My wife and I are perhaps about to embark on a life-changing journey this year. We’ve been eyeing properties out in the Canadian Maritimes for the last year or so as a place to retire since property out there is ridiculously cheap compared to Ontario. However, up till Christmas it’s been mostly wishful “someday-when-we-retire” thinking. There is one house in particular that we both fell in love with on Nova Scotia. 36 wooded acres, extremely private, with a river reputed to be one of the best fishing rivers in N.S. running through the property, and close to the ocean and associated beaches. To boot, due to the depressed job market, properties are dirt-cheap.
Well, after much soul-searching over the last few months we’ve decided to drive out to N.S., see the house, and barring any surprises, put in an offer. Aside from the obvious benefits, this would completely eliminate all our debts in one shot. We’ve been fortunate with the housing market in Ottawa, not to mention the surrounding cottage country. Selling our house and cottage would allow us to pay off our mortgage to the bank, pay cash for the house in N.S., and leave us with approximately $50,000 cash after expenses.
On the one hand, it just seems crazy that we are even contemplating this. My wife would have to quit her job as a teacher, which currently pays $65,000/year, and basically have to start over in N.S. with no guarantee of finding work in a somewhat depressed job-market. My job is more flexible; I co-founded a design firm and I can basically do work from anywhere that has a high-speed Internet connection. I often work from the cottage and clients have no idea I’m not in the office. I’ve worked out a deal with my business partner and instead of commuting into work everyday I would be working from my home-office in N.S. He’ll keep the office running here in return for a bigger cut of the cash.
The biggest concern is if my work dries up. Since my wife may not be able to find work, I could potentially be the sole income earner. Being a very small company, my work is not as stable as a regular full-time job at a large firm.
However, our company has been operating more or less successfully for the last 8 years, so if I were to hazard a guess I would say things will keep running for at least another few years. With the investment income, we only really need about $20,000/year of income to make up the short fall for now, and at the very worse we have the $30,000 to keep us alive for a year and a half. I find it hard to believe to my company would be absolutely without any work for a year and half.
Another way we’ve been looking at it is if my work dries up it’s going to happen regardless of where we live. If we stay here my wife’s salary will keep us afloat for a short while but before long we’d be selling the cottage, 2 of the cars, and most likely the house. If we are in N.S., we have the $30,000 as buffer. Half dozen of one, six of another. My wife can also apply for a 1-year Leave of Absence from her job, renewable for up to 5 years. It basically means that she is guaranteed a job at the same salary if she comes back. Therefore, if things really didn’t work out in NS we simply move back to Ottawa, she gets her job back, and I start looking for work.
On the plus side, we would be completely mortgage and debt free, with a paid-for house, at age 33. With absolutely no debt, the amount we’ll need to live comfortably should be less than $40,000/year according to my calculations. Our investments are already generating approximately $20,000/year in income and we’ll be putting aside $30,000 of the $50,000 surplus into an emergency fund in a high-yield ING account. In a few more years our investment income should catch up to our expenses and we can fully retire. We would also have a beautiful, treed property near the ocean, with a fishing/canoeing river in the back, near an extensive bicycle trail network, with lots of various activities possible.
My in-laws are, unfortunately, dead-set against it. They simply cannot understand why we’d be giving up “all that we worked for” and move so far away. Never mind that it was perfectly fine for them to move an hour out of town when it suited them. My father-in-law just can’t understand why I would want to retire in my mid-30’s; I can’t understand somebody who worked till he was 60 and went into to work, unpaid, 2 weekends each month.
Well, after much soul-searching over the last few months we’ve decided to drive out to N.S., see the house, and barring any surprises, put in an offer. Aside from the obvious benefits, this would completely eliminate all our debts in one shot. We’ve been fortunate with the housing market in Ottawa, not to mention the surrounding cottage country. Selling our house and cottage would allow us to pay off our mortgage to the bank, pay cash for the house in N.S., and leave us with approximately $50,000 cash after expenses.
On the one hand, it just seems crazy that we are even contemplating this. My wife would have to quit her job as a teacher, which currently pays $65,000/year, and basically have to start over in N.S. with no guarantee of finding work in a somewhat depressed job-market. My job is more flexible; I co-founded a design firm and I can basically do work from anywhere that has a high-speed Internet connection. I often work from the cottage and clients have no idea I’m not in the office. I’ve worked out a deal with my business partner and instead of commuting into work everyday I would be working from my home-office in N.S. He’ll keep the office running here in return for a bigger cut of the cash.
The biggest concern is if my work dries up. Since my wife may not be able to find work, I could potentially be the sole income earner. Being a very small company, my work is not as stable as a regular full-time job at a large firm.
However, our company has been operating more or less successfully for the last 8 years, so if I were to hazard a guess I would say things will keep running for at least another few years. With the investment income, we only really need about $20,000/year of income to make up the short fall for now, and at the very worse we have the $30,000 to keep us alive for a year and a half. I find it hard to believe to my company would be absolutely without any work for a year and half.
Another way we’ve been looking at it is if my work dries up it’s going to happen regardless of where we live. If we stay here my wife’s salary will keep us afloat for a short while but before long we’d be selling the cottage, 2 of the cars, and most likely the house. If we are in N.S., we have the $30,000 as buffer. Half dozen of one, six of another. My wife can also apply for a 1-year Leave of Absence from her job, renewable for up to 5 years. It basically means that she is guaranteed a job at the same salary if she comes back. Therefore, if things really didn’t work out in NS we simply move back to Ottawa, she gets her job back, and I start looking for work.
On the plus side, we would be completely mortgage and debt free, with a paid-for house, at age 33. With absolutely no debt, the amount we’ll need to live comfortably should be less than $40,000/year according to my calculations. Our investments are already generating approximately $20,000/year in income and we’ll be putting aside $30,000 of the $50,000 surplus into an emergency fund in a high-yield ING account. In a few more years our investment income should catch up to our expenses and we can fully retire. We would also have a beautiful, treed property near the ocean, with a fishing/canoeing river in the back, near an extensive bicycle trail network, with lots of various activities possible.
My in-laws are, unfortunately, dead-set against it. They simply cannot understand why we’d be giving up “all that we worked for” and move so far away. Never mind that it was perfectly fine for them to move an hour out of town when it suited them. My father-in-law just can’t understand why I would want to retire in my mid-30’s; I can’t understand somebody who worked till he was 60 and went into to work, unpaid, 2 weekends each month.
