Let's see if I reached my goals I set for this month, shall we:
Assets - Down 2.6%
Goal set: +2.0% increase
A reversal of numbers here. Again, as I mentioned last time around, I didn't make as much income in April because of practice teaching and I think I underestimated exactly how much that would effect things. Next time I know of something like that, a more detailed look at the numbers should be in order. As well, we took advantage of a furniture sale at Dow's furniture here in Charlottetown and upgraded to a nicer bed and boxspring which depleted most of our "big-item" fund. This was an unplanned purchase, but we saw it as a good opportunity to get rid of the ole' spring poker. On the plus side, we sold the old mattress and boxspring combo for $75 dollars.
Goal for next month: We'll keep things simple at a 3.0% increase in assets while the income streams come back under control. I will hopefully get around to selling some stuff on EBay, but this bump might not show up until June's update.
Debt - Up 1.3%
Goal set: 2.0% decrease
I didn't quite make that as I didn't pay off the credit card balance in full prior to the end of the month, which I usually do.
Goal for next month: Keeping things modest here too, a 2.0% decrease should prove doable, but if things took place that should have, a significant drop will be shown here next month. The details of that will be the focus of another post.
Overall Net Worth - Down 3.4%
Since we are in this for the long haul, months where there is a slight dip in net worth is really worrying as the general trend is onwards and upwards!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Good news and bad news
The Good News
PC Financial sends out a form for tax purposes showing how much money you made in interest if it is over a certain amount! That was a fantastic surprise as we thought we would have to track it all and bring in slips when we got our taxes done. Very convenient service!
The Bad News
PC Financial's interest plus savings account, touted as the greatest in the land, has dropped their interest rates significantly from 4.10% to a paltry 3.35%. This is of course in response to the shitty dealings in the south. Boo-urns on that.
Expect a net worth update in a few days
PC Financial sends out a form for tax purposes showing how much money you made in interest if it is over a certain amount! That was a fantastic surprise as we thought we would have to track it all and bring in slips when we got our taxes done. Very convenient service!
The Bad News
PC Financial's interest plus savings account, touted as the greatest in the land, has dropped their interest rates significantly from 4.10% to a paltry 3.35%. This is of course in response to the shitty dealings in the south. Boo-urns on that.
Expect a net worth update in a few days
Net Worth Update March 2008
Let's see if I reached my goals I set for this month, shall we:
Assets - Up 11.3%
Goal set: +4.2% increase
This one was sure blown out of the water wasn't it. Allow me to elaborate. Tax refund. Any questions? Without the refund though it only would have been a 3.9% increase. Time Horton's breakfast sandwiches will be my financial ruin. This vice should get better next month as I bought a box of green tea to remove my excuse for getting coffee. Conveniently this removes the very real possibility of getting a breakfast sandwich.
Goal for next month: A 2.0% increase should be doable despite less funds coming in during April. I'm not working at Resolve while on practicum so that takes a big chunk of our money. Once school is over, I plan to unload some stuff on Ebay to hopefully make up that difference.
Debt - Down 4.9%
Goal set: 6% decrease
I didn't quite make that, but I'm not worried. The only reason was not shuffling some of the extra assets around to cover this. In theory it's done, just laziness prevented it from becoming a reality.
Goal for next month: A 2.0% decrease should be ok as again, there will be less income for the month of April while I am on my practicum.
Overall Net Worth - Up 15.5%
We did great this month since we got our tax refunds. We need to not let this go to our heads and keep things up when we don't have such a windfall.
Assets - Up 11.3%
Goal set: +4.2% increase
This one was sure blown out of the water wasn't it. Allow me to elaborate. Tax refund. Any questions? Without the refund though it only would have been a 3.9% increase. Time Horton's breakfast sandwiches will be my financial ruin. This vice should get better next month as I bought a box of green tea to remove my excuse for getting coffee. Conveniently this removes the very real possibility of getting a breakfast sandwich.
