You all are just so great! My wife and I are binge watching your videos. So happy to see people living their dream and giving advice to others to do the same!!
Great content and delivery in this video. Yes, I track my monthly spending and I’ll have larger expenses when I retire. I plan to invest in more rental properties so the additional mortgages will increase expenses along with income.
Hi Manny - Thanks so much for watching -- glad you enjoyed the video! Great to hear that you're on board with tracking your monthly spending. Good luck with those additional investments -- sounds like you've got a solid plan.
My husband and I keep a budget ..I waa just about to retire but now I am going to work a little longer till the market goes back to normal. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Gabriella - Congratulations on being so close to your retirement! It must be frustrating to put things off but it will be great to retire with confidence in your numbers. Thanks for responding to the question we posed in our video. We have continued to keep a budget in our early retirement and find it really helps us feel in control of our finances. Good luck with your plans!
Hello Ladies! I happened upon your channel 2 weeks ago. It has been fun watching you. I too am an early retiree, not as early as you two though. I retired last year at the age of 49. And, I am in the process of figuring out how to divest from my property holdings to slow travel but eventually to become an expat. It's funny that your question is whether folks track their spending. I literally just yesterday took a look at my past two months of spending and will continue the rest of the year tracking my spending. Today, I will be tackling my Net Worth. Thanks for the videos and look forward to seeing your Florence travels. I LOVED Florence, Rome, Milan and San Gimignano was especially fun. Venice sucks as far as I am concerned. Have a great time while in Italy!!
Hi D, thanks so much for reaching out to introduce yourself! Congrats on your early retirement and travel plans. We hope you find some of the things we are sharing useful. Our month in Florence was wonderful and we look forward to giving you a look in next week’s video. 😊
Hey Stephanie and Gillian, I just came across this video and your you tube channel. LOVED the video and plan on checking out your others. I officially retired from my corp grind Jan 16th and Michelle was semi retired with just keeping up on a few rentals we have and our non profit. We are 51 and 55, so not as young as you all but excited we found FIRE/FI when we did. We had no idea we were so close until we read Quit Like A Millionaire in July. After reading that book and looking into FIRE/FI, it was time to really crack down on spending and figure out where we were and with a few more cuts we knew we were ready. Luckily I took my 401k out of the market in DEC and put it in a money market so it has not be affected with this mess we have going on. We had planned on taking a couple week cruise or go away to Italy for a month but all that got put on hold. We will be staying put in the US but will travel some once we are off lock down. Our parents live close by and we'll be here for them and enjoying our free time with them while we still have them around. I am looking forward to going to see how you all are doing now in Italy with their lock down. Hope all is well!!
Hi Jack, congratulations on your early retirement! Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like you came across Quit Like A Millionaire just at the perfect time. We are so glad you are enjoying our videos! We are doing well here in Italy... however our Schengen visa will soon run out so we have come up with a new plan. We will give a sneak peek at what's ahead during our next video on Thurs so stay tuned!
I love your channel guys! I am with you from the very beggining and still can't understand why you have so little amount of subscribers! I am your fan!
Thank you! We are so glad you are enjoying our videos. 😀 We really appreciate all the positive feedback and it's great to know that we have you as a fan!
2nd video in to your channel and already a huge fan. To answer your question: I sure do track our spending down to the cent, I am a bit of a spreadsheet fanatic. 😄 We are a ways out from any kind of retirement but I do expect we will spend less as our kids will be grown and several expenses will be decreased.
Hi B Squared - Thanks for sharing! The journey to retirement is always a long one but being a spreadsheet fanatic will certainly put you in a great position to achieve your financial goals. Good luck! 😀
What are you doing about health insurance? US health insurance before you’re old enough for Medicare can cost you close to $1000/month if you don’t qualify for ACA subsidies.
Hi Doc, health insurance is definitely an important consideration. We aren't too familiar with the options for US residents since we are Canadian, but our friends Tim and Amy from Go With Less have a great video on how they are handling health insurance: ua-cam.com/video/K68THhgGozA/v-deo.html Hope it helps!
Hi Stephanie and Gillian, new subscriber here. Love your vlogs. My partner and I have reached FI, but we’re afraid to retire because we’re afraid of the “unknown” events that could deplete our savings even though we have more than 30X of our annual expense. My questions is, how did you guys overcome that fear?
