November 2021 - net worth update
Choppy Waters
By MeTheMillennial
November Monthly Net Worth Update
Now 8 months into tracking and publishing my monthly net worth breakdown. Follow along with the ups and downs of my financial freedom journey and pick up some tips you can take and apply on your own journey.
And this month has definitely been one of the downs….
As you are probably sick of hearing – in this series, every month I track and lay bare, financially of course ;), my progress to reach $1.5M in net worth by age 35.
I am now 30, so 5 years to get there – I will need all the help I can get through smart investing and the following the basics of the FIRE financial independence movement – sign up to my newsletter to support the journey.
So read on to hear the latest on my progress towards that goal.
*As always, I am not an expert or financial advisor, so nothing on this website should be considered financial advice. These are just my opinions, everyone is different. Always do your own research and have your own independent thought process.
Life Update: November 2021
I started a new job! Having recently quit my Strategy Consulting career with a global Consulting firm.
It was a huge decision and move from me leaving behind a 200k+ a year job, and in the process taking a 30% pay cut to move into this new career.
Do I regret it? Not one bit!
So far so good, its an internal strategy role. So my team stays the same, no travel required, no external client deadlines.
Most importantly, I have a great team who really value work/life balance. They don’t just talk about it either but really put it into action. Most days everyone is out the door by 5pm.
In my previous job finishing at 5pm would have been a pipe dream!
But now, it’s my new normal and I am loving it.
So much so I’ve started to fill up my evening exploring new hobbies.
I’ve been doing morning cycle sessions, bouldering evening sessions and even signed up to a sprint triathlon for next summer.
Now that my job is not all consuming, I feel I have more energy, mental capacity and time to follow hobbies and live a healthier happier life.
Being financially secure through following the principles of a long term hold strategy and investing in primarily index funds gave me the confidence and security to make this switch.
When you are not living pay-check to pay-check you can really take back control of your life.
Okay, enough rubbing it in from me. Let’s get onto my net worth update for this month.
What do you mean by net worth update?
Well put simply, it’s how much I have saved and/or invested across my assets minus my liabilities. Assets include cash, stocks, ETF’s, REIT’s, Pension etc. Liabilities are recurring bills I pay each month such as credit cards, rents etc.
Net Worth is simply a snapshot of your total wealth at a point in time. Put simply, it’s what you own minus what you owe.
Okay, long intro – get on with it, how much are you worth then?
I have dropped in net worth this month – I am now worth financially at least $326k in savings and investments.
Below is November, 2021’s breakdown versus the prior month.
Overall my net worth has decreased by just over $5k. While I also contributed $5k this month.
So this mean I actually lost 10k accounting for the money I contributed. Jeeeezzz Louise!
Choppy waters have begun to set in on the equity stock markets with inflation fears persisting along with recent job reports missing expectations. This new virus isn’t helping things either particularly for my Jets ETF and the oil stocks I own.
My portfolio has actually been pretty resilient and my losses have thus far been limited to just over 1%, thanks to holdings in Gold stocks and my REIT’s which have held up in value really well.
So let’s get into a complete breakdown.
Breakdown by category, and also what I spent for the month of November
Checking: $1k (-$0.5k) – Enjoyed myself a little too much over the holiday season and had to transfer more cash over from my checking to my credit card to cover the costs of excessive nights of alcohol consumption. I should probably practice what I preach more in this regard and cut down on discretionary expenses but for the month thats in it, acceptable.
Brokerage: $273.7k (-$5.5k) – Decrease of just over $5k this month. Adding on the contributions I made of $3.5k, this brings my loss on my brokerage to approximately ~$9k.
This amount of money to lose in a month is scary, but part of being a long term investor is having to experience the bear markets when they come.
See it as an opportunity to double down and invest more while equities are at a lower price. As noted previously my gold stocks and REIT’s have held up well and actually offsett some of the other losses in my portfolio. REIT’s have actually increased in value for me – check out what REITS’s I invest in here.
RRSP $53k (+$0k) – No change here but I did make contributions of $1.5k. I will continue to invest in my RRSP with my new employer. This should be the first step of anyones financial journey – max out your retirement every year!
Rent and Credit Card: $1.6k – no real change month to month here.
November 2021, I am now worth, financially at least ~$326k which is a decrease of approx $5k (1.5%) since last months update. ~21% of the way there to my $1.5m goal by age 35.
Hopefully this will provide some value to you, and even help you keep you on track for your goal.
Calculate Your Own Net Worth
If you haven’t worked out your net worth before, or even if it’s just been a while since you’ve checked, do it now! Open up your accounts, and list down the key buckets of assets and liabilities (don’t sweat the small stuff to start, you can worry about this later).
The first step is having visibility into what your own financial breakdown looks like, and you can plan accordingly. Will also give you a realistic view of what you can achieve, and also what you need to cut back on to achieve your goal.
Let me know what you think of these net worth updates below. I hope you find some of these areas helpful in your own journey to whatever your goal is. For me that is having the ability to quit my corporate job in Strategy Consulting and spend my time how and where I want.
Follow along on my journey, I keep my net worth updated here.
Leave a comment or contact me if you would like to get in touch and update me on your progress towards your goals.
Have a lovely week everyone! 🙂
