News From Work

A couple of months ago, the company I work for was looking for internal applicants to be trained as computer modelers. I applied, but someone else was chosen. About a week ago I was told that they were filling two positions and I was going to be the second one.

It should be an interesting challenge. My current position has it's perks but it has not been intellectually stimulating. This new position will demand a lot of learning and attention. It should also mean a little more money. About 7% if I am correct. The position also offers me a lot more opportunity. My current department does not have much in the way of advancement opportunities. Looking down the road, the new position will be much better for me.

Today, I had my first training session in the new department. I'll be over there for two hours each day for this week. That time will go up each week until I'm in the new job full time.

March Networth

Well, we are making progress. Fortunately, we don't really have much in investments so the market crunch isn't hurting too much. My Rogers stocks are down about a hundred bucks this month over last month, but I did get the quarterly dividend cheque. My RRSP holdings are up but only because of my contributions and my works matching. Even there, the actual increase is about half of the amount deducted off of my paycheque this month.

On the good side, we kicked it good on the debt reduction side this month. We paid off about $1,500 of debt this month.

At this rate we will have a positive net worth within a year!

TD Infinity Account

It's gone. Dead. Killed off. I drove a stake through it's heart.

Both of the automatic withdrawals for our life insurance policies have been switched over to the President's Choice account. So it was time to go in and close the TD Infinity account. I learned this month that the Over Draft Protection fee had become a regular charge. When we set up the account, I remember the fee was only charged if you used the ODP plus the interest charge. In the last month the account was always positive and we were still charged the $2 OD fee. That means the monthly account fee was in reality $14.95 a month. Way too much, especially because we have free accounts with free cheques at President's Choice.

So on Friday when I stopped by to make a payment on the Line of Credit, I closed the account. The teller asked why and made a feeble attempt to save my business by offering me a minimal account for $3.95 month. She did not seem surprised or upset at me canceling the account. How often do they see people canceling accounts?

Is President's Choice more limited than a real bank account? Certainly. Do they offer fewer services? Definitely! Am I willing to pay $14.95 a month for that service? No! I've got a better use for that $179.40 each year.

Do you?

Where is the Money Coming From?

Over the last two pay periods, we have been able to make two big payments towards our Line of Credit totaling $1,345.30 out of a net income of $4081.11. That's 33 % of our income for the last two pays. Part of the reason we've been able to do this is because we are controlling our spending. The other part (I think) is the way I have our budgeting spreadsheet set up. I enter the net value of each of our paycheques and the spreadsheet automatically determines what is left after our regular expense deductions (including our minimum debt payments). It then populates a line marked Snowball with the amount of income over any budgeted amounts. All that extra money now has a name and is committed to a purpose.

I then deposit that money to the Line of Credit as some as possible after getting paid. That way it's gone and can't be used for anything else.

If I'm able to keep up the OT at work, we should have the Line of Credit paid off by Canada Day! So that is my Number 1 goal now. Pay off the Line of Credit by Canada Day!

February Update

So how did my debt reduction go in February?

There was nothing dramatic. It was the continuation of the small steps we take with every paycheque.

I ended up with $52 less this month in cash and savings accounts, but my Rogers stocks ended up being worth $52 more.

My RRSP contributions and company match added $283 to my totals this month.

We paid down $1,082 of our debt this month, most of it on our Line of Credit, with just the minimum on the consolidation loan. If we can keep that rate up on paying off the Line of Credit we should have it paid off by the end of the summer. Anyhow, this month we reduced our debt by 4.14%.

This all brings our networth to ($13,732). It's been great seeing our chart slowly climbing up towards 0. We will see our networth in the positive numbers.

Here's my NewworthIQ badge.