FIRE Community Guest Interview #14 – Badass Momma Knows Her Worth And Became A Millionaire At 36

Today marks interviewee numero 14 as part of the FIRE Community Guest Interview Series! 

For anyone new here, this interview series will cover people within the FIRE community who are on their way to becoming financially independent, have already reached financial independence, or who have retired early. If you are reading this and you are financially independent, retired early, or close to reaching these major financial milestones, please reach out to the Modern Fimily! You can check out the previous FIRE Community Guest Interviews here.

Today, we have the pleasure of having Sherry from Save Spend Splurge on to tackle our interview questions.  Sherry is a consultant in the STEM field and has learned her worth and only takes high paying contracts which allows her to take multiple months off each year to spend time with her husband and son.   I love her focus on positivity towards women and helping others to demand for increases in pay.  Sherry also is very open with her numbers and has many budgets and books under her repertoire.  Lastly, Sherry has a high taste for certain items which goes to show you don’t have to live on rice & beans in order to reach FI.  I honestly cannot believe how much material she puts out on her blog and on her Instagram page each day.  Note that Sherry sent these responses over in late 2020 so the figures/dates are based on when she sent the responses over.

I hope you appreciate these responses as much as I do and hope you can relate to these guest interviews in some sense to see that there is no cookie-cutter way to FI. If you have any follow up questions or would like to get in touch with Sherry, please check out her Instagram account @saverspender or website Save Spend Splurge or leave a comment on this post. Without further ado, take it away Sherry!

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1. Can you give us a little background of who you are, what you do, and how you became interested in personal finance? How did you discover the idea of financial independence?

I became interested in personal finance the day I graduated from university, had about $500 left in my chequing account and had to use the very last of my student loans of about $2000…  to put down amounts for my first and last month’s rent on my first apartment.

At that point, it dawned on me that I had worked since I was 7, sometimes, even working two or three jobs at once and I had NOTHING to show for it in terms of savings. It wasn’t really an “OMG” realization but it made me step back and realize something was really wrong with the way I was handling money.

Then I tallied up my student debts from the 4 years in school and was shocked at the $60K balance due, not to mention the $10 – $15+ a day in interest alone that I was forking over just for having borrowed that money (student loan rates were very high back then at 5% and 7.5%).

I vowed to figure this money thing out, and started a blog to chronicle my journey out of debt (which I later sold for 5-figures), and made a 5-year debt-free plan. I sold everything I could, I gave up my apartment and lived in hotels while on projects for a short while (and in a trailer at one point when I wasn’t on a project), and threw everything I had into my debt (even pennies I picked up on the ground).

I think at one point my debt repayment rate was 90% of my income. I went hardcore and looking back, I should have eased up a little because it was mostly miserable. I was also really lonely because I no longer came back to see family or friends, I stayed in other cities, in hotels, on the weekend, and couldn’t do anything or go out because I was paying my debt.

In reality, I actually got out of debt in about 18 months after I quit my job and started to freelance, and banked $90K in 3 months from my first contract.

My first paycheque for $30K more than cleared the balance of my debt (about $18K, which means I was already well on my way to clearing it before my 5-year plan) and brought me into the black in terms of net worth; by that time, I was well on the path of having learned how to manage my money well.

2. When in your journey did you realize financial independence was actually possible?  Was that the original goal at the beginning?

I didn’t really think about financial independence at all. I figured I’d retire at 65. I just wanted to get out of debt and to stop paying so much money in interest. I didn’t have any ambitions to retire early, as I liked my job well enough.

It wasn’t until about 2009-2010 after I came back from a yearlong YOLO trip visiting countries around the world after my first contract that I was cocky that I’d find another contract right away.

I ended up not finding any work for 2 years (I even, in desperation, interviewed with companies as an employee but ultimately couldn’t fit into corporate culture again and stomach all of the reviews and project human resources nonsense that goes with it).

I realized that I couldn’t rely on my contracting to be steady work (duh!), and I had to account for years (up to 5) where I may not be able to find work (or didn’t want to do the contract because of various reasons like some being in the middle of literal nowhere).

At that point, I started being serious about my side incomes, and now I have 11-ish of them (depending on how you list them), and in 2020, they hit my goal of having made me more than $50K in income (at the time of this writing, about $65K).

