April 2021 Review

Hello!

Can you believe that we’ve already made it a third of the way through the year? How time flies!

I hope you had as nice a month as I had. That nice weather, here and there, was delightful. Of course, Mother Nature had her ups and downs, but the worst is behind us now. Can’t expect snow in May, right?

I’m glad to notice, and report that things are getting better and better at work! I did most of the training, and now I’m actually working on real files. It feels good to be useful. The days are a bit intense, but that just helps add fuel to my FIRE goal. 😉

Of course, I’m looking forward to being able to do a little more activities, as the weather gets even nicer and the days get longer. I have my fingers crossed for a little less Covid restrictions. At least, I’ll be getting my road bike out soon. What a joy that’ll be to be riding again outside! 🙂

Also, I’ll soon be able to do one of my favourite activities in the sun. You probably guessed it, I’m talking about reading, of course. 🙂 As you know, I love life’s simple pleasures. 😉

Finally, I’ll also be able to enjoy all these simple pleasures without glasses! As planned, I had my vision correction surgery on April 30th. The recovery is going wonderfully well. My wallet, a little less, but it’s okay. I see it as a long-term investment. 😉

Anyway, enough with the chit-chat. Let’s get down to business!

Net Worth as of April 30, 2021

Assets
Checking Accounts: Questrade TFSA: Questrade LIRA: Questrade RRSP: FTQ RRSP: Fondaction RRSP: Non-registered:	$1,292 $41,457 $46,495 $36,329 $5,752 $13,427 $3,290
Total assets:	$148,042
Liabilities
Car loan: Line of credit: Credit cards:	$5,769 $0 $4,136
Total liabilities:	$9,905
Net Worth	$138,137
Difference	+$2,619

Thanks to the stock markets recovering a bit this month, after two rather slow months, my net worth has increased nicely. So, the large sums injected in March have already been able to get to work. I’m very satisfied with this result!

Despite the cost of my surgery ($3,790), I am still in the black this month. So the returns were really quite positive. 🙂

On the cryptocurrency side, it’s still very volatile, of course. How many times has Bitcoin been declared “dead” this month? It’s definitely not for the faint of heart! Personally, I’m handling it perfectly well. That just proved to me that I’m in it for the long run. I haven’t had a sudden urge to “panic sell” yet. 😉

Despite the ups and downs, or shall I say, the roller coaster ride of cryptocurrency, I remain largely in profit on my investment.

In fact, I don’t just hold Bitcoin. Although I bought Bitcoin as low as $39,000 initially, I am not in that much profit. It’s actually altcoins that are giving me the best bang for my buck right now. For example, I quadrupled my initial investment in VeChain (VET). Ethereum’s (ETH) recent new all-time highs have also had a noticeable impact on my portfolio, after a couple of slow months. For cryptocurrency, of course. 😉

Savings

Here are the details of my April savings:

• April 7: $875 out of $1,787.59 net
• April 21: $1,100 out of $1,838.07 net
• Total savings: $1,975 out of $3,625.66 in April or a 54% savings rate

Of the $1,975 I saved, I contributed $1,500 to my TFSA and bought $475 worth of cryptocurrency outside a registered account.

I have to admit that I am really proud of my savings rate this month. 🙂 I didn’t have any surprise income like I did in March, but I still managed to save a little more than I did in January and February. The only slight difference in income was due to my annual raise starting on the April 22nd pay.

For your information, my annual base salary (without bonus) is now $79,281. For more details on the progression of my annual salary since I entered the job market, take a look here. 🙂

There’s a proof that you don’t need to earn millions to be able to save!

Also, my 2021 savings are already approaching half of my goal, after only a third of the year has passed! This gives me a bit of leeway to be able to pay off my surgery on my credit card, which I will eventually transfer to my personal line of credit.

