fire161007
Dryer sheet wannabe
Hi there,
This is my first post. I have been lurking for many years and would like to thank the community for inspiration to become financially independent.
I am 44, married with 2 pre-teen kids living in Canada. My wife and I have been fortunate enough to be able to buy a house in 1997 when prices were reasonable. We also are fortunate to both have 6 figure salaries in IT ($170K for me and $130 for her). In the last few years I have become increasingly unmotivated at work (megacorp) and am planning on leaving within the next 3-9 months.
All $ are in Canadian.
Net worth is around $3.8 Million, which consists of our primary residence with about $800K and the rest invested in Stocks, ETF's and preferred shared. Our asset allocation is about 80% equities, 15% fixed income and 5% cash. We have no debt. Our $3M investments currently yield about $80K in dividends. Most are Canadian Dividends which are tax favourable.
Our annual spending is about $100K. This includes $15K that goes to our financial advisor that manages about $2M of our portfolio. I am considering leaving our financial advisor as the $1M I manage myself with ETF's consistently out performs him. This can take our annual expenses down to $85K.
Healthcare is not a huge concern as Health care in Canada covers much of our needs. My wife still enjoys her job and plans to continue working for at least a couple of years. We will continue to get dental and vision coverage through her benefits plan from work. Once she retires, we will look into additional health care coverage, but I don't anticipate it to be much.
I believe we are at the point of financial independence assuming a 2% inflation and 5% return, but would appreciate other's opinions.
I don't expect our spending to go down once I retire, in fact it may go up with the kids approaching their teen years. We plan on assisting our children with their post-secondary education and have set up an RESP plan currently valued at $150K (included in our $3M portfolio).
I also believe this is a good time to spend more time with the kids. The extra attention with school and studies that I will be able to afford once I retire will be invaluable. I want to spend as much time as I can with them before the teen years when they will want to have less to do with their parents.
I know that many will be asking what I will be doing with my time, but in addition to family, I do have many projects and hobbies lined up.
I plan on regularly updating this thread to keep you in the loop. Any feedback on our plan would be appreciated.
This is my first post. I have been lurking for many years and would like to thank the community for inspiration to become financially independent.
I am 44, married with 2 pre-teen kids living in Canada. My wife and I have been fortunate enough to be able to buy a house in 1997 when prices were reasonable. We also are fortunate to both have 6 figure salaries in IT ($170K for me and $130 for her). In the last few years I have become increasingly unmotivated at work (megacorp) and am planning on leaving within the next 3-9 months.
All $ are in Canadian.
Net worth is around $3.8 Million, which consists of our primary residence with about $800K and the rest invested in Stocks, ETF's and preferred shared. Our asset allocation is about 80% equities, 15% fixed income and 5% cash. We have no debt. Our $3M investments currently yield about $80K in dividends. Most are Canadian Dividends which are tax favourable.
Our annual spending is about $100K. This includes $15K that goes to our financial advisor that manages about $2M of our portfolio. I am considering leaving our financial advisor as the $1M I manage myself with ETF's consistently out performs him. This can take our annual expenses down to $85K.
Healthcare is not a huge concern as Health care in Canada covers much of our needs. My wife still enjoys her job and plans to continue working for at least a couple of years. We will continue to get dental and vision coverage through her benefits plan from work. Once she retires, we will look into additional health care coverage, but I don't anticipate it to be much.
I believe we are at the point of financial independence assuming a 2% inflation and 5% return, but would appreciate other's opinions.
I don't expect our spending to go down once I retire, in fact it may go up with the kids approaching their teen years. We plan on assisting our children with their post-secondary education and have set up an RESP plan currently valued at $150K (included in our $3M portfolio).
I also believe this is a good time to spend more time with the kids. The extra attention with school and studies that I will be able to afford once I retire will be invaluable. I want to spend as much time as I can with them before the teen years when they will want to have less to do with their parents.
I know that many will be asking what I will be doing with my time, but in addition to family, I do have many projects and hobbies lined up.
I plan on regularly updating this thread to keep you in the loop. Any feedback on our plan would be appreciated.
