Net Worth Update March 2013 + 1.61% Mortgage Pre-Payment Update
The full pre-payment on our 5 year term mortgage for the 2012-2013 year has been completed to the tune of $37,000 just this past week. I know if you were following our Net Worth updates this past year you were cringing because of all the money we kept in our high interest savings account at 2%.
I received emails and comments asking us why we did that and we did it for ease of liquidity and the ability to just pay off our mortgage. Some of you are seasoned professionals when it comes to investing but for a couple like us we are not. So when something looks easy to you it’s much more difficult to us. I appreciate all the help I get from my on-line friends who continue to motivate and educate me about investing along with my research.
Just like anyone else we need to learn about investing from the bottom up so it’s better to be informed than to jump in head first without any knowledge just because someone doesn’t agree with how we manage our money from an investment stand point. Maybe we did lose out on a bit had we had taken our money and invested it for that year, but we can live with that. It was a big decision for us to pay off the mortgage in full so we can move forward with investments for our retirement but we are happy with our decision.
What is a Mortgage Pre-Payment?
If you don’t know what a prepayment on a mortgage is or if your mortgage doesn’t allow this option, it’s simply the ability to put down a chunk of money when you have it towards the principle of your mortgage. Our prepayment privileges allow us to pay down our mortgage by 20 % during each anniversary period.
Some mortgage companies allow a pre-payment with no limits where our mortgage company only allows us to pre-pay up to 20% of the original mortgage of $185,000 each year. When we saved up for our down-payment on the house but didn’t use all the money we had as we weren’t sure at the time what we were going to do with it.
The house cost us $265,000 and we put down an $80,000 down-payment (roughly 30%) leaving us with a mortgage of $185,000 at 3.99% fixed 5 year term over 25 years. The price was cheap as we bought the property just after the financial collapse of 2008/2009 and scooped it up in less than a few days of being on the market and boy are we happy with our deal. We do love our house but like I mentioned before we don’t know if we will move or stay.
Initially we were looking at homes that were in the upper $400,000- $500,000 range because that was what the bank said we could have. In fact some mortgage companies offered to give us well over half a million dollars which was far too much for us. It may sound like a lot of money but living in the GTA that is like peanuts. Houses in our area are relatively pricey so we were super lucky when the owner selling this home needed to be gone fast so we picked it up for a great deal.
There were many things I needed to get done on the house and there still are ongoing renovations mainly to update but the home is still under the age of 20 years old and in great shape. It was worth it to us in the end as in just 4 short years we can put this house on the market as is for about $100,000 more than we paid for it.
Sometimes it makes more sense just to stay put because we won’t have a mortgage and just enjoy life. Other times we think it would be nice to have a bigger property with more privacy. There are lots or ideas for us to consider but I think we may stick around to finish up some renovations in hopes of making a bit more profit here if we make the decision to move. If not, we love our house and will certainly make sure to put the money into renovating it the way we would like to so we can live a comfortable life here together.
So, the mortgage will come due the end of April which will officially be 4 years into the mortgage. We will then pre-pay the full $37,000 allowable once again to drop our mortgage to around $81,000 just as an estimate as payments will happen in between now and then. We will then have to break the mortgage and pay a penalty for doing so. Currently our mortgage sits at $118,734.41 which at the current payment would take us 11 years and 9 months to pay off.
We hope to kill this mortgage off sometime around June of 2013.
Stay tuned for another mortgage update next month where I will give you the full run-down of what has happened since the writing of this post.
Do you make pre-payments on your mortgage?
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.
How To Determine Net Worth?
Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities
Determining Net Worth is fairly easy as long as you know your personal numbers. 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. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
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)
Our Short Term Finance/Life/Blog/ Goals
- To pay off our mortgage with-in the 5 yr term ending in April 2014
- Focus on TFSA and other investing
- To Save money for smaller renovations
- Continue to meal plan, create new homemade meals
- To sow and grow more vegetables/herbs in the garden to save money.
- To take vacation somewhere in Ontario this summer
- To take this blog to self-hosted and get a redesign (happening 2013!)
- Learn more about Passive Income
- To Read a new Personal Finance Book
- Learn more about SEO and Blogging
Our Long-Term Finance/Life/Blog/ Goals
- Continuing to educate ourselves on personal finance and investments
- Continue to Network with other like-minded individuals
- To finish renovating our home
- To continue with educational training to further careers.
