This is my tenth net worth updates report for the year 2016. For those new to my finance journey, net worth update is a simple report I post 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 in 10 years by saving and investing in stable dividend paying blue-chip companies.
I am posting all my financial information in 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 IQ.
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.
In October 2016, my net worth increased by $2900, a tiny improvement in my net worth.
And, I reached my third $50 000 net worth – $150 000 net worth 😀 .
I reached my first $50 0000 net worth in May 2014, and hit my second $50 000 in May 2015 (in exactly one year gap).
I thought I could hit my third $50 000 much faster than the second one, but it didn’t happen. It took almost 17 months to get here.
As you know, my net worth is much depended on my investment performance because I am a single income earner and my income is around $55 000 per year. Saving big chunk of money is impossible for me with a kid, bills and mortgage payment.
Therefore, I am in pure low middle class category. But I have a big dream to become a millionaire in few years.
Over the past 17 months, my investment portfolios have experienced so many issues, such as oil crash, Canadian market dropped more than 20% and went into crash territory two times.
Any stocks with the word “energy” get hammered; even they were not directly related to oil price.
Some stocks in my portfolio cut dividend (CVE, KMI, COS), and their stock price dropped sharply as investors punished them for dividend cut.
And, so many other stocks hiked dividends, but price stayed low due to the uncertainty. Some of the big Canadian banks’ yields were more than 5%.
Moreover, there are so many other events around the world kept the market low for longer time, including China stock market crash, Brexit, deflation fear in Europe, U.S president election, etc.
Overall, my net worth did not move well as I expected. I took the advantage of all the negative news and bought more stocks at bargain price.
Especially, I bought over $16 000 worth of stocks in February 2016 using borrowed money. The move paid-off really well as most the purchase moved up well and few increased more than 50%. And, I started to take some profits off the table and paid down some debts.
Now, let’s wait and see how much time I need to hit my fourth $50 K. I am very positive. I think I could reach to $200K net worth in less than a year.
Please understand that this is not a journey about a high income earner become a millionaire. This is a journey about low-middle class income earner with a dream to become a millionaire.
There will be so many humps and curves in my path, but I am sure I will get there one day.
Now let’s talk about my net worth and finacial numbers in October 2016.
Last month, my net worth increased by $2900 or 1.96% from my last update.
Year-to-day gain is $42 300 ().
Net worth update as of October 31, 2016 ()
Assets:$484 400 ()
- Cash: $400 ()
- Home: $270 000 (no changed) – Yearly adjustment with inflation
- Canadian Stocks: :$168 300 ( )
- U.S. Stocks:$37 600 ()
- Employer’s Pension Plan: $8100()
Liabilities:$333 800 ()
- Mortgage :$184 500 ()
- Student loan: $24 700 ()
- Margin loan:$57 600 ()
- Credit card 1:$8700 () (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 10 months – will be expired in September 2017)
- Credit card 2:$9300 () (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in March 2017)
- Credit card 3:$15 700 () (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 10 months – will be expired in November 2016)
- Line of Credit 4: $9300 ()(low interest balance transfer – 2.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in May 2017)
- Credit card 5: $4700 () (low interest credit card – 0.99% special rate for 10 months – will be expired in December 2016)
- Credit card 6: $0 (paid-off)
- Credit card 7:$500(no changed) – (regular expenses)- high interest rate of 19.99%.
- Line of Credit 1 : $10 400 () – (low interest credit card – 2.99% special rate for 12 months – will be expired in April 2017)
- HELOC:$8400 () – (low interest of 3.30% – primte + 0.5%)
Net worth :$150 600 () as of October 31, 2016
My net worth 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 = 1.32 CAD
I have a huge credit card debts because I take advantage of low balance transfer promotion rates 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 being in my finance journey and for your support.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase (at no additional cost to you).
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Awesome milestone
Hello Doug,
Thank you for stopping by and your comments,
Best Regards,
Hi FJ,
I stumbled across your blog and your use of low interest rate promotional periods on credit cards caught my eye! I have not seen this strategy used before, and I wanted to know how you do this. Is it because the promotional rates apply to cash advances, and you take that cash and put it in your investment accounts?
Also, have you noticed a significant negative effect on this credit usage on your credit score? It likely wouldn’t matter if you aren’t planning on renewing your mortgage soon, though.
Regards,
YWealth
Hello YWealth,
Thank you for stopping by,
As you said, I take cash for very low rate (most of them are at 0.99%) and invest in dividend paying stocks.
When I was applying for mortgage, I had lots of credit cards debts. Most of them were maxed-out, but I didn’t get into any trouble in getting my mortgage. I really don’t how the credit score is calculated. I make the payments on-time, had no delay so far.
Please understand that leverage investing is very risky. Please discuss with your financial advisor before make any investment decisions.
