December 2013 Net Worth Update (+1.01%): Yearly outcome on target
NOTHING IS FOR CERTAIN NOT EVEN FINANCES
We weren’t too sure if we were going to be on target to reach our yearly 2013 net worth goals but after running the numbers we were pleasantly surprised that we made it through as planned.
Should you celebrate success if the money is not in the bank?
What I mean by that it is should you celebrate when you are merely seeing numbers on paper or on your computer screen not cash in the bank? After all it could change depending on how you have your money invested and/or what it is invested in.
Have you met your targets?
Sure, go ahead and celebrate you’ve reached a milestone and there is no reason why you shouldn’t be proud of the accomplishments you’ve made over the course of the year. Nothing is for certain but what you do know is that you’ve worked hard to make sure your numbers are on target and continue to meet or exceed the goals you set forth at the beginning of the year. It’s not an easy road to walk but with optimism and perseverance anything is possible.
I think when we understand that our numbers will fluctuate and especially investments we will learn to appreciate how our money works for us and we will work even harder to make it a positive factor with-in our financial health.
For some that means learning more about how their money is invested or even learning to invest on their own or simply using a budget to get control of their money. I’ve been learning as much as I can about investing, but slowly because my time is fragile these days but I have many personal finance bloggers to thank for sharing their wisdom and motivating me especially Mark over at My Own Advisor who has been an inspiration to me for a while now.
We are only bound by the limits we put on ourselves but it’s always important to look before you leap because you can lose everything in an instant if you don’t know what you are doing. Be smart with your money and it will keep you smiling.
For this month only I’ve added in an extra table showing the summary of net worth increases month by month. As you’ll notice I couldn’t generate an average figure for the early portion of 2013 purely from lack of data in the preceding 12 months.
There have been many ups and downs over the course of the year, but mainly positive changes. The mortgage was paid down with 2 lump sum payments, which probably didn’t make the mortgage company happy but we got a big smile out of it.
Another positive change happened only in the last three months of 2013 and that was the increase in the value of the British Pound and the slide of the Canadian Dollar, which took our money in the UK up in value from the doldrums it was suffering from for so long. The current exchange rate for this months figure was $1.7587 dollars to the pound, which is about as high as it’s been in the last 3 years.
As you can see from the table above the average yearly increase stayed fairly stable throughout the year even with the highs and lows of the investments, pensions and TFSA’s. So after all the downs that took our finances on a bit of a ride this year we finally ended the year on a positive note with a sense of accomplishment and right on target.
From the figures generated I also managed to forecast our Million Dollar point and that will be in exactly six years time on New Years again. That will be a celebration.
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 2013 target goals and I left remarks in bold to share how I/we made out with them and what the plan is moving forward. When I post the January 2014 Net Worth Update I will include my/our long-term and short-term goals for the 2014 year.
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 I need to do with all of you.
Do you set goals for your year?
Our short-term goals 2013
- To pay off our mortgage with-in the 5 yr term ending in April 2014- Update: We’ve decided to hold off paying in full until the mortgage comes due in April 2014.
- Focus on our tax-free savings accounts (TFSA) and other investing- will look at this once the mortgage is paid in full.
- To Save money for smaller renovations- trying little by little
- 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- garden is done for the season but we are growing radicchio in the house which we eat all winter long in our salads.
- To take vacation somewhere in Ontario for summer 2014-This is on hold for the moment.
- Learn more about Passive Income-I’ve been learning as much as I can from some of my favourite personal finance bloggers which has helped me to get a better idea of where I want to go with this blog.
- To Read a new Personal Finance Book- I’m the worst reader around I think. When I start reading it’s hard to put a good book down but my life has been side-tracked since July but it’s slowly back on track so I hope to get more reading in if I can.
- Learn more about SEO and Blogging- I’m always learning something new but it’s all beneficial and has helped Canadian Budget Binder grow the way that it has.
Our long-term goals 2013
Did we meet our 2013 long-term goals?
Well we worked hard to reach our target goals in 2013 but sometimes it’s hard to achieve everything you set out to do. For this reason we try to set realistic goals and keep them relatively simple so we don’t get so overwhelmed during the year.
- Continuing to educate ourselves on personal finance and investments- Always learning and educating
- Continue to network with other like-minded individuals- I am networking as much as I can and have chatted to many personal finance bloggers and non-bloggers in 2013.
- To finish renovating our home- Landscaping is pretty much completed as of the end of September. Next is bathrooms.
- To continue with educational training to further careers- I did so much training in 2013 that it is now paying off for me in the form of a new career but also continuing with my other career. There is never a reason not to learn, train and educate because somewhere down the line you will use that information and you never know what organization will find you valuable for knowing that information.
- To save money for big renovations- Saving for renovations will be on-going since there are many things I need to renovate in our house.
- Start thinking about saving for a second-hand vehicle in the next 5-7 years- I was thinking about selling my vehicle to buy a larger version of my vehicle however I may just keep what I’ve got as it’s in excellent condition and go from there.
- Save up for a European Adventure in the next couple of years-This may have to be put on hold right now.
- Potentially save for a second home to rent out or build/move to our dream home- We’re not sure where we will go with this idea as things have changed.
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 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 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 2012-2013
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.
- 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%)
- March 2013 (+1.61%)
- April 2013 (+1.42%)
- May 2013 (+1.77%)
- June 2013 (+0.09%)
- July 2013 (+1.00%)
- August 2013 (+1.90%)
- September 2013 (+0.72)
- October 2013 (+1.94%)
- November 2013 (+1.35%)
Overall: As you can read we were very happy that we were on target to reach our financial goals for 2013 and hope that 2014 brings us the same achievement if not surpass what we set out to meet over the course of the year.
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