Hi, for people who hit FIRE under 35, what's life been like?

How's your social life?

Who do you mostly hang up with?

For those in hcol, why do you choose to stay there as opposed to moving somewhere else?

Im 19m joining uni next year and im working part time at best buy and im new to this saw alot of people posting here and heard from my friends and family to invest in VFV but saw on tiktok to invest in XEQT. So kinda confused what to do

Hi everyone, looking for advice and feedback to help us do a financial reality check on our early-retirement plan and decumulation/tax strategy.

I retired this year at age 53 after being laid off. My wife doesn’t mind working for another 7 years, until age 60. Our main goal is to have enough after-tax income for our lifetime; we are not focused on leaving a large estate.

Background and assumptions

• Me: Retired now at age 53
• My wife: Retiring in 7 years at age 60
• Dependents: None
• Assets: One home and one car
• Liabilities: No debts
• Province: Ontario, Canada; assume Ontario income tax rates
• Life expectancy: Planning to age 95
• Investment return: Conservative 3% nominal annual return throughout retirement
• Inflation: 2.1%
• CPP: Assume average CPP; delay receiving until age 70
• OAS: Qualify for maximum OAS; delay receiving until age 70 and manage taxable income to avoid or minimize clawbacks, reductions to income-tested credits and benefits, and other unnecessary taxes
• RRSPs: Convert to RRIFs at retirement; I would convert in 2027 and begin RRSP/RRIF drawdowns
• TFSAs: Currently maxed; we expect to continue contributing the annual limit from after-tax funds

Current savings and investments – today’s dollars

• Me: RRSP/RRIF=$950k; TFSA=$200k; Cash/Non-registered=$500k; Total=$1.65m
• Wife: RRSP=$350k; TFSA=$130k; Cash/Non-registered=$500k; Total=$980k
• Combined: RRSP/RRIF=$1.3m; TFSA=$330k; Cash/Non-registered=$1m; Total=$2.63m

Spending needs after tax – today’s dollars

• Living expenses: $100,000 per year; intended to be an all-in estimate
• Vehicle replacement: $60,000 every 5 years, beginning in 2027, then 2032, 2037, 2042, etc.

Questions

1. Overall feasibility: Based on the information above, could our portfolio run out of money before age 95 under realistic assumptions? What major risks, costs, or planning gaps should we consider?

2. Withdrawals and taxes: What is the most tax-efficient order of withdrawals?

• Our current idea is for me to begin drawing down my RRSP/RRIF first, then use cash/non-registered funds, while preserving TFSAs as long as possible—except perhaps in higher-spending years such as vehicle-replacement years.
• What taxable income should I aim for each year to use lower tax brackets efficiently while avoiding or minimizing OAS clawbacks and reductions to income-tested credits and benefits? I will have no employment or pension income; my income will come entirely from portfolio withdrawals.
• If we eventually withdraw RRSP funds during lower-income years but do not need the cash, we will use available TFSA room first. Should we invest any remainder in a non-registered account, rather than leaving the funds in the RRSP for future RRIF withdrawals?

3. My wife’s RRSP contributions: My wife is still working. Should she stop contributing to her RRSP now to avoid a larger future RRIF withdrawal obligation, or continue maximizing contributions so the investments can grow tax-deferred?

4. Retirement age: Do we have enough savings to support my wife retiring earlier than age 60? Alternatively, might both of us need to work a few more years to make the plan more secure?

Hey guys, am 43 years old. Married and two kids. Yearly spend is ~ 60k/year. Hustled and worked my butt of the past 15 years as an associate dentist and have accumulated close to 1.2 million in my Corp and 750k in RRSP, TFSA, RESP, and brokerage. House is ~ 1 million and paid off. So close to 3 million NW. Have been working 6 days a week for the past 15 years and have a spouse that also works 4 days a week. Have saved all of my income these years and have just lived off of her income. Just found out the owner sold the practice to another doctor, without a heads up, and am not going to be brought on.
I am quite shocked and stressed to say the least since I wasn’t given a heads up. Just feel disrespected…..just feel numb.

