Posted by Canadian Dream on October 6, 2010
Summer vacation for me this year vanished in a hurry, but there was a reason for that. Up until now I’ve been asked not to mention why beyond the fact I did spend a lot of time working on the book project. Well with a recent launch of a new website, Moneyville.ca, I can finally fess up.
You see Moneyville.ca is the new personal finance site recently launched by the Toronto Star and includes some excellent writers including James Daw, Ellen Roseman, Bryan Borzykowski, Krystal Yee (of Give Me Back My Five Bucks fame) and…me. How did that happen? Well the story goes a little something like this.
I was contacted in late May by the editor of the new site, Adam Mayers. He asked me if I would be willing to write a freelance article for the site. For a blogger, being offered direct pay for article was a great gig (since we are used to producing free content). The fact the article was for the largest circulation paper in the country had the feeling of a lottery win. So I wrote the first article and submitted it. Adam like it (after some heavy editing since paper writing is significantly different than blog writing) and then asked me to provide a few other story ideas which I sent over.
Then things really got interesting when I was asked to write not just one more article, but another four. So suddenly I spend a lot of my summer writing a five part series on early retirement and the implications of reaching my goal of ‘freedom 45.’ The series should be out later this month. I’ll keep you all posted on when it goes up on the website.
So that is how I ended up with the third job of freelance writer over the summer. Ironically I’ve been working towards early retirement to allow me to do more writing including freelance, but I’ve just started doing now rather than later. The universe apparently has a well developed sense of humour.
So go ahead and check out Moneyville.ca, beyond the interesting articles and blogs there is a contest to win $10,000. Are you still reading this post? Go try to win some money already!
Posted by Canadian Dream on May 27, 2010
By quirk of fate I now have an extra $50 to my name. The only problem is I don’t have the slightest clue on what to spend it on. I don’t want to save the money and I’ve decided I want to spend it on something different than I usually do. So I need your help to answer the question: what would you spend an extra $50 on?
I’m open to just about any idea with the following restrictions (other than those mentioned above):
- No I won’t give it to you
- It can’t be something illegal
- No one should get hurt
Otherwise feel feel to suggest anything and if I really like your idea I might just spend the money the same way.
Posted by Canadian Dream on May 20, 2010
So I have a spring birthday and I have managed to get a year closer to my goal of free at 45 which got my thinking about how much progress I’ve made toward financial independence. In a world that too often sends a lot of time on numbers as measures of progress I thought I would point out the other side of the coin: what am I going to do with all of that extra time?
I personally have tried to ensure I have a well rounded set of interests to support a meaningful life when I leave the world of full time work. As such here are a few things that I will continue to build capacity in:
- Volunteering. I have to admit after doing the school board trustee job for a while I rather like doing some meaningful work in my life. I can see helping out in various organizations as I have the time and using my skills to support the work they do (I’ll have to shop around and find out who’s work I like the best).
- Reading. I continue to read a lot regardless of how busy I become. I also try to keep expanding my sphere of interest by trying new topics.
- Gardening. I’m not a good gardener, but I keep trying to get better at it as I learn more from others and library books.
- Writing. Beyond keeping working on this blog I’m going to try to working on a couple of manuscripts that I have going. I will also expand into the publishing side a bit by trying to self publish at least one book.
- Physical activity. Including yoga, roller blading and I’m thinking about buying a bike (I haven’t owned one for years) since my oldest has now learned to ride a bike.
- Wine Making. An old hobby of my that I could easily spend more time doing in the future.
- Building Things. I enjoy fixing things and in the next couple of years a couple of family members will be building new cottages so I intend to help out and expand my skill sets in construction, electrical and plumbing. I’m also thinking about doing a furniture project as I can’t find a new desk that I like.
- Politics. I’ve also been a bit of political junkie so I might spend more time supporting a party or running for a different office in the future. The other side of the coin would be to do more on the activist side for a particular cause.
- Family and friends. I could easily spend more time keeping in better contact with people. This is one of my week spots at the moment as time has been tight lately.
Of course this isn’t every I could do, but rather some ideas for building capacity in various interests. Over all I’m not even worried about filling my time. I think at least on that side of the coin I’m ready for early retirement when I get there. So do you try to expand your interests and try new things? If so what have you tried lately?
