Archive for June, 2011
Professional Development
One thing I’ve been focused more on now that I’m done school, is staying up to date with whats happening in my field. I’ve always managed to go to a few conferences a year, but this year in particular, I’m trying to ramp it up even further. Largley, its exposure to new ideas (stuff that I don’t see much of at work), but as well, its also about trying to network more with those with similar interests.
I’ve been lucky for the most part, in that my company will send me to almost any conference I’m interested in. This year alone, I’ve been to probably 4, totalling upwards of $500 in total. With still 6 months left, I’m sure I’ll go to a few more before the year is out.
This is the one thing I’ve realized with working for a large corporation — there’s always money put aside for professional growth. Most of my colleague’s would never go to these types of events, so I figure I’ll just use up whatever money was put aside for them too >)
Even outside of work, I try to attend things like this — most times, they’re free or meetup type events, but they’re good for networking and learning new things at that. I find that the hour long events, or day long presentations, are the best way to learn. It cuts out all the crap of a traditional school course, and just gives you the key takeaway points. Add on top of that, everyone in the room is at least interested in the topic (something very rare to find in any type of real school) it makes for a much more useful learning experience.
Add on top of all of this, it looks like I’m “engaged” in my own career (which I am), but having my boss sign off on the expense form helps reinforce that fact even more.
I think my next step is to actually join one of these events, get on a board, to network even more and meet new people — something I think would help me even more professionally… But probably for September — Summer is my time to relax.
Giving up 25%
I’ve lived in my apartment for 4 years now, and over that time, I seem to have accumulated a bunch off stuff I don’t use. Living in a major city, I live in a really tiny box — a shoebox to be exact — so space is at a premium.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to hack and slash everything I own, and try to get rid of 25% of it. Old clothes, books, things I have duplicates of, etc, are all going to head out of my home for good. And this includes my storage locker, also known as the place I put random crap to disappear.
I’m usually pretty good at avoiding adding to what I already have, but somehow, you just accumulate more and more ‘stuff’ without really noticing. My closets are now getting full of it, and none of it means anything to me whatsoever. Most of the stuff isn’t worth much of any value, but for the stuff that can be reused/donated, I’ll send it off to a good home.
I think in life, I lean towards the minimalism lifestyle. I’d rather have a handful of things I really like and need, than anything and everything under the sun. It’s almost ironic, as I’ve always lived in the mindset that if I need something, I’ll buy it… but I’m really good at only buying things I need.
Has anyone else tried doing this before? Results?
Cost of Caffeine
Today I realized, that basically every day, I drink about $5 in caffeine – in coffee, ice coffee, ice caps, coke, pepsi, rockstar, redbull, you name it. (though I have nearly-completely stopped the energy drinks). So I thought it would be fun to do some math:
- In a week… = $35
- In a month… = $150
- In a year… = $1,825
Its a bit mind blowing when you do the actual math. $1800 is about 3% of my annual pay… I could do a lot more fun things with $1800 than just drink coffee. I should really give this “water” another chance.
How much do you spend on Caffeine each year? Or another daily crutch in life?
Rent vs Own
For the last four years, I’ve been renting my apartment and have watched each month as my money is flushed down the drain. Now that I’m done school, and have a stable job, I’m starting to get into the mindset that I need to buy. Where I live, landlords can increase rent by about ~3% every year, and I just got the notice letting me know its going up to about $1000/month for rent.
Looking at my expenses, I’m now paying $1,029 each and every month, for a place that I don’t own:
- Rent: $975
- Electricity: $25
- Hydro: $0 (included in rent)
- Insurance: $29
While the rent is a lot per month (given the shoebox I live in), it does have its perks — I’m in the downtown core of a major city, have a great view, and the building is kept up nice, and I have almost no issues with my place.
But… doing the math backwards, I’ve spent nearly $40,000 on rent thus far — money that I’ll never see again.
With that said, I’ve been starting to do some rough planning on how much it would cost me to own… and I figure I’m looking at about $1600/month for the home alone.