- To save money for big renovations
- Start thinking about saving for a second-hand vehicle in the next 5-7 years
- Save up for a European Adventure in the next couple of years
- Potentially save for a second home to rent out or build/move to our dream home
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. We don’t care how much money others make or if their net worth is lower or higher as it’s not a competition. I hope our experiences perhaps will help guide you along your financial path towards debt freedom.
Canadian Budget Binders Financial Health
Net Worth For Preceding 12 Months
Overview:
Net Worth Updates 2012-2013
- March 2012
- April 2012 (+0.94%)
- May 2012 (+1.19%)
- June 2012 (+1.17%)
- July 2012 (+1.51%)
- August 2012 (+1.67%)
- September 2012 (+1.61%)
- October 2012 (+1.91%)
- November 2012 (+0.96%)
- December 2012 (+1.76%)
- January 2013 (+1.39%)
- February 2013 (+0.75%)
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Related articles
- Becoming a Single Homeowner – Part 1 “The Plan” (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Becoming A Single Homeowner – Part 3 “Mortgage Options” (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
Limiting the pre-payment amount to 20% may sound limiting, but at the end of the day, if you were able to pay 20% of the original balance year after year, you would be paid off in just 5 years. That’s not bad at all!
We do pay 20% of the original mortgage each anniversary which is $37,000 so yes it makes it much easier. What sucks is paying the penalty to discharge and break the mortgage but oh well, can’t win them all, right Edward! Cheers mate.
Congrats on the great net worth! It certainly seems like you are on your way. Paying down the mortgage is great. We have a mortgage and it seems that house costs are what eat up all your money. That and interest rates are crazy although I think ours is just under 4% which is much better than before.
Thanks mate, on our way to who knows what to do next land lol. Interest rates are still low and I think now is the best time to pay as much as you can off before they do go up. We can’t predict the future just like people can’t predict how much money they will make while investing. What we do know is our interest rate and what it’s currently at. Cheers!
Wow, congrats those are some fantastic numbers. Looking back, wish we were able to save a little more for our downpayment. It sure helps!
Hey!
This was my third house so I had money saved from the sales of my other homes. Putting down as much as we could was important but we didn’t put all our money down as my money was not in Canada yet. Cheers mate
I’m not sure how small your place is or how the privacy issues are, but having a “free” home that’s paid for sounds mighty nice! Either way, congrats on almost paying off your mortgage!
Our house is just under 3000 sq feet and it’s like any other newer home in a subdivision but for the most part it’s very quiet and private but we have neighbours which is fine. Thanks Tonya!
It’s so funny to hear you say you’re not seasoned at this money stuff – you’re scores ahead of us and to us you look like pros! SO happy for you that this mortgage will be gone soon – you are an inspiration to all of us, Mr. and Mrs. CBB!
Thanks Laurie!!! There’s a big difference between someone who knows how to save and budget their money while investing for retirement and those that invest in the stock market as a hobby. It’s something I’d like to learn but even the best of investors can’t predict the future… it’s all a game of risk! Cheers Laurie.
Wow, you’re rocking!
Mark
Thanks Mate, working on it… it’s all been a learning process. Cheers Mark!
Wow!!! Looks like that mortgage will be history very soon!!! I’m jealous….. Now that it is almost done do you plan to set aside moneys for the big ticket repairs that come along the older the house gets??? I know you want to do the bathroom but I’m thinking more things like re-doing the roof kind of rude surprises that can and do pop up, that fence that needs work, stay there long enough and things like re-wiring the whole place as the currant wiring ages and becomes outdated, plumbing that needs work and so on. Things that might meet currant standards but may no longer as you get down the road and the house gets older?????I ask as some one who lives in an older house and has had to do these things…….
I might have to write a blog post about that one Christine… 🙂 The house is not that old yet but like any other home it will need updates. I’ve pretty much replaced everything that I can see on this home,painted the garage, replaced all the seals, vent covers, down spouts, so it’s all pretty new.I wash all the windows inside and out each year and inside the window tracks. I clean as much as I can and replace everything that needs replacing. Our home looks 100 times better than some of the newer homes that are left to rot because people aren’t maintaining them. The windows are fine, the roof was done the year we bought it and I put 40 year shingles on it although I have to do some work around the house we can just take our time now doing it, no rush. The fence needs 1 post but it looks fine it’s just if you put your hand on it then it wobbles on that post. We don’t need an entire new fence but in time we may but we will budget for that, yes.
