I transferred my pension from my previous employer to my personal investment account. The amount is about $20,000, which I currently hold in my TD RRSP as cash. This money exists because I saved 4% of my income and put it towards the company RRSP group plan for 7 years. It’s not a huge amount of money but if I invest all of it into something that can generate 5% return per year, I would earn $1,000 of tax deferred passive income without touching the principal. 🙂 I also have a Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP) that is awaiting to get paid out as well. But I’m not sure when I will receive that yet. It’s not as much as the RRSP amount though.

Liquid’s Financial Update

*Total Income: = $7,300

• Full time job = $4000
• Part time job = $1400
• Freelance = $500
• Dividends = $1000
• Interest = $400

• Food = $300
• Housing = $1200
• Utilities = $100
• Miscellaneous = $1100
• Additional Debt Interest = $900

*Net Worth: (ΔMoM)

• Assets: = $1,222,500 total (+17,500)
• Cash = $10,500 (-2000)
• Canadian stocks = $173,600 (-1500)
• U.S. stocks = $117,800 (-1700)
• U.K. stocks = $22,200 (-200)
• Retirement = $113,200 (+21,900)
• Mortgage Funds = $33,300 (+700)
• P2P Lending = $31,900 (+300)
• Home = $275,000
• Farms = $445,000

• Debts: = $433,400 total (-2,500)
• Mortgage = $192,500
• Farm Loans = $182,900 (-500)
• Margin Loans = $51,000
• TD Line of Credit = $2,000 (-1000)
• CIBC Line of Credit = $5,000 (-1000)

*Total Net Worth = $789,100 (+$20,000 / +2.6%)
All numbers are in $CDN. 

I will be looking at how to invest the extra $20K. Maybe I will buy some U.S. dividend stocks. The Bank of Canada is also expected to raise interest rates later this week. It’s about time. If the cost to borrow money remains at current levels then in 5 years from now home prices in large cities would likely be 25% higher than today. Higher interest rates will help keep inflation tame so home prices don’t climb too much.

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Random Useless Fact:

It’s hard for attractive nurses to take accurate pulse readings.

Farmland prices still on the rise

A new report from Farm Credit Canada indicates that local land values around my farmland have grown by 2% last year. So in this fiscal update I will be increasing the value of my farmland by 2%. This will add $9,000 to my net worth. Cool beans! 😀

Farmland across the rest of the country actually performed much better. The national price rose 8.4% last year, which is higher than the 7.9% growth in 2016.

Overall, my wealth has grown by $15,900 for the month of April, mostly thanks to higher farmland prices in Saskatchewan. So far this year my net worth is up $44,800 because from January to April I’ve had a string of good luck with my finances. But the rest of the year could be different. The popular saying, “Sell in May and go away,” could very well be true this year.

Liquid’s Financial Update

*Total Income: = $5,900

• Old Amazon job = $300
• New full time job = $1,200
• Ongoing part time job = $500
• Sold cryptocurrencies = $1800
• Freelance = $500
• Dividends = $1000
• Interest = $600

• Food = $500
• Housing = $1100
• Utilities = $100
• Miscellaneous = $700
• Additional Debt Interest = $900

*Net Worth: (ΔMoM)

• Assets: = $1,186,600 total (+12,500)
• Cash = $7,700 (+1100)
• Canadian stocks = $170,200 (+1900)
• U.S. stocks = $113,800 (-500)
• U.K. stocks = $22,000 (+600)
• Retirement = $89,100 (-200)
• Mortgage Funds = $32,500 (+300)
• P2P Lending = $31,300 (+300)
• Home = $275,000
• Farms = $445,000 (+9000)

• Debts: = $444,200 total (-3,400)
• Mortgage = $179,000 (-400)
• Farm Loans = $183,900 (-400)
• Margin Loans = $52,000 (-1100)
• TD Line of Credit = $4,000 (-100)
• CIBC Line of Credit = $10,500 (-1500)
• HELOC = $14,800 (+100)

*Total Net Worth = $742,400 (+$15,900 / +2.2%)
All numbers above are in $CDN. 

I’m in the middle of switching banks to renew my mortgage. I’m currently paying over 3% for my mortgage. I think I can get it down to below 2.75%. This would allow me to save thousands of dollars over time. Fingers crossed. 🙂

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Random Useless Fact:

I feel like I’m the only one who haven’t seen Infinity War yet.

Changing Employment Situation

I got laid off from my full time job in early February. I received a severance package worth several months of my regular pay. So yay! #freemoney. I was starting to get complacent at my old job and could use a fresh start somewhere else. 🙂 The best way to leave a company, financially speaking, is to be terminated without cause. So I’m pretty fortunate.

The added benefit is because I no longer have coworkers who know about my blog I can be more transparent about my total monthly income starting in next month’s fiscal update post. This means I’ll reveal both income and expenses so everyone will see my complete budget. I don’t have to be concerned anymore about office politics and coworkers getting jealous of my salary.

It took me awhile to deposit the severance package, so the payment amount will not be reflected in today’s post. But it will be represented in my balance sheet in next month’s update. 🙂 Luckily I have 5 other incomes (rent, dividends, interest, part-time teaching, and freelancing.) The net sum of these other incomes vary, but works out to roughly $3,000 to $4,000 per month. Thank goodness I took the time to build up these side incomes over the past years. Otherwise I would be very stressed if I lose my only source of income, lol. Much like working at a mattress store, it’s nice to have things to fall back on. 😀

Fortunately I managed to find another job last week so I’m now full time employed again. 🙂 I find that self reflection is very important when job searching. It’s all about having a good innerview. 😎 My new job is very different from my old one. For privacy reasons I will not disclose my new employer’s name. I’m still in Vancouver, Canada. But let’s just say I’m working for a giant internet retailer based in the United States. 😀

Due to the lay off my income was dramatically reduced in February. I had to dig deep into my cash reserves to continue paying down my debts. The stock market also fell slightly. But on a positive note, the growing strength of the U.S. dollar thanks to better than expected economic data increased the value of my U.S. stock portfolio. So overall my net worth eked out a tiny increase. It’s the smallest gain in many months, but any gain is better than a loss.

Liquid’s Financial Update

*Side Incomes:

• Part-Time = $1,100
• Freelance = $700
• Dividends = $700
• Interest = $400

• Fun = $600
• Debt Interest = $1400

*Net Worth: (ΔMoM)

• Assets: = $1,168,800 total (-3,100)
• Cash = $800 (-2100)
• Canadian stocks = $168,000 (-2500)
• U.S. stocks = $115,600 (+2900)
• U.K. stocks = $21,100 (-1100)
• Retirement = $89,200 (-800)
• Mortgage Funds = $32,400 (+200)
• P2P Lending = $30,700 (+300)
• Home = $275,000
• Farms = $436,000

• Debts: = $453,500 total (-4,300)
• Mortgage = $179,800 (-400)
• Farm Loans = $184,800 (-500)
• Margin Loans = $55,200 (-1300)
• TD Line of Credit = $4,000  (-500)
• CIBC Line of Credit = $15,000 (-1500)
• HELOC = $14,700 (-100)

*Total Net Worth = $715,300 (+$1,200 / +0.2%)
All numbers above are in $CDN. 

It’s kind of early to say how the recent employment change will affect my freedom 35 goal. But for now I don’t expect too much deviation from my plan. I will also be contacting Great West Life insurance company to transfer out the money in my defined contribution pension plan. It will be rewarding to finally have direct control over those funds. 🙂

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Random Useless Fact