Canadian FIRE

April 14th.  This will be the last day this blog survives. Godaddy.com will then have to roll up its sleeves and start up the chainsaw. They’ve already sent me the scary emails.. “Where’s ma’ money man? Where you goin’ punk? You have 20 days or else!”   CanadianFIRE.ca will continue to exist in the form of " canadianfire3.blogspot.com" - no wonder I bought a custom domain, jeez that's an ugly url. Don’t memorize that url just yet, once I have it finalized I’ll send y'all an update. So why close down the blog? Is it for good this time? Okay, I have a lot to say here but honestly it seems like a waste of both of our time if I drone on in paragraph form so here’s a bullet list of the what and why: Canadian FIRE was a great learning experience but I’m moving on from FIRE-only content as most do in the movement.  I’ve learned everything I could up until one day last year when I found myself a student without a teacher. Nobody has anything new or thought provoking to say.

Back when I was all gleamy-eyed and looking for Canadian FIRE content, I stumbled upon a brand new podcast with only 4 episodes out. It was called FI Garage and their third episode was called “Locating Yourself on the Path to FI.” In honour of that fun episode, I have borrowed the name for this article. Listening to Canadians talk about TFSAs, RRSPs, LIRAs and pensions in context to FIRE is something I’ve always been searching for. Endless google searches of “Canadian Financial Independence.” It's simply nice to hear other people on the same journey as you are without them getting into the non-applicable ROTHs or traditional IRAs. FI Garage was fun while it lasted for me because I got to hear from people who spoke using Canadian financial terminology. As to whether or not they actually speak to FIRE anymore I’ll leave up to you to decide. So, without going into my story and evolution of FIRE (that’s a post for another blog) I will simply be throwing down my numbers and speaking to

Prerequisite Reading: The Anti-Budget is on FIRE! It’s hard to put a thought into simple and honest words when so many conflicting viewpoints arise within the FIRE community. We FIRE walkers are not only separated from the outside world but also from each other when we use terminology and tribalism under the guise of specific values. If I’m being honest, I think almost everybody in the FIRE movement has very different values when it comes to spending. We are not one big happy collective spending and saving a FIRE specific way. Because let’s face it - we all eat a different way. We all have different sized families with different dependents. We all live and take jobs in different locations from one another. We all have different levels of health, and so on. And we gotta pay for all that. Each of us end up with different dollar amounts. Whenever I read about Lean FIRE, Fat FIRE, Barista FIRE, Coast FIRE, Fully Funded Lifestyle Change, and/or Slow FI, I just shake my head. The complexity

2021 has been one hell of a year so far. As a savvy FIREwalker, I’ve watched mostly from afar the complete shit show that is the stock market. It’s like a wrestling match with Reddit on one side and hedge funds on the other. The rich gal hosting the fight is ARK ETF’s fund manager and all us index investors are just chilling in the premium lounge over the raging crowd of FOMO investors. But then out of nowhere, Bitcoin jumps into the fight with the steel chair!? What the fuck is going on?? It’s only February! Okay, that metaphor is more funny than it is truthful but you get my point. What a wild ride. Volatility is 100% part of investing in the stock market but who knew the ride would take such a visual and personal turn in 2021 (and beyond). This will continue to be the case in the future, simply because more forums like /r/wallstreetbets will pop up and retail investors will continue to get news coverage as wild swings happen. The next generation is ready to buy tickets to the next m

Okay, so it goes something like this. You discover FIRE. You poke around different blogs, podcasts, mainstream news articles, etc. You’re pretty pumped. Look at all these people optimizing! You’ve never learned this much about investing. ETFs are the future. A few days, weeks, or months pass. “Whoa, who knew phone bills could be this cheap? You’ve got to tell your buddy Gagandeep! And Melissa would love this too, she’s always complaining of ‘never enough’ money. I bet they want to learn all the things I’ve just learned! I have so many resources! I’m so much happier optimizing, I’m sure they will be too. I can’t wait to tell them so we can all get better at the same time!!!” And so you’ve crossed the line with that very statement. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to you at the moment, your friends are actually going to be highly repelled by your helpful information for the following reasons: Your personal growth is not for them to actually care about; they’ll nod approvingly and say things l