# Starting to think ahead



## JustAGuy

Hey there, I came across the money forums the other day and have been lurking about as I try to think ahead toward being able to retire some day. I'm just about to turn 28 and have not got into investing at this point, however I want to. I live a rather busy life and it's not particularly frugal at this point, but I'm better at saving than all of my friends... I think this is indicative that my friends save less than they should though more so than I save more than I should. I had a pretty bad upbringing when it came to how to handle money... my parents would constantly be borrowing my allowance from me, and I had no real help as far as saving for university.

I went to school and could only afford to do it by getting a line of credit from the bank which required that I make payments the whole time I was going to school... so I managed that and by the time I graduated in 2007 I had 45k in student debt, which I paid off by the end of 2009.

I try not to spend more than I have to on things... I buy used, I shop around, however I do splurge on myself from time to time. IE: I buy lunch at at work for the sake of being social with my co-workers, buy video games, have a canon 7d with a couple of L series lenses, don't have a roommate, am currently taking martial arts... but I don't drink or smoke, or drive.

Anyways, I haven't really had much help in managing my finances from other people as anyone I've attempted to get help from in the past really didn't seem to know what they were talking about... but I feel like the folk on this forum actually seem like an intelligent bunch, and figured that participating in here couldn't hurt.

So here I am, a little unsure how to get the ball rolling, but let's have at it anyways 

I work in feature film production, and as I am fairly new into it I'm not yet earning my full potential by any means. My negotiating skills have .... well been practically non-existent and until now I've kind of been happy to just accept a wage without pressing for anything better. I started off earning 40k a year back in 2007, and am now getting 75k. This is before OT... which we work quite a lot of... But unfortunately the nature of this industry means that once a contract is up, there is also a good chance of there being a buffer period before my next contract where I have no income. I'm debating writing a book, or doing some video tutorials so that I can have some form of passive income but it's been tough getting motivated to start such a project as I tend to work longer hours and then am full up busy with hobbies when I'm not at work...

Anyways, lets look at my current state of affairs:

1185.26 CAD @ 0% interest chequing account w/ bank of montreal
6122.23 CAD in GIC RSP with ING Direct @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
5320.62 CAD in TFGIC with ING Direct @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)
10,102.92 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds

21,586.12 AUD @ 4.15% interest in an Australian Savings account

My take home is averaging $2900 every two weeks, and I currently have about 7 more paycheques coming my way before my current contract ends... I have two leads for contracts.... but as it stands I think that since I just put 10k into the Streetwise TGSA, I should probably spend as little of these next few paycheques as I can in case I end up with a month or two of unemployment starting in April.

I feel like I'm a little behind where I should be at this point... it's a little intimidating looking at some of these other journals... but here goes nothing.


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## the-royal-mail

Welcome.

Not sure why you feel you're behind where you "should be" - you have a lot of savings. And it looks like your earning potential is excellent. Since you have this ability to save for possible dry spells between contracts, it doesn't look like you really need to change anything. I doubt you'll get rich writing books and such and the Internet is full of blogs and such.

I say keep doing what you're doing. Why fix what isn't broken?


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## steve41

I take the opportunity every so often to offer up this bit of wisdom.... 

Don't sweat the fact that in your 20s and 30s you haven't amassed much savings. During this phase of your life, you should be spending time solidifying your career asset.... further education, advancing your career, or building a family, raising kids, possibly buying a house. Most individuals don't start saving for retirement in earnest until their forties and fifties. It is just the way of the world... your salary tends to grow at a greater rate than inflation, the kids are self sufficient, your major loans are paid off.

There are obvious exceptions, but as a rule, this is the way it works. Unless you are one of those wacky 'retire at 35' types, of course.


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## Sampson

Build your emergency fund. You've been in the industry long enough to know how much, on average, down time between jobs. Make sure that is covered first. I would save at least 2X what is needed to cover the gap during no income periods.

After that, yeah, look for other sources of income to fill the gap periods if you are inclined. Heck if you gross 75k+, you could even consider just not working during those periods.

Without a sense of your monthly cash flow, or even a set of your goals (e.g. buying a house, marriage, kids, cars etc.) it'll be impossible to give any advice as to how to 'save' your money.


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## Sherlock

My recommendation would be to not renew those GICs when they mature, and not buy any more GICs. GICs are for retired people, and even then there are better alternatives. They are currently paying such low interest that you may as well keep that money in a savings account. The streetwise funds are a good choice, I usually recommend them.

And congrats on paying off 45k in 2 years, that must have taken a lot of discipline.


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## arrow1963

You can do better than 4% in an Australian savings account if you don't need immediate access to the money (2 or 3 day transfer period). The best rates I've seen are from UBank at 5.5%, or 6% if you set up an automatic savings plan ($200 auto into the account per month, transfer out $200 manually).

http://www.rabodirect.com.au/
http://secure2.ubank.com.au/ub/web/usaver/online-savings-overview


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## JustAGuy

the-royal-mail said:


> Not sure why you feel you're behind where you "should be"


I'm not really sure either... I guess it's just a case of wanting to keep up with the Joneses... looking through some of the other diaries and seeing people in their 20's with cars and houses and even more money in the bank... it's a little intimidating...



> I doubt you'll get rich writing books and such and the Internet is full of blogs and such.


No, getting rich from such things isn't a goal... but I used to work at a company that makes animation software, and so I've got a bit of a reputation and wealth of knowledge that not many other people in the industry have... I've been asked to do video tutorials for a couple of sites on a freelance basis, and figured that if I wrote an ebook (this would be text book style not novel style) and sold it for a reasonable price it would be a way to at least capitalize on some of that knowledge that I have and also continue to build my reputation within the industry.



> During this phase of your life, you should be spending time solidifying your career asset.... further education, advancing your career, or building a family, raising kids, possibly buying a house. Most individuals don't start saving for retirement in earnest until their forties and fifties. It is just the way of the world... your salary tends to grow at a greater rate than inflation, the kids are self sufficient, your major loans are paid off.


I'm definitely striving to solidify my career at this point. I've worked on 3 features to date and seem to be climbing well enough. I probably should have mentioned that I got married two and a half years ago. We're debating having a kid in the next couple of years as we approach 30. I'm not entirely sure how my wife's financial state is, but I know she's keeping money at the moment in GIC's and TFSA as well. I'm kind of taking it upon myself to learn how to grow our money a little better before I try giving her any advice on the matter... We don't really pay attention that much as to what is in each other's bank accounts, and normally take turns paying bills/paying for groceries/dinner etc. It's been pretty well balanced I believe. I'm unsure about buying a house as everything I've read seems to scream that continuing to live in low rent apartments will allow us to save more money than getting a mortgage. My thoughts are kind of... if we do buy a house I want to be able to do it with cash as opposed to a mortgage.



> Build your emergency fund. You've been in the industry long enough to know how much, on average, down time between jobs. Make sure that is covered first. I would save at least 2X what is needed to cover the gap during no income periods.


I think that having no money to work with while in college did a number on me psychologically and I usually am paranoid about being unemployed. I've so far done a great job of getting a new contract lined up somewhere before a current one ends so that I can transition from one to the other with less than a month of downtime. Everyone else in this industry seems content to take time off between contracts but I haven't been able to convince myself to do that yet. I just put 10k into ING figuring that if I need it in an emergency I could tap into that... same with the 20k I have in Australia... but my goal for the next two months is to repad my chequing account. Since my wife is currently employed



> My recommendation would be to not renew those GICs when they mature, and not buy any more GICs. GICs are for retired people, and even then there are better alternatives. They are currently paying such low interest that you may as well keep that money in a savings account.


Yeah, I was starting to come to that same realization. I put it into GIC's when the TFSA's were first introduced because I had no clue that there were any other options and since I had very little savings at that point (had just finished paying off my student loans) didn't want to attempt anything with any sort of risk with what little I did have.



> And congrats on paying off 45k in 2 years, that must have taken a lot of discipline.


Lived very... very frugally. No eating out, no drinking, replaying video games I already owned rather than buying or renting new ones... My brother still has student loans and he graduated in 2002 I think.... It just seemed to me to make sense to pay it off as fast as possible since that would mean having to pay the smallest amount of interest on it.