3. To help put things into context, if you are comfortable sharing some numbers, what is your savings rate, FIRE number, net worth, salary, how many hours a week do you work, etc?  How long have you been working towards financial independence and where are you today? 

My lifetime savings rate is around 74% I think, the last I calculated it. When I was getting out of debt, at one point when I was living out of hotels, lonely and isolated, I was saving 90% or more of my income towards my debt.

I didn’t / never calculated a FIRE number.

The only metric I had was what I set as barebones spending (around $1300 – $1600 a month), and if my side incomes could cover that 100% (and then some up to $2000 for some buffer), I considered it to be good enough as I no longer had to rely on my career.

My current personal net worth is $1.05M. 45% of that is in my home/car and 54% is in investments. My original goal when I bought my home, was to have it be less than 50% of my net worth, and I am actively working towards having $1M in investments, at which point I think I’ll feel more like a true millionaire than I do now.

I currently make $0 from my day job. I lost my contract due to COVID-19 in March, but before I stopped working, I made about $25K a month from my day job, so around $75K for 3 months of working.

My side incomes are what have buoyed me in terms of covering expenses but also for savings and investing more money into the market, and it makes up the rest of the $139K of income this year (ending October 2020). I am likely going to hit $150K in total income for the year, 50% of it from my 3 months at my day job and the other 50% from side incomes.

4. Do you feel deprived?  Do you feel like you are sacrificing and missing out on life?  How would you say your mindset has shifted throughout your FI journey?

I did when I was getting out of debt. I didn’t let myself buy anything after I really started to hammer down on the debt. At the start, I was still shopping here and there and someone shamed me on my old blog for spending $500 on clothes when I had $60K in debt. I was hurt with the way she delivered it, but they were 100% right, and that’s when I started to really buckle down on ALL extraneous spending. I went pretty far to the point of even just wearing a belt when my pants started to slip from losing so much weight.

After I got out of debt, and after I had a mindset shift from 2009-2010 and working on side incomes, I started to feel a lot less deprived. Once I hit $100K in my net worth, things started to look up, and I sort of made up for lost time, spending a LOT of money in the past few years just because I could, upwards to $60K a year in some of my peak years, with $20K of that on shopping.

It wasn’t until 2019 that I went back towards a more balanced approach, where now I am seeing saving as much as I can as a challenge rather than just to reach some money goals.

Now that I am financially independent and work optional, I feel less pressure in general to spend a lot of money because I’m desperately unhappy on toxic contracts (it was retail therapy because some of my projects have been horrific), because I can just refuse those terrible contracts that trigger me to spend so much, and I can save a lot more.

I’ve also started to really move towards a more eco-friendly approach, and shopping secondhand has made a BIG difference in my budget versus buying at retail. I can still indulge in my hobby of shopping (style, fashion, etc), but for way less money and finding cool deals at the thrift store, or upcycling items, which forces me to use way more creativity.

Right now, I think I am at the best, most balanced approach possible towards my money. I spend fairly low (I am on track to be under $30K this year), but I still enjoy my money because I am spending it on things to fuel my hobby (supplies like jewellery findings, or clay), rather than actually buying the items at retail, I am trying to make the pieces myself. Or to shop my closet and change things up, and most of all, to BUY SECONDHAND.

5. What do you spend your money on and what don’t you spend your money on? What brings you happiness and joy? How much money do these things cost?

The following amounts are all only MY spending, or my half. The total amounts in some cases should be doubled to get an accurate number.

I don’t spend money on as many toys for my son as some parents in my position may do so. He seems to enjoy just playing in my jewellery box, or with items in my upcycle box, creating “inventions” of his own kind, or with ordinary household items. So I don’t buy toys, but I splurge on books for him. I write a lot about what I buy for him in terms of books, and I even have (outdated) photos of my home on my blog under “Sherry’s Home”, if you want an idea of what I mean.

I don’t spend money on furniture and home decor (you will notice very little in my home in this regard). I don’t have a couch for instance, or a coffee table, end tables, a bed (we sleep on a Japanese futon on the floor, I wrote all about it on my blog SaveSpendSplurge.com), and am generally very hesitant to buy or bring anything bulky or heavy into the apartment because it takes up space, and clutters the open feeling we have.

