u/Personal-Captain9203

I saw a post on here describing the struggles of trying to find a sapphic partner with a FIRE mindset, and I was shocked at the amount of queer women commenting. I didn't realize there were that many of us on this subreddit.

Instead of individually reaching out to each one I thought maybe I should just make a post to see if there's any of us sapphic women single in western Canada?

Straight and coupled women are welcome too, I'd love to be friends with other FIRE women as well, but bonus points if you're queer and single haha.

It'd be so cool to find a partner or a good friend to experience life with.

I would love a travel buddy or someone to indulge in my more expensive hobbies with.

I feel like most of the redditors here are American so this is definitely a shot in the dark, but please reach out if you'd like to chat!!

I've noticed a lot of my classmates aren't really too worried about saving/investing for the future, so many of them haven't ever heard of FIRE. I was talking to one of these classmates about how I'm investing because homeownership and retirement would be impossible otherwise and she said "oh my mom will give me her house and my dad will probably leave me his as well."

Ah it must be nice.

EDIT: guys I'm a third year, this wasn't during orientation. This happened sometime about three months into my second year in a conversation with a classmate. I just thought to write about it now.

Can't talk about this with anyone in my life without feeling like I'm bragging.

But even if I don't invest a single dollar more starting today, I'll have 10M by 65. Of course, I want to retire much earlier than that, so I'll keep aggressively investing. But I'm so happy knowing that early retirement is a real possibility for me :))

My application was received on June 16th. Was told it would be roughly 20 business days. Didn't receive it until July 29th.

The review process itself took over 20 business days.

Mine might have been longer since my passport was lost so I had to declare it lost and apply without sending a passport in.

I know the economy generally sucks right now, but it feels like the only single lesbian/bi women are either unemployed or working in a lower income field (EDIT: without actively trying to increase their earning potential). Almost none of the queer women I know invest at all.

I started working at 15 and have been rapidly growing my income since. I'm just about to enter a higher income field and I've already hit coastFIRE at 25 (from investing since I was 18).

It's very difficult to find other similarly matched women and I'm not willing to lower my standards as that would mean sacrificing the sort of future and life I want to have.

So I'm pretty sure I'll just be single for life, which I'm perfectly fine with. It would just be nice to meet other ambitious career-focused women like myself.

EDIT to add: I'm also not expecting someone to be really well off, or even as well off as I am now. But if someone is uninterested in investing to become financially independent, our lifestyles and goals are fundamentally incompatible. Admittedly, these ideals would likely be very difficult to find in men as well. Queer women simply have an even smaller dating pool to work with.

I understand that this can come off as rude, condescending, or entitled, but I'm allowed to have standards for who I choose to be in a committed relationship with. And I'm not asking for anything I can't offer myself.

Climate scientists have been warning us about this since the 70s. We've ignored every warning and flown past every tipping point.

Over the past decade we have already begun witnessing the rise of catastrophic weather patterns, and the uptick in mass casualty events, increasing in frequency and intensity.

Climate scientists are predicting the worst case scenario being 4 billions deaths, or 1 in 2 people dead, and 50% loss in global GDP by 2050 if we continue accelerating our consumption.

If we instead simply continue down the path we are currently on, over 2 billion deaths are still projected, and over 25% loss in global GDP by 2050.

Over the next decade experts are predicting mass migration of over 2 billion people due to climate change.

We are already seeing countries like India become unbearable and unsurvivable due to extreme heat patterns this summer.

Similarly, Europe is also experiencing 40°C heat this summer, which will likely lead to Europeans needing to install AC's en masse; which of course will only accelerate current conditions.

All the while we continue building new data centers, and power plants to support said data centers, instead of investing in renewable energy.

Over 50% of the World's fertile topsoil has already been degraded, and by 2050 we will have depleted 95% of the entire World's fertile topsoil.

We are actually so beyond fucked and I'm so confused how we're not all freaking the fuck out about this.

What the actual fuck are we supposed to do?

I will be able to comfortably retire by 2035 or 2040, according to current projections. But what good will that even do me when global catastrophy is projected alongside this timeline.

Beyond the devastating effects to the stock market, what good will travel be? The reefs and dying, the forests are burning, our air is being poisoned.

