# rd_aaron's Money Diary



## rd_aaron

I've enjoyed reading these so I thought I would put one up. Hopefully it'll give me further incentive to improve my finances if I post it in a public forum.

Details:
I'm a 24 year old Engineer working in Alberta. My gross salary is currently $74,500/year. I currently live with my fiancée (we rent), and we are getting married in 2013. I'll try to do this as a monthly thing so I'll post January and February today.

My goals for this year are to try and max out my TFSA, as well as contribute some to my RRSP. I obviously have a wedding to pay for next year, so I'll be putting money away for that. Any comments/concerns/advice is appreciated.

*January 1, 2012*

*Assets*
Cash: $4,000.28
TFSA: $10,544.60
RRSP: $0.00
Pension: $10,781.46
Group RRSP: $1,168.04

Total Assets: $26,494.38


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $2,470.79
Student Loan: $15,286.62
Student LoC: $4,550.00
Visa: $1,167.80

Total Liabilities: $23,475.21

Net Worth: $3,019.17


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## rd_aaron

*February 1, 2012*

*Assets* 
Cash: $5,006.16
TFSA: $11,235.00
RRSP: $0.00
Pension: $11,193.66
Group RRSP: $1,262.95

Total Assets: $28,697.77


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $2,329.43
Student Loan: $15,126.84
Student LoC: $4,550.00
Visa: $0.00

Total Liabilities: $22,006.27

Net Worth: $6,691.50 (+54.9%)


Note: I'm sure I'll get a few responses saying to pay down my credit card, and generally I would. I bought an engagement ring at the same time as a trip to Cuba just before the end of 2011 so that's why I have a balance on it. I like to keep at least $5k in cash in my account, but I should hopefully have the credit card paid off by the end of the month.


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## uptoolate

Congratulations on getting through engineering, having minimal liabilities, landing a job, having a pension and living in Canada's low tax province. Looking good so far. 

My advice would be to be sure that you and your future spouse see eye to eye on finances and lifestyle and to keep the wedding expenses under control. According to 'The Millionaire Next Door', engineers and teachers are the best at generating net worth from available income. If you happen to be of Scottish descent, you should have it made! 

Great work! Have a great wedding next year.

PS And pay off your credit cards in full every month - which you may in fact be doing. I just saw your second post after I posted this. I would pay off the credit card before I would be worrying about the $5000 cash balance. Get to know your bank manager and let him know what your profession is and he will likely waive a bunch of fees given your potential as a long term customer.


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## rd_aaron

uptoolate said:


> Congratulations on getting through engineering, having minimal liabilities, landing a job, having a pension and living in Canada's low tax province. Looking good so far.
> 
> My advice would be to be sure that you and your future spouse see eye to eye on finances and lifestyle and to keep the wedding expenses under control. According to 'The Millionaire Next Door', engineers and teachers are the best at generating net worth from available income. If you happen to be of Scottish descent, you should have it made!
> 
> Great work! Have a great wedding next year.
> 
> PS And pay off your credit cards in full every month - which you may in fact be doing. I just saw your second post after I posted this. I would pay off the credit card before I would be worrying about the $5000 cash balance. Get to know your bank manager and let him know what your profession is and he will likely waive a bunch of fees given your potential as a long term customer.


Oddly enough, my fiancee is a teacher, so that's good to know. She doesn't like crunching the numbers like I do, but she's on the same page for trying to be frugal and save.

Thanks for the encouragement.


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## Pigzfly

Looks pretty good. I'm assuming you've only been working for two years or so, so I wouldn't stress too much about RRSPs being fully topped up as your income will likely increase a fair bit in the next few years. That said, make sure to take advantage of any employer matching contributions! 

Weddings can be _ridiculously expensive_ without even trying to make them so, unfortunately. G'luck with that and save as much as you can in advance!

Definitely like the max-TFSA goal, it's a great savings mechanism for the wedding and such. 

Glad you're on the same page in terms of what to do with money, with your fiancée.

Side note - as part of the wedding process, please look into having wills written. They are invalided by marriage, unless they are written with a line that reads something like "in anticipation of the upcoming marriage between X and X." Also look at power of attorney and Living Wills... Living Wills are called something different in Alberta. 

My other comment is to be careful about getting sucked into the keep-up-with-the-joneses aspect of life as a young professional in Alberta. I live quite close and run in the same circles and it is very, very easy to blow through money when everyone around you also has lots and likes to spend it!
Just came back from a financial planning session provided by my company and the lady said they do a lot of work in Ft. Mac where people have huge incomes and huge debts and like to turn around and buy things, for example. 

G'luck!


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## rd_aaron

*March 1, 2012*

So some definite positive movement this month. This is largely due to a bonus I received at the end of February. I paid off my credit card, added $3500 to my RRSP and put a little extra down on my student loan. I have a balance on my credit card now because I had a $600 mechanic bill for my car yesterday (ouch!) and I signed up for a gym membership which required the first and last month payments up front.


*Assets* 
Cash: $4925.37 (-1.61%)
TFSA: $11796.00 (+4.99%) - _NOTE: I didn't contribute, just made some good gains this month._
RRSP: $3500.00
Pension: $12746.83 (+13.88%) - _NOTE: I'm not sure how I gained this much. Must have had great gains last month as well._
Group RRSP: $1,442.74 (+14.24%)
Total Assets: $34,410.94 (+19.91%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $705.85 (-69.70%)
Student Loan: $14,584.53 (-3.59%)
Student LoC: $4,550.00 (0%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $19,840.38 (-9.84%)

*Net Worth:* $14,570.56 (+117.75%)


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## Saniokca

rd_aaron said:


> *
> Pension: $12746.83 (+13.88%) - NOTE: I'm not sure how I gained this much. Must have had great gains last month as well.
> *


*

You're doing great overall! 

I would be worried about swings like that. This time it was up, but what about next time? I would investigate what you're investing in.*


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## rd_aaron

Here's my current portfolio (all in a TFSA through Questrade). I know I'm not well balanced so I'm expecting that criticism. I have a pretty high risk tolerance and I am willing to wait out the dips. I also have the stocks that I've bought and sold within my TFSA there (it only shows the overall return on them). As you can see, Cameco is the only one I'm losing money on. I played a contrarian a little too early on it, but it's rebounding nicely and I expcect to see positive growth long term.

I haven't checked the validity of the "cash" balance which is supposedly tracking dividends and distributions.


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## rd_aaron

Saniokca said:


> You're doing great overall!
> 
> I would be worried about swings like that. This time it was up, but what about next time? I would investigate what you're investing in.


Well a big part of the increase is the actual contribution. 10% of my paycheque (combined contributions from me and my employer) was added, so that's about $620.

I'm heavy in Canadian equity funds for my pension. They made gains this month but not the amount we're talking. I have a feeling my number from February missed a contribution (about $310) so that could account for it.


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## Saniokca

My comment was more related to the statement "not sure how". I was under the impression that you (like many people) just selected some random funds and were hoping for the best.


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## londoncalling

I also jumped into CCO a little early after Fukishima. I am barely above water on it but am not concerned as I have lots of time to let it run back up to those levels. I will trim as it rises as I am a little overweight in this one and energy in general. I wish that I could say the same in regards to EXE. I bought that one early in my investing career and am down a fair bit due to the changes made by the Obama administration last year which brought the price down for me.  I learned that I needed to think more about my investing decisions and potential downside risks. Fortunately I have found CMF which can often offer second sober thought. There is a wealth of knowledge here which may help investors see things in a different light from time to time. 

