Over the past nine years of budgeting and calculating our net worth monthly, our money mindset has gone through many changes.
If you’re serious about future finances, you’ll feel shifts in the way you think about money.
You’d have to expect your money mindset to grow as you get serious about your finances as you continue to educate yourself.
There’s always going to be something new that you’ll learn about your budget or financial health.
For us, we’ve spent years using our excel budget spreadsheet and met with joy and sadness.
You see, we haven’t always had the best budget months, and neither will you.
Let’s have a look at how our money mindset has changed and will continue to do so.
Our money mindset went from mind calculations and watching the bank account, leaving gaps with missing pieces of our financial puzzle.
Without knowing everything you need to know about your money, it’s challenging to set goals.
Setting goals not only increases your money mindset it alleviates stress because you have a financial plan.
You’ll also notice that your money mindset lowers your stress levels because you have the answers to your questions in front of you.
Changes To Your Money Mindset Will Happen
Below are the reasons why your money mindset might change monthly and yearly.
- Not knowing where money is going to knowing where you’ve spent or saved it.
- How much your money has increased or decreased and investigating any concerns
- Automatic tracking system to review using a budget and net worth chart calculation (see below Net Worth Losses and Gains)
- Easily review your debt to income ratio by combining your budget and net worth calculations,
- Understand who you owe debt to and plan your attack on paying what you owe by goal setting.
- Understanding how our investments transition once we retire from RRSP to RRIF (Registered Retirement Investment Fund).
What Is A RRIF?
An RRIF is a continuation of your RRSP, but with a twist: you can’t make regular contributions to an RRIF – only withdrawals. That’s because the primary purpose of an RRIF is to provide a source of ongoing retirement income.
Here’s how an RRIF works:
- Transfer assets in.
- Keep savings tax-sheltered.
- Make ongoing withdrawals. Each year, you must withdraw a minimum amount from your RRIF. The minimum withdrawal is based on a percentage of your RRIF assets and increases with your age. For example, the minimum RRIF withdrawal rate is 7.38% at the age of 71 (the last year in which you can hold an RRSP) and levels off at 20% at 94 years and over.
As you can tell, the money mindset relies on financial goals and how they impact your future.
Retirement Money Mindset
Ever since we became parents, that’s when we found our money mindset to start shifting.
It started one day on our rented room bed that we shifted from brain to paper.
Then we bought a house and shifted from a paper budget to a spreadsheet.
Years later, our son was born just after we paid our mortgage off, which changed everything.
Since I plan to retire at 65 and collect both of our investment savings, we’re confident of four things.
- Our son will have his education paid for in full
- He will never have to worry about life insurance ever as it will paid in full
- The money we have invested in our retirement will be more than enough to keep us busy.
- The family home is paid off in full and there are no debts pending.
Related: Plan For Retirement Before You Retire
Currently, our future finances are in a good place and trust me, and you won’t need millions to retire.
Saying that what we do know is that we want to make sure our son has a headstart in life.
Although we don’t want to sound like we are spoiling our son, that’s not the case.
We will always encourage him to study whatever makes him happy to do the same for his family.
Everything that’s left when we are gone is his since he’s our only child.
How Our Money Mindset Has Shifted
We don’t know how our health will look, which is where our money mindset has shifted.
Now, I could lose my job, die or have health problems while you’re reading this.
There’s no point saving and investing all of our money if we can’t enjoy it.
Yes, our son will get a financial boost; however, we’ve realized that saving for road trips, holidays and splurging is also essential.
For example, in 2017, we spent $10,000 on a trip to the UK and Spain for a month.
We will continue to do as much as we can as a family as long as we save up for it.
Being older parents with a young child makes this even more critical for Mrs. CBB and me.
Related: How projected expenses work
Right now, our money mindset goals revolve around enjoying family life, investing for ourselves and our son.
Discussion: Have you noticed a shift in your money mindset once you started to budget and track your net worth?
Would you mind leaving me your comments below?
Mr.CBB
Net Worth Losses and Gains
Hi Friends
Where did our money go in June 2021?
