Net Worth Update

As of March 1st, my net worth was $52 535 (up 1.8% from $51 609). The markets completed its recovery of the January downdraft, although there are signs they we may be in for another downdraft in March.

If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth is $40 000 (up 1.2% from $39 530).

Assets ($127 360, up 0.3% from $127 028)

• Bank Accounts $2 336 (down 30% from $3 331)
• Emergency Funds $2 454 (down 27% from $3 376)
• RRSP Accounts $33 694 (up 2.7% from $32 815)
• Non-Registered Investments $7 484 (up 19% from $6 293)
• Home $75 600 (stable)
• Arbitrage $5 000 (stable)

Liabilities ($74 825, down 0.8% from $75 419)

• Credit Cards $4 800 (down 2.1% from $4 904)
• Student Loan $1 916 (down 11.6% from $2 167)
• Mortgage $56 360 (down 0.2% from $56 467)
• Heat Pump Loan $7 005 (down 0.7% from $7 054)
• Arbitrage $4 593 (down 2.1% from $4 692)

I wanted to take advantage of the recent downdraft to boost my DRiP portfolio, so I deployed quite a bit of cash from my bank accounts and emergency fund. I may have slightly overextended myself, since I now have little liquidity left beyond the essential. Just as I did this, I got hit with some larger-than-expected car maintenance and repair costs. And my personal computer died last week.

So, for next month, I expect to see my non-house-related liabilities increase, since the unexpected expenses went on the credit cards. I will also need to rebuild some of my cash reserve. But I can still sleep at night, since I still have a fairly reasonable emergency fund.

Net Worth Update

As of February 1st, my net worth was $51 609 (up 1.45% from $50 868). With the markets acting the way they did in January, it is nice to see that my net worth increase, even if it was by a small amount.

If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth is $39 530 (up a paltry 0.1% from $39 486). The reason for this is that my net worth update was from debt reduction instead of an increase in assets, and most of my debt is related to the house.

Assets ($127 028, down 0.2% from $127 227)

• Bank Accounts $3 331 (down 37% from $5 312)
• Emergency Funds $3 376 (up 22% from $2 761)
• RRSP Accounts $32 815 (up 0.3% from $32 706)
• Non-Registered Investments $6 293 (up 22% from $5 172)
• Home $75 600 (stable)
• Arbitrage $5 000 (stable)

Liabilities ($75 419, down 1.2% from $76 358)

• Credit Cards $4 904 (down 4.6% from $5 138)
• Student Loan $2 167 (down 10.4% from $2 416)
• Mortgage $56 467 (down 0.2% from $56 574)
• Heat Pump Loan $7 054 (down 0.7% from $7 102)
• Arbitrage $4 692 (down 2.1% from $4 792)

Recents month have shown that the stock market is having a large impact on my net worth. This is not surprising, considering that my RRSP and non-registered investing are increasing in value and that they are largely based on stocks. This is something that I can live with, since I am in for the long run.

I am also looking at boosting my emergency fund, mostly to prepare for the home renovations we plan on doing this summer. Although we will try to get a home line of credit, having more cash at hand will counterbalance the increased potential debt.

Hydro Rant

This week, I received my monthly statement from Hydro Quebec. They changed the format of the statement, and with the new format there is less information than was previously.

Notably absent from the new statement are two pieces of information that I consider important, and a third one that I consider less critical yet valuable for a lot of customers.

The missing items are:

1. For customer like me who has the bi-energy counters, they no longer list consumption separately for the low-temperature and normal-temprature readings. To me this is an important information, as I like to keep track of how much electricity we used when temperatures were cold, and to see if we should be more careful.
2. The rates for each kWh is no longer on the statement. This is always important to have the current rates on a statement, because the calculation are somtimes tricky (dayly rate, usage rate, low- vs normal-temprature rate). They will now provide this information only once a year.
3. The total paid for electricity during the previous year, for each statement (which are every two months). Although this is not a critical information for me (since I track this anyway in a spreadsheet), it gives an at-a-glance summary of how much it costs for a year. I'm sure that for a lot of customers this is quite useful.

What is really annoying with this, is that it gives the impression that they don't want customers to know how much they are using. Furthermore, the statement came with their usual newsletter which said that the new statement contained all the information that the old one had!

I consider this situation unacceptable. I am currently preparing a complaint that I will send to Hydro Quebec, as well as the "Régie de l'énergie" (which regulate energy rates in Quebec) and "Office de protection du consommateur" (which protects customers from shady pratices).

Have you paid attention to your statements lately?

DRiPs - Selling Shares

This is the fifth installment of my series on DRiP investing.

Selling shares from a DRiP

Although having a DRiP in a company means that you are in the the long run, there will come a time when you may want to sell shares. This may be because you want to diversify your investments, or simply because you need the money.

A bit like setting up the DRiP, selling shares from it is often more complicated than doing it from your broker's account.

Some DRiPs will allow you to sell shares directly, for a reasonable fee (about $10 + a few cents per share). You simply have to inform the transfer agent who admisters the DRiP (usually in writing) that you want to sell a certain number of shares, and they will do so. Note, however, that you won't be able to time your sale precisely. They will probably be sold at the next reinvestment date.

For DRiPs that do not offer this option, you will have to get a share certificate for the shares you want to sell, and sell them through your broker. Your usual broker fees for selling shares will apply, and a few brokers will also charge you a fee when you deposit the share certificate into your account.

All of this takes time, so you have to know ahead of time that you want to do this. The advantage of this is that it eliminates the urge to try to "play the market" by buying and selling often. The disadvantage is that it takes longer to get to your money.

But you should only invest money that you don't need in the short term, so if you invest wisely, this won't be a problem.

To read the beginning of my DRiPs series:

1. DRiPs - What are they?
2. DRiPs - Registering Shares to Your Name
3. DRiPs - Enrollment and Purchases
4. DRiPs - Paperwork and Taxes

Goals for 2008

Like many other bloggers, I've decided to set down some goals for 2008. Not only goals, but also measurable objectives to go with each.

Goal 1 - Lose some weight: It's been creeping up slowly in the last couple of years, and it's time for me to address this problem. I tried setting up a regular exercise schedule in the fall, but got sick and failed to pick it up again afterwards. I currently weight 210 pounds, and my objective is to lose 15 pounds, so that I weight no more than 195 by the end of the year. More important, I want to maintain that weight loss. This is the most important goal to me.

Goal 2 - Increase my passive income: In 2007, my DRiP portfolio generated $130 in dividends, which were reinvested. My current holdings would produce about $300 if I add nothing to them. My objective is to increase that to $450, by making additional regular purchases to my DRiPs.

Goal 3 - Increase my net worth: My objective is to increase it by $20 000, like I did in 2007. That won't be easy, since we have some important renovations to make to the house in 2008 (we will begin replacing the windows).

Goal 4 - Blog more often: Since starting my blog last June, there were periods when I haven't written anything. This year, I'd like to do better. My objective is to write at least 1 article every week. Exceptions will be made for when I'm away on vacation for a week or more, since I usually don't touch a computer at those times.