I’ll start out by saying that RAFI is not my real name, rather it’s the acronym for Ready Aim FI. I decided to turn my blog site anonymous in an effort to share more effectively my personal thoughts and feelings without having an impact on my career, relationships, etc. In this day and age, we all have an opinion, and as you’re likely aware, Financial Independence can be somewhat counter cultural and polarizing. I want to share freely with my followers through truthfulness and honesty, without holding back for fear of what others might think. At some point in the future, this may change but this will be my course of action for the time being… so let me begin!
I started this blog in September 2018 as a result of meeting with a very successful mentor in the website publishing and media space. He encouraged me to share my story and encourage as many people I can as possible in the realm of personal finance and FI! So here’s who I am (in the super micro condensed version)!
I was born on the east coast of Canada in a small but beautiful province called New Brunswick (some time ago…). I am the youngest of 5 children of which my older siblings have a different father and different ethnicity. Their father and ancestors come from Africa, whereas my father and my ancestors immigrated to Canada from England and Ireland…long story short, I’m the only white kid in the family!! Cool right?!
Without getting into my entire childhood, my mother raised us kids on her own and it wasn’t easy! In fact it was almost impossible!!! Anyone with kids knows how exhausting and demanding one child can be let alone 5!!! To say things were tight growing up would be a complete understatement. We managed the best we could and our mother was the hardest working person I knew and the most caring and considerate person I ever met (still to this day)! She bestowed upon each of us her work ethic and taught us how respect wasn’t given, it was earned and you reaped what you sewed!
We moved out to Alberta in the 80’s and settled here where I spent the majority of my life growing up. Most of my friends from school had two working parents and many of them were business owners or managers high up in their organization. They enjoyed summers at the cabin, went away on trips, lived in nice comfy homes, and had cars!!!! CARS! We didn’t have a car!! Or a house… or any of these things!! We rented a nice (clean) apartment, took the bus, or walked, and I was lucky if I got to go to summer camp for a week in July. What we lacked in material things, we more than made up for in our tight knit family!
Every person has to fall on either side of the fence with regards to money: You’re either a saver or a spender. Most of the people in my family are spenders…payday millionaires! They’re happy in life, but they’re not financially independent by any means. My mother would have literally given you the shirt off her back if you needed it and on more than one occasion, I remember her giving money away, food, or just lending a hand. Even when it meant that she had to go without!
This way of living was such a paradox compared to my friends and their families lifestyles. What made them so successful and why were they able to enjoy such a fruitful existence? I quickly realized that if I wanted to be a success that I needed to do and be what successful people do and are! With money being such a huge part of our struggle while growing up, I decided to study it from a young age and learn how economics is integrated into everything around us!
I found a stock broker who taught me about investing in the stock market when I was a child. I was only 13 years old when I bought my very first stocks! I took a mentorship program in high school and worked for RBC Dominion Securities for two years learning about trading and investing, then I went off to university to major in finance and obtain a Bachelor of Management degree.
After graduating, I wanted to become a stock broker but I found that nobody wanted to hire an inexperienced recent graduate to manage people’s retirement funds…go figure? So I ended up taking a position with a national life insurance company which later became bought out by a major conglomerate. I was very successful right out university but the focus and payout came on the insurance side of the business and not so much of the mutual fund side. I wasn’t dazzled by the insurance side of financial planning, and so I needed to make a change.
That change came in the form of assistant managing an up and coming pop music group (boy band) for their US tour the summer of 2002. The band was widely known all across Canada at the time and was also getting radio play across major stations throughout the US. The tour ended up being a fairly mediocre success but one of the best experiences of my life. The guys are supremely talented and I am forever grateful for the chance to travel with them for 2 months and got to see the entire country (and got paid for it)! As soon as I returned back off of the tour, it was time to find a rewarding career.
This time I lucked out and landed a territory manager role with a fortune 500 consumer packaged goods company! I remember to this day the question that sealed my fate during the interview. When the hiring manager asked me: “There are alot of different people from all over the world that you’ll be working with, how will you be able to create success with them?” Without skipping a beat I replied: “There is one universal language that we all speak around the world, and that is money! If I can show you a way to increase your business and make it more profitable, would that be a reason we could do business together…”. Needless to say I got the job, excelled for 6 years and rose to the ranks of District Sales Manager for the third largest territory in Canada (at only 27 years old)!
Then the phone rang….!
My life changed one night when I was lying in bed when my cell phone started buzzing next to me. I answered and on the other line my brother who told me that my mother had just been rushed to the hospital and wasn’t breathing. I was living at this time in another province and flew first thing in the morning to her bedside. She was in a coma, not responsive, and the situation was critical. She stayed in this condition for a few weeks before coming to and the entire time I stayed by her bedside. It occurred to me that over the past 6 years how many birthdays, family gatherings, and events that I had missed. I had the Midas touch and everything I touched turned to gold, but I had really extended myself from the rest of my family in pursuit of wealth and financial prosperity.
My mother eventually came out of her coma and she recovered over the next 3 months. I on the other hand had done some deep soul searching and discovered that I needed to be closer to my family. I had acquired 3 properties by this time. Two high end condo’s in Vancouver, British Columbia and a half duplex in Alberta. I resigned from my role at the company, sold all of my properties, and moved back home to Alberta.
ENTER BIGGEST MISTAKES OF MY LIFE HERE>>>>> (YES MISTAKES – PLURAL!!). Quitting my job and moving back home were a bit scary but was for certain the right move at the time. What wasn’t the right move/s was how I endeavored into uncharted waters with no experience thereafter. Without haste I bought a brand new ” high end luxury” condo in Alberta (sarcastically emphasizing high end and luxury), and invested into a new upstart Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) franchise business beginning to take off in Alberta. Both of these ventures have cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of the past 10 years, which I have unpacked in another blog post, which you will have to read!
(My investment into the restaurant business is still the worst investment I have ever made! Second to this would be the condo I bought when I moved back to Alberta, and finally; the three brand new vehicles I purchased (not all at the same time) over the course of the next 6 years after moving home. I’ll definitely unpack more on the restaurant businesses later in my post but for now I’ll just glaze over them..)
I bought the master developer rights to a QSR franchise for all of British Columbia, Canada and I built and operated two locations in my hometown. (I will explain to you in more detail in future posts the ins and outs of franchise business models as I am very passionate about them)! I stayed in this franchise business until I folded my master developer business in British Columbia (worth $400k at the time), and sold my two locations in Red Deer at a substantial loss. I had ran my businesses with lazer focus and won many awards and accolades but will unpack exactly what transpired later.
Fast forward yet another 5 years after this and I’m more wise (wink wink), and experienced in life than I ever have been! My journey to FI is certainly not a straight upward line on a graph, but rather a series of peaks and troughs that have led me to where I am today. I am currently not FI as of this writing but my thoughts, behaviors, and actions are all in alignment with being FI in the near future!
It is these lessons that have afforded me the opportunity to share my life with you! I look forward to hearing from you!
Please share your comments or questions below!
