It’s been a few months since my last update, but my investment portfolio has been looking good. Some big changes in my finances as I had a few major expenses – mainly fixes for my old car, and a purchase of a new car! The last 3 months also showed some great gains for my index fund investments.
Overall Assets
TFSA TD e-Series Index Funds
The last 3 months saw some pretty steady increases across the board for my index fund investments, with the US Index Fund making the most gains, and with some dividends being paid out in December.
The last few months have shown great return overall on my portfolio, and seeing more than $1700 in gain overall since I started investing in late 2016:
RRSP TD e-Series Index Funds
My RRSP consisting of an aggressive TD e-Series portfolio mirrored pretty close to my TFSA. I lost a little bit on the investment in the TD International Index Fund, but made up for it with larger gains in the TD Canadian Index Fund.
I contributed $200 to my RRSP over the last 3 months, to meet the requirements of repaying funds I withdrew as part of the Home Buyers’ Plan. I’ve said it before in other articles, but my current focus is on growing my TFSA.
High Interest Savings Account
I was able to call a representative from Tangerine and negotiate an interest rate bump up from 1% to 1.6% for a 3 month term. It’s not much, but every little bit can help. I had to make some major withdrawals from my savings account to help pay for some car problems, and in the end, help to pay for a new car. I was able to replace some of the funds I took out, but not all of them. There are also some major condo fee’s coming up in the next 2 months, so will expect to see the savings dwindle a little bit more. But that’s what it’s there for.
Home Value
My home equity continues to grow. The numbers below speak for themselves – but it’s always hard to tell how much a property investment is worth until you actually sell it.
Car
After some troubles with my old car, I decided to trade it in and buy a brand new car! New car’s are about the worst thing for those trying to save money, but based on my circumstances, I saw some worth to bite the bullet and go new. I purchased a 2018 Mazda 3, and I’m estimating the value of it to be $15,000 (there aren’t Black Book estimates for new cars).
Ola says
I love your articles
Let's Talk About Money says
Thanks for the kind words! It’s always nice to hear that people get some use out of reading them.
jam says
Hello, new to investing here and recently started a 5k investment in tangerine balanced growth portfolio, debating whether or not to switch to TD e series.
When you say “returns”, do you mean that the units that you hold within those different index funds are increasing in market value but you are not actually making money until you decide to sell them right? Is buying and selling index funds frowned upon?
Also are dividends payed every month or just annually?
Let's Talk About Money says
When I say “return”, I mean the increase of value of my holdings of the index fund. Like any asset, it’s not worth any money until you cash it out, but since you can cash it out at anytime, I would say that I am ‘actually making money’ – I can sell it for cash funds within a single day.
I wouldn’t say buying and selling index funds is frowned upon at all, that’s what investing is. Index funds are best served as a investment portfolio over the long term, so it wouldn’t be a great idea to constantly be selling different index funds for other ones all the time. You’re best strategy is to buy and hold, and every once in a while, rebalance your portfolio by selling some of your best performing funds for some of your under performing funds.
Hope this info is helpful!