Keep up the good work.


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## rd_aaron

londoncalling said:


> I also jumped into CCO a little early after Fukishima. I am barely above water on it but am not concerned as I have lots of time to let it run back up to those levels. I will trim as it rises as I am a little overweight in this one and energy in general. I wish that I could say the same in regards to EXE. I bought that one early in my investing career and am down a fair bit due to the changes made by the Obama administration last year which brought the price down for me.  I learned that I needed to think more about my investing decisions and potential downside risks. Fortunately I have found CMF which can often offer second sober thought. There is a wealth of knowledge here which may help investors see things in a different light from time to time.
> 
> Keep up the good work.


I originally bought CCO around $27 and DCA'd down again around $23 or $24. I was thinking about doing it again when it hit around $19 but I was already way overweight in it so I didn't.

Don't feel too bad about EXE. I was watching it last year around the $11 mark and was considering buying it. Luckily I didn't, and the price dropped around the $7 mark and I got in. It paid me some good distributions and then I got out around the 8% appreciation.

XIC was a really short buy and sell when the market was jumping up and down extreme amounts in Q3 last year. I think I bought just before the dividend day on a day that the TSX dropped about 400 points and sold a few days later when it rebounded.


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## londoncalling

rd_aaron said:


> I originally bought CCO around $27 and DCA'd down again around $23 or $24. I was thinking about doing it again when it hit around $19 but I was already way overweight in it so I didn't.
> 
> Don't feel too bad about EXE. I was watching it last year around the $11 mark and was considering buying it. Luckily I didn't, and the price dropped around the $7 mark and I got in. It paid me some good distributions and then I got out around the 8% appreciation.
> 
> XIC was a really short buy and sell when the market was jumping up and down extreme amounts in Q3 last year. I think I bought just before the dividend day on a day that the TSX dropped about 400 points and sold a few days later when it rebounded.


I jumped into CCO and of May early June in the $26 ranged and averaged down at 20 in November. I was gonna bite again at $18.00 but am very overweighted like you.

EXE is making some changes in the near term and switching from a trust to a corp. I have to look into it further and then decide wether to book my loss or let it ride. It is paying a nice distribution I am just concerned as the payout rate is 100% and don`t think that can continue. I would have averaged down on this one earlier as well to recoup some of the losses but it is already a sizable chunk of my REIT holdings. 

I like you need to better diversify. As a result I took a small position in BMO today. Will average down if it hits $56.00


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## rd_aaron

*April 1, 2012*

Not a super exciting month but an improvement nonetheless. Investments in my TFSA didn't do so well this month and I didn't really add anything to it. RRSP is still just sitting doing nothing. I need to take some time to figure out what I want to do with it. Had a fairly frugal month until this past weekend which included a trip home to see family and friends which cost more than I would've liked.


*Assets* 
Cash: $5,716.46 (+16.06%)
TFSA: $11,231.00 (-4.79%) 
RRSP: $3,500.00 (0%)
Pension: $13,450.15 (+5.16%)
Group RRSP: $1,554.19 (+7.72%)
Total Assets: $35,451.80 (+2.89%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0 (-100%)
Student Loan: $14,338.72 (-1.63%)
Student LoC: $4,500.00 (-1.10%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $18,838.72 (-5.01%)

*Net Worth*: $16,613.08 (+13.62%)

So overall, not a bad month. I know I should aggressively pay down debt but it is not nearly as exciting as investing so I have trouble with it. My student loan is a floating 5.5% compounded daily and is the one I should be paying off first. I have the automatic payments only taking out $200/month from my account, and I will throw an extra hundred on it here and there. It's easy for me to pay off a $1000 credit card statement but I've never put that much money on my student loan at once.

I think I'd still like to max out my TFSA this year. I think I'll also set a goal for at least $30,000 in net worth (maxing out my TFSA and reducing debt by at least $5,000).


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## rd_aaron

*May 1, 2012*

April was a pretty successful month. I managed to increase my net worth by almost 16% while I had a couple of big expenditures. We bought a BBQ (and not the cheapest BBQ ever) and put down a deposit on a wedding photographer. I decided to agressively pay off my student loan this month and put nearly $1000 on it. I also added a tiny amount to my TFSA.

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,039.82 (+5.66%)
TFSA: $11,929.00 (+6.21%) 
RRSP: $3,500.00 (0%)
Pension: $14,085.46 (+4.72%)
Group RRSP: $1,694.02 (+9.00%)

Total Assets: $37.248.30 (+5.07%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $91.98 ()
Student Loan: $13,447.78 (-6.21%)
Student LoC: $4,450.00 (-1.11%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $17,989.76 (-4.51%)

*Net Worth*: $19,258.54 (+15.92%)

If I stay at the same pace, I should easily be able to hit $30,000 in net worth by the end of the year. I think I'm going to put my RRSP into a well diversified ETF and let it sit.

I've set up an automatic transfer of $350 from my chequing to savings account bi-monthly (when I get paid) that I will either put towards student loan debt or my TFSA. That means I have a minimum of $1050 a month increasing my net worth ($350 x 2 times a month + $150 to group RRSP auto deposit + $200 auto student loan payment). That's about 17% of gross income a month which I'm pretty happy with. The more I skim off the top, the less likely I am to spend more than I should.


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## SuperGrover

You forgot to update the Networth 

$37,248.30 - $17,989.76 = $19,258.54


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## Brenner

This is an excellent idea, I need to start tracking my assets/liabilities like this. One question, how would one track the value of their DB pension contributions? Currently I don't really consider them an asset, they just disappear off my pay, should I just track them at their cash value? Should I include the employer contributions even though I would lose them under certain cash/transfer out scenarios?


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## rd_aaron

SuperGrover said:


> You forgot to update the Networth
> 
> $37,248.30 - $17,989.76 = $19,258.54


Whoops, thanks! The % change is right, just forgot to change the dollar amount. Fixed.


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## rd_aaron

Brenner said:


> This is an excellent idea, I need to start tracking my assets/liabilities like this. One question, how would one track the value of their DB pension contributions? Currently I don't really consider them an asset, they just disappear off my pay, should I just track them at their cash value? Should I include the employer contributions even though I would lose them under certain cash/transfer out scenarios?


I don't know if you can really track a DB pension. Mine is a DC pension, and I would get paid out 100% of the value of what is in it if I quit, which is why I consider it an asset.

I think the best strategy would be, try to plan your retirement using a very modest number for your DB pension (i.e. have enough other savings, assets, etc to retire with) and then anything you make above and beyond that is a bonus. My fiancée is on a DB pension plan, and in reality, if she worked her 25 or 30 years there, she could probably retire comfortably on it alone but if she can manage to have other assets producing income, then she's in really good shape.


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## Brenner

I am not sure I really want to depend on it... who knows what shape it will be in 30 years from now when I need it. By then retirement age could be 80 for all we know and the benefits cut in half. Think I will just track it at my cash contribution. That is all I would get, plus some small interest amount, if I liquidated it at any given time anyway.


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## Plugging Along

For my DB, there is a commuter value for if I leave, it's pretty much the amount that I put along with the company's amount, plus a little (or no) interest. That's what I factor for the value.


