Since I first read Millionaire Teacher, I have learned more about the stock market’s incredible wealth-building power and how low-cost index funds can enable us to harness that power for our own portfolios. I have also learned more about how high-fee, actively managed funds can just as easily rob us of our hard-earned money and jeopardize our future financial freedom. This has led me to do my own analysis on portfoliovisualizer.com to see the numbers for myself.
On the flight back to Toronto I started reading Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. I liked how he was a fellow Canadian who became a millionaire by age 40 on a teacher’s salary through extreme frugal living and consistent investing. He did crazy things like turning the heat off in the dead of winter, running 20 km to work and eating fresh clams that he caught in a nearby river. I was intrigued!
I have always had a bit of an independent streak, especially when it came to money. Ever since I was old enough to walk to the Little Bee Mart variety store with my friends, planning what flavor of freezie I was going to buy with my saved allowance, I have loved saving, spending and earning my own money. This thrill of extra income is likely what motivated me to get my first real job at the local movie theatre at age 15. After I was downsized from the theatre, I scored what would be my best job ever, Starbucks Barista. I loyally worked shifts throughout high school, closing the store late on school nights, opening at 5 a.m. on weekends, my hair and clothes reeking of coffee, my workplace becoming my social life. I can remember feeling a sense of purpose as I slung lattes across the bar towards tired customers, making the occasional grumpy one smile.
I’m sitting on a white sand beach, the sun casting sparkles on the turquoise water, making it shimmer. I pick up my drink and take a sip, cool sweet coconut swirling around my tongue.
I set my drink down and pull out my phone. As I log into my investment portfolio, I sit up to shield the sun, making sure I’m not seeing things. But it’s there and it’s real. My portfolio has grown large enough that just a small percent could easily cover all my expenses for the past year, albeit humbly. I may not be rich like the people who own the yachts parked along the shore, but I have enough to live a comfortable life, on my terms. I am financially independent.
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