r/fican

Context: I’m 25m with $24,400 left of TFsA contribution room.

Wealthsimple is offering me a portfolio line of credit of up to $6000 at 0% for 6 months. After the 180 days the standard rate of 4.45% ensues. If I take this 6k and just park it into indexes forever while paying the loan off within a year, what are my downsides besides standard market risk? Seems too good to be true. What am I missing? What would you do? (Yes the index would be XEQT)

Hey all,

I FIRE’d in Toronto in my 30s and have spent the last ~6 years living abroad and slow traveling through middle-income countries. It’s been a great experience, but I’m getting pretty tired of living out of Airbnbs and I’m starting to miss a lot of things about living in Canada.

My current total spending, including Airbnbs, flights, visas, and everything else, is about $42k CAD per year, or $3,500/month.

I’d love to move back to Toronto, where I used to live around Yonge and Eglinton, but I don’t think $3,500/month would be enough to live the way I’d want to. I figure that I would need closer to $4,300 per month in Toronto near the subway to maintain the lifestyle I am used to.

One option I’m considering is Edmonton. I’d live downtown and not own a car. Based on what I’ve looked at so far, it seems like $3,500/month could let me live a fairly similar lifestyle to what I’ve been living in middle-income countries, just with better infrastructure and MUCH colder weather.

For anyone living in Edmonton, especially downtown and without a car:

• Is $3,581/month realistic for a single person?
• How easy is it to get around without a car?
• Is downtown a good place to live?
• Are there any costs I might be overlooking?
• If you had the choice, would you pick Edmonton over Toronto on this budget?

Would especially love to hear from anyone who has FIRE’d and then moved to a lower cost city in Canada.

https://preview.redd.it/todeof415dkh1.png?width=1630&format=png&auto=webp&s=298c0440bd717c8d0ee3472b480f41efb3d85c9d

Hey everyone. Would love for experienced folks here with kids to help us recommend what is best way forward.

I am 42, wife is 37 and two kids both below age 8.

Net worth : The following below is our total net worth as a family ( cad ) :
> Rrsp : $543k
> Tfsa : $250k
> Resp : $50k in family resp ( we will want to fund their bachelors education fully )
> House : $800k paid off ( market is bad so maybe get $750k )
> Emergency cash : $60k
> Non reg account : $100k

—> Total net worth $1.8mn cad.

Expenses : Monthly expenses in ontario are $ 5300 now, but thats due to our financed car and youngest day care.
Both expenses will drop next year September and our expenses will be $4000 monthly if we stay in gta.

CAGR / Return so far: All investment and retirement accounts are in low cost etf and have been blended cagr till now 12.5% but future we expect 8% )

Income: I make $150k a year while wife has taken a sabbatical last month but was making $140k. We both want a change. I have been working non stop for 18 years without break and wife 12 years. I absolutely hate my job and want to quit.

Our background: I am in tech sales and wife is in hr.

Questions :

1. Are we ready to coast fire? Ideally take a break 6 months and find something between wife and i to make gross$75k -$80k as family.

2. We are also thinking of moving from GTA to somewhere in Alberta or Saskatchewan. Buy an almost new townhouse 3 bed and work regular jobs that can give us $80k gross family income.

3. If we move which province or city you recommend to maximize geo arbitrage in Canada while same time also wife and I can get regular job in our profile.

We have not taken any vacations in past 15 years and corporate grind of high pressure tech has affected me alot.

Thank you so much.

Hello everyone,

I have a DB pension from my time in govt that will pay approximately $1,200 a month (indexed for inflation) at 65.

I was wondering how I should treat this DB pension as a part of my FI/Barista Fire plans?

I have about 325k in investments (mainly XEQT/VEQT) split up across my RRSP/TFSA/FHSA/Unregistered accounts. I save about 25k additional a year if I keep working my current corporate job.

I have a long-term partner (finances are separate) and we don't ever want children (guaranteed this won't change), we're happy to be renters in the major city we live in, and I want to escape the corporate rat race ASAP (my partner is happy to keep working).

