I tend to follow the second route and buy local nearly organic products.  To date I’ve switched most of my fresh veggies over to nearly organic over the summer, we eat free range chicken eggs most of the time and I’m currently trying some nearly organic beef.   This is what I’ve learned from our experience to date.

1. Eggs.  We noticed a significant improvement in the free range eggs over our regular ones at the store.  Much more flavour and the price premium is less than $0.50 per dozen eggs.  I highly recommend switching if you can find a supplier.
2. Veggies.  To be honest I consider the nearly organic nature of our veggies a nice bonus, I really buy the stuff because of the freshness.  After all it is hard to beat the taste when the food been out of the ground for at most two days when I get it.
3. Meat.  I’ve often heard that buying organic meat is a good choice, but so far I’ve yet to notice much of a difference other than the extra cost.  Yet to be honest this is a rather new choice for us, so I’m giving it a bit more time before making a final judgment.

To date I’ve not done much for organic fruit so I don’t really have an opinion yet on that.  In general I tend to support local over organic, because of the relationship issues.  I get to know my farmer and I feel good supporting his farm as it grows.

You see I’ve always considered work a bit of necessary evil in the world.  I do a job to get paid and I use that money to pay for the basics in life and then save a bit for my dreams.  I’ve never considered finding a good paying job that I might actually love doing.  Yet during my last vacation here I’m starting to get a really odd feeling I’ve never had before about going back to work:  I’m looking forward to going back to my job!

For once I’ve actually found a job I might consider continuing to do even if I become financially independent, which to me is really odd find.  I expected to sort of like my job, but to like it this much is really unusual for me.  So the offshoot of this new feeling towards work is I’ve become a bit disinterested in my own blog and the concept of early retirement.  Strange, but true.

I finally get the idea that is you love what you do, being financially independent becomes less important to you.  So my focus really has not been on this blog as of late and I’ve also found working on the book project a bit more difficult lately.  So does this mean I’m going to stop?  No, I still enjoy writing, but I might start injecting a bit more time on some fiction work as well to help balance my interests out a bit more.

I’m not sure what all this means in the long haul.  I’ve yet to think that much about it, but I’ll keep you posted on my thoughts as they develop.

So for those of you who love your jobs, do you care about early retirement or not?  Or for those of you that don’t like your job, is that your main reason for planning early retirement?

I can relate.  When we were expecting our first I also quickly found you can go deep into debt for baby gear if you want to.  Key word there was “‘want”.  It is possible to have kids and not break the bank, it just takes more planning.

1. Don’t Underestimate Baby Gifts.  I was shocked with the volume of clothes we got when our first son was born.  In some cases the kid only wore a outfit a couple of times before he out grew it.  So if I was to do it over again I would only buy a few sleepers to start with and then got shopping after the baby gift train has come to a complete stop.
2. Realize the Baby Does Not Care.  Really the difference between the hardwood crib and the used one from a garage sale is price and what you think of it.  The baby could not care less what it is sleeping in.  Even as they get older they will likely have no memory of their crib.  So don’t buy expensive “for the baby” you are really doing it for yourself.
3. Try Breastfeeding.  Formula is grossly expensive, so save a small fortune in costs and give breastfeeding a go.  Beyond the money savings you will also be giving your baby a great start in life.  Numerous medical studies have been done on the benefits so do some research if you want to learn more.
4. Avoid Brand Name.  Do you know why all hospitals have Pampers or Huggies?  Because they want to get you sucked into a certain brand from the start.  Don’t fall for it.  I have a friend that has worked at commissioning a diaper plant and trust me there is almost no physical difference between the brand name diapers and store brands.  So save the money.  That applies to most baby products.  No name is just fine.
5. Avoid the Extras. You don’t need a change table.  In fact I’ve never changed a diaper on one in my life.  There are lots of nice things to buy when baby comes, but for the start just keep to the basics like a place to sleep, infant carrier/car seat and some sleepers.  You can pick up diapers on the way home from the hospital.

Well that’s my new parent advice summary, but I curious what other new parents have found out after their baby.  So if you have a tip, please share.

I’m not an expert on negotiation, not even close, but I still manage to find a use for the skill once in a while.  Here’s my tips on how to make it work.

1. Ask.  It’s amazing the amount of times in people’s lives that someone doesn’t ask for a deal when it would be appropriate.  If you are buying anything used, you can negotiate the price.  If you are buying any large ticket item negotiate the price.  If your buying anything that would resemble a bulk order you can try to negotiate.
2. Don’t argue.  Negotiation isn’t a fight where the winner takes all.  It’s rather trying to find common group between two people who want to do business.  So don’t come off as overbearing and inflexible.  Just be calm and ask “So would you take less for this?”
3. Have options ready.  If you want to pay $10 for the item don’t offer that as your first bid.  Start at $7 or 8 and be willing to move up.  Also consider in advance the most you will pay for the item in question.
4. Understand the other person’s needs.  When I started my last job I was aware it is often easier for people to offer you move vacation than salary, so I focused my negotiation on vacation.  I got an extra weeks vacation, which is equal to a 2% raise.  We both win in that case.
5. Be careful with low balling.  Offering a very low initial offer can come across as insulting if not done very carefully.  So if you are going to do it, for example on a house, you better be prepared to cut some slack and drop other common terms on the offer to make it clean and somewhat appealing such as home inspection or selling your home first.  Then if the price starts going up you can start adding in terms.  I know I bought my current house without the clause of getting approved financing, which my bank asked for.  They were a bit touchy I didn’t put on the term, but they got over it and it helped me save 5% on my house.