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## rd_aaron

*June 1, 2012*

May was a bit disappointing as far as my net worth goes. I decreased my liabilities by 6% but my assets actually decreased this month due to my pension and TFSA getting hit in the markets. The only reason the TFSA is up is because I contributed about $350 to it this month.

*Assets* 
Cash: $5,858.63 (-3.00%)
TFSA: $12,146.00 (+1.82%) 
RRSP: $3,500.00 (0%)
Pension: $13,878.54 (-1.47%)
Group RRSP: $1,734.99 (+2.42%)

Total Assets: $37,118.16 (-0.35%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0 (-100%)
Student Loan: $12,608.16 (-6.24%)
Student LoC: $4,300.00 (-3.37%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $16,908.16 (-6.01%)

*Net Worth*: $20,210.00 (+4.94%)

I am happy, though, that I have been able to consistently skim $350 per paycheque to either pay off my student loan or contribute to my TFSA. I still need to reign in some of my spending, although it hasn't been too bad lately. I like to golf though so I'm anticipating expenses in that area are going to increase over the summer months. I still think my $30,000 net worth by the end of 2012 should be doable, even with the small increase this month. I should also be getting a small raise at the start of July which will help the cash flow.

My RRSP of $3500 is still sitting in cash. Really haven't decided what to do with that yet. I also sold off some RioCan (REI.UN) in my TFSA but it's dropped a bit and I might jump back in.

I'm currently still in Canadian REIT (REF.UN). It has performed great for me over the last 10 or so months (21% appreciation + distributions). However, it currently sits with a P/E of almost 49 and pays 3.69% in distributions. RioCan on the other hand, has a P/E of 8.59 and pays 5.14% in distributions. I'm thinking of selling my REF to buy REI, but REF just keeps appreciating and it's a little more diversified than REI. Any comments on either REIT?


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## rd_aaron

*July 1, 2012*

I'm posting this July 3rd, but the results are as of July 1st (not that it makes a big difference). With the recent gains on the TSX, June turned out to be a pretty good month. I managed to increase my net worth by about $2,300 even though I purchased 3 flights for trips I'm planning this year.

*Assets* 
Cash: $5,400.49 (-7.82%)
TFSA: $12,977.00 (+6.84%) 
RRSP: $4,033.00 (+15.23%)
Pension: $14746.11 (+6.25%)
Group RRSP: $1,902.47 (+9.65%)

Total Assets: $39,059.07 (+5.23%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0 (-100%)
Student Loan: $12,458.81 (-1.18%)
Student LoC: $4,100.00 (-4.65%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $16,558.81 (-2.07%)

*Net Worth*: $22,500.26 (+11.33%)

I put another $500 on my RRSP this month. I needed to do this as I plan on DRIPing my RRSP on the $4000 of ZMI I bought this month. $3500 wouldn't have been quite enough to buy another share but $4000 gives me some breathing room.

I also bought Suncor (SU.TO) last week when I thought it was at a deflated price. I've already made around 8% which is nice. I'm still hesitant about holding REF.UN at it's current price. Maybe I'll put a stop order to effectively lock in the roughly 24% gain I've had over the last 11 months.

July is going to be all about controlling spending. Stampede is coming up next week (I live in Calgary) and it is always an expensive time. I am also taking a vacation to the States at the end of the month which I can hopefully keep as budget friendly as possible.


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## rd_aaron

*August 1, 2012*

Little late in posting but the results are as of August 1st. Bit of an expensive month with Stampede and a vacation to the States. Still managed to do okay all things considered. I've decided that even if my bank account gets lower than I'd like, I'm not going to skip the $350/paycheque that goes to my TFSA or student loan. I'll just suffer through to the next paycheque.

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,250.22 (+15.73%)
TFSA: $13,585.00 (+4.69%) 
RRSP: $4,142.00 (+2.7%)
Pension: $15,805.06 (+7.18%)
Group RRSP: $2,095.68 (+10.16%)

Total Assets: $41,877.96 (+7.22%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $690.33 ()
Student Loan: $11,971.84 (-3.91%)
Student LoC: $4,000.00 (-2.44%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $16,662.17 (+0.62)

*Net Worth*: $25,215.79 (+12.07%)

Unfortunately this was a pretty expensive month so I'm going to have to take it easier in August. I'm pretty happy with how much I've paid off my student loan.. about $4,000 this year while still adding lots to my TFSA. I've also hit that time of the year where my EI and CPP are maxed out, so it's nice having an extra couple hundred on my paycheque every couple of weeks.

Not much else to add this month.


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## rd_aaron

*September 1, 2012*

Figured I'd get this out of the way before I go to Vegas tomorrow, as it may not look the same after the trip!

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,192.74 (-0.92%)
TFSA: $14,083.00 (+3.67%) 
RRSP: $4,138.00 (-0.10%)
Pension: $16,456.04 (+4.12%)
Group RRSP: $2,254.53 (+7.58%)

Total Assets: $43,124.31 (+2.98%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0.00 (-100%)
Student Loan: $11,858.86 (-0.94%)
Student LoC: $3,950.00 (-1.25%)
Visa: $0.00 (0%)

Total Liabilities: $15,808.86 (-5.12%)

*Net Worth*: $27,315.45 (+8.33%)

I guess my $30,000 net worth by the end of the year was a little underachieving. I think I should be able to eclipse $35,000 by the end of December.

Not a whole lot to report this month. Letting the investments sit. If things keep going down I might average down on one or two positions. Paying myself first is still the name of the game. I might increase it from $850/month to $1000/month if I can continue to manage my money well.


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## rd_aaron

*October 1, 2012*

Well, even after considering my investments didn't do so well, and I had a really expensive trip to Vegas, I still made out pretty good this month. If anything, I've been very consistent, adding around an additional $2150 to my net worth per month over the last 6 months. I've found that if I end up spending a lot of money on something (say Vegas, for example) I'm pretty good at being frugal for awhile to make up for it. If I don't spend money on anything for awhile, I feel like I'm more likely to spend money on eating out, entertainment, etc. I can use this as an advantage because if I went right now and put an extra $1000 towards my student loan (on top of my regular contributions/debt payments), I would notice the change in my bank account, and therefore start living more frugal to make my bank account rise back up to where it was before.

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,506.48 (5.07%)
TFSA: $14,430.00 (+2.46%) 
RRSP: $4,198.00 (1.45%)
Pension: $17,424.43 (+5.88%)
Group RRSP: $2,491.36 (+10.50%)

Total Assets: $45,050.27 (+4.47%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0.00 ()
Student Loan: $11,708.61 (-1.27%)
Student LoC: $3,850.00 (-2.53%)
Visa: $0.00 ()

Total Liabilities: $15,558.61 (-1.58%)

*Net Worth*: $29,491.66 (+7.97%)

I have increased my bi-weekly contribution to my TFSA to $400. I am thinking I might increase my automatic student loan repayment from $200/month to $250 or $300.

I'm turning 25 this month, so my auto insurance should go down a bit. I think I will do a little shopping around for auto insurance once I find out what my new rate is.

I averaged down my Cameco stock when it hit $19.20. I am really overweight in it, but would like to make some money back before I sell it.


