Financial Planning Help?

[ExtraSlow]

Let's say a professional couple each makes $100k/yr and two kids.
Two years lost income is $200k, and then there's $1000/mo/kid for daycare, after, school care so you can both work.

That's before you feed or clothe the little bastards. It's an easy $400k in pure net worth difference.

[ercchry]

High risk plays are for your 20s, wealth generation (passive revenue streams) for your 30s, 40s+ for retirement planning, ??? To hang it all up and move to Florida

[you&me]

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Let's say a professional couple each makes $100k/yr and two kids.
Two years lost income is $200k, and then there's $1000/mo/kid for daycare, after, school care so you can both work.

That's before you feed or clothe the little bastards. It's an easy $400k in pure net worth difference.

And, as any parent knows, it doesn't stop at simply feeding and clothing them... Every single expense is amplified - groceries, dining out, travel, kids activities... Shit, we'll spend well over $200 on birthday presents most months...

[A790]

And now a financial planning thread for the OP is kids vs. no kids with relation to wealth generation...

[davidI]

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Has anyone hit their “millionaire by 30”? Without win fall (lotto) or trust funds, which without a doubt is still impressive and I’m very jelly of them trust fund babies.

I'm 35 now but I did manage to hit the 7 digits by 30 club before

I have no house, car, or "stuff" and it's pretty much all in cash/fixed income as I had to sell my stock when I left Canada (which is unfortunate given the run the markets have had). The key for me was leaving Canada, earning USD, paying lower taxes, and not having to pay for maintaining a house/appliances/car/bills/etc. though I'm sure I've spent $X00,000 in travel expenses along the way.

My plan is to live in Spain now though and with our governments' efforts to sink the value of the CAD I now need to think in EUR terms which makes a million in savings a lot less exceptional, particularly given the taxes and incomes here.

[rx7boi]

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lol this thread.

OP is pwning most people posting here in terms of real assets. Tons of liquidity. No mortgage/rent. Naturally, let's talk about how he's not doing as well as he should be.

Nice work, OP. You may not be a beyond millionaire, but you are well off by most other measures.

Seems like the trend nowadays. You can't even share anything positive without people calling humblebrag or that your success isn't good enough.

[you&me]

I think a lot of posters commented positively on the OP, saying he was on the right track... Beyond that (aside from the usual suspects), others commented on how everyone's situation is different and there are several major factors that can contribute to overall financial health at a relatively young age... namely having children, or having a less conventional lifestyle like davidI... Seems like a pretty typical thread evolution.

[max_boost]

If I did have kids, I would probably raise them in a small bungalow house, basic and minimal etc. Anything they want I would make it look like I struggled hard etc. haha

[Buster]

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High risk plays are for your 20s, wealth generation (passive revenue streams) for your 30s, 40s+ for retirement planning, ??? To hang it all up and move to Florida

I go the other way.

When people say "high risk" they can either mean rolling the dice on something that fits on the risk:reward curve (ie luck) or it could mean that you are entering a risky venture but have the experience and knowledge to push it into a zone where the reward has an upside over the expected reward relative to the risk. Exposure to unique opportunities which "break" the typical risk reward curve comes with age, experience and insider status on investments. So in some ways, the time to make risky plays is actually later in life when you can best take advantage of them (presumably because you have also accumulated some capital).

I'm taking much bigger risks now than I did in my 20s because more interesting opportunities are crossing my desk now and I can determine if the risk:reward ratio is preferential or not.

When I was in my 20's I had much less to offer potential investments both in terms of capital and experience.

- - - Updated - - -

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And now a financial planning thread for the OP is kids vs. no kids with relation to wealth generation...

"Dear OP, your plan to not have kids is working out fantastically for your portfolio, stay the course."

haha.

[A790]

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"Dear OP, your plan to not have kids is working out fantastically for your portfolio, stay the course."

haha.

lol fair enough.

[eblend]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I was not trying to brag at all by the way in any shape or form and was actually thinking of creating a burner account just to get the question out there. I genuinely want to know the best approach before it's too late. I think watching shows like Billions fucked me up and reading some random articles that state that I should be making at least 7% returns and such make me question if I am doing the right thing. End of last year my investments with RBC dropped like 3%, but are up ~7% now, but overall since I started investing I don't think I have ever came close to 7%, but to be honest I am not counting. The only constant has been my LIRA since I can't add to it, but it started at 98k and it's at $112k right now..and that's after like 4 years sitting in investments, doesn't seem like much?