Hi RC - Thanks so much for watching! Great to hear you're enjoying our content. You have perfect timing with your question...we have a video coming out this Thursday about all our worries related to finances before we retired. Two things that helped us the most: 1) saving up more than we actually needed for the early phase of our retirement and 2) doing a lot of research to understand potential future costs. Hope that helps! 😊
Hi you two, thanks for the videos and the framework for your approach. One question I have as I think about retirement is how do you account for new costs you won’t necessarily have in the next 20 years or so. Things like health care as you get older and abmore permanent place to call home. Did your calculations assume you would be slow travelling for the rest of you life? If not, did you simply ramp up your monthly spend for later years? Also, in terms of residency and taxes on your investments do you use Canada as a place to hold your investments as a non-resident and then live off the proceeds once you meet you tax obligation to Canada? If not, I’d be keen to know your framework for investment and taxes as well. Great job! And to answer your question I don’t formally track my expenditures but I’m fairly aware of where my money goes.
Hi mavenx8, these are great questions! Thanks for taking the time to ask. Yes, we do have a phased approach for our spending. In the first 3 to 5 years, we expect to travel quite a bit with a focus on lower cost countries. We’ve planned to eventually ramp up our spending to cover lifestyle changes as we get older. We treat taxes as a cost just like any other and they are accounted for within our budget. We have some fixed income investments in Canada for which taxes are withheld at source. Our equity holdings were purchased through a brokerage account we opened while living in Singapore… the specific ETF we have is a global index fund so you might say our holdings are all over the world. Again, thanks for asking! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Wow congratulations to you two!!! I'm on a FI journey myself and it is such a beautiful path to lead. I wish you the best of luck with everything! New sub, I look forward to following the journey 😁🏁
Thanks so much Quinton! And congrats to you too on becoming debt free (saw this from your channel 😀) Now the real fun begins, and the best part is you already have all the tools to move forward on your FI journey.
Great question! We share all our favourite blogs in our free 7-day course bit.ly/3eBcvy4 Also you can check out our own blog for more information about retiring early: ourfreedomyears.com/
Hi, thanks for your videos and channel! Loving it! :) Question and apologies if you've answered it somewhere and I missed it: when you calculate your expenses and multiply by 25 or 30, how do you account for the income tax you pay once retired? Does it get figured in before you multiply? After? Or is it an assumption already embedded in the 4% rule? Thanks!
Hi there, great question! Taxes should be treated as just another line item in your budget, like accommodations or transportation. It's not embedded in the 4% rule so you need to ensure that you have saved enough to cover your future tax liabilities. That said, there are creative ways to keep your tax liabilities to a minimum in early retirement, which vary depending on where you live. Hope that helps...good luck with your planning!
I just wanted to add that when you are retiring early, there is a big chance you will earn money at some point like many ppl in FIRE community are proving. I'm spending 2.5 times more than I plan when I retire in my 40s due to living in an excellent school district in the US and taking care if the kids solo. My big fear is inflation though.
Inflation is a real worry, as we're all discovering these days. Certainly we've seen a big upswing in the cost of our Airbnbs. That's why we try to take a very conservative approach when planning our finances.
Great to hear! Real estate can be a good source of passive income, depending on property values vs rental yields in your area. Also good to remember that unless you hire a property manager it may not be an entirely passive investment. We do participate indirectly in real estate through syndicated mortgages. You can get all the details in this video: bit.ly/31Y4fUA
Hi Stephanie and Gillian , thanks for the wonderful video. When you calculate the withdraw rate or the so called 4% rule, are you using the sum of your retirement account and non-retirement account ? Btw, are you in any meet up groups ? Hope we can connect or meet some day !
Hi Fred, we base our withdrawal rate on the sum of all accounts (retirement and non-retirement). That said, during the early stage of our retirement we are spending less than 3% each year and plan to increase this once we reach more traditional retirement age. This will help us meet our tax obligations when withdrawing from tax deferred accounts. We're in a few FIRE related Facebook groups...Choose FI Expats, Choose FI Canada, Nomads & Financial Independence...and it's always great to connect with other FIRE people when in the same city! 😊
Hi guys, I really love your videos very helpful. We’re a gay couple in Vancouver are planning to retire early and travel however we don’t know the right budget or how much money we need to have to be safe for at least one year. Thank you in advance for some advice.
Hi Oliver - Thanks for reaching out! Great to hear that you're enjoying the videos. If you're trying to come up with a budget for a year of travel, we recently did a video on this exact topic that will probably be helpful. We also share some of our own budget numbers where it's relevant. You can check it out here bit.ly/2yQE6uE and let us know if you have any questions. Good luck with your planning! 😃
Your property value can be included in your net worth calculation. However for the purpose of calculating your 4% withdrawal, you should only include investments that generate passive income. Hope that helps!
