Posted by Canadian Dream on May 18, 2011
If you are like me your front yard is likely a large expanse of grass. You didn’t pick it to be this way, but your stuck with grass just about everywhere. I personally hate grass since I only actually use a small amount of area as a play space for the kids and the rest is basically just a endless amount of watering, mowing and chemical application to keep the damn stuff alive.
So I’ve decided to end my suffering and get rid of every damn blade of grass in my front yard. Yet to keep the costs low and my sanity in tact, this will be done over a number of years. Right now this year’s project is getting the design done and getting some trees planted. Since I don’t want to spend a small fortune to just get rid of my lawn, I’m going to do this the smart way and keep my costs as low as reasonable. Yet I also fully accept the fact that while lawn is cheap to put in and expensive to keep up, just about everything else is the opposite: expensive to put in and cheap to keep up.
First up is saving on the design. I’m rather lucky that my mother happens to have a talent for landscaping design. So I invited her over and had a discussion between her, my wife and me. From there she is going to outline a draft design, which we will fine tune and most importantly, get those trees in the ground this year. The reason I want a few trees is two fold: first to have something to shade my south facing living room which can get fairly hot in the summer and to also have something to shade the patio I want to put out front.
Then I will also do some research this year on plants I want to put in the costs associated with them and other landscaping materials. I also want to work in some eatable plants into the design, so at least I can get something useful out of my front yard rather than the endless watering and cutting of my lawn that I currently do.
So have you ever gone lawn free in part of your yard? If so, how much did it cost? If not, would you ever consider getting rid of your lawn?
Posted by Dave on May 17, 2011
This is a guest post by Dave, who is also looking to retire no later than 45, but unlike Tim has no kids and doesn’t want any. Dave is from Ontario and is working towards his CGA certification.
My seven-year-old nephew had a very profitable Sunday – it was his first communion at his church and in total he received $500 in cash. I don’t know about most people, but I really wouldn’t know what to do with $500 at that age – I couldn’t fathom the amount of stuff that I would be able to buy with that much money . I don’t think I ever had $500 in my name until I started my first job when I was 11 years old.
I was curious, so I calculated what this amount of money would work out to at a conventional retirement age (65) at 7% interest compounded once per year (just a simple calculation) – around $25,000. This got me thinking – if I were a parent (which I never plan to be) would it make sense to set up a “retirement” account for my kids? If for example, you started a DRiP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) with $1,500 and added an additional $1,500 per year until your child was 18, by age 65 (in an ideal world of course) the dividend account would be worth over $1,000,000*.
I understand that this amount of money may not be achievable for most people, but really any amount of money would work out to a sizable amount of money 65 years later.
To me, a parent starting up this kind of portfolio would have been much more useful than say an education account (something that I didn’t get, but is discussed at length sometimes in many personal finance blogs). Perhaps I would have appreciated the education account while I was scraping by going to school, but down the road I believe I would appreciate having the “cushion” of a future retirement account accruing money that I’m not having to save right now.
What a retirement portfolio started at age zero would provide is freedom later in life. If I knew at age 15 or so that I wouldn’t have to save for retirement (or at least not very much) perhaps my life would have been a little different. Right now I wouldn’t have to work full time, as I would only really need “subsistence” level wages (to pay for current expenses) rather than worry about future expenses. As long as the parent has provided at least a small amount of personal finance knowledge I think that most people would be able to experience more in life than working the normal 8+ hours a day 5 days a week.
Is this a wacky idea created by someone who doesn’t understand what it means to have kids, or would you parents (or “someday parents”) think about creating an account that would provide for your child’s retirement? For me, I think I would be more than appreciative as an adult having an account like this. I personally think that too much weight is put on saving for kids education, something that they should be able to pay for themselves. This is simply an option that may help down the road.
*I’m not looking at taxes or anything here, this is just the pure compounded portfolio.
Posted by Robert on May 16, 2011
This is a guest post by Robert, who lives in Calgary and works as a financial adviser. He is married, has three kids and plans to retire at age 35. Robert and his wife then plan to return to school and become teachers, eventually living and working overseas.
We had some friends over on Saturday and, while our kids played on the playground, we chatted. Money doesn’t come up often in conversation, as a topic, but it seems to lurk behind a lot of the decisions we make. Our friends explained a choice they’ve made that tells us they’re addicted to income.
She stays home with the kids, while her husband works as a teacher. Teachers in Alberta make a very good income, but he works long hours, doing extra-curricular activities and coaching. The benefit, of course, is the two months vacation during the summer. I can only assume that his monthly income covers all (and just) their monthly living expenses.
But because of his ability, he works as a tour guide, away from his family, for five weeks in the summer. And they explained that the income is really nice. Each year, they’ve been able to complete a project on their house, using the extra income from the extra five weeks of work. There is nothing wrong with working a second job, or doing extra work for extra income. That can make a lot of economic sense.
But they said that those five weeks are really hard. It’s hard for the family to be apart and it’s hard for him to leave for five weeks each year. From the way they talked, I got the the distinct impression that they’d rather not do it again. “But,” they added, “the money sure is nice.”
And that’s when I realized that, to some extent, they’re addicted to the income. They are making choices that don’t feel right, choosing to do something they’d rather not, just for the money. Without discipline, our spending will always expand to use all available income. Living on much less than I earn has helped me to maintain my spending discipline and not get addicted to income.
Have you been addicted to income? Have you made a choice you’d rather not, just for the money?
