It’s only the start of the 2nd-half of the year but I’m already past $40k I made as my savings goal for the end of 2009.  This just means I have become a serious saver. Reading personal finance blogs & learning from them has really helped me tremendously. It was so easy to reach my $ goal with automated savings. If I continue to be this hardworking to reach my retirement goal then I will only have to work for just 10 more years. I can retire early, that is, I won’t be slaved to working ’til the usual 65 y/o retirement age.

Anyway, for this month savings have shifted again to Other Assets as I continue to lend money to my sister. Retirement has also increased significantly since investments are starting to grow.

Cash – 6,964.96

Retirement – 14,393.52

Other Assets – 21,646.00

Debts – (450.00)

My total networth as of June 30, 2009 is 42,554.48. This is a $2,578.58  or a 6.45% increase from my last month’s NW.

Since I already reached my 2009 goal I need to update that so there’s still something that will inspire me. I expected the 2nd half of the year to have more expenses because of Summer & Holiday travels. Therefore, I only added $8k to my original 2009 goal. This is still a bit challenging given the expected expenses but I need a challenge to continue being a serious saver.

Early this year I planned to increase my NW to 40k by the end of the year.  That’s about 15k of supposed to be 1-year savings.  It seems to be a huge amount (which is >1k per month) at that time. But alas, it isn’t really unachievable since this month I am almost on it, just a few dollars more < $100. Wow! I can’t believe at first how much I’ve saved since Jan this year, about 11k! That’s like my whole last year savings! I have really become a good saver since starting this PF readings. I’ve learned a lot thanks to the PF blogs I have been frequenting. I think it’s good to note that a huge of that amount came from tax refunds & employer bonuses (maybe around 40%).

Anyway, my NW shifted to Others from Cash again since I am lending $ to a relative. Money is for sharing right? I’m glad I can share my blessings even though I am losing interest on it (if saved). I’m happy that I can help.

Cash – 8,554.11

Retirement – 12,979.47

Other Assets – 18,647.00

Debts – (204.68)

As of May 09, my NW is 39,975.90 which is 2,261.93 more than last month’s (6% change).

Investments continue to rally and that helped in the increase of my NW.

I’m also lending particular sum of money to my sister so some of my money will shift to another category, i.e., from Cash -> Other Assets, starting this month up to around June/July.

Cash – 10,516.64

Retirement – 11,849.33

Other Assets – 15,628.00

Debts – (300.00)

As of April 09, my NW is 37,713.97 which is 3,565.60 more than last month’s. I have very little expenses this month, only 677.35. Plus, tax refund which is 1,333.38.  Also, investment’s interests have become positive for the first time and thus really contributed to a more NW this month.

As of March 31, 2009, I have $34,148.37 total networth according to my computation. (Only a few thousands more until my 40k goal for 2009, yes!)

Cash – 10,883.25

Retirement – 10,796.12

Other Assets – 12,649.00

Debts – (180.00)

Cash includes money in savings accounts, TFSA, cash on hand & some lent money that is being paid consistently by the borrower.

Retirement includes my RRSP accounts valued currently according to the market.

Other Assets include life insurance contributions, lent money that are not being paid currently.

And the only debt I have right now is my credit card. (I am still not comfortable getting mortgages/loans, like for housing. I don’t need a car since public transport is very convenient for me right now.)

Change in my current networth is $2,090.41 or 6.52%  from last month’s. I received a $300+ profit sharing bonus which I cashed this year (last year I had it transferred to RRSP).

Expenses is $998.01 for this month, with a $200 paper-processing fee incurred.

I’m getting $1,279.49 refund because of my RRSP contributions and some refund from public transpo expenses (about same refund last year). I was able to maximize my RRSP contribution this year counting the Jan-Feb ’09 contributions. I even exceeded a few hundreds and so now I have over $6h to deduct for my limit next year. I probably have to reduce my monthly RRSP contribution or channel it to a TFSA instead.

