Hi Everyone! Welcome to my end of July 2016 net worth update.
Thank you so much for coming.
It is already August. I can’t really believe our precious summer is getting shorter and shorter. July had been excellent and I had a fairly good time. My wife has been studying during the weekends so that gave me an opportunity to catch up with some friends, books, movies and lots of beers. Nothing beats beer during summer time. I have been drinking every single style of beers from different brand, country of origin and brewery- amber, blonde, brown, cream, dark, golden, honey, india pale, light, pale, pilsner, red, wheat etc… That’s how we should enjoy life right? Having a great hobby like drinking beers is strongly recommended to everyone.
Make sure to study this until next net worth update
It is only 10 am and I am already craving for one.
Here is what happened in the market during July 2016.
It seemed like BREXIT in June never happened. If you have been following my blog for a while then you can guess what I did during the aftermath of Brexit. I bought some stocks that I have been watching closely. Let me introduce them a bit later so keep reading for now.
Nasdaq moved from 4,842 to 5,162, up about 6.6%.
Can you see the recovery? Brexit was an opportunity to buy not sell! (source:google)
Dow moved from 17,929 to 18,432 up about 2.8%.
source:google
TSX (Canada) moved from 14,064 to 14,583 up about 3.7%
(source:google)
And my portfolio gained about the same as Dow Jones during July.
2.9% is sweet
The market has been trending up quite a bit since this February. I love and hate when market does very well like this. It is a very strange feeling. I feel great to see my investment doing so well and have been showing better results than comparative TSX and Dow but at the same time I feel that the market is getting more expensive so I comparatively hesitate more when purchasing stocks that are on my watch list.
March 2016 and April 2016 did amazingly well that boosted my market value of portfolio by more than 5% and May was alright. Then here came June 2016 boosting my net worth by 15.7% and July 2016 was very satisfying at 3.4% of growth in my net worth. Is my slump that lasted between 2015 May to September finally over? Who cares? I am an optimist so I would rather say “the glass is half full” than “the glass is half empty”
Or whatever you wanna believe
I somewhat hoped that the market drops further and further so that I can buy quality assets at discount. Or I probably want to see 2008-2009 short and quick super major correction to happen which may be actually scary but that’s the time you can make the most money. BREXIT was a great opportunity for me.
As you know, luckily, I have constant cash flow from my day job with help of our family’s frugal habits to pour more money in the market every month. That being said, I see that my cash reserve has been growing. It is really hard to find a bargain lately compared to this February 2016.
Investor Sentiment Wheel
I am fascinated to observe how human psychology work especially in stock market. Most of businesses that I invest are exactly the same businesses as usual making constantly solid cash flow. They may be facing a temporary business setback however a lot of times, the stocks of them may be punished a lot harder than the actual problems. Take advantage of it!
Do exactly opposite of what this wheel shows then you will be golden!
Remember this… As long as business is solid, the stock price will eventually follow.
It is only a matter of time until you see more greens in all of the stocks in your portfolio if you are a long term investor. Just keep being invested in your quality stocks. If you are a lucky one who gets regular paycheque and have some money to invest after your monthly spending, then keep buying at lower prices every month.
Keep it simple. Don’t think too hard. Just find good quality undervalued dividend stocks, buy them at low and weather the rainstorm until the sun rises again. When the sun rises which it always does, it will be swift.
Ironically, people get more excited when market climbs up when they have to pay premium for the same stocks whereas when the market is headed downward, they tend to avoid buying the same stocks at discounted prices. I would worry more and look to restructure my portfolio when the market keeps climbing up. Time for me to say my favorite investor of all time, our legendary old man, Warren’s most famous quote.
The pimp of the Wall Street
“You want to be greedy when others are fearful. You want to be fearful when others are greedy. It’s that simple.”
I recently put Warren Buffett’s top 50 quotes together. Check it out.’
Don’t forget about his stock picking tips!
Have you heard about Peter Lynch, a wallstreet legend? Check out Peter Lynch’s top 13 best stock picking tips as well. You won’t regret it.
Remember 2008-2009 market crisis?
2008-2009 market turmoil made so many people richer and poorer. People who became poorer are the ones that sold their stocks at loss and never looked back. People who became richer are the ones that bought stocks at 30-80% off the original prices then they triple and quadruple their original investment within 2-3 years.
This turmoil in Canada isn’t as opportunistic (or bad for some people) as 2008-2009 market crisis but still some bargains could be found now.
There are still some undervalued stocks. That simple concept will make us richer sooner or later. I have no way of knowing and an ability of forecasting the market but all my efforts will be dedicated to find great stocks that are currently undervalued.
