Aug 31 2015 Net Worth Update: $132,275 (-$1,114, -0.8%) 2


Hello my precious readers! Welcome to my end of August 2015 net worth update.

What a crazy month August 2015 was. My net worth dropped by about 10% which is more than $10,000 during the month however recovered straight back up to be slightly less than where it was prior to August. Guess what I did when all my stocks dropped by 10% or more? Nothing……… I just sat back and relaxed with my wife and my dog.

Sandy

Nice job hiding there. No one will be able to find you.

I don’t have time for market volatility. All I really cared was to see whether I had available cash to buy more stocks to take advantage on the discounts that were given everywhere. Unfortunately, I had no cash at the time and therefore missed the ride. When you invest, you should always look at long term investing horizon, not tomorrow, next month, next year etc…. If you foresee that you would need cash in a near future then investing in stocks isn’t for you. However when you start to focus on longer term view, then you will do quite well as long as you buy good stocks with great fundamentals at attractive price. Although, I missed the market timing (as I always do unfortunately), I made several significant transactions in August 2015 which you can see below under investing.

This is my eighth 2015 net worth update. Net worth update is posted monthly to keep track of the progress of my journey to become a millionaire. I believe anyone can be a millionaire with good saving habits and smart investing plans. If you would like to join the journey, please follow me through my Facebook and twitter pages and subscribe your email for free updates. It has been a bit more than one year since I started tracking my net worth. My net worth on July 31 2014 was $79,352 but it is now $132,275. That is $52,923 (67%) astonishing growth during last 13 months period. Can you believe it? My net worth grew by $4,071 per month on average. Keep it steady and slowly which is the key to become a millionaire.

NW 201508

I cried a bit when my net worth decreased for the first time two months ago since I tracked my net worth but I turned it over to positive last month. Well…. My net worth dropped again this month. Haha. Cannot get always positive. That’s ok. As I mentioned, I purchased some great companies at sweet prices so I am not going to cry again this month. 🙂 Regardless how economy and stock market performs, my million dollar journey continues.

 

Cash

My cash balance has decreased from $3,697 to $2,691. I was building up cash position at this point to open Interactive Broker account to open up their margin account (minimum amount necessary to invest in an Interactive Broker account is $10,000) but I changed my mind. Haha. I could not pass up a great buying opportunity of Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) at severe discount. See ‘Investment’ below.

My credit card debt is at around $1,200 which is the level that I am quite comfortable of. I am close to debt free and I like it that way. I just love the feeling of keeping my credit card balance low as I feel empowered to be debt free.

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 and cheques are free. Major banks typically charge $50-100 for 50 cheques but I pay nothing for that. 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 mainly used for investment fund 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 cards and debit cards options we have in US and Canada.

201508 NW


Investment

As you may have noticed from My portfolio section, I sold all of my VTI holding, I figured, if I am going to keep investing for a long time or forever, then I would switch to stocks from ETFs. I am not going to lie, VTI was amazing for last one year period as I purchased at $104 but due to strengthening US currency, my average cost reduced to $95-$97. I sold some VTI about 3-4 months ago at $110.50 and about 10 days ago, sold the rest at $108.76. Both of them generated about 10-15% gain for one year while I held which I am extremely happy with. It has been good VTI. So long. With the proceeds, I purchased

140 shares of ARLP at $24.82.

100 shares of BHP at $35.58.

120 shares of CSX Corp at $29.60.

40 shares of Chevron at $83.20.

76 shares of NOV at $39.52.

34 shares of NSC at $81.99.

36 shares of UNP at $92.68.

50 shares of WMT at $71.80.

All the purchases will add US$1300 to my annual dividend income. That’s more than $100 every month. Yay!!!  Please see the following link for more detail. Recent Buy- ARLP, BHP, CSX, CVX, NOV, NSC, UNP and WMT.

Purchase

What a great fun I had. 🙂 I got no patience for market timing. Instant reallocation of all my available fund! This is how I release all my stress. Haha

I also purchased 122 shares of CNQ at CDN$28.60.

CDN

As I mentioned previously, I was building up cash position at this point to open an Interactive Broker margin account to open up but I changed my mind as I could not pass up a great buying opportunity of Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) at severe discount. When I saw CNQ dropping 5% in a day, I blacked out for 1 minute and then when I got back up, $3,500 was moved out of my chequing account and 122 shares of CNQ were in my investing account. I still don’t remember what exactly happened but that happened so quickly. 🙂 Anyway, the purchase will add $112 of annual dividend.

Other than that, my TFSA has dropped by $2,500 (3%) and RRSP decreased by $1,150. 🙁 Check out my portfolio page to see what stocks I own and the following article for more investment tips-How to Simply Invest and Get Richer for Dummies in 8 Easy Steps.

If you are also a dividend investor like me, then you should check out the following page to see how other dividend investors are doing. You won’t regret a moment of reading their valuable and inspirational articles. The Financial Bloggers Dividend Income List Oh right, you may want to check out the following section to see what other investing bloggers are up to as well. Blogroll

 

Credit card

We tried to minimize spending over last couple of months and it worked out 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) without any annual fee. Unlike capital one cash back card and all other cash back cards out there, MBNA card is well beyond expectation. First of all, MBNA pays cold hard cash back (not points toward purchasing goods and services) and secondly, MBNA directly deposits the cash right away to your bank when it hits $50 mark. That’s great as I don’t have to wait until the end of the year to collect cash. Check out the following links if you are interested in getting awesome credit cards like MBNA and Capital one credit cards.

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.

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 in there. I will be on the journey with you.

 

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2 thoughts on “Aug 31 2015 Net Worth Update: $132,275 (-$1,114, -0.8%)

  • Roadmap2Retire

    Dont worry too much about the slight decrease in net worth .. over the long run, it wont matter. Ive had many months of decreases since I started tracking my monthly net worths….esp when you have a sizeable investment portfolio – it will go up and down with the markets – theres not much one can do.
    Looks like you picked up some good quality names during the downturn. Congrats on adding those names.

    R2R

    • Be Smart Rich Post author

      You are exactly right. Volatility is an excellent opportunity to buy stocks at discount. I will keep buying good quality stocks regardless how the market goes. Thanks for your comments. Cheers!

      BSR