Interesting video, sorry I’m about two years late to comment. I’m 29, from Canada as well. I have similar goals as you too. I have one question. I save invest and all that but do you own a home back home that you rent out? It’s something I’ve considered as an extra safety net and diversification. Thanks!
Great that you found our video! We owned a condo at one point but sold it when we moved to Singapore. We don't currently have a home and aren't planning to buy one in the near future. We talked more about not owning a home in this video bit.ly/3hodv9i
Is it strange, that after getting on train for fi, money lost a little bit of its value. Anything below the fi number seems pointless. Like a day ago I had 5k in cash in my hands and I had no emotions about it. When 3 years ago I would be anxious about losing a $50 bill.
Working towards financial independence can definitely change people's perspective on money. Since we are now trying to get the best value for every dollar, in a certain way it has increased our sensitivity to dollar amounts. So I guess we all have different reactions along the way. 😊
Thanks for saying hello - it's always great to hear from people in Singapore! We loved living there...we stayed in Tiong Bahru for four years and then in Tanjong Pagar. Sorry to hear about the lockdown there. Stay safe and healthy!
Hello! Thank you for sharing your experience! We are planning on FIREing in 5 years. As we like to travel, we are thinking to sell everything we own, just like you did. However, we are still not sure about selling our own condo... what do you plan to do / where to live / once you stop slow travelling? Do you plan on buying then your own place or renting? Thank you :-)
Hi Geoffrey - Thanks for watching! Great to hear that you're on the path to FIRE . We actually sold our condo when we moved to Singapore, about 7 years ago, and have been very happy with renting ever since. We don't have any plans to buy another home although it's always hard to predict the future! Most likely, in a few years from now, our traveling will slow down to much longer stays in each destination, like 3 to 6 months. For us, we were happy to have our money working for us in investments versus tied up in a primary residence...but it's a very personal decision. Hope that helps! 😊
Say hi to my Italy! I live and work in the USA now but I want to retire early, maybe around 50. Problem is: how to save 25 times your yearly expense? My yearly expense is approx 40k. So I need to save 1 million and invest it. If I can only save about 10k per year it will take me centuries to save 1 million...I have some money invested in stocks that are giving me a good return and I paid half of my condo but still 1 million is not easy to reach.
Our time in Italy was wonderful...such a beautiful country! Yes, $1 million is not an easy goal to reach. We have some suggestions in our recent video bit.ly/3s2RBOL Also, we have a free course with lots more tips and resources: bit.ly/3eBcvy4 Take a look and let us know if you have any questions. 😊
@@OurFreedomYears thank you, just subscribed. I set my goal. In 5-10 years I want to retire...now I am in my 40s but better late than never. I don’t have debts and I will try to pay off my mortgage in 10 years and then sell the condo. In the meantime I am making some money with stocks and etfs. But the road is long. Hope to make it. I want to travel, play the guitar, read and write more. I have so many hobbies and I don’t want to waste my life in a 9-5 job forever.
@@Vita-a-stelle-e-strisce It's never to late to retire early! Sounds like you've got a solid financial plan in place plus some great hobbies to look forward to spending more time on. You'll be saying goodbye to the 9-5 soon enough!
Great question. This formula technically works for retirement at any age, as long as your money is invested and continues to grow. Since we retired young, we have chosen a safe withdrawal rate of less than 3% because we need our money to last many years.
To answer your question, yes, I track every cent and have been for a couple years now. I fully expect long-term, slow travel in early retirement to be cheaper, since I live in a high cost of living city now. I reached my number last year based on the 4% rule, but like you, I’d like to be a little more conservative which is why I’m working a little longer. Your videos have been great in confirming the strategy that I’ve been planning for myself when I do FI/RE at the end of 2021. However, I am budgeting for one person, and with the income and savings/investments of one person. I’m curious if you think your average cost per person in each city is lower because you are a couple? For instance, you only need one Airbnb for the two of you (and your dogs), whereas I would also need one Airbnb for just me. So are your expenses twice what they would be for one person, or less than double? I look forward to catching up on the rest of your videos!
Hi Rachel - Congrats...it sounds like you have a really solid plan in place for your early retirement! We very much agree with the strategy of working a bit longer so that you have a suitable amount of buffer, especially during these unusual times. For the cost of living, the main difference for one person versus two is the AirBnB rental. Likely it would cost a single person around two-thirds of the amount we typically pay, not half. That said, a single person without a dog tagging along would have a lot more options and flexibility when it comes to choosing accommodations! Many of the rest of our expenses are double what they would be for a single person, like groceries, dining out, fitness, entertainment, transportation. Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions. 😊
Do you believe that even 4% rule will work even for country like India as it is developing economy and generally rate of inflation is higher. due to which returns on investment is also higher compare to developed economy.
