Welcome to my January 2018 net worth update.  If you’re new to this site you’ll find that I like to track my family’s progress to financial freedom 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 2017.  My focus for the year however, will be on achieving 3 major goals.  First, we want our net worth to hit 1 million dollar mark by the end of the year.  In our August 2017 net worth update I’m pleased to say that we made it past the $1 Million mark!!!  And for December, we’re still growing above the $1 million mark.

A million in net worth is a huge milestone on the road to financial freedom and I’m happy that we finally achieved it!  I’m even more happy that we managed to stay above that mark.  If you want to know our secret financial tricks to make your first million, check out our post on How We Made A Million Dollars…and how YOU can too!

Our second major goal is to increase our passive income to $13k.  In 2016, we managed to earn just over $10k.  So I feel that if we continue to invest a great deal of our paycheques, then we’ll be really close to earning $13k from our investments.  At that point we’ll be over the half way point toward our goal of earning $25k a year in investment income.

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 $35k this year in the form of lump sum payments.  To date, we put at least double that amount, with a big chunk of cash coming from the proceeds of the sale of our rental properties.

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January 2018 Net Worth Update

Assets: $1,441,576 (+0.01%)

Well thanks to our approach to regularly invest our money, along with a little help from the stock market, our assets have grown above the $1.4 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 of 2016, we received the latest property assessment and the assessed value had increased to $846k!

Rental Properties: SOLD

We sold our out of town rental property due to management issues.

Cash: $3,035.80

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 small 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: $59,905.96 (+3.65%)

Our non-registered investment accounts include DRIP accounts with Computershare and Canadian Stock Transfer, a discount brokerage account at Questrade and a work savings plan.  For the most part, in these accounts, I prefer to hold Canadian companies that pay eligible dividends.  From time to time you may see a decrease in this account as a result of me moving some of these assets that are fully taxable into our registered accounts that are not subject to any immediate taxes.

Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA): $139,763.20 (-1.6%)

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 Accounts: $337,764.94 (+0.44%)

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.

Education Savings Plans (RESP): $27,345.82 (-0.23%)

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 Assets: $27,760 

Under the “other” assets 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 $27,500.  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: -$359,990.54 (-1.25%)

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: -$359,990.54 @ 2.89%

Paying down our mortgage will be a high priority for 2017 and we expect to be mortgage-free in less than 10 years.

HELOC: 0.00 @ 3.35%

I use the HELOC for to boost my investing funds.  The interest is tax deductible so I’m fine with carrying a balance.  We paid off the remaining  balance with the proceeds from the sale of our rental properties and I’m just waiting for another investment opportunity to arise that warrants the use of leverage.

Thanks for reading my January 2018 Net Worth Update!

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