FIRE Community Guest Interview #16: Mindful Minimalist Family

Here we are again with our next installment 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 Christine join us from Vancouver BC. Christine is the brains behind the blog Fancy Free Yourself and you can also find her on Instagram @fancyfreeyourself.  I love how Christine discovered the FIRE community not too long ago and has jumped right on in!  I also really love how Christine sees the connection of FIRE with minimalism and figuring out what it is you really value and cutting out the fluff to free yourself from headaches, wasted money, and distractions.  Christine is a wife and mom and is very passionate about real estate.  

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 Christine, please leave a comment on this post or reach out to her at hello@fancyfreeyourself.com. Without further ado, take it away Christine!

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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?

My name is Christine and I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, in Vancouver, steps from the seawall with views of the city and mountains (right now they have a little sprinkle of snow on them). I’m currently 39 years old, and married my amazing husband in 2016, then our baby boy arrived in 2019.

I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Entrepreneurial Management and am passionate about planning (anything) and math in general. In a not-so-long-ago former life, I had a 15+ year career in the fashion industry.

The world of the fast-fashion culture we have today no longer suited me. It didn’t fill my cup. I soul searched for what it was that was leaving me with that empty feeling. Eventually I found an amazing career in the technology sector in project management that has proven more fulfilling than I ever imagined. Making this move taught me a few things about myself and maybe life in general:  I finally understood the power of action and how a simple thought backed by action can surprise us with amazing results. I also realized how much money I spent on clothing (that I barely wore) only to show my colleagues / peers that I was “current”.

Not too long after I made this career change, I became pregnant with my one and only son. Around that same time, I was visiting with my cousin and his wife, who are in their 30’s and recently announced they had both retired. They are savvy with real estate and both collected government pensions, but still…..how on earth did they pull off retirement? It was around then that I learned of Phia and Mike’s blog www.freedom101.com … I subscribed and got hooked on the subject.

My husband and I earn decent salaries, own our home and have RRSP’s, but we were nowhere close to retirement. Now that I was pregnant, I wasn’t really sure how we were going to afford our lifestyle on one income for more than a year on maternity leave. In Canada, maternity leave pays a max of $2000/mo (which I was entitled to) for 1 year, and I opted to take another summer off unpaid, so I could spend more time with my little guy, so I went another 3 months with no income at all.

When I found the FI community, I was simultaneously exploring zero waste living and minimalism. I fell in love with ChooseFI podcast, The Minimalists, and read probably 30 books on the subjects. One of them being Playing With Fire, while as extreme as it was, it really made me think.

All of these subjects I was interested in were related, cyclecle. My mindset was shifting and I was determined to set forward with intentional spending of my time and money, which I coined as my personal definition of Minimalism.

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

My husband and I thought we were reasonably responsible, having already invested in RRSP’s and our home and knew we would retire “someday” but for whatever reason had never even considered that retiring earlier than the typical age 65 was an option for us. As a person who loves finances and math, why I never thought about financial independence in this way sooner I did, remains a mystery.

Our FI journey really began in mid 2019, it was then when it was like a lightbulb went off….”You mean if we reduce our expenses, we can retire earlier?” That’s it? I always thought there was this magic number the banks come up with to tell you when it’s safe to retire. The investment firm we use gave us a retirement number that was WAY higher than our actual FI number. I’m grateful I was exposed to the FI community to show me the reality and how in our control, FI really is.

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?

I might have my own way of calculating certain FI KPI’s, but I believe our FIRE target is static at $1.925M , Fat FI is $2.15M.  For 2020, our savings rate was 52% . I include principal payments on our mortgage as part of our savings rate. Reason being, our home is in a high cost living area, and is part of our retirement plan. We will need to “cash out” on it eventually, or use it to generate monthly rent.

