There are many things to love about autumn in Canada. Leaves start to change their colors, apples are ready for picking and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It’s also when kids return to school. Fall is a time for new beginnings and new ambitions – just ask a Leaf fan if they’ll make the playoffs this year! In her student days, Emily used to put aside some time to set her expectations for the new school year and though those days of are well behind her, she hasn’t yet kicked the habit of setting goals each fall.
Our venture into this world of blogging and personal finance is as new and unknown to us as was Captain Kirk’s foray into the Final Frontier. Before we get too much further, it would probably be best if we defined some of our aspirations lest we go rampaging into darkness. With the back-story out of the way, let’s dig a little deeper and take a look at what we are looking to accomplish and where we see ourselves headed in the near future.
Short-term Goals (0-5 years)
To begin, we will be focusing most of our attention on these few short term goals. We will be looking to:
- Maintain a minimum 2 posts per week. The idea here is to get us connected with the Personal Finance community, to share our experiences and to learn from others.
- Max out both of our annual RRSP and TSFA contributions. This will act as a stepping stone for some of our more long term goals. We have never maxed them out. Not even one of them. Ever.
- Generate enough extra income to cover the expenses of running this blog. This one works two fold. We want to see Urban Departures grow as well as to learn how to make extra income from the internet.
- Move into bigger place. This is more of a personal goal, but with some serious financial consequences. We live very happily 850 sqft. condo, but, practically speaking, if our family grows, we may find ourselves in a bit of a squeeze. The housing market in Toronto continues to defy gravity so we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.
Long-term Goals (5+ years)
With the eye of the tiger, we’ll have our sights set on the long term and will be seeking to:
- Generate enough extra income to cover basic expenses. To us, this means the mortgage, property taxes, maintenance fees, phone, internet, groceries, transportation and insurance costs. We’re keeping our eye on the prize here – this would be a huge step towards financial freedom. That’s a spicy meatball.
- Live abroad as a family. We love to travel and this would be a great way to create meaningful memories.
- Give back to our community through teaching others about managing money.
The goals listed above are a reflection of our values: to live simply, to serve a community and to create memorable experiences. Updates will be forthcoming and some other goals may make their way into the mix but for now, that’s venti order if I ever saw one.
What’s new in the fall with you?
Living abroad as a family is an interesting goal and something that’s not on the radar for most young families. My wife has this dream to go to Ireland and Scotland and we’ve sort of accepted the fact that we won’t be able to make a meaningful trip over there until our kids are much older.
That said, in our wildest dreams we’ve considered moving to Ireland permanently. I think it would be a neat experience to do something like that and raise our family in a different culture.
Where would you like to live?
Travelling with kids certainly comes with its challenges. I bet the picture of a cranky kid up at night from jet lag is enough to give anyone second thoughts. However further along the road it may be, I’m glad that you’ll be taking the family out to live your dream. What draws you to Ireland and Scotland?
I was lucky enough to grow up bouncing around between a few different countries and value the experiences and perspectives picked up along the way. While we don’t have a set destination in our mind quite yet, our dreams are split in two scenarios. If we moved to further our careers, it would be larger city setting. On the flip side, we’d like to find a somewhere more off the beaten path. In any case, it would preferably be somewhere across an ocean. As for where the wild things go, the Galapagos comes to mind!
Not sure why, but watching this video really got us fired up to go there –