Payday and Updates

Today is payday, and as per usual almost all my money is already spent ;)

Some important news ... my total debt is now under $6K! Currently sitting at $5,668.87 and my total assets are over $20K at $20,722.81 for a total net worth of +$15,053.94 :)

Its almost surreal to me that this year I should surpass on the positive side of net worth where I was negative in 2010 (-$21K).

Its taken a lot of hard work and dedication and I hope that if there are people who are currently in debt and feeling like they will never get out or never have savings, that you can use me as an example. I've been in overdraft, I got a consolidation loan at 29.9%, I've had collection calls, and a bad credit rating. Please believe that where you are now is not where you have to stay.

Please feel free to email me at morganofthefairies80@gmail.com or DM me at @morgainemoney if you want to discuss anything.

TTFN,
Morgaine

RRSP Boost and Waiting on Taxes

As of the end of business day tomorrow I should have just under $19,500 in my RSP. This is a combination of my usual $550 per pay automatic contribution and a $4,450 extra contribution I made.

$4K of this money is a loan from my aunt. I simply showed her my income tax report I did on turbo tax. It showed that if I made an extra $4K RSP contribution before March 1st that I would get back $3,989 as a refund. So, its basically an RSP loan that I'm paying back as soon as I get my refund.

After I pay her back this $4K I will be borrowing another $5K to bring my RSP up to the $25K max allowed under the first-time homebuyers plan. I will be paying her back in $500 monthly installments until the end of the year (10 months at $500 per month = $5K, she doesn't charge me interest :) )

I'm doing this for a few reasons.

1. Why not take a RSP loan if you can pay it back right away without interest?
2. There is a rule that you have to have the money in your RSP at least 90 days before you can withdrawal it from the plan for the HBP. If I wait and contribute as I have been, I won't be finished until mid-July. What if we find a place in September and I can't make a full withdrawal?
3. I still have to save extra outside my RSP. We live in Toronto. The average townhouse here costs about $355K if we want to have a 20% downpayment (and we do, screw CMCH fees!) then we have to save $71K! And there's closing costs as well. T already has his $25K in his RSP and about $7K saved outside. With my $25K RSP we are at $57K and need $14K more to have that 20%. If I pay my aunt back $500 a month, I can save the other $500 a month outside the RSP. Giving me another $5K before the end of the year and if T can save $9K then we are done. We are hoping to get something under this range, of course :) But better to be prepared.
4. This gives me another $100 per month to put towards debt. Yes, I realize this isn't a lot but every extra bit helps. I will be stopping my automatic deposit to my RSP. I may have to make a 1st 60 day contribution in 2014 to avoid paying tax (I'm now making more money than I ever have). But if we do buy a home in 2013 I have to pay some back to HBP and we will have the first time buyers tax credit as well :)

So now I just have to wait until I get my T4 and last RSP contribution record and I can file my taxes. I hate the waiting game ;)

And yes, I consider myself extremely lucky to have an aunt that is willing (and able) to help us out in this way. I've borrowed money from her in the past and have paid it back, so she knows that I'm good for this. So, why not get her to lend me the money to pay off my debt? Yes, I could save quite a bit in interest, but I'm doing it this way to "feel the pain" so that I never go into debt for stupid stuff again.

How much are you getting for your income tax refund and what are you planning on doing with it?

TTFN,
Morgaine

Weekly Spending: Feb 4 - 10

2/4 - $9.65 (debit - lunch) and $14.27 (debit - dinner for me and T) + $18.55 (cash - TTC tokens) = $42.47
2/5 - $3.05 (cash - breakfast)
2/6 - No Spend!
2/7 - No Spend!
2/8 - No Spend!
2/9 - $25.14 (debit - bulk barn but $10.60 was ingredients for gifts) + $8.48 (cash - dollarstore $2.50 home, $1.00 pet, $1.00 personal care, $2.00 gift) + $7.33 (debit - snack at movie theatre) = $40.95
2/10 - $142.99 (credit - pet store) ($10.00 cash given to T)

Total $229.46

It may seem on the surface that we did much better on eating out last week. Well, that would be partially true. I did take lunch from home 4 days last week. However, Monday. Tuesday, Friday and Saturday we either ate out or ordered in! We just have to figure out how to schedule dinner around our busy schedules. It almost defeats the purpose of going to the gym 3-4 days a week if we eat out 4-5 days!

I think this upcoming week will be much better. Today I could have ate out, but I pushed through and waited until I got home after the gym at 7:40 to eat leftovers from last night's dinner. Just requires a bit more planning and discipline.

