Sunshine Blogger Award Nomination

In February 2021, I was kindly nominated by TonFire for the Sunshine Blogger Award. I was surprised, as I didn’t know what it was at first. Essentially, it is a great way for fellow bloggers to highlight and promote new bloggers.

I’m happy to report that I’ve read through all the rules and I took some liberty with my own version of the rules.

Thanks again, TonFire! I’ve found our interactions and your blog have been motivational in my journey to continue blogging. Keep up the great work!

Sunshine Blogger Award Rules

When nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award, there are four rules to follow:

1. Thank the person who nominated you. Add back links to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions they posed to you.
3. Nominate another 11 new bloggers and give them 11 new questions
4. Include these rules in your post and use the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post.

I really like this idea but I’m going to have to go off script for #3. Instead of nominating 11 other new bloggers (because I don’t know that many), I’m going to be providing my 11 favorite FI resources. That may be a blogger, blog post or podcast. These 11 resources have been the most influential in my journey learning about Financial Independence.

Click here is you want to skip to my list of favorite resources.

Sunshine Blog Award Questions

1. Will you retire early? If so, what will you do after you retire? If not, what is your plan for future work?

Right now I’m focusing on the FI part of FIRE. I expect to be FI early, but I’m not sure if I will retire early. I still have some soul searching to understand what it is I want to do with my time. Either continuing work or pursuing passion projects. Right now, I know that my work gives me satisfaction, a purpose, and a sense of accomplishment. I get to deliver projects that help our communities. It keeps me engaged to self-improve.

As I move towards FI, I plan to find other projects that will give me that same sense of accomplishment.

2. What has been your most successful strategy to date financially speaking that could help others starting their journey?

Tracking my spending.

I started using YNAB in 2018, and I love it. I’ve tracked my spending for years with spreadsheets until it became time-consuming and cumbersome. Switching to YNAB, helped me a lot. I can easily report on my spending, which allows me to use my time in other areas.

BONUS: Net worth tracking has also been great in being able to view my progress. This is a long journey so being able to see my progress has been huge in keeping me motivated.

3. What is a “luxury” you allow yourself on your financial journey?

My wife and I order in once a week. My wife keeps us all fed throughout the week so this is my contribution to have a relaxing evening just the two of us. Once the kids are asleep, we order and relax together.

4. Name one area in your financial life that you’d like to improve on.

Increasing my savings rate. Even with YNAB, I still struggle with cutting out some expenses. Cutting out convenience spending is the most difficult.

5. Other than blogging about finances, what do you most enjoy doing in your free time?

I really enjoy spending time with my wife and three kids. Going to parks with the kids, playing video games and reading with them. And once the kids are down for the night, I enjoy playing video games and exercising.

6. What is your favorite “free and fun” thing to do?

Going for walks in our neighborhood. We have a large naturalized walking path right by our house that’s a few kilometers long. Going for a lone walk or a walk/bike with the kids is great.

7. Do you have a side gig? If so, what is it? If not, tell us your best money-saving tip.

I never thought of it as a side gig and multiple income stream until this year, but I have an apartment-style condo that I rent out and I’m also on the condo board. Not only do I get the rental income each year, but I also get a remuneration for being on the board, which is usually around $2,000. It’s been worthwhile keeping the condo just for that extra kick-back for being on the board.

8. How do you keep yourself motivated on your journey?

Right now, I’m in “high” motivation mode. I’ve been putting in extra effort to engage with other people in the FI community. I’ve been reaching out with personal messages, questions and comments, engaging people on twitter and posting comments on other people’s blogs. This is something I haven’t really done much of in the past, and it’s really opened up my circle.

9. What is your favourite book that has helped you on your journey?

There have been a few, but the one that initially came to mind is “The MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio” written by Dan Bortolotti (The Canadian Couch Potato). CCP is what got me into DIY investing, and his blog along with this book gave me the tools to pull the trigger and invest on my own.

10. Tell us one thing about yourself that might surprise your readers.

Many years ago, I tipped the scale at over 275 lbs. Since that time, I’ve lost over 50 lbs, competed in 4 triathlons (2 individual and 2 on a team), and I’ve kept that weight off for over 10 years.

11. Which blog post of yours do you absolutely love, but doesn’t get enough attention? Also: why do you love it?

My favorite creation is the Savings Calculator post. The calculator was the first thing I made for this blog before I even wrote a word. I’m proud of it because I had to dust off my old programmer skills and make it in HTML and Javascript.

