A Young Canadian Couple's Journey To Financial Freedom

Net Worth - December 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

November was pretty much a flat line month (we bought expensive furniture to fill in the new condo)... The biggest addition to our net worth basically came from adding my wife's work share purchase plan shares to the tabulation. See last month's update here.

December 8, 2009

Passive Income: $350
Total Income: $8,792.60
Total Expenses: $7,905.93
Monthly Cash Flow: $886.67

Total Assets: $145,521.88 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA Accounts, Gold & Silver, USD Account, Equity Fund, Wife's DCPP, Employee Share Plan (ESP), GIC) +9.91%
Total Liabilities: $21,455.20 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard, VISA) -1.40%
Net Worth: $124,066.68 (+13,422.00 or +12.13% from last month)

Started combined Net Worth: $96,756.60

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +27,310.08 or 28.23%

Final Thoughts: As mentioned at the beginning, we pretty much flat lined this month considering that we added an amount that we didn't have access to verifying on the previous update. That being said ... We spent a fair amount of money in November to outfit our condo, renew our season's tickets, buy winter tires for the month, etc. I did get a lot more pay from leaving my previous company and starting a new job (double pay days for a month) plus my old company had to pay out everything that was owing which helped a great deal cover the bigger expenses in November.

I'm also very happy that I have a new job. Hopefully, I'll be able to bank a lot more money and put it towards more deals. My biggest enjoyment is watching the passive cash flow come in. It definitely helps build the 10% CASH holding account. I'll be rolling that little nest egg into more deals. Here's to passive cash flow!

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Net Worth - November 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

October was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

November 3, 2009

Passive Income: $416.67
Total Income: $7,244.12
Total Expenses: $6,069.00
Monthly Cash Flow: $1,175.12

Total Assets: $131,589.19 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA Accounts, Gold & Silver, Our USD Wedding Account, Equity Fund, Wife's DCPP, Employee Share Plan (ESP), GIC)
Total Liabilities: $21,759.73 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard, VISA)
Net Worth: $109,829.46 (+13,072.86 or +13.51% from last month)

Started combined Net Worth: $96,756.60

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +13,072.86 or 13.51%

Final Thoughts: Great month for Net Worth building ... I must admit, it has a lot to do with better consolidating our assets, but the biggest thing I'm proud of is our first bit of PASSIVE CASH FLOW! It's beautiful to finally see it on one of my Cash Flow Cards! It's a Start ... $417/month, but there's more of that to come! I love seeing it flow in!

A few big things happened in October. We paid off my Mastercard using funds from our Equity Account. It's great because it saves so much monthly payments going to debt servicing of 11.4% which ended up piling up from living off of credit cards in university (Bad Idea everyone). Now our biggest liability is my Student LOC which I'll start tackling this month.

Changes on my Income - I'm starting a new J.O.B. as of money with a higher base and a much better compensation plan so I'm looking forward to making more money and having greater disposable in put into small/big deals to create more and more passive income.

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Net Worth - October 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

Finally finished consolidating my wife and my cash flow cards and we now have a good base line as a couple to work from and constantly work towards increasing our net worth month over month!

October 1, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $7,888.42
Total Expenses: $6,069.00
Monthly Cash Flow: $1,819.42

Total Assets: $129,034.14 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, 2 x TFSA, Gold & 2 x Silver, Our Wedding Account USD and Canadian (now in RESERVE), Equity Fund (Sold Condo), Wife's DCPP, Employee Share Plan (ESP), GIC)
Total Liabilities: $32,277.54 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard, Wife's VISA)
Net Worth: $96,756.60

Started combined Net Worth: $96,756.60

Year to Date Gain/Loss: To be determined ... Starting a new Baseline.

Final Thoughts: Marriage has it's benefits. Our wedding account added to both our net worth statements thanks to the generosity of family and friends. We now have a little more monthly cash flow thanks to combined pay and expenses.

Unfortunately, because of a technical issue at work, I didn't get any commissions this month, but luckily my wife got her bonus which helped fill the void. Especially with all those extra expenses that come with moving into a new place that's much bigger than what we had to work with before.

However, we now have a much bigger need to get a greater amount of passive cash flow to reach financial freedom. We now have to aim to achieve $6,500 in passive cash flow to be financially free. However, this month I managed to put together 2 lease-to-own car deals that will give our 10% first fund the added benefit of an extra $450/month. It'll be great to see that coming in month after month and will motivate me to get even more positive cash flow to come in. I'm wondering if we can trim our monthly expenses by $1,000. That will also help a fair bit.

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Net Worth - September 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

March was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

September 1, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $2,887.63
Total Expenses: $2,393.25
Monthly Cash Flow: $494.38

Total Assets: $34,116.99 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA, Gold & Silver) +2.33%
Total Liabilities: $30,237.37 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard) -1.00%
Net Worth: $3,879.62 (+1079.37 or +38.59% from last month)

Started 2009 with Net Worth: -13,156.58

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +$17,036.20 or +129.49%

Final Thoughts: Did August ever fly by? No matter how busy I get and can't find my way to post additional info on the blog, I definitely won't forget this consistent post.

August was a fairly good month for Net Worth Growth. I decided to exit my USD CASH position and bought into Gold with a Silver Hedge in my 10% first fund. As for a couple look, I still need to physically sit down with my wife, consolidate our accounts and update our Net Worth together. There's a fair bit left in our wedding account. I want to make sure we have enough in RESERVE to cover the both of us and work out a plan where we can achieve financial freedom together. Let's see if we can finally get this done in September.

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Net Worth - August 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

March was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

August 5, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $2,887.63
Total Expenses: $2,440.66
Monthly Cashflow: $446.97

Total Assets: $33,341.81 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First USD Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA, Silver) +1.12%
Total Liabilities: $30,541.56 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard) +1.74%
Net Worth: $2,800.25 (-152.00 or +5.15% from last month)

Started 2009 with Net Worth: -13,156.58

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +$15,956.83 or +121.28%

Final Thoughts: Talk about a rough last couple of days to the month. I ended up losing my USB key (again ... this is twice since I have been doing these updates). Again ... Thank Goodness for the Net Worth IQ website. I'm still trying to figure out where it ended up since we just moved over the long weekend to our new humble abode.