Welcome to another monthly edition of our family net worth update, and apologies for missing May.
Although our net worth jumped up by $20,066.31 or 1.49%, the financial pressures of covid-19 have taken their toll.
It hasn’t been easy as most of you can agree to control spending, especially online, which we do.
As we continue to find the best deals and use coupon codes, we often have to question whether we need something or not.
That’s not a bad thing at all, and I encourage all of you to stop and consider the same thing.
The month of June was another powerhouse spending expedition as we didn’t save too much when we zeroed out our budget.
Related: How To Use A Zero-Based Budget
We had to pay the remainder of our laser hair removal treatment for both of us, totalling over $1000.
There was also a $500 charge for my truck accident that I paid to our insurance company.
You can read more about our month in my June Budget Update 2021.
Renovations and Market Increase
Overall, we could certainly see us spending more money as I continue to renovate the house.
The wood prices are coming down, which means I may consider building a new deck after all.
Our bathroom stand-up shower is leaking into our basement, so that will be my priority.
Other than that, the financial markets seemed to be in our favour as they’ve increased.
For August 2021, we are going to focus on saving more by purchasing less apart from reno materials.
So, if you’re serious about getting your finances in order, start today and watch how your money mindset shifts.
You’ll see budgeting in a whole new light, but a good one.
Related: My 10 Step Easy To Read Budgeting Mini-Series
Discussion: How was your net worth update for the month?
I was hoping you could leave me your comments below and perhaps share some of your goals for August.
Calculating Net Worth 101
Do you know how to calculate your own Net Worth?
We like to calculate our net worth every month to know if we are still on track.
Some people calculate it yearly or quarterly, but it’s up to you and how informed you want to stay.
Net Worth is only an estimate, and not everyone uses the same type of figures to tally it up.
Some of you may not include vehicles like we do or leave out assets inside the home as we have.
You might be that person who decides not to include your home in your net worth calculation.
It depends on what you want to calculate or sell today and make money for tomorrow.
Figuring out net worth is relatively easy as long as you know your monthly financial numbers.
Net Worth is adding up all your assets (what you own) and then taking away your liabilities (what you owe), giving you a net worth number.
Understanding your net worth will help you determine if you are on track meeting or beating your personal financial goals.
Determining Net Worth
How to Determine Net Worth?
Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities
Why not go ahead and calculate your own using our Free Money saving Tool Net worth Calculator (Canadian Budget Binder 2012)
Financial Numbers
When budgeting, anything is possible; we are proof of that, although we still have a long way to go in our journey.
These are our numbers and goals, not a means of comparing your plans to others’ target goals.
We don’t care how much money others earn or if they have a high net worth or lower than ours as it’s not a competition.
I hope our experiences will help guide you along your financial path, working towards debt freedom.
Not Everyone Follows The Same Path
Some of you may have had to start over like I did or go to school a second time and now have OSAP loans to pay back.
Others may have divorced, lost money in the stock market or other investments, suffered job loss, fell ill or injured on the job, and so on, but you can’t let that stop you from achieving your financial goals.
You may have been gifted trust funds, paid-for homes, educations, or other perks that give you a financial kick-start, and that’s OK too.
Earn It, Save It, Invest It, Build It
Remember what I said, “It’s not about how much money you make; it’s how you save it.”
The reason people accumulate wealth is because they know how to save or invest even if inherited or a lottery win.
The most negligible improvements should mean significant strides in working towards reaching your goals.
Sometimes we have to fail to learn, and we’ve all been there.
Money can be evil for some people, especially those who negatively affect their financial situation.
Be optimistic, and little by little with determination, you too should see improvements if you want that to happen.
Canadian Budget Binder Net Worth Updates 2021
Click the links below to read our net worth updates for the year 2021.
- January Net Worth 2021
- February Net Worth 2021
- March Net Worth 2021
- April Net Worth 2021
- May – Oops I forgot to post this one.
That’s all for this month’s net worth update, but please check in the middle of August to see how we made out in July 2021 with our financial portfolio.
~Mr.CBB
Note: This page may contain affiliate links where this blog earns a little income if you choose to use a product or service.
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