Welcome to my last net-worth update for the year 2018.
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 down by or in December 2018.
It was the worst net-worth drop in a month in my journey, but it was all expected when it comes to investing in the stock market.
To be honest, it wasn’t fun to watch when my portfolio value drops by a couple of thousand dollars for every single day, especially when I was on a holiday. It is human nature.
But, I didn’t lose my sleep as I was mentally and financially prepared to meet these types of situations. In fact, I deployed more money and acquired some assets at discounted prices.
Also, larger dividends I received in December gave some reliefs during the market sell-off. And, I was able to deploy those dividends to buy more income, which gave a little boost to my compounding growth.
Volatile is a normal characteristic of stock markets. If you learn to live with it, then you will be doing fine in a long-run.
This is what I learn for the last couple of the years of my journey. It is easier said than done, but the gains and losses are just on paper until you really push the sell buttons.
My portfolios hit the low on December 24 (Christmas Eve) and started to move higher since then.
Last three days of the year (Santa Claus rally), my portfolio gained by over $6000, and it is keep growing almost every single day.
My net-worth completely recovered in January and keeps moving higher and higher. If the trends continue, I will be posting the biggest net-worth gain for my next update.
It is absolutely impossible to predict what will happen to the market for tomorrow, next week or next year. But, over the long-run market most likely trading at a higher price than today (based on past history).
I invest for long-term and I am still in buying stages. In other words, I am a net buyer and keep looking opportunities to add income generating assets to my portfolios.
So, I have no plan to sell my stocks if the market rises 10% or 20% next month. But, most likely, I will be buying stocks if their prices drop significantly.
Let’s see all the details in numbers:
Net worth update as of December 31, 2018 ()
Assets: $527 300 ( )
- Cash: $1100 ()
- Home: $280 500 (no change) – Yearly adjustment with average inflation rate of 2%
- Canadian Stocks: : $181 200 ( )
- U.S. Stocks: $41 900 ( )
- Employer’s Pension Plan: $22 600( )
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: $322 700 ( )
- Mortgage : $171 700 ( )
- Student loan: $17 900 ( )
- Margin loan: $65 800 ()
- Credit card 1: $400 () (low interest credit card – 1.99% special rate for 8 months – will be expired in January 2019)
- Credit card 2: $0 (no change) (low interest credit card – 2.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in January 2019)
- Credit card 3: $18 300 ( ) (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in November 2019)
- Credit card 4: $13 700 (no change – a promotional offer at 0.99% special rate – will expire in February 2019)
- Credit card 5: $3000 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 1.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in October 2019)
- Credit card 6: $11 000 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in September 2019)
- Credit card 7:$1200 ( ) – (regular expenses)- high interest rate of 19.99%.
- Line of Credit 1 :$19700 ( ) – (low interest credit card – 3.00% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in December 2019 – renewed recently for another 12 months)
- HELOC: $0
Net worth : $204 600 ( ) as of December 31, 2018
My net worth was down 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 = 1.3642 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 just wanted to stop in and say I really enjoy reading your finance journey. I am relatively new to investing, although I have been in it for a couple of years I too have taken a recent focus on dividend stocks. Your blog helps me re-focus on my goals of dividend investing, and I now too have a goal of $25,000 dividend income per year.
I feel like so far I fave focused on companies paying a slightly higher dividend (only 3 of my 9 companies/ETF pay an annual dividend of under 3%, though my highest is currently 5.85%). I plan on slowly purchasing a greater variety of companies, but when doing your research, how much weight do you put on dividend yield when planning a new purchase?
Thanks!
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Thank you for stopping by,
I don’t pay much attention to dividend yield, even though some of the companies I have pay +5% dividend yield, but I have a couple of stocks pay less than 2% as well. I buy companies with good track record in dividend growth and sustainable payout ratio.
Also, I focus on diversify my portfolio with multiple companies in multiple sectors to reduce risk from unexpected events.
Wish you all the best in your success.
Hello and thanks for your updates. I read your blog monthly. As you expressed concern about the rising interest rates, do you think it is time to dump some of the average stock and pay off credit card debt? you have managed to grow roughly $200k so that is a win. What would it look like if you eliminated the cc debt and continued on just the dividend income to reinvest? This way you lower liabilities and still hold major assets like your home. For what it is worth, I started to invest after reading your blog. I moved $8k into a TFSA trading account with TD two years ago and am sitting at $40 now. When I get small gains on less valued stock I sell and buy bank stock. I am trying to build this with no debt to purchase stocks.
Hello Mark,
Thank you for stopping by,
I am not planning to completely eliminate my debts until I build a decent size portfolio. I am planning to reduce some debts using saving and some dividend income in my non-registered accounts (not by selling some stocks).
I am pretty comfortable with handling debts. But, this leverage investing approach is not for everyone, and it comes with above average risk.
Congrats on amazing gains in two years. Keep it up. In few years, you will be sitting with over 6 figure portfolio 🙂
Best Regards,
Thank you so much for your long time sharing.
But I would like to ask you a question, it maybe seem not greeting:
In Jan 2018, you stock value is 228,000, but in Jan 2019, you stock value is 223,000. And also you recorded roughly $7000 dividend in 2018. I assume you did not withdraw money from you stock invested and did not add new money to your account as well. So the question is what is the point of investment? you pay interest for the bank on the one hand, you lose money on the other hand as well?
Thanks.
Hello Wene,
Thank you for stopping by,
2018 wasn’t a great year in terms of capital gain. Most of the major markets ended with negative gain in 2018. If we go back two years back, my portfolio gained over 20% in 2016 and over 10% in 2017. Therefore, when you average down all three years, my portfolio would be ended around 10% gain per year, without dividend!.
I received over $9000 dividend in 2018 alone. In addition, my portfolio gained around 10% and recovered from 2018 losses in January 2019 (in just a single month).
Therefore, making investment decision for short for time-frame is not a way to build wealth (in my point of view), and it is impossible to correctly predict the short-term investment gains.
I invest for long-term. I believe that my dividend growth portfolio will gain value and generate growing dividend for longer time-frame. And, I am sure that I am & I will make more money than the interest I pay for loans.
Cheers,
GREAT STUFF ! Always nice to see someones Net Worth go up year after year after year. Good Luck on your $1,000,000 goal, looks like its around the corner for you.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for stopping by,
You are doing well as well and wish you all the best in your success 🙂
Best Regards,
Hi, regarding your Canadian and US div stocks do you use DRIP and auto invest to buy shares???
Hello RB,
I’ve never used DRIP or auto invest to buy shares. I am not against DRIP, in fact, it is one of the best way to build wealth for longer term. I let my cash dividends to pile up my accounts and buy stocks my watch list.
Cheers,
Not a bad month compare to others. Tech & energy investors took a massive hits, mainly those overweighted with Apple stocks.
Weil
Hello Weil,
Thank you for stopping by,
My tech & energy portions are very small, so the recent sell-off in those sectors did not give a significant impact in my portfolio; however, due to the wide market sell-off, my portfolio got hurt but not much as markets did.
Best Regards,