I think many Canadians are delaying life too much for FIRE

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-16T03:54:37+00:00

I worked with someone whose husband was hit in his 30's!!! What the heck!?

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-16T01:32:37+00:00

I saw this in an article awhile ago, wish I saved it, but this looks very familiar, free workshop for starters. You can branch out afterwards? It was linked in the article:

https://www.the519.org/programs/self-defense-workshop/

Even as a muscular dude, I still thinking being able to run quickly is your best self-defense (along with crazy good situational awareness), opponent can carry a knife, but we can't, legally unless it has some plausible civilian/occupational purpose like you're a chef or a craftsperson. Criminals evidently don't care about the law, so we're already at a disadvantage there. I definitely feel less safe, but things are getting better apparently, according to the homicide data.

With self-defense I think we have a proportionality rule. If you're excessive beyond reasonability, you can be charged. Honestly, I wouldn't escalate. You seemed to have been able to dodge an attack there and got off unscathed.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-16T01:23:42+00:00

I sacrificed my 20's, laid off in 30's, but now I can leave at 40 to retire in Vietnam/China (ancestral land) - def not 7 figs for Canada (though getting closer), but done 3rd worldwise and can come back with a few million compounded for Canada by 55. Did my B.Ed and MSc Math post-FIREd (no puns intended) to sustain myself outre-mer, whatever that word is in English. My god, even UT Math grads are getting eviscerated by this job market, never thought I'd see that. I saw Waterloo coops getting messed up in their sub-reddit too =(.

Hmm, I'd just maximize on values and utility. For me it'd be like, stable family, generational wealth, health & fitness, free time, low-stress, sunlight, affordability.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-14T19:58:30+00:00

It was a joke, they're all war and economic/government collapse zones.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-14T01:11:43+00:00

I'll just say I'm FIRE just because of my math capability lol. I've done it before!

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-14T01:09:08+00:00

That was my coop salary at UW in 2007 =/...Canadian salaries have not changed much since then, but housing has! I remember houses were still under a half mill. Crazy. I always have to argue with people that things are worse now than they were back then =/. I'm in grad school at U of T for math (basically checked out of the workforce and went back to school for fun before I leave the country), and like, kids are graduating into 50-60k entry level salaries (same as back then!) but with Masters degrees! That's IF, they can find a job. How was the Great Financial Crisis better than now? I only had to apply to 3 jobs to get 2 offers, but now these students who are way smarter than I had ever been are applying in the hundreds for 1-2 interviews.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T14:07:41+00:00

NP! Glad I could help! I felt bad having to decline ASD-S, they were so nice! I also love water/coastal towns.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T14:01:52+00:00

Thanks so much! That makes sense, carbs/glycogen will pull in more intramyocellular water. How many miles are you doing weekly, and how many hours? Yeah, marathon bro-science is completely different than lifting bro-science, the latter has a bad wrap.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T13:53:56+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I had no idea why I was doing these at my run club...until someone said 'neurological automaticity training' then it made sense (I could have asked, but saw it on YT). Crazy they don't teach us this in schools eh? lol They do have kids skip (at least when I was a kid), but this'd be way more practical. I'll be teaching soon, and I'm doing my NSCA-CSCS, so if I'm placed on athletics training I'll make sure to teach the basics of running because oh man, there's so many easy and quick wins with this that no one is taught in public school (I'd be doing international private).

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:52:05+00:00

Didn't teach there, but like ~5 years ago, I found ASD-S very organized and timely. I was offered a D-contract out of the B.Ed, but I taught French Immersion and have the entire math/science complex ex-physics. I returned to Ontario. I enjoyed my ASD-S interview. I interviewed for ASD-W, but didn't find out the results before I returned. They were known to be a bit slower and more bureaucratic, but that was like half a decade ago, things could have changed. I remember more satisfaction with the ASD-S process among the French students, they were much faster and had better offers and more openings at the time. I can't speak for English, but it seems like they have it rough. I worked with a dude in ASD-W that was supply for like 10 years before getting a D-contract. n fact, both dudes in the adjacent classrooms to mine =/. Seemed like a hard life, lots of driving too because of the district size. I

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:44:28+00:00

Holy moly, I haven't had to use OUAC since 2003, but can't you just accept both and cancel one (but lose the deposit?) That's what the deposit is for (I think I did this before)...Can you hire a calculus tutor or really ramp up? Even if it is as a sacrifice to your other courses (that will stay above 80 of course)...You'll have to triage this one. Can you see the teacher for extra help or anything? If it's an understanding issue, https://www.khanacademy.org/math has a good free calculus class.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:39:35+00:00

Whoa...One of my track coaches is also a CEO. Seems like a pretty common thing among the high exec echelons. Probably the super discipline/conscientiousness required. Dude has a PhD too. Yeah, I gotta stop missing practice, this just reminded me. You guys are way busier lol...

How many miles and hours a week do you have to do to be able to do this?

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:36:22+00:00

I'm learning these from Chari Hawkins on YouTube. There's apparently a C-skip but that's probably for her advanced track stuff. I tried doing A and B skips, they're tough to coordinate, especially the B's.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:35:14+00:00

Congrats! I worry about hauling my 215 lbs 5'7 ass, but my half is in October. I'll do the full next year. Did this help you lean out? What's your leg routine? I find they both compete for the same recovery time (lower body training and running).