We have spent in our lifetime, $33K on “household” since 2009, so about $2750 a year, but this includes even household products like toilet paper (we also don’t spend much on this either as we use family cloth), soap, and cooking equipment.

The only things on my list that I am deciding on buying after we move to our new home, will be a very large armchair and a piano. We won’t be upgrading or buying new furniture when we move. I am willing to spend up to $5000 for this armchair, and $30K for the piano or more because I buy quality and I buy to last depending on how much I value the item for the purpose it serves in my life.

Where I do spend my money on is food (groceries, eating out), shopping (style, jewellery etc) and traveling.

For Groceries, since 2009, I have spent $59K, so about $4916 a year on average or $409 a month; in recent years, this has ticked up to $1000 a month, but now during quarantine, it has gone down again to as low as $100 a month as we ate a lot less food and started eating our stockpiling.

For Eating Out, since 2009, I have spent $23K so about $1916 a year or $160 a month on average, though in recent years I have started to eat out more, but quarantine has made this budget basically $0. I guess now I spend money on chocolate.

For Wardrobe, since 2009 I have spent $97K or an average of $8083 a year or $673 a month. This is obviously an area I consider my hobby, and I was buying at full retail for most of the time. Since 2019, I have drastically cut this budget down, and spent $3460 a year, and in 2020, I have spent about $2303. You can see that the years where I spent $10K, $15K and $18K on my wardrobe, are what is skewing up my numbers, and was because I was indulging in serious retail therapy due to the stress of my projects and working so much (plus I make a lot of money, so I felt alright to let go a little).

For Travel, since 2009, I have spent $41K, or an average of $3416 a year or $284 a month. Note that this is only in hotels, bus tickets, train tickets or flights. Food and so on would be under the Groceries/Eating Out budgets. We usually travel to Europe yearly to visit family, another trip to Ontario to visit more family for a few months each (sometimes we worked remotely, sometimes not at all), and then I always take an annual trip to New York City with my friend.

6. Do you use a budget?  Do you track your expenses? Do you track your net worth? If so, how often do you update these?

I 100% am insane about using a budget and tracking my money. I have been doing it since 2009 (wish I started earlier!), and I sell my Wealth Building Tool (made in Excel) now on TheBudgetingTool.com or Etsy under the shop SAVERSPENDER. All net proceeds go to charity, it’s one of the things I enjoy being able to do now that I am out of debt and no longer need the money.

I track everything I earn and spend down to the penny and log it all into the spreadsheet, which carries over data to future years so I can provide statistics like the ones above, over my spending since 2009.

I also track my net worth every month because I enjoy seeing the progress over the months, but also over the years. I update everything I earn, spend and have as a net worth every month on my blog under Budget Roundups.

7. As someone who is eco-conscious, how would you say environmentalism and financial independence are intertwined?

Things may seem more expensive when they’re eco-conscious, but they’re really not. Environmentalism says the very first thing is to REDUCE meaning to not buy anything, and if you must, buy secondhand.

Once you stop seeing things as disposable, and seeing them as permanent, you start being careful about what you do buy, and consequently, put more money towards quality so it will last and you can repair it and use it for a lifetime to come. Like stopping mainstream disposable fast fashion (even secondhand), and buying designer items that I can use and repair, and even resell to recoup some of my money back. No one will pay even close to the original price for a used Zara coat, but they sure did for my used Burberry trench coat, I recouped 57% of the original cost, which is not bad for a heavily used coat.

Examples: Handkerchiefs instead of tissue papers, I have had my handkerchiefs for over a decade now. Sure, they’re expensive to start, but they last, and you just need to rewash them.

It may be easier and more convenient to do things like buy disposable diapers, but the environment cannot handle this kind of wastefulness any longer. We were very adamant to live as green as we could with our child, so we cloth diapered him and preferred it (I also wrote about that as well on the blog), and saved money doing it. Plus, we reused the cloth for other things afterwards – they’re VERY absorbent for household chores! Nothing ever goes to waste when you’re careful.

8. As a FI member living in Canada, are there any pros to living in Canada specifically that have helped you along your journey?  Conversely, any cons?  

Healthcare. Hands down.

In the U.S., I was working for a company and they “covered” my healthcare (I still paid a few hundred a month), and if I had wanted to freelance there, I’d have to pay $2000 a month or $24K NET A YEAR for healthcare. That is shocking to me.