For a month where a lot of expenses popped up from the move, I'm quite glad that I pretty much flat lined and only lost $152.00 in Net Worth. I'm not happy that I had to dip into my RESERVE account and that my MC went up as well, but I guess that was to be expected with all the additional costs from the move and weddings.

Here's to August turning out to be a better month for Net Worth Growth! Let's see how the September 1st post turns out!

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Big Deal - Triplex in Small City in Ontario (Update)

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:57:00 +0000

They declined both my offers... So what, who cares, NEXT!!!

Basically, my CASH offer was based on a 10 CAP rate of normalized expenses. I could technically go for a lower cap rate which would increase the value of the property and my total required initial investment amount, but also decrease my Cash-on-Cash return which I want to be between 15-20% in this downtrending economy.

I was at $144,774 (which is 72.75% of asking) and would have offered a 22.81% Cash-on-Cash return with a normalized positive cash flow of $578.87/month on an initial investment of $30,454.72. I can nudge up my offer to $160,850 (which is 80.83% of asking) and would still fit into my criteria by offering an 18.14% Cash-on-Cash return with a normalized positive cash flow of $509.14/month on an initial investment of $33,671.91 (closing costs included).

But ... I really just wanted to go through the exercise of putting in an offer since I haven't done it in a while. Boy was that good to get that out of my system though. I have been way to caught up in other J.O.B. year-end, marriage, honeymoon and now moving stuff (see Our Personal Rent vs Own Comparaison).

Quotable Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:15:00 +0000

I came across a second quote while researching the quoted author for this week's Millionaire Mind Thought of the Week and it blew me away that this was written by a man that lived from 1803 to 1882.

Millionaire Mind Thought of the Week:

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability has increased."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote from Brainy Quote:

"A man in debt is so far a slave."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Personal Thoughts: As long as you're in debt, you're a slave to the bank and the system. The game of capitalism is played out and won by "who's lending to whom" and "who's playing the bank," but when the Banks start losing at their own game and the Governments have to step in to intervene, one has to wonder what's going on? Not all debt is bad debt, but the current level on indebtedness in our society is beyond anything we have ever seen and we must be careful.

Big Deal - Triplex in Small City in Ontario

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:58:00 +0000

I decided to make 2 quick offers on a Triplex in a Small City in Ontario today.

After getting the numbers on the Income Property, I normalized the numbers by adding the expenses that most people always never give you: vacancy, maintenance & repairs, landscaping and snow removal, property management, etc. and came up to just under the 45% mark. (Good sign)

The numbers I was given was 31.71% of Gross Income. Typically, rentals that are well run will have 35%-45% expenses (i.e. Things are actually getting fixed when needed and you're not taking over a property that has been neglected for years.)

I like to make 2 types of offers and allow the seller decide whichever one fits their fancy (or neither):

1) A CASH offer represents an offer that I'm comfortable making that presents a reasonable CAP rate for the income property in the area it's in with conventional financing (20% down). In this case, it's a 10 CAP Rate as it's a small city and in a B to C level neighbourhood. I could give it an 9 CAP, but we'll see if there's room to negotiate if they come back. In a down trending economy, I also want at least a 15-20% Cash-on-Cash Return ... This offer would give me a 22.81% Cash on Cash return if accepted.

2) A TERMS offer, for me, is a promissory note paid monthly over the course of a term. This monthly owner-financed offer also has to be covered by the Net Operating Income while giving me a satisfactory Positive Monthly Cash Flow. This offer usually comes with a premium of 110%-120% of asking. In this case, the seller greatly benefits not only by getting above asking, but also by being able to spread their capital gain over the course of 5 years, rather than the whole amount come April when Uncle Stephen comes calling.

So ... The offers are in and we'll see what happens in the next 48 hours. I haven't put in an offer in a while, but I figured I'd make these 2 as they make sense to me and it all depends on how motivated the seller will be in the end.

Why I'm still Bearish about the Economy!

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:22:00 +0000

Toronto Star - Bank declares recession over! Are you kidding me? Seriously? As Mark Carney took the podium and declared to the World that the "Recession is Over!" I pictured George Bush in front of a Mission Accomplished banner on an Aircraft Carrier ... Oh the irony! It'll be funny to check back on how his declaration pans out in a year.

To be honest, I've become more and more of a bear over the last year. I'm going to have to side with Eric Sprott’s take on the current economic situation:
Eric Sprott - Markets at a Glance - It's the REAL economy, stupid! - July 2009

He makes a few bold statements backed up by some really good analysis:

“We are now in the early stages of a depression. The economic indicators we follow to track real economic activity are all signaling a slowdown of massive proportions. You wouldn’t know it reading the mainstream papers of course – they all focus on the relative decline in the slowdown’s intensity. Reading about the slowdown ‘slowing down’ is not the same as growth however, and does not warrant excitement in our opinion.”

“We find the similarity between the 2008 economic collapse and the 1929 economic collapse disturbing. Don’t get sucked in… the real economy is still struggling and the market has yet to reflect this.”

“In our view, the only thing propping this market up is investor sentiment. Earnings have not improved. Keep it simple, stupid – investing is and has always been about the real economy, and this market is ignoring the hard data. You can invest in sentiment if you want to, but as we have said before, we prefer to invest in real things.”

Another good read is just how bad the situation is with the American’s current spending habits. Basically, the Head of the Fed is now a Traveling Bond Salesman and everyone that bought in 2008 needs to buy 3 TIMES as much in 2009 (and he's currently very behind on achieving his sales targets. – Eric Sprott - Markets at a Glance - The Solution ... Is the Problem - June 2009

After reading Sprott's analysis ... To be frank, the recession is NOT over! If our biggest trading partner is in such bad shape … How the hell can this thing be OVER??!?!? Carney needs to separate the REAL economy from the SENTIMENT that he and our Finance Minister Jim Flaherty are orchastrating by their press conferences and extreme Government interventionist tactics. People are still out of jobs and businesses aren't experiencing rapid growth. So what is causing this rebound? Sentiment! Next to ZERO interest rates, MASSIVE deficit spending and securitized lending by first time home buyers thanks to CMHC with little money down and hurtful amortization periods are proping up our economy.

