Gone Camping

...well, going.

We're heading out camping for the next 7 days!  Can't wait!  I don't have any posts lined up, but I'll leave with you with a photo of where we are headed.

Are we saving enough for retirement?

This is certainly not the first time I've asked this question, nor will it be the last.  I got to thinking about it after writing the post the other day which included an update that Jordan is contributing an additional $25/week to his RRSP Streetwise Fund with ING.

I'm lucky that I have a great company sponsored pension plan at work.  It's a defined contribution plan, which means what I get out of it really depends on the market but there is a set amount that both I and my employer contribute (5% of my gross salary each).  My rate of return based on my chosen investment mix was 4.9% two years ago and 9.9% last year.  Year to date, it's 4.2%.  Jordan, is not so lucky.

Here's a breakdown of our current annual retirement savings:

The RISA is the basic RRSP with ING, Streetwise is our investment RRSP account with ING.  Shares I purchase through my employer but are not a registered retirement plan - I consider this to be ours, not mine or Jordan's.  Finally Jordan gets a small annual profit share that is automatically contributed to a work RRSP account.

We are looking at a lump sum share purchase that would increase this years retirement savings by about $6,750 - but I really want to focus on the annual contributions, not the random lump sum stuff that we do.

So...what do you think?  Is it enough?

I would like to see us increase Jordan's savings by at least $15/week - but that's really only to meet the arbitrary 10%.  

The Big Backyard Project Update

The garage is almost done!  It's completely framed and shingles are on.  The windows are in too (just not shown in this picture).

We're just a few weeks away from having this project completely finished! 

Recent Decision Making

The last little while, my posts have been a bit all over the place as we've had some conflicting priorities.  I've talked about buying an investment property, or investing in RRSPs or even investing with shares at work.  I've talked about paying off the escape and looked at increasing our mortgage payment.

There are just so many options.

Yesterday I wrote about our decision on a vehicle - basically, we've committed to continuing to do research and not rushing it.

We have also decided to buy more shares at my work which is an investment in both my career and our retirement.  We have also moved our RRSPs with ING from a RISA that was getting 1.35% to a Streetwise Mutual Fund Portfolio.  Specifically, the Equity Growth.  It's high risk/high return - but it's a relative low sum of money (under $6K combined), and we have 35 years of investment time.  The portfolio is trending very strong at 8.73% YTD.  While we will continue to contribute $50/week (each) to our RISAs, Jordan is now also contributing an additional $25/week to his Streetwise! So pumped!

We haven't written off the idea of an investment property, but we have put it on hold for at least a year or two.  We want to focus on our family and a few other things before we go down that path.

Update on our Vehicle Decision

okay...so a few weeks a go I wrote a post about fuel economy and Jordan and I trying to decide if the Escape was the right vehicle for us.

We haven't decided, but we have spent a lot of time doing research.  One of the things that we are going to do the next time we wish we had a truck - is rent one!  That way, we'll get to test it out, see how it feels...is it really that much easier then the Escape.

Another thing that we're doing is continuing to track our mileage - if we do this over the course of the summer we should have a better idea about what potential savings there would be for trading in the Escape for a commuter car.

The last thing on the list is to get our windshield replaced (done), the car cleaned (done), and the speaker/air conditioner repaired (not done) - once we have all of those check-marks, we can find out the trade in value of the Escape and go from their.

Happy 30th Birthday Jordan!

http://coolmotivator.com/send/happy-birthday/

Networth: July 1, 2013

I feel like I have a bit of catching up to do.  I'm going to start with our networth.  We've gone down from $23K to $18K over the last month.  This is because we have paid some of the bills related to our big backyard project - the project isn't done yet, so I'm not ready to increase the value of our home....that should happen next month if everything goes according to plan.  There were a few delays because of the flooding in Alberta.

Here's is a detailed breakdown:

Our home tax assessment and vehicle value hasn't changed.

RRSPs & Pension have gone up as per usual.

Shares have also stayed steady.

Regular savings has increased - but a big chunk of this is going to go towards the LOC as soon as I get my banks talking to each other properly.

The mortgage and car are going down steadily.

The credit card has some expenses on it including a new windshield, and gifts (July is a big birthday month for us) as well as gas and groceries from camping.  This will all be paid off in a few days.