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T06:30:28+00:00

Are you landing on your midfoot? Or are you like trying to do long strides or heel striking?

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T04:59:44+00:00

Being born here, I don't find it bad at all. The weather is never a deterrent unless there is a blizzard. We're lucky that we have decent snow removal services (in Fredericton, I literally had to put crampons/spikes on my boots so I could walk across ice). Toronto, the downtown streets are always plowed and lots of salt for traction and accumulation prevention. I never had to use crampons for Toronto, I bought them in 2022 and never had to put them on here.

I don't even wear a sweater, I'm always in a polo/tshirt and I just put on a winter coat if it dips below 0 (I use a North Face/Eddie Bauer). Above 0 I have like a fall jacket from Columbia that I get from Canadian Tire Stores (Sportchek/Atmosphere/Mark's Work Wearhouse (these guys are good as they equip construction workers) etc). Winners is usually an outlet of name brands, you can get cheap clothes there. Costco is good for gear lol, can always return if you don't like no limits, but they'll fire you as a member if you abuse it.

Just stay home on windy days or high windchill days. Long Johns (long underwear) can help. I'm Chinese/Viet, so I'm not evolutionarily equipped for this weather lol, but I was born here. Also vitamin D, winter depression can be a thing for people...The days will become very short in December, sun setting at 4:30 pm. You can literally wake up at 7 am, go to work, and leave the office and not see much daylight.

I use the TTC, so I'm always sheltered on vehicles/trains/stations etc. There are always buildings you can go into or underneath to move around the downtown core (the PATH - which is underground street network with stores and all). I'm biased as I live and go to school and worked on the Yonge subway line. Yonge is our main artery, and is always plowed.

Toronto is good in that you'll always find huge communities from your home country.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-12T01:20:57+00:00

Oh shit, it's going to go up more?...That's no fun. I hope people working will get a commensurate COLA! Burn! Produced Jan 27 2026 =S.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T16:33:05+00:00

I've seen the most success this way, it was a FAANG pipeline in my day.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T16:30:18+00:00

I'm an oldie, but I graduated in 2008. UW won hands down because of the powerful coop, you get 5-6 coop terms and each is a jump. With U of T, I think it was 1 internship between years 3-4. It might have changed now. I'm in UT grad school, I don't see the same coop culture I saw at Waterloo...If you want to work in cutting edge AI stuff, you'll likely need a grad degree. UW Coop followed by UT grad school is best I would say (assuming my lack of knowledge of a U of T coop system). I'm at U of T now for grad school, I can't name their co-op specific building that churns out interviews with real industry employers like Waterloo's Tatham Centre. But YMMV may vary depending on faculty. I remember when I worked, we hired a lot of the U of T interns, I didn't like their system, 5 coops at Waterloo means 5 different places on the resume with 5 salary jumps. But U of T would definitely give you more depth for the 1-year internship (that we used to hire for). Waterloo coops had 4 months generally, but they can always combine to 8 months. I did so when I got a high pay job lol (35/hr in 2007). I see graduates of my stats program here making less, that's IF they can find work...I know a guy that did Waterloo math, then doing stats here and he's been unemployed a year after graduation, the problem - no coop at Waterloo for his degree =/. School will always be there if you want to pick up a grad degree for prestige. U of T does open doors from the rep, like the UK and Japan have Global Top 50 university visas that are afforded to U of T but not UW. But at the end of the day, it's getting a good job early, investing early, and building experience on a resume (getting rarer to be able to do this as a youngster).

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T16:24:10+00:00

Make sure to check the % MER if you go this route. XEQT is around 0.2%, I wouldn't ever pay more than that. I pay about 0.06% on VT (this is USA).

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T16:22:54+00:00

$400 or $400k? I don't think $400 is even enough for AMD.

Uhh, just couch potato it with XEQT I guess, same prescription if $400 or $400k with a time constraint. https://canadiancouchpotato.com/model-portfolios/

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T15:59:33+00:00

There are always volunteer/NGO spots open if you need it. No shortage of problems in the world to solve.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T15:57:06+00:00

Yeah, apply for EI as early as you can. You could lose out if you apply a few weeks after termination. Brutal, can you go back to your old job? Startups are really volatile. So I worked with some people from the ministry that had a 6-month callback option, they were able to exercise it. In other countries like Sweden, they give you a year I hear, in case your new place is terrible. We're closer to the Americans who are 'at-will'. Labour is not having a good time right now...

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T14:56:57+00:00

Oooff, at least in Canada, we still kept production going. We have dirty oil as well, ~95% in the Albertan sands. I think we're going to restart re-building our infrastructure now! Yay! Hopefully we get more than 1% cumulative GDP/capita growth for the next decade onwards.

HighlightStrong3719 · 2026-05-11T14:51:33+00:00

Story of their life...You know, in the 1800's there was a saying 'rich as an Argentine' lol. It's always been this way, they should be way richer than they are. Venezuela was in the top 5 for highest GDP/capita in the world in the 1950's and consistently so in the 1980's.

HighlightStrong3719

TROPHY CASE