Simply put, the economic downturn has way too much momentum and can't just turn on a dime like Carney and Flaherty wants you to think! It's a classic momentum story ... Think of the Titanic's momentum. It saw the Ice burg miles away and made all the required precautions to avoid it: "hard to starboard" (Drop the Interest Rates), reverse the engines (Massive Deficit Spending), etc... but it just couldn't move enough to avoid it because of it's momentum! Brace for IMPACT!

For my next post ... I'll offer some suggestions that I have come across on how to brace for the impending economic downturn. What are your thoughts? Are Bears just being crazy or is Sprott's Analysis worth a serious look? What are you doing to mitigate your risk and brace for impact?

July Mid-Month Check-Up - Millionaire Mind Action Item (Pay Day)

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:26:00 +0000

As Usual ... it's time for a mid-month check-up while paying myself first and managing my money.

- 10% to my Pay Yourself First fund
- 10% to my PLAY Account
- 10% to my GIVE Account
- 10% to my Education Account
- 10% to my Long Term Savings for Spending Account

My 10% Pay Myself First Fund - $16,650.15 - I have $3,726.35 in my 10% CASH holding account. I'm still waiting on $1,868.00 from my 10% Accounts Payable. The remainder is in my Silver holding which is down over last month now that Silver is at $14.84CDN/Oz. There rest is in 2 car flips (2005 Honda Accord and 2006 Ford Explorer).

PLAY Account - Paying for Weddings and Weekend Getaways.

GIVE Account - Growing

Education Account - Went towards paying off my MC.

LT Savings for Spending - Went towards paying off my MC.

Bonus Accounts - RESERVE Account has been boosted to $3,000. TFSA is sitting at $50.32. I also just opened up an Investorline TFSA but haven't quite decided what to do with it yet.

Thoughts: It's nice to see my 10% CASH account growing. I can't wait to collect the remaining accounts payable and add in the payment for 1 or 2 of the car flips. After that ... It'll just be a question of what bigger deals can I do to make this grow? Or maybe just keep doing a few smaller deals.

Declaration: I'm an excellent money manager ... I have a Millionaire Mind!

New Look to FFBlog.ca!

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Well ... I had a great time tonight giving the blog a good face lift.

It took a bit of time, but I managed to do quite a bit tonight:
- Found the right template (Thanks AllBlogTools!) & did some tweaking to make sure everything ported over properly
- I was looking for a template that was crisp & clean, had 3 columns, can be monetized and this one also has a search bar, so I'm quite happy with the one I picked.
- Set up a Twitter Account @FFBlog_ca
- Added all the Personal Finance Bloggers that I follow in my Google Reader.
- Also added a few people that they follow which is pretty neat.
- Added & Updated some Widgets
- That includes added a Twitter Widget so that my tweets on the go populate to the blog.
- Made a new Logo.
- Monetized the Blog with Google Adsense and RichDad.com Affiliate Banners (Hopefully I can make a little bit of Cash to be able to cover my domain renewals) ... Please click on some banners while you're here visiting & If you're seriously looking to buy CASHFLOW 101, please use my link ;)
- Feel free to RSS feed my blog... The Max that I have had with the old layout was 11, but I'm hoping to change that with the revamp.

As for content ... Which is the most important things when it comes to having a successful blog, I'll be working on providing more content other than my usual Net Worth Updates and Millionaire Mind Action Item that I do religiously now. I've been quite overwhelmed with my wedding in May and we're moving at the end of this month.

Here's the deal though: My Learn Goal for the rest of July will be the following: Minimum - 1 post per week Target - 2 posts per week Outrageous - 3 posts per week. That's right ... I MTO'd my Learn Goal. I better get back on the goal setting saddle as it's been far too long since I have done it last.

That's it ... Let me know what you think!

Our Personal Rent vs Own Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:50:00 +0000

I have been pretty vocal about my preference to rent vs. owning lately and a lot of people look at me with either a blank stair or think I'm nuts for not wanting to jump on the low interest rate "now's the time to buy ... rates are at an all time low" bandwagon/herd mentality brought on by Government interventionism and credible news agencies feeding the fire. There's a lot of thought and analysis behind my madness and I'm afraid a lot of first time home buyers are going to get hurt.

The numbers just don't make sense right now and with the downturn in the real estate market in Toronto, it's great to have sold the condo during May's Spring frenzy to a Greater Fool that bought it as an "investment" which will most likely provide him with an unhealthy negative cash flow and ultimately a negative return (Trust me ... I calculated his cash flow and return based on average rent for our unit minus expenses with debt service using a considerable down payment and it's not good).

I'm glad to say, we're renting a 1300 square foot 2 BR / 2 Bath + HUGE Solarium, Parking and Rogers VIP Cable for $2000 all-in per month. A big step up from our previous digs of 795 square feet 2 BR / 2 Bath just 1 and a half blocks down from the new place which was quite cramped for 3 people. We definitely needed the extra space. So, just before signing the lease I wanted to do a quick Rent vs. Own Comparison of other units within the same condo building and boy am I happy with our decision.

Here's what's listed on Realtor.ca:
#503 - Asking $347,000 - $680/month condo fees (1200 sq ft) + 2 parking spots
#807 - Asking $365,000 - $723/month condo fees (probably >1300 sq ft with those fees)
#2007 - Asking $375,000 - $681/month condo fees (1300 sq ft?)

Nuts! Say we were to put a nice 20% down payment and get the lowest priced one at a "deal" for 95 cents on the dollar ($329,650) ... That's $65,930 down (plus closing costs) and a $263,720 mortgage. A 5 year at 4.49% (ING's rate of the day) with a 25 year amortization would give us a payment of $1,458.15 ($967.73 Interest + $490.43 Principle - in year 1) per month.

