Saving for Retirement April 29, 2010
Posted by gmbmfb in : investing, retirement , 13commentsI started saving for retirement again. Luckily I only lost 6 weeks, but even then … with all the savings goals I have this year, I don’t think I can make that time up. But anyway, starting this Friday I’ll be putting away $300 bi-weekly.
RRSPs
$50 Money Market
$50 CDN Bond Index
$50 European Index
$50 International Index
$25 CDN Index
$25 US Index
TFSA
$25 ING Direct (3%)
$25 PC Financial (2%)
According to the pay stub I received yesterday, I’ll be bringing in approximately $1,380 bi-weekly after taxes. So my Retirement Porfolio savings represents almost 22% of my net income. And based on the TD Canada Trust RRSP calculator at an average rate of return of 7%, if I keep saving at the rate I am, I can retire at age 55 (my goal retirement age) and will have $1.1 million in my Retirement Portfolio. That doesn’t even take into consideration the fact that I would increase my savings amount with any increase in salary over the years. So I’m feeling really good about the future, and I’m so glad that I took saving for my RRSPs seriously during my 20′s.
Retirement is only 30 years away! March 3, 2010
Posted by gmbmfb in : retirement , 7commentsI woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack. I was dreaming that I didn’t have enough money to retire, and was living on the streets as an old woman. BF was with me too. I guess he didn’t have enough money to retire either. So I guess it wasn’t so much a dream, than an absolute nightmare.
It must be a sign. I need to start saving more into my Retirement Portfolio. Right now I’m contributing $550/month. I’m going to step that up to $600/month and see how that goes. $50/month extra isn’t a lot, but it’s a start.
Also, I got to thinking that since I definitely want to retire early (maybe 55-60?), and since I can’t touch my RRSPs until I reach the age of retirement, I’m going to have to seriously beef up my TFSA to make sure I’ve got money in there to last me.
I’m so jealous of my friends who work for companies who RSP match! Free money like that would be glorious.
I heart Fridays November 27, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : investing, retirement, sidebar totals , add a commentWell today is pay day, so I updated the sidebars and my NetworthIQ. For the month of November, my net worth increased by 2.96%. I’m pleased about that, especially because I decided to buy out my entire private car insurance for the year (so now I only have approx. $78 payments per month for ICBC basic insurance). And that was pretty expensive.
I was also able to throw more money towards my Retirement Portfolio this month. I’m really trying to debate whether I should lower my RRSP contributions and concentrate on my TFSA. Right now about 90% of my Retirement Portfolio is in RRSPs. I’d like to build up my TFSA, but I’m having a hard time getting my head wrapped around it. Ideally I’d like to max out my TFSA each year, but it’s clearly not going to happen this year.
Study: Saving money is "too hard" October 1, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : retirement, saving money , add a comment
I found an article on CBC.ca today, which basically talks about a TD Canada Trust study that suggests 80% of Canadians found saving money “too hard” and that young people between 18-34 were more interested in saving for a house than for retirement.
Too hard, or too lazy???
They interviewed a 32-year-old from Vancouver who said that he hasn’t started saving yet for retirement, saying “I am too young to think about that,” and would rather save for a down payment instead (although he admitted he hadn’t started saving for that either).
Which makes me frustrated. What good is a house if you’re still paying for it when you’re 65? And what good is retirement if you’re barely scraping by?
It all boils down to a lack of discipline and priority. Isn’t this just what I was talking about the other day!? It’s unrealistic for people in my age group (mid/late 20′s) to save money for retirement (and for emergencies) AND go on expensive trips multiple times a year, buy a nice car and the latest gadgets, and party every night. Unless you’re rich. But even then, I think the people who complain that it’s “too hard” would complain even if they were making 6 figures.
If you’re in your mid/late 20′s and can’t save money and/or don’t have any savings, there’s a problem (unless you’re getting out of debt, but even then, you should still be putting away some money in an Emergency Fund and Retirement). Don’t buy an iPod. Don’t buy an expensive car. Don’t go out to eat every day. Don’t go on those expensive trips. Don’t move into a more expensive apartment. Even if your friends are doing it, just don’t. BECAUSE YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN’T AFFORD IT.
If you have an expensive hobby, then budget for it. It might mean giving up having a new car (and driving a used one), or not going out to eat as much, or not going on that trip. But you can’t do everything you want to do. That’s just not how life works. You have to make some sacrifices now in order to live the life you want to live in the future. A sad, but true reality.
Saving should be priority #1. Pay yourself first. Then do whatever you want with the rest of your money. And once you get into the habit of paying yourself first, you won’t even think twice about putting money away into savings every pay period.
Not sure if you’re saving enough to live the life you want to live come retirement? Plug your numbers into an RRSP Calculator and check it out!
Increased RRSP contributions September 24, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : retirement , add a commentI’ve upped my RRSP contributions to $200 bi-weekly (from $150) and my TFSA contributions remain steady at $25 bi-weekly.
There’s a possibility that I’ll max out my RRSPs this year because it looks like our travel plans are going to be canceled, but I really doubt that I’ll end up doing it. There’s a chance that, after J’s 3 year commitment is over, we will be going traveling. And if not, I will still need money to go away for 2 weeks sometime next year. We’ve discussed Thailand or Machu Picchu. Plus I think I might have some solo trips up my sleeve in the near future. :)
$25k RRSP portfolio! September 11, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : investing, retirement , add a commentHoorah! I’ve met my RRSP goal for this year of $25k (check out the sidebar). Currently I’m contributing $150 bi-weekly, and I want to increase that to $200 bi-weekly … or ideally $250. But I don’t think I can do that right now, and achieve the rest of my financial goals for the year. So instead of stopping my contributions now that I’ve reached my goal, I’ll keep going with $150 and see where that takes me.
Almost at my $25k RRSP goal July 24, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : investing, retirement , add a comment
Okay, so the book value of my RRSPs are sitting at $24,440. The market value is $23,350. That’s not a good sign. I think that being out only $1,090 in this kind of market means that my portfolio has been way too conservative. I’ve done a lot to re-allocate my funds over the past month and I think I’ve got a good balance now. But that’s a whole other story. Right now, I want to focus on what I’m going to do when I hit my $25k RRSP goal for the year.
I am $560 away from my $25k goal (based on book value, because I don’t have any control over what the market does). My original plan was to stop contributing to retirement and re-focus that $150/bi-weekly into my Emergency Fund. That would ensure my 2009 goal of a $5,000 EF would be met.
But … the idea of not contributing to my RRSP makes me a little anxious. Especially because if you think about it, I wouldn’t be contributing to my RRSPs again until 2011. That’s a long time. Basically I’d be losing 2 years. So now, I’m not too sure what to do.
If I keep contributing, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make my $5k EF goal. And really, having cash when we come back from traveling is a must. Spending saved money while we try to find work is a more important immediate goal than saving for 30 years from now. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Because if I have to go into debt trying to support myself when we get back, then that sets me back on all of my personal finance goals.
I think a good balance might be to scale back my RRSP contributions to $100/month once I meet my goal. That’s barely anything, but it’s better than nothing. And that should free up $200/month to put into my Emergency Fund, along with my regular EF contributions of between $50-200/month.
Increasing Retirement Portfolio contributions again May 21, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : retirement , add a commentI 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.
