Net Worth Update: 2025 Year-End Review
A little over six years ago I handed in my resignation at my public sector day job to focus full-time on advice-only financial planning, this blog, and some paid freelance writing work.
Suffice to say, that was one of the best decisions of my life. No more Monday morning budget meetings, performance reports, or KPIs. Now I could work on what I wanted, when I wanted, right from the comfort of my own home with my wife and business partner.
Forget the fact that we launched into this at the start of a global pandemic. That may have actually been a blessing, as the world grew more accustomed to working remotely over Zoom and other online tools.
Our business has exploded since then, exceeding our wildest expectations of what was possible. Along the way, I've been a guest on the Rational Reminder podcast, The Wealthy Barber podcast, the annual Canadian Financial Summit, and even wrote my first op-ed in The Globe & Mail this year.
We've also updated our website to reflect that we're now a financial planning firm with a blog on the side, not the other way around.
On the personal finance front, we've benefited from a growing income and a raging bull market (Covid crash and 2022 blip aside). My RRSP has grown by 101% in six years, despite not having made a single contribution in that time. Incredible!
We reached the million dollar mark in our net worth at the end of 2020. That felt like a monumental milestone. But just five years later and we've cracked $2M in net worth.
It was going to take an exceptional year in the market for us to reach that milestone, but that's exactly what happened. Our investments, mostly held in Vanguard's All Equity ETF (VEQT), were up 20.56% in 2025. That did most of the heavy lifting for us.
Additionally, we increased our salary & dividend combination (with designs on contributing to our RRSPs next year and into the future), which allowed us to contribute aggressively to our TFSAs.
We'll complete our TFSA snowball next year, plus start those RRSP contributions as mentioned. From there, we'll balance our RRSP and TFSA contributions with some extra mortgage payments, plus financial assistance for our kids through post-secondary and early adulthood.
All while continuing to travel and add to our accumulation of memories – those pay the best dividends over time.
Since I've already spoiled the outcome (that we hit the $2M mark), here's how our net worth looks at the end of 2025:
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assets | ||||
| Chequing account | $12,000 | $12,000 | $12,000 | 0.00% |
| Corporate cash balance | $60,000 | $55,000 | $75,000 | 9.09% |
| Corporate investment account | $562,848 | $444,117 | $305,617 | 26.73% |
| RRSP | $456,847 | $378,600 | $302,411 | 20.67% |
| LIRA | $303,019 | $251,172 | $204,231 | 20.64% |
| TFSA | $169,198 | $52,297 | $0 | 223.53% |
| RESP | $139,422 | $122,293 | $100,796 | 14.01% |
| Principal Residence | $976,000 | $976,000 | $976,000 | 0.00% |
| Total assets | $2,679,334 | $2,291,479 | $1,976,055 | 16.93% |
| — | ||||
| Debt | ||||
| Mortgage | $460,899 | $481,077 | $500,155 | -4.19% |
| Total debt | $460,899 | $481,077 | $500,155 | -4.19% |
| — | ||||
| Net Worth | $2,218,435 | $1,810,402 | $1,475,900 | 22.54% |
It's amazing how much investment returns drive our overall net worth growth now versus 5-10 years ago when savings contributions really moved the needle more. While we contributed significantly to our TFSAs, it was the 20%+ investment returns that did the heavy lifting this year.
Now let’s answer a few questions about the way I calculate our net worth:
Credit Cards, Banking, and Investments
Earlier this year I closed the TD account that I've had since I was eight years old and moved my everyday banking to Wealthsimple.
My wife and I follow a simple approach to our banking: One joint account where income flows in and joint expenses flow out, plus one no-fee personal account for agreed-upon guilt-free spending.
We have a joint credit card at Scotiabank (Passport Visa), but funnel most of our spending onto our Wealthsimple Visa Infinite cards (2% cash back on everything).
Once or twice a year we'll apply for a new rewards card to build up our points, focusing on American Express Membership Rewards, Aeroplan, and Mariott Bonvoy as our go-to travel programs.
All of our investment accounts (RRSPs, TFSAs, my LIRA, our kids' RESP, and our corporate investment account) are all now held at Wealthsimple's self-directed trading platform.
You know all of this from my post about how I invest my own money.
RRSP / LIRA / RESP
The right way to calculate net worth is to use the same formula consistently over time to help track and achieve your financial goals.
My preferred method is to list the current value of my RRSP, LIRA, and RESP plans rather than discounting their future value to account for taxes and distributions.
I consider a net worth statement to be a snapshot of your current financial picture, so when it comes time to draw from my RRSP/LIRA and distribute the RESP to my kids, my net worth will decrease accordingly.
Principal Residence
We bought our home in 2023 for $976,000, so that’s the price I’m using for our net worth calculation. I typically adjust the purchase price by inflation each year but I’ll likely keep listing it at the purchase price for a few years.
Astute readers will notice that the price of our previous home went from $459,000 to $555,000 from 2022 to 2023. That ended up being the sale price, so you can see that I was pretty conservative with the house value over the years.
Final Thoughts
Unlike the last major net worth milestone, there will be no big hairy audacious goal to reach $3M or $5M in a few years. While that's likely the trajectory we're on, it's starting to feel a bit tone deaf to post about our success when inequality has never been more prevalent in society.
Regular people are still struggling with affordability after the recent spike in inflation, and while wages (on average) have also risen, we're seeing more of a K-shaped recovery and a growing divide between the rich and poor.
I know many of you look forward to these updates, and I've always strived to be transparent with my readers. But this will be our final net worth update post.
Besides not wanting to sound out of touch, I also don't want the message to focus on continuously growing the pile.
I joke that half my job is spent trying to convince my retired clients to spend more money. I think that comes from an obsession with saving, investing, and wanting to move the needle forward. It's hard to turn off the savings taps and turn on the spending taps.
But, as Die With Zero author Bill Perkins says, our net worth should peak around age 55 (not at death) so we can maximize our life fulfillment and create more long-lasting memory dividends. Wait to long to spend your money, and you risk your health failing before you can enjoy the fruits of your labour.
We aim to do that with our travels and giving our kids amazing experiences and the opportunity to pursue their dreams. Heck, we still have our own dreams to pursue!
So that's going to be our focus from now on. Saving and investing for tomorrow, of course. But also living for today and not obsessing over a vanity metric like our net worth.
Happy New Year, thanks for reading, and we wish you all the best for 2026 and beyond!
