Courtney is a member of the LGBTQ community who reached FI earlier last year.

Courtney has been on her FI journey for 10 years. She is now married and with one child, and her and her wife have decided to keep working since they are now expecting a second child. She has experience house hacking, paying off student loan debt and reducing her expenses down to $25,000 per year.

You'll love that story.

We also chat about...

Courtney's journey to FI
Her first career and income
House hacking in Canada
Why the 3% or 3.5% withdrawal rate is safer
Making money does not have to be selfish

Enjoy this chat with Courtney, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Courtney's Instagram: FIRE2Moms1Babe
Courtney's blog: Modern FImily
The Frugal Philistine
All Options Considered
Millennial Revolution
Mad Fientist
J L Collins
Paula Pant
The Frugalwoods
ChooseFI
Early Retirement Now
Gold City Ventures

Key takeaways from our chat with Courtney
1 - Cutting out lattes won't help you reach FI
Courtney explains that cutting out small expenses such as lattes won't make a large difference on your path to financial independence. If you enjoy your lattes then there is no harm in buying one every so often. Courtney focuses on reducing large expenses such as her car and house. This value based spending approach has allowed her and her family of 3 to reduce expenses to $25,000 per year.
2 - Why Courtney decided to take a mortgage
Courtney was house hacking early on - she bought a four bedroom townhouse and rented out the other 3 bedrooms. Over the years she was able to pay it all off and then sold it for a $100,000 profit. This was enough to buy a new home, but instead she decided to take out a mortgage so she would have more cash to invest in other places and to protect herself against a possible crash. Their goal is to pay off their current house by 2021.
3 - The 3% withdrawal rate
Early Retirement Now explains that the 4% is a bit risky and that a 3 or 3.5% withdrawal rate is safer. Courtney explains that they could go as low as a 1.8% withdrawal rate since she's planning on receiving child benefits, making money through side hustles and taking advantage of the change rate between the US and Canada. What's your safe withdrawal rate?
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