage - $19,900 (-2.0%)
->Investment LoC - $7,200 (+18.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $2,100 (-71.6%)

*Net Worth - $100,800 (+0.3%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year. - Complete
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $2399.98 of $4,553.87 = 53% (+7% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $511.16 of $2,879.47 = 18% (+1% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $2381.19 of $4,250.04 = 56% (+11% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $17,112.00 of $17,112 = 100% (+3% to Goal)
Unregistered Income – Increased $4.70 of $18.96 = 25% (-3% to Goal)

So we paid off our balance transfer credit card this month, so that represents a significant drop in liabilities. The is still just a little remaining due to needing to shift cash around, but that should be cleared up next month. 

Our unregistered investment income was down again this month as a result of deploying cash into a car purchase and paying off debt. In the grand scheme of thing, this isn’t that bad, but it will make it difficult to hit my target goal by the end of the year.

Coming up on our last couple months of my wife being off work, and then we will be back to both commuting and a significant chunk of daycare each month. I believe it still leaves us with better net cash flow that we have currently but it is hard to say.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*July 2013*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $27.61 (+7.3%)

*Assets - $124,900 (-3.8%)*

->Possessions - $102,600 (-0.3%)
--->House - $87,000 (+0.1%)
--->Vehicles - $15,600 (-2.5%)

->Registered - $4,500 (+4.7%)
--->TFSA - $2,800 (+7.7%)
--->RRSP - $1,700 (+6.3%)

->Non Registered - $17,800 (-21.6%)
--->Bank Acc. - $9,900 (-38.9%)
--->Invest Acc. - $7,800 (+20.0%)

*Liabilities - $24,000 (-17.5%)*
->Mortgage - $16,400 (-17.6%)
->Investment LoC - $7,200 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $500 (-76.2%)

*Net Worth - $100,900 (+0.1%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year. - Complete
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $2883.37 of $4,553.87 = 63% (+10% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $679.08 of $2,879.47 = 24% (+6% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $4,250.04 of $4,250.04 = 100% (+44% to Goal)
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $17,112.00 of $17,112 = 100% Complete
Unregistered Income – Increased $6.57 of $18.96 = 35% (+10% to Goal)

Well, where to start. Mortgage came up for renewal so we made a lump sum payment completing another goal for the year. Liquid assets continue to drop as a result of paying off debt. Unregistered investment income is climbing again as a result of increased dividends.

We have some life changing decisions in our near future. We are going to buy a house in a new town that will half the distance to my wife’s work. I am going to resign from my job and stay at home for the moment looking after the kids and getting settled in.

At the moment not sure how long I’ll be off work. We are just going to play things by ear for now. This life transition should all be occurring over the space of the next couple months.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*August 2013*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $27.33 (-1.0%)

*Assets - $125,900 (+0.8%)*

->Possessions - $102,200 (-0.4%)
--->House - $87,000 (+0.0%)
--->Vehicles - $15,200 (-2.6%)

->Registered - $4,600 (+2.2%)
--->TFSA - $2,900 (+3.6%)
--->RRSP - $1,700 (0.0%)

->Non Registered - $19,000 (+6.7%)
--->Bank Acc. - $11,200 (+13.1%)
--->Invest Acc. - $7,800 (0.0%)

*Liabilities - $24,800 (+3.3%)*
->Mortgage - $15,800 (-3.7%)
->Investment LoC - $7,200 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $1,800 (+260.0%)

*Net Worth - $101,061 (+0.2%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year. - Complete
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $3325.04 of $4,553.87 = 73% (+10% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $767.09 of $2,879.47 = 27% (+3% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $4,250.04 of $4,250.04 = 100% Complete
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $17,112.00 of $17,112 = 100% Complete
Unregistered Income – Increased $6.29 of $18.96 = 33% (-2% to Goal)

So we are on the verge of taking possession of our new home. I expect my finances to go a little wonky for the next few months but then everything should hopefully balance out. 

Our liabilities went up a little bit as we were hording cash a bit for our down payment. Our unregistered investment income also went down slightly too. This is still mainly due to the reduction of cash we have as a result of our car purchase earlier this year.

On the good news side of things, that RESP is still on track and I don’t think we will have any problems meeting that goal by end of year.

Looking forward to the roller coaster we should have over the next few months.


----------



## Daryl-Manitoba

*September 2013*

*Income*
2009 Total Household Income - $74,000
2010 Total Household Income - $88,700 (+19.9%)
2011 Total Household Income - $89,600 (+1.0%)
2012 Total Household Income - $94,100 (+5.0%)

Unregistered Investment Income - $26.48 (-3.1%)

*Assets - $305,500 (+142.7%)*

->Possessions - $291,800 (+185.5%)
--->Houses - $276,900 (+218.3%)
--->Vehicles - $14,800 (-2.6%)

->Registered - $4,700 (+2.2%)
--->TFSA - $2,900 (0.0%)
--->RRSP - $1,800 (+5.9%)

->Non Registered - $9,100 (-52.1%)
--->Bank Acc. - $1,000 (-91.1%)
--->Invest Acc. - $8,100 (+3.8%)

*Liabilities - $204,000 (+722.6%)*
->Mortgage - $165,300 (+946.2%)
->Investment LoC - $7,200 (0.0%)
->Consumer Debt - $31,500 (+1650.0%)

*Net Worth - $101,500 (+0.4%)*

*2013 Financial Goals*
Buy car and pay off by end of year. - Complete
RESP ($10,000) – Increased $3868.32 of $4,553.87 = 85% (+12% to Goal)
TFSA ($5,000) – Increased $781.23 of $2,879.47 = 27% (+0% to Goal)
Mortgage ($18,000) – Decreased $4,250.04 of $4,250.04 = 100% Complete
Networth ($100,000) – Increased $17,112.00 of $17,112 = 100% Complete
Unregistered Income – Increased $5.44 of $18.96 = 29% (-4% to Goal)

Well we’ve taken possession of our new home now, so our assets are through the roof (no pun intended). Unfortunately that comes with a fairly sizable mortgage as well. We borrowed money from our HELOC for part of the down payment and rather than change things around in my spread sheet, it is just being included in consumer debt.

Physiologically that should also help to pay it off faster because I don’t want that sitting on my balance sheet for too long. RESP is up again and still on tract. I’m not so sure about TFSA and Unregistered Income as they have a long way, but it has been a life changing year.

Now we just need to sell our old house and we should be able to start moving on with the next stages of our life.


----------

