As you can imagine, a lot of planning is required to reach early retirement. Despite all the planning, projections, and running different scenarios, there will always be some level of uncertainty when it comes to early retirement. However, because the financial independence retire early (FIRE) community is a very supportive and tight-knit one, it is not difficult to find help and support.
Recently, a reader reached out to me about his upcoming early retirement and my involvement in Scouts. Turned out this reader is a fellow Scouter as well. It’s really cool that many readers and I share many common grounds. After some back and forth, I thought it would be interesting to share this reader’s story and his family’s retirement plans in the form of a Q&A.
Q1: Welcome to this blog, Reader C. Congrats on your upcoming early retirement. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your wife?
A1: I first must apologize for the delay in connecting back with you, Bob. The first 6 months of my early retirement ended up being a lot busier than I had originally planned. I had every intention to connect with you at the beginning of the year, so I am sorry.
My wife and I moved to Vancouver Island with our two kids over 8 years ago, moving away from the Lower Mainland. I retired when I was 46 and have always worked full-time, and retired at the start of 2026. My wife has been a stay-at-home mom since our second child was born, however has always been a hairdresser, and potter, so dabbles in both of those for her own spending money.
Both our kids still live with us, with one now looking at post-secondary school options, and the other just a couple of years away.
Q2: Conceptually, financial independence retire early seems very straight forward – pay yourself first, live below your means, grow the savings gap, and invest as much as you can. Yet FIRE seems to be out of reach for so many people. Why do you think that’s the case?
A2: I wouldn’t want to answer on anyone else’s behalf, on why FIRE seems to be so out of reach for others, but I would think it could be a combination of things. I am sure things like expensive housing costs, expensive commuting costs, costs for kids sports and programs, and of course “keeping up with Jones’s” that you see online as well, all doesn’t help.
One of the biggest things that worked for us, pay yourself first. The first book I read was the Wealthy Barber, and we all know what the main lesson was from that. Every paycheque, we took a little off and invested it.
Q3:What made you decide to finally pull the plug and step away from full-time employment? Walk me through your decision process.
A3: Over the past year, I started going down this rabbit hole of learning about retiring early, planning for early retirement, finding your retirement purpose, etc. I was working a job that paid well, however the work itself is not desirable for most people, and its not great on your mental health. So my wife and I started talking about what our next stage in our life would look like, and that included the financial part of it. Once we knew we were “all good”, I handed in my notice.
Q4: Prior to stepping away from full-time employment, did you do a lot of soul-searching to determine what you plan to do in early retirement? Why is this an important process for early retirement?
A4: A little bit, but not really as much as you would think. I was already involved in a few organizations and groups, which I knew I was going to continue with. As you mentioned, I am involved with Scouts Canada, and have been for my entire life. Started when I was in Scouts, and then when my kids got involved. I have been a Scouter now for well over 10 years, and I love it. I am involved in a group that sends youths from our community on an international exchange trip, as well as helping out at our school for various PAC fundraisers and events for the students.
So obviously these few things don’t take up all my newfound time, but I also wanted to get back into running, do more cooking and baking, camping and hiking, visit family and friends when we get the opportunity too, etc.
Q5: Tell me about your plans for this new chapter of your life. Any travel plans? Anything to celebrate early retirement?
A5: We actually just did a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia this past April, for our 20th wedding anniversary. We went with a Canadian company called G Adventures, and had a wonderful time. We do plan to travel more, however, we do plan on being close to home for now, until our youngest finishes high school in a couple of years.
So for now, we just keep adding to our travel list, which currently has Costa Rica, Spain/Portugal, London, and if I had my way, maybe even hiking the Camino in the future. Will see if I can convince my wife of that one.
Tawcan: That must have been an amazing 20th wedding anniversary trip!
Q6: Have you considered working part time with your current employer to generate additional income while in early retirement? Why and why not?
A6: I have certainly considered working, and being so young, I probably would go do something a day or two a week. I would not go back to what I was doing, and honestly, it is not an option for me as it is not offered.
I think working a day here or there, would give me that social interaction that we all need, maybe I work in a brewery for free beer, or a golf course for free golf.
The best thing, is that we don’t need to work anymore, so if I choose to go back, I can be as picky as I want to be. As our friend at MyOwnAdvisor says, Financial Independence Work On Own Terms. (FIWOOT). I love that.
Q7: Let’s talk about investments. What kind of investments do you hold in your investment accounts?
A7: Canadian paying dividend stocks, some ETF’s, and some cash as well. The Canadian stocks we own is a blend from those you would see on other blogs such as yours (TAWCAN), MyOwnAdvisor, Henry Mah’s – Your Ever Growing Income, and the Dividend Guy Podcast. I then started my research, using their suggestions, and went from there.
The ETF’s we now hold are fairly new positions, and that helps us to get long-term exposure, to the worldwide market. Cash on hand is used as our “Cash Wedge” buffer, as we are now starting to draw down our investments.
Q8: I believe you said you are a relatively new dividend investor, only gotten into it about five years ago. What makes dividend investing so attractive?
A8: That’s right. Prior to that, we owned a rental property for 15 years, which during that period in BC, we saw a great increase in the property value.
My wife and I knew we did not want to be landlords forever, we also felt that being a landlord, the rules around the Tenancy Act were becoming more favorable for tenants than landlords.
Finally, when we moved away from the town where the rental property was, a few years later we sold it. Too hard to manage when you are not right there.
Why dividend investing? I loved the idea of making money off my investments, and not having to sell anything. I realize that argument to that thinking, and we have all heard it a million times. But for us, it works and it helps us not worry about our investments.
Q9: You have two teenagers. Have you been putting away money in their RESPs? Do you plan to fully fund their post-secondary education? If not, why not?