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## rd_aaron

*November 1, 2012*

I'm going to change it up this month as it seems my posts are getting boring and I'm not getting much feedback. This month I'm going to post my budget and look for areas where I can save some money. I'll post a condensed version of my net worth as well. Hopefully I can get some feedback on how I'm spending my money.

*Net Worth*
Total Assets: $47,198.99 (+4.77%) 
Total Liabilities: $15,105.38 (-2.91%)

*Net Worth*: $32,093.61 (+8.82%)

Pretty good bump in net worth this month due to recent gains in my investments, plus I put a couple small lump sum payments on my student loan on top of the regular payment.


*Budget*
Rent: $700/month - _Fiancée and I rent a 1 bed + den condo close to our workplaces for $1400/month_
Groceries: ~$250/month - _Shop at Superstore & Costco for the most part_
Auto Insurance: $120/month - _My premiums didn't go down when I hit 25, so I think I'm going to shop around and find a better deal_
Tenants Insurance: $12/month - _I get a 5% discount on my auto insurance because I bundled auto & tenants together, so this almost pays for itself_
Student Loan Payment: $200/month - _I might bump this up in the new year, but I already occasionally throw an extra $50 or $100 per month on it_
Student Line of Credit: $50/month - _There's no payment plan, but I throw at least $50/month on to it_
Gas: $120/month - _My fiancée and I carpool to work, and I drive around the city quite a bit to play hockey a couple times a week_
Cell Phone: $65/month -_iPhone 3GS with a data plan, unlimited Canadian long distance. They actually just phoned me yesterday and took off $8/month without me asking._
Power Bill: $28/month - _Locked in at fixed 8 cents/kWh. About $56/month for the whole place generally_
Cable & Internet: $110/month - _Need to re-evaluate cable theme packs, but will likely keep the 50 Mbps internet as we stream Netflix & I play on Xbox online sometimes. Might shoot for a retention plan_
Netflix: $8/month - _We weren't getting our monies worth originally, but now we watch TV series so it's definitely worth the $8/month_
Rec Sports Fees: $150/month - _Between hockey fees for a couple of teams, summer hockey, ultimate frisbee in the summer, and equipment I'm around $1800/year_
Gym Membership: $45/month - _Pretty affordable. Basic gym membership, no classes or anything, but it's a pretty nice gym_
Group RRSP at work: $150/month - _Automatic withdrawal that's in Canadian equity mutual funds (I can only choose Sunlife investments here)_
Investments: $800/month - _Goes to my TFSA with Questrade every month_

Total (Predictable) Expenses: $2808/month

Total Income: $4600/month (after tax) - _This shouldn't drop too much in the new year when CPP & EI start coming off again as I'll likely receive a small raise._

Total available income after expenses: $1792/month.

I'm actually very surprised it is that much left. Obviously I'm spending too much on my non-predictable expenses, like going out for meals, entertainment, clothing, travel, car maintenance (although that is sort of predictable). Predictable is probably a bad word.. mostly mean expenses that aren't regular.

For the next few months, we are going to try the "Til Debt do us Part" trick of having a certain amount of cash available for certain things. We are going to allocate $50 each for eating out and see if we can get through the month. I have a feeling we'll run out sooner than later.

Where in my budget do you think I can improve? Do you track the non-regular items like buying clothes or household items?


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## Spudd

The only places I can really see for you to cut costs are the following:
- cable + internet - if you use Netflix for watching TV, and you can also stream network shows off their websites (CTV, CBC, Global all offer streaming of most of their shows), do you really need the TV cable? I would cut cable and up the internet to the next nicest package so you won't hit a cap by streaming. 
- cellphone - since you have an iphone 3gs, you probably are out of contract by now? If so, switching to pay as you go might save you money. I was paying $50/mo for a plan, and now I'm paying $10/mo for pay as you go. I don't use my phone much, so you might spend more, but it's worth making up a spreadsheet and take your phone bills and calculate how much it would have cost on pay as you go. I did it for 6 months of bills in order to determine that pay-go was going to save me a bundle.

I would suggest using mint.com for a few months to track your spending. It's really easy and kind of addictive.


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## Barwelle

Spudd said:


> - cellphone - since you have an iphone 3gs, you probably are out of contract by now? If so, switching to pay as you go might save you money. I was paying $50/mo for a plan, and now I'm paying $10/mo for pay as you go. I don't use my phone much, so you might spend more, but it's worth making up a spreadsheet and take your phone bills and calculate how much it would have cost on pay as you go. I did it for 6 months of bills in order to determine that pay-go was going to save me a bundle.


Wow. I wish I'd thought of that. My contract expired 2 years ago. Phone still works so I never bothered to look at new ones or change plans. And here I thought I was frugal for having a five-year-old cellphone... instead, I've been making extra payments for a phone that's already paid off.

aaron, I second Spudd's recommendation about the cable/internet. Also want to add something about insurance: TD Meloche Monnex offers "group rates" for some professional organizations. if you're a member of APEGA, try them out and make sure you mention your membership.

Also, with your Student Loan and LOC... you say you throw a little bit extra at the loan, and at least $50/mo at the LOC but there's no payment plan. One must have higher interest rate right? So why not just throw all the extra at that one, and leave the lower rate debt for after? That way you'll save a bit on interest. (Maybe you talked about this already, I didn't read through the whole thread.)


----------



## rd_aaron

Spudd said:


> The only places I can really see for you to cut costs are the following:
> - cable + internet - if you use Netflix for watching TV, and you can also stream network shows off their websites (CTV, CBC, Global all offer streaming of most of their shows), do you really need the TV cable? I would cut cable and up the internet to the next nicest package so you won't hit a cap by streaming.
> - cellphone - since you have an iphone 3gs, you probably are out of contract by now? If so, switching to pay as you go might save you money. I was paying $50/mo for a plan, and now I'm paying $10/mo for pay as you go. I don't use my phone much, so you might spend more, but it's worth making up a spreadsheet and take your phone bills and calculate how much it would have cost on pay as you go. I did it for 6 months of bills in order to determine that pay-go was going to save me a bundle.
> 
> I would suggest using mint.com for a few months to track your spending. It's really easy and kind of addictive.


1) I've thought a bit about cutting cable, especially that we have Netflix, and because we watch some shows online. The only thing is, we both watch football, and I like to watch hockey, and without live TV it's pretty tough to catch the games. We could potentially go to a friends house or to a pub or something, but if we did that, we'd probably end up buying a couple beer or some food which would eliminate the savings. I think we can probably cut our cable packages down, try and ask for a retention plan, or possibly switch providers to get a cheaper promotional deal. As for internet, I very much doubt we come anywhere close to our 400 GB cap. The other problem is, we've been grandfathered into an older plan, so even if I downgraded service to say 25 Mbps, it would be roughly the same price (or potentially more).

2) I'm still on a contract with my 3GS until June. I hadn't thought of Pay as you go, but I will definitely look into it. When my fiancee's contract was up, I was able to negotiate a pretty good retention deal, so I'll either do that, or try the Pay as you go. 

3) I used mint.com for awhile, but I ended up basically quitting it. I felt like I wasn't getting too much out of it. It was nice to see how much I was spending on groceries, entertainment, etc. but I felt like I wasn't changing my spending habits because of it. Sometimes I also felt I wasn't getting a clear picture because sometimes I used cash and it wasn't accounted for, or because I bought all the groceries one month because my fiancee bought something else of equal value. Part of the problem was we had two seperate mint.com accounts, rather than just combining into one.


