Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Noedig, thanks very much for such a nice feedback
I love English! I love the F-word idioms and we also have to use them a lot at work (while patients can't hear, lol). That's just the reality of working in a medical field I guess.
You got the "Canadian sense" part right, haha!
"Mister Sister" is totally on-board now. He didn't read the ERE book, but I explained the idea and he supports it.

To throw in another idiom, you really seem to have taken the bull by the horns. There are places in N. Alberta and N. Saskatchewan I would like to visit some day, so in some ways the life the two of you have undertaken seems like a dream life to me! When I contemplate some of the more more distant/remote parts of Canada I feel like a fraud referring to the area around the Great Lakes as "the Northwoods", but I suppose all things are relative.

My guess would be that at the rate you are going, you might very well exceed your goals. Good luck.

IlliniDave, thanks! Yes, all things are relative. I also feel like a fraud referring to our area as the Great White North when my friend is texting me pictures from Inuvik (she's a critical care flight nurse up there)

Bad news, mom had to go for a neuro surgery back in Russia and guess who had to pay for everything. But I'm glad to be able to help and money is not a problem. I did not have to use any savings, but I was able to put away only about $1800 last month. Mom is doing very well, so I'm happy.

Another bad news: I failed a road test. That is an expensive endeavour to learn how to drive when you don't have parents or husband who would teach you. My husband doesn't drive. So I'm paying the teacher and that's expensive. I'm paying insurance for my car which is more expensive for me because I only have a learner's permit. But I think I'll pass next time. I'm just not familiar with the area where the route was (50 km away, in the next town). My driving skills were okay, just the freaking playground... Oh well... I get my license and it will be over with.

Good news is that I've got another automatic pay raise since it's been 2 years of service.Very nice!

Okay, for August 2016, for the family of 2:
Total income $11,942.12 (I had 3 paydays last month, yay)
Savings $1,822.33
Savings rate 15.26%
Mortgage payments $2,026.53
Outstanding mortgage $80,350.66
House value $140,000.00
Total savings $51,664.88
Net worth $114,098.95

CECPTA stated:
"Thing is I have a few foods that I'm absolutely not giving up. Watermelons is one of them"

I have heard that you can dehydrate watermelon. It shrinks up a lot but tastes intensely wonderfully watermeloney. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it's in the plans.

Привет Сестра from NYC. У тебя настоящий талант. Do you write in Russian as well as you do in English?

tommytebco wrote:I have heard that you can dehydrate watermelon. It shrinks up a lot but tastes intensely wonderfully watermeloney. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it's in the plans.

Sounds really interesting, I should try. I just don't know if it's going to work, it might drive me crazy, dehydrating something that I enjoy eating as is

boris10475 wrote:Привет Сестра from NYC. У тебя настоящий талант. Do you write in Russian as well as you do in English?

Борис, спасибо на добром слове! You are too kind It is more difficult to discuss certain concepts in Russian because I only learned about them in English. But I enjoy reading and writing in Russian, if there is a chance

I know what you are talking about. How old were you when you got here? Where in Russian Far East are you from? Do you go back there at all?

boris10475 wrote:I know what you are talking about. How old were you when you got here? Where in Russian Far East are you from? Do you go back there at all?

I'm 38 yo now, we immigrated to Canada 7 years ago. We're from Khabarovsk. What about you?
I don't go back to my hometown because everyone's moved somewhere else, and there's no one to visit.

Kiev, closing on 20 years since I moved to the US, never been back but planning to, maybe around 2018 when my nephews get a little older and will be able to appreciate things and to remember things a little better:)) They are 5 and 2 now.
Never been east from Urals, it should be beautiful out there. Did you have a chance to travel around, to go to Baikal?
Your English writing is remarkable considering you were over 30 when you started out ( I guess ). I was about 30 when I got here and I am always amazed by beautiful English writing skills adults acquire. There is a Russian guy in Brooklyn writing very well.
http://lazytravelers.net/
Did you make a lot of friends in your town in Alberta? How big is the town?

boris10475 wrote:Kiev, closing on 20 years since I moved to the US, never been back but planning to, maybe around 2018 when my nephews get a little older and will be able to appreciate things and to remember things a little better:)) They are 5 and 2 now.

I wanna go to Kiev and Odessa very much, so I'll try to do that as the chance comes up. Heard a lot of good things about these cities.

boris10475 wrote:Never been east from Urals, it should be beautiful out there. Did you have a chance to travel around, to go to Baikal?

Yep, I had some camping trips in Krasnoyarsk and Baikal areas. It was very nice, except for mosquitoes lol.

boris10475 wrote:Your English writing is remarkable considering you were over 30 when you started out ( I guess ).

Thanks again, check your private messages, I sent you some details on my English learning history

boris10475 wrote:Did you make a lot of friends in your town in Alberta? How big is the town?

500 people )) I know most of them, as a nurse. Very small, clean, peaceful and quiet. Very isolated, kids play on the streets without any fear of strangers. I've got lots of 'social capital' here, but I don't really make friends easily. But we do a lot of stuff together and socialise lots.