Rising carbon dioxide levels have now been detected in our blood, suggesting a potentially toxic atmosphere in 50 years.

Our food is so processed and full of microplastic that every 1 in 2 people are expected to get cancer within their lifetimes (at least in Canada).

I promise I'm usually a pretty optimistic person, but I won't ever assume I know better than climate and data scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying these patterns.

This is extremely concerning and realistically if these projections do come to fruition we can expect extended periods of hyperinflation, making it near impossible to comfortably FIRE.

I'm not trying to be a doomsdayer, I'm just genuinely stressed and concerned about my future as a young Gen Z-er. How can I best plan and prepare to account for all of this?

Got hit pretty hard right in the eye. It hurts a medium amount, but it's not really red or swollen or bruised. My vision is slightly blurry though and the one eye is sensitive to bright light.

Should I just let it heal or is this worth getting checked up for?

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for putting the fear of God in me. I did book in for an emergency eye appointment at an optometry clinic. They checked my pressure, did retina scans, looked at my eye real closely and all that good stuff. I'm thankfully good to go for now, but they did say that it was really good that I came in anyways, because the risks with these sort of injuries are surprisingly high; especially because the squash ball is so small.

FYI: to any Canadians that find themselves in this position, be assured that going in to any optometrist for an Emergency Eye Exam is completely free of charge to you. They didn't ask for my insurance or anything, only my personal health card. It's completely covered by public health, so no need to worry.

Some clinics may have a "same day booking fee" but they will let you know upfront while booking if they do.

The one I went to didn't, I walked in and walked out without paying a penny personally.

I only mention this because cost was a consideration for me when I was thinking of skipping the checkup.

Also you may have to call around to a few different places to find availability. My usual optometrist was completely booked up for the week, another clinic I used to go to was completely booked up for the day, and several others I called couldn't accommodate the last minute appointment until the next day either. I called around to various optometry clinics in the area before finding one with availability for me to come in within the hour. Don't let this stop you though, go asap if this happens to you.

B's in every class, a couple B+'s. No A's, no C's, no connection to Vancouver. I'm wondering if there's even any point in putting the effort into applying.

I'm only 24 and I'm already so tired of working. I'm nowhere close to my fire number but I'm so exhausted already.

I don't understand how everyone just acts like a 9-5, 50 weeks an year, is normal.

I'm filled with dread at the idea of doing this everyday for another 15-25 years at best, 45-55 years at worst.

Not really looking for advice, just depressed and looking to vent.

Most of my time is occupied thinking of early retirement. Can anyone relate or motivate me please.

I had no idea I'm supposed to be manually reporting my Margin account activity to the CRA.

I have not been keeping track of this information at all.

Does RBC collect this information for their clients at all?

Am I screwed?

I've never withdrawn out of the account yet, but I have taken profits by selling certain positions. The money is reinvested in different stocks/ETFs within the account, but I have made multiple transactions buying & selling like this.

How tf am I supposed to be tracking this? Is there a form? Can I just ask RBC to do it for me or will I have to figure it out myself.

And when it comes to reporting this to the CRA how am I supposed to be doing that.

I haven't reported this info once in the past 5 years, how do I go about reporting all the past transactions?

Do I self declare right now or wait till next tax season to do so?

I've never wanted to know what my IQ score is. I always thought I'd be below average, around the 40th percentile. I never wanted to know and risk having this confirmed for me.

I had been wanting to get a psychoeducational assessment done for quite a long time (to test for ADHD and dyslexia), but was quoted $3600 the first time I inquired into it. So I gave up on that and put it out of my mind.

Until my university mentioned that they have the authority to refer me for this assessment, and the cost would be entirely covered by the government.

Of course I took them up on the offer, but what I didn't know was that the assessment included an IQ test.

The reason being that, learning disabilities are often concurrent with cognitive deficits resulting in clinically low IQs.

Once I was told that they would be administering an IQ test, I asked my practitioner to please not disclose my IQ score to me because I didn't want to know.

But after a couple weeks, once my results had been assessed by various professionals, I got told my results in a meeting with a different psychiatrist anyways.