As for my monthly bills, I'm currently paying:
$25 BCHydro
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$33.60 Telus Internet
$83 Vancouver Transit monthly pass (I live in walking distance... and was walking the past few months, but now that I'm working longer hours during crunch time of our project and trying to have a life outside of work as well, I realized that the amount of money I earn by working the extra amount of time it would have taken me to walk that the transit pass is more than paying for itself.)
$90 martial arts 2x per week
$211.68 for a course through fight director's canada to get certification for stage combat... was counting on being able to deduct this on my taxes since it's something I can add to my resume as I try getting more into the live action end of the film industry and I have a sole proprietorship for freelance work
$950 a month for rent

Unfortunately while I lived in Australia, I was under the impression that I would be there for longer than I was and got into a 2 year contract with my mobile phone. Whether I cancel my phone or leave it going for the 2 years would have cost me an identical amount so I chose to let it keep going just in case I go back rather than cancelling and paying the cost all upfront and then having to get a new plan if I were to go back.
So my Australian money flow is
$58.95 per month until September with Virgin Mobile
however the plus side is my interest in my Australian account is currently $71.42 credited each month... so that interest is taking care of my phone for me automatically.
I'm also expecting to get a huge chunk of tax money back from Australia both for 2010 I over contributed by 3k, and for 2011 where I expect to get back a heap of money since I didn't work long enough in 2011 to be considered a resident for tax purposes. I'm not entirely sure what to do with my Oz money... since I'm a: unsure if I'll be going back at some point, and b: unable to do anything investing with it other than leave it in my savings account since I don't have an address there now. Predictions suggest it might go up in value a bit more before it starts to drop again.... so I might wait for their dollar to increase in value some more before I bring it over to Canada... I'm set up with xe.com which seems to offer a good exchange rate with no fees to do a wire transfer.


Not sure exactly what I spend on groceries but I know I could make this more reasonable now that I have a transit pass by buying from Nofrills and making food instead of buying lunches... however lunches are sort of a networking/social thing and our dinners are supplied for free while working over time....


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## the-royal-mail

Thanks for explaining. You sound very sensible to me and have a tremendous ability to manage money. I guess if I had to offer an opinion on anything it would be not to waste your money "keeping up" with anyone. Those people with the $640K houses often have student debt, car payments, mortgage debt, high monthly payments and no emergency savings at all if something happens. Many of these people do not put anything on hold despite the deplorable state of their finances. They continue to spin the consumer hamster wheel and go on expensive trips, have babies, buy all the latest ewaste every 3-6 months and so on.

Is that really what you want to strive for?


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## jamesbe

One thing that strikes me is the fact you and your wife do not know your total state of affairs. You should consolidate all your money and work together to one goal.


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## Saniokca

jamesbe said:


> One thing that strikes me is the fact you and your wife do not know your total state of affairs. You should consolidate all your money and work together to one goal.


I second that


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## JustAGuy

Just noticed I trailed off earlier:

when I started to say "... my goal for the next two months is to repad my chequing account. Since my wife is currently employed" I meant to add on that Since my wife is currently employed, I'm not terribly concerned about the emergency fund... if worse came to worse and I can't find work immediately I know that I can count on her support until I can.



> You can do better than 4% in an Australian savings account


Thanks, I'll look into that... I've been under the impression that now that I'm not in the country I may not be able to open any new accounts there, but I should take the time to actually confirm whether this is true. I've been debating taking a contract in India since their banks have 10% interest 



> They continue to spin the consumer hamster wheel and go on expensive trips, have babies, buy all the latest ewaste every 3-6 months and so on.
> 
> Is that really what you want to strive for?


Yes and no  I'd like to have expensive trips, and a child, and ewaste.... but not at the cost of being unable to enjoy my life when I'm older




Saniokca said:


> One thing that strikes me is the fact you and your wife do not know your total state of affairs. You should consolidate all your money and work together to one goal.


I agree, and really there hasn't been much of a big picture up until now... me trying to start figuring out how to actually grow my money is kind of a first step I think... I don't really want to step in and start suggesting how to handle her money until I feel like I've got more of a sense on how to make things happen. I've been skimming lots of threads the past week on here and there's a lot of stuff that's still very new to me. I don't know much about investing... putting my money into the ing mutual funds two weeks ago is the closest I've come. Aside from that I do, do the taxes so I've got paperwork for her gic's and have a sense of what's happening with her, I just don't monitor it the same way I do my own money. We both are pretty good with knowing how to spend frugally and save I think... but neither of us have much of an idea of what to do with the money we're putting aside.

As of November we're in a bit of an awkward state as we came back from Australia when my job ended there, and while I was able to get work in Vancouver, she was not. She's found a fulltime gig (very uncommon in our line of work) in San Francisco so we both agreed it made sense for her to take it. Which means she's living there at the moment and I'm trying to line up work there but not having much luck... So for now our accounts are much more separate as we each have very independent costs of living at the moment.


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## the-royal-mail

JustAGuy said:


> ...I'm not terribly concerned about the emergency fund... if worse came to worse and I can't find work immediately I know that I can count on her support until I can.


Are you sure that's a good idea? What if something happens to her?


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## JustAGuy

the-royal-mail said:


> Are you sure that's a good idea? What if something happens to her?


It's a gamble I guess. Her company at least is paying full medical/life insurance on her... but I meant not terribly worried in the _short term_. As I said, my next two months will be replenishing my account with non-retirement intended funds.

Speaking of which, what kind of recommendations do you have for where to keep emergency funds? I mean, keeping it in a chequing account would provide the fastest accessibility in a true emergency... but in a true emergency I'd probably be just as able to put it on my credit card. So should emergency funds be kept in some sort of a GIC with no withdrawal penalty?


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## the-royal-mail

Yes, that is my opinion. In my case I am using my TFSA as well as my POSA for this, which pays the same rate as HISA accounts and that growth isn't taxable. But even if you get 1% growth in a non-sheltered GIC, the taxes payable on that are nothing. *DO NOT*rely on credit as your first line of defence in case of emergency! The whole point of an emergency fund is for the cash to be accessible quickly. I suspect you understand all of this but yes, cashable GIC, TFSA, anything not locked in etc.


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## JustAGuy

the-royal-mail said:


> Yes, that is my opinion. In my case I am using my TFSA as well as my POSA for this, which pays the same rate as HISA accounts and that growth isn't taxable. But even if you get 1% growth in a non-sheltered GIC, the taxes payable on that are nothing. *DO NOT*rely on credit as your first line of defence in case of emergency! The whole point of an emergency fund is for the cash to be accessible quickly. I suspect you understand all of this but yes, cashable GIC, TFSA, anything not locked in etc.


I'm having difficulty looking up POSA. It's not a term I'm familiar with.


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## Koala

I'm using a HISA for most of my TFSA which I consider to be my emergency account. I don't think there's an issue with using a non-cashable GIC either. If you really need it, most banks will allow you to access it if something happens; but all interest for a non-cashable GIC would be lost in that case. If it truly were an emergency, at that point I wouldn't care about losing the interest earned over the last few years.

I wouldn't tie it all up in a GIC though, it would probably take a little while to gain access. Right now, I don't see the point of GICs; HISAs have higher interest rates. 

As for the separate accounts, you and your wife could set a time (online, by phone, whatever) every month or so to review your accounts. We have a spreadsheet we both have access to. Most of our accounts are joint, but this way we're aware of TFSAs and RRSPs as well.

Just my 2 cents from someone else who's just getting started too.


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## the-royal-mail

Note it's not necessary to quote your replies. We can follow along in the thread quite easily without the need to fill up the page with repetitious quotes. Kindly use the reply button instead of quote.

POSA = plain old savings account.


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## JustAGuy

My restocking of my emergency funds didn't go nearly as well this month as I'd hoped.
- turned out my wife owed her mom $950 which I ended up paying since I'm earning canadian income right now and we decided not to get dinged with the exchange rate since she's earning american income.
- I splurged on a guitar pedal
- I ripped my jacket and so got a new one and got a new shirt while I was at it
- I was burned out from too many hours at work and so cut my hours down to 50 hour weeks
- They're now asking us to work 12 hour days 7 days a week for the next 5 weeks... so I guess I should be able to inflate my account a bit these next few paycheques...
- I do have May off though, so I'm going to be spending a chunk of that money visiting family and paying rent, and not earning a cent while doing it.

On the plus side, this time last month I had no idea what was coming next, and in the meantime I've resigned a contract for another year at work, so I've got one more year of employment taken care of, and with it a $8.50/hr raise.


3,313.33 CAD @ 0.25% interest chequing account w/ ING Direct (+2128.07 change from last month)
10,205.31 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+102.39 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)


$25 BCHydro
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$33.60 Telus Internet
$83 Vancouver Transit monthly pass
$49 per month for Gym membership (51 better per month by changing from martial arts to gym)
$211.68 for a course through fight director's canada to get certification for stage combat
$64 BC medical every month until October (64 that I previously wasn't paying.... but on the plus side I have medical coverage now...)
$950 a month for rent



I haven't touched my AUD as I'm still waiting for my tax money to come in, and I'm hesitant to ask to open a term deposit in case they make me close my account since I'm not living there anymore. I figure I'll wait until my taxes to be deposited before I try to move anything into a term deposit. Should be any day now... 
21,591.28 AUD @ 4.15% interest in an Australian Savings account (+5.16 change)
$58.95 per month AUD until September with Virgin Mobile


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## JustAGuy

Australian finances were switched around a bit this month as the exchange rate was starting to swing and I decided to transfer some money to Canada. The disappointing thing is that I now have diminishing balance until I'm able to cancel my mobile plan in September as my interest is no longer more than my phone bill... but I got close to 5% immediate return on the exchange rate. Also made a small ebay purchase which made more sense to do via my australian account than my canadian one. I called the Australian Tax people last night... they still haven't processed my taxes... so... still waiting for that to come in... Also haven't finished preparing my Canadian taxes for this year, but I'm expecting a refund.