In Canada, we pay a minimum of $600/year, and more if we are working so even if I don’t use all the services now, I am happy to be able to help others who need it, with the expectation that I will have the same given back to me when I grow old.

I don’t rely on it however, as I remember having to pay $1000 a shot for cancer treatments for a family member out of my pocket even in Canada, as it was considered an extra boost and not covered under universal healthcare. I am happy to have had the funds to be able to do so, and paid whatever they asked for to improve their chances of survival.

As a freelancer, I only have to cover my dental and eyecare out of pocket. If I get very sick, I can rely on the system here. I don’t mind paying higher taxes for this. It’s the only way I can really freelance with a clear mind and heart because if I had to worry about a $2000/month (or more!) insurance to cover me as a freelancer, I’d be screwed or have to take a job as an employee to get healthcare which are golden handcuffs to a job.

The cons are the higher taxes all around. We simply pay more. I paid so little taxes in the U.S. it was laughable especially in states like Texas or Florida.

I am currently estate planning to make sure I pass my estate over to my son as tax-free as possible, and I am seeing a lot of loopholes but also how people can really get into trouble if they don’t think about this ahead of time.

I also find Canada in general, more expensive in terms of cost of living for food and so on, versus the U.S.

9. What is your investment strategy? Do you invest in mutual funds, index funds, dividend growth stocks, real estate, other businesses, etc.?  Has your investment strategy changed over the years? 

Investment portfolio is half index funds, half dividend-paying stocks, and I am building up a third part of this on the side with private lending.

My eventual plan is to amass enough in investment capital, that I slowly shift it all from individual stocks to index funds so I don’t have to rely on individual stocks, but to do this over time. I get dividends from index funds as well, but they are at 1% – 2%, and as one of my financial independence goals, I wanted dividends to be one of the main income streams to cover the bulk of my living expenses (bare bones), which as of 2020, they do. I bring in at least $12K a year in dividend income, and as my barebones spending is about $1300 – $1600 a month, I am mostly covered.

I don’t withdraw that dividend income as actual income however, I reinvest it all back into buying more stock, but I like it there as a safety net if things go sideways, and I will try my best to not sell a single investment to pay for living expenses.

Also, I do private lending (just started in 2019), and use a platform called Lending Loop (I wrote about it on the blog as well), and I am planning on building that up to be a third part of my investing strategy, and a third income stream to cover another $12K a year in income.

I reinvest all earnings back into lending out to small businesses.

The final end goal is to move myself off requiring any active side income (advertising, affiliate, coaching, resale, and so on), and to shift all of it into passive side income (book sales, bank high interest savings, dividends, private lending) to cover $3000+ a month; I need about $36K in completely passive income, and I am only bringing in about $22K.

As it stands for 2020, I have $1061 coming in from dividends, $511 from private lending, and $279 from bank interest. That adds up to an average of $1852 a month, so I am off by about $1150 to hit my soft goal. I’d even want a bit more than $3K because I am one of those ‘better to have too much money than not enough’ types of people. If I had $5K, then I’d really relax, mentally.

10 . Do you take advantage of tax advantaged accounts offered to you?  If so, which ones and how so?  Do you have a game plan to be able to withdraw from these funds when the time comes? 

I have maxed out my RRSP since 2008 and my TFSA since 2009 (it wasn’t introduced until then). The minute I cleared that debt, I took the rest of the money and maxed all of my retirement plans. I have no RRSP room left as a freelancer (I take my salary in dividends not as an earned income for tax purposes), and instead of maxing my RRSP, I max my non-registered accounts instead.

The plan is once I hit 65 (maybe even earlier at 57), I will drain my RRSP first because it’s what will get taxed as part of my estate, so I’d rather drain it, and use it to top off my TFSA if it is more money than I need that year, and keep going until my RRSP is gone.

Then I will live off my un-registered investments. My TFSA will be the last to drain, in fact, I think it will end up being intact by the time I pass, if things go well, and our son will get it all, relatively tax-free depending on the length of the transfer period.

I also think my side incomes will continue, so I will likely have more money than I know what to do with by the time I pass, so during my lifetime, I also want to gift money to our son at various points of his life (clear university debt a year after he graduates to give him some real life experience, money for his first home if he wants one, his wedding if he decides to marry, his children if he decides to have any, etc).

