Welcome to my third net-worth update for the year 2019.
A short intro for new readers
If you are not new here, then you can simply skip to the next section.
For those new to my finance journey, this net-worth update is a simple report I publish every month, which tracks the progress of my journey to reach my financial goals.
My ultimate financial goal is to become a self-made millionaire by December 2024 (10 years plan). I have a strong belief that I can achieve this goal by saving and investing in high-quality dividend-paying blue-chip companies. I am also a strong believer of ‘compounding’ power, and I believe if I can push myself now and build a decent net-worth, then the ‘ compounding effect’ will give a heavy lifting in my later part of this journey.
I am posting all my financial information on this website because I love to inspire and motivate people to start their own journey to reach their financial freedom. You could learn from my successes and failures (experience) and improve your financial knowledge.
Along the way, I make financial mistakes and will share my experience here with you. So, you could learn something, avoid those mistakes and save money.
Also, I like to publicly track my progress and get feedback from like-minded people.
My net-worth
My net-worth was up by or in March 2019.
Another month with a decent gain this year.
Last month, the value of my assets increased by $8000, thanks to the stunning performance of the stock market and record dividend income of over $1200 in a single month.
At the same time, my debts level also up by $2000 due to my bi-annual property tax due, plus some other unexpected expenses.
I have been planning to reduce my debts for a while, but I am unable to do that due to some unexpected expenses. Expenses continue in April as well.
Hopefully, I could start cutting some debts in May because I will be getting three paycheques and tax refund. We’ll see.
Anyways, the value of my assets continues advancing, which puts me a few steps forward in the right direction. So, it is a big relief for me.
Let’s see all the details in numbers:
Net worth update as of March 31, 2019 ()
Assets: $568 100 ( )
- Cash: $800 ()
- Home: $286 100 (no changed) – Yearly adjustment with average inflation rate of 2% in every January
- Canadian Stocks: : $207 900 ( )
- U.S. Stocks: $39000 ( )
- International Stocks: $10200 ( )
- Employer’s Pension Plan: $24 100( )
Disclaimer..
Please note the information posted on this website is the opinion of my own and should not be considered as professional financial advice. I am not a financial professional, and I can buy, sell, or hold any investment at any time.
Any transactions I publish on this website are not recommendations to buy or sell any securities or investments.
My financial situations, goals and risk tolerances will be much different than you. Therefore, please do your own research or consult with a qualified financial professional before even considering using the information obtained from this website.
Liabilities: $323 100 ( )
- Mortgage : $170 400 ( )
- Student loan: $15 400 ( )
- Margin loan: $69400 ()
- Credit card 1: $13400 ) (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in January 2020)
- Credit card 2: $4700 ) (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in February 2020)
- Credit card 3: $17 700 ( ) (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in November 2019)
- Credit card 4: $0 (paid-off) – a promotional offer at 0.99% special rate – expired in February 2019)
- Credit card 5: $2300 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 1.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in October 2019)
- Credit card 6: $9700 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in September 2019)
- Credit card 7: $700 ( ) – (regular expenses)- high interest rate of 19.99%.
- Line of Credit 1 :$19400 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 3.00% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in December 2019 – renewed recently for another 12 months)
Net worth : $245 000 ( ) as of March 31, 2019
My net worth was up by since my last update.
Note
- all amounts are rounded to the nearest $100;
- all numbers are in CAD; and
- Conversion rate 1.00 USD = 1.3364 CAD
I have a huge credit card debts because I take advantage of low balance transfer promotion rate and invest in high quality dividend stocks. Learn, earn, save,invest and leverage your skills are the keys to become wealth.
Thank you so much for following my finance journey and for your great support.
Hi there,
I was looking at your website here and it’s very interesting and well put together. It’s a great place to learn from someone else, so thank you for that!
I was just wondering: I was looking at your April 2019 balance sheet and can’t help but notice that you are pretty heavily leveraged, at least by my standards. You hold close to no cash and have a high percentage of your assets financed by loans and credit cards (over 50%). It’s a tempting strategy because I see how it has magnified your returns – for instance, you can expect more than $10,000 in 2019 in dividends alone (not including capital gains) on a portfolio of about $260K, which I think is great. It also seems risky to me though. Do you think about how you would deal with a situation where there was a sharp downturn in the market, especially if you were to lose your day job?
Hello Jason,
Thank you for stopping by and your great question.
As you said, leverage investing is very risky, and it is not for everyone. If you use it in a wrongly, it will destroy you.
Actually, I am taking above average risky to magnify my returns. In fact, my financial situation is way better than a year ago, and much way better than 5 years ago.
I started my journey with over $65 000 debts (student loans around $56 000 and credit card around $9000). If I had made a decision to pay my loan first and invest later, then I would have just finished this loan and started to invest (and I will have mortgage loan now).
I did little different than most people suggest. I started to build assets first and think about debts later. Currently, my debts/assets is at 56.03%. The ratio was 75.35% four years ago. So, it is improving year-over-year.
Now, I am building assets while keeping my debts level same or less. Once I build enough income producing assets, I will focus on reducing my debts.
Again, my approach is very risky. It is like a loaded gun, if you don’t use it correctly, then you may end up kill your self.
Cheer,
Question for you! How do acquire those low balance transfert interest credit card?
I mean how do you link a balance transfert with a stock investment? Do you simply get a random credit card withdraw money of it and then transfert the loan to a promo credit card?
What’s your modus operandi?
Cheers!
Jonathan A.
Hello Jonathan,
Thank you for stopping by,
Actually, I don’t apply new credit cards to receive these types of offer. In fact, I did not apply any new credit card since 2014 (more than 5 years ago). I receive these offers from the cards I already have.
Please see the link below for more details:
https://www.financejourney.com/how-i-receive-low-interest-loans/
Please understand that leverage investing is extremely risky. If you don’t use properly, you will end up losing more than you have.
Hope this helps,
Best Regards
What interest rate do you have on your margin loan?
Hi Justin,
I keep my margin loan (majority of them) at Interactive Brokers (IB). IB charges relatively lower rate (Benchmark rate + 1.5%) than other brokers. As of today (April 30, 2019), Canadian Benchmark rate is 1.619%. Thus, my margin interest rate is 3.119%. It varies with Benchmark rate.
Cheers,