Here is a quote by Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s business partner.
“The first $100,000 is a bitch, but you gotta do it. I don’t care what you have to do — if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn’t purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000. After that, you can ease off the gas a little bit.”
Right now, my portfolio is over $500,000 but the first $100,000 were the most difficult to get because, of course, I started with $0, in a foreign country (Canada), with no family connections, no intergenerational wealth, no nothing.
Since I arrived in Canada, I have been a janitor, a busboy, a waiter, an Uber driver, a cleaner, a dance teacher, an insurance salesman, a photographer, and a website designer.
If you are a low earner, like me, you can only save $100,000 through a lot of discipline, sacrifices, perseverance, and the right mindset.
Most people, even those earning $100K per year, will never accumulate this amount of money. I feel extremely privileged to have arrived and surpassed this milestone.
I am the kind of person who believes that wealth is available to all of us and if we want it, all you have to do is to reach out and get it.
My biggest teacher in almost any entrepreneurial endeavour has been YouTube. My college education was not a complete waste, I get to go around and tell people that I have a college education, but for any practical purpose, it was useless.
You don’t need a fancy degree from any college to build wealth. Even now, I am teaching myself website design via YouTube.
Having the goal of saving $100K
Goals can also help to look toward the future and keep saving efforts in check. The more money you can save, either from reduced expenses or increased income, the faster you can move toward accumulating your first $100,000. And once you do that, the way to the next $100,000 becomes easier.
Having the right mindset
To save $100K you need to train your mind. Keeping your particular goal in mind can help, but you also need to understand how to achieve your goal with a plan.
Jon Chevreau and Canada Podcasts’ Philip Bliss: https://canadaspodcast.com/findependencehub/
By Philip Bliss
Special to Financial Independence Hub
In an age where knowledge is easily accessible, podcasts have emerged as one of the most potent tools for personal development.
Findependence [aka Financial Independence] is a goal many aspire to, but achieving it often requires a solid understanding of money management, investments, and entrepreneurship. This is where podcasts shine, providing a wealth of knowledge and inspiration that can be instrumental in your journey towards financial freedom.
This new tool is particularly valuable in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, where the quest for knowledge and inspiration is ceaseless. In this digital age, Canada’s Podcast has emerged as a game-changer, becoming a cornerstone for Canadian entrepreneurial development and a key to enabling Findependence. Let’s explore why these audio/video gems are so critical to the journey of every aspiring entrepreneur.
1.) Education at your Fingertips
Podcasts offer a wide array of financial knowledge, from personal finance basics to advanced investment strategies. By tuning into podcasts, you can learn about budgeting, saving, and investing while going about your daily routine. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or doing household chores, these audio programs allow you to convert idle time into a valuable learning opportunity.
Some popular finance podcasts like “The Dave Ramsey Show” and “BiggerPockets Money” offer practical advice on budgeting, getting out of debt, and achieving financial freedom. These shows are like having a personal finance mentor guiding you through the intricacies of money management.
2.) Diverse Perspectives and Ideas
Findependence is not a one-size-fits-all goal. Everyone’s journey is unique, and podcasts reflect this diversity. Podcast hosts often bring their personal experiences and perspectives to the table, offering a rich tapestry of ideas and approaches to achieving financial success.
You can listen to real-life stories of people who have achieved findependence, learning from their triumphs and pitfalls. This diversity of experiences can help you tailor your approach to fit your own circumstances and goals.
3.) Investing Insights
For those looking to grow their wealth through investments, podcasts can be a treasure trove of valuable insights. Whether you’re interested in stocks, real estate, cryptocurrencies, or other investment avenues, there’s likely a podcast that caters to your interests.
Podcasts like “Invest Like the Best” and “The Motley Fool” provide deep dives into various investment strategies, market analysis, and expert interviews. By regularly listening to such shows, you can stay updated on market trends and make informed investment decisions.
4.) Motivation and Inspiration
Findependence can be a long and challenging journey. At times, you may find yourself discouraged or unsure about your financial decisions. Podcasts can serve as a source of motivation and inspiration, reminding you of the benefits of findependence and keeping your goals in focus.
Many findependence podcasts share stories of people who have achieved their financial goals against all odds. These tales of perseverance and success can fuel your determination and keep you on track, even when the path seems daunting.
