You guys are on it! Hopefully the explanation above makes a bit of sense. Having to deal with a move with accounts in multiple countries is no fun!

Hey Scott! Sounds like we have similar set-ups, nice job! The aggressive bosses of the world suck!

It sounds like your wife’s part-time job + CCB will definitely bring in a nice chunk to supplement any withdrawals from the portfolio. The other thing to remember is that quitting doesn’t mean you will never ever bring in any sort of income. If you want to, after a year or two of pulling the plug (or maybe once the kiddos have moved out) you can choose to pick up a low stress gig that brings in say $20k/year for a few years and you’ll likely be more than set as your portfolio can continue to grow over those years too.

Or is it possible to talk to your aggressive boss and let them know how you’re feeling and demand a work set up that would be conducive to wanting to stay (perhaps working from home to avoid said boss, or reducing your hours, or focusing on projects that give you more independence away from aggressive boss?). Worst they do is fire you which is what you were thinking of doing anyway 😉 You have control at this point as the job needs you more than you need the job. The key is to remain flexible and know that likely everything will all work out! 🙂

Hey Chris – great job catching this. So Nic is the only one with a TFSA due to my dual citizenship status. And we moved here in 2015 so we don’t have the full contribution room compared many who were living here and able to start in 2009 (or at least able to catch up afterwards with all the built up contribution room). Instead of the $75,500 that most Canadians have (assuming 18+ residents since 2009), she has a total $44,500 of contribution room.

When we moved, we were traveling in 2015 not working so no income to add in then. In 2016, income started coming in but we were saving up for the downpayment on our townhouse that we purchased later that year as we still owned our FL townhouse too. And the biggest thing, is it took us awhile to get our bearings straight with our Canadian investments. No American is taught TFSAs and RRSPs and with a lot going on with the move to another country, it took us awhile to develop our investing strategy. We only started pouring money into Nic’s TFSA in 2018. Then in 2020 we pulled out $9,500 for the new house purchase. A week after this posting (which is based of our 12/30/20 figures) $15,500 was dumped into the TFSA in early 2021 for the $9,500 for the house (which we had to wait until the new year to recontribute) + 2021’s $6,000 limit. So as of today, it’s sitting closer to $54,000 (CAD).

As for my large taxable amount, this was part of that whoops in the learning curve. I started that one in 2017 – before the TFSA, DOH! The plan is to shuffle some of this around once I leave my job and drop to a lower tax bracket. During the first 5 years when we don’t need to withdraw anything since we will have our cash stash, I plan to withdraw up to the federal basic amount (assuming it will be ~$15k) from my taxable and put as much into the TFSA (based off annual limits at the time), Finn’s RESP, and the rest to Nic’s taxable as well (to even our accounts out as I didn’t know about filing taxes individually annually since you can file jointly in the States).

Hope this makes things a bit more clear. Alway trying to learn!

Sounds great, Court 😉

Thank you Shashi! We’re now being even more cautious and coming up with more things to anticipate in the future to build up for aka one more year syndrome lol but totally ok with it and acknowledge it as life is good.

Correct we have some money set aside for our little one both in an RESP and a taxable account (which we may move over to an informal trust) which are not included in these figures. Personally, we are 100% in VUN for our 2.5 year old and plan to be 100% equities for the majority, if not all, of the duration. Same may say that’s too extreme, but we will reassess at age 15 to see how the portfolio is doing. Many could argue that VUN is not diversified enough and to go with something like VEQT instead, which is more than fine – I personally think there’s too much of a tilt of VCN inside these all in one funds. We plan to add in VIU and VEE to diversify a bit over the years.

No, I cannot still trade within my taxable accounts in the US. They are still there and growing, but can’t contribute into them.

A 85/15 or 70/30 split sounds great. I think anywhere in that 75/25 camp +/- 15 basis points is a good spot to be in (which gives a lot of room I know ha). But really anything above 60/40 is good in my books.

Sounds like you’re designing that happy life too filled with fulfillment and balance 🙂 That’s what it’s all about!

So many similarities, I love it Dave! Good for you for being 35% intl – I want to put more into internationals but it’s hard seeing their lagging performance (even though this likely is a sign yelling TO invest in them!). Is there any reason behind keeping/selling the REIT?

Are there any items that have been way off in your estimates since you moved to Canada? Some things here seem to be more expensive compared to the States while some other items are more affordable.

Love the idea of the solar, greenhouse, and garden!! The house we moved to has 2 large raised garden beds so we are going to test things out this year too 🙂 Unfortunately, where we are solar doesn’t make much sense from a cost standpoint but we continue to monitor the market and hopefully someday we can be living on solar too (as that’s my background).

Hey Danielle, yes indeed, it is a very sweet spot! You know, I’ve never really thought about that but likely would say stay at home mom as that’s what Nic currently goes by. But really, the answer would depend on who the conversation is with – someone I’m comfortable with = retired (which hopefully leads to “what? how?” and I can explain and help them), someone I hardly know = investor or even more broadly “in finance” just to drop it and move on.