Goal for next month: A 2.0% increase should be doable despite less funds coming in during April. I'm not working at Resolve while on practicum so that takes a big chunk of our money. Once school is over, I plan to unload some stuff on Ebay to hopefully make up that difference.
Debt - Down 4.9%
Goal set: 6% decrease
I didn't quite make that, but I'm not worried. The only reason was not shuffling some of the extra assets around to cover this. In theory it's done, just laziness prevented it from becoming a reality.
Goal for next month: A 2.0% decrease should be ok as again, there will be less income for the month of April while I am on my practicum.
Overall Net Worth - Up 15.5%
We did great this month since we got our tax refunds. We need to not let this go to our heads and keep things up when we don't have such a windfall.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Net Worth Update February 2008
Let's see if I reached my goals I set for this month, shall we:
Assets - Up 2.8%
Goal set: +5% increase
Yeah, so the idea of making February a frugal month? Didn't really pan out. Our expenses were almost identical to those of the previous month, though it was distributed differently. I purchased a expensive board game, there was an impromptu trip to Moncton, and dining out, while less frequent than it has been in several months, still reared its ugly head. Still, there was an increase.
Goal for next month: A 4.2% increase should be doable since I will be on practicum and the ability to eat out will be much reduced. As well, much of my time will be spent making lesson plans, negating my ability to go out and spend money.
Debt - Down 4.5%
Goal set: 4% decrease
I accomplished this goal rather easily despite not spending much less than usual. Paying off the credit card every week is a good idea that helps in this area and the little chunk I'm paying on the student loan is doing its work as well.
Goal for next month: A 6% decrease is more than what I did this month, but should still be achievable provided less money is heading outwards.
Overall Net Worth - Up 4.5%
Overall we did ok and we are still experiencing steady growth.
Assets - Up 2.8%
Goal set: +5% increase
Yeah, so the idea of making February a frugal month? Didn't really pan out. Our expenses were almost identical to those of the previous month, though it was distributed differently. I purchased a expensive board game, there was an impromptu trip to Moncton, and dining out, while less frequent than it has been in several months, still reared its ugly head. Still, there was an increase.
Goal for next month: A 4.2% increase should be doable since I will be on practicum and the ability to eat out will be much reduced. As well, much of my time will be spent making lesson plans, negating my ability to go out and spend money.
Debt - Down 4.5%
Goal set: 4% decrease
I accomplished this goal rather easily despite not spending much less than usual. Paying off the credit card every week is a good idea that helps in this area and the little chunk I'm paying on the student loan is doing its work as well.
Goal for next month: A 6% decrease is more than what I did this month, but should still be achievable provided less money is heading outwards.
Overall Net Worth - Up 4.5%
Overall we did ok and we are still experiencing steady growth.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
72 Goals in 1001 Days - 9 month update
Missed the 6 month update, but meh.
For various reasons (most of which were laziness) I haven't been working on these as much as I would like. I am going to try some visual reminders for some of them to keep me on the ball.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here. Numbers that are missing are goals that were complete before this update
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
We are actually not too far away from this, so I think this should be reasonable.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work. And suggested by Sam, the official way is to be submerged in water and there is some displacement measure or something. I don't know the details yet though.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here. This is on my wishlist for both Amazon and Chapters.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set COMPLETED
I'm calling this one completed as we received 4 decent Paderno pots for Christmas, negating the need to purchase a set of our own. We may pick up a few other pieces this summer, depending on how far along my culinary skills are.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer COMPLETED
A friend in the education program had a ridiculously old computer so I formatted my old hard drives, installed windows XP and put some programs on that I thought she could use. My reward? A delicious meal at the Gahan House.
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (2/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 30 complete days with my fiance (4/10)
I've increased this from 10, because 10 is really low. 30 is low too, but I'm not going to push it ;)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (5/30) IN PROGRESS
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and salsa and give it as gifts (0/10)
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project IN PROGRESS
My supervisor contacted me again in January to get back on things. Simulations are currently running with some modifications to our old technique. Unfortunately, many of our results will change and some rewrites to the manuscript will have to be done.