11,561.31 is my new AUD balance @ 4.15% interest. (-10029.97 change)
-$58.95 per month AUD until September with Virgin Mobile

The Canadian growth took a hit as well as I'm going to be taking May off for vacation/family obligations. I'll be visiting my wife for our anniversary in San Francisco, my brother and his newborn daughter in St. John's NFLD, and my dieing grandmother in Charlottetown (assuming she hasn't died by the time I get there)... so that was $1250.67 in costs... unfortunately since I won't be working in May I'm going to take a big hit that month financially as well. My mother plans to reimburse me $600 for the plane tickets so I'll recoup some of that... but money isn't growing as fast as I'd like.

I completed the stage combat certification course I was taking, so my monthly bills can drop a bit now:
$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$49 per month for Gym membership
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$33.60 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1163.2 Total Minimum Per Month

As my course has ended, I no longer need to pay:
$83 Vancouver Transit monthly pass
$211.68 for a course through fight director's canada to get certification for stage combat


Wealth:
$7,642.99 @ 2.02% High Interest Savings with Ally (+7642.99 month change)
$1,239.19 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-2074.14 month change)
$10,276.89 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+71.58 change from last month)
$5,061.03 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (+5061.03 change from last month)
$2,500.00 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+2500.00 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

The 10k AUD ended up being 10,492.08 CAD, so realistically there was 2709.38 CAD total growth this month in my accounts up from last month's growth of $2257.46 CAD.

11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February 
13518.64 CAD / 21,591.28 AUD beginning of March
26720.10 CAD / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April

Questrade TFSA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
AAPL - 1 @ 615.26
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
GFS.TO - 500 @ 7.11
GFS.TO - 45 @ 6.72
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47

NSU.TO -300 @ 3.61 sold @ 3.52 ($39 loss)
JVA - 35 @ 11.70 sold @ 10.96 (35.81 loss)

Questrade RSP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
G.TO - 24 @ 41.12
1,480.81 capital to play with


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## Ethan

JustAGuy said:


> I started off earning 40k a year back in 2007, and am now getting 75k...My take home is averaging $2900 every two weeks...


Based on that information you have no source deductions (2,900 x 26 = $75,400), which would make sense if you are doing contract work. Unless I am misinterpreting, have you considered your tax liability? Self-employed inviduals often make installment payments throughout the year so that they don't have a large tax liability in April. If we assume your average tax rate is 20%, you would have an annual tax bill of ~$15,000. Setting aside money for this, or implementing installment payments, could be something to consider going forward.


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## JustAGuy

I am contract, but I do have deductions taken away at source.

It's a little tricky for me calculating my *actual* earnings. I'm negotiated at 75k (bumping up to 88,400 starting in June) however that is pre-Overtime. My field has lots of OT involved, but it's kind of impossible to predict... so when I wrote that I'd had some nice cheques right in a row.. my most recent one is $2600 though. Deductions are taking place at source.


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## Ethan

That's good, you don't have to worry about your tax liability if you have source deductions. Your tax asset/liability shouldn't be significant.


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## JustAGuy

My hourly rate is increasing from 35 to 42 per hour as of this month, but I will also only be getting one week of pay in May as the film I'm on is ending and I'm taking a month to travel and visit family. Plane tickets are already paid for and I'm expecting few additional expenditures this month.

My AUD bank's site is currently down so I can't check in, but there won't be any sigificant happenings there until I get my tax refund *shaking fist angerly that it still hasn't come in 4 months after filing* and I stop paying for a phone in September. I should be getting a little more than $2300 as my Canadian tax return.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$50.40 per month for Gym membership
$95.20 per month for Rock Climbing Gym membership
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$33.60 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1259.80 Total Bills Per Month

Wealth:
$12333.39 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+4690.4 month change)
$1690.14 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (+450.95 month change)
$10,072.38 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (-204.51 change from last month)
$3,358.24 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (-1702.79 change from last month)
$2,032.00 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (-468.00 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February
13518.64 CAD / 21,591.28 AUD beginning of March
26720.10 CAD / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April
29486.15 CAD beginning of May

Questrade TFSA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
AAPL - 1 @ 615.26
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
GFS.TO - 545 @ 7.0778
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47

Questrade RSP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GFS.TO - 453 @ 5.55


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## JustAGuy

Well, it was a bit of a hard hitting month, but that was anticipated as I had the month off from work and was vacationing from Vancouver to San Francisco, to Newfoundland, to PEI, and back to San Francisco. I had some unexpected bumps... but I'm back to work as of yesterday, so I should be able to recover this month and then be back into profit next month.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$50.40 per month for Gym membership
Made a one time payment of $392.00 for a 6 month rock climbing membership which essentially reduced my monthly fee from $95.20 per month to $65.33
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$33.60 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1229.93 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$271.07 on credit card

Wealth:
$13000 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+666.61 month change)
$415.39 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-1274.75 month change)
$9,937.18 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (-135.2 change from last month)
3,148.49 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (-209.75 change from last month)
1,855.00 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (-177.00 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February
13518.64 CAD / 21,591.28 AUD beginning of March
26720.10 CAD / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April
29486.15 CAD beginning of May
28084.99 CAD beginning of June


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## marina628

Off topic but which part of Newfoundland did you visit?Inquiring Newfies want to know


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## JustAGuy

I have family in St. John's, so I hung out there for a little bit, and then also went up to Bay De Verde on a hunt for some good icebergs.


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## marina628

Great stuff , I am from Bonavista Bay area but moved here in 1985 .We take the kids Whale watching and iceberg searching every couple years.I cannot believe i have friends who have never seen the ocean and we took it for granted growing up with one in our backyard!


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## JustAGuy

marina628 said:


> Great stuff , I am from Bonavista Bay area but moved here in 1985 .We take the kids Whale watching and iceberg searching every couple years.I cannot believe i have friends who have never seen the ocean and we took it for granted growing up with one in our backyard!


Nice. That's the third time I've been out to NFLD. My Grandfather had been mayor of Grandfalls at one point, but I grew up in PEI and Nova Scotia. Have lived in Sydney Australia and Vancouver as well. I can't escape the ocean!


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## JustAGuy

I'm in the process of trying to incorporate a business right now, which is going to involve lots of little start-up costs... and as my business is going to involve making games... it's going to be a long time until I see any return on that money, so we'll probably not see as much saving happening in the next little while as I deal with trademarks, and incorporating, and any software licenses I may need. Hopefully we become profitable some day, but I'm leaning toward getting out of my current profession after we've completed a game or two and are able to start sustaining ourselves. I really need to get my budget sorted for eating out. I've been doing that far too often. I'm planning on setting aside $2500 for start up costs this month, but lets see if I can find a way to break even this month after that... I fell about $300 short of where I was hoping to be this month.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$50.40 per month for Gym membership
$65.33 per month for Climbing Gym membership
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1254.89 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0 (+271.07 month change)

Wealth:
$13,619.52 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+619.52 month change)
$1261.36 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (+845.97 month change)
$10,123.12 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+185.94 change from last month)
2714.24 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (-434.25 change from last month)
1,488.57 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (-366.43 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

29206.81 CAD (+1121.82) / 12564.29 AUD (+1002.98) beginning of July
28084.99 CAD (-1401.16) beginning of June
29486.15 CAD (+2766.05) beginning of May
26720.10 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
13518.64 CAD (+2257.46)/ 21,591.28 AUD beginning of March
11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


No changes to the positions I hold on the market. Crap keeps falling in value.


----------



## JustAGuy

Saved up the $2500 I was hoping to save... but a lack of urgency in setting aside the money for business purposes means that I slotted it as investment money instead, but have not yet actually invested it. Will see about shelving an additional $2500 again for start-up purposes this month. Still waiting to get my Canadian tax return, and it's now tax time in Australia again... so time to play that game all over again. Whee!

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$50.40 per month for Gym membership
$65.33 per month for Climbing Gym membership
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1254.89 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$14522.12 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+902.6 month change)
$525.54 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-735.82 month change)
$10,154.11 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+30.99 change from last month)
2713.59 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (-0.65 change from last month)
4038.40 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+2549.83 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

31953.76 (+2746.95)
29206.81 CAD (+1121.82) / 12564.29 AUD (+1002.98) beginning of July
28084.99 CAD (-1401.16) beginning of June
29486.15 CAD (+2766.05) beginning of May
26720.10 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
13518.64 CAD (+2257.46)/ 21,591.28 AUD beginning of March
11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


No changes to the positions I hold on the market, added $2500 in, hoping to get in on Appl just before it would go up, but I was unable to log-in to Questrade the day I wanted to buy... so... hooray, it's now sitting as equity while I wait for another opportunity that I trust.

