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There’s a big hole in our education curriculum.
Or at least, there was when I finished moving through the school system ten years ago. Financial literacy. This post is an outline of how I got to the current point of financial literacy, and some of the resources that have been helpful along the way. My hope is that this will be helpful in kick-starting your own financial journey!
My tale starts from the single digit years. As soon as I could start forming memories, money and its impact was in the mix of experiences. There was some poverty that I recall from the early years, but I was just on the cusp of being old enough to remember those times. I remember hearing statements like, “We can’t afford it,” which later turned into, “That’s too expensive – not worth it.” That was the extent of my working knowledge of finances.
Later on, I got more curious about money. We all use it. Work for it. Sometimes do or know people who do dishonest things for it. Strangely enough, despite the ubiquitous presence of money, this was one of the only two things we did not talk about in my family household. (The other was sex).
Sometime earlier in high school, I stumbled across a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Whatever the amount of scandal subsequently attached to the author’s name, I will say that the book was thought provoking at least. No one had ever talked with me about money and the different ways it can be made – at school or at home.
It was early in my undergraduate years that I was old enough to remember the first financial crisis in my brief living memory – 2008. When I would come home from visits in university, I could sense the tension and worry in my parents. My father was at risk of losing his job. The mutual funds that they had in their RRSP had lost tons of money. I remember thinking:
a) I’m so powerless to help them right now, dammit
b) The stock market is on sale right now but I have no money to invest with
c) I never want to be this stressed about money.
It was around 2008 that I started looking more into personal finance. Found more books – The Wealthy Barber, Millionaire Teacher, and The Millionaire Next Door stand out the most in my memory. I found the Canadian Couch Potato and learned about ETFs. Here I was, this undergraduate student, living on student loans, scholarships, and the RESP that my wonderful parents had contributed to. I was comfortable, but had definitely had no outlet for this growing awareness and knowledge.
As my best friends from high school went on after university to start working in their various careers, begin accumulating assets and paying off debt, I found myself on the other side of the race to get into medical school. Woot! The feeling of success was exhilarating. …The incumbent debt was sobering. Undergrad was much easier financially for all the reasons cited above. Medical school? 100% student loans and then line of credit to top off things. (Most banks in Canada offer professional student lines of credit).
The journey through medical school was overall great. There were times of stress, some hair-pulling, and some tears, but mostly there was joy and excitement. Along with learning all things medical (pffft, yeah right – as much as was possible for me, but that definitely wasn’t everything), there were also adventures abroad (bought on student line of credit dime), and I was lucky enough to find love somewhere along the journey.
In terms of the medical career, I found the part of medicine that brought me the most joy, which made the CaRMS (Canadian Residency Matching Service) application a more straightforward process. My partner and I “couples matched” (for those who don’t know, this is an official process for two partners looking at going into residency during the same year, whereby partners can tie their residency choices together in terms of location, in order to maximize the chances of being matched to a residency program in the same city or at least close by). Here are the numbers for my financial snapshot at the start of residency.
- National Student Loans = rolled into Line of Credit (LoC) before having to start pay interest, as LoC had lower interest rate
- Provincial Student Loans = $59,145.00
- Line of Credit = $50,701.70
- Credit Card Debt = $0.00 balance ever carried forward
- TOTAL DEBT = $109,846.70
- TOTAL ASSETS = $0.00
The first paycheck of residency was downright amazing. $1,385.78. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. So rich! And at last, I would have the opportunity to start paying down all this debt, and possibly start – at LONG last – investing! I eagerly set up my Questrade account (I opened a TFSA in Questrade, after closing down the one that I had in RBC which I was doing nothing with due to the expensive fees associated with trades), after doing a bit of research on which online discount brokerages were most highly rated.
My partner and I had moved quite a distance for residency and, to my dismay, we actually went into more debt the first month or so due to setup fees (getting furniture, getting new driver’s license, etc.). But from that point onward, I started paying down the debt, and felt enormous satisfaction watching the number go down bit by bit. Things were slower on the investment side. Whatever extra couple hundred dollars here or there that I could wring out, I would put toward investing.
One year and eleven months later, I paid off my LoC. That was a milestone to celebrate. I cooled the jets on paying down debt as the provincial student loan was not accruing any interest, and started shoveling money like mad into investments while still leaving ample room for enjoyment of life, including travel (for leisure to Europe and to the U.S., as well as cross-Canada visits home, and we Canadians know how absurdly expensive domestic flights are), some luxury items ($200+tax cashmere long cardigan being the most recent one), and a fair share of eating out / local entertainment.
It was in September 2017 that I discovered the FIRE movement. The bloggers who have been most influential on my new financial direction are Mr. Money Mustache, Millennial Revolution, and Our Next Life. I highly recommend these blogs as starting points. More on the blogroll! To be honest, though, there are so many great FIRE bloggers out there that you will discover – go forth and devour! Disclaimer though: this is highly addictive reading, and you just might not be the same after. Personally, I think I’ve been changed for the better.
It is now November 10, 2018. Here are the numbers.
- Line of Credit = $0.00
- Provincial Student Loans = $49,900.00 (not accruing interest currently but will as soon as residency is over – planning to pay this down before end of residency)
- Investments = $39,410.45 (total input = $36,884.76)
- Chequing Account = $9,000.00 (remnants of generous wedding gifts – unsure whether to put toward investing or student loan so am just sitting on it)
- NET WORTH = -$3,700.00
Well, that’s not bad. Comparing with where things were, I’m pretty pleased with how things are. This is even despite feeling like I’ve indulged myself significantly. Like I said, little luxury items here and there, socializing out with friend, and lots of travel! 2018 trips thus far include:
- 4 different flights around the country for subspecialty (a.k.a. “fellowship”) interviews
- a cross-country flight for my partner’s and my wedding
- two cross-country round-trip flights for three weddings
- a Europe trip
- a New York trip
- a bachelorette trip (short-haul flight)
- a cross country flight to visit family
So there it is, the journey of Dr. FIREfly thus far. This blog is my way of being accountable, sharing the knowledge that I’ve gained and mistakes that I have (and will) make. I hope that my story will be helpful to you in your own journey to financial freedom, however that is defined for you!
-Dr. FIREfly, MD