$1,458.15 + $680 condo fees = $1948.58/ month and we haven't even paid taxes yet. We looked it up and it's $208/month and don't forget Insurance at 19.71/month. That's $2176.29/month + $100 cable (for an apples to apples comparison) ... We're at $2276.29/month!

All to force a savings of $490.43/month (which takes a dent considering the extra $276.29/month less cash flow we would have to spend considering the additional cost of ownership above and beyond the rental amount).

Here's the kicker ... We all know that we're in a declining market. Don't be confused by this spring's bear market rally. It's spring, it's cyclical, there's always more sales this time of year. This one however, is abnormally out of whack and we haven't seen this height of activity since ... well what do you know ... "June 2009’s sales-to-inventory figure is the highest we’ve seen in the past twenty years. This means that the imbalance between supply and demand – favouring sellers - was greater in June 2009 than any other month in the past twenty years, including Toronto’s real estate bubble in the late 1980’s." Alarming Imbalance in Toronto's Real Estate Market (Pop! ... If this isn't a leading indicator, I don't know what is!)

So we have to factor in depreciation (not appreciation) of the market. At a 3.94% annualized decline, which is based on the average yearly decline during the last slide from 1989 to 1996 and is a fairly conservative rate as it's distributed across the entire 7 years of the last decline. The first 3 years of the decline experienced a 7.72% annualized decrease (ouch). This isn't that bad ... To put this into perspective on how realistic and conservative this rate of decline is considered, the Toronto Real Estate market is currently down 7.6% year-to-date and 11.3% (in June 2009) since the peak in August 2008 (Teranet - National House Price IndexCommuniqués: June 2009 - Monthly Report).

On a property that's valued at $330k ... At 3.94%, we can reasonably foresee losing $13,002 / year or $1083.50 / month which is more than 2 times the $490.43/month of "forced savings" ... So that "forced savings" quickly disappears as does another $593.07 per month ($7116.84/year) from the $65,930 down payment / equity which represents 10.79% of your hard earned money you put towards the down that just disappeared within the first year should markets start to correct themselves (as they did the first part of this year) and as they should and will by the end of 2009 (I'm being bold and making a prediction here ... Let's check back and see how I do).

Keep in mind that this analysis used the LOWEST priced unit bought at a 5% discount as a comparison with a good 20% down payment. It get's worse buying for asking or getting one of the other higher priced units that have the same square footage. Also imagine what would happen to the numbers considering a first time home buyer scraping together a small down payment (which is the group that has largely fueled this bear market rally), add on CMHC insurance fees and voila ... you easily have yourself less cash flow by owning over renting and ultimately the unfortunate possibility of a mortgage that is worth more than your home.

So please ... If someone tells you it's the greatest time to buy because "the rates are so low" look behind the curtain and run the numbers for yourself before jumping on the bandwagon. I know it's very hard to separate the numbers from a VERY emotional decision to OWN a home. Heck ... You're not alone "88 per cent say they would feel more financially secure owning their own home" Genworth study reveals there's no place like home, the magic words being "feel more financially secure." However, emotion should not play any part in a financial decision and for most people, this unfortunately is not the case with the biggest financial decision they will probably ever make.

For me ... It's great to be liquid right now.

Net Worth - July 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

March was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

July 2, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $9,388.43
Total Expenses: $2,580.93
Monthly Cashflow: $6,807.50

Total Assets: $32,972.27 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA, Silver) +7.00%
Total Liabilities: $30,937.80 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard) -11.60%
Net Worth: $2,951.20 (+$6,095.80 or +193.85% from last month)

Started 2009 with Net Worth: -13,156.58

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +$16,107.78 or +122.43%

Final Thoughts: Wow! It took a year and a half (18 months) of Net Worth monitoring and dedication, but I have finally personally broke out of the Negative and into the POSITIVE territory! From -33,000 (with next to no assets) to just shy of $3k (with $33k in assets)! It's hard to describe this feeling, but I'm extatic! I even managed to pay off the AMEX completely this month! Wow!

We still haven't consolidated our Net Worth Statements. Never really had the time to concentrate on doing it over the past month since we just wanted to enjoy our time together during our honeymoon and catch up with everything on our return. ~fingers crossed~ We have found a great place to move for August 1st. I have a good write up on how this makes more sense than buying as I have already ran the numbers. Hopefully, once everything's settled, I'll be able to consolidate everything. We're still in the middle of getting a joint bank account and straightening up our affairs.

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Millionaire Mind - Action Items (June Month-End)

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:29:00 +0000

June Month End - Millionaire Mind Action Item (Pay Day):

- 10% to my Pay Yourself First fund
- 10% to my PLAY Account
- 10% to my GIVE Account
- 10% to my Education Account
- 10% to my Long Term Savings for Spending Account

Thoughts: Did June ever fly by? Wow ... Being out of the Country and enjoying the beauty of Spain and Morocco was a wonderful experience. We managed to cover everything out of our wedding account and had an awesome time. We pretty much stuck to our budget of €5,000 even with our unexpected expenses that we experienced along the way. As mentioned in last month's month-end MMA post, I closed a lot a business in May and was paid out a nice commission this month which resulted in boosting a lot of my accounts and paying off a fair amount of debt.

My 10% Pay Myself First Fund - $16,536.49 - I have $3,583.01 in my 10% CASH holding account. I'm still waiting on $1,868.00 from my 10% Accounts Payable for the amount left owing on the Harley. We don't owe him any money any more so we can pretty much ask for this at any time now. Let's see if we can get it this month. The remainder is in my Silver holding which is down over last month now that Silver is at $15.38CDN/Oz. There rest is in 2 car flips (2005 Honda Accord - No Longer sold as the guy never did send us the money ... Good thing we never do anything until we see cash and 2006 Ford Explorer - SOLD to my father so looking forward to adding this to my CASH account soon as well).

PLAY Account - Paid for my shopping in Europe.

GIVE Account - Building until something comes along. I decided to dip into my RESERVE account to donate to Building Walls of Wisdom last month. A good portion of by GIVE account went to replenishing this account to cover the donation.