On an extremely lazy calculation of continuing to save at the rate that I'm saving for the past 6 months, I could reach over $1m in savings by the time I'm 65... Lets see if I can find a way to hit much higher...


----------



## Financial Cents

So far, so good JustAGuy. Like other commenters, I commend you for the desire to get your financial affairs in order. I was there quite a few years ago, which motivated to me to start my blog and chronicle my journey to financial freedom.

Keep up the good work.


----------



## JustAGuy

Thanks Financial Cents, it's interesting how much more aware I am of my spending habits I am since starting to track this. Still have a ways to go, but I think that becoming more aware of what I do with my money is good for me. I've noticed that tracking that has inadvertently resulted in also being better at using my spare time the way I want. I try to balance the amount of overtime I work to be enough to cover any extra expenses, but not enough to drown out my ability to experience life.


----------



## JustAGuy

Figured I should update my positions. I bought 1000 shares of GFS.TO at 2.48 on Aug 10, after the quarterly earnings report. The stock has since come up >14.11% meaning profit of ~$349.92 in the past week from that purchase.

I'm tempted to treat that as profit right now, and sell off 875 shares to reclaim the $2480 I just put in last week and use it on other stocks... This would still let me have 125 extra shares in GFS without technically spending anything.

I'm a little torn on it though as I averaged down, and still expect it to go up... Maybe I should wait until the point where I've broken even on all stock I've invested in the company before I sell off anything.... I'm currently down in total by 28.07% on GFS across the TFSA and RSP...


Questrade TFSA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
AAPL - 1 @ 615.26 ----------$20.06
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09 -----------($63.56)
GFS.TO - 545 @ 7.0778------($2293.25)
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47---------($26.70)

Questrade RSP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GFS.TO - 1453 @ 3.4371 ----($824.04)


----------



## JustAGuy

Dang... should have gone with my instinct when I saw it climb to 2.90 and sell off a bunch... it's back down into the 2.70's.


----------



## JustAGuy

Closed 820 GFS @ 3.05 which netted 2501... returning the $2480 I had invested on Aug 10 with enough to pay for the commissions, and leave me with an extra 180 shares that I previously didn't have.

Questrade RSP ($584.07)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GFS.TO - 633 @ 3.4371

Having invested a total of $5100 into my RRSP, I am now down $584.07 from my initial equity... but up 477.53 from the beginning of the month.

Questrade TFSA ($2315.9)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
AAPL - 1 @ 615.26
GFS.TO - 545 @ 7.0778
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47

Unfortunately GFS as a whole is down still this month from where it used to be, so while my RSP has improved, my TFSA is still down $397.69

I guess between the accounts I've improved 79.84 in the past 18 days... not much, but I remain ever hopeful that GFS will spike back up and in the meantime I've been able to add to my position without any _real_ cost.


----------



## JustAGuy

Well, bought back into BNNY using the $2500 that I pulled out of GFS
Currently on a nice little run with that one too
bought 69 shares at 37.74 on the 21st, and since then, it's gone up 12% to 42.29 per share

If I can continue to do some good trades over the next little while my RSP may actually break out of the red.

Will likely be trading out what I paid into BNNY + commssion in the next day or two but am undecided if I'll leave any extra shares in this time, since I'm not anticipating it to continue up.


----------



## JustAGuy

My phone plan has finally terminated in Australia. No more bills there. Not entirely sure whether I'm going to have to pay a small amount in Oz taxes this year, or get a nice big refund... so, I guess we'll wait and see, but otherwise it should only be increases from interest.

I'm pleased with the increase this month, as it was a bad month for spending and I still managed to grow 2911.22 before getting my tax refund back which was another 1722.78. I purchased plane tickets this month to go on a trip to San Francisco in September, and Vegas in November, and also had to get $300 worth of clothes as I was down to only one pair of pants that was still wearable.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
$50.40 per month for Gym membership
$65.33 per month for Climbing Gym membership
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$8 Netflix
1254.89 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$17772.78 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+3250.66 month change)
$296.27 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-229.27 month change)
$10298.72 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+144.61 change from last month)
2684.10 CAD in equity with Questrade TFSA (-29.49 change from last month)
5535.89 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+1497.49 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)


36591.76 CAD (+4634.00) / 12,448.26 AUD (-87.55) beginning of September
31953.76 CAD (+2746.95) / 12,535.81 AUD (-28.48) beginning of August
29206.81 CAD (+1121.82) / 12,564.29 AUD (+1154.84) beginning of July
28084.99 CAD (-1401.16) / 11,409.45 AUD (-25.75) beginning of June
29486.15 CAD (+2766.05) / 11,435.20 AUD (-126.11) beginning of May
26720.10 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
13518.64 CAD (+2257.46) / 21,591.28 AUD (+5.16) beginning of March
11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


Got out of BNNY as I saw it starting to come back down. It was a nice ride in a week, and brought me $278USD before commissions, which slightly made up for the the amount that my remaining GFS dropped during that same time frame.

Feeling overconfident when I saw GFS spiking yesterday I bought more... I was hoping that I could buy in, ride the spike, and sell, but only part of my order got filled so it ended up not being a good short term move. It brought my avg price down though, so, hopefully it helps long term.

Questrade RSP -> Invested $6150, P&L ($614.11)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GFS.TO - 981 @ 3.2196

Questrade TFSA -> Invested $5000, P&L ($2315.9)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
AAPL - 1 @ 615.26
GFS.TO - 545 @ 7.0778
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47(2456.47)


Growth:
View attachment 154

G -> Overall in Canadian Funds w/ exchange rate
R -> Canadian
B -> Australian


----------



## JustAGuy

I'm reaching out for help here. I don't know if anyone reads this thread... but if anyone does I really do need some help.

The Cold hard reality:

I'm terrible at investing. Absolutely #&$^ at investing. I've lost so much money this year on attempting to invest. It's really depressing. I need help.

I've made bad decisions in the past, and I console myself by telling myself "hey, I'm learning, everyone loses before they gain." or "hey, at least I haven't been losing as much as some of the other people playing the market"

And then I get defensive when people who are performing well on the market accost me for being an idiot.

It has to stop... I have to stop *throwing money away*

I got cocky last month after doing well with Annies and GFS short term buy and sells.

I watched as Zipcar announced their earnings and plummeted and recovered... and then when GFS announced their earnings and plummeted, I jumped right in with more money thinking to cash in when it recovered. It did and I did. I then sold enough to keep my profits in GFS and took my money over to Annies, where I rode what I felt was a predictable sinusodal pattern from a low to (what I thought was a) high and also profited.

It felt great! I felt unstoppable.

Should have known better.

The company I work for, Digital Domain has stock. I've always thought it to be crappy stock. Going down in value since day one of the IPO. I should have known better than to try buying anything but two weeks ago it began a huge downward spiral... and when it looked like it leveled off... we got even more news, the CEO resigned. My reaction was "AWESOME" this guy's been running the company into the ground. The company's got patient people that extended their loans after DDMG defaulted, and the root cause of the problem is gone. This company's going to recover the same way Zipcar and GFS did.

So I put $3000 from my RSP into it.

And it plummeted from $1.10 to $0.6

So I sold my single share that I had in Apple, and bought $650 more from my TFSA.

And then the stock was halted, and they declared chapter 11, and I was moved to the pinksheets and able to only get about $100 back in my TFSA, and $250 back in my RSP.

In 3 days, I lost $3300. And not just the money, but the contribution room in both my TFSA and RSP.

It gets worse.

GFS in the meantime has been doing worse, and I see the news: The CEO has been fired.

This is what everyone wants on the forums. People have been hounding for ZZ to be eliminated. But now it happens and no one seems happy. The stock has fallen further, and I'm left with making the hard decision of selling every share I have in order to prevent another, even more devastating loss like I felt with DDMG.

So here are my current positions.

Questrade RSP -> Invested $9971 -> Total equity remaining $6407.30
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DWA - 75 @ 17.78
Cash - $5109.67

This means I've effectively lost $3563.70 or 36% of what I've invested into my Questrade RSP.
My remaining allowable contribution space right now in my RSP this year is $17,500.00


Questrade TFSA -> Invested $5000 -> Total equity remaining $1756.79
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stock Shares Value
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47
Cash - $1382.39

This means I've effectively lost $3243.14 or 65% of what I've invested into my Questrade TFSA.
I cannot contribute any more to TFSA before 2013

In total, attempting to invest, I have lost $6806.84 this year. That's 45.47% of what I've invested is gone. Evaporated.

I really seriously could use some advice. In the grand scheme of things, $7000 isn't enough money that it will make me destitute... but It's _extremely_ disappointing to be out that much I was expecting growth. I could have done lots of other things with that kind of money that would have at the very least been more entertaining. Heck, I could have filmed myself setting it on fire, and that would have been a better way to spend it.

