Increasing Retirement Portfolio contributions again

I have once again increased my RRSP contributions from $175/bi-weekly to $200 (earlier this month I increased from $150 to $175). I’ll be able to do this without a real strain on my budget, since according to my rough budget going forward, I will probably have about $2,000 to save each month.

My goal this year was to increase my portfolio to $25,000 (not including TFSA which is currently getting $25-50/month). I just logged into TD Canada Trust online banking and I’m sitting at $22,336. Provided we don’t see another slide in the stock market, I will definitely be able to make it.

There are 21 more pay periods between now and the 2009 RRSP contribution deadline of March 1, 2010. So at $200 per pay period, I should be able to save $4,200. Plus the $925 I’ve contributed already for 2009 = $5,125. So I’m looking at around $26-27k. And if the stock market decides to cooperate a little, perhaps I could even see a rise to $30k.

That’s more than I thought I’d be able to save, but definitely much less than my contribution limit, which I think is around $11k right now. In an ideal world, I’d be able to max out my RRSPs – and I’d be able to if it weren’t for traveling. But that’s most important right now, and I don’t regret the decision either.