Freedom

Let’s Go Exploring! Melbourne, Australia: Coffee and Sporting Capital of the World
- The Most Epic Babymoon - September 18, 2023
- Let’s Go Exploring! Hobbiton and Auckland, New Zealand: Fangirling over the Lord of the Rings - September 4, 2023
- Are Millennials the New Boomers? - August 28, 2023
My first thought going from the airport to our HomeExchange in Melbourne, was “are we in Toronto?!” My second thought was “did we just fly 22 hours only to end up back in Canada?” Approaching downtown gave me an odd sense of déjà vu, even though we were clearly on the opposite side of the road and as geographically far away from North America as humanly possible. Something about the road signs and the concrete jungle in the distance felt oddly familiar. That feeling, however, disappeared as soon as we were inside the city centre. Unlike the North American car-obsessed […]

Student Loan Repayments Are Back…But Help is on the way!
- Reader Case: Future Empty Nesters - September 25, 2023
- Full Circle - September 11, 2023
- Yield To Maturity Might Be Indicating a Bottom in the Bond Market - August 21, 2023
In May, the world watched in horror once again as the US once hit its debt ceiling, and the bitter infighting between Congressional Democrats and Republicans threatened to derail the world economy. Democrats once again wanted the debt ceiling to be raised without conditions, while Republicans wanted massive spending cuts, and were willing to risk a default to get it. Fortunately, in the end cooler heads prevailed and a deal was reached that allowed the government to continue to pay their debts without going into default, and everyone promptly forgot about it. Until…now. After three years of relief, the U.S. […]

What Netflix’s Beef Taught Me About Financial Independence
- The Most Epic Babymoon - September 18, 2023
- Let’s Go Exploring! Hobbiton and Auckland, New Zealand: Fangirling over the Lord of the Rings - September 4, 2023
- Are Millennials the New Boomers? - August 28, 2023
Have you ever been so angry you wanted to burn someone’s house down? If so, you’ll relate to the Netflix series “Beef”. Oh, and if you haven’t seen the show yet, SPOILER ALERT. You’ve been warned. Anyway, the show follows the story of 2 characters: Danny Cho, a struggling contractor, and rich bitch Amy Lau who’s about to sell her successful plant business for 10 million. They get into a road rage incident and try to dole out revenge on each other, competing to see who can hurt the other more until both their lives blow up. I thought this […]

Let’s Go Exploring: Cusco and the Lost City of Machu Picchu
- Reader Case: Future Empty Nesters - September 25, 2023
- Full Circle - September 11, 2023
- Yield To Maturity Might Be Indicating a Bottom in the Bond Market - August 21, 2023
“Holy…crap…how…much…further?” I panted. I was carrying a 10L jug of filtered water from the supermarket to our AirBnb. What’s normally a common and uneventful task in South America turned into an unexpected slog because of one major thing you have to watch out for if you ever visit Cusco, Peru: the altitude. Cusco sits about 11,000 feet above sea level, which is *checks notes* really freakin’ high. We had gotten a prescription for Diamox, an anti-altitude sickness drug, before we left for Peru, and once we arrived we were chugging the coca tea generously provided by our host like crazy, […]

Why HomeExchange Beats Airbnb
- The Most Epic Babymoon - September 18, 2023
- Let’s Go Exploring! Hobbiton and Auckland, New Zealand: Fangirling over the Lord of the Rings - September 4, 2023
- Are Millennials the New Boomers? - August 28, 2023
So after the worst travel day ever and just barely making it to Australia, we thought we’d be on easy street. Nothing but blue clouds, rainbows, and unicorns from here on out right? Wrong. Turns out, we weren’t done with jumping through hoops to be in Australia yet. We had to prove we were worthy. And as such, our HomeExchange host in Sydney cancelled on us at the last minute, so we suddenly found ourselves (at least temporarily) homeless. Now, of course, this is completely understandable, given that there was a medical emergency that the host had no control over. […]