My net worth increased by $6,807 (3.4%) from $202,117 to $208,924 during July 2016.
I still cannot believe it. It was $200K now last month and it is already getting close to $210,000. The growth is getting faster and faster every day as I am learning.
When I achieved $200,000 milestone, I wrote 5 key tips to accumulate wealth and achieve financial independence so check it out below.
http://www.besmartrich.com/2016/06/23/how-to-save-200000-in-6-years-and-retire-before-45/
This is my seventh 2016 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.
Compared to July last year, it grew by $75,535. That’s 57% growth. It grew by $6,295 every month. Not bad huh? I am quite pleased with the result but it could have been better. Well… the downturn of the economy will eventually turn up and I will be a very happy man when that happens. Until then, I will keep searching for undervalued stocks and see where this takes me. If you are afraid of losing 20-30% of your portfolio value then investing in stock market isn’t for you. Risk and rewards always follows. Always perform your due diligence researching the fundamental of the stocks before you buy or just buy amazingly reasonable Vanguard ETFs. That’s called indexing.
Let’s go $300,000!
Cash
The cash balance has decreased from $7,302 to $3,934. We have about $10,000 of cash position from investment accounts so total cash balance is about $14,000. I have been building cash reserve not because of I like hoarding cash but I could not really find bargains. Only a few of them. I love deploying cash and seeing its transformation to something more useful. Cash isn’t investment. It actually loses its value everyday right? I am patiently waiting for an investment opportunity to pop up from my watch list. Hopefully I can grab some. Come on BAD NEWS!
Even after reduced annual TFSA contribution limit from $10,000 to $5,500 from a stupid political move by the new regime in Ottawa, (Yes I am talking to you Justin!) TFSA is still an amazing instrument to invest so for someone who do not take advantage of TFSA and RRSP (for US citizens, 401K, IRA, ROTH IRA…) please use them for your future. They are wonderful instruments that will make your future brighter.
Our 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.
Investment
July 2016 was another good month. Our portfolio increased by 2.9%.
We hold about $10K cash ready to be deployed.
Our TFSA accounts that contain many Canadian stocks grew by 4% and RRSP accounts dropped by 1%.
Ups and Downs. We don’t really care. We are not selling the quality stocks until they become overvalued. I would much prefer for better opportunities to pick up more shares at favorable prices. I love corrections and crashes. As long as fundamentals are there, I am not too concerned about the noises. Although it would hurt to see our portfolio decreasing its value during corrections and crashes I have a coping mechanism built in me. Not the end of the world for me. Tides will eventually turn. Buy low and sell high right?
Only problem I have right now is how to come up with even more cash for a better time to jump in. I think values will show up here and there again so I will patiently wait for temporary setbacks.
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.
Recent Buys
In January 2016 we bought Dream office REIT and Orvana Group
Then Dream office went up by 10.6% as of July 31, 2016. It would be higher if we include dividends. Lucky pick!
Orvana is up by 145%. Another lucky pick
In February 2016 we averaged down and bought $5,500 worth of Corus Entertainment stocks.
and it is doing great.
In March 2016 we bought about $6,140 worth of Black Diamond Group Ltd
Then Black Diamond Group went up by 22%. Another lucky shot.
Unfortunately, we did not make any purchases in April 2016.
Then in May 2016, we purchased Gilead Sciences (GILD).
Woops down by 7%
In June before Brexit, we purchased Linamar (LNR)
and Brexit hit LNR hard so it was 12% down right after 2 days so I bought more
It recovered so it is in the money position
We sold Atco and with the proceeds we purchased Developed world ETF (Japan, UK, France, Switzeland, Germany etc…)
and it is doing alright.
As you can see when BREXIT happened, people panicked and sold their stocks at discount. They were literally on a selling spree. They hated to see red in their portfolio so sold them off and kept cash. But BREXIT wasn’t even close to 2007-2008 market crisis so I figured it would only last a couple of days. Luckily so far my guess was right (we will have to wait to see whether it would have a long term negative impact.) I deployed my cash to purchase stocks on my watchlist at 10-15% off.
When the stocks start to exceed my target prices then I will consider to sell and crystallize gains and not look back until the stocks get punished unfairly again. Until then, I will keep DRIP it. We will buy more stocks if the market keeps giving away discounts but it seems that stocks are moving up quickly after Brexit. That puts me in a difficult spot because everything just got 10-20% more expensive.
In July we did not make any purchase.
Well, we crystallized some gains when the market got a bit expensive to take advantage of other undervalued stocks.
We sold Canadian Natural Resources(CNQ) and Norfolk Southern (NSC) in April 2016.
We also sold Atco after some gains in June 2016.
