How our FIRE journey began

Our FIRE journey began back in October 2019, when we returned from an overseas trip to Europe, climbed back onto the treadmill of work, and thought to ourselves, “We need to find a way to make this treadmill run itself.”

The first thing to say is, this realization wasn’t prompted by a financial catastrophe or a sudden need to tighten our belts due to job loss or an unexpected addition to our household of two. This is not that story.

(If you are looking for a story about coming back from the brink of financial disaster, I recommend reading about Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, or to learn about achieving FI whilst raising a family, try Chrissy at Eat Sleep Breathe FI.)

Our story is one of a childfree couple with good jobs, who bought a home we probably couldn’t afford due to some inheritance, took trips around the world for which we weren’t budgeting, and as a result, found ourselves living paycheque to paycheque.

I understand this is a privileged position. We are both white. We are both cis. We both have supportive families.

Tim started life in a well off family, then got even luckier, in what turned out to be a high paid career ($100K+). I came from a poorer family and worked my way out and not far up ($25K+ before I found FIRE, $50K+ after).

It is what it is, but I want to be transparent about it. I am still learning about all the ways this privilege has benefited us – and the many challenges that racialized and marginalized people face, that I never even imagined.

Wandering blindly through our finances

That all said, despite this privilege, or perhaps because of it, we were now wandering blindly through our finances, with no budget and no plan, yet wanting the financial freedom to get off the treadmill.

So where to begin? How about that condo? In short, we had received some inheritance from the passing of one of Tim’s relatives many years ago (I told you this story was privileged). This allowed us to put down 20% on a property in Vancouver.

We were so grateful for this gift. But it also fooled us into believing we could afford a much bigger mortgage than we could.

So at age 35, we took on a 30-year mortgage that has us paying almost $3,000 a month…. leaving us on the hook until we are 65 years old. This put considerable strain on our finances every month, and made it difficult to save a lot for retirement.

Also causing issues were those trips. Most of these trips were not globetrotting and exploring for the sake of it – the kind of travel we actually love, and want to do more. These were almost all obligatory trips back home… to Europe.

We moved to Vancouver from Europe about 10 years ago. We never thought we would stay here so long, but we love this city, and the quality of life we can enjoy here, thanks to the mountains, ocean, and open spaces.

However, our decision to move here has meant it is now very expensive to travel back to Europe – which we have had to do almost every year for weddings, family commitments, and sadly, funerals too.

This may have been international travel, but these trips were not really vacations. Each time we returned, we would spend a month carting our bags around various countries to see as many family and friends as possible.

We could take this time away, because we both worked contract jobs at the time, and could schedule our contracts around our trips. But we were woefully unprepared financially for these trips, not really saving or budgeting for them.

Chasing zero for months

After each trip, we would return with major cashflow problems, having earned nothing for the whole month and with a big mortgage to pay. We would have no full income for ages and would end up scrambling to make up the difference.

We had no emergency fund or cash buffer – so paying the bills relied on us getting paid in the same month.

Sometimes, to cover the shortfall in the aftermath of these trips, we would take money out of our TFSAs – money that we had managed to put away at some point in the distant past and which we should have been keeping for retirement.

Sometimes, we would temporarily borrow money from a line of credit to pay the bills. We always paid it back as soon as we had the cash – until the next cashflow crisis, when we would borrow from it again.

After each one of these trips, it often felt like we were “chasing zero” for months, just trying to get back on an even keel.

The combination of taking on our big mortgage and our lack of budgeting or saving for our travel… or at all, meant that even when we had starting receiving income again, we were stressed out, hoping our income arrived in time to pay the bills.

So what happened to turn this around? First off, the trip in October, for a wedding, from which we returned broke as usual. Secondly, the knowledge that in only a few months’ time, we had to do a similar trip, for another wedding.

Returning from our October trip, we considered the reality of our next few months. Working hard to get back on track, months spent chasing zero, multiple cashflow crises, only to repeat the cycle in a few months’ time and – it felt like – in perpetuity.

‘You’re talking about the FIRE movement’

We had a clear realization.

Our need to be present on the treadmill of work to make money to pay our bills was taking time away from us that could be better spent giving friends and family the time they deserve when we visit, as well as exploring the world as we dreamed.

I knew if I was to solve this problem, I needed to find a way to get off that work treadmill – but keep earning money somehow.

I clumsily put this issue to our financial advisor at our first meeting when we returned from our October trip. He paused and said seriously, “You’re talking about passive income. You’re talking about the FIRE movement.”

I had heard of the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement before, mostly in news stories about people who retired in their 30s, like FIRECracker and Wanderer from Millennial Revolution.

But I had never looked into the facts, figures, or rationale behind the FIRE movement. I had no idea how FIRE worked. I had no idea how investing worked. I had no idea how retirement, early or otherwise, worked.

So I told our financial advisor I would look into it. What came next changed our lives forever. Here on this blog, I hope to share regular updates on our journey to FIRE, as well as the money tips and tricks we learn along the way.

One way or another, we’re getting off this treadmill!