Dividend Portfolio & Personal Finance Update

I updated my Microsoft Money file today, as I usually do once or twice a week and my portfolio has done well. The last time I updated the information on this blog was August 22nd. At that time my portfolio was valued at $33,996. Today I am showing a value of $34,489 - an increase of $493 since August 22nd. This is not all investment gain as I have contributed some money to both my pension and RSP.

As an update to my Personal Financial Strategy, I want to report that I have sold my Nissan Xterra and have bought a Mazda5. The reason for this was two fold:

1. The Xterra is a total pig on gas. With prices at around $1.10 per litre, my wife and I were paying in excess of $260 per month in fuel. With the new vehicle, the fuel economy ratings for the vehicle indicate that we will be able to cut this expense in at least half. Yes, the Xterra is that bad on gas.
2. The Xterra was getting up to 80,000km and I was worried that some major repairs were in the works. 4x4 scares me as the costs to repair anything on the drive train can be very expensive.

Given the reduction in fuel costs and the small increase in monthly payments that we will be making, we should end up ahead of the game by about $100. May not seem like much, but with a one income household, every little bit helps.

So, where do I sit in terms of progress. The chart below provides an indication of where I sit:


A pretty busy period since I last updated my progress - it is trending in the right direction though and in this type of market I am feeling pretty good. In my next post, I am going to talk about my asset allocation and my thoughts around this topic.