This is an excellent question! We are big believers in staying very conservative with our approach just in case we end up facing high inflation, market crashes or any unexpected expenses later in life. For that reason, we use a safe withdrawal rate of less than 3%. We have a video about our risk management approach bit.ly/3cmaML5 and another about money worries in early retirement bit.ly/389Ozyp Hope that helps as you plan your own strategy.
@@OurFreedomYears Understood. When you say that you use safe withdrawal rate of less than 3% - Do you value all your assets at particular point of time and decide the amount that you will spend in that year. Suppose your investments gave excellent returns in a particular year then you will have luxury of sending more in that year and vice versa?
@@ajayparasrampuria4922 Technically the rule involves calculating 4% or 3% of the value of your equity and bond investments at the year of retirement. You would use that amount on an ongoing basis while adjusting for inflation each year. However, many people like to reassess their holdings each year and recalculate the 4% or 3% to reflect their changing financial picture.
@Our Freedom Years Thanks for reply. One more follow-up question. Promise it will be last one:) How you adjust for inflation. I know that you have split your portfolio between debt and equity. From debt you get regular income to cover all your annual expenses. Suppose in year 1 from debt you received interest income of $40K however, next year you will need $42,400 to cover your expense assuming 6% inflation. Do you rebalance your equity portfolio to debt to that extend so that in year 2 you will receive extra $2,400 interest income cover for this inflation?
@@24hrstolive27 Glad we could give you some food for thought! Check out our free course and then let us know if you still have questions bit.ly/3eBcvy4
Wonderful, helpful content. !! I plan to spend two months a year in Nice, France. I also would like to go to Morocco and Spain, Other places as side trips. Also love and recommend Buenos Aries, but longest I’ve been there is 2 weeks. I am now retired with a pension. I travel with mileage and my toy poodle. #teddy_tin_-tin . I want to blogg like you. You are helping me organize my Stock choices. And budget mostly! I also overpacked the 1st long stay and shipped a box back. Enjoying your travel bloggs. Im going to San Miguel de Allende with a couple friends for day of the Dead festival in October,and got a Air bnb , great reviews!
How wonderful that you're travelling with your toy poodle as well! We find it to be a lot of work to travel with our dogs but also a lot of fun. Enjoy your time in San Miguel! We loved it there 😊
Great feedback - thanks! This is actually one of our earliest videos...we're a lot more relaxed in our latest video which you can check out here bit.ly/3wzqJ9Z
You all are just so great! My wife and I are binge watching your videos. So happy to see people living their dream and giving advice to others to do the same!!
Great to hear that you're enjoying our videos! We're really happy with our journey so far and glad to share it with others. 😊
If you found this video helpful and want more on financial independence and early retirement, click here to subscribe: bit.ly/2UtXF4d
I love this so much! I’m so engaged with your channel!!!
Thanks so much Jon! That's great to hear 😀
Great content and delivery in this video. Yes, I track my monthly spending and I’ll have larger expenses when I retire. I plan to invest in more rental properties so the additional mortgages will increase expenses along with income.
Hi Manny - Thanks so much for watching -- glad you enjoyed the video! Great to hear that you're on board with tracking your monthly spending. Good luck with those additional investments -- sounds like you've got a solid plan.
My husband and I keep a budget ..I waa just about to retire but now I am going to work a little longer till the market goes back to normal.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Gabriella - Congratulations on being so close to your retirement! It must be frustrating to put things off but it will be great to retire with confidence in your numbers.
Thanks for responding to the question we posed in our video. We have continued to keep a budget in our early retirement and find it really helps us feel in control of our finances. Good luck with your plans!
Hello Ladies! I happened upon your channel 2 weeks ago. It has been fun watching you. I too am an early retiree, not as early as you two though. I retired last year at the age of 49. And, I am in the process of figuring out how to divest from my property holdings to slow travel but eventually to become an expat. It's funny that your question is whether folks track their spending. I literally just yesterday took a look at my past two months of spending and will continue the rest of the year tracking my spending. Today, I will be tackling my Net Worth. Thanks for the videos and look forward to seeing your Florence travels. I LOVED Florence, Rome, Milan and San Gimignano was especially fun. Venice sucks as far as I am concerned. Have a great time while in Italy!!
