Reader,

This week has been a wonderfully quiet one on our front. Katie and I hosted both sets of parents and my brother and his family for a night in, where I finally got to show my father-in-law, Randy, how to make authentic massaman and green curry from scratch. On Saturday, while Katie's parents were still visiting, we headed out to walk through Supercrawl in downtown Hamilton.

Today consisted of a round of golf (#54) followed by the opening weekend of NFL football. We were fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with our friends Rob and Jenn, who put out an unbelievable spread of all the typical football fixings to watch the first games. I am writing this to you now in the evening, enjoying the calm before the absolute chaos of my upcoming travel schedule begins.

Starting this Friday and Saturday, I will be speaking at the Clinic Boss Summit in Toronto. The following weekend, I head to the Wellness Creator Retreat in Vancouver, Washington, before flying straight to Atlanta with the Jane team for Pelvicon.

With all that travel and work on the horizon, it is a great time to talk about why we work so hard in the first place: to reach the point where work becomes optional.

The "Coast FI" Obsession

If you feel burnt out by the idea of grinding in the clinic until you are 65, there is a concept gaining massive traction right now. As highlighted by the Wall Street Journal, there is a growing obsession with a retirement savings formula known as Coast FI (Financial Independence).

Coast FI is the specific financial milestone where you have enough money invested that, with zero additional contributions, your portfolio will compound growth to fully support a traditional retirement. Hitting your Coast FI number early unlocks incredible lifestyle flexibility, allowing you to take a lower-paying job, start a business, or simply work fewer clinical hours without jeopardizing your future.

The 15% Rule vs. The Millionaire Myth

Do you actually need to be a multi-millionaire to step back? A recent piece in Yahoo Finance explored the traditional 15% rule, the standard advice that saving 15% of your income is the baseline for a secure retirement.

For high-earning healthcare professionals who start their careers later due to extensive schooling, 15% is the floor, not the ceiling. By aggressively pushing that savings rate to 20% or 30% early in your career, you can rapidly accelerate your path to Coast FI. Once that baseline is funded, the financial pressure vanishes.

The 3-Bucket Strategy

So, how do you structure that money once it is saved?

​Morningstar's Christine Benz outlines a highly effective "Bucket Strategy" to build a portfolio that protects you from market volatility while ensuring long-term growth.

• Bucket 1 (Near-Term Cash): Very safe assets, like cash or guaranteed accounts, to cover one to two years of living expenses. You take absolutely zero risk with this money.
• Bucket 2 (Medium-Term Bonds): Short and intermediate-term bonds (I don't necessarily agree with this- but it's up to your risk tolerance) that edge slightly further out on the risk spectrum, earmarked to cover years 3 through 10 of your retirement or step-down phase.
• Bucket 3 (Long-Term Equities): The true return engine of your portfolio. This bucket holds a globally diversified equity portfolio intended for years 11 and beyond, designed to capture long-term market growth.

By ensuring your short-term needs are covered by cash and bonds, you can confidently let your equities compound in the background without panic-selling during a market downturn.

Take some time this week to calculate what your Coast FI number actually is.

It might be closer than you think.

Enjoy your week.

​@financiallyfulfilledpro and Certified Financial Counsellor CFC™

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