Well that’s my limited experience with negotiating. What has worked for you?  Please share with a comment.

So how do we get along with a busy family and just one car?  Well here’s what works for us.

1. Plan ahead.  Even if you do nothing else you need to plan ahead to keep just one car.  On those days my wife needs the car I take the bus and she then tries to plan as many appointments and errands into one day that she can reasonable get done.
2. Use public transit.  For a while I actually just took the bus to work all the time.  It wasn’t that bad except for those -30C or colder days.  Then yes, it wasn’t nice, but it is doable.
3. Use a cab for those odd trips.  Ok, sometimes you need to get somewhere in a hurry, so take a cab.  Yes it is pricey, but cheap when you only do it once every few months compared to that second car.
4. Walk or bike.  Now to really save some money skip the car entirely.  We often do this for short shopping trips or on a nice night as a family when we go to the library.
5. Be flexible.  All in all the main thing is to be flexible with planning your trips and realize you can’t be in two places at once without some extra effort.  Once you get that the rest if fairly easy.

So overall I don’t mind only having one car.  After we got used to it I don’t even really notice it anymore for the most part.  Try to think of a second car as a luxury item at about $4000/year for all costs .  Yes it is nice, but wouldn’t rather be spending that money on something more enjoyable?  I know I am!

So what’s good about an annuity?

• It’s easy.  Sign over a lump sum of cash and get a guaranteed stream of cash till you die.  No worrying about investment performance or how much you need to take out of your RIF each year.  It can be funded by pension money or RRSP money.
• It’s secure.  Basically with an annuity you are buying an insurance product where someone else is taking the risk of you out living your money, but if you don’t get an inflation adjustment you are taking on some risk too.

What’s bad about an annuity?

• Limited application. If you die the day after you buy one and you didn’t specific a minimum payout time frame you money will be gone.  Also don’t assume your spouse will get 100% of the cash flow.  Read the fine print and understand what exactly you are buying.
• The more options you add on the lower the payment becomes.  So if you want it the cash flow to transfer to your spouse and have a long minimum payout and be inflation adjusted you will be paying a lot of cash for little return.

So where do you use it?  I tend to think an annuity is best used when you are getting older (65+) and you just don’t want to worry about your investments as much.  It allow some security and ease without much effort.  I would also suggest not putting all you money in one.  Keep some outside to hedge against any inflation risks or you dying early.

For early retirement I’m not even thinking about using one.  It’s just too far out to worry about locking in some of my money into a product like this in my mind.  I would consider one as I get older and don’t want the hassle of watching everything, but only so much to provide a minimum standard of living.  The rest I would keep outside of one.

In the end, it is just another tool.  Use it or not, it is really up to you.

Also please note I’ll have limited internet access for the next while, so it may take me a while to response to comments.

Even if you don’t camp, I’ve tried to make some of this tips generic.

1. Bring you own food or buy it at a grocery store.  Even backing a few basic supplies to do lunch/breakfast on the road can save you a lot of money over a two week trip.  All it really takes is a bit of planning a cooler.  We typically take things that travel well like harder fruits or veggies like apples and carrots over items like pears that bruise easier.
2. Consider a shorter trip.  People often underestimate trips that are closer to home.  Beyond having more time to relax, you can also save gas and see explore places you never been and can get back to easily.  We typically alternate years with bigger/longer trips every second year.  That way we balance costs with enjoyment.
3. Leave later and come back earlier.  Want to have a really great trip?  Then leave a day later and come back a day early.  Having that time to unwind at either end makes things SO MUCH easier.  You can ease back into your regular life without the shock of coming home at 6pm the day before you got back to work and having to buy groceries, wash the car, do laundry and unpack.
4. Seek out the out of the way.  People often travel to the big parks or cities as the main places to see and do, but going out of the way can often result in unique memories as well as cost savings.  Camping fees, hotels attraction fees are all often cheaper in smaller centers so next time try out the smaller towns you might be surprised how much fun you have have there.
5. Be flexible.  I’ve gotten away from having a set schedule on trips and now more often than not wing it with nothing better than a vague plan of I want to see these things and be away for about 10 days.   By doing that you can often find good deals at the last minute or linger in places you happen to enjoy more than you thought.

So there are my tips? Do you have some other ones?  If so please share.

The major issue if to really compare you options you need to make them equal.  Trying to compare just straight percentages is stupid, since you often need to consider if that money after tax or before tax.  If it is taxed, then how it it taxed: dividends are much cheaper than interest.  I’m not saying the math isn’t difficult at times, but really it varies so much from situation to situation that you really need to do it yourself and find out what works on paper.

Then we have to evaluate the more fuzzy issues like risk.  A extra mortgage payment grants you a after tax return equal to your interest rate at no risk.  Stocks on the other hand have a lot more risk, so you have to weigh those issues.  How you do it will vary from person to person.  I tend to keep in mind the fact you need to balance all your investments for risk.  So if you are fairly heavy into high risk investments and you get some extra cash, consider a lower risk option for that extra money.  You don’t want to be too conservative or risky, but rather balanced on the overall picture.

Then last, but most important, you need to consider your personality.  Often decisions we make are not logical, but rather emotional.  You may know the math says you are likely better off investing, but you really still want to pay off the mortgage early?  It’s ok to pick the mortgage.  Not even decision in life must be optimized for maximum return.  The point is are you paying off debt and investing regularly? Yes, great you are ahead of most people in the world.  So don’t panic about trying to do everything right.  Remember to do what works for you.  There is no point investing if you are mentally not really for the risk.  The sleep at night factor is worth something so don’t sell our yourself out for a 1% extra return if you don’t think you will handle it well.