Hi D, thanks so much for reaching out to introduce yourself! Congrats on your early retirement and travel plans. We hope you find some of the things we are sharing useful. Our month in Florence was wonderful and we look forward to giving you a look in next week’s video. 😊
I just discovered your channel! You two are AMAZING!! What an inspiration you both are!
Welcome to the channel! Great to have you along for the ride 😊
Hey Stephanie and Gillian, I just came across this video and your you tube channel. LOVED the video and plan on checking out your others. I officially retired from my corp grind Jan 16th and Michelle was semi retired with just keeping up on a few rentals we have and our non profit. We are 51 and 55, so not as young as you all but excited we found FIRE/FI when we did. We had no idea we were so close until we read Quit Like A Millionaire in July. After reading that book and looking into FIRE/FI, it was time to really crack down on spending and figure out where we were and with a few more cuts we knew we were ready. Luckily I took my 401k out of the market in DEC and put it in a money market so it has not be affected with this mess we have going on. We had planned on taking a couple week cruise or go away to Italy for a month but all that got put on hold. We will be staying put in the US but will travel some once we are off lock down. Our parents live close by and we'll be here for them and enjoying our free time with them while we still have them around. I am looking forward to going to see how you all are doing now in Italy with their lock down. Hope all is well!!
Hi Jack, congratulations on your early retirement! Thanks for sharing your story. It sounds like you came across Quit Like A Millionaire just at the perfect time.
We are so glad you are enjoying our videos! We are doing well here in Italy... however our Schengen visa will soon run out so we have come up with a new plan. We will give a sneak peek at what's ahead during our next video on Thurs so stay tuned!
I love your channel guys! I am with you from the very beggining and still can't understand why you have so little amount of subscribers! I am your fan!
Thank you! We are so glad you are enjoying our videos. 😀 We really appreciate all the positive feedback and it's great to know that we have you as a fan!
I am now working on the tracking and budgeting, going to check out your tracking video. Thanks!
Excellent! Hope it's helpful. Let us know if you have any questions. 😃
2nd video in to your channel and already a huge fan.
To answer your question: I sure do track our spending down to the cent, I am a bit of a spreadsheet fanatic. 😄 We are a ways out from any kind of retirement but I do expect we will spend less as our kids will be grown and several expenses will be decreased.
Hi B Squared - Thanks for sharing! The journey to retirement is always a long one but being a spreadsheet fanatic will certainly put you in a great position to achieve your financial goals. Good luck! 😀
What are you doing about health insurance? US health insurance before you’re old enough for Medicare can cost you close to $1000/month if you don’t qualify for ACA subsidies.
Hi Doc, health insurance is definitely an important consideration. We aren't too familiar with the options for US residents since we are Canadian, but our friends Tim and Amy from Go With Less have a great video on how they are handling health insurance: ua-cam.com/video/K68THhgGozA/v-deo.html Hope it helps!
Hi Stephanie and Gillian, new subscriber here. Love your vlogs. My partner and I have reached FI, but we’re afraid to retire because we’re afraid of the “unknown” events that could deplete our savings even though we have more than 30X of our annual expense. My questions is, how did you guys overcome that fear?
Hi RC - Thanks so much for watching! Great to hear you're enjoying our content. You have perfect timing with your question...we have a video coming out this Thursday about all our worries related to finances before we retired. Two things that helped us the most: 1) saving up more than we actually needed for the early phase of our retirement and 2) doing a lot of research to understand potential future costs. Hope that helps! 😊
@@OurFreedomYears Thanks for the quick reply. I look forward to your next video.
Omg thank you for this video. I’m about to binge watch
Amazing - that's great!! We've just finished up with our trip to Malta... bit.ly/38BOq8g
You ladies are #goals. Love it.
Thanks RJDoe! So great to hear. 😊
Very helpful information wow!!!! bravo!!!
Glad it was helpful!
Hi you two, thanks for the videos and the framework for your approach. One question I have as I think about retirement is how do you account for new costs you won’t necessarily have in the next 20 years or so. Things like health care as you get older and abmore permanent place to call home. Did your calculations assume you would be slow travelling for the rest of you life? If not, did you simply ramp up your monthly spend for later years? Also, in terms of residency and taxes on your investments do you use Canada as a place to hold your investments as a non-resident and then live off the proceeds once you meet you tax obligation to Canada? If not, I’d be keen to know your framework for investment and taxes as well. Great job! And to answer your question I don’t formally track my expenditures but I’m fairly aware of where my money goes.