I am currently looking at putting remaining money into either:
- Dreamworks Animation (DWA) -> A company that I feel is strong, and is set to release 12 more pictures in the next few years. They're down overall right now, but I feel like it should be doable for them to spike right back to at least the $30 value over the next two years.
- Disney (DIS) -> It's a machine... with great growth... it seems overpriced right now and like it should drop down a bit in value... and yet it's still climbing. This has grown 66% in the past year, and seems like it's like Apple where it's hard to go wrong.... but I suspect it might drop steeply very soon it continues up...
- Inter Pipeline Fund (IPL.UN) -> I know nothing about it other than that it's one of the biggest producers of natural gas in Canada and the dividend looks like it's a very good bet to just put money in and leave it the heck alone. It's one year growth has been almost half that of Disney, but the dividend makes it much more attractive...
- Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) -> a moderate dividend compared to IPL... but they just bought ING and I see this outperforming other banks in the near future because of this. Maybe not as good as IPL?


----------



## Homerhomer

It's a good thing you are reaching out for help and looking for advice, but I have a question for you:

If given the advice will you listen? In the past this has been a problem for you, if you are willing to listen and take the advice to heart poeple will help, if not then there is no point wasting time trying to help you.


----------



## JustAGuy

I want advice, but if there is conflicting advice from multiple parties, obviously I cannot simply do everything. The problem is not that I don't _listen_ to advice when offered. I do take in the advice. But I perhaps too easily make impulsive decisions on the first piece of advice that I read. When I see someone talking about how amazing GFS is, I buy it. And then I see someone else later say "holy crap, that stock is terrible, stop pumping it" I see the other person counter it with "no, it's a good stock". It's hard to make a decision... and so the hopeful aspiration to keep my money where it is to potentially make a quick fortune is the easier decision to make even if it's off base and wrong.

I'm arrogant, and make decisions quickly and spontaneously... I'll acknowledge that. It's suited me well through almost everything else I do in life... so it's hard to change that behaviour. But yes, I am actively hoping that I can get some advice that will help me to develop a beneficial strategy going forward. Clearly what I've been doing to date has not been working.


----------



## JustAGuy

Also for the record, asking for help is a *big* thing for me. I've lived the majority of my life as a do-it-yourself kind of person that doesn't ask for help. I don't make the request lightly.


You'll have to excuse me if I am unable to respond further before Tuesday however. I have a flight later today, and will not be able to monitor the forums over the next few days. I can probably check back today, but if I'm silent over the weekend, you know why


----------



## Sampson

Advice: Stop trading.

Evidence speaks for itself. Nominal losses of 45%.


----------



## Spudd

It might be a good idea to just go with index funds for now, and practice stock investing in a practice account for say, a year. If after a year, you feel you're succeeding, then you could start putting in real money. It seems you have a speculative nature, and index funds should help you avoid that for the time being.


----------



## Young&Ambitious

If you really want t do do-it-yourself investing maybe it's time to enlist a professional advisor. The ETF's is also a good idea. Perhaps stay away from speculation and go with solid blue chips that seem to be valued well and focus more towards "staple" type stocks that people need for living (ie. food or gas), not discretionary or luxury items (ie. car manufacturers). That would be my advice although everyone may not agree with it.. Lots of opinions out there I am sure :rolleyes2: Goodluck to you!

ps. Causalien and I may organize a Vancouver investor meetup in October, perhaps you would like to come?


----------



## Argonaut

Sell everything and go to cash. Your biggest concern right now is the company you work for going bankrupt.


----------



## JustAGuy

Young&Ambitious said:


> Causalien and I may organize a Vancouver investor meetup in October, perhaps you would like to come?


Schedule pending, I'm interested. Wednesdays are never a good night for me.



Argonaut said:


> Sell everything and go to cash. Your biggest concern right now is the company you work for going bankrupt.


Yup, I'm doing what I can right now to line something else up. Ideally in San Francisco so my wife and I are living again.


----------



## Toronto.gal

Argonaut said:


> Sell everything and go to cash. Your biggest concern right now is the company you work for going bankrupt.


YES!

*JustAGuy:* you're being painfully honest and you're spot on, you are extremely impulsive. I think you should take time to read & learn much more, and to review and understand *all your mistakes* before you invest another dime.

There is nothing wrong with a trading strategy, if you do it with discipline/knowledge & careful planning, but you are impulsive, pick very risky stocks & you do so with the focus on the upside and not nearly enough on the risk management side. 

I'm sorry for your losses, but Spudd is right, if you want to trade, you should do so with a practice account first. 

Good luck.


----------



## OptsyEagle

My two cents. Your experiences are probably not all that different from many others. Sure your stocks are fairly obscure names but similar experiences can be said of Manulife, RIM, Yellow Pages and the list goes on. On the bright side, a 45% loss on a $5,000 account is a lot less expensive then a 45% loss on a $500,000 account. Your lessons have be provided to you very cheaply, the question is, did you learn them. This stock market will always be willing to sell you more lessons.

The thing that usually helps me is when a stock drops from $1.10 to $0.60 and the offer is currently $0.60, I always ask myself "why is this investor so eager to get me to buy his shares with a 45% reduction in price". I usually eliminate the answer that he/she is stupid because even if he/she was, certainly their must be enough smarter people around to bid for it when it was at $0.70 or $0.65 etc., taking this opportunity away, if it was such a great investment. 

Perhaps they are just less patient, but I too prefer to make my money quickly rather then slowly, and so will I be any more patient with this stock, then the next guy? Probably not.

Do I have any unique information or way of looking at this situation? This is the toughest question because our brains usually seem to think so. My experience is that I usually do not. The fair valuation of a stock is determined by a free market, who probably has all the same information or more, then I do. That fair valuation price is usually discounted by all the unknown information that the market doesn't know, but knows it doesn't know. Many times that last sentence or the "risk" so to speak, makes up all the discount we are talking about and therefore little opportunity is left from what I do know about this stock.

Anyway, after this process almost all stock purchases should be eliminated and you should eventually come to the overriding decision that you cannot beat this market ... or better put, only about 40 guys out of 100, just like you, might be able to beat it marginally, with everyone of them suffering serious underperformance periods, like you are now, at randomly different times. That is your current future.

So, in summary, either buy an index fund, or set up a long term portfolio, just like an index fund, and manage it pretty much like an index with much more buying then selling and lots of long term holding and dividend collecting.


----------



## Argonaut

Well, at least you didn't lose as much as Dan Marino.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201209/dan-marino-loses-millions-company-gone-bankrupt


----------



## humble_pie

many jewels of wise advice were recently packed into this thread. But i would like to add a big hand of applause for the courage the OP has shown in facing up to what was happening. Another special round of applause for the courage to come here & ask for suggestions.

i for one am with those who suggest zero trading for a while, not even in practice accounts. For this downside period, the OP could put his funds into HISA type products. The greatest amount of risk exposure i can possibly imagine in this post-nuclear case would be something like 15-20% of investable funds in a canadian equity e-fund, with new savings to be split between this e-fund & the HISAs.

the market will always be there, so investment beginners who commence by studying only won't really be losing any opportunities.

sometimes looking on from a distance gives a bird's eye perspective. My bird's eye goes like this:

there's a fair amount of stress in the OP's life. Being separated from his wife is stressful. Having on-again off-again work, sometimes from empoyers who are themselves in the tank, is stressful. Losing a lot of one's savings because of an impulse-ridden addiction to stock gambling is a hideous extra stress that could easily be brought under control.

financial markets are complicated. My belief happens to be that It takes a year of study or more to carve out a comfortable path for oneself. Even then, managing one's financial existence is a lifetime learning program. Right now, i wonder whether this time & energy might best go into stabilizing the employment situation, which in a happy scenario could take the OP to san francisco to be re-united with his spouse.


----------



## JustAGuy

:'(

Having been watching this for a while, you guys have no idea how bad I want to invest in (TSE:SPM) right now

It sucks so bad to be totally convinced that I have good ideas, and yet to have done so poorly in the past, and to have everyone agreeing with me that I shouldn't do anything :'(

It was terrible to watch GFS drop this week after I pulled my money out... then see a situation where I wanted to put money back in, and then it climbed back up about 13%... knowing that I didn't take that opportunity is depressing.

It's hard to take this advice because I've got a very desperate sensation right now that I need to grow my money.... and I see things that make me think I can do it... it feels like if I don't jump on it, I'll miss my opportunity.


----------



## humble_pie

hmmmn i see that U are a hardcore addict & nobody got through to you.

here is your true home on stockwatch the gamblerz heaven. You could have a signature something like Pitch Me I'm A Sucker. Fortunately the end will be swift & merciful.

http://www.stockhouse.com/bullboards/symbollist.aspx?s=SPM&t=LIST

btw did you notice that your scorpio chairman & former ceo Hawley turned his attention in 2010 to his real interest, which is another junior explorer in nevada ? 

hawley's no longer that interested in scorpio's old silver mine workings in mexico. There are a lot of em throughout latin america. Old mine workings that are being refurbished or studied for refurbishment, now that silver & gold prices have gone up.


