Ask Sherry: Do I do index funds or dividend income?

You asked, and I am answering every Friday once I have enough questions!

You can ask any question using the form here.

Are you index fund growth strategy or dividend income strategy?

Both.

Right now I am mainly index fund growth and I am leaving my current registered accounts like that, but all NEW income saved starting 2017 will be dividend income.

I want my capital to be preserved.

Ideally I’d like to be 50/50 because I want to eventually live off the dividend income, but I am also realistic that if I wanted that to be a 90% secure situation, I need to invest in dividends that only pay 1% – 2%, not the high-interest ones I have been picking lately… then to reach the income I need, I need to save some MAJOR capital of at least two million at a minimum, but untouched.

So in the meantime, before I reach $2M in assets, I need to make sure my money grows at the very least.

Are you still on the $50K annual dividend strategy?

Yes.

I need to work first though 🙂 My blog only makes about $1000 a month which just about covers basic living expenses (without any shopping or ‘fun’ stuff included of course), but my real job will pull in the money I need to reach this goal.

I won’t be going back to work until next year when Baby Bun is a bit older, and then I’ll take one of the contracts out there to start aggressively making my dividend income grow to $50,000.

Do you have a prenup with your partner since you are common law?

No. Quebec laws dictate that without a will, everything goes to your child under common-law marriage which is what I want anyway.

We also don’t need a prenup because our finances are separate and we equally pay 50/50 towards everything* regardless of employment or life situation including maternity leave, and we jointly own the home we share that we both equally paid in cash (which I am understanding is unusual in and of itself, that the woman pays her half).

So if in the event I die, my son gets my half and co-owns it with his father.

What I have done, is create a will that says my partner gets the assets to hold in trust for my son, and if we BOTH die, his sister takes over to hold the funds in trust for Baby Bun.

*I have been burned before, being the one paying for it all and that was not pleasant.

What happens if your partner ends up in a bind and needs you to dip into your pot to help him out? Would you do it? And if you don’t would it seem like a bad partner since you guys are a family after all?

I would 100% give him money to help him out and he would do the same for me. I wouldn’t not do it…. we are a family after all. We help each other, and even though everything is separate.

If I wouldn’t help him, it would have to be for a darn good reason, like he is using the money to invest on the stock market on a stock gamble, or using it to purchase something illegal, or do something terrible I don’t agree with…. none of which he does. 🙂

We’re fair, but not mean, but I can see how some partners would not bail out their other partner if it was a chronic issue of them overspending or making bad money decisions.

Timely net worth updates. Less fashion stuff. Statistically, what themes are most popular by view count?

I addressed the net worth update issue here, and as for ‘less fashion stuff’, I have been relying on those pre-scheduled posts because of the same reason as why my net worth updates have not been timely!

I’ll work on it though. 🙂

Statistically, the best posts of mine are all fashion/style, not money-related, and my best posts by view count are found here, and predictably, none of them have anything to do with money.

I will however take your suggestion into consideration and write a little more on money & minimalism. I’m having a renewed interest in it as of late.

What is it about the content of your blog that you think appeals to readers most?

I don’t know, you tell me 🙂 You’re a reader right? Just teasing.

Over the years, I have been told it is that I am an open book for the most part due to being Anonymous.

I like to think that I also write decently well with very few errors and typos (they do sneak in..), and I enjoy what I am writing about, which helps.

Lastly, it is because I make a shedload of money ($20,000 – $30,000 a month) when I work on contract and everyone is always dying to find out what I do so they can do it themselves.

All I can say is you are either in the business or you are not, it is not something you can work towards, necessarily. It’s truly luck that I fell into my career path, and am good at it because I enjoy it.

I am also told by my colleagues I am a serious unicorn in the business to have started freelancing so early in my life, and most people don’t start until their 50s. *shrug* I saw the opportunity and jumped without a safety net of savings (I was single at the time), and I was also very lucky being at the right place at the right time.

Here’s my net worth journey from debt to being in the black.

How much have you actually worked?

Whatchu talkin’ about ‘work’, Willis!? (Just kidding.)

Less than half for sure by now after having Baby Bun. I have been taking long breaks here and there..

I’ll have to do the math and write a post on this. I’m guessing 40% at a maximum ever since I graduated.

Most notably, there was that time in 2012 where I worked 10 weeks in a year & made $130,000 and then took the entire year off to travel and chill. I guess I should have worked more but I didn’t want to.

That was fun, and very unlikely to ever happen again. 🙂

Are you going to do an investing book?

Yes. And an investing tool. Stay tuned.

Update:

Investing Tool for sale.

Investing Book for sale.

Still have a burning question?

You can ask any question using the form here or entering a comment in a form on my blog sidebar, and all of my previous Ask Sherry posts are here.