Explore FI Canada - A podcast for Canadians, by Canadians

069: Farewell

Explore FI Canada cover art: a maple leaf in front of a scenic lakeside photo

Hello, dear listeners. In the 2.5 years since we started Explore FI Canada, much has changed in the FI community and our own lives. Some of these changes led Chrissy to reevaluate what she values most. And, sadly, it resulted in the topic of this episode: it’s time to say farewell. 😭

068: Cashflows & Portfolios Retirement Projection with Contest Winner Julia!

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re back, and we have a fantastic (and long-awaited) episode to share with you today. Back in September, we ran a contest for one of our lucky listeners to win a free retirement projection from Cashflows & Portfolios.

Julia was randomly selected as our winner, and today we’re finally interviewing her and discussing her retirement plans with Mark Seed (of My Own Advisor and Cashflows & Portfolios)!

If you’re interested in tips and ideas for to plan your retirement withdrawals, this episode’s got you covered. We hope you enjoy the case study (we promise—it’s NOT full of boring numbers)!

By the way: Cashflows & Portfolios encourage you to sign up for their free newsletter—this way, you will be notified when any new free retirement case studies or other personal finance content are posted (including portfolio drawdown solutions). You’ll also get exclusive content only made available to Cashflows & Portfolios subscribers (including book giveaways and more)!

067: Starting From Nothing… to Lifestyle Businesses… to FI | Jonathan Bielaski

When listener Jonathan Bielaski reached out to us with his story, we knew we wanted to share it with our listeners. As a child, he saw his parents lose everything and never had good financial habits modelled for him.

From a very young age, he knew he wanted a different life. Jonathan set out on that path as soon as he could, and found success quickly. Through multiple lifestyle businesses, smart investments and real estate (but not rentals) Jonathan and his wife reached FI.

We hope you enjoy Jonathan’s inspiring, motivational story of ‘luck’, hard work and believing in your dreams.

066: Mental Health Challenges and Finding Balance | Learning to FI

Today, we’re talking to friend of the show, Sterling from the blog, Learning to FI. He shares with us the mental health challenges he’s faced, how they’ve affected his FI journey, and how he’s found balance in his life.

Sterling also shares the value he finds in community and a list of books and other resources he’s learned from. We hope you find Sterling’s open and honest discussion about his struggles, triumphs and lessons eye-opening and inspiring.

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. We’re so grateful for your help, Alexi!

065: FI School Lesson 4 | Income

Want to know what your greatest asset is? It’s you! In this episode, we’re diving into Lesson 4 of FI School, which is all about income and how you can earn more of it. Learn how to maximize your human capital, earn more money and reach your FI goals sooner.

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. Thank you, Alexi—we’re so grateful for your help!

064: The Psychology of Early Retirement | Marla Taner

We’re thrilled to finally have our friend Marla Taner on the show! Marla retired in 2013 from a lucrative career in marketing—at the age of 43! Since then, she’s learned what brings lasting happiness and fulfilment in retirement. (Surprise, it’s not the shiny, exciting things.)

Marla also chats with us about being close friends with all the OG FIRE bloggers/podcasters (Paula Pant, Mr. Money Mustache, the Mad Fientist, JD Roth, and more)! It’s a candid, inspiring conversation with a born and raised Canadian girl—we hope you enjoy it!

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. We’re so grateful for your help, Alexi!

063: The Alternative Investments Path to FI | Liquid

Have you ever considered Twinkies, farmland, or video games as investments? Today’s guest has not only considered them, but he’s purchased them as well! Liquid from the Freedom 35 Blog joins us to talk about his unique approach to investing.

We discuss his many investments (from the zany to the mainstream), as well as leveraged investing, his secrets to financial independence, and more. We hope you enjoy this fascinating chat with one of Canada’s most prolific personal finance bloggers!

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. We’re so grateful for your help, Alexi!

062: The Low-Income Path to FI | Pastor Chris

A commonly-held FI myth is that you need to earn a high income to reach financial independence. In this interview, Pastor Chris busts that myth wide open. He shares how he and his wife make the most of their low income, are paying off their debt… yet are still able to aim for FI!