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## Spudd

Haha, if I knew you had a 400GB cap I would not have suggested upgrading.


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## rd_aaron

Barwelle said:


> Wow. I wish I'd thought of that. My contract expired 2 years ago. Phone still works so I never bothered to look at new ones or change plans. And here I thought I was frugal for having a five-year-old cellphone... instead, I've been making extra payments for a phone that's already paid off.
> 
> aaron, I second Spudd's recommendation about the cable/internet. Also want to add something about insurance: TD Meloche Monnex offers "group rates" for some professional organizations. if you're a member of APEGA, try them out and make sure you mention your membership.
> 
> Also, with your Student Loan and LOC... you say you throw a little bit extra at the loan, and at least $50/mo at the LOC but there's no payment plan. One must have higher interest rate right? So why not just throw all the extra at that one, and leave the lower rate debt for after? That way you'll save a bit on interest. (Maybe you talked about this already, I didn't read through the whole thread.)


I actually am with Meloche Monnex for insurance, and I have the APEGA rate. I was under the impression that once I got out of the 18-24 category, my premiums would go down. I think they do for some companies, but when I called TD they said it was already built in. I will have to shop around a bit.

You are right in that my Student Loan has a slightly higher interest rate (5.65% effective annual rate) compared to my Student Line of Credit (5.12% effective annual rate). The line of credit just has interest only payments which are automatically debitted from my bank account. I probably should just pay off the student loan first, but I felt like not paying off the line of credit at all wouldn't be good for my credit score (I actually have no idea). I've actually paid off about $4k of my student loan this year, compared to $800 of my line of credit, so I am definitely putting a lot more money on the student loan, but I see your point.

EDIT: I just thought of this after reading another money diary. My student loan interest is tax deductible, so that lowers the effective rate. Is my student line of credit interest tax deductible? I've never claimed it. If it's not, that means I should actually be paying off my line of credit faster. Whoops.


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## Barwelle

rd_aaron said:


> EDIT: I just thought of this after reading another money diary. My student loan interest is tax deductible, so that lowers the effective rate. Is my student line of credit interest tax deductible? I've never claimed it. If it's not, that means I should actually be paying off my line of credit faster. Whoops.


Good thinking. From http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/after/cant/lyt.shtml:

"The credit does not apply to interest payments you may make on any loans held with a private lender, such as a student line of credit with a financial institution."


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## rd_aaron

*December 1, 2012*

Not too much to report on for November. I didn't spend a lot this month and had a little extra in the bank, so I ended up putting $900 on my TFSA instead of the regular $800, and I also put $500 on my student line of credit. I might see if I can maintain the $500/paycheck on the TFSA and if I feel like I have extra money in the bank, I'll dump it on the LoC. It's down to $3250 now so it shouldn't be hard to eliminate it early in the new year (especially after I receive my bonus at the end of February).

We were pretty successful in doing the "Til Debt do us Part" trick of using only cash for eating out. We both successfully used under $50 each for the whole month. This mostly meant making sure we packed lunches every day and not being lazy some nights and going out for supper. We sort of cheated as we were in Toronto for a weekend and didn't count the food we bought there (as we definitely would've been over). I think we'll try to do this with entertainment dollars as well but I haven't decided what my limit will be yet.

Here's the net worth calculations. My investments didn't do so well, but I took off a little more debt than usual so it worked out okay (but below average net worth gain).

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,629.88 (+1.73%)
TFSA: $15,626.72 (+0.70%) 
RRSP: $4,189.14 (-1.09%)
Pension: $18,815.59 (+3.03%)
Group RRSP: $2,771.31 (+3.94%)

Total Assets: $48,032.64 (+1.77%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0.00 ()
Student Loan: $11,201.56 (-1.35%)
Student LoC: $3,250.00 (-13.33%)
Visa: $0.00 ()

Total Liabilities: $14,451.56 (-4.33%)

*Net Worth*: $33,581.08 (+4.63%)


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## rd_aaron

*January 1, 2013*

This post is really late since I was off work for the first week of January and I've been out of office for the last few days. The numbers I have given are as of January 1st to keep it consistent (relatively accurate anyways).

Investments did really well this month, and I also also contributed $1000 to my TFSA in December so my assets grew quite a bit. I'm going to keep putting $1000/month into my TFSA and then throw extra on my LoC as I see fit. 

I managed to get a pretty solid raise (about 8%) for the new year, which will definitely help, and I am expecting a decent bonus in February. We will continue to eat out with cash only (limit of $50/month each) and I will come up with a similar policy for entertainment, although I'm not sure how much to allocate.

*Assets* 
Cash: $6,274.14 (-5.37%)
TFSA: $18,032.81 (+15.40%) 
RRSP: $4,283.26 (+2.25%)
Pension: $20,283.37 (+7.80%)
Group RRSP: $3,004.42 (+8.41%)

Total Assets: $51,878.00 (+8.01%) 


*Liabilities* 
Mastercard: $0.00 ()
Student Loan: $11,056.23 (-1.30%)
Student LoC: $3,050.00 (-6.15%)
Visa: $0.00 ()

Total Liabilities: $14,106.23 (-2.39%)

*Net Worth*: $37,771.77 (+12.48%)

Nothing too exciting to report on, but I guess I should make some goals/plans for 2013. I hit my goal of 2012, which was $35,000 in net worth (beat it by $2771.77). I went from about $3,000 to nearly $38,000 in the span of a year, so I think I could probably do at least another $35,000. I will set $80,000 as my goal. I do have to pay for part of a wedding (parents are also helping) and a honeymoon this year though, which will eat up a good chunk of the cash flow, but I think I will just be adjusting my other expenses to account for it.

Some goals for 2013:

- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest.
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year.
- Reduce monthly bills (I should be able to do this by negotiating cheaper cell & cable contracts, maybe get rid of some things I don't use)
- Max out my TFSA contribution (just under $9000 but I'm putting $1000 per month currently, so this should be done by end of September). Once I've maxed it out, I can use that cash flow to pay off the student loan

What other goals should I have?


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## Pigzfly

What do you and your fiancee want to do over the next 2-5 years? 20+? That will probably dictate what the remainder of your goals look like. Buy a house/move/have kids/vehicle purchases/vacations/sabbatical years/target retirement age or lifestyle?
Is your TFSA earmarked for anything?

A lot of these questions should be coming up in pre-marriage discussions or counselling, so work backwards from the answers to determine what you'll need to do.


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## rd_aaron

Good point.

Buying a house is on the radar in the next 2 or 3 years. We are waiting to see how the market plays out as we both believe it's currently overpriced. My TFSA/RRSP is basically earmarked for a downpayment (will be shooting for 20%). Once we get married and combine our finances, we'll hopefully have a clearer picture of where we are at for the downpayment.

We have a lease for another year in our current place which we are very happy with, so no moving on the horizon.

Kids are about 5 years away, so just becoming more financially stable would be a goal over the next 5 years I suppose. I would like to get the max RESP contribution from the gov't when we do have kids, so I guess I can try to plan to have enough cash flow to do that.

I have a 6 year old vehicle with low kms, and no payments, so I should be set there for awhile.

We are planning on a 1 month Europe trip during my sabbatical in the summer of 2014. We haven't really started saving for it yet, but after the wedding, that will be our primary saving focus.

