December 2016 Net Worth Update $911,965

Here is my December 2016 net worth update.  As I’ve said before, I like to track my family’s progress through monthly net worth updates.  To calculate our net worth, I add up all of our household assets and subtract any outstanding liabilities (ie. debt owing).  The result is simply a snapshot of what my family is worth at a particular moment in time and does not give any of the relevant details as to how or why we reached that point.  For that kind of information, as well as for our monthly investment income, please refer to our dividend income and monthly highlights section.

In a previous post, I laid out a variety of financial goals for 2016.  My focus for the year however, will be on achieving 3 major goals.  First, we want to pay down the HELOC as quickly as possible.  This debt is not tax deductible and it’s been a real drag on our financial plan so it was a big priority this year.  I’m happy to report that we finally paid this off, but have since added new, tax-deductible HELOC debt with a recent rental property purchase.

Secondly, we want our net worth to hit $800,000 by the end of the year.  I wrote that goal back in December 2015 when the markets were in the toilet and it looked like 2016 would be a bust.  I was trying to be realistic at the time, but I’m completely blown away with how the family finances have performed this year.  In fact, our new Net Worth goal is now $900k which I’m pleased to say we reached last month and we continue to stay above that mark.

Finally, we still want to aggressively pay off our mortgage so that we can be mortgage-free in 10 years or less.  To this end, we plan to pay off at least an extra $10k this year in the form of lump sum payments.  To date, we’ve managed to put about 4k toward the mortgage.

Assets: $1,606,654.26 (+0.79%) 

Well thanks to our approach of regularly saving and investing our money, along with a little help from the Trump rally, our assets have risen past the 1.6 million mark!

Home: $846,000 (0%)

A few years ago we purchased our “final” family home where we expect to be for at least the next 30 years.  In June we received the latest property assessment and the assessed value has increased to $846k!

Rental Properties: $290,000 (0%)

In 2015, we purchased our first rental property and have since added a second.

Cash: $4646.82

As a matter of habit, I rarely keep a lot of cash on hand in a savings account.  The reason being is that at today’s record low interest rates I’d rather put the money toward paying off my mortgage faster or invest it.  That said, I’m building a cash cushion in my Tangerine Savings account.  If you’d like to open one, then visit the Tangerine website and remember to use my Orange Key: More25 to get $50 in free bonus cash just for opening up an account!

Non-Registered Investment Accounts: $44,960.85

Our non-registered investment accounts include DRIP accounts with Computershare and Canadian Stock Transfer, a discount brokerage account and a work savings plan.  For the most part, in these accounts, I prefer to hold Canadian companies that pay eligible dividends.  The decrease in this account is a result of moving non-registered stocks into our TFSAs.

TFSA: $112,056.72

In the TFSA I like to hold growth assets, such as low-cost ETFs, TD e-series index funds or Canadian dividend paying stocks.

Retirement: $261,866.49

Our retirement accounts consist of RRSPs, a small locked-in retirement account (LIRA) from a previous employer and a company defined contribution pension plan.  The RRSPs and LIRA hold low-cost TD e-series index funds and other low-cost ETFs, while the company pension plan is invested in a low-cost target date fund.

RESP: $19,723.38 (+15.2%)

In the RESP we hold low-cost TD e-series index funds.  We contribute the annual amount of $2,500 so we can get the 20% match from the government.  Our strategy for contributing is to use the money we receive each month from the universal child care tax credit and make up the difference at the beginning of each year.  This ensures that we receive the maximum government contribution of $500.

Other: $27,400 

Under the “other” category, I include an extensive coin and paper money collection.  For years I collected rare gold and silver Canadian coins and Canadian paper money.  The collection has a face value of $10,000 so I conservatively estimate the collection’s worth at around $27,000.  For the purpose of my net worth calculations, I’ve been keeping this number constant versus increasing it over time because (a) coins and paper currency can be difficult to accurately appraise as they are subject to changing market trends and (b) can become illiquid if you can’t find a buyer for them.

Liabilities: -$694,689.48

The only debt we now carry that is not tax deductible is the mortgage on our primary residence.  This is a priority to pay off so we can get out of debt!

Mortgage: -$448,892.51 @ 2.89%

Paying down our mortgage will be a high priority for 2016 and we expect to be mortgage-free in less than 10 years.

Rental Property 1 Mortgage: -105,329.03 @2.62%

Rental Property 2 Mortgage: -102,651.04 @2.54%

We added mortgage debt with our rental properties.  The mortgage interest is tax deductible so we won’t prioritize paying off these mortgages.

HELOC: -37,816.90 @ 3.35%

I used the HELOC for a downpayment on a rental property.  The interest is tax deductible so I’m fine with carrying this debt for a while.

Thanks for reading my December 2016 Net Worth Update!

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