Education Account - Went towards paying off my AMEX.

LT Savings for Spending - Went towards paying off my AMEX.

Bonus Accounts - RESERVE Account has been boosted to $3,000. TFSA is sitting at $50.32.

Declaration: I'm an excellent money manager ... I have a Millionaire Mind!

Net Worth - June 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

March was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

June 2, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $5,852.69
Total Expenses: $2,580.93
Monthly Cashflow: $3,271.76

Total Assets: $30,814.27 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA, Silver) +6.17%
Total Liabilities: $33,958.87 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard, AMEX) -1.63%
Net Worth: -$3,144.60 (+$2,353.35 or +42.80% from last month)

Started 2009 with Net Worth: -13,156.58

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +$10,011.98 or +76.10%

Final Thoughts: I'm postponing the consolidation of Net Worth Statements for another month. It'll take a little longer than I had anticipated to figure out where we are as a couple. I think once we get back from our Honeymoon and move into our new place, we'll be able to settle down and figure out how we are going to manage our finances and where we stand as a couple.

On a personal note, May was a good month for net worth growth. This was mostly as a direct result from the commissions I was expecting (smaller than I had anticipated, but still relatively significant ... It will hopefully be much more significant at the end of June baring any changes done by management again). Another significant increase came from the increase in the price of Silver for my Silver holding and the increase in the markets which brought my RRSPs up a considerable amount.

I'm expecting several big increases both individually and as a couple. Personally, I have 2 car flips which will probably be bought this month and a bigger commission cheque from the J.O.B. at the end of the month. On a couple level, we will reconcile our wedding account which will most likely go into a Couple RESERVE account and my wife sold the condo and the funds will go into an account we'll name EQUITY which will be in a bank account bearing interest and short term GICs to protect the equity she has built from the downturn in the economy. I'll add a few hundred dollars to our rent to go towards the EQUITY account as if we were "paying down" principal as a forced savings mechanism.

Declaration: We focus on building my net worth! ... We have a millionaire mind!

Millionaire Mind - Action Items (May Month-End)

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:57:00 +0000

May Month End - Millionaire Mind Action Item (Pay Day):

- 10% to my Pay Yourself First fund
- 10% to my PLAY Account
- 10% to my GIVE Account
- 10% to my Education Account
- 10% to my Long Term Savings for Spending Account

Thoughts: May was a great month... I got married, so it definitely was a great month. I'm still working on consolidating all our affairs, so I guess I'll keep this MMA as is and related to myself for now. Finally got paid my commissions, but they cut my rate almost in half so I got a lot less than what I was expecting. Oh well ... I guess that's what happens when someone else tells you how much your worth. Going to have to change that soon. I closed a lot of business in May so I'm looking forward to another decent commission payment at the end of June. As for June, it will be a highly expensive month since we're going on our honeymoon, but I'm looking forward to dipping into the Wedding account to cover these expenses. Thanks to building the wedding account with small deals, we came out considerably ahead than most couples.

My 10% Pay Myself First Fund - $15,694.08 - I have $2,643.61 in my 10% CASH holding account. I'm still waiting on $1,868.00 from my 10% Accounts Payable for the amount left owing on the Harley. We owe him a little money so will wait a little longer about asking him for it. The remainder is in my Silver holding which is up a considerable amount this month. It went from being down 21.73% overall to only being down 8.80% now that Silver is at $17.21 CDN/Oz. There rest is in 2 car flips (2005 Honda Accord - SOLD before bringing it to Canada so I'm looking to add this to my CASH account soon and 2006 Ford Explorer - SOLD to my father so looking forward to adding this to my CASH account soon as well).

PLAY Account - Pretty much empty with everything that happened this past month.

GIVE Account - I'm waiting until June-End now to make a donation to help build a school in Africa.

Education Account - Went towards rebuilding my RESERVE account.

LT Savings for Spending - Went towards rebuilding my RESERVE account.

Bonus Accounts - RESERVE Account is at $2,000. TFSA is sitting at $50.32.

Declaration: I'm an excellent money manager ... I have a Millionaire Mind!

SOLD! Bye Bye Condo ... Hello Rental!

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:34:00 +0000

As mentioned in my Why We're Selling and Choosing to Rent post/analysis from before we got married, we decided to put the Condo up for sell. Well ... As of Wednesday, I'm happy to say that we sold the property to a Greater Fool in less than a month.

I actually had the opportunity to meet the buyer when I came home from work and he was viewing the property with his Realtor. Did I forget to mention that I am in sales? Well ... I basically opened the chance meeting up to questions and managed to sell him on the fact that the condo corp has a great reserve fund and that all future expenses will be used to increase the value of the condo vs. new condos being built around it (which is true from the info I got from attending the AGM last month) while keeping the condo fee increases in line with inflation and the great "real" 2 bedroom layout the condo bolsters as the bedrooms are separated by 1 of 2 washrooms.

Why are you selling? Well ... We would like to find a bigger place for my wife and sister-in-law as this condo is great for 2 people, but a little tight for 3 and we would like to buy a family home soon and are willing to rent until we find it.

This is when they get to mentioning that he's looking to buy as an investment and would be interested in knowing if we would rent from him. "That's always an option. Depends on the numbers, but we really do need a bigger place." all the while biting my tongue about the viability of his term "investment."

So after our chance meeting, he was up against another first time home buyer and we had a nice little bidding war (always fun). He ended up increasing his offer to $315k and taking out the "arranging a first mortgage" escape clause since he was pre-approved and had 20% down. (i.e. damn firm offer)

So what does his investment look like?

Purchase Price: $315,000
Down Payment: $63,000 (20%) + Closing Costs ($1,500)
Mortgage: $252,000 (Interestingly $4k below what my wife bought the place for 3 years ago)

Debt Service ... Let's say 5 year fixed @ 3.79% at ING.
Mortgage Payment: $1,297.04 per month
Taxes: $195/month
Condo Fees: $469.78

Total Expenses: $1961.82 / Month

Now ... A 2 bedroom unit in our condo typically goes for $1700-$1800/month all-in. Meaning that he'll be negative cashflowing about $161.82 to $261.82 per month. That's a -3% to -4.87% Cash-on-Cash return in Year 1. No Deal by my investment standards.