----------



## OptsyEagle

Well, let's get you on the couch and talk you through SPM.

What do you really know about this company that isn't already known by the investor that will sell you his/her shares? Even if some of your information is proprietory to you or even if you have a unique way of approaching this investment, that others do not have (very unlikely by the way), will it make any real difference to your outcome with of this stock? 

Now, I don't know anything about SPM but from the name I will assume they mine something. So, a very large amount of what will make or break this company is probably buried deap into the bowels of this planet. The other large part of what will make or break this company is what is buried in the bowels of the mines of its competitors, since their production, or lack of, will determine the price, this company gets. So lets just say we have an *"unknown"* here.

The next thing that will matter is this companies access to and future cost of capital. Mines cost money. Miners don't work for minimum wage, etc. Looks like another *"unknown".*

I don't know where in the world SPM is but they are either in 3rd world nations where political risk is high or they are in developed nations where the environmentalist make the political risk high. In any event, all governments need more royalty revenue so since we cannot know what the politicians will actually do, let's call this another *"unknown".*

The last one I will touch upon is the price of the stock. You can beat this one to death using fundamentals or technicals or horiscopes, or whatever you favour, but at the end of the day, you have absolutely no idea what some future investor is going to pay for your stock. You have lot's and lot's of historical moves that work to give you a sense of confidence in this, but unfortuneately it doesn't tell you what you need to know. What price the stock will trade at in what amount of time. So, it is *"unknown".*

I will end there, but there are a lot more unknowns. Now you write down what is actually "known" by you, about this stock, but be sure not to fool yourself. Any "I think", "the stock should", "it's competitors trade at", "it's going up" (there is no such thing of a stock going up. There are only stocks that have "gone" up), need to be left out since they are not really things that are "known".

If you do this for every stock you want to buy and only buy the ones where you see a decisive edge of proprietary and determining knowledge, you should want to walk away from just about every stock purchase, if you value your money over your need to play this game. Even the CEO would not know enough about this company to make an informed decision (most of the unknowns I listed are applicable to them as well). So ask yourself, if the CEO is working in the dark, why are you so enlightened?


----------



## Toronto.gal

JustAGuy said:


> I've got a very *desperate* sensation right now that I need to grow my money.....


The last thing you should be doing when you feel 'desperate' JustAGuy, is play with money. You lost quite a bit already and if you don't put the brakes on your impulse buying/selling, you might lose even more.

Any 'risky' stock [the type you like], can not only go up drastically, but also down, as much as 50%+ from the time the market closes to the next morning when it opens.

You won't make up your losses by rushing, quite the opposite in fact.


----------



## JustAGuy

humble_pie said:


> hmmmn i see that U are a hardcore addict.


This sounds about right.

I didn't buy though. I have no idea what's going to happen with stocks, I just look at graphs and think I can predict their trend. Which is obviously a garbage way of thinking.


----------



## humble_pie

thank you justadesperateguy for making the signal so clear.

there are too many whiz kidz appearing from nowhere these days.

just when i was thinking Q3 might last into obama's 2nd term, out pops this noisy cohort of youths to send the signal that everything may be over sooner rather than later.

meth labs, penny mining stocks, pumpered stock, i-wanna-charge-one-percent-for-my-market-smartz.

market is longer in the tooth than we thought ...


----------



## Sampson

starting a meth lab ain't so hard. probably easier than reading, citing passages, and expanding on Carroll.


----------



## JustAGuy

Two questions then:

If the recommendation is that I not put money into stocks (I currently have around 5000 in buying power sitting still in my Questrade that I would like to split between DIS and IPL.UN for long term). Then does anyone know how to transfer money from a Questrade RSP into a ING RSP Savings account? I can't seem to find a way to get my money out with actually withdrawing which I do not want to do.

Additionally, are there any suggestions for what to do with future RSP contributions that will provide a better rate of growth than a GIC?


----------



## JustAGuy

humble_pie said:


> Right now, i wonder whether this time & energy might best go into stabilizing the employment situation, which in a happy scenario could take the OP to san francisco to be re-united with his spouse.


Unfortunately I work in a small (minded) industry and it's not as easy as just packing up and moving. I'm under a contract right now until the end of May, and if I were to break that contract, especially since the company I'm at right now needs its employees now more than ever, it's going to be frowned upon. I interviewed at ILM while I was in San Francisco this past weekend in preparation for the eventuality that I'll be jobless, but the person that interviewed me flat out told me "never break a contract". So... yay? Hopefully I can get something lined up if DD goes belly up after it's auctioned today... but in the meantime there's little I can do without seeking work in an entirely different career path.

Speaking of which, a long term goal is to start a game studio. I'm currently working on an indie game in my spare time with a friend hoping that we can eventually do well enough with this to accomplish that goal... so hopefully I can build some stability into my life by starting the next Valve... but if anything I don't imagine job security will be any more firm by starting a studio. It will take years to get that happening... but it's in progress.


----------



## JustAGuy

Argonaut said:


> Sell everything and go to cash. Your biggest concern right now is the company you work for going bankrupt.


Since this is money in my RSP, I don't see selling everything and going to cash as an option


----------



## Spudd

If you want to transfer your RRSP money from Questrade to ING, contact ING and ask them how to proceed. They will want your money, and will be willing to help with the process. 

Rather than going to cash you can always go to couch potato as a strategy that should have higher growth than a GIC, but is not prone to speculation. By the way, "going to cash" in your RRSP doesn't mean withdrawing it, it means selling the stocks and leaving the lump of cash sitting there in the account. Or putting it into a money market fund or high interest savings account.


----------



## humble_pie

this is not my theory at all but comes to you as a watered-down version of moneyGal. With apologies to MG if i'm getting it wrong.

guy you are not only a "stock," you are an insanely hi-risk speculative stock. Yours is an arty life plus an arty wife in another country. The venture factor is off the chart.

so in your savings you need "bonds" in order to stabilize the boat. You need to compensate the too-lively life stock with dull, boring, safe rrsp investments. Guaranteed interest-bearing paper like GICs is an idea with merit. Do you know how to construct a GIC ladder ? if not, maybe a good idea to learn how.

you could also have a dividend etf in rrsp so as to add slightly higher income. Perhaps a 60/40 GIC/etf division. Ask here in cmf forum for the best canadian dividend etf. There's always ishares, but i believe some like the vanguard dividend etf because it's less bank-weighted ... sorry, i'm not an etf resource, don't basically buy em.

the GICs could be constructed at ING but the etf would have to be in a broker account like questrade. A person like yourself should not be dabbling in over-the-top common stocks in rrsp or even in non-registered account, at this time in his life.

ps the game studio sounds good, as long as you're investing mostly time + creativity for now.

pps why are U so addicted to excitement ? ... just wondering, no need to answer.


----------



## JustAGuy

humble_pie said:


> this is not my theory at all but comes to you as a watered-down version of moneyGal. With apologies to MG if i'm getting it wrong.
> 
> guy you are not only a "stock," you are an insanely hi-risk speculative stock. Yours is an arty life plus an arty wife in another country. The venture factor is off the chart.


Yes... this is one way of putting it. That's part of the reason that my wife took the job in the other country, is the stability her job offered. Getting full time work in film/games is a very rare thing, and that's what she was offered when in Canada she was only finding short term (less than a year) contracts. She's now at a place that looks like it will be doing great for several years to come. When contracts end, it's normally time to find a new one, and I try to make that transition as seamless as possible normally. I'm already doing my recon in the eventuality that my company implodes, and also trying to make connections so that I might easily have something lined up in San Fran come June in the event that my company does *not* implode.

Though when talking of stability... my brother, who took a nice stable office job and still has had to move around a few times, has told me that the way he sees it, at least I have the comfort of knowing my jobs are temporary. Most other people are tricked into thinking their jobs are permanent.



humble_pie said:


> so in your savings you need "bonds" in order to stabilize the boat. You need to compensate the too-lively life stock with dull, boring, safe rrsp investments. Guaranteed interest-bearing paper like GICs is an idea with merit. Do you know how to construct a GIC ladder ? if not, maybe a good idea to learn how.


Yes, I understand this, and it's where I started... I suppose inflation is supposedly low right now at 1.2% but it was closer to 3% back in Feb when I made the decision to try at stocks... this meant that I couldn't find a GIC to put my money into that was higher than inflation. Seemed dumb to put my money into something that was guaranteed to be worth less when it came out of savings.... whereas stocks... there was the potential that I could gain tremendously... just look at how any investor would have made out if they'd invested 10k in Apple 5 years ago



humble_pie said:


> you could also have a dividend etf in rrsp so as to add slightly higher income. Perhaps a 60/40 GIC/etf division. Ask here in cmf forum for the best canadian dividend etf. There's always ishares, but i believe some like the vanguard dividend etf because it's less bank-weighted ... sorry, i'm not an etf resource, don't basically buy em.