I have read the thing about Couch potato and I am thinking of jumping into this at some point as well....but I don't know if I am really ready. Setting and forgetting is my preferred approach, I just don't know if it's the best way to go. I am also afraid of investing with anybody but the big banks mostly because of all those ponzi schemes and scams.....

I do think I am doing pretty well, but as tonytiger55 said, anything can change. tonytiger55, are you a financial planner?

[rx7boi]

To be honest, if you made a burner account, people would still hate and try to figure out who you are based on IP address haha.

I think maybe you just need to sit down with someone who has succeeded with money, not just some average joe chump advising you what to do with money when they have even less in the bank. Like max said, everything is online and learnable.

Couch Potato is fairly set and forget but you still need to put in some legwork. You have a good mix of ETF's between ZAG, VCN, and XAW but you'll want to rebalance your portfolio every year based on your risk tolerance.

You are doing very well; no mortgage and bringing in bacon every month. You're in a prime position to become an everyday millionaire IMO.

[A790]

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Thanks everyone for the comments. I was not trying to brag at all by the way in any shape or form and was actually thinking of creating a burner account just to get the question out there. I genuinely want to know the best approach before it's too late. I think watching shows like Billions fucked me up and reading some random articles that state that I should be making at least 7% returns and such make me question if I am doing the right thing. End of last year my investments with RBC dropped like 3%, but are up ~7% now, but overall since I started investing I don't think I have ever came close to 7%, but to be honest I am not counting. The only constant has been my LIRA since I can't add to it, but it started at 98k and it's at $112k right now..and that's after like 4 years sitting in investments, doesn't seem like much?

I have read the thing about Couch potato and I am thinking of jumping into this at some point as well....but I don't know if I am really ready. Setting and forgetting is my preferred approach, I just don't know if it's the best way to go. I am also afraid of investing with anybody but the big banks mostly because of all those ponzi schemes and scams.....

I do think I am doing pretty well, but as tonytiger55 said, anything can change. tonytiger55, are you a financial planner?

The market has, historically, returned 7% (after inflation) annually.

RE: Couch Potato, most people (including you, including me) wildly overestimate how complicated it is to setup. It took me a total of 15 minutes to get my brokerage account with Scotia (five minutes to get a second at Questrade). Deposit some money, buy a stock. Done.

CCP is the lowest cost, lowest effort way to invest. You're ready. That you are here asking these questions indicates that you're ready.

A good "set and forget" option is VGRO or XGRO. These funds are designed to be "all in one", and include a 20% bond allocation and rebalance an automagically. Both have been performing well (well, were until Trump started picking fights with China again).

[mr2mike]

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If I did have kids... Anything they want I would make it look like I struggled hard etc. haha

Celebrate Xmas on Dec 27th too. Life hack.

[BavarianBeast]

I’ll turn a million into a couple hundred K for a small fee

[Xtrema]

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Both have been performing well (well, were until Trump started picking fights with China again).

But IP tho....

Yeah, I am surprised the markets in NA didn't really reacted that much on the latest tweet. Love to see what the trade deal they end up with. If China is seriously enforcing IP, I expect 40% of businesses in China will fold overnight.

[ExtraSlow]

If you want an extremely low risk investment option that is also extremely simple, you can always pay down your mortgage. It's zero risk, which has some value for a defensive portfolio. A decent discussion of the pros and cons in the globe and mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/inve...sas-and-rrsps/

I feel strongly that paying down the mortgage is better than investing in a TFSA or RRSP because:

The savings in paying down the mortgage is tax-free;
The return is guaranteed, so it’s a risk-free investment;
Eliminating the mortgage by, say, age 55 frees up a tremendous cash flow for the last 10-plus years of work;
You don’t have to resist the temptation of pulling funds out of the TFSA and RRSP.
All through my banking career, my employers wanted me to push investments even when the clients had non-tax-deductible debt. This is good for the financial institution as they make money on both sides of the balance sheet. Not good for the customers.

I’d much rather have $100,000 in savings and no debt than have a $250,000 investment as well as a $150,000 mortgage. With the same net worth I would have no investment risk and better cash flow.

[rx7boi]

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If you want an extremely low risk investment option that is also extremely simple, you can always pay down your mortgage. It's zero risk, which has some value for a defensive portfolio. A decent discussion of the pros and cons in the globe and mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/inve...sas-and-rrsps/

OP is already mortgage free.

[ercchry]

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OP is already mortgage free.

Sounds like a great market to level up the house in!

[Sugarphreak]

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