My plan was to coast fire and work a couple days a week until 50 and let our investments grow. We’ll be living off of my wife’s income for 6 years and hopefully invest close to ~100k/year during that time frame.

I guess I’m just in shock and was not expecting to be laid off. Maybe it’s just a control factor and leaving on my own terms. I’m still worried that as the kids, 6 and 4, get older our household expenses increase and we didn’t save enough. Maybe 100k spend would have been safer in the future vs the 60 k we spend now. I just don’t know what to think :(

Edit: Wow, thx everyone for the encouragement….and I agree, I think a majority of this is psychological. I’m actually debating talking to a therapist, maybe it’s my scarcity mindset creeping in since growing up we never had much. Maybe I feel like I will lose it all or just didn’t “save enough” for my family…..which is silly, since I’ll continue to keep working part time someplace.

The second hardest part is not going back to work right away. That’s all I’ve ever known for the past 15 years.

Hi all,

I have about 23k in my bank mutual funds and 10k in a Wealthsimple account. I was hoping to hear personal experiences or any stories about anybody moving from the bank to Wealthsimple or just Wealthsimple bank to the bank. I’m not sure what I want to do and to move it to Wealthsimple.

Any advice or opinions are much appreciated. I just wanna make some good return and I’m only up 4K on 23k net invested in mutual funds. Feel like I can do alot more for 40k in January on wealth simple when my tfsa limit increases in January.

Thank you!

Have a managed portfolio on WS holding 22,300 and have another 4k which I can invest straight away. Thinking just to put everything into XEQT and keep DCAing into that every month. Maybe do a few more risky etfs and stocks down the line but mostly just chill and put it all in XEQT for now.

Good idea?

Any suggestions would be great.

Hi everyone,

I’m 23, living with my partner in Canada, and currently making around $30k/year. My income is tight, but I occasionally get some financial support from my parents for essentials/savings.

Last year, I was $3k in debt with zero in the bank. I learned my lesson, cut back, and managed to save $9k, which is now sitting in my account.

Since inflation is eating into my savings, I want to make my money work. My goal is to start my own business soon, and I’ve been studying entrepreneurship.

I would love to get your tips, advice, and strategies for a beginner on:

- How to start investing and buying stocks
- The best way to structure my savings
- Tips for launching a small business on a low income

Thank you so much for your help and knowledge. Wishing you all the best!

Background
I'm 35, married, living in Metro Vancouver, working in tech. I spent a few years running my own startup, burned out, and went back to corporate. That detour set me back financially, and I'm trying to figure out where I stand.
My wife currently isn't earning. She's between careers and transitioning, so we're on my income alone.

Numbers
Income: ~$130-140k/year (mine only)
Home: 2 bed / 2 bath condo, bought 3 years ago for $600k (values have dropped since)
Mortgage remaining: ~$320k
TFSA + cash: ~$300k
RRSP: ~$100k
Net worth: roughly $620-680k, depending on what the condo is worth now

The issue
I don't enjoy my job. I'm not miserable, but I'm coasting in a career I'm not passionate about. Part of me wonders if I should have stuck with the startup, and part of me is relieved to be out of that stress.

Questions
Am I behind for my age, or roughly on track?
We're thinking about having a child. Is that realistic on one income with this setup?
Is $300k in cash/TFSA a good safety net, or too conservative?
Should I focus on the mortgage or investing more?
Has anyone changed careers in their mid-30s while supporting a family? How did it go?
Would you stay in a stable but unfulfilling job, or take another swing at something?

Honest feedback welcome. Thanks!

If I have to withdraw my savings money around 4 years later, would it be better to invest in 100% bonds (or 80% bonds, 20% equity) in a TFSA

Or a GIC

Or a HISA (but would the taxes be more detrimental?)

Posted in the finance sub but would like to get opinions from those on the same path as me. I’m 24 in the gta/niagara and recently started working across the border in Buffalo. My starting base salary is 120k USD or roughly 170k CAD after conversion. My take home after taxes is roughly 6.5k USD or 9k CAD monthly after I convert everything. 