But that mortage payment goes to principal + Interest! So the tenant is paying down more principal than the negative cashflow! Interest rates are so low! More of your payment goes to paying down principal than ever before! It's time to buy!

Here's the breakdown on that argument:
That mortgage payment translates to the following in year 1 - $9,370.21 or $780.85/month Interest and $6,194.26 or $516.19/month Principal. So yes, the tenant is paying down the principal greater than the negative cashflow, but this argument is crazy because you don't get the difference until you sell! This should only be considered a BONUS when analyzing an investment and not a deciding factor to it being a good investment! Also, if the market continues to go down, which it will so don't let this spring craze fool you, this principal paydown will disappear.

He can improve his cash-cash on cash by 35 year amortizing his mortgage which will bring down his total mortgage payment but will either bring him into a small positive cash flow situation or continue to negative cash flow by a few bucks per month. Basically, this will give him a mortgage payment of $1,079.87 per month ($9,415.60 or $784.63/month Interest and $3,542.83 or $295.24/month Principal). This almost eliminates any BONUS he'll get upon selling. Isn't it interesting to see what increasing your amortization schedule will do to your principal and interest?

So yeah ... Not really a great investment in my opinion. I'm glad we sold though and are being fiscally responsible by renting in this economic climate, while protecting and adding to my wife's equity, until it's time to buy (Deal that's >25% below market peak level or in 2011/2012.)

Newlywed To Do List

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:27:00 +0000

There's not a lot consolidated lists of Canadian information out there for Couple's to consider doing after getting married and I'm sure most people just figure it out as they go along.

The best source came from an American site Tying the Knot: A Financial To Do List for Newlyweds and I'm going to build on their list for our own Canadian Newlywed To Do List:

Name change - A lot of the things that we need to do will have to take this into consideration. (i.e. What name will you use in reference to your wife). In Ontario, there's 3 possibilities with your wife's last name after marriage:
1) No Change.
2) "Assuming" your husband's last name.
3) Legal Name Change (usually in the case of a hyphenation of both last names).

If you decide to change your surname, it is your responsibility to change your name with all relevant government departments and agencies. The following will need to be updated:

Canadian Passport
Social Insurance Number (SIN) card
Canada Revenue Agency
Provincial or territorial health card
Provincial or territorial driver’s licence

For more information on changing your name, consult your province or territory’s Web site.

Our case: My wife still has not decided what she wants to do yet. I'm working on it.

Once that's decided, you can do the following:

Change your beneficiaries - go through all of your investment accounts, savings accounts, Retirement plans (RRSP, DCP or DBP), TFSAs, insurance policies (life, health, auto, homeowners) and other accounts and review your beneficiary designations if you want your new spouse to own these assets should something happen to you.

Our Case: I have an RRSP. My wife has a DCP (Definied Contribution Plan) which I'm beginning to figure out. We have to figure out where we stand with Life Insurance. We need to add ourselves to our work benefit plans. This will cover missing Dental coverage (i.e. Only 80% covered, our spouses coverage will cover the remaining 20%), add more Chiropractic, Physio, etc. Auto Insurance is already set up to cover both of us on our car, but I might have to change my wife's name depending on her choice.

Review your insurance coverage -while you have those insurance policies out, review them for under-coverage, duplicate coverage, or lapses in coverage. If you've combined households, you'll be dropping one homeowners or renters insurance policy, but make sure that the remaining policy has enough coverage to protect your combined household goods, especially items that are typically limited, such as jewelry, computer equipment, collectibles, etc.

If both of you have health insurance coverage, review the plans closely to see if it makes more sense financially and from a benefits standpoint to cancel one of the plans or keep both. You typically have 30 days after your marriage to add your spouse as a dependent without providing evidence of insurability.

Our case: I used to be over-insured simply from my insurance coverage from work being greater than my liabilities and my wife had the insurance to cover her biggest liability (which was the condo). I'll write about what we do about this in greater detail at a later date as I still have to figure this out.

Make a will or update your existing will. Don't delay this important item as a Marriage nullifies your most current will.

Our Case: Do it ourselves or go to a lawyer? We'll make this decision soon. My wife did her last one herself and I had mine done by a lawyer.

Review your financial goals (retirement, reducing debt, buying a new home, etc.), and set new goals as a couple.

Our Case: We're both going to work towards having our combined passive income being greater than our expenses so that we're infinitely financially free as a couple.

Calculate your combined net worth. It's important to know where you stand financially as a couple. Use bank statements, investment statements, credit card statements and other documents to list your combined assets and your combined debts to obtain a "snapshot" of your financial situation.

Our Case: This is something that I have started doing, but I have a feeling will take a little longer than I had anticipated.

Develop a budget. Calculate your combined income and subtract your combined monthly expenses and debt repayments. Hopefully you'll have something left over to build an emergency fund, add to your savings, or invest.

Our Case: This will be done in our combined net worth calculation exercise while trying to figure out our Cash Flow statement.

Review your credit card and other debts and develop a plan for paying them off. If you haven't already done it, now is the time to obtain copies of your personal credit reports and study them together. Contact Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Be prepared for some surprises, since many engaged couples don't reveal all of their financial situation to their fiancé.

Our Case: I have been monitoring my credit score for almost 2 years now. It'll be interesting to combine these both.

Decide on the mechanics for managing your financial affairs. Will you keep separate bank accounts and divvy up the bills that each of you will pay? Or will you put all your money in a joint account? Another option is to open a joint account that you each contribute to for household expenses but also maintain separate personal accounts, which gives each of you some spending freedom.

Our case: This is kind of difficult when you both bank at different institutions. I'd love to have a joint account where we both contribute to cover joint expenses, but I think we would both enjoy maintain separate personal accounts as we like having a little freedom in our spending choices.

Decide which one of you will be responsible for paying the bills and taking care of other financial tasks. The best way to do this is by identifying each person's strengths and assigning tasks accordingly.