My other part of my plan is to also start a non-profit for fun after our son relies less on me, and I also decide I no longer want to work, and to help the community in the best way I can. I am still thinking on and off about what I want to do and how to do it, so I haven’t gotten it firmed up yet in my head. I’m sort of busy trying to get my affairs in order.

Right now, I am living off my active side incomes (blogging, coaching, resale, etc), but I would love to shift over to passive side incomes when I truly feel like I want to stop working completely, and to never touch a penny of the capital (except for the RRSP which I plan on draining early) unless I want to use it for my own long-term care, vacations, gifts, etc.

I wrote a whole estate planning strategy on my blog here (https://www.savespendsplurge.com/canada-estate-planning-for-tax-efficiency-rough-guide/).

If all goes to plan, I will not have to sell a single investment when I finally decide to stop working. I will just live off my investments and truly passive incomes. The bulk of my investment portfolio will sit there, churning out more money, and growing until I pass, at which point, my son will inherit it all.

I will do this, not only to pass on generational wealth to my son, but to not burden him with any debts because if I have to, I will absolutely drain every penny I have to cover any health, nursing care, or whatever may come up as I age.

But I am hoping to have a pretty calm retirement without major health scares or rocky events, but even if I do, I will have the means to easily fund any and all of it. Whatever is leftover from that, will go to our son.

11.Speaking of withdrawals, what is the withdrawal rate you plan to use when you withdraw from your portfolio?  Are you a fan of the 4% “rule” or something else?  Why?

I am a fan of the 0% rule. I want to live off what the portfolio generates in dividends, bank interest and private lending. I don’t really subscribe to any rules or percentages to calculate this and that. I just see what I have saved, my income, I save as much as I can and I enjoy my money when I want to.

As an example, two years ago, I decided to buy a brand new luxury car because I wanted to see what it was like. I spent $180K.

If I had been so set on 4% rules and other things like that, I would have never purchased the car. It’s basically a “OMG ARE YOU CRAZY” sort of pronouncement to make in the personal finance community, but I am a big fan of balance and intrinsic value derived from things that make me happy, even if they seem to go against conventional FIRE wisdom.

(Real FIRE diehards would never ever let me buy a brand new car, let alone a luxury one if I followed their rules because let’s face it, I’d be riding a bicycle at best.)

I think a lot of it has to do with my security in knowing I can get a 6-figure job as an employee any time I want, and I can just wait for a contract, or take one I really hate if I needed the money that badly. I have the security of a ridiculously high income.

12. I love how you call yourself your own Sugar Daddy.  Can you please explain why you feel it’s important for women to build up their own nest egg and take interest in their own finances?

Women are more likely to work less due to maternity leave (and just being pregnant is rough), work for less money than what we are worth, save less money, live longer than our spouses, end up financially destitute or in the dark if our spouses leave us and be unable to handle anything, which ends up being a financial mess that may take a lifetime to dig out of.

On top of that, we are more likely to end up with our children if there is a separation, while not having the security of a guaranteed child support (so many fathers are deadbeats), and be saddled with family or elder/aging care responsibilities. All of this is added emotional stress, and expenses.

Lastly, we are definitely penalized with a motherhood tax at work by being seen as less competent, or being seen as undesirable because we are of a childbearing age, or have to handle our children while men who do the same thing as fathers, gain in more money and status, and pay more for everything in general from haircuts to clothes to having to wear makeup or do beauty things to a certain societal standard.

All of this? Scares me. Everything is stacked against me being a woman. This is why I am financially independent.

I won’t ever rely on anyone, not the government, my parents, my family, my partner, our son, to ever provide for me. It’s unfair to put that responsibility on them, but also, I don’t need to.

Whatever I want to buy, comes AFTER I have saved and hit all of my money goals. Then, I spend and enjoy my money the way I want, currently on luxury secondhand items for example, or whatever I want, with a clear conscience.

It’s why I am my own Sugar Daddy. Also, the sex work industry is not as easy as it may seem on the outside. There’s a lot of work and mental stress involved with all of that, and I am far too lazy and yet fiercely independent to ever dance to anyone’s tune for money.

It is WAY easier to make your own money and buy yourself what you want.