I'm make a "foodie" gift pack for one of my friends for her birthday. Includes: gourmet flavoured butter, infused basil olive oil, a French baguette, and some Camembert cheese. I'm making the butter and olive oil. Thanks pinterest :)

I bought a new cage for the bunny. She escapes from the top of this one if you don't hook the top. And if you let her down on the ground to play, she will jump up and down from her cage on the table to the floor and vice versa. I'm a bit paranoid that she's going to hurt herself. The new cage has a ramp on the side that allows the rabbit to come and go as they please when its open. I just have to rearrange the room she's in so we can have the cage on the floor.

So that was my last week. How did you do?

TTFN,
Morgaine

My career in money ... what I've learned.

This post was inspired by Cassie of Tales from the Trenches comment on my Getting to Know Me post.

I mentioned that since graduating from University almost all of my jobs involved money. Here's a list:

• bank teller at a major bank (part-time)
• bank teller and back office admin at a Credit Union
• mortage promotions telephone rep and then telephone banking rep at a different major bank
• customer service for self-directed brokerage for yet another major bank
• back office admin at an independant mutual fund boutique (also started selling mutual funds)
• investment rep assistant
• pension fund admin then pension analyst for a major Ontario pension plan

I would say though that since most of my career involves sales I think that I didn't learn very much about finance from any of these jobs. Sounds strange, right?

In the early portion of my career, I had to push credit cards, loans, and mortages down everyone throats. Except at RSP time (around now) then it was pushing RRSPs down everyone's throats ;P But most people told me they had nothing left to save because of all that debt that we had pushed on them. I never once helped someone budget or had a conversation about lowering expenses (I had the ocassional desicsion about bank fees, of course) the rest wasn't part of my job.

I was never in the role of giving advice until I worked at the mutual fund boutique (and even then it wasn't my major role). I asked some friends and family if I could work on an investment profile for them, with the end goal of getting them to invest with me (so I could make commissions). If I helped anyone make decisions with what they do with their money (budgeting, cutting expenses, etc) it came more from the influence of Gail Vaz-Oxlade than my job.

It wasn't until I was 27 (and already had worked at 3 different banks) that I started looking at my money seriously. I was still quite deep in student loan debt (about $10K) had credit card debt (about $5K) and no savings. One of the fringe benefits of getting my mutual fund license is that any commissions earned from my own investments I get 100% of them. This is what actually triggered me to start saving in a RRSP. Not looking towards the future, not wanting to save for a house (I just started dating T at that time, I had no idea we'd be where we are now), I did it for the commissions :)

If anything, I learned more about finance from Gail and the Wealthy Barber (which I read in high school) than any of my jobs. Yes, I know quite a bit about investing and once we buy the house I look forward to purchasing some ETFs, but budgeting and saving, no I didn't get that from my career.

Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

Where did you learn about finance?

TTFN,
Morgaine

#Tag - Getting to know the "Person" behind the PF blog

This tag comes courtesy of Girl Meets Debt

The Questions:

1) How did you come up with your blog name?
Morgaine is a character from my favourite book "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I am seriously considering it as a name for girl if I have a daughter. Its been my online moniker for more than 10 years now. Since I'm still trying to stay anonymous, I figured a moniker was a good way to go. I also like the alliteration of Morgaine and Money.

2) Which bloggers inspired you when you first started writing?
Krystal from Give Me Back my Five Bucks, The Asian Pear, Jessie from Jessie's Money, and Jolie from Shaking the Money Tree were around before I started writing my own blog and inspired me to do one too. I've also been reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade's blog since 2008.

Bloggers that inspire me to keep writing (almost gave up on this blog) Cait from Blonde on a Budget, Bridget from Money After Graduation, and Cassie from Tales from the Trenches plus the above list.

3) Why write about finance?
I want to become debt-free and be more responsible with my money. Blogging is a way to stay accountable.

4a) What do you enjoy most about blogging?
To get other people's opinions and suggestions. I've been struggling with some of my money decisions and having such a support team is wonderfully inspiring.

4b) What do you enjoy least about blogging?
Coming up with articles that aren't just numbers. The pressure to promote your blog.

5) What’s the most helpful piece of advice you have learned from reading other PF blogs?
How to budget, its a personal thing. I've been struggling on how best to set-up my budget and reading how other bloggers do theirs and the issues and questions they have helped me to want to create my own, not just follow a pre-filled excel spreadsheet.

6) In terms of finance, what is your main focus at the moment?
Main focus - saving for downpayment on first home. Secondary - paying off debt and saving for other things so that I stay out of debt for good!