Our case: This will probably be me, but we have to figure out our banking situation first.

Wow ... That's a lengthy to do list, but here's my take on big to do lists and it's pretty much summed up in this great quote:

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at the time"
Unknown

So ... I'll be taking a bite and chewing like hell! Here's to blogging about it!

It's Official ... We're Married!

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:12:00 +0000

A Young Canadian COUPLE's Journey to Financial Freedom begins!

After a beautiful ceremony and reception last weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia, we're now getting back to normal life and trying to figure everything out as a couple. We have postponed our Honeymoon until the beginning of June as I still have to finish out my J.O.B.'s Fiscal Year-End with a bang and will only be able to truly enjoy a vacation once all my deals have been closed out.

I'll re-brand the Blog over the next few months. It's going to be another notch to our newlywed to do list, but it will be something that I'll enjoy doing. I realized how much we're on the same page about personal finance after I had complained about finding out that my over-achievement at the J.O.B. might not translate into to a trip for the both of us to Club in Hawaii. Gotta love it when you're employer changes things on you at the last second. My wife (I'm enjoying saying/typing that) mentioned not to worry too much about it and that we'll go to Hawaii once we're both financially free ... Boy was that nice to hear and I'm looking forward to working towards that together while achieving it sooner rather than later.

On that note ... It'll be great to post on subjects and decisions we make on our Journey to Financial Freedom and I look forward to posting them for all to read. Stay tuned for my first post on developing a Newlywed To Do List.

Why We're Selling and Choosing to Rent

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:57:00 +0000

My fiancée and I are getting married in 11 Days and we need a bigger place. The first thing that most newlywed couples do is buy a place together since most people buy when they get married or have to move to a bigger house or have to move because of a job relocation. To the average person, this is normal. To me, I think it's nuts!

In our case, we need a bigger place than the 785 sq ft shoebox-in-the-sky that my fiancée currently owns for the two of us and her sister while she's here for school (and maybe longer depending on her choices after school). I also have a basement full of all my furniture and things that I have from when I lived on my own in University and I'm sure my parents would appreciate getting rid of most of the stuff that's cluttering their basement.

Based on our combined salaries and rolling over my fiancée's equity from the condo ~$125k, we can easily get approved for a mortgage to buy a $500,000-$600,000+ house. Trust me ... It's tempting because properties in this price range are beautiful and in great locations! Even more if we 35-year am that mortgage. That being said, I don't think it makes financial sense to buy right now or to take on such a massive mortgage.

Here's why we're selling the condo to protect my fiancée's equity and are choosing to rent:

The Toronto Real Estate Market is currently down 9%. I'm going to use the last market slide as a frame of reference as it's the best data I have access to and is a good indicator of what can happen in a real estate market downtrend as we haven't seen one in a while and I'm too young to realize the impact of the last one.

From 1989 to 1996, the Toronto Real Estate Market went down 27.6% (See trend on last page of TREB's latest MarketWatch.) As mentioned, Toronto's market is currently down 9% - That's a greater drop than in the first year after the last peak in 1989 to 1990 which saw a 6.8% drop.

Here's how the market continued to drop year-over-year over the course of the downturn:

From 1990 to 1991, there was an 8.1% drop.

From 1991 to 1992, there was an 8.25% drop.

From 1992 to 1993, there was a 3.9% drop.

From 1993 to 1994, there was a bear market rally and the market actually increased 1.18%.

From 1994 to 1995, there was a 2.82% drop.

Finally, from 1995 to the bottom in 1996, there was a final 2.4% drop.

That's a 3.94% annualized decrease in Toronto Real Estate Market Value over the course of 7 years. On a $400k property, that's $15,760 per year or $1,313.33/month -> That's a lot of money to lose. This is also a fairly conservative estimate as that annualized decrease is spread across 7 years. The first 3 years of the decline experienced a 7.72% annualized decrease ($30,880 per year or $2573.33/month).

That's on top of the Mortgage Payment! In our case, a $400k house with a 125k down payment (which is the equity we would pull out from the sale of the condo) would give us a mortgage payment of $1,430.20/month @ 3.89% in a 5-year fixed mortgage ($10,494.71 Interest - $874.56/month and $6,667.73 Principal - $556.64/month in year 1). That's with a 31.25% down payment! Imagine putting down the minimum 5% and taking out a High Ratio Mortgage with CMHC Insurance tagged onto their payment?

So to buy a $400k house right now is a losing proposition ... Conservatively, we would be throwing away $1313.33 + $874.56/month = $2,187.89/month. Worst case, over the next 3 years we could be looking at throwing away $2573.33 + $874.56/month = $3,447.89/month. All in the order to force a savings on ourselves of $555.64/month in a rapidly depreciating "asset."

This is why I'd much rather rent a $400k house for $1,600-$1,800 per month and tag on a forced savings of $600 to my rent to go towards a "home equity building" account.

As a side note - I wouldn't take a hard line on completely refusing to buy a house right now, but I would only do it if I can pick up a place for 23-27% below peak market value. Obviously easier said than done, but with the down payment in the bank, it's a lot easier to jump on that type of deal when it comes available. I'm expecting the worst of the decline to be over in 2011/2012 and a bottom in 2014/2015.

A home to me will always be viewed as a liability as it takes money out of my pocket (Rich Dad Poor Dad definition), but it's your home and if you're willing to part with the loss you'll incur over the next 3-4 years in exchange for the pride of ownership, then that's a decision for you to make.

------

Notes on my analysis:

1) Does not factor in neighborhood specific trends (I'd love to have access to these numbers).

2) Spread the down payment across different banks as CDIC only covers $100k per bank ($200k if it's a joint account).
3) It would be interesting to correlate interest rates and employment with the previous downtrend and our current situation. i.e. how far did the rates have to drop compared to how much rates have dropped int the last year and how money jobs were lost (percentage-wise) before we made the turn.