Expense Report

Date	Amount	Description
2021-04-01	$497.50	Rent
2021-04-02	$3.40	Starbucks
2021-04-02	$79.00	Ticket
2021-04-05	$37.74	Car Insurance
2021-04-09	$403.85	Car Payment
2021-04-11	$3.40	Starbucks
2021-04-14	$14.24	Hostinger
2021-04-15	$97.15	Groceries
2021-04-15	$29.08	Gas
2021-04-17	$3.40	Starbucks
2021-04-17	$8.78	SAQ
2021-04-18	$19.53	Mondou
2021-04-19	$29.50	Hydro-Québec
2021-04-23	$403.85	Car Payment
2021-04-23	$4.99	Groceries
2021-04-24	$3.40	Starbucks
2021-04-27	$3.99	Groceries
2021-04-29	$101.36	Groceries
2021-04-29	$34.15	Gas
2021-04-29	$27.02	Home Internet
2021-04-30	$3,790.00	Lasik MD
2021-04-30	$33.61	Pharmacy
Total:	$5,628.94

In April, I spent $5,628.94, which is $67,547.28 annualized. Of course, I won’t be getting eye surgery every month. So, when taking out all surgery-related costs, it comes down to $1,805.33, which is $21,663.96 annualized. If we take out my car loan payments, it comes down to $997.63, which is $11,971.56 annualized.

So, if not for the surgery, I had very little spending in April, which explains the previously mentioned savings rate. 🙂

Once again, I’m still reaping the benefits of the expenses I had done in advance in February to unlock credit card bonuses. Otherwise, this month’s expenses were all pretty routine, except for my damn speeding ticket. 😉

Reading List

April was another beautiful month spent reading. I spent many mornings reading, with my cat on my lap and a delicious coffee in my hand. 🙂

So, my April reading list goes like this:

• Trop, c’est comme pas assez by Mylène Gilbert-Dumas
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
• Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
• The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz
• The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence by Jacob Lund Fisker
• The Latte Factor by David Bach

For all Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder fans, I strongly recommend Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. What a delightful read!

Otherwise, I’m glad I waited until later in my FIRE journey to read Early Retirement Extreme. There’s not much talk about investing per se in this book. The focus is much more on how to minimize expenses, mostly by doing everything yourself (DIY) and developing your own abilities. It’s a great resource for people who are frugal or are aiming for frugality. 😉

Also, someone recommended I read the Early Retirement Extreme 21 Day Makeover on the author’s blog, which I am told has a more practical approach. I will try to read it very soon! 🙂

As for The Latte Factor, that is a book I’ll keep in my back pocket for anyone who is starting to take an interest in taking control of their finances. I see it in the same light as Do You Really Need It? or Wealthing Like Rabbits.  Those have always been my go-to references for beginners, but The Latte Factor just joined them. It is a very short, accessible book in narrative form. I think it has a lot of potential to give a nice reality check to beginners. 😉

Conclusion

Anyone who knows me in real life will have noticed that I sing basically all the time. I constantly have a song in my head that is playing on a loop. Sheppard’s The Best Is Yet To Come is often stuck there these days.

It must be because I couldn’t agree more. The best is yet to come, folks. May will be a great month! 🙂

I’m thinking of doing an article soon to give some more details on my portfolios, both conventional investments and crypto. Of course, on the conventional side, you already have a good idea from reading this blog so far. However, I’ll try to go into even more detail and my reasoning behind my investments.

On the cryptocurrency side, as mentioned above, I hold more than just Bitcoin. As of today, I actually hold nine different cryptocurrencies. So I could give you a bit of details about each one and how I go about buying them.

Of course, none of these articles would be financial advice. 😉 It’s always for the sake of transparency. And, let’s face it, we like numbers and details.

Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re interested, or what you’d like to know exactly!

Hope to see you soon! 🙂

----------------

Thanks for stopping by!

You can also support this blog by using one of my affiliate links or referral codes on different products I recommend.

Shakepay offers the easiest way for Canadians to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum. Click on my referral link to open an account and we’ll both receive $10 after you buy $100 of crypto!

Also, Newton is a crypto exchange platform that provides users an easy and safe way to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Litecoin, Polkadot, Uniswap and much more! Click on my referral link to open an account, and we'll both receive $25 when you buy $100 of crypto!

Finally, Fizz offers fair prices every day on Home Internet or Mobile services. When subscribing, enter my referral code N5MMB, and we’ll both get $50 (promo valid until November 30, 2022).

Thanks for the support!