Before I sit down and plot out my 2012 goals, I figured it’d be helpful to go over my 2011 year; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

As I write this, I am sitting on a VIA train, speeding off to Montreal. Our original plans were to drive, but after reading reports of freezing rain, we made the decision last night to take the train instead. I will never again attempt to drive through a storm like the one on Christmas. So I am happily writing and taking advantage of the free wi-fi, and Frenchie’s reading a book beside me.

2011 was, for me, a year of upheaval. It has also been a year that has taught me to be grateful, to savour every moment, and to be forgiving to myself and others.

Cute sentiment, but I definitely need some changes.

Professional

At the beginning of 2011, I finally summoned up some courage and asked my bosses for a raise, a very necessary one. Although I did get the raise, the process I had to go through to get it was horrible.

In March, I was headhunted through a resume I had stuck up on Monster in January, and interviewed for an assistant position at a start up brokerage in Liberty Village, a very trendy neighbourhood. I was promised $45,000 salary. My new boss would train me and get me ready to do sales on my own. Everything would be great and lovely and…hang on.

Explosion!

Boss turned out to be a crazy lady. Miserable, and now on the couch of my friends’ home, I quit my job without anything lined up.

Fortunately, that same week I interviewed for my current position and was hired on the spot. I was extremely lucky, and only had 8 days between the two jobs.  I’ve been there ever since, on a salary combining a bonus and base, totaling $42,000 (though with my Christmas bonus, this was rounded out to $45,000). I’ve been here ever since and have enjoyed it. I am very grateful that I am even working, as many of my friends have been laid off, and many people in my generation are experiencing unemployment.

I also began working as a freelance writer in June, taking on projects through a friend of my aunt and uncle’s. About once or twice a month, I get a project to write a resume and cover letter based on questionnaires and previous resumes. I enjoy the work immensely, and it has allowed me to hone my writing skills.  I’m sincerely hoping to build more sidework like this in 2012, through tutoring and writing. I currently get paid $25/hr.

Locational

I had been living in a cute, basement bachelor apartment in February 2010.  I loved that little place.  I had a garden just outside my door, and everything I needed in the immediate area.

So when my new Liberty Village boss suggested buying a tiny 381sqft condo, and showed me how it’d be almost as inexpensive as renting, I decided to go for it.

The condo wound up being a bust. My new boss’s clients wound up buying the condo, and offered to rent it to me.  But after they increased the rent 5 days before I was set to move in, and 5 days before I had to move out of my apartment, I had to bail on the deal.

I now have a large, one bedroom apartment on the tenth floor of a high rise. It’s fairly cookie cutter, but it’s very spacious (maybe 800sqft?), has an indoor pool, and I finally feel like I have space to breathe. In the spring, summer and fall, I have access to the incredibly scenic trail that runs straight past my house into the downtown core, only taking 45 minutes or so. I love that bike ride.

Which leads me to…

Physical

Holy moley!  I’m an athlete!

In May, I participated in the Goodlife annual race through downtown Toronto.  I trained for the 5k race. I won’t bore you by reiterating the details, but the thrill of racing and doing it in 27 minutes gave me the biggest natural high that I’ve ever felt.

So I signed up for the Give it a Tri Triathlon. I did it in under an hour, although it was incredibly difficult and I was more tired than I’ve ever felt. But I was hooked.

Since my athletic eyes have always been bigger than my stomach, I decided the next logical step would be signing up for a Half Ironman. I’m not having a quarter-life crisis at all. No, siree.

Since then, I have been running weekly in a Half Marathon clinic, and I acquired the world’s best running buddy.  I can now easily run 15k. I am signed up to do the 30k Around the Bay race in Hamilton at the end of March. My body has changed, and I’m considerably less squishy.

I’m planning on having a giant eagle tattooed in henna across my back for the Half Ironman. I want to look like the warrior goddess that I feel like inside.

If you’re interested in following my physical transformation, and the occasional vlog, you can do so at Rabbit on the Run.

L’amour

I am dating an awesome guy who I want to introduce to my Nana. Enough said.

Financial

This section is pretty short, because my next post will be discussing in further detail how well I fared with my financial goals, and where I’m planning on going from here.

At the beginning of 2011, I had close to $11,000 left of my car loan. I paid that sucker off in full in September.

I increased my salary from $30,000 to $45,000.

I bought a Cervélo bicycle, and enrolled in a ton of athletic events, each ranging from $50 to $220.

The cost of paying off my car has been a complete depletion of my emergency fund. As of January 1st, it’ll be sitting at $1645.  I will continue to contribute $150 biweekly, in lieu of car payments.

In November, I made the mistake of brushing up against a car’s bumper in an overcrowded parking lot. Unfortunately, I had to claim it as an “at fault” accident and get insurance involved. The other driver was reasonable at first, then increased her demands. Which means if I do keep my car, I will be looking at a huge premium increase when my policy renews at the end of July.