------

Update: Came across this great comment to the following article Real Estate Expert See Silver Lining trying to pimp TO Real Estate. I thought it was quite relative to my 3rd note on my analysis:

Unemployment and Crashes

If you look at the 87 market crash and unemployment numbers you'll see something very interesting and relevant. The market crashes in 87, unemployment is at 9%. It actually goes down to 7.5% 2 years later. The economy must be fixed! Buy a house now! Wait...Then the unemployment rate trends up for the next 4 years peaking in 1993 at about 12%. What happened to housing prices during this uptrend in unemployment...of coarse, they went steadily down. The point is, after a market crash like the one we had, there is immediate job loss, that is shocking, but then it takes a couple years for the real devestation to occur. And house prices really get hit when the unemployment rate rises. So, be weary of the real estate guy telling you the market is recovering. First time buyers beware.

Submitted by kjrocks at 11:32 AM Saturday, May 09 2009

Net Worth - May 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Millionaire Mind Action Item - I focus on building my net worth!

March was a great month for net worth growth and now it's time to update my situation. See last month's update here.

May 1, 2009

Passive Income: $0.00
Total Income: $2,707.82
Total Expenses: $2,580.93
Monthly Cashflow: $126.89

Total Assets: $29,023.26 (10% First Cash Holding Account, 10% First Accounts Payable Account, RRSP, TFSA, Silver) +6.90%
Total Liabilities: $34,521.21 (Student LOC, OSAP, Car Loan, Mastercard, AMEX) -2.24%
Net Worth: -$5,497.95 (+$2,664.46 or +32.64% from last month)

Started 2009 with Net Worth: -13,156.58

Year to Date Gain/Loss: +$7,658.63 or +58.21%

Final Thoughts: All things considering ... This month was a great month for net worth build. The commissions that I was expecting would have put me into positive territory, but sometimes things just don't play out as expected and you roll with the punches. I was hoping to be in positive territory before getting married, but that's life and you keep on treking.

My Assets rose mainly because of my 10% first contributions and rolling my Tax Refund into the 10% first cash account. My Liabilities decreased by paying down the AMEX and making my regular payments to the car loan and OSAP.

May's going to be a beautiful month. I'm getting married and this blog will take a different spin on things towards a "Young Canadian Couple's Journey Towards Financial Freedom." As an aside - My fiancée and I are selling her condo as we need a bigger place and we just don't think it's a good liability to have at this time. I want to protect the equity that she has built and rent for a year or two while the market takes a tumble. The Toronto market is down 9% currently ... The last slide from 1989 to 1996 took the market down 27.6% (See trend on back page of TREB's latest MarketWatch) I'll post my calculations to why we're doing this later this week. Unless we can pick up a place for 15-20% below asking, I don't think we'll be jumping at the bit. It will definitely be an interesting exercise to consolidate our Cashflow cards and Net Worth statements for June, but will definitely give us both a great perspective on where we stand financially.

Declaration: I focus on building my net worth! ... I have a millionaire mind!

Millionaire Mind - Action Items (April Month-End)

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:36:00 +0000

April Month End - Millionaire Mind Action Item (Pay Day):

- 10% to my Pay Yourself First fund
- 10% to my PLAY Account
- 10% to my GIVE Account
- 10% to my Education Account
- 10% to my Long Term Savings for Spending Account

Thoughts: April was a good month ... Could have been much better had I been paid my commissions that are still owing thanks to a managerial f*** up! Oh well ... I'll get it all at the end of May. Because of the lack of commissions that I was expecting, I had to tap into my Reserve Account, since I chose to use some of that money before getting it.

My 10% Pay Myself First Fund - $14,979.02 - I have $2,235.14 in my 10% CASH holding account. I'm still waiting on $1,868.00 from my 10% Accounts Payable for the amount left owing on the Harley. The remainder is in my Silver holding which is down 21.73% overall at $14.77 CDN/Oz and 2 car flips (2005 Honda Accord and 2006 Ford Explorer).

PLAY Account - My Bachelor party is this month and I have one home game to see before heading out to Vancouver for the wedding.

GIVE Account - I wanted to donate to building a school in Africa, but I'll have to wait until May-end to do this since I got a lot less this month then expected.

Education Account - Went towards my AMEX.

LT Savings for Spending - Went towards my AMEX.

Bonus Accounts - RESERVE Account is at $2,000. TFSA is sitting at $50.26. I decided to put my tax return into my 10% fund this year. Interest rates in my TFSA are just too low. Once we get another $5k to boost the limit to $10k next year, I'm thinking about putting this into private placements (mortgages).

Declaration: I'm an excellent money manager ... I have a Millionaire Mind!

Tax Refund Deposited - Lovely Surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:38:00 +0000

I checked my bank account this morning and got a lovely surprise. My tax refund was direct deposited 14 days after I submitted it online. It's a little bigger than last year's refund at $1,283.43.

I have been trying to decide what to do with it ... Last year, I Millionaire Mind Actioned (MMA'd) it and deposited the remainder into my newly created RESERVE account back then.

This year, I had a few options:
1) Do the same thing
2) Deposit it all into my RESERVE account (interest is almost non-existent)
3) Pay down the AMEX (14.99%)
4) Deposit it all into my new TFSA account (Getting 3% tax-free)

But ... I have decided to do something else instead. I'm rolling it all into my 10% first CASH account where I'll save it and use it for any potential deals that will come my way.

Reason being - Depending on the deal - I'll most likely make more than 14.99% (AMEX) from and I'm continuing to focus on doing what I've been doing successfully for the last year and 4 months - focus on building my assets which has resulted in an increase in my net worth by 75.27% or $24,840.59 since January 2008.

Quotable Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:36:00 +0000

I like the quote of the day I got today ... Makes a lot of sense to me.

"Always remember: It's not money that makes you rich, it's business skills."
Donald Trump

Quotable Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (ffblog.ca) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:38:00 +0000

This quote caught my attention this week and fits my experience of looking at deals and building a better gut feel depending on the numbers. Sometimes the returns don't come out exactly as forecasted (either higher or lower), but it's great getting better at it and it really comes down taking calculated risks and not being afraid to fail (you'll only get better by learning from your failures) and

"Do not look where you fell but where you slipped."
Proverb