Our Path to FI: 1 Year Later

An update on our journey to financial independence.

A little over a year ago today we (officially) started our journey to financial independence. While we had already become deeply invested in our financial future sometime before then, this marked the start of a new path — one with an actual plan.

When we made that first post, it forced us to put into words all of the ideas that had been swimming around in our heads. For years, we had talked about “moving up north someday”.

We had known that being good savers would help us reach that goal, but we hadn’t actually stopped to think about what that would look like. When we did, it turned out we were much closer to that dream than we had ever imagined.

The Plan
After crunching some numbers and running through half a dozen scenarios, we landed on a timeline that resonated with us. We would give ourselves a few years to really buckle down on our savings to create as much of a nest egg as possible — we coined this our “Super Saver” phase.

Then, we’d take the leap and move north to cottage country and start our “Slower Pace” phase. Given the slower job market in the area, we figured we’d earn quite a bit less after the move (about 60% of our current income).

This drop in income would be partially offset by a much lower cost of living thanks to the sale of our primary residence), but our total savings each year would still take a bit of a hit. All in all, it would take us a bit longer to reach FI but we’d have a lot more fun along the way.

So here we are, one year after committing to that plan.

1 Year Later
When we published that first post, we didn’t really expect much to change. We already had a healthy savings rate and diligently tracked every dollar we saved and spent. How much would putting a plan on paper really change things?

A lot, it turns out.

Having an actual plan (with a fairly ambitious timeline) lit a fire in us. Now, instead of musing over how great it would be to live our dream life someday, we actually had to find a way to make it happen.

Suddenly, like magic, opportunities seemed to materialize before our eyes. It wasn’t magic, of course, we had just finally opened ourselves up to the opportunities that had always existed.

First, we found a contractor to do the renovations needed on our cottage to make it livable year-round. And while that has been a (painfully) slow-moving project, the work is finally in progress — target completion date: Spring 2023.

Then, we started researching career opportunities more seriously and found they weren’t nearly as scarce as we had believed. Within 6 months, I managed to find a new position with my current employer that had greater flexibility (including for work location) that I can take with me when we move north.

Inspired by that victory, my husband decided to cold call a company in the same industry as his current career. And while nothing has been finalized quite yet, the odds are looking good that he’ll have an offer coming his way soon.

Moving Forward
While all of this is great news, it has pushed the timeline for our move forward by about a year and a half. We won’t have as much saved as we’d hoped before making the move, but we also won’t need to sacrifice as much of our income as expected.

We should end up with about 80% of our current income (compared to the 60% we had planned for). Thanks to our better-than-expected job searches, we’ll be able to save much more than anticipated after moving north.

In fact, we may even be in a position to save more than we are now, thanks to our much lower cost of living and only modest drop in income:

Original Plan
Super Saver Phase: October 2021 — October 2024 (reach 60% of Lean FI)
Slower Pace Phase: October 2024 — October 2033 (reach 100% of Lean FI)

Updated Plan
Super Saver Phase: October 2021 — April 2023 (reach 55% of Lean FI)
Slower Pace Phase: April 2023 — October 2033 (reach 110% of Lean FI)
*read more about our FI numbers here

As you can see, we haven’t adjusted our overall timeline, despite the fact that we’ll be saving more. We may revisit this next year, but for now, it’s all just a bit too hypothetical. For now, we’ll just take the added savings as a bonus.

What’s Next?
With one year officially down, we’re more eager than ever to continue pushing forward on our path to FI. Over the course of the next year, we hope to make the move north and settle into our new careers.

This year will also mark the start of our Slower Pace phase, a time when we get to take advantage of the financial freedom we have already created. Along with the financial milestones, we’ll focus on making the most of our new life and long-dreamed-of home.

As we settle into this new phase of life, we’ll also be able to test-run our post-FI budget, as our expenses will more or less reflect those numbers. This will be an opportunity to solidify (or recalibrate) our FI projections.

If all of that isn’t enough to keep us busy, we’ll start looking into potential side hustles to supercharge our path to FI. Who knows, maybe we’ll stumble on something we like enough to make an even bigger career change.

Thanks for reading! To learn more about our journey, visit Financially Free 2033.

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