A quiet, anonymous little victory....

[Koogie]

Thanks for your kinds words all.
LRDave: true. But the main problem is I only need about 350K to run the business, so the "excess" cash has not been pulling its' weight. If you average out the 21% annual return over the entire amount though, I guess it still looks okay compared to the markets.
Milton: i was raised to believe that you had to work just as "smart" as you worked "hard" I've been doing the working hard thing pretty well but not working smart. Plus, the miser in me gets angry with himself thinking about all the lost "potential" money that I could have been earning.
My corporate taxation year ends on Feb. 29 so once I have cut the disgustingly large cheque to the government for the taxes they "deserve" for last year, I'll be able to move another chunk of retained earnings over to the holding company and I'm going to finally get it invested. Probably about 700K in GICs (CDs) that are 3.5% 5 year cashables, paying annually.
The other 500K I haven't decided what to do with yet. Maybe 60%bond index, 20% cdn equity index and 20% us equity index ? Any ideas out there for a conservative, risk intolerant investor ?

 

[Koogie]

Just a small update. Fiscal year ended Aug. 31 again. Figure NW after tax is around 1.775 now. Improved the quality of life substantially by moving the office 2.5KM from home last year.. so its made the job much more tolerable. The export based manufacturing economy is starting to suck wind now (that is our client base) so it is quiet compared to last year but overall revenue/profit are only down about 15% (knock on wood).
Still committed to being in the class of 2013 but had an interesting offer from a former partner last week that would essentially see us merge with his company at the end of 2013 and work part time on a few of our existing clients. It's intriguing but don't want it to end up being One More Year Syndrome. But, working part time (6-8 mos) we can probably still pull in 50-75K a year, if it was structured right and with a little luck.

 

[jpa9022]

Sounds like you're making great progress. A part time job making 50-75k/yr is nothing to sneeze at. Lots of people do part-time work after they retire, nothing like continuing to work in the same field you've worked in for the past 10 years and still having the free time to "be retired."

Good luck!

 

[obgyn65]

Congrats, Koogie.

 

[redduck]

Started from a computer bought on my credit card in my bedroom. Didn't have a pot to piss in at the time.
+++


Koogie, I understand LBYM, and I'm glad that you are doing so well now, but did you ever get that pot?

 

[Koogie]

Started from a computer bought on my credit card in my bedroom. Didn't have a pot to piss in at the time.
+++


Koogie, I understand LBYM, and I'm glad that you are doing so well now, but did you ever get that pot?

LOL... several. Or it might have been an uncomfortable 10 years or so...
proud to say I didn't have to buy them on the credit card either.. ha

 

[redduck]

LOL... several. Or it might have been an uncomfortable 10 years or so...
proud to say I didn't have to buy them on the credit card either.. ha

Thank you for your quick response. I can now rest easy.

 

[Koogie]

Wow.. four years since an update to this thread. Time flies faster and faster it seems and more hair falls out and/or turns white.. lol

Anyway, I am just updating this for my own "scheisserei und kichert"

It was year end again yesterday in my small business and somehow that brought this thread to mind. Hard to believe I started it eight years ago. Let's see what has changed in the last four years..

The biggest thing I suppose is my wifes health took a turn for the worse(r) in 2013/14 and the severity of it shocked us both greatly. We ended up making some sudden changes in our life (which in retrospect might have been a little rushed) and the biggest involved moving and delaying RE. I won't deny delaying RE also had a fairly hard effect on me psychologically since I had planned on doing it in 2014 and it took me about a year to make peace with it. Given the care she may need in the future though I think it was the right and prudent thing to do.

So I settled on a 5 more year plan and set about it pursuing it. We gave up the great rental on the lake near Toronto and bought a small house on the edge of a city about 50 kms away. I'm not thrilled with it (I am not an enthusiastic house owner) but it only amounts to about 15% of our net worth and DW feels happy there so it was worth it.

This meant we moved our business as well and I also went into partnership with an old business colleague and sold him 50% of the business. The health crisis reinforced to me how precarious our position was and we needed strong backup and fresh blood. Somewhat to my surprise it has gone well and will for the foreseeable future, I think. It has allowed us to have a better quality of life with more time off, less stress and actual vacations again. In fact, I only tend to work about 3 - 4 days a week at present, so I guess technically I could be called semi-RE already.

It also gave us time last fall to actually get married.. lol After 18 years of "shacking up" we had a small family sized wedding. Our remaining parents are elderly, so it was partially for their sake. So, she actually is "DW" now..

So, that is most of the changes on the home front. I am still committed to full RE at the end of 2018 (when I will be 45ish) but we'll see how life goes.

On the financial front, I have made headway as well. Until about 2012 I had none of our money invested. I began reading about personal finance, with an eye towards learning enough to be a DIY investor. I am still reading and learning 5 years later.. lol. I have a self admitted tendency toward "analysis by paralysis" and to break myself out of that in 2013 I hired a fee only Financial Planner. She did a thorough investigation and plotting of our finances and goals and helped me to write up an IPS of my own. It was money well spent.