We only began our FI journey in 2019, but as of now, my favorite calculator by Mr. Money Mustache shows we are 13.6 years from retirement, although I believe we are 10 (or less) years away. We will shorten our time to FI because of our game plan. We have some high expenses now (hello, daycare at $2300/month…yikes!) that we won’t have later, and we intend to generate more passive income by purchasing 1 investment property a year for the next 5 years. Also our mortgage should be paid off in about 8 years.

My husband and I are fortunate in the sense that we earn good salaries in growing tech companies AND we both love what we do. We both work about 35-40 hours / week …for my husband it’s pure passion for his craft and for me, it’s the mental challenge, constant learning and comradery I get from working. Right now, with Covid we are both working from home and have our son in daycare while we work. The cool thing is, daycare is  literally across the street, so we feel like we are able to spend much more time with our little guy than if we were at the office. Also while working from home, we can do laundry, make lunches, and all the things we couldn’t do if we had to commute in. AND no time is wasted in the car on the daily.

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?

We always had a budget, but not like we have now. Our budget before was VERY flexible and generous but I didn’t realize it at the time. Now I look back and think, why did I have such a high monthly clothing allowance, or how on earth were we spending so much on groceries and entertainment? When we started scrutinizing our spending, we realized we didn’t need what we were spending our money on. The things we were spending money on tended to be unnecessary or unhealthy.

I currently do not feel like I’m sacrificing or missing out on life, but I remember it took a couple months to adjust. Reducing expenses became like a game to me and now, I actually constantly look for opportunities to reduce recurring costs.

Even though we are striving for FIRE, we want to enjoy life along the way. So we haven’t yet left the home we love in the neighbourhood we love, even though one of us could probably retire if we did. When we buy something, we buy it for quality and longevity (design and function), so we might spend more in the short term, but less in the long run. We value the aesthetics around us, because it is calming –  we are quite minimal in our taste so don’t have a lot of “stuff”. I don’t believe that is sacrificing, just becoming a more savvy shopper.

My goal for becoming minimalist was to feel like I had more time…after all, we want to retire to gain freedom with our time.  Even if I didn’t actually have more time (off work), I wanted to feel as though I did. I noticed when we ate out less, ironically, it felt like we had more time. Maybe because we saved time of driving / walking to the restaurant, waiting for servers, etc. We used to eat out a lot because we thought it was quicker, but I am enjoying eating healthy meals at home much more now.

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?

Things I Do Spend Money On 

• Lately I feel like I’ve been spending more than I used to on wellness, specifically with my naturopath and on supplements. She has detected some deficiencies I have which explains a lot and I can see the results pretty instantly with her recommendations. Health is #1. I think I spend about $50/month on average for supplements but the cost of visiting my naturopath is 100% covered  by my health plan.
• Daycare is the biggest, ugliest, line in my budget. $2300/month (ew!)….BUT it’s right across the street (no car struggle in the morning) and they feed him while he’s there with healthy food. Also, now that we’re in, this daycare will have a spot for our son all the way through elementary to take on before and after school care. In Vancouver, daycare is a struggle and so is before and after school care. Let’s put it this way, my name is on about 40 daycare lists since Spring of 2018 and I haven’t had a single call from another daycare.
• Gifts: I like to buy thoughtful or useful gifts for people that I love. It makes me happy.
• Travel – weekends away: Back to how I value the life we live, not just the life we will have after we retire….I try to always have something planned for my husband and I to look forward to. With Covid all our 2020 travel plans (Maui for relaxing and Kenya for a volunteering trip) were cancelled, but we’ll take weekends away instead!
• Cleaner: This is a bit of a splurge but it makes my life SO much more enjoyable. I have a cleaner come every other weekend for a few hours, really to buy myself more time with my family every other weekend. Everytime we’re out together and come back to a clean house we comment on how that money was well spent. We pay our cleaner well ($30/hour) and she is well worth it!
• Netflix/Amazon/Prime/Spotify: our guilty pleasure entertainment.  In total that’s $45/month.
• Hair: because I’m not ready to let my grey hair take over, I average $75 / month
• Occasional date nights: we get out together probably every other week…sometimes we go for nice dinners but other times we go for walks, or go to the local pub. We have free childcare when we do so that helps a ton.

