Net worth update as of December 31: $960,800 down $16,400 or -1.7% vs November

Assets:
Cash: $68,600 (-$11,000)
Unregistered: $806,200 (-$6,600)
TFSA: $62,000 (-$100)
Defined benefit pension: $24,100 (+$1,500)

Liabilities:
$0

$1,904 of dividend income. Picking back up again with a few new positions added over the last couple of months.

$7,300 of total options sold, though still running a little high on the options income given that I'm still looking to deploy excess cash.

A lot of big events around the holidays. Moved cities just before year-end, landed a new job, gave notice at my existing job.
Burned through a big chunk of cash this month, with the move and wedding expenses starting to hit. Will be able to recoup significant move-related expenses, but not until 2018 tax time (early 2019).
2018 will be an expensive year, and the new gig doesn't pay the big semi-annual bonuses that I'm used to. That said, cost of living is substantially lower, which should be a partial offset.

 

Hi DMoney, I'm wondering how you count your DB pension in your total assets. What does the 24.1k represent? The yearly annuity or buyback value?

To be honest, I'm in the same boat... I've got lots of liquid asset with a fat DB pension, but I don't count it towards my networth because it's not mathematically right, since the assets are an accumulated value, and the DB pension is a cash flow. My thinking is a DB pension reduces your safe withdrawal rate at retirement. Unless you take the cash back value and invest it, then it becomes part of your networth.

Anyways, I'm curious to know your thinking, cheers

 

Right now, I'm accounting for it based on the cash value I would (will) receive, multiplied by an anticipated tax rate.
Minimum cash value is 175% of my contribution, so my calculation is (contribution X 1.75 X 0.65)
Given that I am starting a new job at the end of the month, I will likely take the cash value and put it into an RRSP, at which point I will run the calculation as (actual cash value X 0.65)
I might change my thinking if I were to remain with the same employer for the long run, but given that I am actually leaving at the end of the month, I'll adjust my calc accordingly.

 

I see, in that case it makes sense. Thanks

 

Blast from the past... may have about 8 years of updates to add in here

 

Interesting coming back to this after nearly 8 years, and nearly 15 years from my original post.
Lot of life happened since January 2018, wedding, couple of kids, couple of job changes, few moves.

Net worth and passive income progression have been great, with my annual dividend income now into six figures, covering annual expenses handily.

Looking back - there was a huge increase in investment income in 2018 after investing all the proceeds from selling our house, and then pretty solid compounding over the following years.

July net worth hit $2.6M, mostly from riding the bull market, with a decent amount of savings added over the years.

2024 dividend income (net of interest expenses) was $116k, 2025 is trending higher
I haven't been as diligent at tracking my options income, but am still very actively selling premium which can generate significantly more proceeds than dividends when things are humming along.

 

Thanks for sharing — what’s your current asset allocation, and what lessons learned or suggestions would you give to someone just starting now?

 

I'm essentially 100% equity, and increasingly tilting towards broad equity indices rather than trying to pick individual stocks.
Looking back, I'd say that investing has been "solved" and low-cost/broad-based diversified ETFs are a no-brainer; set it and forget it, come back in 10, 20, 40 years.
I have made some outsized returns over the years, but largely through the use of cheap leverage rather than good stock picks/investment decisions.
Might not be for everyone, but I have always maximized "good debt" (mortgage, investment loans), and prioritized putting $ into investments rather than paying down cheap debt.

 

August 31 update - a bit more detail than July\
Good month in the market - most of unregistered + registered accounts are invested in US/Canadian equities with some broader global exposure.

Net Worth: $2.69M (+$77k or +3.0% vs. July; +366k or +15.8% vs. August 2024)

Assets:
Cash: $38,000
Unregistered: $1,730,000
TFSA: $206,000
Private funds etc.: $773,000
RRSP/RESP etc.: $372,000
House: $1,330,000

TOTAL: $4.47M

Liabilities:
Mortgage: $767,000
HELOC: $178,000
Inv. loan: $819,000

TOTAL: $1.76M