- Mortgage: $1200
- Electricity: $25
- Hydro: $25 (assuming its not included)
- Insurance: $29
- Strata: $250 (plan on buying a condo)
- Property Taxes: $100
While its about $600 more each month, I can swing that — I’ve been putting $600 (or more) in savings the past few years as it is, in saving up for a down payment. So that part, shouldn’t be too bad. But its still a sizeable amount to be taken out of my spending each month — its basically 1 paycheque each month goes to housing alone. The bright side, of course, is that at the end of it, I’ll actually own something, and the money will be building me equity.
My plan right now, is to buy next year — but putting all this together, and starting to figure out what I need to make and live, helps paint a better picture of where I need to get to. I’m close, but another year will do the trick. And judging by how real estate goes, I’ll buy in the winter — so I’m a solid year out. Enough time to save more down payment, and figure out where exactly I want to live.
Canadian Bank iPhone Apps
Banks in Canada are typically slow — and conservative — when it comes to implementing new technology. But, it looks like most of the major banks have now gotten onboard with having iPhone apps. The apps themselves are quite simple, that they just offer the basic balance information and let you do transfers… but they’re quite handy.
I’m a Bank of Montreal customer, and like having all my finances a click or two away. I’m always good with my spending, but it always helps to see my balance in a crunch, or even transfer money on the fly.
I took a look, and most banks have them. Here’s the roundup of Canadian iPhone Bank apps. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments!
- Bank of Montreal BMO Mobile
- TD Canada iPhone App
- CIBC Mobile Banking
- Royal Bank RBC Mobile
- Scotia bank Mobile App
I can only comment on the BMO one, but it does almost everything I need.
What I’d like to see down the road is money tracking software integrated — tell me where my money is going (eg: home expenses, groceries, dining, auto, etc), like Mint.com does. (their app, by the way, is great. It just sometimes has trouble connecting to my bank).
(ps, that’s not my account in the image… its from BMO’s site)
Student Loan Status
With me selling off some of my positions in the stock market, I did something that gave me an instant 4% return… I threw a several grand on my student loan, to get it down even further.
This is a shift for me, as before, I’d keep throwing my money into the stock market (post recession), to watch it grow. That plan worked pretty well… but now, with the market starting to cool off a bit, I’m refocusing my energy to wipe my student loan. I figure by September, it will be gone for good!
Looking back, in the past year, I’ve seen it fall from $13,000 in June 2010 to $3,974 as of today.
After that, I’ll have $0 of debt! I think the most interesting part of this, is most people my age (twenty-something), can’t really say that. As everyone seems to have debt for something… student loans, cars, random consumer crap, etc.
I figure next year, I’ll buy a home — but having no other debt will not only help me look better on a credit report, but allow me to pay off my home quicker, as it will be my only financial focus.
Ironic
The other day I got a cheque from Yahoo for $5 USD, as they’re closing some service that I apparently had money in, eons ago. Well, I’m in Canada, and have use the ‘student’ banking plan. So to cash a foreign cheque costs $5 CAD.
With the exchange rate… $5 CAD > $5 USD. To cash this, will COST me more money than its worth… Ironic.
Stock Market Decision
My last post was about how I’ve been getting nervous in the market. In retrospect, of about 4 weeks… had I acted then, and sold a lot of my stocks, I would have not lost a lot of money. D’oh
Earlier this week, I did make that call finally. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the market, as well as looking at how the market typically trends during the summer month, and everything is looking like its going to be very soft. Add on top of this the recovering in the USA is stalling, and the on-going international issues, I ended up selling 2/3rds of my portfolio.
I sold the stocks where I’m either up, or not down by much (eg: down by ~3%). The ones where I’m significantly down, I kept and will just hold on to, for when they do actually recover — I hope.
My immediate plan is just to sit on the money until about August, where I’ll re-buy (assuming theres no impending end of the world). I figure at this, the summer will cool the markets, and I’ll be able to buy more, for less.
For money that is not locked in my RSP account, I’m putting that on my student loan. I figure I can rid myself of this student loan by the end of the year. Its been something I’ve wanted to do, but has never made much sense (it saves me 4% in interest, where in the market I was making a fair bit more).
With my feeling the market is going to yield less than that for the next several months… back to the student loan, for an instant 4% return.
Is anyone else starting to feel the same way? Or is the ‘sit and hold’ your ideal way to go?