I'll look into this. I have a Streetsmart Mutual Fund with ING which hasn't been performing terribly since I bought it... I'll see how it's holding up compared to some of the etfs out there...



humble_pie said:


> the GICs could be constructed at ING but the etf would have to be in a broker account like questrade. A person like yourself should not be dabbling in over-the-top common stocks in rrsp or even in non-registered account, at this time in his life.
> 
> ps the game studio sounds good, as long as you're investing mostly time + creativity for now.


There are some very minor expenses right now, but yes my partner earns less than I and is supporting his wife through school... we've agreed to spend money equally, and frugally on this. It is primarily a time sink, though at some point we will likely have some software costs, incorporation fees etc that will have to be dealt with.



humble_pie said:


> pps why are U so addicted to excitement ? ... just wondering, no need to answer.


I feel the pangs of mortality. I want to accomplish as much as I can with what little time I have. There's too much amazingness out there and we have almost no time to witness any of it. Would be a shame to waste that time doing nothing. Basically.

Doctors apparently are the largest risk takers in their spare time... maybe it's the same for me... you get into a profession that you're passionate about, expecting that you're going to make a difference... for doctors it's saving lives.... for me it's bringing enjoyment to the masses on the big screen... but maybe you start doing the job and realizing that it's really no more special than any other job and you feel kind of trapped in the monotony. What more is there than to find something to trigger that dopamine rush?


----------



## JustAGuy

> pps why are U so addicted to excitement ? ... just wondering, no need to answer.


This is actually a question that really interests me...

Another thing that occurs to me is that I didn't used to be.

The whole time I grew up, I was actually pretty boring. Didn't want to play sports, was very introverted, and just kind of did my own thing quietly. In college I only went to probably two parties (only one that I can remember) both because I wasn't invited often, and because when I was I usually turned it down in favor of working harder so that I could get a job and pay off my debt after graduating. I had very little financial support and graduated with almost 50k of debt. I lived very very frugally all through college, and for a few years afterward. I never vacationed, or bought anything. I never drank or smoke or did any other sort of drugs. Never went to the gym, didn't eat out. It wasn't an exciting life, and I didn't seek excitement.

But a few years back, when I finally got my first film job I got rid of my debt, and started to work 60 hour weeks, my next job I was working 96 hour weeks, and my last job I worked around 70 hour weeks for 5 months straight... sometimes dropping down to 60 hours, sometimes up to 80 hours... It's high pressure, and high intensity, and when you come out of that, you're left with this vacant sense of not knowing what to do with your time. So you start evaluating more, "what do I -want- to do with my time? And you start trying to make it happen. Either that or you basically become a shell that can't carry on a conversation.

So largely that's probably similar with why I don't completely know what to do with my money. For a while every cent made a difference. I remember having $4.80 in my bank account at one point... and a huge debt, that was increasing. So once I got rid of my debt, and started accumulating money, and not really knowing what to do with it, it started to become a thing of what can I do with this money to make it grow even faster? But also wanting to do more exciting things than come home and be introverted.


----------



## humble_pie

JustAGuy said:


> I suppose inflation is supposedly low right now at 1.2% but it was closer to 3% back in Feb when I made the decision to try at stocks... this meant that I couldn't find a GIC to put my money into that was higher than inflation. Seemed dumb to put my money into something that was guaranteed to be worth less when it came out of savings.... whereas stocks... there was the potential that I could gain tremendously... just look at how any investor would have made out if they'd invested 10k in Apple 5 years ago



yes i thought you'd come back with something like this. 

here's the point. One man has a crazy job, puts his 10,000 retirement savings in a GIC ladder that yields 2.5-3% per annum. At the end of 5 years he has about 11,590.

the other man has a crazy job too but he lets the light fantastic run amok. He puts his 10k retirement savings into stocks he knows nothing about. He suffers a 45% loss. Instead of 10,000 he now has 5,500. He refuses to learn, still thinks he can beat the market, so it's likely he'll never catch up but instead might lose even more.

which one has the better long-term savings plan ?

i don't believe you can compare your situation to doctors. MDs have guaranteed high incomes for life, no risk of being laid off, excellent retirement plans or else they can craft these for themselves.

but you ... employment is erratic & temporary at best. Having to source work in a totally different field is a constant possibility.

as for your work in animation, i happen to think it sounds great. I'm being sincere, not sarcastic at all. It would not surprise me in the least to find out that you have a marvellous talent. I like the game studio idea & wish the very best to you & your hardworking partner.


----------



## humble_pie

JustAGuy said:


> It's high pressure, and high intensity, and when you come out of that, you're left with this vacant sense of not knowing what to do with your time ... wanting to do more exciting things than come home and be introverted.



what a lovely story. Look at the iron discipline you had, to put yourself through college & i assume art school with almost no help, then to pay down the whopping $50,000 student debt all by yourself. Kudos to you. Guigz will kill me but i say châpeaux !

the word "vacant" seems to be key. I wonder if the faraway wife is part of this feeling. Of course it's difficult to come home from an electric creative atmosphere to an empty home & 4 silent walls. It's normal to look around for something exciting to fill the time.

but it seems to me you've hit on a dangerous pastime. It's fine to plan your retirement savings, but you've turned this mild challenge inside out. Now you're inside the nuclear reactor without any protective gear & the trouble is that you believe you're Spiderman.

i'm not sure what to say, other than that you could lock down your retirement savings with a conservative plan similar to what's spelled out above - something like GICs plus perhaps a simple dividend etf - & then strictly quit fiddling. You had the singleminded discipline before, for a number of years, so you can certainly find it again.

then would it be too far-fetched to suggest looking for something else that would truly be exciting ? a sport maybe ? sailing ? kayaking ? rock climbing ? you already have the game studio underway, so just one more gripping activity would probably be enough.


----------



## JustAGuy

Yep, I already do rock climbing and parkour in my spare time, and travelling... I actually thought that was what you were referring to with addiction to excitement.

I agree, obviously it makes sense to earn 2% per year on savings than throw away 45%. There's no disputing that. And if I can just maintain putting money away nito GIC's and what not like that I can have over a million before I'm ready to retire at 65. I guess it's just very tempting to want to have multi-millions before that age...


----------



## JustAGuy

Well.

It's no secret that was a bad month for me. Lost a lot of money in stocks. In total this year, that makes $6722 that I've lost to be exact or 55.25% of what I attempted to invest. And had two visits with my wife which resulted in a lot of spending. I'm currently in damage control mode. I've canceled my gym memberships and netflix. Living frugally. Let's see how much I can change my bad habits going forward. I plan on reading The Lazy Investor but I've been so busy I haven't had an opportunity to go to the library.

Digital Domain was purchased by Galloping Horse / Reliance Media and appears to be solidly structured moving forward, so I do not forsee any problems there before the end of my contract in May.

I am trying to find work that will bring me to San Francisco, but timing is the most awkward part of trying to find work in this industry. I need to try and find something that I can start in June so as not to break my contract.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical every month until October
<strike>$50.40 per month for Gym membership</strike>
<strike>$65.33 per month for Climbing Gym membership</strike>
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
<strike>$8 Netflix</strike>
$1132.5 Total Bills Per Month (reduced by $122.39/month)

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$16,273.30 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (-1499.48 month change)
$460.83 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (+164.56 month change)
$10,464.00 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+165.28 change from last month)
$1763.91 in equity with Questrade TFSA (-920.19 change from last month)
$6535.09 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+999.2 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

35497.13 CAD (-1091.63) / 12,417.95 AUD (-30.31) beginning of October
36591.76 CAD (+4634.00) / 12,448.26 AUD (-87.55) beginning of September
31953.76 CAD (+2746.95) / 12,535.81 AUD (-28.48) beginning of August
29206.81 CAD (+1121.82) / 12,564.29 AUD (+1154.84) beginning of July
28084.99 CAD (-1401.16) / 11,409.45 AUD (-25.75) beginning of June
29486.15 CAD (+2766.05) / 11,435.20 AUD (-126.11) beginning of May
26720.10 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
13518.64 CAD (+2257.46) / 21,591.28 AUD (+5.16) beginning of March
11261.18 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


My bills are finished in Australia, but with Digital Domain going bankrupt they neglected to pay a bunch of the bills they owed... including hotel costs for when people relocated. One of my friends was billed a few thousand from the hotel to his Australian account which caused his account to be overdrawn by just a little. To help him out I temporarily loaned him $100 to put him into a positive balance to prevent further fees from accumulating. DD is now in the process of sorting that stuff out, so said friend will be able to reimburse me soon enough.


Questrade RSP -> Invested $10021, P&L ($3485.91)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DWA - 75 @ 17.78

Questrade TFSA -> Invested $5000, P&L ($3236.09)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47


Growth:
View attachment 168

G -> Overall in Canadian Funds w/ exchange rate
R -> Canadian
B -> Australian


----------



## humble_pie

ottomh i see a big sea change here.

i think just writing things down, taking the time to reflect, is a big step forward.

great to hear the job will hold up ! all your employment plans sound fine. Keeping the fingers crossed.

really liked the part about spending on visits to your wife. Also liked the part about helping the friend who got stuck with totally unforeseen hotel bill due to crazy employer. Hey, you're an artist. Life is always going to be on the wild side.

all the more reason to think about putting a few dull bondlike investments in the rrsp to serve as an anchor for your longterm savings plans.

their dull returns may not seem flashy at first, but one of the things enormously in your favour - because of your young age - will be the power of compounding over your lifetime.