5.) Building a Supportive Community
Podcasts often come with dedicated communities. These communities provide a space to discuss financial topics, share experiences, and seek advice from like-minded individuals. Engaging with these communities can be a valuable source of support as you work towards findependence. Continue Reading…
To help you on your journey towards financial independence, we’ve gathered 15 frugal living tips from financial advisors, founders, and other professionals.
From delaying big-ticket purchases, to asking for deals to save money, these experts share their best practices for frugality and financial independence.
Delay Big-Ticket Purchases
Master Budgeting and Tracking Spending
Align Budget with Personal Values
Plan Meals to Control Food Budget
Distinguish Between Needs and Wants
Prepare Lunch at Home for Savings
Leverage “Stoozing” for Mortgage Savings
Track Expenses for Financial Insight
Eliminate Unnecessary Subscriptions
Use Technology for Financial Management
Prioritize Spending with Budget Tracking
Cut Expenses from Seldom-Used Subscriptions
Invest in Experiences, Not Impulse Buys
Wait a Month Before Impulse Buying
Ask for Deals to Save Money
Delay Big-Ticket Purchases
When climbing the pay ladder, I purposefully delayed purchasing big-ticket items such as a newer or more expensive home, car, or luxury item. When I review my spending in detail, I’ve found it typically isn’t an $8 latte (or several of them) that puts me over the discretionary-spending edge, but rather something like a luxury handbag that I felt I deserved at the time, yet doesn’t bring me sustained happiness.
That is to say, in hindsight, it would feel better to see my investment portfolio increase than to have a closet of designer wares. It’s important to build a budget for yourself, but equally or more important, to reconcile your past spending and decide whether to make an adjustment to the budget or your spending to be more accurate moving forward. — Morgan Jarod, Financial Advisor, Royal Private Wealth
Master Budgeting and Tracking Spending
There are many clever ways to cut expenses or generate extra income, but there is no replacement for the discipline of budgeting. A budget is the daily application of your long-term goals. It serves as a compass for your financial journey, making sure you are consistently moving towards your destination.
There are two parts to every great budget: planning and tracking. First, you need to write out a plan for how you are going to spend every dollar of income you will earn in a given month. Then, you need to track your spending to ensure you are following your plan.
It would amaze most people at how much progress they can make toward their financial goals by simply using a budget to align their spending with their goals.
Luckily, becoming a master budgeter is easier today than it has ever been thanks to several budgeting apps that make the process simple and convenient.
When meeting with someone serious about their financial goals, the first recommendation is almost always a budget. — Ty Johnson, Financial Planner, Peak Financial Management
Align Budget with Personal Values
Review your budget so that it aligns with your values, not what society tells you to value. Many of us get trapped in consumerism and in looking the part. Society tells us that, in order to prove that you are wealthy, you must have an expensive car, home, and wardrobe.
What happens if you value none of those things? You spend more money than necessary, proving you have money. Look at your expenses. Do they truly align with what you care about? If they don’t, change it and be free. — Tremaine Wills, MBA, CFEI, Financial Planner | Investment Advisor, Mind Over Money
Plan Meals to Control Food Budget
Plan your meals for the week on the weekend before. Make your grocery list from your established menu. This habit keeps you from buying groceries you don’t need and helps avoid the late-afternoon query, “What should I make for dinner tonight?” that often ends up with something quick and less healthy, or convenient but more expensive.
Additionally, planning out your menu helps maintain variety. In our home, we have an outline we tend to follow: Sunday’s meal has pork; Monday tends to be a hearty soup or salad; Tuesday is “Breakfast for dinner” (egg bake, blueberry crepes, etc.); Wednesday is a chicken dish; Thursday’s dinner has fish or sausage as a base ingredient; Friday is Pizza night (make yourself or order out), and Saturday is a beef dish. — Keith Piscitello, Certified Financial Planner, S2 Wealth Planning
Distinguish between Needs and Wants
Frugality is about mindset and intentionality more than deprivation. One of the most impactful practices for me has been to shift my mindset around needs versus wants. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like we “need” the latest technology, furniture, clothes, cars, etc. But most of these are simply wants. Focusing on true needs — food, shelter, basic clothing, transportation to work — frees up a lot of money.
