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Have you considered dual citizenship as an important financial independence tool?
Tawcan is Taiwanese and Canadian. His wife is Danish and Canadian. Their kids have Canadian citizenship and could possibly get Danish citizenship too. This dual citizenship opens up tremendous doors for their family. Tawcan is currently happy in Canada but with the rising cost of housing, he could sell their family home and move the family overseas. Tawcan (Bob in real life) is actually the second guest we’ve had on to discuss Canadian Personal Finance and how Canadians can achieve financial independence.
You’ll love Bob and his story.
We also chat about…
- Canadian equivalents of 401(k)s including the RRSP
- The crazy Canadian Housing Market
- Property Brothers (sorry had to go there)
- The Benefits of dual citizenship
- Visas
- Dividend Income
- Photography side hustles
- How to set your pricing
- The ethics of profiting off wedding hysteria
Enjoy this chat with Tawcan, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Tawcan – Bob’s blog
- Tawcan on Twitter
- The Benefits of Dual Citizenship & Living Abroad – Bob’s post on J’s blog about dual citizenship
- Canada’s Youngest Retirees and the 3 Paths to FI – our episode with Kristy & Bryce
- The Earth Awaits
- Dividend Mantra
- Kristie Wolfe’s Airbnb Entrepreneurship – episode that discusses charging more for the least headaches
- Ep. with Erin Lowry – where we discuss mental health and FIRE
Key takeaways from our chat with Bob a.k.a. Tawcan
1 – Location Flexibility is HUGE for FIRE
If you are flexible on where you live, you might be able to shave years off of your financial independence number.
Bob suggests considering a move overseas where the cost of living is lower.
Since Bob’s family has dual citizenship, he can technically work, live and travel to more locations.
This opens up tremendous opportunities and flexibility for his family.
If you don’t have dual citizenship, look into:
- Work holiday visas
- Remote work opportunities
2 – Dividend income is another strategy for passive income
Dividends are payments made by corporations to shareholders.
Canadian banks have paid dividends for over 200 years.
Companies like Proctor & Gamble have raised the amount they pay in dividend income for years.
Bob writes about his dividend income strategy on his blog and he’s up to over $1,300 per month in dividend income.
The downside of a dividend investing strategy is that it’s not as diversified as index investing.
Tawcan does invest in index funds too to diversify.
Google and Amazon don’t pay dividends and tend to grow slightly faster than dividend paying stocks.
3 – Don’t invest in anything you’re not comfortable with
Gwen mentions she’s not comfortable with dividend investing and Tawcan says his family is not comfortable with real estate investing.
Bob recommends that people not dive into an investment strategy they’re not comfortable with just to make money.
This is an important reminder for the financial independence community that there is no one size fits all investment strategy.
Always crunch out the numbers and compare strategies with your own personal goals and comfort level.
Blogs and podcasts can provide inspiration but they’re not financial advisors nor tax professionals.
The responsibility is on the individual to decide what is best for them or consult professionals.
4 – You get better clients the more you charge
Bob is a wedding photographer on the side and he is TALENTED.
One thing he realized is that the more he charges, the better quality clients he gets.
Clients at a lower price point have higher expectations and more demands.
Bob recommends charging high enough so you don’t feel like you’re getting ripped off by your clients.
At the same time, J points out that escalating prices on wedding-related work is only contributing to the hysteria.
They talk about the ethics of profiting off that hysteria.
5 – If you’re not happy today, you won’t be happy after achieving FIRE
Full stop on this one.
We 100% agree.
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
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Angela @ Tread slightly Retire Early says
I loved this episode! Bob has a great blog and it was fun to listen to him speak on the podcast this week.
CB FI says
This was a great episode – thanks for having Bob on. Dual citizenship can have massive benefits, as well as massive complications. Bob has published several great insights, and he has inspired us to share our own stories.