Study Up On: Canadian Savings & Investment Vehicles – Where To Start?

Do you think saving and investing looks something like the laptop screen in the picture above? I can safely say it does not - not even close. Nowadays, platforms are super easy to use from Tangerine Banking to Questrade (Credit Unions and the Big Banks also have pretty intuitive sites from what I hear, but I …

Booked: Think and Grow Rich

Groundbreaking news everyone! I've decided to start reviewing books related to personal finance and living a fulfilling life without the fruitless endeavours of ultra-consumerism! I am doing this to try and motivate myself to read more. During my long road of actuarial exams, I read many textbooks, actuarial journals, studies and the like. However, I've …

Housing – Should I Buy or Rent?

Buying or renting your place of residence - what should you do? There are probably hundreds of thousands of articles contrasting the two paths scattered across the web. These articles will give you anything from in-depth analysis to general guidelines. Buuuuut regardless of the amount of content out there, I like sharing my own point …

Study Up On: Mindfulness

It was a balmy 25 degrees and radiantly sunny on the Sunday afternoon that we drove from Ottawa to Montreal. It was from here that we grabbed a direct 7 hour flight from Montreal to the border town of Basel, Switzerland - close by to our final destination in Southern Germany. As we checked our …

Financial Independence – June 2018

Happy Sunday everyone! I took a big step personally last week, as I actually outlined my financial goals. As a natural follow-up to that, here is my first FI update comparing January 1, 2018 to July 1, 2018: Observations Debt? Firstly, we are luckily in a position where we have virtually zero debt. At the moment, …

Financial Independence – Outlining My Goals

One of my goals for this blog was to create more accountability. I wanted to start reporting my financial goals to be better, more capable, avoid consumerism, be environmentally aware, and save money along the way. So what are my financial goals? Currently 29, I aim to achieve FI by 45, and retire by 50. …

Study Up On: Living Within Your Means

Living within your means can denote a lot of different things to various people. It depends not only on who you ask but how you ask! Some folks may see that their total monthly cash outflow is less than their cash inflow and feel okay with that. Some savvier individuals know they need to limit …

The Big Three – Part Three: Housing

Now for the final installation of my Big Three series! For the finale, we will be talking housing. As discussed in the kick-off to this series, shelter* makes up 14.7% of median income, or $17,509 (2015). The Frugal North's StatusThe FN household is currently paying $1,860 a month for shelter costs. This amounts to $22,320 …

The Big Three – Part Two: Transportation

Welcome back for Part Two! Last post, we discussed how Food, Transportation and Shelter make up 47% of median income in Canada. This week, the focus will be on Transportation which is a whopping 14.7% or $11,909. TRANSPORTATION In the FN household, we have one car for the two of us. And it's a real …

The Big Three – Part One: Food

Welcome back! Hopefully you've had a chance since my last post on Personal Finance 101 to start tracking your income and expenses, finding ways to cut extraneous expenditure that isn't bringing you happiness and you're feeling more comfortable saving for FIRE based on your own ethos / path! The next logical thing to tackle would …