Wow! That’s fantastic! It must have felt great writing that big check and knowing how close you are to paying off your mortgage!! 🙂 Yes, there are other options that should have earned more than your savings account, but if you weren’t comfortable doing so and it would have been more stressful, then it wouldn’t have really been worth it since it was never going to be a long-term investment for you in my opinion.
What would you have invested in that would have guaranteed more than 3% with easy access and no fees to remove? I’m just curious what others would have done… I’m nosey like that. No it was always short term and we knew that and that’s why we left it be. Cheers Shannon!
Hi Mr. CBB
These numbers are truly remarkable! You both should be very proud of your accomplishments. I read somewhere that you should only invest in companies/ products you understand or are familiar with, I think taking your time to understand the process is a very wise choice. Congratulations on your incredible progress!
That is very true and why I would rather take the time to learn than worry about what I’m missing. Cheers
that is amazing you were able to knock off so much of the mortgage and will soon save 11 years of payments! I don’t overpay because my rate is low but seeing 20+ years left of payments is depressing sometimes.
Our rate is 3.99% which Is low I guess but some have it even lower. Now that the mortgage is gone and we are still young we can invest until we can’t take it any more lol…. lots of time. If we were older in our 40’s and 50’s things might be different here.
Congrats! That is an impressive post. If only more people could be this fiscally responsible! Passive income is a great thing once it’s set up. I’ve been dabbling into preferred stocks (in retirement so they’re tax advantaged) and I also take advantage of rental properties.
I hope we can learn more about investing on our own. It’s something we want to do but are taking it step by step. We all have to learn from somewhere I guess. How many rental properties do you have? We thought about it. What works for you?
That’s awesome you’re getting so close on the paying off the mortgage Mr. CBB! It always amazes me that banks offer so much to people looking to buy a house. We pre-qualified and the amount they authorized was just crazy nuts, we would’ve been on the street in six months.
That’s just it, they bank on people getting in over their heads and even if they had to sell they still make money. It’s a lucrative business and they know it and I’d rather just get out while we can so we can focus on sorting out other areas in our life that we are paying people too much money.
That’s awesome to see you paying down your mortgage so fast Mr. CBB. I could only wish I was doing so well at the moment. Also you have quite a bit of money saved up which is great too. Congrats on doing so well.
Thanks. We bought homes when we were young and just spent less than we earned, saved cash to pay for school and for what we need it’s not a secret or anything. We were never given inheritances or won money this is just our saved money and profit from house sales. Keep at it, anyone can get to debt freedom with determination, we just all get their at different times in our lives which reflects our current situations. CHeers
Nice job on pre-paying your mortgage! I hope to get to the point where I can start doing that some day, although to be honest. Any other debt will take precedence before the mortgage! One nice things about mortgages in the U.S. (at least the one’s I have had) is that you can pay down principle on a monthly basis if you want too. It’s pretty easy to turn a 30 year note into a 15 by paying down additional principle every month if your inclined to do that.
We can do the same with our mortgage. What we did was pretend we had a $1300 mortgage when in fact we had a $900 mortgage and paid the extra every month. Those aren’t exact figures…
I definitely understand the reasoning that most people have for justifying pre-payment of their mortgage, and in your case you clearly have solid goals for life after a mortgage. I personally wouldn’t prepay my mortgage, even $1. I have a 3.25% Fixed Rate 30 year mortgage, and I know that I could make a lot more from investing. The longer you have money in the market, the more it’s able to grow/compound/etc. You don’t get that market exposure when you begin investing later in life (you do, but the exponential curve isn’t as sharp).
I can also understand pre-payment as well though, which would give me (personally) $2200 extra every month if I didn’t have a mortgage. I truly hate owing money.
That’s true but what happens if the mortgage rate doubles when you come to renew or if the investments tank? The thing about the mortgage is that it’s a sure thing, we know the rate and we wanted to pound it off as fast as we can. I’m sure there are people who can make magic happen in the stock market and that’s great but with that comes risk. We’ve already seen our retirement investments sink in 2009 and that was enough to give us a kick in the ass.
Right, and that’s why I understand that side of the argument. The crazy thing is though that if you were to have been investing hard during the recession, your money would have (or could have) doubled. I like the plan of not having a mortgage though too. Our rates can’t change. The only thing that can change is the property taxes, which are completely absurd.