Which is why I started really analyzing why I need a car. Especially after my incident on Christmas, I don’t want to own a vehicle anymore, not in a city like Toronto where it is almost criminally expensive to be a driver. Taking the TTC to work today reaffirmed to me that owning a car is not all it’s cracked up to be. It only took me an additional 15 minutes to make it to the office.

Zee Blog

This year, my blog was featured in the National Post, and two articles about me (the real me, with my full name and everything) appeared in the Globe and Mail. Though no major newspapers have come knocking at my door recently, I have done some giveaways and promotions, which has meant that I broke even on the costs of operating this blog.

I’m proud of Money Rabbit. But I’m not perfect (shocker). I write about everything in my life, including the stuff I’m not proud of. I’ve talked about my achievements, but I’ve also confessed my mistakes, faults, and wrongdoings. This can sometimes be quite scary, since I know I’ll face harsh judgment from people who don’t even know me personally, and sometimes even from the people who do know me personally. Though it is easy to criticize my choices and errors, at the end of the day, the main goal I’m trying to accomplish is personal development. As I stumble towards improving my character, it is thrilling and terrifying to share every step.

What I learned

• I am a warrior goddess, and a triathlete.
• I’m not the big city girl that I thought.  I am already looking forward to moving to a smaller town.
• Debt must be destroyed. Use whatever resources you can to eliminate it. Paying off my car in full should have been done at my earliest possible opportunity. But it’s done now, and that’s what matters.
• My family is immensely important to me. My mom is my closest confidante. My family are there to offer support and encouragement when needed, and I am happy to provide it in return.
• Life’s too short to put up with partners who don’t treat you right.
• Life’s too short to feel trapped in your career. If you’re unhappy, start planning IMMEDIATELY how to get where you want to go.
• I need to change careers.
  

One of the pros (and cons) about running my own website is that I can post really crappy content.  I came up with this terribly cheesy freeform poem while biking to work this morning.  I am really working hard right now to figure out my life, speaking to past mentors, industry specialists, friends in different fields, etc.  I am really searching my soul about what is right for me, and the one great thing about this job is that it’s forcing me to really examine myself and who I am, and what I really want out of life.  I thought I wanted to be a millionaire more than anything in the world.  I was wrong.

I used to think

that happiness was doled out in BMWs and mansions

that my beauty would shine brighter when framed with diamonds and Dior

that serenity would come from luxury vacations

and that fame and recognition were the keys to self-worth.

I used to feel

a desire for riches that threatened to burn me alive

a daily desperation to achieve the gold of King Solomon’s mines

regardless of the cost.

I used to know

beyond a shadow of a doubt

that the only way to be happy was to be the best in my field

to outpace my competition

to be the most successful person amongst my family and friends.

But now I think

that happiness is found on a cheap bike, bought for a pittance

that my beauty shines brightest when sharing a smile

that serenity comes from listening to my heart

and that my self-worth lies in the strength of my character and the kindness of my actions.

Now I feel

that riches are too easily lost and gained

but memories are forever

so I must fill each day with joy, love and adventure

regardless of my bank statements.

Now I know

beyond the shadow of a doubt

that the only way to be successful is to be true to myself,

to my family and my friends

even if the cost is high

living my life with joy is the best bargain I can make.

Time is my greatest asset

I must cherish it with every fibre of my being.

When I die

please let it be said

I lived.

Royal Bank of Canada, it’s over.  Today, you lost a multimillion dollar client.

And believe me …  it’s you, not me.

Today I initialized my TD Easyswitch and am moving everything in my RBC accounts over to TD.  I’ve been with TD Bank for four years and have used them for the majority of my banking, but until the government switched my GST payments to my TD account, I couldn’t close the RBC down.  Today was the big day.

This post may seem like I’m being paid by TD, which is NOT the case.  You can pretty much insert any bank in here that you’d like, but my experience with TD has been phenomenal.  CIBC has been known to treat their customers very well too.

My very first account was with RBC.  My mom used to take the six year old Money Rabbit to the RBC branch in Georgetown, ON with a little tupperware container full of money (see Lessons from my Mother), which we’d deposit into my Leo Young Savers account.  I loved bringing my little RBC bankbook with me, and having the bank’s massive printer zap the new balance into its crisp white pages.  I was shocked when the balance reached $100.  I was rich!

I remained a loyal RBC customer until my second year of university, when I booked an ill-fated appointment with a financial advisor.  Tired of my debt,  I had booked the appointment to speak to an RBC advisor about investing what little money I had at the time ($400 in my account, tops).

I arrived at the meeting early.  I had no idea what to expect so I dressed nicely.  I brought statements, and a small notebook with ideas that I had written down.  I was excited and nervous, I was finally going to make a positive change with my money!  I was going to be an investor, and I wasn’t even twenty yet!