Best Regards,
Congrats on the new milestone
Was wondering what were your first set of stocks you bought and roughly how much did you invest… just looking for a footing in this rough market… any advice
Thanks
Look forward to see your achievements
A.A
Hello Anthony,
Thank you for stopping by,
Actually I started with penny stocks with few hundreds dollars and lost almost all of the money. It was a good lesson, later I learned about investing and selected dividend investing. It is really a big story, I may discuss about it later in a separate post 😀
Royal bank is the first dividend stock I bought. Then I bought TD, CNR, BNS, etc. I started with really small positions then accumulated more later..
Best Regards,
Hay FJ
Thank you for the insight, also learned a very hard lesson with penny stocks bought into Intertainment Media Inc. (INT) and Selectore LTD (SCG), was in Cuba when INT hit its peek and then tanked the day after… could have made a good set off change but… live and learn. Have all ready invested in some of the banks… found its a great way to make extra cash to reinvest… not to much on the credit card and loans… but like the achievements you have made so far… looking forward to reading your up coming posts
All The Best
A.A
Hello Anthony,
Thank you for stopping by,
Actually I started with penny stocks, but I quickly escaped without loosing big chunks of money…take it as learning experience and move on..
Best Regards,
Congratulations!! I’m sure you will reach your 4th 50k in a much faster time. Savings can only accelerate in value! 🙂
Hello Fiance Solver,
Thank you for your comments,
I consider compounding growth will increase our net worth.
Cheers,
While your blog is interesting, quite frankly, I find your numbers hard to believe. You claim to have an income of $55K, so after tax you make about $40K. If you live very cheap, you might be able to save $10K per year. You admit to having a $185K mortgage and a $25K student loan, which will cost you $1100 per month to service both. With transportation, food, heat, electricity, property tax, clothes, etc. you are going to spend at least $2500 per month or $30K per year, leaving $10K per year in savings. You claim that between March 2014 and March 2015, your net worth went from $42K to over $92K. Even if you added the $10K in savings, that means your investments went up by 80% in a year! You list all the stocks you own and none of those stocks went up by anything close to 80%. They are all blue chip stocks that go up maybe 10% a year. You are not telling us something. Maybe your parents are contributing toward your savings or paying your mortgage for you? Maybe you have a boyfriend that lives with you and pays for some of the expenses. The numbers don’t add up.
Hello Kevin,
Thank your stopping by,
My father past-away when I was 12 years old and my mother income is not good enough to cover her expenses. We didn’t receive any type of financial help from our parents. In fact, sometimes we help her to meet her living needs and her medical expenses. As a recent immigrant to Canada, she could get a high paying job because of her language barrier.
Actually, two factors contributed our wealth in 2014:
1. My wife went to work until early January 2015, and stopped working after gave birth. She brought home around $20 000 during that period.
2. I use leverage investing strategy. Therefore, I borrow money to invest. This accelerated my net worth during the 2014 bull market.
I hope this make sense to you,
Best Regards,
Hi FJ,
Congrats on your milestone! It’s very impressive considering your income level and the amount of net worth you were able to accumulate.
If you don’t mind sharing, how much % of your take home salary is spent (on consumables such as food and grocery) vs. how much can be saved (investment or paying down the debts)?
Thanks!
JZ
Hello JZ,
Thank you for stopping by,
Actually, I don’t track my budget so little hard to calculate the % of my spending for groceries, etc. Whenever I receive my salary I pay my bills and move the rest of the money to my brokerage accounts, either pay-down some margin loans or invest into dividend stocks.
Best Regards,
Good progress…good plan…
I agree…try to reduce debt..
But you are on the right track.
I plan to keep watching you and your performance…looking forward to seeing you achieve your goals.
Hello Scott,
Thank you for stopping by and for your kinds words,
Cheers,
Thank you FJ for shring! How u gonna pay-off the credit cards debts which expire this month? more than $15 000 worth of debts.
Anyways, great job!
Hello Peter,
I can use margin loan at 4.25% interest rate to pay-down the debts 🙂
Cheers,
Hi FJ,
Again, I am really impressed by your motivation and perseverance. I know so many people with much more income who are not able to save anything… YOU ARE A TRULY INSPIRATION for so many people.
Hope to reach your goal as planned!
Just my 2 cents, be carefully about the borrowing money for investments as the rates might go up in the near future.
You are smart and I suggest investing more in your professional career, as any salary increase can help you a lot in reaching your goal. Even Robert Kiyosaki mentioned in “Rich Dad Poor Dad” about having a good education and good job helped him in creating the wealth.
Also, try to invest in real estate… in the East side of GTA, you can find something affordable to buy and rent, and to leave you with some cash flow after paying all expenses, including the mortgage.
Great job!
Cris
Hello Cris,
Thank you for your kind words and suggestions,
Actually, I stopped buying investments using borrowed money, I think I reach my borrowing limits. And, I started to paying down some debts, so I could manage the rising interest rate.
To be honest, I like my current job. I can move bit higher from current position with high salary by taking some responsibilities (of course with stress), but I have no interest to do that. Actually, I looking to create additional income sources by doing something different.
Regarding real-estate, I am not interested in buying real-estate at this stage as I am not ready to handle tents and fixing properties by myself. I may consider later real-estate investing later..
Thank you once again for your support,
Best Regards,