# My story



## BigMonkey

Hello. I am a single late 20s male in the finance industry, my income is average or slightly above average in Canada. I live in a city where income isn't very high nor is cost of living. (sorry for being vague, would prefer to not give away details or clues to who I am)

I have attempted to keep track of my savings over the years. I was not very diligent in my tracking, nor was I discipline in my investments. I essentially kept all my savings in cash/bonds before 2014. After, I attempted to pick stocks only to find I under performed the market by a huge margin. Recently I have decided to go the passive route with my investments. I have decided to start a money journey to keep me disciplined with my plan and second to inspire others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

It has come to my attention in the last few years that my immigrant parents aren't in the best financial situation. This hit me hard as they are essentially in this state as a result of raising my sister and I, by putting us both through extra circular activities growing up and school with no debt on an immigrant income. Both my sister and I plan to gift them a large amount of money in the near future as they are approaching retirement (3-7 years). The amount is undecided at this point but will likely be in the 100k+ range.

My savings journey is as follows:

2010: 10k
2011: 25k
2012: 53k
Large gap where I stopped tracking
2013 (Feb): 85k
Another Large gap where I stopped tracking
2015 (May): 144k
2016 (May): 192k
2016 (Dec): 233k


My current breakdown is as follows:

Cash: 13k
Company Share Plan: 11k
Taxable Investment: 28k

TFSA: 69k

Work Pension: 28k
RRSP: 49k

Interest Free Loan to family: 35k
Car: I own, but will not include dollar amount
Debt: none


I currently attempt to live on one pay cheque and save the other. I occasionally have to tap into my other paycheque for large "one off" expenses or splurges.

My monthly rent/utilities is around 50% of one paycheque (I have a roommate). The other 50% of my paycheque for the most part seems to cover other bills and my spending, which has been light lately.

Thanks for viewing


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## mordko

Looks very healthy for someone in his late 20s. And your investment hasn't done all that bad, given that you have 70K in your TFSA on $46.5K invested. Without calculating, I am guessing you have CAGR of ~7%. Good job.


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Apr 12:

Cash: 19k
Investments: 34.4k (Company Stock Plan: 4.7k Taxable Investments: 29.7k)
TFSA: 78.2k
Registered Savings: 83.7k (RRSP: 52k Work Pension: 31.7k)
Interest Free Loan: 38k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: 253.3k


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## CalgaryPotato

20K in just over 3 months is a nice jump!

Is that mostly market returns?


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## cashinstinct

Congrats on your journey. Nice net worth for late 20s and single, especially without owning a home.

I worry about one thing:
"Interest Free Loan to family: 35k" now 38k...

Why is the loan increasing? Is there a schedule for repayments?

It's your choice to loan money to family, but hopefully you know the drill: money lent to family should be money you are ready to lose. It's 15% of your net worth.

I understand some cultures require children to help, but at some point, you have to determine a limit.


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## BigMonkey

Sorry for the slow reply. I don't check this website very often.

Question:
20K in just over 3 months is a nice jump! Is that mostly market returns?

Answer:
Yes most of the 20k gain was due to market returns and the devaluation of CAD causing my US assets to appreciate in CAD terms. I do not expect this sort of percentage return to continue. 


Question:
"Interest Free Loan to family: 35k" now 38k...Why is the loan increasing? Is there a schedule for repayments?

Answer:
The Interest free loan was due to 2 things. My parent's car was 20+ years old and was not safe for driving. It was dropped off at the junk yard and I bought them a used car with cash. Interest free loan to my sister which will likely be repaid since her field of study will likely land her a good career. But yes at the end of the day, I'm ok with giving that money to them.


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## BigMonkey

Update as of July 17:

Cash: 36.6k
Investments: 35k
TFSA: 78.5k
Registered Savings: 85.6k (Company DC and Personal)
Interest Free Loan: 38k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: 270.7k


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## investorted

..


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Nov 2nd

Cash: 44.6k
Investments: 34.1k
TFSA: 85.6k
Registered Savings: 97.8
Interest Free Loan: 27k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: $289.1k


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Jan 18, 2018

Cash: 44.1k
Investments: 36.1k
TFSA: 94.9k
Reg Savings: 103.4
Interest Free Loan: 27k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: $305.5k

Update: Moved to another city where cost of living is significantly higher, no longer living with a roommate, saving rate has dropped.


