2017 Goals

Goals:

I’ve never been much for setting goals.  I know that sounds odd – especially for someone with a finance blog who is currently writing a blog post called “2017 Goals”.

It’s not that I am against setting goals, it’s likely more to do with the fact I am not very organized, I tend to procrastinate and mainly due to the fact don’t want to miss meeting one of my goals.

That being said, I know I SHOULD be setting goals on a regular basis, and my first goal will be just that.  With that being said, here are my Personal & Financial Goals for 2017.

Personal Goals

1. Start setting goals!
   Keep them updated and follow through.  I plan to start small. 5 Personal Goals and 3 Financial Goals for 2017.
2. Sell our house & buy a new house
   This one should be fairly easy, because I am pretty sure if I don’t follow through on it my wife will divorce me 🙂   With the second child being born, we’ve simply outgrown our current place.
3. Start a website & keep it updated
   The website has been created – that is the easy part.  Now the hard part. Keep it updated, and do my best to keep it interesting.
4. Spend more time at home/with family
   I’ve become accustomed to being “out” a lot.  This last year I played on 2 ball hockey teams (40 games) 2 soccer teams (40 games), I was a Winnipeg Jets season ticket holder (41 home games), traveled a bit for work and tried to keep up my social life as well. With a second child at home now I know I need to cut back – but I know it wont be easy.
5. Try 5 new restaurants (with Amber)
   I always like trying new places to eat & drink.  Amber gets mad/jealous because I tend to go out for meals quite a bit without her whether its while traveling, before or after Jets games, or lunches with work. This one will be fun and force me to be a better husband:)

 

Financial Goals

1. Get Amber “set up” financially
   This means setting up a spousal RSP, TFSA, direct investing account and more importantly trying to get her interested in any of the above.
2. Eliminate all debt (not including mortgage)
   I don’t normally carry any debt, however over the last year I managed to rack some up on my line of credit.  I decided to pay for my Jets tickets in full for next season, and for the first time in my life I took some money out of my line of credit to invest. I am hoping my tax return will cover the cost of the tickets, and ideally i’d like to pay off the portion I used to invest without selling any stocks from my TFSA.
   Current Line of Credit Debt = $20,000.
3. Get total portfolio Value to $320,000 by December 31
   Obviously this could be completely derailed by a stock market crash – and I won’t be heartbroken if that is the case (just means i can buy more shares for the long haul). It will be a bit tougher to contribute as much this year due to the second child, buying a new house and trying to eliminate line of credit debt..but I guess that’s what goals are for!

I’ll try and post a quarterly update on where I am at with these goals.  Wish me luck!

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Well…I finally did it…and a bit about me

First Blog Post Ever:

Yesterday was the day I finally did it.  I’ve been talking about doing it for quite some time – but kept putting it off.  No, I am not talking about creating a personal finance blog (i did that today)…and I am definitely not talking about going to the gym.  Yesterday I went to the bank and turned my bank account (the same account I’ve had since I was 8 years old) into a joint account with my wife.

The real reason for making the bank appointment was to set up a spousal RSP & open a TFSA & Direct Investing account for my wife-but I decided it would just be easier to manage everything through one account.  This may not seem like a big deal – in fact most married people I know always found it strange that we had separate accounts…hell I am sure even my wife thought it was odd.  For some reason though, when I was asked to sign on the dotted line, I hesitated.  Oh well – it’s done now.

Anyways – Moving on….

My parents are great.  They’ve always supported everything we’ve ever done, we see each other multiple times a week and they are great Grandparents….BUT my parents have never been great with money.  Don’t get me wrong, they are doing fine – they both have pensions, are enjoying life and have never “struggled” to put food on the table or anything… BUT I am pretty confident they couldn’t explain the difference between a TFSA/RRSP.  I don’t believe my Dad has ever had an RRSP, owned a stock, or made a personal budget. So it might be shocking to know that this website, and my own financial portfolio exists mostly because of my Dad.

Around the time I was graduating high school, my dad gave me the book “The Wealthy Barber” by David Chilton.  It changed the way I thought of money, wealth, retirement and the shaped the way I would live the rest of my life.

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been interested in money & business from a young age.  When i was 10 years old, I set up a hockey card & comic book shop in my basement.  I would buy and sell cards/comics with kids in the neighborhood.  I would buy candy and drinks and sell them to other kids (at a small markup of course:).  I was always scheming ways to make a few dollars…but  it wasn’t until reading the Wealthy Barber that I took it to the next level. I opened my first RRSP at the age of 18, bought my house at 21, and have been doing my best to build up my net worth ever since.

This website is mainly for me.  I wanted to have a place to track my financial goals, monitor my portfolio and review new things I try – however I’d also like to share some thoughts and ideas with others who may be interested in the same things – so hopefully this website can be for you too.  Enjoy!