I don't care if RBC hires Brad Pitt to be a financial advisor, I'm never going back!!!

Of course, if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know what happened next.  My appointment turned out to be with a stereotypical banker (white male in his early fifties, balding, tweed suit, had a generic portrait of an eagle in his office), who pulled up my account, and informed me very gravely that there was absolutely nothing he could do with me until I had at least $1000 in my account.  I tried asking further questions … what about mutual funds, stocks, anything?!  He handed me some brochures and sent me on my way.

Standing outside of the bank, I felt defeated and stupid, but something pushed me to walk across the street and into the TD Bank.  I wanted a second opinion.  I had read enough on personal finance to feel that I had been sold short by RBC.  So I made an impromptu appointment, and was seen in twenty minutes.

What a difference.  Within half an hour of my appointment, I was investing $50 monthly into a medium risk mutual fund.  I worked out a plan with my new advisor, where I would take all of my kick back (I worked as a hostess every weekend), and invest it into a mutual fund.  I figured I could easily come up with the $50 a month in tips, since I usually pulled in about $75 monthly above my paycheque.  It’s because of the time that TD Bank took to get me started that I’m where I am today.

RBC’s mistake has cost them a million dollar customer, and I knew that, which is why I didn’t take no for an answer.  Sure, my networth is only about $23,000 right now, but they should have had the foresight to recognize that a 19 year old with a burning passion for investing would be worth millions of dollars in the future.

Take my auto loan, for example.  When I was first looking into financing my car this past summer, I decided to give RBC one final shot.  I booked appointments with both TD and RBC, one right after the other.

At my TD appointment, I met Sammi, who has become my financial go-to gal for organizing my finances.  The appointment ended up being nearly an hour, because we got chatting about the rest of my finances.  The manager himself went to Tim Hortons and brought us back coffees.  We reorganized everything, switched some money around, changed my account types, and preapproved me for a loan.  I walked away feeling bouyant and excited.

My RBC appointment was next.  The branch was nearly empty, and I had to wait six or seven minutes for someone to notice that I was standing and waiting for my appointment.  I was shown into a small office where my advisor was waiting.  My first major obstacle at this appointment is that my advisor could barely speak English.  I don’t have a problem with anyone who speaks English as a second language (my grandfather is an immigrant from Holland), but when it comes to money, I have to be able to communicate clearly to ensure that my needs are understood.

I asked about loans, and she had no idea what to tell me, or why I was asking.  I decided to let it drop and moved on.  When I continued and asked questions about my credit card and that I was thinking of switching cards, she handed me brochures and told me to call Visa myself.

RBC, wtf is with you and brochures?!  I don’t want a brochure, I want guidance!!!

Essentially, I stormed out.  My time is too precious to squander with a company that has a business model that involves passing out brochures like hot cakes, instead of assisting their customers in person.

Not only that, but I called RBC right after and very calmly informed them that their business practices were hugely flawed and that it had cost them a long term customer.  The woman on the phone was very nice.  We had a great chat about my experiences with the company, I told her that I hoped the “higher ups” were listening, and we hung up.  The next week I received a card in the mail with a $25 gift certificate to Chapters.  That, in my opinion, has been the one saving grace in my entire fiasco with RBC.

Let me tell you why I’m a million dollar client, and why you are too.

Over the course of our lifetimes, odds are very high that over one million dollars will be funneled through our accounts.  When I bought my car, I financed it through TD with $14,998 over 5 years at 7.09%.  Were I to take the full five years to pay this off, TD would net about $3000 in interest from me.

My RRSPs, stocks, mutual funds, TFSAs, line of credit, and Visa are all with TD Bank.

When I get a mortgage, I will seriously consider going through TD (although I do know an outstanding mortgage broker).

Essentially, as long as TD doesn’t f*&k up, I will be their customer until the day I die, and over the course of my lifetime I will be a multimillion dollar client.

Here’s another reason that banks should treat their clients better.

My glowing reviews of TD Bank convinced my parents to consider the switch from RBC to TD.  They moved EVERYTHING, and I believe that they even recently refinanced their mortgage using, you guessed it, TD Bank.  Not only did RBC’s arrogance cost them one multimillion dollar client, it cost them two additional million dollar clients and a mortgage.

You, as a client, are a long term investment.  A bank should put exhaustive efforts into making you happy, because YOU are what they need to survive.  And frankly, I feel better being with a bank that understands how to treat their own investments, and in turn feel more confident investing my money wtih them.

Do not sell yourself short.  If your bank is not treating you with the respect you deserve, get out.  Get a second opinion, and never be afraid to walk out on a financial appointment, even if your advisor looks like Brad Pitt or Megan Fox.