I have been tracking my networth in spreadsheet since last year and have found it enjoyable to watch it climb up. Last year, I over-reached my financial networth goal, so consequently I increased my goal for 2009 ($40k) to make it more challenging, ha ha!

I also have a database where I log-in all my expenses and so I have a detailed info of them since starting last Dec 2006. My friend says it will be depressing to see all these expenses but this is quite opposite for me. When I’m feeling a bit down I usually check my expenses & networth and this lifts me up. It is like an achievement for me to see that my expenses are very low and my savings increased in no time. I’m determined to continue like this to be able to retire early, if possible.

Year 2008 is over and we are starting a new year again. Lots of things to do, good thing I have updated my 2008 networth but has not posted it yet here. I will soon, promise. I also need to post my Holidays expenses so as to compare with my old post about expected Holidays expenses. I will do that soon too. I just need more time.  I have started my French class as soon as I came back from vacation so I’m still busy ironing things out in work, school & home.

Anyway, I got a raise from work. Nothing to be so enthusiastic about, just the usual annual raise, 3% of the salary plus the adjustment. However, we had a market adjustment this year, a dismal sum of $2,500. Something to be thanked for also but I’m still not satisfied with what I’m getting.

So, I raised my emergency fund’s ASP amount from $200 bi-weekly to $250.  Now that makes me feel good! I plan to reduce my expenses further from 2008′s $17,616.76. How can I do that? maybe in Misc expenses & gifts. I had a lot of expenses this Holiday 2008, I could have been more frugal if I had the sense at that time. I guess, I was impulsive when I did the expenses.

Anyway, I also started my TFSA 2009. I opened a new account with ING with 50% of the maximum, $2,500.  I plan on putting up the half at TD using index funds, contributing monthly of $200.

OK, that’s it for now.  I have started 2009 well financially and hope it will reciprocate to what I desire most soon, personally, i.e., finding my partner for life!

Bonne Annee mes amis!

I am a very helpful person but if I help 75% of the needed amount it will deplete my cash savings and it’s about 30% of my entire current networth.  Life is precious especially if it is your loved one. This is one of the hardest financial decisions I made and I thought it hard for 2 days. Before this, I was also thinking of buying a rental house as another form of investment.  But I came to the conclusion today that I’m not ready for this yet, my cash savings is not enough for the needed 15% downpayment.  And this other need came up.

It’s almost Christmas time and the best gift that I can give is hope & life for a little baby. And so, I have the final decision to help financially my sister and her baby. Money is just a tool and if lost can be retaken in time. Life on the other hand can only be lived once.

If you manage your finances well then you can do the reverse and get profit from the bank instead of them profiting from you. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have discipline to do this.  And it takes years to become a responsible personal finance manager.

Anyway, my bank credited me $42.62 for this year for using my Visa card. I don’t pay annual fee nor any charges in my card. I had changed early this year for a reward card because I know I’m missing extra money. It’s not much but with this amount I can already buy gifts for 2-4 people this Christmas.

Yipee,  thanks for this extra money.  I also have other point rewards like Aeroplan & Air Miles that I’m planning to claim so I can use them for Christmas gifts. I’ll post here later how I used them & how much I was able to claim this year.

A few weeks ago, I listed my expected expenses for the upcoming Christmas & New Year’s 2008. I planned to spend this year’s holidays with my relatives in another city.

Here’s my list at that time:

—————————————————————–
Expected Christmas Holidays Expenses:
—————————————————————–
Travel Roundtrip to Wpg —————————– $ 577.86
Wpg Gifts (est 20 * 10) —————————— $ 200.00
   Wpg nieces/nephews 4 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 11
   Wpg families —————————- 6
   Wpg friend —————————— 1
Phils Gifts —————————————- $ 150.00
Ma & Pa, Fld Gifts ———————————- $ 300.00
Mtl Gifts —————————————– $ 100.00
My own shopping ———————————-$ 150.00
—————————————————————–
TOTAL                                                                $ 1,477.86

I will post my actual expenses after the holidays so I can see whether I stuck with my budget or where I had under/over expenses.