July 2021 Review

Another month, another review!

How is your summer going? I hope you are enjoying it as much as you want. Personally, since my vacation is only in September, I’d sure love to take a little more time off to enjoy the summer. No big deal, I’ll make it up in Hawaii. 🙂

Nevertheless, I still find time to hike, bike and even meet a few of this blog’s followers! It was nice to discuss personal finance with other people who don’t think I’m some sort of alien. I think the feeling was mutual. Let’s do it again!

My second dose of the vaccine, originally scheduled for September, is now a thing of the past. I’m very happy about it, and I can bow spend some quality time with friends, family and new acquaintances completely guilt-free.

Finally, I had a little scare one evening… A “critical error” made my blog inaccessible! I went to great lengths to try to solve the problem. In the end, I had to restore to an earlier date and lose a few things, but it was better than losing everything! Let’s just say that I had a few cold sweats that night. After all, I did invest a lot of time and energy in this blog. I’m glad it’s back on its feet, so I can once again present you a nice monthly review!

Net Worth as of July 31, 2021

Assets
Checking Accounts: Questrade TFSA: Questrade LIRA: Questrade RRSP: FTQ RRSP: Fondaction RRSP: Non-registered:	$1,214 $48,101 $48,995 $38,275 $6,233 $14,743 $3,262
Total assets:	$160,823
Liabilities
Car loan: Line of credit: Credit cards:	$2,944 $0 $1,559
Total liabilities:	$4,503
Net Worth	$156,320
Difference	+$5,883

Slow and steady wins the race, as they say. 🙂

It was another great month on the stock markets. However, it sometimes feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. It sure can’t stay in the green forever! But no matter the colour, I keep dollar-cost averaging every two weeks.

I have found that my net worth has increased by an average of over $5,000 per month since the beginning of the year. Considering my average savings of just over $2,000 and my debt repayments of about $800 per month, that leaves room for a substantial return. At this rate, I’ll have a very nice number at the end of the year.

In addition, you may have noticed that crypto is starting to pick up again. It’s comforting to see my purchases of the last few months bear fruit. Even if, ultimately, only the long term really matters. 🙂

Savings

Here are the details of my July savings:

• July 14: $400 out of $1,835.89 net
• July 28: $600 out of $1,836.99 net
• Total savings: $1,000 out of $ in July or a 27% savings rate

Of the $1,000 I saved, I contributed $700 to my TFSA and bought $300 worth of cryptocurrency outside a registered account.

My savings rate is still pretty low this month and it’s likely to stay that way until November. It must be said that my debt repayments still take up 35% of my disposable income. Starting in November, my savings rate should explode. 🙂

It’s amazing how saving becomes an almost addictive habit. I have to talk myself into not feeling too bad about not saving more. Since I’m aiming for an average of 50%, I feel far from the goal! But I have to remind myself that 27% is still a very good savings rate! I can be very demanding of myself. Do you sometimes feel that way?

Expense Report

Date	Amount	Description
2021-07-01	$502.50	Rent
2021-07-01	$257.94	Rental Car
2021-07-01	$33.86	Groceries
2021-07-01	$30.28	Gas
2021-07-01	$22.04	NSPW
2021-07-02	$403.85	Car Payment
2021-07-02	$18.01	Groceries
2021-07-03	$24.42	Groceries
2021-07-04	$19.53	Mondou
2021-07-04	$29.50	Hydro-Québec
2021-07-05	$30.00	Netflix
2021-07-05	$45.00	Car Insurance
2021-07-05	$15.69	Home Insurance
2021-07-11	$12.50	McDonald's
2021-07-11	$25.00	SAQ
2021-07-13	$35.84	Gas
2021-07-16	$403.85	Car Payment
2021-07-18	$89.04	Groceries
2021-07-22	$87.94	Driver's license
2021-07-22	$30.28	Gas
2021-07-24	$29.30	Groceries
2021-07-28	$100.00	Gift
2021-07-29	$27.02	Home Internet
2021-07-30	$403.85	Car Payment
Total:	$2,677.24

In July, I spent $2,677.24, which is $32,126.88 annualized. If we take out my car loan payments, it comes down to $1,842.52, which is $22,110.24 annualized.

It’s a bit better this month compared to June! I still had one other travel expense to make, which was booking a rental car. Fortunately, it’s not too expensive, having paid half of the bill with my Aeroplan points and having divided the rest with my sister. Of course, the points help a lot. However, even without the points, I found that renting a car through Aeroplan (as a member) was much cheaper than through other typical sites such as Expedia, Kayak, and so on. By much cheaper, I mean easily half the price. For those who are shopping for a rental car and are an Aeroplan member, go check it out!

Otherwise, as activities are starting to pick up, I bought myself a ticket for the first NSPW wrestling gala since the pandemic. I’ve missed it so much, so that’s going to be a lot of fun! Yes, another unconventional passion, in addition to Star Trek. Are there any other fans in the room? See you there?

Otherwise, there’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary in my spending. My life’s simple pleasures keep me satisfied on a daily basis, rain or shine. 🙂

Also, July 2021 concludes my first full 12 months of expense tracking! While every personal finance book I’ve read since 2017 encourages tracking expenses, I didn’t start until August 2020. I’m glad I did the exercise, which allows me to draw some interesting conclusions and see trends. This will be the topic of a future post, by the way. I’ll let you guess how much I spent in restaurants in the last 12 months. Starbucks included. 😉

Of course, I won’t stop tracking my expenses there, since my FI goal is closely linked to them. In fact, I expect a lot of changes in the next few years, both from an inflationary point of view, as from a personal choices point of view. So I want to continue to follow everything closely and adjust my goal accordingly.

That goes without saying that tracking each expense also allows me to think them through and make sure they’re really necessary. That’s a great way to avoid mindless spending!

Reading List

My reading list was much more finance-oriented this month! It was particularly interesting.

Here is my reading list for July :

• Old Man’s War de John Scalzi
• Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life de Green, William P.
• Victory Lap Retirement: Work While You Play, Play While You Work de Mike Drak, Rob Morrison et Jonathan Chevreau
• Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works de Joshua Fields Millburn et Ryan Nicodemus
• Retirement Heaven or Hell: 9 Principles for Designing Your Ideal Post-Career Lifestyle de Mike Drak, Susan Williams et Rob Morrison

I definitely fell in love with Victory Lap Retirement. The author describes the “Victory Lap” somewhat like Coast FI, or any other form of semi-retirement. For anyone who aspires to this kind of lifestyle, this is a must-read. I had this book on my list for a while, and I’m glad I waited until now to read it. It is very appropriate in this stage of my journey.

Also, Retirement Heaven or Hell is kind of a logical sequel and explains the nine principles needed for a great retirement. It definitely provides some food for thought on what we really want after the dreaded Rat Race. And no, it doesn’t just involve getting a cocktail and a tan on the beach.

Anyway, my everyday friends who stumble upon my Goodreads list must find my reading choices pretty peculiar for a 29-year-old woman.

Conclusion

So there you have it, I hope you have some nice numbers to update too after July. While saving money may not have been everyone’s top priority with the nice weather and doing all kinds of activities, there were some nice returns.

We are now into August, the last month before my vacation! I can’t remember the last time I took three weeks off, but I’m sure it’ll do me a world of good. Plus, I’ll be starting my new position (along with the new salary) once I get back from vacation. That’s a lot of good things to look forward to!

Until then, I will continue to work on my mindset with lots of reading and possibly more discussions with new FIRE friends. And let’s not forget that I’ll be blowing out my 30th candle this month. All the more reason to keep the fire burning. 😉

Have a great month of August, friends!

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