Departures 2.0

“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” – Henry David Thoreau

You may notice a few things are different around here. Let me start with a recap of what we’ve been up to and why you should care.

When last we connected, we had a rosy outlook for 2015. Fast forward 10 months later: we did a bit of the travel thing and then spent much of the summer outdoors tending to our urban garden. We are now happy parents to an insomniac 4-month-old and have been living life through the eyes of an inquisitive 3-year-old.

We’ve been able to dig deep and deliver on the goals we set out earlier in the year. We maxed out one of our TFSA accounts at the new $10K contribution limit for this year. If all goes according to plan, we will close to maxing out the other by the end of the year. We’ve been putting aside enough in our RRSP to max out our employers’ match and we just made an investment in a second RESP. We’re in the best financial shape we’ve ever been. We’ve developed a solid understanding on why we spend, what we spend on and where and how to invest our savings.

We started our urban departure as a two part experiment. We wanted to track our financial evolution and try our hand at building an online community.  As our time became increasingly pressed with the demands of balancing our extracurricular activities with work and parenting, it became clear that we would need to refocus and re-establish the simplicity we so longingly desire.

For the better part of the last year and a half, we’ve been haphazardly writing about how our finances impact our lives- hoping that you, our patient readers, would glean a lesson here or pick up a tip there. That’s fine and all, but everyone in town’s got their own two cents. Sure, we’ll continue to share our hacks, but we can do better.

“Wealth,” in the words of Henry David Thoreau, “is the ability to fully experience life.” Managing money and debt is stressful. Depending on where you live, $5 can mean a cup of coffee or a day’s wages, but the numbers in our bank account don’t dictate our ability to realize potential or nurture lasting relationships. We’re committing to explore this definition of wealth and engage- wholeheartedly- in this pursuit with the best and worst of which our financial circumstances will have to offer. Let’s work together to set our finances on autopilot so that we can focus on the things we really care about.

Urban Departures is our labour of love. Our little layover has given us some clarity as to how we are going to move forward…and we can’t wait to get started. Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to start the second leg of our journey.