I have swallowed the Vanguard/indexer pill whole and made that the basis of our plan moving forward. After speaking to DW, we agreed that she would be comfortable with an allocation of 60FI/40EQ based on our investable assets at the time. When the health crisis came and the 5MY plan was implemented it meant that we would have more money coming in the door for 5 years (we still basically live off the income earned each year now and don't touch the investments) So, with the help of Mr. Market the total investable sum has gone up and all extra funds I have allocated to EQ (under a "found money" theory). Hopefully that isn't self delusion but I have discussed it with DW and she is comfortable with it. So our actual allocation 3 years later is getting closer to 50/50.

I won't bother explaining the minutiae of the actual investments here other than to say we remain committed to indexing in the EQ except we are also amassing some dividend paying Canadian equities to augment our CDN index holdings. We have also fully maxed out all our tax advantaged/deferred retirement accounts. Lastly, as I said, Mr. Market has been good to us and we are up about 35% since our last posted net worth figure as well.

Apologies if you wandered in here and had to read all that...
See you in another couple years...

 

[Katiek]

Thanks for the update and I think it's a good thing you were able to diversify a bit more by selling part of the business.

 

[Nemo2]

Sorry about your wife's health Koogie, but applause for the good news.

 

[kcowan]

Congratulations on "taking care of business",Koogie. 50k? Away from the lake? Stouville/Uxbridge?

Does your business partner share the retained earnings idea so that you draw similar amounts? Make sure you segregate the amount you had before the partnership.

Best of luck on the health issues. I am very familiar with such challenges.

 

[Koogie]

Thanks for the update and I think it's a good thing you were able to diversify a bit more by selling part of the business.

Indeed. It has reduced the stress considerably as well, which is no small thing.

Sorry about your wife's health Koogie, but applause for the good news.

Thank you for the kind words, sir. I hope to hear soon that your health outlook is improving !

Congratulations on "taking care of business",Koogie. 50k? Away from the lake? Stouville/Uxbridge?
Does your business partner share the retained earnings idea so that you draw similar amounts? Make sure you segregate the amount you had before the partnership.
Best of luck on the health issues. I am very familiar with such challenges.

Thank you as well, sir. Glad to have read that some of your own issues are improving.
We moved west actually, not north. Dundas, just outside Hamilton. Nice place, so far. Smaller size and a slower pace.
He is more or less in the same headspace regarding how the company should be run and with regards to retained earnings. And I "cleansed" the Opco before the partnership began and moved the remainder of my prior earnings to the Holdco. Prudence, in all things...

 

[kcowan]

My business partner lived in Hamilton. We used to have meetings on his sailboat. When Westjet first started. I would fly into Ancaster (after relocating west) and drive the rental to his place before heading off to Toronto. The business survived until I retired ten years later. He is still working.

 

[Koogie]

My business partner lived in Hamilton. We used to have meetings on his sailboat. When Westjet first started. I would fly into Ancaster (after relocating west) and drive the rental to his place before heading off to Toronto. The business survived until I retired ten years later. He is still working.

I'm going to cherry pick the moral of your story as being if you want to retire "don't buy a sailboat" instead of "don't live in Hamilton"

 

[kcowan]

He is working by choice. LOL I have another friend who upgraded to a Hunter 49 to be ready for retirement. We will head out of Midland week after next, weather permitting.

 

[Milton]

We gave up the great rental on the lake near Toronto and bought a small house on the edge of a city about 50 kms away. I'm not thrilled with it (I am not an enthusiastic house owner) but it only amounts to about 15% of our net worth and DW feels happy there so it was worth it.

Good show. A happy and successful marriage (which I guess is one and the same; sorry for the redundancy) requires both spouses' commitment to reasonable compromises as necessary.

This meant we moved our business as well and I also went into partnership with an old business colleague and sold him 50% of the business. The health crisis reinforced to me how precarious our position was and we needed strong backup and fresh blood. Somewhat to my surprise it has gone well and will for the foreseeable future, I think. It has allowed us to have a better quality of life with more time off, less stress and actual vacations again. In fact, I only tend to work about 3 - 4 days a week at present, so I guess technically I could be called semi-RE already.

Wow, good for you! So many entrepreneurs really struggle with giving up 100% control of their 'babies'. Great to hear that a de facto partnership is working well for you.

On the financial front, I have made headway as well. Until about 2012 I had none of our money invested. I began reading about personal finance, with an eye towards learning enough to be a DIY investor. I am still reading and learning 5 years later.. lol. I have a self admitted tendency toward "analysis by paralysis" and to break myself out of that in 2013 I hired a fee only Financial Planner. She did a thorough investigation and plotting of our finances and goals and helped me to write up an IPS of my own. It was money well spent.

While I am generally not a fan of financial advisors, if her help has given you the confidence to begin investing, then it certainly was money well spent (especially as you went the fee-only route).

 

[Dreamer]

Congrats on your marriage and working part-time! Sorry to hear about your wife's health.