We hope you enjoy his whirlwind journey into personal finance—from $68,000 in debt to getting on the path to FI, side hustles and so much more! Pastor Chris shows that creativity, perseverance and plain old hard work can go far, even if you’re starting below zero.

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. We’re so grateful for your help, Alexi!

061: FI School Lesson 3 | Budgeting and Tracking

FI School is back in session! After a long hiatus, Money Mechanic and Chrissy are reviving this back-to-the-basics series. But even if you’re a FI veteran, it’s still worth a listen. You could still discover some new FI info and hacks to help you in your journey!

In this episode, we’re diving into Lesson 3 of FI School, which is all about budgeting and tracking. We discuss why we prefer tracking over budgeting, why budgeting is still useful, and our favourite content to learn more about tracking expenses.

Thanks again to listener Alexi, who volunteered to edit the transcripts for our show notes. Thank you, Alexi—we’re so grateful for your help!

060: Drawdown Planning + Contest Announcement!

We’re back from our summer break! Hopefully, you had a lovely summer and are ready to dive back into more Canadian FI content! In this episode, Money Mechanic and I kick off our new season by sharing what we got up to over the summer.

We then discuss the all-important topic of drawdown planning: when to start, why you need it, and how to to approach it at different stages of your journey. Finally, we announce our exciting new partnership—and the contest we’re running to launch it!

Click here to jump to the contest entry box.

Thank you

Thanks to all our wonderful listeners for the kind words when we went off the air for the summer. We’re so grateful to have the best fans ever—you were all so supportive of our little hiatus. It was much-needed break, and we’re now recharged and ready to keep exploring FI with all of you!

We’d also like to give a very special shout-out to listener Alexi. He volunteered to edit the transcript for this episode, and did an amazing job of it. Thank you, Alexi—we’re so grateful for your help!

059: Where Are They Now? | T and Megan

Explore FI Canada’s two! We’re celebrating by checking in on our very first guests: T from T on FIRE and Megan from Victoria (of Smith Manoeuvre and homeschooling fame)!

T shares how she’s doing as she enters ‘the slog’—the doldrums of the FI journey. And Megan surprises us by returning to full-time work, just as she’s reached FIRE! We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane and hearing what T and Megan have been up to.

In addition to this being our second-anniversary episode, it’s also our final episode for the summer. Money Mechanic, Max, and Chrissy will be enjoying a much-needed break from EFIC duties until Friday, September 10, 2021.

We hope you have a fun and relaxing summer, and look forward to getting back to sharing more Canadian FI stories and info in the fall!

058: From Adversity and Low Expectations to FI | Sharon

Sharon’s alcoholic father and dependent mother had low expectations for her future. Determined not to follow in her mother’s footsteps, Sharon fought back against her family’s traditional, stifling beliefs.

In the interview, she reveals her incredible journey out of adversity and into independence. Sharon’s story is full of twists and turns, including eight years teaching overseas, meeting her now-husband, and a move back to Canada.

It’s never easy breaking free from familial patterns and beginning anew. And yet, Sharon managed to accomplish this and get herself on the path to FI. We hope you’re as inspired by Sharon’s courageous story as we are.

057: Find Your Freedom With FIRE | Ann Helga

When it comes to FIRE, we tend to get overly focused on the numbers and tactics. However, that’s only part of the journey. There’s a whole other side to FIRE—one that’s less tangible, but just as important.

Today, we’re discussing the softer, psychological side of FIRE with Ann Helga, our first-ever guest from Nova Scotia! Ann discusses her late start to the FIRE journey, residual income, life in Nova Scotia, EFT (emotional freedom technique) and so much more!

056: FI Drawdown Strategies | Mark Seed

In this episode, friend of the show Mark Seed finally joins us for an interview! We’re excited to tackle a topic that’s not discussed enough in the Canadian FI community: drawdown (aka decumulation).

Mark shares his extensive expertise to help us answer these questions (and more): How do you drawdown your assets? Which accounts should you tap first? Are there ways to minimize taxes?

