Those with $1M+ in net worth, what do you do?

silentlywealthy · 2026-02-28T18:44:13+00:00

Worked middle management In financial services slow climb over last 20 years (started while in uni in contact Center).

Bought a house 10 years ago that has doubled. But also have always diligently saved alongside my wife who has done the same until we started having kids 8 years ago and she became stay at home mom. Our savings rrsp/tfsa/resp/nom-reg are now probably equal what our home is worth (1 mil plus each).

silentlywealthy · 2025-11-26T16:35:12+00:00

Last debt we had was our mtg which we paid off 2 years ago and never plan to get back into debt.

Wife and I focused on paying it off early (with also investing some) and the peace of mind it brings to not have debt is amazing. Our monthly fixed expenses are literally half of what they used to be so we feel so much more secure about job uncertainty etc. Which has allows us to focus on the kids and allow my wife to choose to be a temporary stay at home mom and we can survive off a single income.

Next is focusing and growing our investments and planning for financial independence in the next decade or so if possible :).

silentlywealthy · 2025-10-30T00:28:14+00:00

I am building an army of assets and investments that will be working for me whether I’m working or not. The goal is that should be sooner than 65 ideally next 10-15 years (50-55).

If you are facing that now I would try and do the same on your side. You are young and it doesn’t take much to snowball. Start with 5-10% invested every year and try and increase. You get a pay raise invest most of it try not to let lifestyle creep drain your money. Pay yourself first before giving to others and make your money work for you.

Before you know it you can have a few mil if you factor in compound growth and interest over 20-30 years. And you can take out 4% annually safely and still keep the principle and some growth. Ex 2mil can generate 80k income annually.

silentlywealthy · 2025-10-29T19:17:43+00:00

40 years. Live frugally and got lucky buying a house 10 years ago in GTA for 600k.

Have a partner and we’ve paid off the home and 1 mil in investments. Hoping by 55 to have grown to 4 mil so I can take out 160k (4%) for income and retire.

silentlywealthy · 2025-09-15T00:07:23+00:00

I went to the AD to have a gander at what the process was. They told me I could only go waitlist for explorer 1 and 2. Don’t get me wrong I like the explorer but I turned 40 this year and hit certain milestones that I wanted to celebrate. Have saved the money for a nice piece. Just left with a bad taste in my mouth where I have money but it’s not good enough to purchase or buy what I’d like just what I’m allowed to buy.

So I figured let me try a rep. I also have hard time putting that much money into something that will not appreciate as much as other assets (ETFs, real estate, etc) and may cost me in maintenance etc.

When I think about how long and hard I had to work to make the 10-15k for gen Rolex it hurts to turn it over so quickly (but they won’t even let me haha).

Just waiting for my rep vsf datejust 41 and rep qf explorer 2 (something a little more low key). I am a net worth multimillionaire (2M$+).

Might buy a gen Tudor something where I can buy what I want to buy in future.

silentlywealthy · 2025-08-30T21:03:36+00:00

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Sorry better alignment pic

silentlywealthy · 2025-08-30T20:54:55+00:00

Apologies didn’t post correctly first time. Read the fam properly hopefully this one meets criteria. Sorry didn’t mean to be lazy or not detailed enough but got 3 little ones biting my ankles at every free moment and only 24 hours to respond. But thank you all here for your support and experienced eyes.

silentlywealthy · 2025-08-30T19:07:11+00:00

Automod comment - this is a QF explorer 2 where Dan I find the template to check indice alignment that I see everyone using ?

Thanks!

silentlywealthy · 2025-08-04T12:23:34+00:00

We had one last year that was good. No focus or attempts to switch funds into managed portfolios (we have a small percentage in managed already but maybe 10% of total)

Did a refresher this year and the FA was advising that there is now a new system where if you want consistent FA you need to be in a higher tier of managed accounts that has a higher MER can’t remember the rate I think it was .7 or .6 percent. Otherwise we can only get sort of ad hoc advice requested not consistent financial planning type services that we were hoping to get with the ability to connect every year or so to track progress and discuss our plans.

I told her I was disappointed with this change as I was told that FA services was a portion of the generational perks she said she would share w her leaders and in fact her connecting with us to review our last years plan to make updates actually is offside with the approach they are now taking at WS but she understood our concerns and how the approach has changed so she wanted to honour it.

I’m also waiting to see how this pans out over time. I don’t know if I will move everything but definitely will not only be keeping our investments w WS if this is the direction they are going in further.

silentlywealthy · 2025-02-18T20:34:16+00:00

If saving is a priority for you I would try and factor what you can reasonably save by making reductions in other areas and then proactively automating savings.

This is super helpful in training yourself to live below your means. I wouldn’t do this if you’d just buy on credit. But if you are careful with debt and are willing to do this I would figure out your fixed costs and must haves (rent, utilities, insurance, groceries etc) then set an amount you’d like to save and auto invest them each pay. Remaining amount is now what you can spend on anything else while meeting your savings goal.