Sunshine Blogger Award Nominees
My Favorite Resources

Here is where I take a detour and instead of providing 11 new bloggers, I’m going to list some of my favorite resources that have been part of my FI journey.

I may have gone a little overboard.

1. Canadian Couch Potato
   • Model Portfolios – Reading CPP was my starting point to DIY and FI. Dan’s posts can be as simple as his model portfolio’s, or if you want to dive into understanding the difference between similar ETF’s (i.e. VUN vs. VTI) or US withholding taxes, he does an outstanding job of breaking it down for the DIY novice.
     
2. Mr. Money Mustache – MMM has too many posts to list, so here are my standout suggestions. His no-nonsense approach combined with face punching when people make stupid money moves makes for great entertainment.
   • Short-Termitis – This post is the inspiration for my 10-year purchase savings calculator.
   • Frugality as a Muscle – Just like muscles, if you practise and exercise frugality, it gets easier.
   • Luxury is Weakness – Understanding that luxury is a drug, and too much of it can eat away at your financial future.
   • Shockingly Simple Math – The starting place of most FIers. This post shows the math why FI is possible.
   • Is it Convenient? – MMM hilariously compares convenience-spending to hooking yourself to a catheter and a bedpan – the ultimate convenience!
   • Hedonic Adaptation Makes you a Sucka – Why humans, no matter how much money or stuff you have, always want more.
   • Your Debt is an Emergency – Your money can work harder than you can, so get rid of your debt!
     
3. Canadian Portfolio Manager Blog – CPM’s white Papers have been a go-to resource as well as his and model portfolios. CPM (Justin Bender), The Canadian Couch Potato (Dan Bortolotti), and Ben Felix work together at PWL to provide passive investing wealth management.
   • As Easy as ACB – Details how to track your Adjusted Cost Base (ACB) for non-registered investments.
   • Norbert’s Gamit – RBC – Details how to convert your Canadian dollars to US dollars (CAD to USD).
     
4. Ben Felix
   • Reasons (not) To Avoid Index Funds – There aren’t any. Use them!
   • The Irrelevance of Dividends – Although I’ve been researching into dividends lately and I can see the draw for certain people, this video brings me back down to earth. For now I’ll still with my index approach.
     
5. Explore FI Canada – Lots of great Canadian content. It’s co-hosted by Chrissy at EatSleepBreathFI.com and Money Mechanic from FI Garage.
   • 032 – All about RESPs | 033 – All about RESPs(2) – I learnt a lot from this two-part series. Did you know an RESP has a maximum life of 35 years? I didn’t. That means your kids can use it even if they don’t go to post-secondary school in their twenties.
     
6. FI Garage – The Money Mechanic, the Accountant, and the Economist provide more create Canadian content in podcast form. Oh, and beer reviews!
   • Interview #8 – The Smith Maneuver – How to turn your mortgage into tax deductible debt.
   • 026 – Distracted by FI – Realizing I was coasting in some aspects of my career. This episode helped me put things into perspective.
     
7. Choose FI Podcast – The early days of ChooseFI introduced me to both financial and behavioural concepts that I still use today.
   • 021 – The Pillars of FI – A great list of things to focus on starting out on your FI path.
   • 032 – Milestones of FI – A way to keep motivated and track your progress.
   • Episode 100: Welcome To The FI Community
     
8. JL Colins
   • The Simple Path to Wealth – JL is best known for his stock series but I prefer his book. It’s geared towards US readers but easily transferable to Canadian. Wherever he says VTSAX, think VUN (Total US Stock Market).
   • Why Your Home is a Bad Investment – JL’s tongue-in-cheek dig at home ownership is eye opening. I support home ownership, but it should not be treated as an investment.
     
9. EarlyRetirementNow
   • Sequence of Return Risk – understanding that the riskiest time to retire is right before a market crash. ERN has a lot of content detailing SRR and Safe Withdrawal Rates (SWR).
     
10. James Clear
    • Atomic Habits – I HIGHLY recommend this book as it provides practical steps to change your behaviours and foster good habits.
    • Habit Stacking – Use an existing habit to be the trigger for a new habit. For example, I brush my teether every night so I added doing 25 push-ups as my second habit. Now, when I brush my teeth, I can’t help but think about push-ups.
    • ChooseFI Post and Podcast 157 – James Clear
      
11. Mark Manson – author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
    • Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation – Why action comes before motivation. “Motivation is not just the cause of action, but also the effect.” This mindset shift has helped me to “just start”. You don’t need to be perfect to start.

Thanks for sticking with me until this point!

I hope my questions and favourites list provides the same benefits they have given me over years.