Victory Lap

Once you achieve Financial Independence, you may choose to leave salaried employment but with decades of vibrant life ahead, it’s too soon to do nothing. The new stage of life between traditional employment and Full Retirement we call Victory Lap, or Victory Lap Retirement (also the title of a new book to be published in August 2016. You can pre-order now at VictoryLapRetirement.com). You may choose to start a business, go back to school or launch an Encore Act or Legacy Career. Perhaps you become a free agent, consultant, freelance writer or to change careers and re-enter the corporate world or government.

10 reasons to quit your job in 2015 (and a few not to)

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Quit job markBy Jonathan Chevreau

Via Linked In comes this insightful article listing ten reasons to quit your job in 2015.

Click above link for the full article. I’ve reproduced the ten headings below, after which I make a few additional observations, based on my own transition in 2014 from employment (21 consecutive years of it.)

The bottom line is this is what Findependence (Financial Independence) is all about, and the raison d’être of this website.  In fact, the cover of the US edition of my book on Financial Independence is very similar to the illustration to the left, except that the calendar date circled is Findependence Day.

As I note below, there may also be good reasons NOT to quit your job in 2015 but instead in 2016 or later. I wrote the original Findependence Day in 2008 but the day didn’t actually arrive until 2014, so you could say it was six years in the making. Sometimes, big life events need to be planned out that far ahead.

In any case, here are the ten reasons for quitting sooner than later:  Continue Reading…

Before you sing Auld Lang Syne: last-minute wealth and tax tips

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Christmas Eve and New Years at midnightIf you’re reading this Monday morning, you have roughly two-and-a-half days to do certain things to optimize wealth or minimize tax before they close the books on calendar 2014.

For  more, click on my latest blog at MoneySense.ca, here.

For convenience and one-stop shopping purposes, here it is below:

By Jonathan Chevreau

With 2014 destined for the record books at midnight Wednesday, there’s not a lot of time left to optimize your investing and tax health. As noted here a week ago, it’s already too late to benefit from tax-loss selling, which had to be executed by Christmas Eve.

Even so, if you’re reading this on Dec. 29th or even Dec. 30th or 31st, there are still a few actions you can take to maximize your wealth or at least minimize tax due in April but you’ll have to complete them well before you start singing Auld Lang Syne. Continue Reading…

The special challenges of retiring from your own business

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DelInSuit
Del Chatterson

By Del Chatterson,

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

What, no pension plan? No early retirement package for the owner?

Of course not, you’re an entrepreneur and not dependent on anybody else to look after your welfare. But have you looked at the hard realities of exiting from your business to a comfortable and happy retirement? There are some special challenges.

When you do start looking it’s hard not to be envious of the friends and family on well-funded civil servant or big corporate pension plans. How did you miss that concept? Well, it may be too late now to change career paths, but it’s not too late to plan your exit strategy. Continue Reading…

Which investments to draw down first in Decumulation phase?

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Jason Heath
By Jonathan Chevreau

Good piece by fee-for-service planner Jason Heath on the MoneySense website today.  At age 66, “Bob” has reached retirement and has savings in an RRSP and TFSA, as well as a holding company. He normally takes dividends from the holding company, which makes this a bit more complex drawdown problem than normal salaried employees. Heath says the corporation adds flexibility, which I’d agree with. Continue Reading…

Reimagining Retirement

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reimagine-your-retirementBy Jonathan Chevreau

If you’ve been reading this web site since its launch five weeks ago, you’ll know that Findependence, or Financial Independence, is quite a bit different than the traditional “full-stop” retirement depicted in many advertisements from the financial industry.

I like the perspective of the author of the book pictured to the right, who “reimagines” retirement to be a sort of spiritual/vocational half-way house between the decades of full-time work and career and the “eternity” that awaits us all at the end of life’s journey.

Joyce Li is a project manager and motivational speaker, originally from Hong Kong, now living with her family in Brampton, Ont.

Reimagine Your Retirement is published by Word Alive Press, and is what you might expect from a publisher focused on spiritual writing. Continue Reading…