As you’ll hear in the episode, asset decumulation requires a lot of complex planning. We hope you’ll come away with helpful info and tactics to incorporate into your own FI drawdown plan.

055: Reaching FI in the Yukon With a Disability | Tara

Tara is our first-ever guest from Yukon Territory! She’s also the first guest to share that they have a disability. While Tara’s disability has never held her back, it was a big part of her impetus to get started with FI.

She candidly shares with us what life is like with her disability and the government benefits she receives because of it. We also discuss Tara’s money-saving tactics for the big three expenses: housing, transportation, and food.

And, of course, Tara also reveals what it’s like to live in the Yukon and why she loves it so much. Tara’s story shows how just being on the FI path can provide a lot of freedom and resilience—even early on in the journey. We hope you find it inspiring!

054: Taking a Coast FI Sabbatical | Modest Millionaires

Ms. Mod from the Modest Millionaires blog is joining us as her real, authentic self—Mel Dorion from Québec! The beginning of Mel’s story is a familiar one—that of a stressed-out, dual-income household, with burnout looming.

However, over the last few years, she’s taken serious steps to increase the freedom in her life. Those shifts led her to remote working, increased financial freedom, and now, a sabbatical to test out the Coast FI lifestyle.

We hope you take away some actionable ideas from Mel’s transformational journey. Are you able to unlock more freedom in your life too? Even if you’re still a long way from full FI? Let us know your thoughts in the comments of our show notes!

053: A Canadian Guide to Early Retirement | Réjean Venne

What if you didn’t have to work for 35 years in order to retire? Réjean Venne and his wife are answering just that question—after retiring at just 28 and 29 years old! To reach this incredible goal, they got serious about investing, optimized their expenses and geo-arbitraged to a lower-cost of living area (in Canada).

He and his wife are now living a slower, happier life with their three young children in Northern Ontario. Réjean’s story shows us, once again, how ordinary Canadians can achieve extraordinary results—just by getting a little more intentional with their money and decisions.

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT: Win a copy of Réjean’s book!

To enter, leave a comment about the show: share your thoughts, a question for Réjean, or any other feedback on his interview. We will be do a random drawing from the comments on May 15, 2021!

052: The Pro Athlete Path to FIRE (and Beyond) | Courtney Stephen

It’s another first for EFIC! In today’s episode, we interview a pro athlete—none other than Courtney Stephen of CFL/Hamilton Tiger-Cats fame. We’re thrilled to be able to feature Courtney and his unique brand of financial education on the show!

Contrary to the pro athlete stereotype, Courtney is a master with money and an expert at teaching others. Listen in as he shares his story and discusses mindset, investing, multi-generational wealth, and more.

We hope you enjoy this fascinating peek into the life of a professional athlete—from his early years, to playing sports for a living, life in pandemic, and beyond.

051: Northwest Territories FI | Scott

We’re VERY excited to share something new with you today: our very first guest from the Canadian territories! Scott lives with his family in the Northwest Territories and joins us to share the benefits and challenges of pursuing FI in the North.

In this fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, we also discuss: Scott’s early life as a circus performer, his transition to a completely different career, Reverse FI (a term that Scott would like to coin) and so much more!

We had a lot of fun recording this one. We hope you enjoy listening to Scott’s stories as much as we did!

050: Taking the Leap From High-fee Mutual Funds to DIY | Kay

It was March 2020, and the pandemic had just taken over. EFIC listener Kay, still new to FIRE, moved a large chunk of her life savings from high-fee mutual funds to an all-in-one ETF at Questrade. But as momentous as this decision was, it was only one part of Kay’s financial transformation…

In the interview, Kay takes us back to her pre-FIRE days, when she followed the traditional narrative of paying down your mortgage and saving a little every month. Despite doing all these ‘right’ things, she still didn’t feel secure or confident about her financial future.

It wasn’t until Kay discovered FIRE that she finally experienced true financial security and peace. Even with the uncertainty of the pandemic (including unemployment) she feels more confident than ever! Kay’s story shows, once again, how FI can provide so much freedom—all along the way.