Just because I felt like figuratively punching myself in the junk, I re-calculated my net worth tonight. As you might recall, I did this calculation at the end of the summer when I knew I was serious about buying an apartment.
I’m not exactly sure about the current value of one of my RRSPs but roughly, I am worth about $2000 less than I was at the end of those carefree summer days, when the air was sweet and warm. That may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but consider this, at the end of the summer, all my EA stock was worth approximately $8700. All that stock is now worth about $3000 (which includes additional shares I received since my last calculation). The losses on the RRSPs, I can take, they weren’t as drastic, plus I’ve already reaped the benefits of the tax breaks. The stock on the other hand, that’s a difficult one to accept. My EA stock is a mix of outright stock awards and employee purchase plan stocks. The shares from the awards will always make me money, they’re pure profit because I didn’t have to buy them, they were just given to me. Yes, it would have been better to sell them at $40 USD instead of the $15 USD now but I can’t control that. The ESPP shares make me sad. Because I had to purchase them (albeit at a discount), they are all underwater now. If I sell any of those, I lose money on every single one of them. Ideally, I’d hold onto them until they’re above water but if I need to money for a down payment, what am I to do?
Had I sold all my shares at the end of August, I’d be doing awesome right now. The only thing that makes me feel somewhat better is that though I’m worth $2000 less, aparment prices have dropped much more than that. In the end, will that matter more? I hope so.