Net Worth Update October 2018 – SmilingSaver (+63.2%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2018 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth updates on a regular basis. Here is more about him.
Profile:
- Name: SmilingSaver
- Age: 33
- Net Worth: $133,752
- Day Job: Engineer
- Family Income: My main salary: $100,000; Spouse salary: $ 50,000 (Full time)
- Goals: New Goal: Have net worth equal to the value of the primary residence Oct 2021.
- Notes: Married in May 2015. Wife graduated with a second degree in May 2015. Immigrated to Canada 16 years ago (full story here). Debt free May 2016.
Hello Everyone,
Wow, it has been almost a year since the last update.
In my last update, I said that 2017 was a turning point for me, well seems like I just keep on turning. As my wife and I have a new smiling addition to the family.
Overall, except for one minor change, nothing else has changed much. We have decided that both of us will be sharing parenting responsibilities, so I will be taking 50% of the paternity leave. It might seem ridiculous from a financial perspective, but I am excited about it.
On the same note, a lot of senior staff tell me that I am wasting potential time to grow my career and that kids are better with their mother anyways. I really thought that by this day and age, in the world of equality, these comments make me realize we not really there yet – what a pity. What makes the problem worse in my mind is that comments were genuine concern and not judgment.
Putting that aside, our family time is full of awesome moments with the bundle of joy which includes diapers, baby books, toddler classes and visits to/from grandparents.
As for the numbers (what you’ve been waiting for?)
We have put $2,500 towards an RESP. We will be doing it every year. This will not be reflected in the numbers below as we do not believe this money have anything to do with retirement or net worth. The money belongs to our child.
We were able to max out my TFSA and we are now starting to put money towards my wife’s TFSA. I am strongly considering taking the money out of my TFSA by the end of the year and transfer it to my RRSP. Take a deduction and put it towards TFSA.
Any extra savings also went towards an RRSP.
Now to the specific numbers:
Assets: $133,752 (+63.2%)
- Cash: $5,020 (37.121%)
- Registered/Retirement Investment Accounts (RRSP): $67,574 (+24.6914%)
- Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) : $61,158 (+154.1%)
Liabilities: $0 (0.0%)
- We do not have any liabilities: $0.0 (0.00%)
Total Net Worth: $133,752 (vs. $81,921 ) (+63.2%)
Some quick notes and explanations to common questions:
The Cash
Quick change: Now that my wife is working and no longer is a “student” we have to keep $3,000 in her checking account with the remainder kept in Tangerine Savings Account. It includes money that will be required for rent, cell phones, insurance, and minor emergencies.
Savings
- $61,158 in TFSA – Invested in Tangerine Balanced Growth Funds (check your TFSA contribution room).
- $67,574 both Questrade RRSP accounts (my thoughts on Questrade), invested in the basic 3 stocks couch potato index portfolio.
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As a mother who came back to work in April 2018 after her first maternity leave (1 year), ignore those negative comments. Other ppl have already shared some great insights. I promise when you get back, although you will have other priorities, you will also be more focused and better able to time-manage. I was promoted 6 months after my return. Good people/workers are valued whether they are parents or not. Wishing you all the best! And enjoy your parental leave!!!
Just wanted to say that I’ve read all the updates just now, from when you were over 50K in debt and within 4 years you now have over 135K in savings. Such an inspiration for someone like me who has over 40K credit card debt (includes my wife’s and my consolidated debts). Also, I’m same age as you this year.
Thanks, Smilingsaver, and thanks to FT who has shared all his financial knowledge with this blog. I’m reading all the tips and articles now so that once I’m debt free like Smilingsaver, I’ll have a better idea of what to do. Hopefully that time comes within the next 2 years.
The date in the title of this update is “October 2019”! As far as I can tell, it’s still 2018, but I’m open to being proved wrong.
Thanks for that Bob, I always considered myself to be a forward thinker, but being a year off may be a bit much. :)
Hi, your goal is to have your NW equal your principal residence value but I don’t see any mention of a residence among your assets.
Is your goal to have a NW equal to the value of a residence in your town? If so how much is that?
Or do you have a residence but don’t include it in your NW. If so, we need to know how much is it worth so we know what your goal is.
Thanks and keep up the great work
Congrats on the huge gains! As a mom who just came back from 1 year of parental leave- I say enjoy your 6 months! You will never get that time back and they grow up so quickly!!
As others have said, don’t worry about the 6 months, it will go by and no one will remember it even happened. Also, congrats on your financial progress over the last little while!
Congrats on the new addition. 4-6 months of parental leave is not going to affect your career in the slightest. What the senior staff are saying is that this is frowned upon by the older people and it’s a real pain to have to cover for you. There’s always the risk that they are proven right and that work still gets done effectively when you are gone (and then they are thinking why do we need him in the first place). I got the same raised eyebrows when I told them I’d be taking parental leave with our first. I only took 6 weeks off, but my boss at the time was a workaholic and was more of the opinion ‘why would you want to spend your daytime with crying babies?’. It all worked out. He’s gone now and the new boss (and staff in general) is much more receptive to the idea.
I bet it feels great to know that you are debt free and all of your net worth is made up of cash and investments.
Well done for 33 years of age!