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth COMPLETED
See this post about how I calculate the numbers.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it.
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
71. Learn how to swim
72. Give Blood 10 times (1/10)
1. August 29, 2007
Total goals complete (16/72)
For various reasons (most of which were laziness) I haven't been working on these as much as I would like. I am going to try some visual reminders for some of them to keep me on the ball.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here. Numbers that are missing are goals that were complete before this update
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
We are actually not too far away from this, so I think this should be reasonable.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work. And suggested by Sam, the official way is to be submerged in water and there is some displacement measure or something. I don't know the details yet though.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here. This is on my wishlist for both Amazon and Chapters.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set COMPLETED
I'm calling this one completed as we received 4 decent Paderno pots for Christmas, negating the need to purchase a set of our own. We may pick up a few other pieces this summer, depending on how far along my culinary skills are.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer COMPLETED
A friend in the education program had a ridiculously old computer so I formatted my old hard drives, installed windows XP and put some programs on that I thought she could use. My reward? A delicious meal at the Gahan House.
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (2/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 30 complete days with my fiance (4/10)
I've increased this from 10, because 10 is really low. 30 is low too, but I'm not going to push it ;)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (5/30) IN PROGRESS
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and salsa and give it as gifts (0/10)
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project IN PROGRESS
My supervisor contacted me again in January to get back on things. Simulations are currently running with some modifications to our old technique. Unfortunately, many of our results will change and some rewrites to the manuscript will have to be done.
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth COMPLETED
See this post about how I calculate the numbers.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it.
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
71. Learn how to swim
72. Give Blood 10 times (1/10)
1. August 29, 2007
Total goals complete (16/72)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Net Worth Update January 2008
Ala The Simple Dollar, I have started tracking our networth and began several months ago. I hope to post monthly updates as percentage increase/decrease as actual numbers are somewhat relative.
I calculate the numbers in a relatively (I think) straightforward manner. On the first of every month before out rent comes out of our account, I add up the values in our bank accounts and add the value of our car into the mix. To find the value, I researched the Blue Book listing for it. This is the only real uncertainty in my numbers, which is only mildly disconcerting. I plan to relook at the value of the vehicle every 4 months to see how much it has depreciated. However, since it is a 1999, I believe the rate of depreciation will be low.
I then add up all of our debts and subtract this number from the assets. The monthly progress is done through the formula (current month - last month)/last month. The simple spreadsheet that forms the basis for what I do can be found here.
Assets - Up 9.6%
I attribute asset growth this month to several factors:
1. Being somewhat frugal by not buying ridiculous amounts of boardgames even though I really wanted to.
2. The Island Student award granted to Prince Edward Island students at UPEI.
3. Refund from dental costs.
Goal for next month: I plan to make February a mostly frugal month so I would like to see an asset increase of 5%
Debts - Up 129%
Wow, what an incredibly large number! The main reason for this was of course second semester tuition payments which are funded through a student loan. Credit card balances on the first of every month are included here as well. These tend not to be high month-to-month as we pay it off weekly.
Goal for next month: I am unsure. The debt is accumulating, but I am wondering if paying small amounts on the student loans now is worth it or not. This will be the topic of a future post. Let's say 4% though.
Net worth - Down 4.7%
Despite the large debt increase, our overall networth did not change as much as I thought it would, which is great. This will hopefully be a positive number next month.
I should note as well that since we have a "low" net worth any increase/decrease will generate larger swings in the overall percentages than someone who is well established on the financial track. For example, if my networth is $1000 and I increase it by $100, that's a 10% upswing. Someone that has a net worth of $100,000 would have to increase their NW by $10,000 to generate the same 10%. Not an easy thing to on a monthly basis. Though I could be wrong!