13. As a Canadian pursuing FI, what are your post-FIRE thoughts/plans regarding health coverage?  As a reference, what do you currently pay annually or monthly for health related costs (be it insurance, co-pays, deductibles, etc.)? What do you estimate your post-FIRE health costs to be per year?

I pay under $1000 a year in my taxes for universal healthcare (minimum is $600 for every citizen). My healthcare costs since 2009 have been $22K which includes eye care, dental and so on, which is about $1833 a year or $153 a month.

I also plan on paying for LASIK surgery in the future, so that’s another $5000 or more, and so on. That’s an example of medical things I want to get done but I dislike surgery of any kind, so I tend to put them off.

My future healthcare costs will surely rise as I age, so I suspect I will pay about $500 a month in total if I am still healthy and autonomous, otherwise I am planning on paying for a nursing home or in-home aide at $5000 a month or more. I haven’t looked into the numbers yet, so I am overestimating (I hope!). It all depends on how well I age, and I will drain all of my accounts to pay for my care before resorting to any other measures like asking for help from anyone.

It is why again, I need to make sure I have a lot saved, so I can do all of this, AND gift money freely, live the way I want, etc.

14. As a parent, have you found that having children has greatly delayed your timeline to FIRE?  How much money have you spent on your little guy per year?  What were some of the bigger costs that were worth it and what were some of the bigger costs that were not worth it?  Do you have a RESP open for his post-secondary education?

No. He hasn’t delayed anything for me.

I have spent in my son’s lifetime, $16K on him and he is 6 years old now, and that includes Daycare fees, so about $2666 a year or $222 a month.  We have been fortunate to work 50% of the time, so we have switched on and off in between contracts to stay at home and watch him instead of paying for daycare.

Daycare has been the bulk of these costs (even living in Quebec with subsidized daycare). The rest was because we are eco-conscious so we bought cloth diapers and saved a bundle there, as well as stayed cool on any toy purchases. Even for books, we took books libraries were throwing out, or use the library as much as possible. I’d rather pay for apps and books than buy physical toys he will play with for 2 seconds and then get bored with.

My friend asked me to list what I have as toys I actually bought for him and I had under 10 things: Barbie & Ken, 2 Stuffies, Megabloks, a dollhouse we built, a mini BBQ, 3 boxes, and I am sure I am missing a few items, but that’s what he plays with. We make up creative games and rather than buy things, we make do with what we already have.

We take any income we get for him (or gifts), and have used it to max out his registered education savings plan (RESP), and now he has about $30K, on track to have over $100K by the time he is 18 (or more!).  So we basically pay for his expenses out of our own pockets, and then whatever is given to us because of him, is considered to be his money, not ours. We didn’t have him to make money, and to us, he deserves that money for his own education and life.

Once he is old enough to read personal finance books, I will turn over the RESP to him to manage on his own under my supervision to give him a taste of what being an adult is like, and when he gets a part-time job at 16 (this is given), he will open a custodial RRSP and he will max it out with his earnings because he will be reading all of these books and seeing charts on why it is beneficial to do so. Then at 18, a TFSA, maxed out again, while he will be learning how to trade ETFs, rebalance his portfolio, read a stock sheet, and so on.

I will basically be the money role model I wish I had when I was his age. There’s a lot I want to pass on and I will do it early when he still thinks that Mommy knows everything. LOL!

15. If you could go back in time and change things, what would you have done differently?

Maxed out my RRSP when I first got my job with a custodial RRSP (I wish my older brother had taken a firmer hand in this and taught me or given me money books to read on this), and lived WAY MORE FRUGALLY during university. I worked so much, and spent every penny living in a 3-bedroom apartment during school (I KNOW), among other such stupid, not frugal, financially questionable things.

I still marvel at how I had nothing but $500 in the bank to show for years of working when I graduated university at 23, but left with $60K in student debt. Unbelievable.

16. Has discovering financial independence changed how you view your job and life overall?

Yes and no. Financial independence gave me a real confidence that I can learn anything worth learning to better my life, and that I can take care of myself with no help from parents, spouse, government, or child. I am way calmer now in terms of money, and I turn down contracts I don’t find interesting or don’t pay enough to be worth my while.