We sold TransCanada after some gains in July 2017.
Our Portfolio Performance
I opened direct investing account on Sep 12 2014. During last 22 months, our portfolio gained about 24% whereas S&P and TSX composite dropped by -7%. Not bad huh?
Annualized gain is 11.93% so which is pretty much aligned with historical index average. I guess we will keep doing whatever we have been doing for the last 21 months.
So far so good
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.
Did I mention you can be a millionaire in about 30 years if you can save $10 a day?
Have you heard about Peter Lynch, a wallstreet legend? Check out Peter Lynch’s top 13 best stock picking tips. You won’t regret it.
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. Blogroll
Credit card
Our credit card debt decreased from $6,763 to $840. That’s because we paid $4,500 of my wife’s tuition during June 2016 and I paid off the balance in July. That temporarily hurts our net worth ($5K is quite expensive) but we strongly believe the future return is extremely lucrative.
As I said before, my wife is back in school. I don’t know whether you will remember this but my wife is a mad artist (I will show you some of her artworks later if she allows) and have spent several years to do her soul searching. Well guess what? She wants to be a nurse in Canada then combine her artistic talents with the nursing degree to be an art therapist eventually. She is from South Korea and recently immigrated to Canada. I have emphasized this to you before, if you are a foreign immigrant, getting right education is one of the most important things that you will have to do to be treated equally (not to mention your language skills but you will pick up while you go through your degree programs) and self-sustaining. Let me tell you, it is not going to be easy. I have been through it but very well worth it.
While I love to see my wife showing off her artworks and helping me out with this blog (She designed this BeSmartRich blog. She also helps me with maintenance, research, promotion, advertising etc…), I am extremely pleased with her decision to going for her dream which is a great cause for the community we reside in.
I see it impacting our net worth as one step back and ten steps forward. We may be spending $2-3K per semester which will temporarily and negatively impacting our net worth but that will give back hundred times guaranteed returns during our lifetime. That’s the power of education. Only sky is the limit. Not to mention we can recoup some tuition costs through tax credits, courtesy of Canadian Government. Thank you Canada. I love you so much!
We are still close to debt free and I like it that way. I just love the feeling of keeping our debt balance low as I feel empowered to be debt free.
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). 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. Remember. Everything adds up.
Check out the following links if you are interested in getting awesome credit cards like MBNA and Capital one credit cards.
Spending
We have been tightening up spending. We set up two major rules and following religiously so far.
- 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.
- 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.
- We will keep being frugal on all other expenditures. See the following links for excellent ways to save money.
- 7 extremely easy tips to save 20-50% on flight tickets
- 30 most important tips to be a millionaire no matter how much you make.
- Renting vs Buying
- 16 most important tips to save on car insurance by 40-60%
- Norbert’s Gambit- Save thousands of dollar from foreign exchange conversion fees
- What’s in my wallet
- Needs vs Wants
- 20 smart moving tips that will save you time and money
- 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 in there. I will be on the journey with you.
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Solid month all around! Looks like your portfolio is performing well and it must feel awesome to reduce that credit card debt. I think having some cash to deploy on the sidelines is a good idea as the markets should present some opportunity in the coming months. Going to dig into your blog more as I am only 23 so got plenty to learn from you!
Yeah, I hated that credit card debt showing. I think hate borrowing is in my nature. You are doing awesome with your income there man. Being 23 will make everything possible. I can feel that you would probably be a millionaire well before 35. Good luck with your journey Stefan!
Keep it up BSR. You’re doing awesome. You are mastering the game bro.
Just repeat and recycle and before you know it, 500k Net worth and 1 Million. Slowly and surely, you will conquer all your goals and dreams. I’m sure of it.
Don’t stop and I will be there when you reach 1 Million. Cheers my friend.
That’s right. The progress is only going to get faster. I can feel it. Slowly and Surely! Thanks for your encouraging words buddy!
Cheers!
Congrats on a fine month for your portfolio. Also, kudos on paying down your credit card debt. I agree, markets are hot, almost too hot. It is starting to feel like 2008-2009 all over again.
Yup. I hated the debt. Yup, the markets are hot although there still are some bargains. I wish another Brexit event soon.
July was a great month for market appreciation. I have been buying quite a bit since January, typically ~15K a month. I like the market up, but I like to buy on sale too.
I put my buy orders in around the first of the month, for ~1% under where they sit at that time. Usually they hit.
$15K a month is awesome! I wish I had that much monthly capital to invest. Keep it up!
Great progress! I just passed 600k, and love seeing others achieve milestones. Very cool layout on the post, I enjoy seeing your picks!
$600K is awesome! You are getting close to $1M. Glad you enjoy my post!