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## Dilbert

Nice job on the TFSA, BM.


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## scorpion_ca

Would you care to share your yearly income? The reason I am asking is that you may make $200k yearly, however your savings may not be enough compare to your income. Or you may make $50k per year, you have a very good savings.


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## BigMonkey

My historical gross income are as follows:
2 year - 30s
1 year - 40s
1 year - 50s
2 year - 60s
1 year - 70s

I'm currently in the 80s. My net monthly income is approximately $3.6k after all payroll deductions (tax, ei, cpp, company share plan, benefits, DC pension contribution)


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## 24biz

scorpion_ca said:


> Would you care to share your yearly income? The reason I am asking is that you may make $200k yearly, however your savings may not be enough compare to your income. Or you may make $50k per year, you have a very good savings.


Can I have a little more information? )


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Apr 18, 2018

Cash: 51k
Investments: 34.9k
TFSA: 92.2k
Reg Savings: 106.4k
Interest Free Loan: 27k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: $311.5k


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## BigMonkey

Update as of July 21, 2018

Cash: 72.8k
Investments: 38.5k
TFSA: 96.4k
Reg Savings: 116.9k
Interest Free Loan: 14k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: $338.6k


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Nov 3, 2018

Cash: 89.6k
Investments: 48.4k
TFSA: 90.9k
Pension: 114.6k

Debt: $0

Total Net Worth: $343.5k


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Jan 2, 2019

Cash: 89k
Investment: 48k
TFSA: 88.9
Pension: 80.8k

Debt: 0

Update: applied 30% to reduce pension amount to account for future tax liability

Total Net Worth: $306.8k


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## BigMonkey

Update as of Mar 25, 2019

Cash: 98.4k
Investment: 56.9k
TFSA: 101.3k
Pension: 89.9k

Debt: 0

Total Net Worth: $346.5k


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## scorpion_ca

Do you track your passive income such as interest, dividends and so on?


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## BigMonkey

scorpion_ca said:


> Do you track your passive income such as interest, dividends and so on?


No I don't, that sounds like too much work for me.


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## OnlyMyOpinion

Seems like the RRSP is gone
The cash holding seems high


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## BigMonkey

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Seems like the RRSP is gone
> The cash holding seems high


RSP was reduced by 30% to account for future taxes. (Assets are really at 128.4k) Cash isn't really cash but short term investments (1 year or less) collecting an avg of ~2.3%. This is for emergency funds and/or potential down payment on a home. Concidently, this fixed income % of my total assets is also roughly my age.


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## BigMonkey

May 26, 2019

Cash: 92.2k
Investment: 67.7k
TFSA: 102.1k
Pension: 91.7k

Debt: 0

Total Net Worth: $353.7k


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## joetheneighbour

Very cool, I love how you don't have any debt. Keep up the awesome progress. I am in my late 20's and have similar net worth. It's comforting to see other people around my age with similar financial mindset. Cheers.


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## BigMonkey

joetheneighbour said:


> Very cool, I love how you don't have any debt. Keep up the awesome progress. I am in my late 20's and have similar net worth. It's comforting to see other people around my age with similar financial mindset. Cheers.


Thanks. I'm now in my early 30s, so you are in better shape than I am. I think there are quite a few people out there that are financially responsible, they just don't talk about it or go on financial forums (if they do, they just don't post on it).

In my personal group of friends, they seem to be split into 2 groups: 
- 50% are in Group 1 is all about living in the moment, spending that money, enjoying life, and maintaining that image
- 50% are in Group 2 are financially responsible and are diligent with their savings 

The odd thing is, I know some people who are in group 1 who know and acknowledge they have expensive taste, enjoy the finer things, and "want more". This has driven them to study/work hard resulting in them outearning those in group 2 by a large margin. With some of them having annual salaries that exceed my savings.

I myself have been probably been historically 30% category 1 and 70% category 2. But more recently, I think I have shifted towards 50/50 since my time of being young and stupid is coming to an end. I like being young and stupid.