Right now I’ve just been converting everything to CAD and spending it but I’m wondering if I should be diversifying and keeping some in USD accounts as their dollar is better and they have more opportunity for investment.  I have no savings and no debt but I plan to buy a car in the next couple weeks for around 30-40k.  

I planned to max my tfsa initially but now Im unsure of what to do and don’t want to mess up as this is by far more money than I’ve ever made. After my expenses I have about 4-5k left over for savings and investments at the moment. I looked into buying a condo to rent but I’m personally more comfortable with stocks as I used to invest previously. Im open to whatever is best for me financially though and have been considering speaking with an advisor but feel I don’t make that kind of money to need one. So what would be the smartest way to handle the without making any mistakes?

I don’t know if this will get downvoted or removed or no one responds, but I’m looking at investing now since I’m done school, going to uni soon and working part time. I want to start investing and obviously starting out I need to take it slow. But I don’t know what to do and I’m coming unto here for help and to start up. The main thing is what are the things I need to do and any apps to get also if I need to go to my local bank to start out. Also what should my starting investments be now and the ones to look into overtime? I know I’m sounding brainless but I see this page and see that I need to start now since I have the time and money to put into investing.

Right now I'm holding XEQT and VFV, plus a small satellite position of about $800 in BTC.
I was reluctant to open an account with digital platforms like Wealthsimple at first, but I'm glad I finally took the leap. Even with the market dropping the ball the other day, I stayed in.
Honestly, I still feel like I'm behind, and not many people in my circle invest, so I wanted to share my journey. My goal now is to reach $30K invested by the time I'm 30, God willing.
Any advice from people further along? What would you have done differently in your first year?

I am reading all the great stories here in reddit and I am very happy for everyone.

I feel I have a different story to tell.

46M married woth 2 young kids. Both myself and my wife switched jobs here and there in our 20's and started a more stable career only in our 30s.

We are paying a mortgage for a condo and have finally reached 100k in earning. We are not able to save much. We only have 100k each in our TFSA and no other investment. I find it very hard putting aside more than 1.2k a month.

I feel I will be working forever.

Is there anything else that can be done to put myself in better position.

Should I keep investing in equities, ETF's or should I go into real estate investment?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

My wife and I are in our mid-40s and have finally decided to start a family. We’re doing reasonably well financially: combined household income is about $350K CAD, and our net worth is close to $2.1M and almost everything is invested in stocks.

We’re planning to move to Calgary around the middle of next year and take about 18 months off work to focus on the baby and family. We’re thinking of using most of our cash to buy a home in the $700K–$800K range in Calgary.

After the 18 months, we’ll reassess. If our investments have done well and we still enjoy Calgary, we may decide not to return to full-time work. Otherwise, we can go back to working.

We seriously considered buying in Toronto, but a decent home here is around $1M+, and anything affordable would put us 1.5–2 hours each way from downtown, where we work. Right now, we rent a rent-controlled apartment in midtown Toronto and are only 20–30 minutes from the office.

My questions:
• Does this plan sound realistic?
• Are there any major risks or blind spots we should think about?
• Would you buy the Calgary home with cash, or keep more liquidity and use a mortgage?
• For anyone who moved from Toronto to Calgary with young kids or took a long career break, what would you do differently?

Any honest feedback or advice would be appreciated.

Edit/Update: More details based on your comments
Thanks for the feedback. (17-Oct-2026 21:26)

Here’s some extra context:

Why Calgary
• I’ve visited Calgary three times and stayed a total of about 1.5 months across different seasons.
• Calgary is where we genuinely want to be. We prefer the political climate there over Toronto’s, and we feel it gives us more freedom as parents to raise our kids the way we choose.
• If we had another $1M, we’d likely move permanently right away. Two things are holding us back:
• We’re still about $1M short of our FIRE number.
• My wife works in a senior executive tech role and is still motivated to work, but Calgary has far fewer tech opportunities than Toronto.

Cash flow
• Our take-home pay after tax is about $160K CAD a year. My wife is in a pension so job and her deduction is high.
• We save about $40k-50K a year.
• Our monthly expenses are about $8K–$10K.
• During the 18 months off, we’ll cover most expenses with our employers’ top-up, which pays 100% of salary for maternity and parental leave for about 6 months.
Investing experience
• I’ve been investing and trading for almost 20 years and I’m comfortable with market risk.
• I’ve been investing actively for over 10 years, with a CAGR of roughly 28%.
• My long-term target is 15% a year, which would double our money about every 5 years.