Things I Don’t Buy

• We eat out at least 60% less than we used to.
• Paper napkins and paper towels, that’s right, we only use cloth napkins and cleaning cloths now…There has been no paper towel in our house for about 1.5 years now (I’m so proud of my husband for going with it).
• I no longer have an expensive membership for my Barre studio (although I miss it)…I just couldn’t do the class times with my new “mom” schedule and then Covid hit. I went from spending $160/month on my membership to spending $35/month for regular 30 days challenges from thebettyrocker.com . I do them in my home every morning and I am HOOKED.
• Sadly, our old dog passed away in July. I miss him dearly (so much!) but we do save $250/month in his food and vet bills.
• When we started our FIRE journey we thought we should try going down to one car, so we parked my husband’s and removed the insurance for 8 months. We were fine. So we just sold it and pocketed $10k, plus no more insurance and no more liability.
• Household Cleaners (except Windex): I make my own now as part of my quest to reduce our household waste. I have yet to find a replacement for Windex that does the job right. Message me if you have a recipe that works as good because I’m not proud of the fact I still use Windex!
• Books – I use the Libby app with my library card. It’s the best. I haven’t bought a book in eons.
• Reusable Bags: This day in age, we all have too many.
• Nail polish: I don’t have time for it any more!
• Gift wrap: I always reuse other gift wrap, use the pages of my Stendig calendar or find another creative wrapping solution.

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?

YES, YES, YES! I have a secret passion for Excel. Yes, passion. I used to be ashamed but now I’ve embraced my love for spreadsheets, formulas and all the future scenarios  I can foresee in my crystal ball of a spreadsheet.

I know this is a faux pas in the world of FI, but I probably check how our investments are doing every week. I probably could cut back…I don’t really need to check it that much, curiosity just gets to me.

I update our regular financials every Friday and then update our networth on the last day of each month. When I update our net worth monthly, I track what our retirement date looks to be on that day so I can see improvements over time.

7. As someone who lives in a high cost of living area, how has that impacted your finances? Do you ever think about moving to a lower cost of living area to speed up your journey or is that not worth it to you?  If so, where would you move to and why?

This is an interesting question because we do spend a lot to live where we do, however, we don’t live in a house, we opted for a townhome so we don’t have as much house/yard work or as much space. We live in about 1400 sq ft with 2 decks and only steps from the seawall. We are able to walk to Granville Island, Science World, and everything else that’s close by in about 20 minutes.

By living here, we save money and time from not being in a car. Our close friends are here and we have solid roots in this city.

My employer has announced that I can work from home forever if we like, even if Covid is no longer an issue. My husband’s company however, is planning on going back to the way things were (working in the office).  He is so happy at his job that he wants to ride it out working at the office for his career or until it makes sense for him to work remotely.

We eventually want to retire in BC’s Okanagan, or at least have a second home there. We love the seasons there and the countryside as there is tons to do outside all year long. We hope to buy a house there in the next couple years as our next investment property.  One where we love the yard and could do some renos on the house to get to what we want when we are ready to retire. We will rent it out to pay for itself and hold it until we’re ready to make a move.

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?  

Listening to the US FI podcasts make me very grateful the Canadian tax system is far less complex than in the US. I find in Canada, you don’t have to look too far to find out what you can write off so you can be strategic in planning your investments or business.

My son was born in June 2019 and I was able to take 15 months off work (what?!), and for 12 months, I received about $2000/month from the government. I don’t think I would ever complain about living in Canada. Not to mention it was “free” to deliver my son in the hospital. Some people don’t realize how lucky we are.

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? 

We have a mutual fund stock portfolio and just bought our first investment property, which was a presale. We’ve done well with our current investor, they are very reputable and we are satisfied with the return. As they say, “we buy Toyotas”. Figuratively speaking, but I like their strategy and it works.

