So how did it all start?
I never rented an apartment before; I left my parent’s place at 27 into my own condo following my marriage in 2005. The mortgage was always my biggest debt and I kept on wondering sometimes if putting my excess cash in it was the right thing. Looking for opinions on the internet, I stumbled across several Canadian personal finance blogs and I got hooked.
Since my mortgage was my biggest debt, I was already on the right path since I had no other debts. The credit card was paid every month and I avoided stretching the budget into red territory. I had a basic excel budget that I greatly improved and started building a strategy into place that would help me retire before 65, preferably in the 40s. Since the household is functioning on my salary only, it is an ambitious objective.
Having sold my condo in 2008 to move into a house, putting the extra cash flow into the mortgage paid handsomely. I was able to recuperate every dollar that was paid in interest, condo fees, special fees, renovation and welcome tax. The boom in real estate prices in Montreal certainly helped, and the only money I did not recuperate was the 10k commission fee of the real estate agent. Let me tell you this is the first time and the last time I sell a property using an agent, what a rip off. I look back to this amount as a 300$/mo rent for a 1300 sqf condo, which is a steal.
I still favor the majority of the cash flow going into my mortgage even though my interest rate is variable right now at 1.75%. It is my hedge against high interest rates to come and works towards my target of paying the mortgage off by 2013 if possible.
Now that you have gotten to know me better it’s time catch up on the latest developments in the markets. I will introduce my portfolios tomorrow.
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