Hi mavenx8, these are great questions! Thanks for taking the time to ask. Yes, we do have a phased approach for our spending. In the first 3 to 5 years, we expect to travel quite a bit with a focus on lower cost countries. We’ve planned to eventually ramp up our spending to cover lifestyle changes as we get older. We treat taxes as a cost just like any other and they are accounted for within our budget.
We have some fixed income investments in Canada for which taxes are withheld at source. Our equity holdings were purchased through a brokerage account we opened while living in Singapore… the specific ETF we have is a global index fund so you might say our holdings are all over the world.
Again, thanks for asking! Glad you enjoyed the video.
great video much appreciated
Glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully you can catch up on our latest adventures...we've been enjoying the last few months in Albania bit.ly/3n19fRd
Wow congratulations to you two!!! I'm on a FI journey myself and it is such a beautiful path to lead. I wish you the best of luck with everything! New sub, I look forward to following the journey 😁🏁
Thanks so much Quinton! And congrats to you too on becoming debt free (saw this from your channel 😀) Now the real fun begins, and the best part is you already have all the tools to move forward on your FI journey.
Q Makes It Happen thank you!!!
@@RetiredLovingIt my pleasure 😊
Awesome information what blog did you read or how to search the blog for early retirement as you did .Thanks
Great question! We share all our favourite blogs in our free 7-day course bit.ly/3eBcvy4 Also you can check out our own blog for more information about retiring early: ourfreedomyears.com/
Love your hair Stephanie !! 👍
Thank you! 😊
Hi, thanks for your videos and channel! Loving it! :) Question and apologies if you've answered it somewhere and I missed it: when you calculate your expenses and multiply by 25 or 30, how do you account for the income tax you pay once retired? Does it get figured in before you multiply? After? Or is it an assumption already embedded in the 4% rule? Thanks!
Hi there, great question! Taxes should be treated as just another line item in your budget, like accommodations or transportation. It's not embedded in the 4% rule so you need to ensure that you have saved enough to cover your future tax liabilities. That said, there are creative ways to keep your tax liabilities to a minimum in early retirement, which vary depending on where you live. Hope that helps...good luck with your planning!
I just wanted to add that when you are retiring early, there is a big chance you will earn money at some point like many ppl in FIRE community are proving. I'm spending 2.5 times more than I plan when I retire in my 40s due to living in an excellent school district in the US and taking care if the kids solo. My big fear is inflation though.
Inflation is a real worry, as we're all discovering these days. Certainly we've seen a big upswing in the cost of our Airbnbs. That's why we try to take a very conservative approach when planning our finances.
Thanks and cheers from Singapore... A "fine" city 🤭
Hi Faizal - Thanks for watching! Enjoy Singapore...it was a great second home. 😊
New to your channel and love it! What are your thoughts on real estate as a source of passive income?
Great to hear! Real estate can be a good source of passive income, depending on property values vs rental yields in your area. Also good to remember that unless you hire a property manager it may not be an entirely passive investment.
We do participate indirectly in real estate through syndicated mortgages. You can get all the details in this video: bit.ly/31Y4fUA
Hi Stephanie and Gillian , thanks for the wonderful video. When you calculate the withdraw rate or the so called 4% rule, are you using the sum of your retirement account and non-retirement account ? Btw, are you in any meet up groups ? Hope we can connect or meet some day !
Hi Fred, we base our withdrawal rate on the sum of all accounts (retirement and non-retirement). That said, during the early stage of our retirement we are spending less than 3% each year and plan to increase this once we reach more traditional retirement age. This will help us meet our tax obligations when withdrawing from tax deferred accounts.
We're in a few FIRE related Facebook groups...Choose FI Expats, Choose FI Canada, Nomads & Financial Independence...and it's always great to connect with other FIRE people when in the same city! 😊
Hi guys, I really love your videos very helpful. We’re a gay couple in Vancouver are planning to retire early and travel however we don’t know the right budget or how much money we need to have to be safe for at least one year. Thank you in advance for some advice.
Hi Oliver - Thanks for reaching out! Great to hear that you're enjoying the videos. If you're trying to come up with a budget for a year of travel, we recently did a video on this exact topic that will probably be helpful. We also share some of our own budget numbers where it's relevant. You can check it out here bit.ly/2yQE6uE and let us know if you have any questions. Good luck with your planning! 😃
Our Freedom Years thank you so much I’ll check it out!
4% withdrawal from , can include our property value we stay to be include in this 4% withdrawal from ?