Our personal strategy is to put all our extra money / savings into our mutual funds, then we take the tax return and put it down on our mortgage principal.

The investment properties are of interest to us mainly because I am so passionate about real estate and have studied the pulse of various markets for the last 15 years. I like to be educated in the areas that interest me just in case an opportunity presents itself. My husband and I each owned places before we bought the one we live in now and the equity and appreciation made it so much easier to attain our “forever” home.

I bought my first home when I was 25. It was 475 sq ft, very well laid out 1 bedroom. I paid $200k for it in East Vancouver, fairly close to the seawall. I sold it later for a profit but also had great equity since I had lived there for 8 years.

We plan to use the equity from our home to eventually be able to live mortgage free when we retire. The investment rental properties are to supplement income and build equity so if we need to leverage to purchase another property, we can.

10. I know you are also into minimalism and zero waste.  How would you say those aspects are aligned/intertwined with FIRE?  

In every way, minimalism, FI and a zero waste lifestyle are intertwined. Less is more.

11. 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?

We have RRSP’s, no TFSA’s yet as we still have room on our RRSP’s. Our son has an RESP set up, which is great because the government matches annual contributions 20% up to $2500.

We will use the Smith Maneuver to purchase our investment properties…if you don’t know about it, check out http://www.smithman.net/.

12. 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 use the 4% rule, no real reason why but I trust the FI community is big enough now with so many smart people involved that if it wasn’t holding weight, the annual expenses x 25 formula rule wouldn’t be so commonplace.

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 honestly haven’t thought much about that part as I think we’re still 8-10 years away from FI…but I think I should!

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?  Are you planning to open up a RESP for his post-secondary education?

Having a baby accelerated our FI journey…we’re just that much more motivated to be in a position to do whatever we want. I find it’s reasonably inexpensive, maintaining his “lifestyle”. We are so grateful for all of the hand-me-down clothing and toys we receive. Also, my friends gave me a pretty epic baby shower and I received more gifts for my son than I ever could have dreamed, so we were very well set up from the beginning. When my son grows out of something, I usually resell on Marketplace and then deposit his funds into his account and that’s what funds the next purchase I need for him.

Our biggest purchases were his stroller and crib. The stroller was well worth buying because I’ve seen how squeaky used ones can get. And the crib was a splurge…my parents pitched in as a gift and I got it on a Black Friday deal so in the end it wasn’t so bad. It was important to us to make his space one we all wanted to spend lots of time in and it turned out beautifully.

We bought a lot of the big “equipment” like a travel crib and baby gates on  Facebook Marketplace among other things and saved a ton of money that way.

I bought 6 or 7 soothers before he was born and never used them because my son never liked them so that was kind of a waste. Aside from that I don’t regret any of the things we spent on as overall we didn’t spend that much on him. I was one of the last of my friends to have a baby so I asked them what I needed and what I could live without and they all had great tips.

We have an RESP for our son and right now we fund it with gifts from other people and we throw in some money for his birthday and Christmas. Whenever we find money on the ground we put it in there too (it happens to my husband all the time!).

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

I would have spent my money a lot differently in my 20’s and early 30’s! When my husband and I were first married we had no intention of having kids ever, and had this “treat-yo-self” mentality. I’m really embarrassed about how frivolous we were with our cash…we still saved, paid a mortgage but we could have saved way more. Oops.

We eventually changed our mindsets and habits for the better and have zero regrets about deciding to become parents. I love motherhood more than I ever could have imagined.

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

Luckily I found a job that fits right into what I was looking for. Freedom to work from home or wherever, and a fun, supportive culture. I actually enjoy working hard (working smart) and I’ve noticed a lot of people in FI seem to as well. The thing about the FI community is we all value our family, health and personal growth more than a job…the culture at my company aligns with this mindset. Although I may reach FI one day in the not so far future, I might still decide to work, even if just part time, because if I love it and I make some $, then why not?