I have always had a career working 50% of the time, but in those 50% of the times when I was off contract, I was stressed about money; this is the first time in years that I am no longer stressed about money because my side incomes cover my expenses, and I can (and have) literally stopped working, and am still investing and saving all of that money while I wait for a great contract.

I feel free, and I am enjoying my time off doing whatever I want (reading, upcycling jewellery, reselling, thrifting…). I am almost actively trying to dissuade people from hiring me so that I am relieved when they choose someone else because I asked for $50K more, or whatever else I try to self-sabotage with.

17. Have you come out of the FIRE closet yet? Meaning, do your friends, family, co-workers etc. know about your financial independence goals?  If so, how did you bring it up and what were their reactions?  If not, why not?  Why do you struggle with this conversation and why do you feel that money is such a taboo topic?

I don’t mention it unless I can truly trust someone with the information. I only very recently told my brother I didn’t have to work again and would likely have more money than I knew what to do with in the future. A few colleagues have an inkling, only two colleagues know for sure because he is also financially independent so he’s not jealous. Ironically, we are all still looking half-heartedly for work even if we don’t really need the money any more because we are bored with doing nothing all day and enjoy using our brains.

Mostly, I try not to say anything. Most of them would be shocked. A lot of them think I spend way more than I earn and I need to work because I’m expensive, and that’s the image I cultivate because I’d rather have people look down on me and pity my situation of being heavily in debt, working to pay for my big condo and my expensive car, than to be jealous of me and to be terrible to me at work because of it.

Once they see my car (I also try to hide this, and I park far away or come early), they tend to be a little more interested. I don’t give away many details because they don’t need to know any of this because I don’t need toxic energy. I just let them assume I am a spendthrift and I live way beyond my means. I almost encourage it, and it’s easy to do so because I buy so many luxury goods secondhand and have an extensive wardrobe.

Money is a taboo subject because people get jealous and it clouds how they treat you. If they knew I paid cash for my home ($300K) for instance, or that I became a personal millionaire at 36 most people would lose it. If I talked about the fact that I never need to work again at my age, they’d also have mixed reactions. Some might be interested in learning more, but most I think, would be jealous. I mean, I would be if I were on the other side, how can you not? It’s human nature.

I have tried tentatively to talk about money at work, but it’s hard to say these things without giving away a lot about your finances. I’ve noticed that everyone wants to be rich but no one wants to put in the work to learn how to get there (e.g. reading money books, saving, cutting expenses, making more money). So I’ve given up trying to educate anyone.

All of the resources are out there. The advice pretty much stays the same no matter what money book you read, who you talk to, what article you read, etc, but it’s all stuff that requires WORK and DISCIPLINE. Everyone wants a magic bullet solution, and then they hit 50 and it’s too late for them to really build wealth without crazily grinding it out for the next 15 – 20 years.

18. What pieces of advice would you suggest to someone who is just starting out or someone who is working toward reaching financial independence? 

Mindset was 99% of the reason I have made it to where I am today. I had to learn that the truly wealthy lived below their means (whatever it is for them), and had high savings rates (above 20%).

They also hit all of their money goals first before enjoying their money, and plan ahead of time for everything. They also focused on increasing income as much as cutting expenses, and that’s something I feel doesn’t get talked about enough in money circles because you can only cut so much, but you can look at making more money with side incomes, extra hours, negotiation, etc. Especially as women.

I also say to focus on your own focus. I wrote a post on this about who was really rich and poor. Sometimes it’s circumstances – we all start at different points with different support systems. There is no one path to getting rich and being financially independent, it just depends one what you’re willing to do to get there.

If for instance, you have a low income, it means you may need to scale down your expectations and aim for a retirement that has lower expenses than let’s say, someone who is used to a $100K lifestyle. Do what works for you and makes you happy because financial independence is FREEDOM, not money.

It’s about mentally being FREE to do what you want, when you want, however you want.

I had lots of money before I became financially independent at 35. I didn’t feel free, as I mentioned before. I only felt free once my side incomes exceeded my expenses.

19. What does the word ‘success’ mean to you?

Freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want.

20. Are there any books, blogs, or podcasts that you would recommend for our readers to check out?

My blog is less frugal+money focused and more of a lifestyle balance blog: SaveSpendSplurge.com

I also wrote 6 books, one of which features my main side income (blogging) sold on LikeABossBooks.com or Amazon.

