Posted by Dave on May 10, 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.
I read what I consider one of the most inspiring blogs over the past week. After reading Trent’s Simple Dollar post , I dug in and checked it out, and I was completely hooked. Sometimes I find myself thinking that the Internet is nothing but a huge time-suck, then there are stories like The Dan Plan that provide inspiration and entertainment.
In a nutshell, “The Dan Plan” is one 30 year-old guy’s plan to make the PGA tour as a pro golfer, starting with basically no golf experience. Dan is following the hypothesis put forth by Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers” and is going to spend the prescribed 10,000 hours training over a 5 year period, with the intention of going through “Q-School” (the PGA tour’s qualification tournament) in 2015. He started in March of 2010 and so far is around 1,500 hours into his practice schedule.
I found the story very inspiring – this guy is essentially taking a leap of faith that he will succeed. He quit his job with approximately 2 of the 5 years worth of capital necessary, hoping (I think) to pick up a sponsor over the two year period. In a similar, but more planned fashion, my goal of exiting the workforce at 45 (13.5 years from now) is taking a similar leap, which is perhaps why I connected so much with Dan’s story.
I would love to quit my job and golf right now – I may even have a bit of a leg up given my 20 years of golf experience, but for me, this would definitely be an “outside the box” adventure – quitting my job in the hunt for a fortune found via professional sports – I live a life that is significantly more planned. I am a gambler, but I don’t really have enough faith in my athletic skill to do this. I do have faith in my ability to amass enough money to (hopefully) allow me to retire early and have enough money to live off of for around 55 years.
While I don’t think I’d leave my job for the off chance of making millions, what I have been contemplating lately is leaving my government job to expand my skill-set through a private sector accounting job. Initially, I would more than likely have to take a pay cut, but I believe that eventually my earnings would be significantly higher than they currently are – my own small-scale “Dan Plan”.
I am very interested to vicariously live through someone my own age carrying out what would be my ultimate dream, to golf every day and eventually make money doing it.
Have you ever taken a significant risk that other people would think was somewhat crazy, but did it anyway? Would you quit your job to try to make a dream like Dan’s goal of making the PGA tour, or something more small-scale like my accounting-job plan?
Posted by Canadian Dream on May 9, 2011
Note: Due to technical reasons this post didn’t get published last week. Sorry for the delay.
So after having a bit of tablet obsession for a bit, I finally managed to get some time in at a store playing around with a few models and determined that I really don’t want one. Why? If you type with anything more than two fingers the things suck for writing as you can ‘type’ six keys at once. So back to the drawing board to find something that meets my needs of being a lighter weight option for getting some writing work done on the go.
First up: attention all bloggers…do you want to write for Moneyville? Well they are holding a new contest to find their next blogger. You can win a contract worth $4000 or second place prize at $500. Also their editor, Adam, is great to work with. I’ve done about seven article with him and he really helped me shift from my usual writing style to a more condensed format. [Oh, I'm not getting compensated for this plug...I really do like working with him.]
Why your clutter may be costing you $175 a square foot? (Globe and Mail)
Squawkfox puts Costco savings to the test vs Superstore…the results are interesting.
An interesting discussion on the moral aspects of spending (Get Rich Slowly)
I really enjoyed this one about breaking free from consumerist chains (Zen Habits)
I loved the data in this post on personal inflation…don’t believe the CPI is your inflation rate. (Boomer & Echo)
I’m impressed with this one…why I won’t buy an ebook reader. You may not actually like every piece of technology out there. It takes something to understand that. (Give Me Back My Five Bucks)
Posted by Robert on
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.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post that I entitled, tongue-in-cheek, “Don’t Go on Vacation.” A few people strongly disagreed with my “advice”, and I don’t blame them. The advice to not go on vacation is terrible for anyone who seeks a balanced life, with some well-deserved down-time from a stressful job. Besides that, making a decision out of fear, such as avoiding vacation time for fear of losing one’s job, is a reactive way to live. What I honestly believe is that we should enjoy what we have while we have that opportunity.
I was at work a few weeks ago when a longtime client phoned to tell us that his wife had passed away. To me, it came as a surprise. She was almost 70 and it turns out that she had been battling cancer over the prior year, although they hadn’t told people about her illness. I told him that we would make it as easy as possible to combine the RRIFs and ensure he had enough income and set a meeting for later the following week. After hanging up, I reflected on their situation. They had lost the majority of their investments during the “tech wreck”, before transferring their accounts to us. They had set a goal to have $200,000 (again) before retiring, which required him to work until age 70. When he retired, they moved out of the big city to a condo in a small town, just getting by on their investment income and government pensions. They had three or four good years before his wife passed away.
When we earn income, we are forced to make a decision between spending it now, or spending it later. When investing, the goal is that the more we postpone spending, the more we can spend. The decision is tempered by the knowledge that we don’t know how long we will live. There’s no point saving all our money, only to die prematurely and never enjoy the use of it. Which raises the point that money is only useful when it’s used for something. So the issue becomes: what’s really important in your life?
It’s often the things that are intangible: people, relationships, experiences. So it seems advisable to make the most of the time we have together. In my case, I’d rather have less money, but more time with my family. That may mean working only four days a week, or taking memorable vacations while I’m working. It also means retiring as soon as I am able, instead of amassing a fortune. I occasionally think about what I’d like to leave my children at the end of my life. If I can leave them some money, that would be nice, but if I can leave them a role model and some great memories, that’s something I value far more.
What motivates your choice between spending now and saving for later? What would you do with your time if you didn’t need to spend so much of it earning money?
