Net Worth Update - 2015

Following example of many personal finance bloggers, I publish our annual net worth update every year. Given my utter laziness and nature of some of our investments, I only do it once a year and don’t see a point of doing it more often. For the most part, I only check our investment balances once a year and don’t sweat monthly changes.

• Previous net worth update: End of 2013 - $258,681.82
• Previous net worth update: End of 2014 - $327,763.55

 

The main reasons for publishing net worth update is keeping us on track and somewhat accountable for our actions. For example, I am very opposed to having consumer debt, and I’d like to show that we put our money where our mouth is by not having any.

Only major items are included in our calculations. I know some people put everything under the moon in their net worth update including value of coin collections, car values, insurance policies, and spouse’s jewelry. This sounds like way too much work (see my comment on my utter laziness), and these numbers would not be significant anyway. Value of our car almost doubles every time I fill it up with gas, and the only coin collection I have is the spare change stash for an occasional secret trip to Burger King.

 

 

Investment and cash accounts: $316,930.27 (up 27.33%)

 

Cash and saving accounts: $59,238.22 (includes emergency fund, checking account, and various saving accounts - car replacement fund, annual property taxes, etc.)

Cash and savings accounts (USD): $5,000 or $6830.25 in CAD

Mr. Financial Underdog RRSP accounts: $17,181.42

Mrs. Financial Underdog RRSP accounts: $7,312.50

Mr. Financial Underdog TFSA account : $31,175.45

Mrs. Financial Underdog TFSA account: $27,177.45

Joint unregistered account: $168,014.98

 

Other assets: $290,500 (up 5.06%)

 

Principal residence: $290,500 (as per latest assessment notice)

 

Liabilities: $188,258.76 (down 4.7%)

 

Principle residence mortgage: $188,258.76 (as of Dec. 31, 2015)

 

Total Net Worth (Assets - Liabilities): $419,171.51 (up 27.88%)

 

Good news:

- We’ve crossed into 400K figure! It’s kinda exciting and boring at the same time. We’ve been steadily climbing up as you see by previous net worth reports. Cool figure, but not enough to stop working. Not that I want to stop working any time soon.

- Few years ago, I’ve grumbled about being below the target net worth for our age and income according to Thomas J. Stanley’s book “Millionaire Next Door” . This year we’re actually above that target net worth:

 

 

 

 

Challenges:

- Just like I predicted last year the prices of oil did have a profound effect on our economy. The Canadian economy currently is in a recession (don’t let TV tell you otherwise) and the economy is basically just kindling.  With some of our investments tied to oil-producing provinces, I’m feeling the effect of it.

- I’m also quite nervous about the effects of it on our local economy and hence my small business. While the last few months haven’t been too slow, just in case I’m not spending hugely on marketing and waiting things out. If we can get through winter and have a solid spring and summer seasons, we should start seeing recovery as oil prices start to inch up.

- WE HAVE TOO MUCH CASH. I haven’t been investing for a while, and so far been parking money in savings account waiting a good moment to dump it onto the market and pick up some good positions on sale. I’ve also been entertaining an idea of hiring an investment pro to run some of our investments simply because I don’t have time for the most part to read gazillion of charts, analyze companies, and make investment decisions. Not to mention I’m dumber than a bag of potatoes. Perhaps a portfolio manager would be a good idea for us.

- Unused space at TFSA and RRSP accounts needs to be dealt with. Seriously!

- One of our goals for this year was to increase our net worth by $100,000. As you can see, we fell short. We only grew our net worth by $91,407.96. Which is still a great number of $250/day, but not exactly $100,000 I was hoping for. Certainly the market downturn didn’t help. If markets didn’t do what they did, we’d probably hit that number with ease. But life gets in the way!