Problem is my money is not here lol… and in the recession we were just building our emergency fund back up and I was in school. It’s only been since I started working in my career this past couple years that the savings started coming in. I wish I had this amount of cash back then but the reality is we didn’t. You have much more confidence in the stock market than I do and that’s great. I’m just starting to learn so I can take it step by step. Do you track how much your investments make each month? Do you do your own investing? How did you learn to invest? haha.. now my time to interview you!!!
Well I learned on my own. I read a nice little book called “A random walk: An investor’s guide” by Burton Malkiel. It aligned with my values and I knew that that was the way I wanted to invest. I don’t buy company stock. I buy index mutual funds. It’s easy to track as all I have to do is log into Mint.com and go to the investments tab. It shows the % and a nice graph of how much I’ve made. The other way would be to log directly into the investment company (I use Vanguard) and they tell you how much you’ve made in dividends and capital gains.
That sounds about how I want to go about it, read a book, learn what I can and start with something simple and see how it goes. I’ve heard alot about Vanguard so I may look into that. How many years have you been investing on your own now?
With my current portfolio? 3 years. I tried before that, but I failed because I went into it with absolutely no knowledge. My current portfolio has done really well too. Over 24% gains within the past year and a half alone 🙂
What is your plan B if those investments tank? I presume your risk tolerance is much higher. I know the housing market could drop but so would other house prices but we’d still have our house paid for. I’m guessing if we told all those who ready to retire in 2008/2009 that if they plowed their cash into investments they may double that they would have kicked our arse out the door. Many people lost a huge chunk of money. How do you get past that risk out of curiosity? Many do, I’m just not sure how I would feel about it.
Woohoo – here’s to diminished cash flow requirements!
I assume that you have read all of your very fine print, but we were surprised to learn that our mortgage prepayment limit is annual, instead of based on the anniversary of the mortgage. We found out one fall that we couldn’t prepay anymore because we’d hit the annual limit, even though we thought it had reset in July! Oh well.
We are also planning to be mortgage free this June, we can celebrate together 🙂 (Though there’s one unknown that may delay our plans by two months or so.)
That’s great news, congrats, yes we can celebrate together!! Yes it states it online how much we can pre-pay and won’t less us pre-pay any more than we can. It’s also disclosed in the lawyers documents. Two months is nothing… once it’s gone you can focus on so much more with your life… and I’ll take freedom of mortgage over risk in investments any day!!! When the roof is mine this early in my life then I can focus on my retirement more than what we have been. It’s personal though. How about you? Why did you not invest your money instead of pay off your mortgage?
Considering the mortgage rate as a risk-adjusted rate of return caused us to pay it down so aggressively. Plus I’ve found that I’m much happier with minimized liabilities. It’s freeing to know that we’ll be able to do things like travel a bit or invest in friend’s companies and such, without having to worry about minimum payments every day. It also provides job freedom, if we ever want or need to quit. We also looked into moving once and the more that was paid off, the less we had to pay in penalty. Additionally, if we have to move, we don’t have to carry two places at the same time should we be unable to sell on our schedule.
I’m looking forward to seeing the investment accounts soar, though we still have a few more things to take care of after the mortgage.
You are thinking like we are and I think the pros outweighed the cons for us especially after what happened to our own investments in 2009 never mind all those who were set to retire. I wish I was thick skinned with my money when it came to risking it all in investments but we are on the same page as you. End of day, it’s what makes us sleep better and I know we’ve heard that a million times over!! We saved over $57k by paying our mortgage off this year and in 5 years would have paid over $33k in interest. If we knew for certain that in the next 20 years we could double that then we may have changed our minds but going with what we know seems like the right way.
Congratulations on making such progress! Woohoo!!! I am so jealous and wish I could do the same, but I lost my job so things have been tight. Thank goodness for the emergency fund. I am living vicariously though you and Mrs. CBB for now. I can’t wait until my new business goes live and I can let you know that I am back on track to save for these extra bonus payments. Thank you for inspiring me!!
Hi Kelly!
I look forward to your new business. Life can throw us curveballs at any time and that is why owning our home was more important to us than anything else. Once the home you live in is your own you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that options now open up, stress is down because life won’t crumble if someone lost a job..etc.. For us personally there were more pros to cons as to why we should or shouldn’t pay it off. We’re happy with our decision. Cheers!