Aside from my own content, I’d say “Your Money or Your Life”, “Millionaire Teacher”, “I Will Teach You to be Rich”, and “The Soul of Money” were very useful books.

I will say that I started with “The Millionaire Next Door” and it blew my mind because it was the first book I ever read, and all the revelations in there made me realize that you couldn’t really tell who was rich or not – no one walks around with their net worth and circumstances written on their foreheads.

I wouldn’t say it’s a great book to read now as there are better options out there, but it’s an oldie.

If you want to learn about using the RRSP or TFSA effectively, Gordon Pape’s books on the topic are excellent, clear, and well written.

I don’t really listen to podcasts, even though I’ve been on a few. I find it hard to listen to podcasts in general because I am more of a book or video person, but I suppose if I was going out on walks I’d like it (but as of late, I don’t leave the house unnecessarily because of COVID.)

21. How can people get in contact with you? 

I will warn you, I am more on my blog and Instagram than I am on any other platform.

Via my blog – https://www.SaveSpendSplurge.com

Via social media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saverspender

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saverspender

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/saverspender

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Sherry, keep rocking on you bad ass momma!  Can you tell how detailed and motivated she is?! Here are some of our key take-aways from this interview:

• I was right there with you with $65k in student loan debt at those same high 5-7.5% interest rates and seeing all the debt too was the motivator for me as well.  I too didn’t have early ambitions of retiring early but creating that mindset of getting rid of the debt then led to investing.
• Did anyone else pick up on the fact that Sherry can make $25,000/month, meaning she can work for 3 months out of the year, make $75,000, and then chill for 9 months.  Amazing.
• I LOVE how the proceeds from Sherry’s Budgeting Tool 100% goes to charity.  It’s such a humbling feeling to be able to give back while also providing a service/tool that helps others out too.
• While I do not budget, I too am a crazy spreadsheet nerds and track all of my spending and earning into an excel spreadsheet.
• Love Sherry’s response to ho environmentalism and finances are connected.  It’s so true!  A win for your accounts and planet Earth.
• I’d love to learn more about how Sherry is structuring her estate planning to pass it over to her son as tax-free as possible.
• “I’m one of those ‘better to have too much money than not enough’ types of people” – YES, me too!
• We too are looking to withdraw bit extra each year in our withdrawal phase to contribute into Nic’s TFSA to keep maxing out that tax free growth each year.
• 6 year old son.  $16,000 spend.  Wow.  That’s further motivation and proof that our kid related costs can continue to remain as low as they are heading into the future.
• Love the idea of turning over the management of the RESP to his son once he is old enough and has read up on some personal finance books.
• How to get rich?  Work and discipline.  Bam.
• The pieces of advice question is always hands down my favorite to read through.

Thanks again Sherry for being a part of our FIRE Community Guest Interview Series.  She is so driven and I love how similar our stories/paths are.  In next month’s interview, we have our first European to the interview series which I am super excited about who is soooooo close to her FIRE date!

Did you enjoy this interview? Any additional questions for Sherry? Thanks for tuning in and check back next month for the next interview.

We love highlighting other members of the FI community. Please contact us if you’d like to be a part of the FIRE Community Guest Interview series and we’ll see if we’re a good fit!

And in case you wanted to read the previous interviews that make up our FIRE Community Guest Interview Series, here you go!

• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 1 – Empowerment Through FIRE
• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 2 – We Quit Our Jobs To Retire Early & Travel The World
• FIRE Community Guest Interview # 3 – Dividend Investor Reached FI By Living An Intentional Life
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #4 – Pursuing FIRE With Multiple Passive Income Streams in Australia
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #5 – Driving to FIRE Through RV Living
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #6 – From High School Drop Out to Retired at 35
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #7 – Medical Professional Family With 3 Kiddos In The Pursuit of FIRE 
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #8 – Calculated Engineer Family Utilizing Geo-Arbitrage to Reach FI
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #9 – Lessons from a Fimigrant – Let Experience Be Your Teacher
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #10 – From Entrepreneur Making $36,000 to Multi-Millionaire In His 30s
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #11 – Hybrid Dividend and Index Investor Who’s Mastering the FI Mindset
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #12 – Proving Financial Independence Is Possible With Kids In A High Cost of Living Area
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #13 – Making An Impact On The Way To FI

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