Okay, I started working in the new capacity (desk job, not bedside nursing). Mon to Fri, 8 to 4, no night shifts. It feels like I'm a cheater... 100 times less stress. Busy, but manageable. I get the same rate per hour ($41), but no modifiers, because we only get modifiers when working nights, weekends or some crazy hours. So, I'm losing a bit of income, but the benefits are disproportionately bigger. With this kind of change in pace and with this change in stress levels I'm not in so much rush to retire. Not to the extent I was before But I'm on track, it's all good

I'm quite discouraged and disheartened about the perspectives of my FI.
It became quite clear that my Mom back in Russia will not be able to get back to work after her back surgery. Everything is okay with her, she's not sick or anything like that. But she's retired and her pension in Russia is not enough to cover basic needs.
So, I have been sending her money for a year ($6000 total) and with that she has been living a decent life, though quite frugal, which I encouraged, as I can't and won't support a lifestyle more luxurious than mine.
Anyway, now it is clear that FI becomes quite distant in my situation. As my parents age their needs will become more and more expensive. I just need to decide right now what shall I do. Either back to killing myself at work with all that overtime and therefore better savings rate. I don't know how long I would last though.
Or just continue doing what I'm doing with rather low stress level and still enough income to cover everything but more distant FI.
For the last year I
sent my Mom $6,000
saved and invested $40,000
brought debt (mortgage) from $88,000 to $60,000

But for the majority of the year I was working full time, and now I'm 0.8 FTE and much more healthy mentally. My parents are relatively healthy and happy. I'm enjoying my job and my life.

Everything is good, even though FI is not that close. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Would the extra time give you opportunities to do a side project that could generate some income or help reduce expenses?

Perhaps if you have a good portfolio allocation you can achieve FI sooner than you think, maybe ~7 years, especially with the magic of compounding interest etc.

JamesR, I have many options, actually, on what to do, I just need to pick a strategy.

The struggle right now is philosophical, the paradigm shift in my life. Since I have dependants now with unpredictable circumstances, I can't dream about full freedom anymore. Which is okay, I will readjust my dreams of decent life.

Would it be worthwhile to encourage your parents to join you in Canada?

Hey сестричка,
my vote is to stay on easier job and do what you got to do helping your family. If you burn yourself out on more demanding job I do not think the prospect of earlier retirement will appeal to you much. Looks like you are doing fine with your $$$ numbers, just keep doing what you are already doing. You can't bring your parents to Canada, can you?

K60, boris10475,
That thought did cross my mind, but I could not see how it would be advantageous. My parents both are very involved in the community life where they live, have many hobbies that are only possible there and can't speak English. Plus it would be more expensive. I don't see any point.

Well, there are certain advantages too, as not having to have to travel to Khabarovsk to see your parents ( unless you have to go anyways), access to better?? and cheaper?? medical facilities in Canada, opportunity to be closer to your parents when they get older and will need some regular assistance, maybe sharing some living expenses with them as well. But as you said some people have strong emotional and community connections to their homeland, so this is a tough one.

wouldn't it be cheaper because they don't have to pay rent? Anyways, its not your fault that they didn't plan ahead better....

boris10475 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 28, 2017 3:03 pm

Well, there are certain advantages too, as not having to have to travel to Khabarovsk to see your parents ( unless you have to go anyways), access to better?? and cheaper?? medical facilities in Canada, opportunity to be closer to your parents when they get older and will need some regular assistance, maybe sharing some living expenses with them as well. But as you said some people have strong emotional and community connections to their homeland, so this is a tough one.

There are advantages but they outweighed by disadvantages 10 fold. They own (debt free) a nice place in St Petersburg (they don't live in Khabarovsk) and the utilities are cheap. And as I said in the first post my house is really tiny. We would have to find a bigger place because there is no room for 4 people.

Medical care is overrated. Health care does not make people healthier. I actually call it "sick care." Healthy lifestyle, that I was able to promote to them had very dramatic results. They are off all meds, active and happy. I have very unorthodox views on health care (as an insider) and I don't think that it is better in Canada. It is a topic for a very big discussion and the bottom line is – I'm not concerned about their access to health care.

Remember, I live in the bush. And I don't have any plans of moving somewhere else. My parents have access to the world's best museums, operas, ballet, and fun events. My Dad sings in a choir, my Mom can have a Senior Citizen $5 ticket to opera. They are really having the best life possible there. And I'm happy to support it. But imagine here. Sitting at home, driving us crazy (Mom chats a lot), maybe watching some Russian TV. What's the point? Then, because of our "great" healthcare, when it's time to go, they might be "saved" and turned into demented Long Term Care zombies. So that our "wonderful" facilities can sustain life for decades and charge the provincial budget for all that.

Also, long term care in Canada is not free. You still have to pay, and in Russia for the same amount of money you can have a better personalised care at home.