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 suppose we’re not hiding but our FIRE life is shared only with those who can handle it. LOL

But for real.  Some people get so weird about the subject or uncomfortable talking about money. Or they still see me as who I was 5 years ago and don’t understand if I’ve lost my mind or what.

And there’s always the people that equate it to themselves and how “they could never give up xyz” and essentially poo-poo the whole concept.

However, I do have several friends and supporters who LOVE talking about FIRE, big ideas, tips and tricks, investments, etc. Plus the people I’ve met through social media are so keenly interested and active in pursuing FIRE, I find it very inspiring.

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

I would say to someone starting out down the path to FI, don’t feel pressure to be SO extreme at first that you end up being miserable with your life. That will just make it unsustainable. Scale back as much as you can, then re-evaluate every month or every quarter. You will be surprised at how your mindset changes and how you view things and “stuff”, or in my case I also see the garbage (waste) behind a lot of purchases and I just don’t want them.

Be grateful for what you have. Remind yourself of what you have and how it’s more than you need, every single day.

You will start to value your time more and that should be the primary focus anyhow. Your time is worth more than money.

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

I truly believe success is a feeling that is unique to each of us. For me, success has felt like security, balance and contentment. When I feel secure in my relationships, job, finances and self, I feel successful. When I feel like I’m balanced in the sense of time spent in different areas of my life I enjoy (family, friends, wellness, volunteering, work, hobbies, finances), I feel successful. When I am balanced and secure in all these areas, I feel content; which I equate to success.

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

Yes, lots!

Blogs

• Modernfimily.com !!!
• Simpleonpurpose.ca
• Freedom101.ca
• Budgetbytes.com
• exploreficanada.ca

Books

• Atomic Habits
• The One Thing
• Essentialism
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Digital Minimalism
• Deep Work
• The Obstacle Is the Way
• Quit Like A Millionaire

Podcasts

• The Minimalists
• Choose FI Radio
• The Leadership School (Brooke Castillo)

21. How can people get in contact with you?

I can be found through my blog at fancyfreeyourself.com or on Instagram @fancyfreeyourself.com or if you want to say Hi, email me at hello@fancyfreeyourself.com.

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Love this interview and Christine’s energy! Here are some of our key take-aways from this interview:

• Those non-personable investment firms are likely going to give you a retirement goal that is way too high than what is actually needed.  Why?  Because 99% of the population (those not into FIRE) don’t save their money and base their retirement needs on their take home pay.  Use FI weirdos save a large chunk of our income and thus require a lot less than what the Suze Orman’s of the world like to think.
• Christine discovered FI 2 years ago in 2019 and estimates that they will be at their FI number in ~10 years.  Amazing! (And I don’t doubt you will get there in that time frame too!)
• Surprise surprise, no deprivation here.  I love her balanced approach of wanting to enjoy life along the way.
• I loveee the list of things that Christine does not buy (except for the dog food, I’m sorry to hear about the passing of your pup).  Christine has eliminated paper napkins and towels from her home, what?!  And figured out a cost effective way to continue to get her workouts done at home at a fraction of the studio price.  We too have shifted to a 1 car family but have yet to actually sell a vehicle.  Library card for free books for the win!  Love the idea of using calendar pages for gift wrap! Who has a windex replacement recipe for Christine?!
• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Canadian system is soooo much nicer than the US set up.  Looking after all vs an individualistic approach – very different and I’m so glad to be on the Canadian side now.
• I love how Christine admits that having a baby accelerated their FI journey!  That’s a pretty motiving “why” if you ask me and I can totally relate!
• I always love our interviewees responses to advice for others.  Such great advice!

Thanks again Christine for being a part of our FIRE Community Guest Interview Series.  In next month’s interview, we have someone quite popular in the Canadian personal finance blogosphere on to the show.  

Did you enjoy this interview? Any additional questions for Christine? 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
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #14 – Badass Momma Knows Her Worth And Became A Millionaire At 36
• FIRE Community Guest Interview #15 – PhD Couple Reached FI at 40

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