A9: Absolutely. From the day they were born, $50 a month went into their RESPs, and then increased a handful of years later. We even did some lump-sum deposits when we sold or moved houses.
I wish I did better research 18 years ago to better understand them, however I am so grateful that we started early. We should have enough for both of their post-secondary educations, and not have to dip into our retirement investments.
Q10: Tell me a bit more about your portfolio withdrawal strategy. Are you planning to withdrawal from RRSP early? Are you planning to convert RRSPs to RRIFs before age 71?
A10: I love this question, as this is what I have been researching and learning about for the past year. Once I felt confident that we were FIRE, and could make it work, we had a plan done with a fee-only advisor, to run all the numbers, and create that Retirement Income Plan for us. We think it was worth every penny, for the peace of mind, and the thumbs up we are FIRE!
The summary of our plan, live off the dividends from our non-registered account, draw down the RRSP early, top-up the TFSA with any extra money we have after travel, and delay CPP and OAS as long as we can.
I have a small LIRA, which I can’t touch for 10 years, but again, it’s small, doesn’t really change much. The other thing we do, is have a cash wedge in all of our accounts we are spending from, that way if there is a market draw down, big correction, or we need a bit more money for something, no problem.
Q11: Why is it important to “learn” how to spend money and enjoy life a bit more in retirement rather than a “save-save-and-save-some-more” mentality so many FIRE seekers tend to have?
A11: We have been lucky, as we have been able to save, as well as enjoy our life. We always lived within our means, and paid ourselves first. That is why we are where we are today.
I am definitely still learning how to spend money now that I do not have a pay cheque coming in. What we have found helps, is that we automatically put a certain amount each month into a “Fun Bucket”, money we can use for concerts, theatre, beer festivals, thrift store shopping, etc. I find if the money is sitting there with a purpose, it helps. We also have accounts for a new vehicle, medical, property tax/insurance, home maintenance, as well as spouse/partner date trips.
Tawcan: I love this “Fun Bucket” idea. It’s very similar to our Play account idea.
Q12: What’s your plan on equities vs. fixed income allocation in semi-retirement and early retirement? Do you plan to shift more towards fixed income as you get older?
A12: No changes to our investments right now. As I mentioned, we will continue to add to our ETF’s for the global exposure in our TFSA when we have the extra cash to do so. But for now, we are just leaving everything and letting it do its thing.
Q13: It’s amazing that you are volunteering as a Scouter. Why did you volunteer in the first place? What has the Scouting experience been for you? Why is it important to volunteer and give time to your community?
A13: I love Scouting! I started in the Lower Mainland, and that is where I grew up in Scouting.
I was lucky enough to have great Scouters, who volunteered so much of their time to take us on camping trips, week long trips across Canada to Jamborees, hiked the West Coast Trail, a couple of times, trips like that. A lot of my great friends still are those I met in Scouting. It only made sense that I would then give back, when I was able to.
So now I do. I love doing it, the feedback in our community has been amazing. It’s always hard to find parents that have the want and time to volunteer, and I have both of those right now, so I am happy to do it.
Maybe one day our paths will cross at one of our Scouting events.
Tawcan: I really hope we’d cross paths in the near future. I had very similar experience as you, went through Scouts as a youth and it’s all about giving back to the community and providing a helping hand.
Q14: In retirement, what’s more important, income flow or portfolio value preservation? Or is it both?
A14: Income flow right now. We are currently living off our dividends, and this is the first year that we are not adding any new money. I am excited to see if our dividend income will increase organically.
Q15: How do you deal with cash reserve or emergency fund in early retirement? Do you set aside a certain amount of money?
A15: We do not have an emergency fund, but like I mentioned, we have buckets where we save for new vehicle/maintenance, house maintenance, property tax/insurance, etc. This allows us to always have the money ready when it is needed.
And again, we have a cash buffer in all of our drawdown accounts, so if the market goes down, or for some reason dividends end with every single Canadian company at the exact same time, we still have money to live on.
Q16. Looking back on your financial independence journey, are there certain things you would have done differently or changed if you were to start the journey today?
A16: Not too much, as it is because of how everything worked out for us, puts us where we are today. I wish I didn’t buy a stock that was suggested to be when I was in my early 20s, that eventually was worthless, I wish I did more early research on how to maximize the benefit of the RESP, I wish I had save a bit more in my 20s, but again, no regrets.
It has been a lot of fun being open with our kids on our financial journey and picture, so they can learn from what worked and didn’t work for us. Hopefully they will do much better than we have done.
Q17. What would you tell someone like me who is trying to achieve financial independence? Do you have any advice for FIRE?
A17: I don’t think it’s fair for me to give any advice, because everything that I have learned has been from various blogs, books, podcasts, and YouTube videos. It’s all been said in many different formats.
Pay yourself first. Take that little bit right out of your account, on the same day you get your paycheque. You won’t even miss it.
Max out your TFSA if you can, best account out there.
Live within your means. Nobody gives two s#%$# about what you own, what you wear, what you drive, etc. And if they do, they are not people you should even worry about. As long as you are happy, that is all that matters.
Don’t forget to make healthy choices. My wife always says that she is working out, walking, hiking now, so she can get off the toilet on her own in 30 years.
Q18. Do you have anything else you would like to share with me and my readers?
A18: I have really appreciated your blog over the years. Part of where I am today is because of your blog, and our Canadian podcasts, blogs, YouTube info, etc. There are a lot of great resources out there, as I have mentioned above.
Great chatting with you.
Thank you very much, Reader C, for taking the time to participate in this early retirement Q&A, I really appreciate it. I’m excited for this new chapter of your life.