Target retirement is probably 45 (so 20 years from now). I think it's doable. I currently save/pay down debt with at least 35% of my take home pay every month. I could increase it without altering my lifestyle too much, and I should generally be making more every year from now, so that amount will increase with my salary. I could be happy semi-retiring for quite awhile as well.

So after looking at those, in reality, my goal is just to save as much money as possible, as I can use it for house/vacation/retirement. I'm sure I could find some other goals in there, like becoming a better investor, or learn to do auto repairs so I can affordably keep my car as long as possible, but probably the prevailing one is save money. I suppopse these would be a little more specific.

- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents (so their contribution will be a nice gift)
- Pay for Europe trip with cash
- Save enough money for a 20% downpayment by the end of 2014 (maybe mid 2015)
- Start a car fund to eventually buy a new (used, new to me) or second car

Actually, thanks. That clearly helped.


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## rd_aaron

*February 1, 2013*

Well January was my worst month to date as far as my net worth goes. Had some unexpected expenses as well as some wedding expenses come up which ate up a lot of cash. I actually have decided to skip my February 1st $500 TFSA contribution. I will try and make it up later on, but I'm just shorter on cash right now and I feel more comfortable with it in my chequing account for the time being. My net worth ended up lower this month, but next month will be much higher (because of my bonus) so I'm not going to stress.

Investments did well again this month, so my assets stayed roughly the same even though my cash shrunk a lot. Credit card has a bit of a balance from last week but I'll pay it off before I am charged interested on it.

January was a bit hectic and we didn't follow the $50 each for eating out, but we are going to do it for February. Goal for February is to limit expenses so my chequing account goes up to a regular amount. Other goal is to divide up the bonus between paying off debt, adding to investments, and putting aside for wedding expenses.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $51,698.42 (-0.35%) 

*Liabilities* 
Total Liabilities: $15,145.04 (+7.36%)

*Net Worth*: $36,553.38 (-3.23%)

Status on 2013 goals:

- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$2850 left, so a little over $570/month (interest) over remaining 5 months. Will pay a big chunk off with bonus.*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- $5398.29 left, so over $500/month over remaining 11 months. Ambitious but doable. *
- Reduce monthly bills - *Haven't done anything here yet except implement $50 eating out policy*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $1000 so far. About $8500 left to get me to $25,500*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *We've spent close to $6k (with $2.5k gifted to us already) so far, but more expenses will be coming up shortly as we're getting close to the 6 month mark*


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## rd_aaron

*March 1, 2013*

Thanks to my yearly bonus, February was a a pretty nice month to my finances. 

Investments were pretty flat this month, but I contributed $1000 into my TFSA over the last two paychecks. I also put $4,000 to my RRSP and $500 to my LoC. I will likely put my tax refund onto my LoC as I'd like to get rid of that debt sooner than later.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $59,528.77 (+15.15%) 

*Liabilities* 
Total Liabilities: $13,089.88 (-13.57%)

*Net Worth*: $46,438.89 (+27.04%)










Status on 2013 goals:

- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$2350 left, so a little behind pace. Roughly $590/month over remaining 4 months. Will use most or all of tax refund for this.*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- $5240 left, so around $520/month over remaining 11 months. Ambitious but doable. *
- Reduce monthly bills - *Broke $50 eating out policy in February. Will try again for March.*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $2000 so far. About $7452 left to get me to $25,500 or $745.20/month*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *We've spent close to $6k (with $2.5k gifted to us already) so far. Past the 6 month mark. Will start putting money away specifically for wedding.*


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## rd_aaron

*April 1, 2013*

A little late with this update. I wish I would've done it on the 1st as it would've been a nicer result but the markets this week weren't very nice to my investments. 

I need to do my taxes right away, in which I should receive a decent refund. I still plan on throwing a good chunk of that onto the LoC so I can have it paid off by end of June at the latest.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $59,534.26 (+0.01%... my assets went up a measly $5.49 due to poor market returns) 

*Liabilities* 
Total Liabilities: $12,439.61 (-4.97%)

*Net Worth*: $47,094.65 (+1.41%)

Status on 2013 goals:

- Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *$32,905.35 left to go over the last 9 months or $3,656.15 per month. Really ambitious as I averaged under $3,000/month last year*
- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$1850 left. I will put another $500 on this month, plus whatever I decide out of my tax refund. Should be easy enough*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- around $5200 left, so about $577/month over remaining 11 months. Ambitious but doable once TFSA is maxed. *
- Reduce monthly bills - *Broke $50 eating out policy again in March. Not spending ridiculous amounts but finding $50 very tough to do.*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $3000 so far. About $6452 left to get me to $25,500 or $717/month*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *Didn't spend too much this month. Approaching 4 month mark. Didn't put any additional money away... better start*

Had a moment this month thinking I'm working too hard at saving money when I should be enjoying life at this age (25). I typically do what I want without having to think about money too much even with an aggressive savings plan, but part of me thinks there's a lot I could do with an extra $1000 or more a month that I'm saving. I know it'll set me up for the long run, but part of me wants to use that money to travel more or spend more wrecklessly haha. Anyone have advice on how to balance saving/spending? I'm an extremely frugal shopper and I know how to find deals, so that's a big reason why I still travel and spend fairly carefree, but I just don't want to look back and regret that I didn't do more before kids and other responsibilities come along.


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## Jon_Snow

Rd_aaron, I know all about the struggle to balance between saving and "living life". My wife and I currently gross about 170k yearly, and we CHOOSE to live on 30k... we have been doing this for the past 10+ years. We have said no having a big house, German sports cars, etc - even though we could technically afford such things.

Instead we own (no mortgages) a modest home and a nice recreational property, paid for older vehicle, and a 900k investment portfolio. I am looking to "retire" at 42 early next year.

Don't regret the path we took one bit...


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## gc_srt

rd_aaron said:


> *April 1, 2013*
> 
> A little late with this update. I wish I would've done it on the 1st as it would've been a nicer result but the markets this week weren't very nice to my investments.
> 
> I need to do my taxes right away, in which I should receive a decent refund. I still plan on throwing a good chunk of that onto the LoC so I can have it paid off by end of June at the latest.
> 
> *Assets*
> Total Assets: $59,534.26 (+0.01%... my assets went up a measly $5.49 due to poor market returns)
> 
> *Liabilities*
> Total Liabilities: $12,439.61 (-4.97%)
> 
> *Net Worth*: $47,094.65 (+1.41%)
> 
> Status on 2013 goals:
> 
> - Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *$32,905.35 left to go over the last 9 months or $3,656.15 per month. Really ambitious as I averaged under $3,000/month last year*
> - Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$1850 left. I will put another $500 on this month, plus whatever I decide out of my tax refund. Should be easy enough*
> - Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- around $5200 left, so about $577/month over remaining 11 months. Ambitious but doable once TFSA is maxed. *
> - Reduce monthly bills - *Broke $50 eating out policy again in March. Not spending ridiculous amounts but finding $50 very tough to do.*
> - Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $3000 so far. About $6452 left to get me to $25,500 or $717/month*
> - Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *Didn't spend too much this month. Approaching 4 month mark. Didn't put any additional money away... better start*
> 
> Had a moment this month thinking I'm working too hard at saving money when I should be enjoying life at this age (25). I typically do what I want without having to think about money too much even with an aggressive savings plan, but part of me thinks there's a lot I could do with an extra $1000 or more a month that I'm saving. I know it'll set me up for the long run, but part of me wants to use that money to travel more or spend more wrecklessly haha. Anyone have advice on how to balance saving/spending? I'm an extremely frugal shopper and I know how to find deals, so that's a big reason why I still travel and spend fairly carefree, but I just don't want to look back and regret that I didn't do more before kids and other responsibilities come along.


