$1.13M in net worth
We crossed the seven-digit threshold on January 31, 2024. Boom. We are now millionaires. How did we celebrate? Well, we didn’t celebrate right away. Cautious to a fault, we thought at first this fancy new balance would just be a blip and our number would slide back down south of $1M the next month.
Nope. Or the next month? No, again. Okay. The month after that? No. Just no. So, that’s it. We are millionaires for really real. The celebration was a dinner out and a bottle of wine. I so wish we had taken a picture, but I guess we just weren’t tracking that. I’ll find some random picture I took at the end of January and call it good. Awwwww. There ya go.
The breakdown
$1,132,586.67 total converted CAD
- + from 1.119M (+1.16%) last month
- + 16.44% YTD (from 972k)
CAD only
Our Canadian holdings include my RRSP, my husband’s RRSP, my TFSA, my taxable brokerage account, and cash savings held in a HISA.
- $561k, up from 555k (+1.19%)
- + 7.32% YTD (from 523k)
USD only
Our US holdings include my husband’s 401K, HSA, and cash savings held in a HYSA.
- $423k, up from 415k (+1.89%)
- +25.18% YTD (from 337k)
What’s next? #1 Cash!
We’re really hoping we can hit $1.2 before leaving New York, but, as always anything can happen. With a major relocation in the near term, my husband stopped contributing to his 401k for the remainder of the 2024. This was a planned move, as mentioned in my 2023 annual update. Moving is expensive, and we need whatever cash we can get to help fund that. (We will likely re-start the 401k contributions in the new year, just because it’s so hard to pass up the free money.) For the time being, we are also going to tighten our belts that much more, with an eye toward beefing up our USD cash which we hold in an Amex Yield Interest Savings Account. Inflation is really making this objective tough, though. I might seriously think about going on an all-out fiscal fast… What is that, you ask?
Fiscal Fast
A fiscal fast is a short period of all-out frugal effort. For the upcoming period, I’m going to look at some of the following strategies:
- Pantry challenge: A couple of times a year, I challenge myself to only purchase dairy and produce for a month. I make every effort to use up frozen food, canned goods, and pantry stuffs. I’m staring down a gigantic bag of kidney beans, a mishmash of pasta shapes in tiny amounts, and umpteen cans of tomatoes. Beyond that, I am going to suck it up and Aldi as much as possible. I have nothing against Aldi as a concept, obviously, it’s just that my store in Brooklyn is a place where angels fear to tread. I’m scared of the cashiers, the shoppers, and the roof parking lot. But I will be brave…
- Reduce the heating bill: With winter around the corner, we have an opportunity to keep our heating bill ultra low. It will be the winter of wearing slippers and sweaters. Last winter, I applied 3M to some of our leaky windows. This year, I’d like to see if we can update the weather stripping around our two enormous sliding glass doors.
- Mining for credit card gold: Right now our go-to credit card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It’s a great card for travel, and right now we have 84,000 points, which will offset our travel costs to Canada. Awesome. But with our new priority of cash, we are looking add to the Chase Freedom Unlimited to our wallets. Speaking of cash-back cards, I have a quick update. Per my 2023 annual update, we did actually get a Chase Amazon Prime Visa. Since opening that card 11 months ago, we have made $300 in balance credit. Easiest money ever.
- Ebay sales: My husband is a collector and has some memorabilia he can offload. We’re going to set up shop on ebay and see how much of this we can turn into cash.
#2 Roth conversion ladder!
Beyond beefing up our cash savings, we also need to start wrapping our heads around the roth conversion ladder. Most of our USD is held within my husband’s 401k, which would normally not be freely available until he is 59.5. The roth conversion ladder will enable us to access that money well before then. Having been reading up on FI for the past six years or so, I have heard this term countless times and definitely understood the gist of it. However, when it comes down to the minutiae and mechanics, most articles leave out plenty of details. Our situation has the added level of complexity that comes with cross-border stuff. We must look for a financial institution that accepts expats. The majority don’t. But it looks like Interactive Brokers will fit the bill. I already have my taxable CAD account with them for the same reason.
#3 Monthly updates
Starting this month, I’m going to give monthly updates in countdown style. I’ll keep you updated on the fiscal fast, cash treasure hunts, and anything else we uncover as we enter the homestretch.