Calgary home plan
• I’m initially planning a mortgage of about 70–75% of the purchase price, not an all-cash purchase.
• I’m pre-approved at 3.59% fixed for 3 years or 4.42% fixed for 10 years.
• We’ll decide by mid-2028 whether Calgary is where we want to stay permanently.
• If we stay, I plan to pay down most or all of the mortgage. I’d then use a HELOC to invest, since the interest should be tax-deductible when the money goes into income-producing investments.
• If we move back to Toronto in 2028, we won’t pay down the loan. We’d rent out the Calgary home, so the mortgage interest would become deductible as a rental expense.

I am over my toxic, high stress job and long hours. I am 48 and have been at this job for 23 years. I could really up the suffering a notch and probably retire to a lesser standard of living and get out at 55. Or work til 58-60 and have a very nice retirement. Or keep going for another 15 and have a fantastic retirement.

I would rather eat uncooked porcupines.

Thinking work til 55, take a year off, retrain in something I’m interested in, that will likely pay 25% of what I make now, and do that for 3-10 years depending on my mood, how much I like it, and how poor I’m feeling.

Is that crazy? I am dooming myself to being poor and having no money for enjoyment? Should I just suck it up?

Hey all, I wanted to ask what’s the best way to invest my money and what do you guys recommend? I am new to this, I have 100k ready to invest I am from Toronto Canada, is it better to put everything into just xeqt? I want to understand between the different portfolios my friends have one person recommend veqt another person has vfv vdy! Thanks for your advice.

hi!

i’m new in this stuff. i was just wondering if it would be a wise decision to move my savings to my investments? bank gives me a few cents each month so it really doesn’t do anything to my money.

i’d appreciate your input!

edit: i’m 22

I’m 16 years old and wanting to invest, I am going to invest a few thousand dollars and then set up a recurring billing cycle of around 100 a month. Around 80% I think should go to XEQT or Vanguard S&P 500 and around 20% to companies like Microsoft or Nvidia. I’m hoping to get your advice as I know very little but am happy to learn. Thanks.

I should’ve been way further ahead given that I was gifted a pretty good job when I was 19 but instead, I decided to party a lot and travel a lot and not see if my money properly up until the last couple years.. moved out at 25 because I didn’t wanna be living with my mom anymore and that also feels like a lost opportunity to save my money given I have friends that live at home who owned properties … IDK I just feel like as a man I should’ve got the fuck out so I did!!

There’s my finances in the link attached.
The stock portfolio at one point doubled during the bull run last fall, but I didn’t take advantage and cash anything out and then I sold stuff during some of the dips this year. biggest regret was not selling MSTR when I was almost 200% on it and then watch it crumble back down to the to sell it at breakeven and then sell my pltr for like a 30% profit.

Earlier in the winter I made almost $30,000 gambling and I stupidly FOMO’d into silver/gold and as you can see, I have gotten absolutely smashed. Of course I haven’t sold silver and im holding it….ended up selling the gold when I lost some of that money back to the casino…. No I don’t gamble anymore FYI.

What should I be doing to further my investment? I work in entertainment so right now I’m out of a job but when I do work, I make pretty decent money… last year I’ve pulled in 175k and this year. I’ll be lucky if I hit 80k that’s how fucking terrible this industry can be. Have ei till next august if needed.. always applying for gigs usually something comes up. Although it’s unusually slow for Toronto, film biz rn if you know you know.

I pay the standard Toronto rent for a condo and the only debt I have is my car lease.

And I do like to travel , and I do have a dog… and a girlfriend lol

I do have money coming my way but there’s no confirm date. I’m waiting for a $30,000 payout from a class action lawsuit and there will be inheritance coming down the line but not anytime soon so I just wanna maximize my investments so they work for me obviously I have some money here, but I feel so bad when I look at people in this group people younger than me that are hitting these goals and doing so well.

God bless all of you