Net Worth Update - May 22nd, 2010

It's been a long while since an update, but here it is!

Every time I get paid (every two weeks), I update my net worth. The idea behind this is that my goals are that my liabilities drop every two weeks, and by tracking them in this way, I am able to get a nice picture of where I stand financially. Its not a perfect balance sheet that I have (because of student loans I have a negative net worth), but the progress is what I am looking for.

ASSETS:
- down $139.73 from April 24th
- up $7084.30 from May 22nd, 2010 (one year ago)

These assets include my house (I give it 1% appreciation each year in my appreciation), my RRSP and my TFSA. The stock market had a correction recently, which affects my assets

LIABILITIES:
- better $287.30 from April 24th, 2010
- better $16,787.51 from May 22nd, 2010(one year ago)

These liabilities include my mortgage, student loans and a consolidation loan (mainly for my Masters Degree for teaching). I continue to make bill payments slowly decreasing my liabilities. I had to pay for my last two teachers college courses which affected this.

NET WORTH:
- better $147.57 from April 24th, 2010
- better $23,871.81 from May 22nd, 2010(one year ago!)

Things are starting to slow down for me, and without me doing summer school this year I will be unable to make a nice dent in my loans, although the sanity is more than worth it. I just have to remember that this is a long range plan rather than a short term plan.

The last thing I am going to track is the value of the TSX. I have some asset allocation goals that are dependent on the value of the TSX.

TSX Graph
Current Value: 11,521.35
Highest Value in Last 2 Years: 15073.13 June 18th, 2008

Babies and RESPs

My brother and his wife just had twins (congratulations from frugala and I) so we decided that a nice 0th birthday gift for them would be a contribution to their RESP (once they have their birth certificates and social insurance numbers I guess). The benefits of these savings are that you begin saving for post-secondary education, the money grows tax free on the growth, and that the government contributes between 20 and 40% extra to your contributions (based on your income) and that you can have up to $50,000 for each child.

For more information, check out RESP Information for more information.

As an aside, some shock in the stock markets yesterday as a slip of the finger may accidentally have caused a 1000 point drop in the Dow Jones. Check out this link for more information.