[FrugalTrader]

I'll admit it, I'm lost, and I need some help, but am having a really hard time finding help.

I'm a recent grad. I have some (less the 10K) debt from that adventure. I have a house (with a mortgage), and I have a paycheck. I contribute to my own RSPs, just held in a high interest savings account for now. I do not have any work related benefits, just the check.

I've tried a few times to talk with a financial planner prior to purchasing my house, and I was always turned away because I didn't have enough cash to invest. Now I have less cash given the purchase of my house, and I can't get any help now either.

I've optimized my mortgage the best I can by increasing the frequency of payments, which is all I can do for the short term. I would like to eventually put additional lump sum payments on the principal in the future, as well as increase the payment amounts.

My question is what is it that I should be doing? I do my very best to put away funds from every check into a savings account, and emergency fund, and my RSP savings account. I eventually think I'd like to try my hand at some stocks, but I still need to research the process and gain a much better understanding.

Help? I'm lost!

Ok, lets hear more about you. What are your financial goals? By when?

By the sounds of it, you are doing pretty good for a new grad!

 

[FrugalTrader]

Some goals

1) Get out of debt - I have a plan for my and my partners debt and if we get it together we'll be debt free by the end of 2010, or possibly early 2011. My partner has considerably more debt after choosing to buy a brand new vehicle, and some reckless spending before we met, he also brings home 2-3x what I do. However we allocate our money to our joint bills based on a percentage. We keep our money separate because we both know that he needs to be on an allowance and doesn't have the self control required not to touch money sitting in an account earmarked for something else.
2) Pay off the mortgage - I have to complete #1 to get to this one.
3) Go back to school - Really all I need for this goal is the cash, and it works out to be about 3-5K per year depending on my prefered coarse load. I work my schooling around my job.
4) I would like to semi-retire in my 40s. I'm 24 now. I have no clue how to figure out how much I need. We are not having kids, so that is something I do not have to budget or plan for
5) I want a sense of long-term financial security. I lived paycheck to paycheck in University. I paid everything myself, but it was really hard. We have more money now that I'm done, but just having an emergency fund set aside is not enough.
6) I also want to educate myself on these things, nobody is going to save my money, or make these decisions for me. I need to learn how to educate myself about money beyond budgets, savings, my mortgage, and credit cards.

Sounds like you guys have your budget created and saving a good portion of your income. One important factor for us is the amount we save on an ongoing basis. It allowed us to pay off all of our debt in a short period of time.

After your debt is paid off, you will want to look into investing within your RRSP/TFSA/non-registered. For beginners, I would suggest that you start with research on index investing and asset allocation (my beginner article on self directed RRSP'S).

In addition, it sounds like your partner is in a high tax bracket. The higher the tax bracket, the larger the advantage of contributing to an RRSP.

Feel free to keep asking specific questions, lots of knowledge on this forum to learn from.

 

[FrugalTrader]

Can you elaborate more on this one? Tentatively I have about 40%-45% of my net income earmarked for our joint savings, and my RSP. However I'm just in the process of rebuilding my emergency savings after an unfortunate set-back, but I'll be back on track in a couple of weeks, so all in all its just a minor set-back.

Yes my partner is in a significantly higher bracket then myself. He has started contributing to his RSP, and is being matched by his company. The downside is that he can only change the amount he contributes per check once a year. Next year we're hoping to triple the number once his debt is gone.

You're book is actually in the mail to me right now Jon! Someone sent it to me as an early birthday gift!

Can someone also explain to me how when I calculate my net worth do I work in my house? Do I subtract the annual city estimate from what is owing on my mortgage to get that number?

I am very appreciative of all the help and knowledge here. I think this forum is a fantastic idea. I love that my age and gender isn't a barrier.

If you are saving 40-45% of your income, then you are well ahead of most. Keep it up! For us, we put away a certain percentage per paycheck, along with banking any pay raises/tax refunds or other bonus money.

Here are more details on how to calculate your net worth.

If you're interested, I would even suggest that you start a financial diary in the money diary forum. That way, you are publicly accountable (but still anonymous) for your financial goals. I find that posting my monthly net worth update on MDJ keeps me on my toes, so it may help you as well.