In the specialized world of personal finance blogging, the FIRE movement—Financial Independence, Retire Early—has produced a distinct cast of writers who share their journeys and strategies. Many of these authors focus more on achieving financial independence than on traditional retirement. Some continue to work part time, write, or pursue passion projects while leaving the full-time workforce behind. This column profiles a few of those voices and explains how they reached that point.
One example is Mark Seed, an Ottawa-based blogger who announced his move into early semi-retirement in his early 50s after 17 years of writing about financial independence. I spoke with him to learn how he reached this milestone and what retirement means to him now. For Seed, “retirement” meant stepping away from a Monday-to-Friday salaried job with daily commutes, bosses and mandatory meetings. He uses the term FIWOOT—Financial Independence, Work on Own Terms—to describe his new life. He plans to keep writing and remain professionally engaged, describing his current routine as “puttering away at stuff.”
One factor that accelerated Seed’s path to financial independence was the couple’s decision not to have children. As double-income, no-kids (DINK) households frequently find, that choice allowed them to save and travel earlier in life. During their 30s and 40s they travelled extensively in Europe, Latin America, and across North America, while also building long-term savings.
Seed’s investing habits began early. He opened RRSP contributions at 22 with modest monthly deposits and began using TFSAs when they became available in 2009. His investing evolved from mutual funds in the 1990s and 2000s to direct stock purchases during the 2008–09 financial crisis—his first stock was Enbridge—and then later to ETFs for broader diversification. He still owns XIU and other core positions.
Real estate played a role but not an outsized one. The couple once lived in a large bungalow in south Ottawa but downsized to a condo seven years ago to suit a “lock-and-leave” lifestyle they preferred as they started travelling more. They paid off their mortgage in January 2024, a key step toward reducing fixed expenses and securing greater flexibility.
Pay yourself first—10% to 20% of net income
Like many who pursue FIRE, Seed and his wife adopted a “pay yourself first” discipline, consistently saving at least 10% and often up to 20% of after-tax income. Mark moved to part-time work in early 2025 and his wife left the workforce completely in October 2025. They chose not to own a vacation or rental property—Seed prefers to limit his housing liabilities—and instead focus on travel and simpler living. Their plans include longer trips, with four-week vacations likely in the coming years.
Seed launched the MyOwnAdvisor blog in 2009 to document his financial decisions and to become “his own financial advisor.” He uses the site as a public diary to track investments, tax and estate planning, insurance and risk management. Though largely self-taught, he values competence over credentials and has not ruled out pursuing formal designations later. He sees low-cost index and asset allocation ETFs as democratizing investing and believes financial advisors must offer additional value beyond picking funds.
A hybrid approach to investing
Seed favors a hybrid investment strategy that blends low-cost ETFs with dividend-paying individual stocks. His current asset mix is roughly 45% individual stocks, 45% ETFs and 10% cash or equivalents—a fairly aggressive equity allocation. He narrowed his individual stock holdings to Canadian names and moved U.S. exposure into global ETFs such as the iShares Core MSCI All Country World ex Canada Index ETF (XAW) to simplify diversification. He is less enthusiastic about all-in-one ETFs because his personal risk tolerance allows for a heavier stock weighting.
Seed expects to claim Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security at 65 and views those government benefits, along with a modest employer pension, as inflation-protected fixed-income equivalents in his long-term plan. He runs projections well into older ages to ensure his plan remains conservative enough for unexpected events. He also speaks locally about investing and contributes to other financial media, using public appearances to explain do-it-yourself investing concepts.
Tawcan blogger planning FIRE in his 40s
The FIRE movement has followers at many ages. Bob Lai, who runs the Tawcan blog, is 43 and aiming to reach financial independence before 2030. Lai emphasizes dividend income and significant cash reserves—he keeps at least $35,000 on hand—and he plans to change how he handles dividend reinvestments. He intends to stop automatic DRIPs in taxable and RRSP accounts while maintaining them in TFSAs to preserve tax-advantaged compounding.
Lai’s plan for taxable accounts includes shifting dividend income into liquid cash-equivalent ETFs that produce regular interest-like yields, while holding those instruments inside registered plans when possible to manage taxes. He is comfortable delaying a fixed retirement date: the household could likely follow the 4% withdrawal rule now, but he remains engaged at work and prefers a gradual transition. Knowing his finances are solid has reduced job-related stress and improved his quality of work.
Retirement doesn’t mean what it used to
Both Seed and Lai illustrate a modern view of retirement: it is less an end and more a new chapter where people choose how to spend their time. Rather than retiring to a life of idleness, they plan to stay active through blogging, speaking, volunteering and hobbies. Lai, for example, intends to keep writing about early retirement, volunteer with Scouts and enjoy more curling. Seed plans to keep the MyOwnAdvisor blog for the foreseeable future as a record of his thinking and a platform for continued engagement.
Many who aim for early financial independence view it as freedom to decide how to spend their days—whether that includes part-time work, creative projects or community involvement—rather than a strict exit from meaningful activity. For readers considering a similar path, the lessons are consistent: prioritize saving, choose a sustainable lifestyle, diversify investments, and be intentional about how you want your later years to look.
Read more about money in retirement:
- Financial independence, retire early: The math behind the viral money movement
- What is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan?
- When to consider extra RRIF withdrawals
- Financial independence and travel: can you have both?