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## scorpion_ca

joetheneighbour said:


> Very cool, I love how you don't have any debt. Keep up the awesome progress. I am in my late 20's and have similar net worth. It's comforting to see other people around my age with similar financial mindset. Cheers.


As per Thomas Stanley, the author of Millionaire Next Door, your expected net worth should be 10% of your age times yearly income....(0.10 X age X income = expected net worth). Now you can check that if you are ahead of the game or not.


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## BigMonkey

July 3, 2019

Cash: 86.3k
Investment: 76.6k
TFSA: 105.6k
Pension: 94.5k

Debt: 0

Total Net Worth: $363.0k


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## BigMonkey

Sept 21, 2019

Cash: 84.2k
Investment: 83.4k
TFSA: 107.3k
Pension: 102.7k

Debt: 0

Total Net Worth: $377.6k


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## BigMonkey

Dec 4, 2019

Cash: 105.2k
Investment: 95k
TFSA: 112.4k
Pension: 107.5k

Debt: 25k

Total Net Worth: $395.1k


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## BigMonkey

Mar 19, 2020

Ouch what a drop. I briefly got all the way up to $420k in Feb but it has now dropped all the way to $340k

Cash: 87k
Investment: 78.4k
TFSA: 91.6k
Pension: 89.2k

Debt: 5k

Total Net Worth: 341.2k


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## money_talks

Impressive. Keept it up.


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## BigMonkey

Feb 20, 2021

Wow, what an odd year. Lots of changes in life. Definitely did not expect savings to go up the way it did (no change in income, mostly just reduced spending and market returns). Parent's employment has been affected last year and now both are not working. Thankful to be in a position where my sister and I have been able to gift them an amount that should take care of them for a while. Also by doing so, we've accomplished the target we have set out a few years ago! Though I'd like to admit I only contributed only around 30% of it, the rest came from sister.

Cash: 80k
Investment: 145k
TFSA: 144k
Pension: 143k

Debt: 0k

Total Savings: 512k


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## ecorso

Congrats and It looks like a great achievement in this age!!!


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## KaeJS

Half a mill.
Great job.
And kudos for sticking to your thread for 5 years.


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## BigMonkey

June 2, 2021

Thanks for support everyone. 

I've been thinking that this is no longer a true representation of net worth after tax. I have reduced my pension by 30% to account for future tax liability, but realize that my investments contains unrealized gains which would generate a future tax liability. This expected tax liability isn't too big at the moment though. Do people here usually reduce their holding's value to account for this?

Cash: 80k
Investment: 165k
TFSA: 145k
Pension: 154k

Debt: 0k

Total Savings: 544k


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## Ponderling

I project my future draws on net worth to be real expenses plus account for the tax due to net the real expenses in a year. I make assumptions like tax rates sort of will be like present day rates but values of different marginal rate tiers will rise with inflation. Presently planning early retire with draw out rrsp funds, pay the marginal tax, and then even draw extra up to the next tax tier to pour fresh money into tfsa every year I can. To account for higher tax long term with wife and I I do not presume there will be income splitting.

I don't take off value of present holdings though.


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## milhouse

I don't reduce expected taxes from my net worth calculations for a couple of reasons. 
My main goal for monitoring the value of my holdings is to take monthly snapshops to check if I'm on track to hit my targets and track changes/trending. Adjusting for taxes complicates it without a lot of value for my intended purposes. And tax rates on withdrawals obviously vary depeding on a number of factors and are subject to regulatory change.

However, I have a separate worksheet to track planned annual withdrawals with inputs from my different holdings and map it against my expected expenses from a high level. Similar to Ponderling, it's here where I estimate the impact of taxation as an friction on my withdrawals. It's fairly rough though, because there are too many variables that are subject to change/fluxuations.


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## fireseeker

BigMonkey said:


> I've been thinking that this is no longer a true representation of net worth after tax. I have reduced my pension by 30% to account for future tax liability, but realize that my investments contains unrealized gains which would generate a future tax liability. This expected tax liability isn't too big at the moment though. Do people here usually reduce their holding's value to account for this?


Like Ponderling and Milhouse, I don't formally account for future tax liability.

