Finances are like moon phases: February 2014 Net Worth update (+1.25%)
WATCHING INVESTMENTS GROW
Like moon phases, our finances including Net Worth is constantly changing and this month is no different.
There will always be ebb and flow in everyone’s finances, sometimes purely by the choices we’ve made.
In the CBB household we didn’t have an awful lot left over as spare cash from last month as we had city taxes and pet costs leave the bank.
However, there was positive news on the finance front in the form of yet another increase in the exchange rate due to the falling dollar.
This increase has led to our UK funds exceeding the total of what is left to pay on the mortgage and with quite a chunk of money left over.
Moon phases
We are definitely moving into our Waxing Gibbous phase where our finances and what we have set up are starting to fall into place.
The Full Moon phase will be when our mortgage is paid off and we can move on knowing that fact that we will be carrying zero debt. In the very near future we have to decide what we will be doing with the spare cash that is left over once the mortgage is paid off.
The money that we would have spent on mortgage payments needs to go somewhere and we are struggling to weigh up which investments to place it in.
There is another choice if investing is a little too sensible, expensive renovations that include the basement and kitchen. A visit to our financial advisor gave us good news about our investments, the returns were around the 12% mark.
There were of course variances between certain investments but they were good returns considering the market ups and downs and the fact we’re quite modest in our aggressiveness.
We’ve reached the $100,000 mark in our investment portfolio with our financial advisor which then leads us to lower costs in managing the funds as we will change over to a fee based system.
You may have read from our previous Net Worth update in January that we included an increase in our principal residence.
To put an actual figure on that we asked our real estate agent to present us with a calculated figure based upon comparative market analysis.
The estimated value for our house is $365,000, which is great news for us although one increase a year is more than enough for our egos. That is a $100,000 increase in value in just under 5 years of owning the home. Location, Location, Location.
We have therefore decided to leave our house value at $345,500 as of the January Net Worth.
How did you make out in February?
Understanding net worth
What Does Individual Net Worth Mean?
Net Worth is a snap shot of your financial health sort of like a picture or debt to net assets. In simple terms it’s a total of the value of your assets minus your liabilities.
Determining net worth
Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities
Figuring out net worth is fairly easy as long as you know your personal numbers or monthly finances.
Net Worth is simply adding up all your assets (what you own) then taking away your liabilities (what you owe) which will give you a net worth number.
Understanding your net worth will help you determine if you are on track to meeting or beating your personal financial goals. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Do you know how to calculate your own Net Worth?
Now you can stop asking yourself, how do you find out your net worth because it’s easy to determine.
Why not go ahead and calculate your own using our Free Money saving Tool Net worth Calculator (Canadian Budget Binder 2012)
Goals
Below are our 2014 target goals some of which are the same from 2013 and many which are new for 2014. I don’t like to move on to new goals if I have other goals that are unfinished but I also like breathing room and play time if you know what I mean.
I hope by posting them each month it motivates me like it has this past year to get stuff done and reach our target goals with some form of ease although nothing in life is that simple.
I find it’s much easier to be held accountable when I share what we need to do with all of you.
Do you set goals for your year?
Our short-term goals 2014
- First is to pay off our mortgage in full as of April 2014.
- To renovate the upstairs bathroom
- Re-model the spare bedroom (ie: decor, furniture)
- Start working on putting in the new flooring in the living and dining room
- Install a central vacuum system
- Purchase a new washer and dryer
- Purchase all new kitchen appliances
- Purchase 2 medium-sized freezers
- Finish the landscaping in the front and back yards.
- Invest more in our TFSA, RRSP etc.
- Continue to meal plan, create new homemade meals- I’m always whipping up something new in the kitchen (check out all my new recipe index on the blog)
- To sow and grow more vegetables/herbs in the garden to save money
- Learn more about passive income
- To read a new personal finance book
- Learn more about Search Engine Optimization and blogging and how to manage my blog.
Our long-term goals 2014
- Finish renovating the entire kitchen
- Finish renovating the entire master bathroom
- Save for a holiday
- Start planning basement renovations (bathroom, bedroom, family room, laundry room, office, storage area.
- Look at new ways to invest our money ie: rental units
- Continuing to educate ourselves on personal finance and investments
- Continue to network with other like-minded people
- Continue in my new career in hopes of it becoming long-term permanent
Our financial numbers
When budgeting anything is possible, we are proof of that although we still have a long way to go in our journey.
These are our numbers and our goals, not a means of comparison towards your own goals to others target goals.
We don’t care how much money others make or if they have a high net worth or if it is lower than ours as it’s not a competition.
I hope our experiences perhaps will help guide you along your financial path working towards debt freedom.
Different paths
Not everyone has the same path in life. Some of you may have had to start over like I did or go to school a second time and now have OSAP loans to pay back.
Others may have divorced, lost money in the stock market or other investments, lost a job, fell ill and so on but you can’t let that stop you, I didn’t.
Some of you may have been given trust funds, paid-for homes, paid educations or perks in life that give you a financial kick-start and that’s OK too. Remember what I said, “It’s not about how much money you make, it’s how you save it”.
Focus on you and don’t let the evil eye of money jealousy or keeping up with the Joneses cloud your vision. No one cares about your money as much as you do so don’t waste your energy trying.
The only reason people accumulate wealth is because they know how to save or invest it wisely even if they did inherit money or win the lottery.
The smallest improvements should mean big strides in working towards reaching your goals.
Sometimes we have to fail in order to learn and we’ve all been there. Money can be an evil force for some people especially those who are negative towards their own situation.
I urge you to be optimistic and little by little with determination you too should see improvements, that is if you want that to happen.
Our net worth
We are always looking for ways how to increase our savings and by tracking our net worth these numbers below show us how well we are doing in terms of meeting our target numbers or what areas we should put a bit more focus in.
Net worth updates 2014
Below you can click the links to read past net worth updates to see if we were on target or if we struggled with some of our numbers.
That’s all for this month’s Net Worth update. Check in at the beginning of April to see how we made out in March and what has happened to our finances since.
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