Your property value can be included in your net worth calculation. However for the purpose of calculating your 4% withdrawal, you should only include investments that generate passive income. Hope that helps!
Interesting video, sorry I’m about two years late to comment. I’m 29, from Canada as well. I have similar goals as you too. I have one question. I save invest and all that but do you own a home back home that you rent out? It’s something I’ve considered as an extra safety net and diversification. Thanks!
Great that you found our video! We owned a condo at one point but sold it when we moved to Singapore. We don't currently have a home and aren't planning to buy one in the near future. We talked more about not owning a home in this video bit.ly/3hodv9i
Is it strange, that after getting on train for fi, money lost a little bit of its value. Anything below the fi number seems pointless. Like a day ago I had 5k in cash in my hands and I had no emotions about it. When 3 years ago I would be anxious about losing a $50 bill.
Working towards financial independence can definitely change people's perspective on money. Since we are now trying to get the best value for every dollar, in a certain way it has increased our sensitivity to dollar amounts. So I guess we all have different reactions along the way. 😊
You two are so adorable.
Aww thank you! You can get to know us more in our recent Q&A video... bit.ly/2Pr45km
I know a lot of retirees who aren’t out there spanning the globe. Many of them just stay in the house most of the time.
That's true. It's a lot of work to travel full time the way we do so I can understand why some people prefer to have a home base. 😊
I'm from Singapore. Where did you stay? We went into virtual lockdown mode today
Thanks for saying hello - it's always great to hear from people in Singapore! We loved living there...we stayed in Tiong Bahru for four years and then in Tanjong Pagar. Sorry to hear about the lockdown there. Stay safe and healthy!
Hello! Thank you for sharing your experience! We are planning on FIREing in 5 years. As we like to travel, we are thinking to sell everything we own, just like you did. However, we are still not sure about selling our own condo... what do you plan to do / where to live / once you stop slow travelling? Do you plan on buying then your own place or renting?
Thank you :-)
Hi Geoffrey - Thanks for watching! Great to hear that you're on the path to FIRE . We actually sold our condo when we moved to Singapore, about 7 years ago, and have been very happy with renting ever since. We don't have any plans to buy another home although it's always hard to predict the future! Most likely, in a few years from now, our traveling will slow down to much longer stays in each destination, like 3 to 6 months. For us, we were happy to have our money working for us in investments versus tied up in a primary residence...but it's a very personal decision. Hope that helps! 😊
Our Freedom Years yes it helps thank you!
Say hi to my Italy! I live and work in the USA now but I want to retire early, maybe around 50. Problem is: how to save 25 times your yearly expense? My yearly expense is approx 40k. So I need to save 1 million and invest it. If I can only save about 10k per year it will take me centuries to save 1 million...I have some money invested in stocks that are giving me a good return and I paid half of my condo but still 1 million is not easy to reach.
Our time in Italy was wonderful...such a beautiful country!
Yes, $1 million is not an easy goal to reach. We have some suggestions in our recent video bit.ly/3s2RBOL Also, we have a free course with lots more tips and resources: bit.ly/3eBcvy4
Take a look and let us know if you have any questions. 😊
@@OurFreedomYears thank you, just subscribed. I set my goal. In 5-10 years I want to retire...now I am in my 40s but better late than never. I don’t have debts and I will try to pay off my mortgage in 10 years and then sell the condo. In the meantime I am making some money with stocks and etfs. But the road is long. Hope to make it. I want to travel, play the guitar, read and write more. I have so many hobbies and I don’t want to waste my life in a 9-5 job forever.
@@Vita-a-stelle-e-strisce It's never to late to retire early! Sounds like you've got a solid financial plan in place plus some great hobbies to look forward to spending more time on. You'll be saying goodbye to the 9-5 soon enough!
That’s assuming you will be retired for how many years? I get how to get to the number but what retirement age does this formula reflect retiring at?
Great question. This formula technically works for retirement at any age, as long as your money is invested and continues to grow. Since we retired young, we have chosen a safe withdrawal rate of less than 3% because we need our money to last many years.
This is another video on the same topic that you might find interesting bit.ly/3j3ykdX
@@miken4591 Indeed! We love how the math works.
