August 2012 Net Worth Update-Canadian Budget Binder
If you are new to Canadian Budget Binder I post our household Net Worth and Budget Update once a month. What does Individual Net Worth mean? Net Worth is a snap shot of your financial health sort of like a picture. It’s a total of the value of your assets minus your liabilities. Posting our financial numbers is about showing others how budgeting has worked for us. It also helps us stick to our 2012 goals and budget.
Who’s the Man behind Canadian Budget Binder?
My name is Mr. CBB and I’m the frugal guy that does all the talking around here. Yes, some women think Frugal Men are Sexy and I’m here to show you how to spot one! Well not really but I’m sure you will have a good idea just by reading posts I’ve written around this blog.
I enjoy communicating with my fans daily and learning from them as well as sharing our financial triumphs and failures. I’m easy-going with a sense of humor and like to keep the conversation fun!! If you don’t understand British slang, well get used to it because I’m not changing for anyone!
There is also a Mrs. Canadian Budget Binder although she likes to hide in the background. This isn’t her type of gig, but…I did manage to encourage her to write her first blog guest post which you can read here.
Together we are Canadian Budget Binder. We started our Canadian Budgeting Journey to lead us towards a happier financial future.
We’re in our mid-thirties residing in the Greater Toronto Area. Contrary to popular belief we do not hide away in our home and rattle the calculator whilst sipping milk and eating cookies we got free by using a coupon for entertainment. (I actually make my own cowboy quickies, better than any bagged cookie I’ve had) We do like to get out and enjoy life and a healthy lifestyle is part of our daily routine. Keeping fit on a budget is a great stress reliever and most exercise methods cost just about nothing, like running.
What we do?
Every month I post our finances for all to see although we remain anonymous for the obvious reason. We do this to hold ourselves accountable for our actions. I enjoy learning from others who enjoy finance and taking care of their future before the future takes care of them.
No one will have the magical answers for your financial situation, you need to figure out what’s right for you. I can’t tell you what’s right or wrong, all I can do is tell you what worked for us. After all I’m not a finance professional and you should consult with one when dealing with your own money, just like we do.
I blog at Canadian Budget Binder to encourage, motivate and help others who think that budgeting is a waste of time and can’t help them out of debt. I also like to help those that believe a budget is what they need to get back on track and are positive about getting back on track.
If you aren’t serious or don’t understand the reality that budgeting is important than don’t waste your time. It doesn’t matter if you are in debt you need to see the numbers every month. Don’t make budgeting seem as if it’s only for people who are not in debt, because that’s the wrong way to look at it.
Realize that no one can snap their fingers and make your debt disappear. My update is to show the fans that they too can in fact produce a Net Worth Calculation. By 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. I hope what I post for you, the fans, about our experiences perhaps will help guide you along the path towards debt freedom. Sometimes seeing the numbers is what it takes to kick it into high gear like it did for us. I encourage you to learn what your numbers are and make them work for you.
We are firm believers that…..
- If we want to save money, enjoy present life and live a comfortable retirement then we have to spend less than we earn, pay off our debts and build a retirement savings that will suit our projected retirement lifestyle.
- “It’s Not About How Much Money You Make It’s How You Save It”-Mr. CBB
- “Money is Money, Debt is Debt, A Budget is SMART”-Mr. CBB
Canadian Budget Binders Financial Health
Let’s see how we did in August!
In August I made a phone call to the mortgage company to ask a couple of questions about our mortgage and this is what I learned. If we were to pay weekly the max amount allowable which is $303.79 we would still end up paying a total of $9770.67 in interest by the time or mortgage comes due April 2014.
Right now we pay accelerated weekly $243.03. So I did the math and it turns out that if until April 2014 we pay the $303.79 we would save a whopping $100 in interest, big deal! I also asked how much it would cost if we paid cash for the rest of the mortgage tomorrow and he told me that it would cost us at that day $2309.53 + admin fees (yup) $320.00 totalling $2629.53. That’s still a savings of $7141.14 if we paid in full and broke the contract. It’s worth it, now we just need to sort out what we want to do, pay it off, or invest it. We also want to build up an emergency savings fund before paying off the mortgage in full as we didn’t want to use the TFSA as an Emergency Savings.
What would you do if you had the cash we have? Advice, Tips?
Please share your comments below.
Our Monthly Finance Goal(s)
- To save as much money as we can while we are young to save for retirement while enjoying the present.
- To spend less than we earn to carry out the above.
- To lower our Grocery Budget with The Grocery Game Challenge and if you want to improve yours play with us!
- To pay off our mortgage with-in the 5 yr term ending in April 2014 and potentially save for a second home to rent out or our dream home.