If you do wish to plan for it, I think your 30% figure is almost certainly too high.
I'm guessing that's your current marginal rate. In Ontario, that's consistent with a salary in the $50K-$90K range.

However, you should be using your average tax rate as a guide. In Ontario, the average tax rate on an income of $80,000 is 20.7% (says the TaxTips calculator). You only hit a 30% average tax rate at about $150K of income. That's a hell of a retirement!

Even the average rate may be high. I am in early retirement and taking advantage of several tax-saving opportunities -- eligible dividends, pension credit, optimizing capital gains. Our average tax rate has fallen dramatically from our working days.


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## BigMonkey

fireseeker said:


> Like Ponderling and Milhouse, I don't formally account for future tax liability.
> 
> If you do wish to plan for it, I think your 30% figure is almost certainly too high.
> I'm guessing that's your current marginal rate. In Ontario, that's consistent with a salary in the $50K-$90K range.
> 
> However, you should be using your average tax rate as a guide. In Ontario, the average tax rate on an income of $80,000 is 20.7% (says the TaxTips calculator). You only hit a 30% average tax rate at about $150K of income. That's a hell of a retirement!
> 
> Even the average rate may be high. I am in early retirement and taking advantage of several tax-saving opportunities -- eligible dividends, pension credit, optimizing capital gains. Our average tax rate has fallen dramatically from our working days.


Good point about that tax rate likely being lower in retirement. I am a bit hesitant about not reducing the pension size, because it would give the illusion that $100 in my pension is equivalent to $100 in my bank account, which isn't true. 

What is pension credit? And what do you mean by optimizing capital gains?


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## fireseeker

BigMonkey said:


> What is pension credit? And what do you mean by optimizing capital gains?


The pension credit applies to $2,000 per spouse in applicable income. It's not huge, but is one of the things that helps reduce the tax rate in retirement.

As for optimizing gains, I mean simply that I can manage/manipulate income in retirement. This is because my base income is low. So if I sell a holding for a significant cap gain, I forego melting the RSP that year. Or vice-versa. I do this with an eye on the tax brackets.

The upshot is that as a retired person I can optimize when I pay taxes in order to minimize them.


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## BigMonkey

Aug 30, 2021

Cash: 80k
Investment: 180k
TFSA: 154k
Pension: 169k

Debt: 0k

Total Savings: 583k


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## bigmoneytalks

Nice work. Curious what investments you have in your TFSA...stocks , ETF and, which ones? Great return.


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## BigMonkey

Nov 11, 2021

Wow this continued market rally has been very unexpected. This year also marks the first time my assets (from both my contributions and market returns) has exceeded 100k in a calendar year.

My TFSA is probably around 60% traditional Indexed funds (like S&P 500, VTI, XAW, VT, EAFE index) and 40% emerging markets or specific ETFs and stocks that I bought based on gut feeling. 

I don't anticipate contributing as much as I have going forward and will likely look to rely on investment returns to increase my future assets. Been finding myself have more of a yolo mindset/tendency lately.

Cash: 79k
Investment: 194k
TFSA: 158k
Pension: 174k

Liability: -4k

Total Savings: 601k


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## scorpion_ca

BigMonkey said:


> My TFSA is probably around 60% traditional Indexed funds (like S&P 500, VTI, XAW, VT, EAFE index) and 40% emerging markets or specific ETFs and stocks that I bought based on gut feeling.


What is the ETF/stock you have for the emerging markets?


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## milhouse

BigMonkey said:


> This year also marks the first time my assets (from both my contributions and market returns) has exceeded 100k in a calendar year.


Nice!  
I think I was also around the $5-600k mark the first time when my portfolio grew $100k in a calendar year through contris and growth.


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## BigMonkey

Feb 16, 2022

Cash: 72k
Investment: 198k
TFSA: 159k
Pension: 175k

Liability: None

Total Savings: 604k


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## BigMonkey

April 20, 2022

Cash: 81k
Investment: 190k
TFSA: 149k
Pension: 170k

Liability: 3k

Total Savings: 587k


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## BigMonkey

July 15, 2022

Wow, this market.

Cash: 90k
Investment: 169k
TFSA: 132k
Pension: 154k

Liability: 0

Total Savings: 545k


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