To answer your question, yes, I track every cent and have been for a couple years now. I fully expect long-term, slow travel in early retirement to be cheaper, since I live in a high cost of living city now. I reached my number last year based on the 4% rule, but like you, I’d like to be a little more conservative which is why I’m working a little longer. Your videos have been great in confirming the strategy that I’ve been planning for myself when I do FI/RE at the end of 2021. However, I am budgeting for one person, and with the income and savings/investments of one person. I’m curious if you think your average cost per person in each city is lower because you are a couple? For instance, you only need one Airbnb for the two of you (and your dogs), whereas I would also need one Airbnb for just me. So are your expenses twice what they would be for one person, or less than double? I look forward to catching up on the rest of your videos!
Hi Rachel - Congrats...it sounds like you have a really solid plan in place for your early retirement! We very much agree with the strategy of working a bit longer so that you have a suitable amount of buffer, especially during these unusual times.
For the cost of living, the main difference for one person versus two is the AirBnB rental. Likely it would cost a single person around two-thirds of the amount we typically pay, not half. That said, a single person without a dog tagging along would have a lot more options and flexibility when it comes to choosing accommodations!
Many of the rest of our expenses are double what they would be for a single person, like groceries, dining out, fitness, entertainment, transportation. Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions. 😊
We are newly retired & newbies to UA-cam 🤗
Congrats on both counts! 😊
Do you believe that even 4% rule will work even for country like India as it is developing economy and generally rate of inflation is higher. due to which returns on investment is also higher compare to developed economy.
This is an excellent question! We are big believers in staying very conservative with our approach just in case we end up facing high inflation, market crashes or any unexpected expenses later in life. For that reason, we use a safe withdrawal rate of less than 3%. We have a video about our risk management approach bit.ly/3cmaML5 and another about money worries in early retirement bit.ly/389Ozyp Hope that helps as you plan your own strategy.
@@OurFreedomYears Understood. When you say that you use safe withdrawal rate of less than 3% - Do you value all your assets at particular point of time and decide the amount that you will spend in that year. Suppose your investments gave excellent returns in a particular year then you will have luxury of sending more in that year and vice versa?
@@ajayparasrampuria4922 Technically the rule involves calculating 4% or 3% of the value of your equity and bond investments at the year of retirement. You would use that amount on an ongoing basis while adjusting for inflation each year. However, many people like to reassess their holdings each year and recalculate the 4% or 3% to reflect their changing financial picture.
@Our Freedom Years Thanks for reply. One more follow-up question. Promise it will be last one:) How you adjust for inflation. I know that you have split your portfolio between debt and equity. From debt you get regular income to cover all your annual expenses. Suppose in year 1 from debt you received interest income of $40K however, next year you will need $42,400 to cover your expense assuming 6% inflation. Do you rebalance your equity portfolio to debt to that extend so that in year 2 you will receive extra $2,400 interest income cover for this inflation?
@Our Freedom Years could you please revert on this
I'm a 29 y.o. working in investment banking in Milan, Italy and a 9-5 job would already feel like early retirement to me LOL.
Investment banking...that's a tough gig! You should definitely consider early retirement.
How do u make passive income, what do u have your money in
Hi Elie - Here's a video with our whole investment strategy: bit.ly/2ANbkM0 😀
I have so many questions after seeing that video. Can u set up a call?
@@24hrstolive27 Glad we could give you some food for thought! Check out our free course and then let us know if you still have questions bit.ly/3eBcvy4
I’m thinking the 4% … can work fine if you are close to 60.
(And take some investment risks)
There is no way it works if you are 40, or similar.
For someone in a younger age bracket, we definitely would agree that it's better to go with a more conservative withdrawal rate.
Wonderful, helpful content. !!
I plan to spend two months a year in Nice, France. I also would like to go to Morocco and Spain, Other places as side trips. Also love and recommend Buenos Aries, but longest I’ve been there is 2 weeks.
I am now retired with a pension. I travel with mileage and my toy poodle. #teddy_tin_-tin . I want to blogg like you. You are helping me organize my Stock choices. And budget mostly!
I also overpacked the 1st long stay and shipped a box back.
Enjoying your travel bloggs. Im going to San Miguel de Allende with a couple friends for day of the Dead festival in October,and got a Air bnb , great reviews!
How wonderful that you're travelling with your toy poodle as well! We find it to be a lot of work to travel with our dogs but also a lot of fun. Enjoy your time in San Miguel! We loved it there 😊
Too many ads,,,,,,
Oh no - sorry about that.
All the same info like any other channel but with less detail
Thanks for the feedback
I really wish you'd stop the habit of forced smiling - it's irritating and distracting. Just be authentic!
Great feedback - thanks! This is actually one of our earliest videos...we're a lot more relaxed in our latest video which you can check out here bit.ly/3wzqJ9Z