My wife and I are in a similar situation. Hard to balance between 'living life' and saving. Now is the time to enjoy life while you don't have any major responsibilities but not too much fun. 

I did a quick once over on your thread and not sure if you are contributing to RRSP but there is quite an incentive for first time home buyers. You can put up to $25,000 directly from RRSP to a down payment on a house per person. 

And for the CCO stocks, Cigar Lake is scheduled to come into production later this year (Q4) and hopefully help stock price.


----------



## rd_aaron

Jon_Snow said:


> Rd_aaron, I know all about the struggle to balance between saving and "living life". My wife and I currently gross about 170k yearly, and we CHOOSE to live on 30k... we have been doing this for the past 10+ years. We have said no having a big house, German sports cars, etc - even though we could technically afford such things.
> 
> Instead we own (no mortgages) a modest home and a nice recreational property, paid for older vehicle, and a 900k investment portfolio. I am looking to "retire" at 42 early next year.
> 
> Don't regret the path we took one bit...


Just curious.. do you have kids?

I'm okay with having a modest house and a cheaper vehicle(s). Just looking at my post from November of last year, I'm at around $2808/month of regular expenses, not including any entertainment, travel, etc. That's about $34k/year just for myself. However, if I take out the rent (about $8400) & investments ($13,800 - I have increase my monthly contribution since November) I'm closer to $12k/year, but I must obviously spend a decent amount on entertainment & travel otherwise I'd have a lot more left over at the end of the month.


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## rd_aaron

gc_srt said:


> My wife and I are in a similar situation. Hard to balance between 'living life' and saving. Now is the time to enjoy life while you don't have any major responsibilities but not too much fun.
> 
> I did a quick once over on your thread and not sure if you are contributing to RRSP but there is quite an incentive for first time home buyers. You can put up to $25,000 directly from RRSP to a down payment on a house per person.
> 
> And for the CCO stocks, Cigar Lake is scheduled to come into production later this year (Q4) and hopefully help stock price.


I think "balance" is probably the best way to put it. I enjoy my job so I'm not rushing to retire per se, but one of my goals is to retire early. Enjoy life but don't have too much fun as you put it.

I have contributed a bit to my RRSP. I have about $8000 in there right now. I have intentions of moving some of my TFSA there when we go to buy a house but that's not for awhile yet. I might start to put a little more in my RRSP than usual since I'm starting to hit the 26% federal tax bracket (above $87k).


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## Jon_Snow

rd_aaron said:


> Just curious.. do you have kids?


Nope. We decided quite early on that we were not going to be parents. Makes planning for early retirement/financial independance quite a bit easier.


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## gc_srt

rd_aaron said:


> I think "balance" is probably the best way to put it. I enjoy my job so I'm not rushing to retire per se, but one of my goals is to retire early. Enjoy life but don't have too much fun as you put it.
> 
> I have contributed a bit to my RRSP. I have about $8000 in there right now. I have intentions of moving some of my TFSA there when we go to buy a house but that's not for awhile yet. I might start to put a little more in my RRSP than usual since I'm starting to hit the 26% federal tax bracket (above $87k).


You definitely have time to put your money into RRSP. You have to have the money in the RRSP 90 days before you intend to use them. Does your work have RRSP matching or can you take RRSP directly off your cheque? Might be an easy way to save more - take the money off the top before you see it.


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## rd_aaron

gc_srt said:


> You definitely have time to put your money into RRSP. You have to have the money in the RRSP 90 days before you intend to use them. Does your work have RRSP matching or can you take RRSP directly off your cheque? Might be an easy way to save more - take the money off the top before you see it.


My situation is:

Defined Contribution Pension Plan - I put in 2% of my paycheck, they put in 8% for a total of 10%. Can't change this.
Group RRSP - I have the option of having however much I want taken off my cheque and put into the group RRSP (same options as pension plan.. Sunlife). I have $150/month coming off. I could probably increase this since it's been at $150 for a couple of years.
Personal TFSA - I've been contributing $500/paycheque ($1000/month) to this. Will reallocate once I max TFSA.
Personal RRSP - Contributed $4000 to it twice, both after I received my bonus.

Taking money off the top has been by far the best financial decision I've done. I want to avoid keeping up with the Jones' if at all possible so this helps. I try to live a moderate lifestyle and try to have the same amount of money in my account month to month. I'm fine with this as I know there's a lot of saving happening in the background.


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## My Own Advisor

@rd_aaron,

Well done... "Taking money off the top has been by far the best financial decision I've done."

You get into a great habit of this now, paying yourself first and into your 30s, you'll start to realize you a tidy investment portfolio because of your early-discipline.


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## rd_aaron

*May 1, 2013*

Pretty decent month overall. Big change in my strategy this year, however. I've decided with the upcoming wedding to reallocate the money that generally would be going into my TFSA into my savings account to use for wedding expenses. We've paid a lot of deposits so far and paid the full price for some things, but most of the expenses will be the month leading up the wedding and I haven't really saved anything for this yet. I'd prefer to have a bunch saved to pay off credit cards immediately instead of paying them off slowly, so I will be doing this until all the bills are paid. 

At the current rate I'm saving, I'll have $5500 saved by the time of the wedding. This will make paying the bills off much easier.

I just did my taxes this past weekend and I should be receiving a tidy little refund of around $1,600 so that will be a nice boost. I'll use a chunk of this to help pay off my LoC (which will be easily paid off before the end of June) and the rest might go to wedding saving as well... haven't decided.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $62,686.26 (+5.29%) 

*Liabilities* 
Total Liabilities: $11,777.24 (-5.32%)

*Net Worth*: $50,909.02 (+8.10%)

*Net Worth Increase:* $3814.37 (+481.67% from last month)
*Moving 12 Month Average:* $2637.54 (+3.83% from previous 12 month span)

I'm a bit of a stats/numbers guy so I've started tracking my moving 12 month net worth increase average. This is basically showing me over the previous 12 months what the average increase in net worth has been. Month to month is too erratic, especially in March due to my bonus, so tracking a full years worth of net worth increases provides me with somewhat useful data. Obviously I'd like to always have the average increasing which would show that I'm consistently accelerating my asset growth.

Status on 2013 goals:

- Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *$29,090.98 left to go over the last 8 months or $3,636.37 per month. Actually outpaced this amount this month*
- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$1350 left. I will put another $500 on this month, plus whatever I decide out of my tax refund. Should be easy*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- around $4900 left, so about $615/month over remaining 8 months. This one will be tough.*
- Reduce monthly bills - *Broke $50 eating out policy again in April. Going to try $100 eating out policy.*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $3000 so far. Will re-evaluate after most wedding expenses are in.*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *Solved this problem by re-allocating TFSA payments to wedding fund*

Felt better this month in regards to "living life" vs. saving. Felt we did lots of fun things but kept costs pretty minimum. Net Worth increased nicely so didn't spend too wrecklessly.


