Net Worth Update- February 2015 +17% 24

February 2015 was a fantastic month for me. The market did awesomely well so did my ETFs and other dividend stocks. Well… I guess that may not be a great news as I just received 2014 tax refund and semi weekly paycheque and want to purchase more solid dividend companies soon with the funds. I love when market does poorly so that I can purchase great companies at attractive price points. As I mentioned, I added my initial position to Bank of Nova Scotia stocks in January 2015 when BNS as well as other Canadian bank stocks declined significantly. I purchased BNS stocks at $61.15 and now it is traded at $66.81. That is 9% gain already.

My local currency Canadian Dollar is still relatively weak against US Dollar at $1USD = $1.12508CDN. Many indicators suggest the Canadian dollar to be weaken further as it is very much tied to the price of oil which is extremely volatile lately. Is it a good news for Canadian? Well… It should be great news to people with US dollar investments and US exporters but bad news to people and business that import goods from US such as food, clothing and cars. So for Canadians, if you are planning to travel down to US then delay it. Americans? Come visit us as you would be able to afford upgraded suite and a little bit more expensive Niagara Falls winery wines. For me, I should be indifferent as I won’t trade my US stocks and ETFs anytime soon and probably hold them forever. My 80% of portfolio value is connected to US stocks and ETFs and because of currency fluctuation, my net worth appears to be higher at this point.

This is my second 2015 net worth update. Net worth update is posted monthly to keep track the progress of my journey to become a millionaire. I believe anyone can be a millionaire with right habits and smart investing plans. If you would like to join the journey, please like my Facebook page and subscribe your email for free updates. I started this blog in August 2014 and my net worth has been grown by 54% so far from $79,352 to $121,921 which shows average monthly growth of $6,081. (I excluded car value about 6K from this month’s net worth and will exclude it going forward as my car will never appreciate its value overtime but only to depreciate.) Keep it steady and slowly which is key to become millionaire.

February 2015 has been a great month for me. Total net worth went up by whopping 17%….. WHAT??? 17% is too good to be true.  My main investments are comprised of VTI and VCE and both of them went up greatly by 5.7% and 4.5% during the month helped greatly.

Cash

It went down quite a bit as I transferred all my tax refund and semi monthly paycheque to TFSA and RRSP (post dated to March 3 2015) and paid off my credit card debt. I am nearly debt free at this point showing only $394 of credit balance. Yay!!!! Yeah… I am weird like this but gotta be honest. I just love the feeling of keeping my credit card balance low as I feel empowered to be debt free. I have no pressure from anything.

My majority of cash is sitting in President choice Debit account. I use it for the most of the money transfer, bill payments, cheques etc… as there is no transaction fee in this amazing card. Due to its partnership with CIBC bank, I can use their extensive CIBC ATMs network which is awesome. Their customer service is great as well.

I use TD bank card as well which is used for only investment transfer purpose as it is connected to TD warehouse brokerage account which gives me some convenience of transferring fund and invest. Check out the following section to see what credit card and debit options we have in US and Canada.

TFSA& RRSP

I moved about 2.5K to TFSA and 9K to my RRSP this month so actual increase excluding the contribution is 3.5K and 2K respectively over the month. Holy cow. That’s 5% increase from TFSA and 6.2% increase from RRSP. VTI has increased by 5.7% and VCE has increased by 4.5% during the month. I think the market did pretty well but again, it is such a bad timing for me as cash I just transferred from tax refunds to TFSA and RRSP will have to be used in purchasing solid dividend companies and they are in general 5-6% more expensive than January 2015.  I will have to look hard to find good values here and there but it will be challenging. The decline in oil price has resulted very good entry points in great oil&gas as well as banks, mortgage and insurance service companies in Western area and that’s where I am currently looking. Canadian Western Banks, Suncor, Ensign Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Canadian Utilities Ltd, Atco, etc… are all great name and have increased their dividends for years. If you have great Canadian companies in your watch list at this time, please let me know.

Checkout the following section for more investment tips- Investing

Credit card

Look at the decline in our credit cards spending. We tried to minimize spending and it worked pretty well. We use Capital one Costco credit card as it gives us 3% cash back on restaurants (6% on first 3 months) I spend about $500 per month on my team meals at work so that would be $15 ($30 for first 3 months) cash back per month. Remember. Everything adds up.

We also have MBNA cash back card that we use mainly for grocery and gas for 2% cash back and everything else for 1% cash back (5% on first 6 months) We cancelled Visa card that we don’t use often. Less credit cards the better we will be. Checkout the following links to see what credit card is best for you.

US residents

Canadian residents

Spending

We have been tightening up spending. We set up two major rules and following religiously so far.

1. My wife added some more healthy option after watching some documentary films about how chickens, milk cows etc… are raised so we have been purchasing quality organic ingredients, cook home meals most of time and go out and enjoy restaurant meal once a month together in a mutually agreed restaurant.
2. We shop at Costco once a month for majority of grocery (They are always fresh and love their AAA beef so much for very attractive prices) then for urgent needs, my wife goes grocery nearby our place for eggs, milks, vegetable and fruits as in need basis. Our monthly grocery budget is $500 per month. I know it is high for just two people but we love healthy and good quality food and I am a meateatarian.
3. We will keep being frugal on all other expenditures. See the following links for excellent ways to save money.
   • How to be Frugal in so many ways
   • What’s in my wallet
   • Needs vs Wants
   • How to save $1,000 annually from your TV cable bill

Hope you enjoyed this month’s net worth update. Remember, if you haven’t, set your saving & investing plans up and try to see how much net worth you have reached as of now and how much it has fluctuated in the past. Knowing where you are and where you will be headed will be a great starting point to be a millionaire and retire comfortably. Hang on there. I will be on the journey with you.

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