They had told me that they couldn't differentiate beyond the 98th percentile (I imagine this would be different if I had gone private). So there's a chance that I'm beyond that particular percentile, but I wouldn't count on it.

I am truly shocked. I know it's not the highest there is of course. But never in a million years would I have guessed that it would be this high.

I know IQ has not been correlated with any actual positive outcomes in life, but I can't deny that knowing this has given me a huge ego boost regardless. I feel unreasonably optimistic about my life and the future now as well haha.

I'm glad it all worked out, I know I really wouldn't want to know if my score wasn't what it is.

Edit to clarify: I did not pay a penny for the assessment, it was conducted in a clinic, took place over 12 hours, and was administered by medical professionals.

Need some advice from older Canadians who've tried either of these options and how it's worked out for you.

I could either buy a house (80k down payment from FHSA) and work to pay off the mortgage in about 10-20 years.

Or rent for life and keep my FHSA funds invested (transferred to RRSP).

I would still keep investing aggressively in both options. I would also try to "house hack" if possible, or if renting only rent 1 bedroom in a shared unit.

I have about 10 years until I have to make a final decision about this (FHSA time limit). The tax considerations weigh in favor of the house option.

But I was curious whether this would delay my FIRE plans as compared to renting or not.

Homes only accumulate about 3%-4% on average per year. Which doesn't leave much after inflation.

On the other hand, the market grows 8%-10% on average annually.

However, we all need a place to live at the end of the day. It would feel nicer to be pouring my money into something which will eventually become a weight off my shoulders one day.

Another big consideration is unexpected house repairs putting a dent into any sort of equity growth the home may accumulate.

The other thing is once I've actually retired I plan on traveling quite a bit. Renting might work better in that sense since I could potentially not have to pay living costs at all for the months while I'm abroad. With a house that wouldn't be the case.

Is it wise for me to buy a house once my FHSA 15 years is up? Or should I just move that money to my RRSP and wait until I'm closer to FIRE?

EDIT: Thank you for your feedback everyone, I will most definitely not be buying anytime soon. Renting especially while I'm young just seems to make more sense (math-wise) here. Even though it feels a bit like flushing my money down the drain.

Second edit for context: all of my tax sheltered investment accounts are maxed out at the start of the year. I invest all my extra income into my margin account thereafter. Have invested a surplus of 20k into my Margin since Jan this year.

Another tax haven is appealing to me and the whole reason I even considered home ownership. Though I can't say it is still appealing at the cost it comes at.

Explain it to me like I'm 5

Once my portfolio hits 1 million dollars will I be able to take out a 1 million dollar loan from the bank using my portfolio as collateral?

Or realistically could I take a 100k loan like every year while my portfolio continues growing and compounding?

And then when I die my portfolio pays off the loans?

Will interest on these loans kill me? (853 credit score)

- since I don't plan on paying the loans back while I'm alive

Genuinely need some advice from Canadians who've done this before about every step of this process.

For context, I bank w RBC and my portfolio and LOC is w them too. So the loans would probably also be w them.

My LOC interest rate is prime + 0.5%, so currently 4.95%. Can I expect a similar interest rate for this sort of loan or will it be much worse?

I am 24f in Alberta, Canada. Healthy, non-smoking, etc. My TFSA, FHSA, and RRSP are all maxed out and I've got about 10k sitting in a taxable direct investing account as well.

I'm looking for more tax sheltered options to grow my money, so I've considered buying a life insurance policy.

The catch is, I have no dependants or beneficiaries in mind (I plan to be childfree and unmarried for life).

My brother (or his future children) would be my only beneficiaries. So, the main cost concerns after my death would simply be funeral/burial expenses.

Given that, what I'm really looking for is a policy which will be useful to me while I'm still alive.

Ideally, I would be looking for a policy which provides me with retirement income in my old age.

It also would be nice to have a policy I can borrow against/use as collateral for loans.

Do life insurance policies like this exist? Ones which the primary beneficiary is the policy holder?

Would really appreciate any and all advice here as I don't really know anything about life insurance.

And if there's is an unknown third option I've never heard about (for tax-sheltered growth), PLEASEEE tell me. lol.

Thanks!