I ask myself, “Do I really need this, or just want it? Will this purchase add value and enjoyment to my life, or am I buying it just to have it?” Distinguishing needs from wants has allowed me to dramatically cut discretionary spending. I buy very few material items now, and focus my time and money on experiences, relationships, and personal growth. — Brian Meiggs, Founder, My Millennial Guide
Prepare Lunch at Home for Savings
Wherever possible, prep your lunch at home if you’re eating at the office or somewhere other than your home. Over the course of a month, the savings really stack up! This could be as easy as batch-cooking at the weekends, ready for the week, or just making a homemade sandwich in the morning. — Jordan White, Financial Planner, A Money Thing Happened
Leverage “Stoozing” for Mortgage Savings
In financial strategies, one unique money-saving hack I’ve employed is using an offset mortgage combined with savings. This approach, popularly known in England as “Stoozing,” can significantly reduce monthly mortgage payments.
Stoozing involves utilizing the funds from 0%-interest credit-card offers. Instead of spending this money, one deposits it into a bank account linked to an offset mortgage. This approach effectively reduces the mortgage balance temporarily, leading to significant savings on mortgage interest.
As the 0% period on the credit card nears its end, the “stoozer” then pays off the credit card using the deposited funds, having benefited from reduced mortgage costs in the interim. At one point, I had over £100,000 on credit cards, but this was sitting in my bank account, significantly reducing the interest payments on my mortgage. It accelerated my financial independence by at least 10 years. — Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media
Track Expenses for Financial Insight
As a wealth-management specialist, one frugal-living tip I recommend to new clients is to track and record all your expenses. While this may seem time-consuming, it’s a great way to gain insight into where you are spending your money and how much you’re actually saving each month.
Making sure you can see exactly where your money goes will help keep it in check and prevent impulse purchases that add up quickly. This is especially important when trying to reach financial independence because every dollar saved means more freedom for the future. — Adam Fayed, CEO, AdamFayed.com
Eliminate Unnecessary Subscriptions
Getting rid of subscriptions and simplifying my monthly budget has played a significant role in speeding up my journey towards financial independence.
Subscriptions might seem harmless, but the costs can really sneak up on you if you’re not careful. For years, I was paying over $100 a month for cable. I also was spending $50 on various streaming services, had an expensive gym membership, and would occasionally try services like meal delivery kits. And I hadn’t negotiated my Internet or phone bills in years.
One day, I realized I was spending well over $350 per month on these services, some of which I wasn’t using. I cut cable out completely, got a cheaper phone plan, and moved to a more affordable gym near me. I also scrapped the meal delivery kits and just cook myself now. This saves me $200+ a month easily, and it hasn’t impacted my quality of life.
I suggest other people take a look at their monthly spending to find sneaky recurring charges they can trim quickly. — Tom Blake, Founder, This Online WorldContinue Reading…
By Andrew Lo, President & CEO of Embark Student Corp.
(Sponsored Post)
The pursuit of higher education is a cornerstone of personal and professional growth for many young Canadians. However, this pursuit often comes at a hefty price, with student loans being a significant barrier to financial independence. The burden of student debt can haunt graduates for years, affecting their ability to save, invest, and achieve financial stability. But there’s good news: opening a Registered Educations Savings Plan (RESP) can lighten the burden of student loans and help you help your children start their adult life debt-free by encouraging regular and early savings, offering valuable government grants, and harnessing the power of compound interest.
The Student Loan Conundrum
Canada is home to a world-class education system, but the cost of pursuing post-secondary education can be daunting. Tuition fees, books, accommodation, and other expenses can quickly add up, leaving many students with no choice but to turn to the most common method of affording post-secondary: student loans.
What some students don’t fully understand when they use student loans is that they come with interest rates that accrue after graduation. For many young Canadians, this means they start their careers with substantial debt, and few resources to help them repay their loans.
In a recent poll of Canadian students, 79% admitted that the amount of debt taken on to afford post-secondary can be debilitating. This burden of student debt can have a profound impact on a young graduate’s financial journey, with 57% of students surveyed agreeing that graduating with student debt will make it harder for them to become financially independent from their parents.
Unfortunately, the constant struggle to make loan payments often hampers their ability to save and invest in their futures. Despite this, student loans are still the most normalized way of paying for education in Canada.
There’s a better way pay for post-secondary education
One effective way to combat the student loan conundrum is to start saving for education expenses early. It can be hard to think about university and college when a child is a few years old but by beginning to save as soon as possible, families can significantly reduce their need for student loans. You’re probably thinking, “accumulating savings to cover educational costs while managing the rising cost-of-living is no easy feat.” This is where a Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP] comes into play.