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## rd_aaron

*June 1, 2013*

Another pretty good month. Been extremely busy at work so took a nice little mini-vacation for May long. Didn't even notice the extra cash I spent (probably $600-$700) to be honest, and it was totally worth it (maybe because of the tax refund).

I'm always overestimating my LoC because I didn't have regular payments on it and I can't check the balance online. I did receive a statement recently and I had estimated about $250 above what I actually owed, so I adjusted that in my net worth spreadsheet.

I received about a $1,700 tax refund, which is a nice boost. I think with about $900 left on my LoC, and two $250 payments coming before the end of the month, I'll only have to spend an extra $400 or so at the end of June, and I'll hit my goal of paying off the LoC by June 30th.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $65,850.27 (+5.05%) 

*Liabilities* 
Total Liabilities: $11,226.43 (-4.68%)

*Net Worth*: $54,623.84 (+7.30%)

*Net Worth Increase:* $3714.82 (-2.61% from last month)
*Moving 12 Month Average:* $2867.82 (+8.73% from previous 12 month span)

It's good to see my 12 month average net worth increase going up. It will need to keep going up if I want to hit the $80,000 net worth by the end of the year. Hoping that when EI and CPP max out, I can actually make this goal attainable since I'll have quite a bit of extra cash flow.

Status on 2013 goals:

- Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *$25,376.16 left to go over the last 7 months or $3,625.17 per month. Outpaced this amount this month again*
- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *$900 left. I will put another $500 on this month, plus the $400 or so on June 30th to close it out.*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- $4770.13 left, so $681.45/month over remaining 7 months. Should probably increase auto payments.*
- Reduce monthly bills - *My cell carrier phoned and gave me a better deal, saving about $10/month. Not bad. Will try and reduce cable/internet costs via negotiating/reducing services*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $3000 so far. Will re-evaluate after most wedding expenses are in.*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *Solved this problem by re-allocating TFSA payments to wedding fund*


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## rd_aaron

Oops, messed up this post.


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## rd_aaron

I'm not going to put a typical update here this month as I've been paying for things for the wedding this month and it's thrown everything off. On the plus side, we saved enough money to get to the wedding with minimal debt. I'll probably have a small balance on my card until we can pay it off with some of the wedding gifts.

My SO and I don't have any joint assets (other than our car, which I don't count in net worth calculations) so I'll probably pick up where I left off once September hits.


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## rd_aaron

*September 1, 2013*

Messed up something when originally writing this post and doing it all over from scratch.

Anyways, wedding & honeymoon is over, great times were had, and the dust is finally settling on the financial situation. I will continue to just update my own finances for the time being. It's looking like some of my 2013 goals won't come to fruition, but both the wedding & honeymoon probably cost a bit more than I had budgeted for. We will be opening a joint account in the next little while with the money that we received as gifts but I probably won't post those updates here. I will, however, look for some advice in things that will benefit both my wife and I.

For example, I'd like to open up a spousal RRSP soon as we'll probably start thinking about having kids in the next 3 to 4 years and we'd like for my wife to be able to withdraw from the RRSP while she's on maternity leave. How do I go about opening one of these up? Should I just do it through the bank where we have our joint account? It'll be short term, so I don't need to worry about investments, as I'll be putting it in something low risk. Are there things to watch out for?

Also, I'll probably also be looking for advice for other income splitting strategies before tax season rolls around. We do our taxes but don't really know about any tax advantages to being married (are there any?).

Keep in mind, I didn't do an August update, so percentage changes are from July 1 to Sept 1.

*Assets* 
Total Assets: $69,635.38 (8.52%) 

*Liabilities (Student loan only liability)* 
Total Liabilities: $9,806.38 (-3.01%)

*Net Worth*: $59,829.00 (+10.68%)

*Net Worth Increase:* $5,774.70 (Up considerably considering I went down a bit in June)
*Moving 12 Month Average:* $2,709.46 (Trending up a bit)

I'll need to make some big contributions to hit some goals. I'll have to contribute $1500 per month into my TFSA to max it out. I think this is probably doable. I'd also have to pay about $1000/month onto my student loan to get it down to $5,500 (half of what I started 2013 with). I might just do a combo of both and hit neither goal, but I think next year should be easy to pay off the loan & max the TFSA. We'll see how it goes.

Status on 2013 goals:

- Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *$20,171.00 left to go over the last 4 months or $5,042.75 per month. Not looking good. I'm not all the disappointed that I won't hit this goal. It was a pretty steep goal when I had to pay for a wedding in the same year*
- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *COMPLETED!*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *- $4,306.38 left, so $1,076.60/month over remaining 6 months. It's either this or TFSA.*
- Reduce monthly bills - *Reduced cable bill by $10/month. Going to negotiate for lower cable bill. Also going to negotiate new cell phone contract*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $3000 so far. $6,451.20 left over. Not too worried about this. Will contribute some this year and max next year.*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *No CC balance after wedding. Gifts from parents were definitely nice.*

Overall, pretty happy with how the year is going so far. I have a bad habit of comparing myself to other people around my age who are buying new cars, houses, etc. but I feel like I'm doing alright at 25. Getting a little impatient with the housing market as we'd probably like to start looking sometime next year, but if things don't change, I don't know if we'll bother.


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## rd_aaron

*January 1, 2013*

Well, I guess it's time to look how I did over the full year. The number in brackets is the improvement from Jan 2013 to Jan 2014.

*Assets*
Cash: $7,542.38 (+20.2%)
Questrade TFSA: $24,232.02 (+34.4%)
Questrade RRSP: $8,789.34 (+105.2%)
Work Pension: $33,842.56 (+66.8%)
Work Group RRSP: $5,165.54 (+71.9%)
*Total Assets*: $69,635.38 (+$53.4%)

*Liabilities (Student loan only liability)* 
Total Liabilities: $4,127.68 (-70.7%)

*Net Worth*: $75,444.16 (+99.7%)

*Net Worth Increase from Jan 2013:* $37,672.39

Concentrated mostly on the student loan as the year ended as I was sitting on cash in my TFSA anyways, so I decided I'd rather get rid of debt than put money into a TFSA that's just sitting there. The extra cash after maxing out CPP and EI in July was noticeably helpful. I didn't reach my goal for my TFSA but once I pay off the student loan in early 2014, I will put most of my extra cash to the TFSA, so I don't anticipate this being too difficult.

Status on 2013 goals:

- Net Worth goal of $80,000 by end of 2013 - *Hit $75,444.16 by the end of 2013, so just a little short of my goal. Pretty happy with what I did having to pay for a wedding/honeymoon/etc*
- Pay off line of credit by the end of June at the latest. - *COMPLETED!*
- Pay off half of student loan (balance of $5,500 or less) by end of the year. *Paid off over half. Now sits at $4,127.68 which is well under my goal of $5,500.*
- Max out my TFSA contribution - *Contributed $4,535.06 in 2013. Well under my goal but I decided to pay off student loan aggressively instead. Anticipate maxing out in 2014.*
- Pay for entire wedding without help from parents - *No CC balance after wedding. Gifts from parents were definitely nice.*

Overall, pretty happy with how the year went. Will continue to be frugal and save in 2014. Won't be looking at houses until at least 2015. Should be getting a nice raise as I start a new position in my company. Here's to a great 2014!


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