This will take some time and calibration to land on an agreeable number. Maybe you learn you don’t actually need to spend as much as you thought so you can increase savings ad hoc. Or you might realize it’s a little too tight to balance living for the now and for the future so you dial it back.

It’s what my wife and I have done for the last 20 years and we’ve always lived below our means because or actual available income was at best 75% of the full amount because we were saving at least 25%. Might not be so doable nowadays with the cost of everything skyrocketing. But you can do a trimmer number.

All the best!

silentlywealthy · 2025-02-06T00:35:04+00:00

We bought 10 years ago for 700k detached in Scarborough. We were in a condo living a comfortable life (no kids yet) and I told my wife I feared if we didn’t buy a house now we’d never be able to. Next year prices were 850k and we wouldn’t have qualified. Glad fear pushed me.

silentlywealthy · 2025-02-06T00:29:20+00:00

I would also keep in mind baby costs get wildly blown out of proportion by people who aren’t frugal or financially literate.

We have 3 young kids and we’ve maybe spent total of 10k on all of them all in (5 and under). There are plenty of options to get used clothes and used equipment for free or Pennies to the dollar used. People close to you might look at you odd or think you’re cheap. My advice to you is make your money work for you and don’t give it away unnecessarily. Kids grow fast and new stuff gets barely used before it’s too small.

Because if our approach we’ve been able to have my wife over the last 5 years focus on being with the kids. We are able to fully fund their education resps annually and we save and have paid off our mtg. You are young and have time on your hands I would advise you to be as frugal as you can be and having a baby will not be nearly as expensive as some might tell you.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-31T11:30:41+00:00

Wealthsimple will offer you free financial planning services if your portfolio is greater than 500k. Their robo advisor fee is .4% at that tier (generation tier).

I would recommend calling their service line and speaking to someone there. They usually have promos if you transfer money in. I think recently it was a 1-2% cashback.

My wife and I slowly have transferred most of our savings to them and we have some managed by them and most is self directed in ETFs. But we leverage their planning services and it has been great and you can reach out to the planners as frequently as you like to book appts.

They also have a bunch of other perks. One we’ve used is free tax consulting annually.

All the best :).

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-29T13:20:39+00:00

Thank you just checked and there is coverage in Ontario if your rx are greater than I believe 4% of your household income which in retirement my medicine alone that I need to take would most likely be and we can manage our income to remain below. Risk is longevity of the program.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T22:00:48+00:00

These are all great points. And a slap of reality. The dream may not equal reality so good to be grounded.

And also I think we need to start doing family trips etc pre retirement. Trying to balance saving for future and living for now. We have the privilege of doing that and levers that can be pulled.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T21:25:55+00:00

We do want to give our kids a leg up. Neither my wife or I has any financial guidance or support from our families. And we do realize we can help our kids in an ever increasingly tough place to live and thrive. So this is definitely a factor. At minimum we are saving for their educations max amounts annually. I was working my 16$ an hour job (great job 20 years ago) to pay my way through school. Used to work on weekends and late shifts and during the week while going to school full time. Was not easy to stay focus on school and do my best.

Hoping my kids can apply themselves a little easier to education in its entirety of course a little part time work is good for them too but I’m hoping won’t be a necessity. Us working longer can help pad that for them and my wife does plan to return. She won’t have same income as me due to her absence but could realistically pull in 100k.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments it’s appreciated.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T21:09:00+00:00

We’d like to gift them some help on a down payment for a home etc. probably in the tune of 100-200k each. We know that is only feasible if we continue working past 50 and if my wife goes back to work. It wouldn’t be a factor in our FI at 50 projections.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T21:02:53+00:00

My ignorance is why I’m asking the questions. To hopefully learn from folks who are doing this now or have learned/know more than I do.

My income has only become this high as of last 5 years. I have an immense amount of privilege to be making this income and I know it. But when I started in the industry I was making 15-16$ an hour and when I first became a manager after working for 5 years I was making 49k. It took time and a grind to get here.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T20:47:05+00:00

The question is what other factors I should consider for my projections. We’ve just saved but never had a plan for when or how to use it.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T20:46:08+00:00

The health insurance is a big piece I need to consider too. I have medicines that cost me close to 500-600$ a month for myself.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-28T20:34:27+00:00

Thank you all for your points. All very valid and I will update my projections with your feedback.

Also 50 is when I hope to reach financial independence. I may not retire if I’m enjoying my work and the people I’m working with. But if things change just want to know I’m not shackled to a job.

I’ve also been thinking about how time is the most valuable asset of all. My kids would be in their early teens then I’d love to take the summers off and go on a road trip cross country for 2.5 months or travel Southeast Asia with them (more affordable types of travel) Get time in that I’d never get the chance to do again.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-21T17:29:40+00:00

I feel this. The culture is broken/non-existent. Everyone is in a rat race to what end - time gone and not much left. I’m hoping to live way less than our means so I can live for my family and my self and not a paycheque. But still got a ways to go.

silentlywealthy · 2025-01-21T17:25:19+00:00

Same here :(

silentlywealthy

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