----------



## JustAGuy

I misunderstood my contract  I still have to pay BC Medical each month, I do get extra benefits though covered by the company. Was looking forward to lower monthly bills.


----------



## JustAGuy

That's right boys and girls! It's time for another exciting round of how slow can my finances grow!

Well, the disappointing thing is that I had both more expenses than I'd been counting on, and am receiving less pay than I'd been counting on! As I mentioned earlier, the company I had worked for went bankrupt, and now it's back as a new entity. What does that mean? It means that any CPP or EI that I had paid and maxed out is now being billed again as though I'd started a new contract at a new company, which I suppose I have. So I'm now bringing home less each paycheque as it automatically gets over contributed into my EI and CPP. On the plus side I guess that counts as forced savings... it'll go to the government and then at tax time I'll be getting it right back. Here's to great tax refunds?

I've also enrolled in an online business course through University of Waterloo to a: get a firmer grasp on some things with starting up your own business, and b: to open myself up to student discounts. The games that I'm working on making in my spare time need artwork, and I've decided I don't want to taint any of that artwork by working with illegitimate software. On the plus side though, as this is an indie venture I'm able to pick up a student copy of Adobe software and use that commercially. Taking the course and buying the student edition has saved me a good chunk over buying the non-student version. I also had a few friends who were departing the country and so was wrangled into more social activity than I'm used to. So hence less savings than I would have liked for the month. But hey, I didn't gamble away money on stocks... so I guess that's an improvement, right?

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$1132.5 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$18755.11 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+2481.81 month change)
$347.21 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-113.62 month change)
$10525.98 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+61.98 change from last month)
$1747.06 in equity with Questrade TFSA (-16.85 change from last month)
$6682.46 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+147.37 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

For some reason I haven't been including my GIC's in here... so I'm adding them now... but as the final maturity value.
50678.60 CAD (+2560.69) / 12,447.30 AUD (+29.35) beginning of November
48117.91 CAD (-1091.63) / 12,417.95 AUD (-30.31) beginning of October
49209.54 CAD (+4634.00) / 12,448.26 AUD (-87.55) beginning of September
44575.54 CAD (+2746.95) / 12,535.81 AUD (-28.48) beginning of August
41828.59 CAD (+1121.82) / 12,564.29 AUD (+1154.84) beginning of July
40706.77 CAD (-1401.16) / 11,409.45 AUD (-25.75) beginning of June
42107.93 CAD (+2766.05) / 11,435.20 AUD (-126.11) beginning of May
39341.88 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
26140.42 CAD (+2257.46) / 21,591.28 AUD (+5.16) beginning of March
23882.96 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


Questrade RSP -> Invested $10021, P&L ($3338.54)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DWA - 75 @ 17.78

Questrade TFSA -> Invested $5000, P&L ($3252.94)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47


Growth:
View attachment 177

G -> Overall in Canadian Funds w/ exchange rate
R -> Canadian
B -> Australian[/QUOTE]


----------



## JustAGuy

Finally realized that the odds of me getting back to Australia any time soon are much smaller than I'd originally hoped, and have put the majority of my Australian funds into a term deposit at 4.6% interest. I've kept $2000 in my regular HISA "just in case"


----------



## JustAGuy

It hasn't been a particularly good month for the bank accounts. I was sick for a little while and haven't worked as many days as normal. When I'm sick I don't get paid time off. I also decided to bite the bullet and buy the final camera lens for my collection, so that was $1400 in expense, but I now have a complete set of camera equipment which is also a business expense.

December and January without question must be frugal months. I am quitting my job. I've been living away from my wife too long, and the situation at work has been worsening, so I've decided my current situation in life is just not working and it needs to be improved. I finish at work on January 24th, and then I move to live with my wife. This unfortunately creates a whole new set of things to fret over... but my options at the moment are: get work in America, or don't get work. One will bring in money, and the other will allow me to further develop the two independent video games that I'm working on. Truth be told I'll be happier unemployed and working on my personal projects, however that's going to likely mean that 2013 will be a virtual write-off for savings... so... as said, the next two months *have* to be frugal.

It's scary going forward.

$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BCHydro
$1132.5 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$18736.76 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (-18.35 month change)
$419.92 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (+72.71 month change)
$10546.64 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+20.66 change from last month)
$1774.40 in equity with Questrade TFSA (+27.34 change from last month)
$6320.67 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (-361.79 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

AUD:
$2004.97 AUD HISA @ 3.25% (-10442.33 change from last month)
$10552.30 AUD Term Deposit @ 4.60% (value at maturity Nov 2017 will be 12870.69)

50419.17 CAD (-0259.43) / 14,875.66 AUD (+2428.36) beginning of December
50678.60 CAD (+2560.69) / 12,447.30 AUD (+29.35) beginning of November
48117.91 CAD (-1091.63) / 12,417.95 AUD (-30.31) beginning of October
49209.54 CAD (+4634.00) / 12,448.26 AUD (-87.55) beginning of September
44575.54 CAD (+2746.95) / 12,535.81 AUD (-28.48) beginning of August
41828.59 CAD (+1121.82) / 12,564.29 AUD (+1154.84) beginning of July
40706.77 CAD (-1401.16) / 11,409.45 AUD (-25.75) beginning of June
42107.93 CAD (+2766.05) / 11,435.20 AUD (-126.11) beginning of May
39341.88 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
26140.42 CAD (+2257.46) / 21,591.28 AUD (+5.16) beginning of March
23882.96 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


Questrade RSP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DWA - 75 @ 17.78

Questrade TFSA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47


----------



## JustAGuy

Here comes the last chance for income. I expect that a lot of what I earn in January is going to evaporate into moving costs, but here's hoping that I can put something away. I move to San Francisco January 26th, at which point I'll be unemployed indefinitely while I work on making some independent video games whilst my wife becomes the sole income earner. I'll hopefully be able to use this time to learn more about investing (without throwing cash into the toilet like I did this year), will start looking more carefully at my wife's finances so that we can start keeping track of our combined incomes, but mostly will just be spending as much time as I can into development of my own projects in the hopes that I can one day make that profitable.

This unfortunately means that I'm not anticipating my funds to have any growth this upcoming year aside from tax returns. Maybe I can sell some stock photography or something, but my options will be pretty limited while living out of country


$950 a month for rent
$64 BC medical
$33.60 Telus Mobility
$58.56 Telus Internet
$25 BC Hydro
$1132.5 Total Bills Per Month

Debt:
$0

Wealth:
$21500 @ 1.8% High Interest Savings with Ally (+2763.24 month change)
$179.38 @ 0.25% Thrive account w/ ING Direct (-240.54 month change)
$10619.43 CAD in ING TFSA Streetwise Funds (+72.79 change from last month)
$1790.89 1774.40 in equity with Questrade TFSA (+16.49 change from last month)
$6355.47 6320.67 CAD in equity with Questrade RSP (+34.80 change from last month)
GIC RSP with ING @2.75% (value at maturity Dec 2015 will be $6823.95)
TFGIC with ING @ 3% (value at maturity Dec 2014 will be 5,796.83)

AUD:
$2010.21 2004.97 AUD HISA @ 3.25% (+5.24 change from last month)
$10552.30 AUD Term Deposit @ 4.60% (value at maturity Nov 2017 will be 12870.69)


53065.95 CAD (+2646.78)/ 14,880.90 AUD (+5.24) beginning of January 2013
50419.17 CAD (-0259.43) / 14,875.66 AUD (+2428.36) beginning of December
50678.60 CAD (+2560.69) / 12,447.30 AUD (+29.35) beginning of November
48117.91 CAD (-1091.63) / 12,417.95 AUD (-30.31) beginning of October
49209.54 CAD (+4634.00) / 12,448.26 AUD (-87.55) beginning of September
44575.54 CAD (+2746.95) / 12,535.81 AUD (-28.48) beginning of August
41828.59 CAD (+1121.82) / 12,564.29 AUD (+1154.84) beginning of July
40706.77 CAD (-1401.16) / 11,409.45 AUD (-25.75) beginning of June
42107.93 CAD (+2766.05) / 11,435.20 AUD (-126.11) beginning of May
39341.88 CAD (+2709.38) / 11,561.31 AUD beginning of April (10000AUD->10,492.08CAD)
26140.42 CAD (+2257.46) / 21,591.28 AUD (+5.16) beginning of March
23882.96 CAD / 21,586.12 AUD beginning of February


Questrade RSP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DWA - 75 @ 17.78

Questrade TFSA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SBUX - 7 @ 57.09
SPM.TO - 30 @ 1.47


----------