7) If you could give your younger self financial advice, what would it be?
Oh God! So many things!!! First, work harder. You're only young once when you have the free time and energy to work 2,3,4 jobs at a time. Second, save more. I saved nothing when I was in school. Three, don't take more student loan than you actually need. Sometimes I got more OSAP than I needed for tuition, I did spend some of it on books and other school related needs, but some of it was spent on clothes and other frivolous purchases. I should have worked harder and saved the money for books, needs, and wants and used only as much OSAP as I needed, it would have saved me at least some of the $21K debt I graduated school with.

8) Who in your “real-life” knows about your blog?
My hubby, T but he doesn't read this. I wanted this to be an online diary of sorts and I would feel more self-conscious if he read it. Some of my friends know, but to my knowledge only my friend Bianca reads this blog.

9) Does your real-life job have anything to do with finance or money?
Yes, I work in pension administration. Before this I've worked in the financial industry for 8 years, all of my jobs save 1 since graduation have been something to do with money. Its funny though that I would give people advice about saving and debt but didn't take it for myself until I was 27.

10) What’s the first thing you would do if you won a million dollars?
Pay off the remaining debt, buy a nice house (but not a million dollar house), go on a vacation, and put the rest in savings :)

If you decide to join along, please #tag this back to Girl Meets Debt (link at top).

Weekly Spending: Jan 28 - Feb 3

1/28 - $10.71 (debit - dinner) + $7.91 (debit - dollarstore) + $36.68 (debit - Walmart) = $55.30
1/29 - $1.00 (cash - milk) + $6.50 (cash - lunch) + $9.08 (debit - lightbulbs) = $16.58
1/30 - No Spend!
1/31 $146.90 (credit - vet)
2/1 $7.90 (cash - dinner) + $15.80 (debit - conditioner and hair dye) + $27.92 pet store (debit - food and litter pan) + $6.54 (debit - Kernels popcorn) = $58.16
2/2 - No Spend!
2/3 - $25.98 (debit - movie theatre, for both me and T)

Total: $302.92

Here's the story from last Monday night if you haven't had a chance to read it ...
http://morgaineandmoney.blogspot.ca/2013/01/did-i-cheat.html

The total for this week is high mostly due to pet costs, damn the vet is expensive! Luckily, I saved the money for this :)


Hopefully this week will be a lot less expensive :)

How did you do last week?

TTFN,
Morgaine

January Goals Recap and February Goals

January Goals

Financial:

1) Shopping ban - Pass - this is still up for debate - Did I cheat?
2) Savings goals - Check - put $2366.93 into various savings accounts this month
3) Debt goals - Pass - I paid $786.26 onto debt this month but the majority of it was to my MasterCard which is more paying down new purchases than paying off debt. I have to leave that credit card alone!
4) Increase my Net Worth - Check - up $2,903.08 (goal = $10,000/12 = $833 per month)
5) Track spending and post budgets - Check - only off by $1.84 but I think I had some pocket change from the beginning of the month that I didn't account for having.

Lifestyle:

1) Lose weight - Pass - down 2.5 lbs this month, no where close to the 2 lbs a week that they say you should lose, but at least I lost some and didn't gain.
2) Do something physical at least 4x a week - Fail - Its hard to be motivated to go for a walk when its so cold and miserable outside. I went to the gym an average of 2x per week but I didn't do anything else.
3) Eat better - Pass - there were a few cheat days but I would say we definitely ate better than we have in the past 4 months. I haven't had a diet coke all year (I'm a recovering diet coke addict, don't laugh, its true) and only had 1 bag of chips, a small one. Had burgers twice and Red Lobster once. Definitely room for improvement here.
4) Read more books - Check - read 2 books this month: "The Lady of the Rivers" by Philippa Gregory and "Money Rules" by Gail Vaz-Oxlade.
5) Make more things - Check - made 2 necklaces, 1 pair of earrings, and 1 bracelet.
6) Sell/donate more - Pass - I posted a lot of stuff on kijiji and craigslist but so far haven't sold anything. I had some bites but nothing has actually sold. I have a bunch of stuff sitting on the kitchen table waiting for us to take to Goodwill.

Blogging:

1) Post my weekly spending and bi-weekly budgets. - Check
2) Post at least one other post a week other than #1 - Check3) Comment on other blogs and become more of the community - Check4) Use twitter more (@morgainemoney) - Fail, I keep only checking my personal one5) Post updates on my progress with the Shopping Ban and these goals. - Check
6) I will update my blog and sidebars with these goals (other than the Closing Costs since this is mostly T). And if I'm on pace or not. - Check

February Goals

All of the above plus spend less money eating out!