I think I can live off of 40k (post-tax) comfortably a year (really even $30k if I cut vacations/eating out to a minimum). This of course is assuming shared expenses (mainly rent) with my partner.

I assume I'll likely receive a decent amount from CPP/OAS as I've worked most years since I turned 18. At least a decade of that so far at above CPP contribution maximums.

What should my barista fire number be (assuming I can make 20k a year in part-time income)? What should my full FIRE number (assuming my pension floor at 65)?

Barista fire I'm thinking 400k is my number. For full fire I'm assuming 800k. I'm fine with withdrawing above the 4% SWR given I'll at least have a guaranteed pension at 65. Or should I adjust the SWR?

Really could use some input from others in similar situations. I feel most threads I read about FIRE don't necessarily include DB pensions in their discussions.

Since last year I worry stock market run up too much so i started saving more into high interest saving accounts.
A year later this feels like a mistake but i tell myself i have cash buffer if things crash. But i dont think i should continue to park money there.
Where would you invest in now? Index ETFs with low fees? How much would you invest or you’re still aggressive equities even at such elevated price? How do you get comfortable buying high?
I’m having more worries buying more equity and it’s paralyzing me…

Would moving half the money out of my only stock (railroad company), to an equity etf technically diversify my portfolio a lot more?

I have 65000$ invested in the single stock at the moment, does this put me at a high risk of loss?

My stock is not in a tfsa at the moment. So the plan would be too cash half, move that into my tfsa, then buy the equity etf through wealth simple.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I want to buy a house in next ten years ish, and want to get the most possible value out of my account. What should I be investing in? Thanks for advice in advance.

Hi there! 28M married to 30F with a 18months baby living in Alberta. Parents (both alive) are giving me $300k.

Currently earning 90k/yearly as a family living in a basement paying $1850

FHSA: $13k
TFSA: $7k

Car debt $50k

We prioritize financial wealth but after baby was born we were looking for our own place.

Any advice is welcome

Hey all - hoping for some advice on this dilemma I’ve been thinking about a ton.

I’m 29M currently working in sports, I work for an American firm remotely from Toronto. In terms of finances, I have a pretty good set up at the moment where my bi-weekly take-home is ~$3800 CAD, and I’m able to save $2500 as I’m currently living at home with my parents (super normal in my culture).

As you can imagine, while WFH is great in this regard, I miss out on a ton of the in-office face-to-face conversations. Which, in my opinion are invaluable. I do manage to get down to NYC for a week or so every other month, which goes a long way, but far from what 3x/week in office might mean.

In 2027, I’ll likely have an opportunity to move over to NYC. While the company will factor in cost of living into my salary, my take-home will remain pretty much the same, except in USD. Our office is in midtown Manhattan, and
I’m a little worried that I’ll go from a cushy savings rate, to things being incredibly tight and saving next-to-nothing living in NYC.

This could be more in the life advice realm, but let me know what you think. Any advice, or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Roughly 50% of my total comp is in bonus, paid out in cash at the end of the year. Generally, I tend to budget based on the base, while the bonus is just a cherry on top. However, when I'm looking to rent a place and a $3500 apartment could be 50% of my monthly base take home, or could be much lower after year-end bonus is considered.

So what's the best way to think about it?

Edit: I'm in finance where this arrangement is pretty standard - the comp is just back-loaded. Not in a sales role where it's commissions based. The bonus is virtually stable but could fluctuate by up to ~20%. The only situations where I wouldn't get the bonus is if I'm fired or if I quit.

I am 25 already and I only have $5k right now. $2k CC debt and about $3k student loan that is being paid monthly automatically from my account.

I want to start investing or saving, I know I'm kind of late but i'm finally ready to start trying to become free from living pay to pay.

I know $5k is not a lot, but I have work and still going to earn and will save money every pay.

My question is, how do I start?

My family is also planning to buy a house, so I opened FHSA already, I have TFSA but because of job loss from last year, I drained it. I also recently opened RRSP.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!