- Max out our TFSA and RRSP each year (still working on this)
- To have a baby
- To finance our retirement as best we can by continuing to educate ourselves on finance and investments.
- To finish renovating our home.
- To sow and grow more vegetables/herbs in the garden to save money.
- To learn how to be more self-sufficient in the kitchen so we can eat healthier and save money by cooking from scratch,canning,baking.
- To continue to educate with further training so we are on top of our game when it comes to our careers. When you stop learning everything else stops.
- To turn this blog into a self hosted money making machine (ok, it sounded good when I was typing it and I’ve given my head a shake) but yes I want to row out on my own. Just looking for the right designer to get me there… if you know one send them my way!
- To travel anywhere we can to see what we have been missing.
- Canadian Budget Binder Assets:
- Chequing Account/ Cash-$460.00 We prefer to keep a buffer in the account. Current $789.65
- Savings Account-$88,096.85 This is the account we use for our projected expenses
- Emergency Savings #1-$3326.91
- Emergency Savings #2-$63,024.24
- Pension(s)-$28,505.62 (part of this goes up and down as it is invested in the UK ) Exchange rate is at 157.6 in August up from 156 in July
- Registered Retirement Savings Plan (s) (RRSP)-$55,262.08
- Tax Free Savings Account (s) (TFSA)-$16,138.40
- Vehicles-$15,000.00 (I will update this once per year)
- Principal Residence-$329,000.00 (I will update this once per year)
Total Assets: $599,143.75
Our Liabilities:$157,886.81 (mortgage)
- 17.66 years left to pay 3.99% 5yr fixed rate (Goal is to pay off by end of 5 year term 2014)
- $599,143.75 (Assets)-$157,886.81 (Liabilities) =$441,256.94
- Our Total Net Worth: $441,256.94
- Our Net Worth in August$441,256.94 – July $434,001.28 =$7255.66
- Our Net Worth since July 2012 has gone up by $7255.66
Do you know how to calculate your own Net Worth? Why not go ahead and calculate your own using our Free Tool Net worth Calculator (Canadian Budget Binder 2012)
I welcome all suggestions and tips on our Net Worth Update. If you wish to ask me a question privately you can click here.
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Related articles
- Why We Want To Pay Off Our Mortgage Early (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Mr.CBB’s Weekly Blog Post Pics Aug 31,2012 (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Reader Question: How Much Debt is Too Much Before You Need To Budget? (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- How We Designed Our Budget Step 10- Projected Expenses (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Money Fights and Money Problems (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Lessons Learned From My First Retail Credit Card (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
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Wow you guys are doing incredibly well! Congratulations! Although I don’t think I have the investment to do the grocery challenge just get, I am working as hard as possible to lower my own number this month. Good luck to you!
Hey! Thanks… you don’t need an investment to do the grocery game challenge. All you do is tell us how much money you have to spend for the week or month on grocery and what you bought… that’s it! I hope we get to see your shop! It’s worth it! Mr.CBB
I’ll go with Jen… pay off the mortgage and then use the money that had gone to the mortgage to build the savings accounts back up. If that money goes straight into the savings as an automatic transfer you don’t see it… you don’t spend it .. you just save it. If we were anywhere near that option it’s what I would do.It’s one less bill to pay every month, or how ever you pay it. Think of it like a credit card bill and how good it feels to have that sucker paid off!!!!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your input. It’s been a decision we have been tossing around for a few months now. I never thought to think of it as a giant credit card bill but it kinda is but only worse… lol. Cheers Christine. Mr.CBB Thanks for reading.
Wow, you guys are absolutely killing it! Your situation may be a little out of my league and it seems that you’re doing EXTREMELY well…so I’m not sure why you’re asking us what you should do. 🙂 If it were me I’d pay off the mortgage in cash, avoid the interest, and start saving the $300/week payment. That’s just me though…and I don’t like payments.
Funny you say that as we tell ourselves we are so behind. What is good to one is not to another. We think that we should have surpassed where we are today but know that our life decisions and income have plenty to do with that. I hope that we can finish up this mortgage come end of December which will give us enough time to save up enough of an emergency savings to do so . Thanks for your comment!! Mr.CBB
I think I would go for paying off the mortgage. You will free up lots of cash/month and be able to build up your savings again pretty quickly. Why not save over $7000 in interest? lol But who am I to say anything with my lack of financial knowledge? lol
Thanks Jen. It’s always been a hard decision for us but know we need to make a finalize something soon. It looks like if we use part of the TFSA we are mortgage free already. Decisions are our worst enemy. Thanks for your comment. Mr.CBB