Last updated on December 30th, 2021 at 05:59 pm
Welcome to my net worth update for December 2021! These numbers represent my wife and I’s net worth as of December 1st. If you haven’t already, check out our previous net worth update.
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Shoutouts
Since my last net worth update, I participated in a few cool posts from some of my friends in the personal finance community. The first I want to highlight is Tawcan’s amazing post on the 26 Best US Dividend Stocks. Many great dividend-loving investors participated in this post, and anyone looking to add to their portfolio will find it extremely useful. My picks were Merck (MKR), Seagate Technology (STX), and Altria Group.
I also participated in an excellent post from Liquid over at his Freedom 35 Blog. Liquid has a knack for writing articles that make you think twice about what most consider tried and true in the personal finance world. And his recent post on the habits of successful investors was no exception. Check it out if you’re eager to learn habits that will help you on your journey towards financial independence.
Our Budget – Big Spender Edition
With Christmas right around the corner, my wife and I spent a lot on gifts for each other, friends, and members of our family. In total, we spent over $1,100 on gifts, which was a lot more than we spent in the previous month. Luckily, I can now say for sure that we’re done our Christmas shopping.
Last month our largest expense by far was a single purchase. Those who follow me on Twitter may already know that we finally bought an exercise bike after months of being stuck inside and unable to do our regular outdoor exercise. I’ll leave it to you to guess which one we bought, as I’ll probably write more about it in a future post. All-in, we spent $2,300 on the bike and two pairs of cycling cleats.
Passive Income and Dividends
Last month also wasn’t that great for dividend income. All-in-all, we only earned a measly $81, which is far less than the past couple of months.
This can be attributed to only two of our holdings paying out: my wife’s monthly dividend ETFs XDG and XDIV. I think in our next net worth update, we’ll see a lot more dividends come in.
Net Worth Increase
Despite this huge amount of spending, we still managed to save about $1,500 of our income. After accounting for these savings, pension contribution, investment growth, and home equity pay down, we increased our net worth to $439,900 from $437,500. That’s an increase of $2,300 – not bad, all things considered.
I’m also happy to see our net worth growth continuing its slow climb towards $500,000 and beyond. I predict we’ll see a big jump in our net worth when our new property assessment comes in. It’ll be our third property assessment since we bought our home, and this year I’m planning to account for it (conservatively) when computing our net worth.
Thanks for Reading
I recently wrote a few articles that you may be interested in. This includes my post on TFSA contribution limits for 2022 and my income report from my first year blogging. Consider giving those a read if you think they’ll help you on your financial journey!
As always, please consider following me on social media or signing up for my newsletter if you’d like to be notified periodically (less than once per month) with a list of my recent articles.