When I first started my investing journey, I was pulled into the “financial advice vortex” of what was around me:
- I was only saving the conventional 10% of my income
- I was buying stocks based on the latest trends or hot tips from friends/family
- I fell into the trap believing active investing and more trading will lead to better financial performance.
As I was promoted up the corporate ladder and my compensation increased, my lifestyle inflated accordingly. As my paycheques increased, my retirement date stayed the same at Freedom 60/65.
Despite being viewed as a finance professional with business degrees and professional designations, I wasn’t able to make the appropriate personal finance decisions for myself.
I needed to find a different approach to our way of living and financial planning. I want our family to have the financial freedom to spend our time in a way that is meaningful to us.
We need to build wealth to earn back our flexibility.
“Retiring early” holds little appeal to us. Our goal is to achieve “financial independence” so we choose how we spend our time, so if:
- We want to downshift our careers to follow our passion? Cool, we can afford that
- We want to take on contract roles and travel at the end of our contracts? Absolutely, our retirement won’t be affected
So here’s the Loonie Journey Manifesto:
I want to write about what I’ve learned on personal finance and our path to financial independence. I hope our successes (and mistakes) help you on your financial journey, whether you’re looking for Freedom 30 or Freedom 65.