Happy April! It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was cleaning up after my husband’s 30th birthday blowout, planning my backyard renovation and booking flights for my trip to New York in May. This year looks like it’s going to be full of new challenges and fun stuff here on the blog. I can’t wait.
March was an ok month for me. My net worth did improve a little, and while I’ve been doing a lot of side hustling this month, almost none of the billed invoices have been paid out yet. I also completed my taxes with H&R Block and found out I owe a lot of money to the government. I have it in the bank (I always save 30% of my freelance income), and it’s not due until April 30th, but it’s still a pretty big downer.
Here’s how my net worth faired in February:
(If I say “my” below, I mean “our” because my husband and I have combined finances, including retirement savings.)
Let’s have a look at each section and how they faired this month:
Net Worth: $117,652 (+2%)
My net worth increased by 2%, or about $2,400 this month, which puts me back to where I was at about the end of January. Let’s look at what went up, and what went down this month:
Liabilities
Consumer Debt: $0
I recently switched over to a cash-back credit card, but I’m very diligently paying it off every week. I know that may seem excessive to some people, but I get paid weekly, so it works for me.
Car Loan: $0
I paid off my $18,500 car loan at the end of 2017, but I’ll keep this on here for a few months just because it feels good to see that big old zero there.
Mortgage: $236,282 (-0.27%)
My regular monthly mortgage payment is $1,089, which uncovers about $630 in equity every month. I’m not in a hurry to pay down my mortgage right now because my mortgage interest rate is just 2.29%, but I have to admit that I’m a little impatient to see my mortgage equity bump over the $50,000 mark. That should happen in May at the rate we’re going.
Assets
Home: $285,000
I bought my home in July 2016 for $270,000. The home hadn’t been maintained properly for several years, and it was in need of a bunch of relatively inexpensive upgrades. As a result, the homeowner opted to sell the home for less than it was worth rather than negotiate and coordinate all of the work to be completed pre-sale.
We’ve been steadily ticking off every last flagged item on the home inspector’s report, and in July I contacted my real estate agent who let us know we could sell our home today for $285,000, or $15,000 more than we paid.
Car: $20,098
This amount is how much my Subaru Crosstrek is worth according to Canadian Black Book. Some people don’t include their car in their net worth updates because they “need it” and while I do need a car in my life, I don’t need a $20,000 car. If I needed to, I could sell this car and buy a beater.
Retirement Savings: $31,746 (+1%)
I throw $600 into this account every month, but the past few months have not been kind to those contributions. This account only grew by $423 this month, for a net loss. Good thing I’m not going to need this money anytime soon.
TFSA Investments: $3,240 (+6%)
Every month I contribute 10% of my freelance income towards my TFSA. This account is my emergency fund on top of my emergency fund, my early mortgage payoff fund, and my early retirement fund.
Emergency Fund: $8,433 (+11%)
Building up my emergency fund is my current financial goal and where I’m throwing a decent portion of my income every month. I’m slowly rebuilding my emergency fund; I had borrowed money from it to pay off my car loan. With any luck, I’ll reach my $10,000 goal for this account within a few months.
Other Money
If you’re doing the math, you know that there is some unexplained money in my net worth. I’ll tell you where that money is: in my planned spending account for taxes, mortgage payments, gas, the internet, etc.
Previous Net Worth Updates
Here are my previous net worth updates, along with my age for reference.
2017 (Age 27)
This time last year I had a net worth of $83,858, or $34,000 less than it is today. I still owed $14,904 on my car loan and had just made a big payment using my income tax refund. I owed $243,869 on my mortgage, meaning I’m uncovering about $6,000 per year in equity on that baby before appreciation. My retirement savings sat at $24,000, my TFSA was starting to bloom at $1,000, and I had $2,400 earmarked for renovations.
2016 (Age 26)
Two years ago I had a net worth of $50,471 and was doing a little happy dance for finally crossing that $50,000 threshold. A significant portion of that net worth was tied up in my house fund, which was sitting at $22,894. Most of the rest of my net worth was tied up in my emergency fund and my retirement savings.
2015 (Age 25)
In 2015, my husband and I were adjusting to being a two-income household as he celebrated one month at his new job. Our net worth had only decreased slightly during his period of unemployment and sat at $27,000. Our retirement savings was nearing the $9,000 mark, and we had just booked our trip to Mardi Gras for February 2016.
2014 (Age 24)
In 2014 my finances were in pretty good shape. I had a pretty solid net worth of $14,301. That was made up of a baby-sized RRSP ($2,310), a stable emergency fund ($6,177) and my travel fund ($1,632). I had no debt, and my blog had just turned two years old.
2013 (Age 23)
April 2013 was a big month for me. I had just made a $5,600 payment on my debt thanks to a significant income tax refund. This payment brought my debt to $12,508 owing. I still distinctly remember making that payment because it got me so pumped about debt repayment. Paying big chunks like that is an excellent technique to keep up your enthusiasm for paying off debt. This large payment meant April two years ago was the first time I’d achieve a positive net worth, squeaking by the mark with $690.
You can read all of my net worth updates here; those early ones are pretty hilarious.