RESPs are powerful tools that Canadians can take advantage of to fit the post-secondary bill. They can be opened by the parents or guardians of a child, other family members, or friends, to save over a total period of 35 years. By contributing regularly to an RESP, families can build substantial savings to cover tuition and related expenses. Starting early allows for smaller, manageable contributions over time, reducing the financial stress associated with higher education. The most valuable part of this savings tool is that it opens your savings up to a world of government grants that you can qualify for.
Unlocking “Free Money” with Grants
One of the most compelling features of RESPs is the opportunity to acquire “free money” in the form of grants. The Canadian government provides a generous grant called the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) as a reward for saving, allowing you to collect up to $7200.
This grant matches 20% of your contributions on the first $2,500 saved annually. Over the years, if you contribute $2500 annually to an RESP, this works out to an additional 20% being added to your first $36,000 saved without even considering investment gains. By maximizing these grant opportunities, families can alleviate the financial strain of higher education and better prepare for the future. Continue Reading…
By Bob Lai, TawcanSpecial to the Financial Independence HubAlthough I grew up in a household where my dad retired in his early 40s and a couple of my cousins reached financial independence and/or retired early in their 40s, I had never really put much thought or energy on financial independence retire early (FIRE) in my 20s. While I was living frugally, I wasn’t investing my money efficiently and I lacked a core investment strategy.
This changed just before I turned 30. Someone gave my wife and me a book called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and our lives were forever changed. We aspired to make changes in our financial plans and how we manage our money. We knew FIRE was a possibility and we started investing in dividend-paying stocks with the plan to live off dividends by 2025 or earlier.
Ten years into our FIRE journey, we’ve made great progress on our goal of becoming financially independent. We are appreciative of this journey and how it has transformed our lives and made us more rounded people. We also have learned many lessons that we wouldn’t have learned if we weren’t on this journey.
I’d like to share with you the ten lessons I’ve learned so far on our FIRE journey.
1. FIRE is not the finish line, it’s a journey
Many see reaching FIRE as the finish line. For them, it means an escape from the rat race. However, I believe we can’t see FIRE as an escape route, the happy ending, a finish line, or the solution to everything. Reaching FIRE certainly doesn’t mean you will magically become happy and live happily ever after.
If you don’t work on yourself during the FIRE journey and improve yourself, you will continue to face the same challenges over and over.
Look at FIRE like a journey. It is very important to enjoy the journey and work on yourself while on this multi-year journey. So take the time to learn new skills, take self-improvement courses, gain new hobbies, make new friends, provide a helping hand in your community, etc.
2. Have a core investment strategy
In my 20s, although I was investing in the stock market, I was trading in and out of stocks frequently. I also invested heavily in high-MER mutual funds and low-interest-rate GICs. In other words, I didn’t have a core investment strategy and my money wasn’t working very hard for me.
Since starting our FIRE journey, I learned to get in line and stay in line. I learned the importance of having a core investment strategy.
For us, it means investing in both dividend-paying stocks and index ETFs. This hybrid investment strategy allows us to have a predictable dividend income every month while staying geographically and asset diversified. By getting rid of high-fee mutual funds and so-called “high interest” GICs, on top of investing in the stock market for the long term, our money is working much harder for us.
Having a core investment strategy also means that we stay focused. We aren’t constantly switching back and forth between different investing strategies and losing momentum. If we want to test out a different investment strategy, we can still do that, but we use a small percentage of our portfolio.
For example, less than 5% of our overall portfolio is invested in growth and more speculative stocks.
3. Ignore doubts and noises around you
The FIRE movement has gained popularity in recent years but it is still a niche movement. The niche nature of the movement means that many of your friends and family do not know about it and will cast doubts when they learn what you’re working on. Unintentionally, they may also try to sabotage your plans.
It is important to ignore doubts and noises around you. Believe in yourself, connect with like-minded people, find support from the FIRE community, and stay focused while on this FIRE journey.
4. Understand your whys
Many people start their FIRE journey because they hate their jobs and because they are not happy with their lives. But FIRE isn’t the magic pill, it will not make you happy all of a sudden.
Perhaps it’s because you want to have more time to spend with your kids. Perhaps it’s because you want to have the ability to go skiing on a Tuesday morning. Perhaps it’s because you want to be able to volunteer at the local soup kitchen without having to worry about money.
Find your reasons.
5. Stop comparing
Becoming financially independent in less than five years doesn’t make you more successful and taking 20 plus years to reach financial independence doesn’t make you a failure either.
Because we are all different individuals, our FIRE journey will never be alike. Therefore, we need to stop comparing our journeys with each other. Instead, support each other and help each other along the way.
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By Alain Guillot
