Net Worth: September 2010

$117231 (+ 2.3%)

This month, my major purchase was the $530 for the flight to Hawaii. I did splurge at a local clothing store during their summer clearance and spent $200 on two pairs of jeans (actually-one pair of jeans and one pair of jeggings lol) , one pair of jean shorts, one skirt, one tank, and one silk top.  Everything was about 70% off and I only do this about twice a year or less.  I’d say $200 is not too shabby for six items of clothing.

I was quite pleased with my net worth calculation this month- almost thought I was over $100,000 (albeit by $10) but realized I forgot to include my mastercard balance.  Without the pension and with the mastercard and amex balances, I’m at $99,677… almost over $100,000.  Even closer this  month! Hopefully by next month (I should be able to save $323 next month lol) I’ll be hitting 100K.  Then after that I’ll set my new target to 1,000,000 (haha yeah right- maybe realistically the next target I’ll aim at is 150k).

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

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Net Worth: July 2010
$114,554 (+ 3.7%)

I would say that I put in effort to save this month.  For big purchases, I only spent money for a gift for my boyfriend for his birthday and a long weekend trip to Kelowna which didn’t cost very much at all.  What also helped was that the market wasn’t acting too depressing this last month, considering it’s summer holidays and all.  They say “sell in May and go away” …maybe they meant to come back in July.  =)

I finally looked into my TFSA Questrade Trading account and checked which one of my holdings were planning to incorporate and which ones weren’t.  I found that all of them were converting (or already on the verge of converting by getting approval) except for one of them.  That one plans to convert, but doesn’t seem like they have any concrete plans as half the year is over already and they are still saying “might”.  I plan to sell that before the year ends and buy some XTR.TO (yup, adding some ETF’s to the mix).

Without the pension added, I’m at 97373… almost over 100K. So close, so close!  Hopefully in the next few months I’ll be at over 100K before adding the pension.

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

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Net Worth: July 2010
$110,463 (+ 19.9%)

Okay, before your eyes bulge out by the GINORMOUS increase in percentage of my net worth, I will let you know that I added my pension for this month (and will include it for ongoing net worth calculations) because a reader suggested I do so. =)

I saved saved saved this month, but with the stock market acting all crazy on me, my net worth this month hasn’t been as good as I had hoped for.

The HST has hit July 1, 2010, and already (just having to deal with it for a few days) it has been eating away at our hard-earned after tax dollars.  No one is really happy about it, it adds an extra 7% on everything that we pay.  Spending an extra 7% on dinners out and groceries (soy milk is taxable, but cow’s milk isn’t- CTV’s website has a briefing on what’s taxable or not at your grocer- it’s confusing grocers as well as me!) really adds up.  Ouch.  PS Gordon Campbell, I do not heart you and neither does everyone else in British Columbia.  Taxtips.ca has a great summary of the BC HST that has just come into effect.  I think it’s going to hit the restaurant industry pretty hard (though judging by the amount of people heading out to eat so far, I haven’t seen much difference).

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

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Net Worth: June 2010
$92,077 (+ 2.3%)

Sorry guys, I skipped a month of updating!  I was away for the last update…I didn’t want to be logging on checking my account balances with a public computer at an internet cafe, if you know what I mean! =)

With all the volatility in the markets, I set some stop losses (maybe I’ll do a post on stock market terminology basics soon) on some of my equities to protect my gains and protect my capital.  Of the three stop losses I set, all three of them got triggered while I was away!  One of them was to protect my profits, and the other two were to protect the capital.

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

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Net Worth: April 2010
$90,016  (+ 5.4%)

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Net Worth: March 2010 (up 4.4% booooyahhh)

$85,414

Maybe it’s good karma, but this month’s net worth calculation falls nicely after the markets were on an upswing for the past few days (remember last month’s net worth calculation? The  market was completely rollercoaster-like for a bit, almost made me nauseated).

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

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Net Worth: February 2010 (down 2.6% boooo)

$81,832 (-2.6%)

I should have done my net worth before all the financial meltdown that happened this week (my portfolio took a huge hit!).  I usually calculate my net worth shortly after the first Friday of the month (GEEKY, aren’t I) because that’s when my automatic deduction into my RRSP TD E-series happens.  I AM really glad that I’m getting to do this net worth calculating every month.  It kind of grounds me and nudges me to save up more and spend less.  It’s a good idea to calculate your net worth regularly, IMHO. To calculate your net worth accurately, you’ll need to get all your online passwords from your financial advisors (they’ll start “straightening up” because they know you’re checking regularly–I got a Christmas card from mine with an update on my portfolio from him this year!)

Okay, here’s the breakdown:

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Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, the one I had is to update my net worth monthly to keep track of where my money’s going.

Net Worth: January (woohoo! Up 5.8%!)

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2009 is coming to an end.  I can’t believe it’s been a year already… I can’t believe we’re heading into 2010!

(Vancouver is going to be a gong show in 2010, by the way with the Olympics.  I just know it.)

Here’s an update on my financial status:

Total Net Worth: $79,300

Here’s the breakdown:

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