A moment to Pause – Happy Holidays

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the holidays are pretty much upon us. The traditions vary, but I’m sure that the long arm of consumerism makes sure everyone knows the holidays are here. It has been a strange year for pretty much everyone, with Covid touching every continent (at least as of yesterday). While this year has been a lot more challenging than most if you pause for a moment or two, we can all think of a few things to be thankful for. I am grateful for all of the front line workers and those working in hospitals, and those keeping the grocery stores moving. For all of the quiet heroes, thank you. We have all had a rough year, some rougher than others. Don’t forget all that you have gone through; even if things were pretty easy, our world flipped upside down, change usually takes time, and this year Continue Reading

Finding Balance

Work-life balance is about just that, finding balance. Most of the popular literature leads us to think that there is a magical equilibrium where you work a little bit and have time for the rest of your life as a side effect of this. The reality is that this is rarely the case, it’s often a mad scramble to find that balance, and even when we do, it’s a razors thin edge you’re trying to balance on.

Covid has changed how we work

At the beginning of the year, no one would have thought that by March, we would be either working from home or out of work, but that happened. Covid has changed how we work for a lot of us in very drastic ways. Working from home has brought a whole new language with it; Zoom meetings were, in most cases, nothing more than fancy conference calls. Now they’re a way of life for a lot of people.

Why a 9-5 isn’t a bad thing

The FIRE community has always been about getting to the point of financial independence as quickly as possible and then retiring, at least that’s what popular media would have you believe. At least that was my initial impression because having to trudge through to your day job isn’t fun for many people. The money-twitter and side-hustling communities would lead you to believe that you have to do everything possible to get rid of your 9-5. Having a 9-5 isn’t a bad thing, at least not for everyone.

What I learned about myself from a 500-mile cycling challenge

Life in the 21st century has become increasingly sedentary, and the pandemic, in my opinion, is exasperating this trend. We used to leave the house to go to the office and if you were like me, take a break at lunch to get some food at the food court. Now that many of us are working from home, we don’t even get the activity of the daily commute. At the beginning of the summer, my lack of activity was becoming more and more pronounced. Something needed to change.

Back To Life, Back To Reality… sort of?

September, for me, is this odd mix of ends and beginnings; the summer draws to a close, fall colours begin to come out shepparding in the fall season. It also marks the switch over to pumpkin spice lattes, and well … pumpkin spice everything (we won’t get into that). It’s also a time for new beginnings for kids starting the new school year along with all the changes that brings. It’s a great time for fresh starts and clean slates. The typical time for resolutions usually is on January 1st, but September makes a good month for it as well. There is a very distinct change about this season that is very abrupt. School starting up marks that change pretty clearly. This year is a little different with the Covid pandemic still ongoing. We’ve had to make some adjustments, but our daughter is back at school, mask and all. She’s Continue Reading

Is there such a thing as good debt?

I am sure that you’ve heard the terms “good debt” and “bad debt”. People use these terms and have great and glorious conversations and debates around them. There is merit to the discussion as maxing out your credit card and struggling to pay it back for years can’t possibly bring any good. But on the other end of the spectrum, using debt to grow your company might be a great use. This is an area that can be very clear or very murky, and it often comes down to circumstance and perspective. What is debt? When you search for the definition of debt, google comes back with the following: Debt – something, typically money, that is owed or due. While debt isn’t always about money, the typical definition in our world is a person who owes an institution or company money. That might be a little clinical sounding, but when Continue Reading

What is an FI Number?

The world of personal finance is filled with all sorts of terms and definitions with the holy grail being financial independence, that magical point where you are not bound to your daily grind. Over the last 30 years, there has been a movement around financial independence called FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), which essentially comes down to being well off enough that you don’t need to work to be able to live a comfortable life (AKA retiring). This is where the FI or Financial Independence number comes in. What is an FI number?  The net worth at which the annual growth of that net worth by itself covers your annual expenses. Simply put, when you hit a magic number in your net worth, it will allow you to live off what you have saved up for the remainder of your life.  Calculating this number can get complicated if you want Continue Reading