I calculate the numbers in a relatively (I think) straightforward manner. On the first of every month before out rent comes out of our account, I add up the values in our bank accounts and add the value of our car into the mix. To find the value, I researched the Blue Book listing for it. This is the only real uncertainty in my numbers, which is only mildly disconcerting. I plan to relook at the value of the vehicle every 4 months to see how much it has depreciated. However, since it is a 1999, I believe the rate of depreciation will be low.
I then add up all of our debts and subtract this number from the assets. The monthly progress is done through the formula (current month - last month)/last month. The simple spreadsheet that forms the basis for what I do can be found here.
Assets - Up 9.6%
I attribute asset growth this month to several factors:
1. Being somewhat frugal by not buying ridiculous amounts of boardgames even though I really wanted to.
2. The Island Student award granted to Prince Edward Island students at UPEI.
3. Refund from dental costs.
Goal for next month: I plan to make February a mostly frugal month so I would like to see an asset increase of 5%
Debts - Up 129%
Wow, what an incredibly large number! The main reason for this was of course second semester tuition payments which are funded through a student loan. Credit card balances on the first of every month are included here as well. These tend not to be high month-to-month as we pay it off weekly.
Goal for next month: I am unsure. The debt is accumulating, but I am wondering if paying small amounts on the student loans now is worth it or not. This will be the topic of a future post. Let's say 4% though.
Net worth - Down 4.7%
Despite the large debt increase, our overall networth did not change as much as I thought it would, which is great. This will hopefully be a positive number next month.
I should note as well that since we have a "low" net worth any increase/decrease will generate larger swings in the overall percentages than someone who is well established on the financial track. For example, if my networth is $1000 and I increase it by $100, that's a 10% upswing. Someone that has a net worth of $100,000 would have to increase their NW by $10,000 to generate the same 10%. Not an easy thing to on a monthly basis. Though I could be wrong!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Status: Not Dead
So I'm back after a lengthy hiatus. School started up in September and that occupied much of my time. As such, I lost site of many of my goals and the state of our finances. Upon reflection, I think that it was in keeping up with various blogs and posting here that really kept my eye on the prize in terms of making good financial choices. How did things derail you might ask? There were three main things of note:
1. Dining out. November, and December were terrible months for this. Mucho $$$ was spent on a Jr. bacon here, a quarter chicken dinner there which ended up totalling over $300 for the combined months. This money was spent needlessly as I need to be cooking more food at home. It should be interesting to look at things in a few days to see how January fared.
2. Christmas. Despite the fact that we had continuously saved each week for several months for presents, when it came time to buy stuff, we didn't pay attention to cost. The two have to go hand in hand. I honestly have no idea how much was spent on presents. My fiance has some idea as I found a sheet of the gifts she bought with their costs written down. This is a fabulous idea: jot things and the cost as you get them. I just wish she had of told me about it before I went out and bought stuff.
3. My lack of making a fundamental choice. I just don't think I'm quite there yet in making the root/default position in my life frugality. In fact I know I'm not and the reasons for this are still being worked out in my head.
Stay tuned...
1. Dining out. November, and December were terrible months for this. Mucho $$$ was spent on a Jr. bacon here, a quarter chicken dinner there which ended up totalling over $300 for the combined months. This money was spent needlessly as I need to be cooking more food at home. It should be interesting to look at things in a few days to see how January fared.
2. Christmas. Despite the fact that we had continuously saved each week for several months for presents, when it came time to buy stuff, we didn't pay attention to cost. The two have to go hand in hand. I honestly have no idea how much was spent on presents. My fiance has some idea as I found a sheet of the gifts she bought with their costs written down. This is a fabulous idea: jot things and the cost as you get them. I just wish she had of told me about it before I went out and bought stuff.
3. My lack of making a fundamental choice. I just don't think I'm quite there yet in making the root/default position in my life frugality. In fact I know I'm not and the reasons for this are still being worked out in my head.
Stay tuned...
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