Category: My Journey to Financial Independence

“Folks, I’ve declared a state of emergency in the province of Ontario…” flanked by a team of concerned policymakers, our fearless premier of Ontario solemnly announced through our television that he was taking measures to “stop the spread” of the respiratory virus Covid-19. For two weeks businesses, libraries, childcare centers, bars and restaurants would shutter. Essential businesses like grocery and liquor stores would stay open. Across the room my laptop made a ‘woosh’ sound with the arrival of a company-wide email alerting us that all offices would be closed until further notice.

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One day in summer of 2018, Victor and I got our wish. After three years in Winnipeg and one year of officially being married (!), he was being posted to Hamilton, Ontario, a 45 minute drive from Toronto without traffic, an hour and a half with. We managed to snag one of the last available apartments, a coral-colored one-bedroom in a low-rise condo building next to the military center in the heart of downtown. Our landlord Sam, a 60-something man from Cyprus with a thick accent and warm smile, practically ripped up the formal lease before we had a chance to sign it, insisting that he was ‘old school’, and there was no need to check our references.

“Let’s get a coffee instead,” he suggested.

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When I ran out of things to cut, I started to learn everything I could about personal finance and growing wealth in the stock market. I read and listened to The Canadian Couch Potato blog and podcast. I read A Random Walk down Wallstreet, The Millionaire Next Store, The Wealthy Barber. I binge-read Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) blogs like JL Collins, Mr. Money Mustache and Millennial Revolution, which all encouraged me to look for peace and happiness in experiences instead of stuff.

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2015 was the year of the app. There was an app to log your calories, measure your sleep, and yes, keep a budget. Even as an Android user the options were endless. I chose the best free app at the time, Moneywise Pro. I logged all my expenses on the app, forecasting months in advance. I included my income and fixed expenses such as my 2k/month savings, rent, utilities, cable, gym pass and yoga studio. Once I saw how little money I had leftover to pay for groceries, dinners out with friends, spa days and take-out, I decided to do some cost-cutting.

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Back home in Toronto, I called my financial advisor to tell him I was planning on managing my own investments. “No problem-o,” he said cheerily. “It’s your money!” Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all, I thought. Then he mentioned that since I was transferring my actively managed mutual funds to my brokerage, and those funds had been specific to his firm, he would need to sell everything, incurring large capital gains. There would also be a charge to move my money over. I would pay another large tax bill this year, and this time no Keg gift certificate. But it would all be worth it once I was in control of my investments.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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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