Hunting Season Adventures and Financial Milestones: My October Update with a $451,890.80 Net Worth!

I am now in New Brunswick for the hunting season. I arrived a few days ago. If you follow me on Twitter/X, you’ll know that I spent one night in Rivière-du-Loup this past Friday. I enjoyed the hotel’s pool and did some shopping. Rivière-du-Loup is a really nice place. There are many charming small communities all along the St. Lawrence River, like Cacouna. This is what the St. Lawrence River looks like on the Cacouna side.

While being away on vacation, I noticed that the TSX closed again within the 24,000-point range, so I updated my investment portfolio this past weekend. That’s when I realized I had reached a net worth of $450,000 and even exceeded it. I closed the October 4 session with a net worth of $451,890.80. Today, the TSX closed at an impressive 24,302.26 points. I believe my net worth is currently around $453,000. My monthly dividend income is now $959, excluding the dividends earned from my RRSP.

All of these positive developments are happening while Floridians are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. I remember when the Tōhoku Pacific Coast Earthquake happened in 2011 in Japan. It was a highly traumatic event, but it barely had any impact on the TSX. It feels similar this time, as though nothing significant is happening. Aside from assessing how natural catastrophic events worldwide affect the TSX, I’ve been closely following the news and sincerely hoping for a quick recovery, with water receding swiftly from all affected areas.

Recently, TransCanada Corp (TRP) became South Bow Corporation (SOBO). I made the name change in my latest investment portfolio update. For me, this is just a name change. However, a more significant event that was recently announced is that Toronto-Dominion Bank has agreed to pay fines totaling US$3.09 billion to various U.S. regulators after pleading guilty to multiple charges related to deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program. Ever since I started investing in Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), I thought it was one of the safest investments I could make. To me, TD was a very progressive bank. They were among the first banks to extend their opening hours to more reasonable times, allowing regular people to benefit from extended business hours. Their brokerage platform also seemed quite advanced. But now, things feel quite different.

I switched from TD Waterhouse to National Bank Direct Brokerage a while ago, and overall, I’m satisfied with National Bank Direct Brokerage. I don’t pay any commission fees for buying or selling stocks with them, which is a great benefit. I have a margin account with them, carrying a debt of about $4,500. I’ll do my best to reduce it as much as possible by the end of the year, but I know I likely won’t be able to pay it off completely by then. Reducing my margin debt was a goal I set for 2024, but since my net worth is currently over $450,000, I don’t mind if I carry a little margin debt into 2025. On that note, I sincerely believe I have a good chance of reaching a $500,000 net worth in 2025.