One of the logical approaches to using the TFSA is definitely the “all-in” approach. The tax-free growth on stocks is definitely a boon if you’re expecting your stock picks to grow in value.

Of course, this assumes that you have your 3, 6, or 12 months of emergency living expenses available in a different account somewhere. (# of months will vary)

I don’t know that there are any other “tricks” here. It’s all just standard fare. Do your best not to lose money :)

Im looking for advice the new TFSA account. I am using a stock market account to put my first $5,000 into. I am buying higher yielding stocks and intend on keeping them in there forever. This way the profit will never be taxed. With the economic state we are in now, I figured now is a good low time to buy… We have had the Stock Market Crash we were supposed to pray for. I am asking if I am taking the right next step and if how i can use my TFSA account in the stock market to my advantage?

Derek it’s good too see that you’ve posted a few blogs :) I have read all of your books and found them very good and very enlightning/inspiring!!

I heard that you sold all you stock positions around Feb 2009. Does this not go against your “buy and never sell” strategy? What drove you to sell? Will you be buying them back? If so what stocks or sectors are you buying?

Great books and great website!

Thanks

[...] or even buying things on sale.  By value, I mean buying things that make your life better, or as Derek Foster would put it, life enhancing [...]

One cautionary thing to add, is that he wrote the book right after he retired at 34. I would want to see how he has adapted to changing market conditions ( elimination of the income trust structure in canada in several years) in 2015,2025,2035 etc..I hope he will still be able to be retired even when he is in his 60’s..
Another cautionary thing to add is that this strategy worked in Canada, where healthcare is practicaly free. If you lived in the US, however, you would need to save more simply for the rising healthcare costs.

I do agree, however, that the book is truly inspirational!

[...] with the free daily updates, you can subscribe to the RSS feed via reader or E-mail.After reading Derek Fosters book, I’ve suddenly gotten the urge to do more research regarding strong dividend paying stocks. I [...]

[...] the success of the Canadian best seller Stop Working: Here's How You Can, Derek Foster has written another book called "The Lazy Investor".  I was excited to [...]

[...] of a Canadian best seller:  The Lazy Investor.  Thanks to the author (and early retiree) Derek Foster for donating an autographed [...]

[...] Pillars writes a review on Derek Fosters new book "The Lazy [...]

[...] Pillars writes a review on Derek Fosters new book "The Lazy [...]

[...] Thank you for the opportunity to give you a little bit of an update on my ultra-early retirement a la Derek Foster. [...]

I’ve calculated what I need to retire in these articles:

http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/retiring-early-part-1-the-expenses.htm
http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/retiring-early-part-2-the-income.htm
http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/retiring-early-part-3-conclusions.htm

And I’ve always stated that my million dollar journey isn’t about retirement, it’s a financial goal.

Cheers,
Derek Foster(author “STOP WORKING” and “The Lazy Investor”

I think that FT (despite his greatness), really missed out mention of points #2 & #3. It’s quite typical to not know how much you need to retire, so lots of people don’t even try. It’s also quite typical of people (even PF bloggers) to not even know what they want to do with retirement.

The real highlight here is that you’ve managed to retire with three kids and a steady income on only 500k and a completed mortgage. Most retirement chasers are out “living the dream” trying to save 2M so that they can live off interest income.

Heck you’re on Million Dollar Journey, the site hosted by the person who wants to make a million by the time he’s 35. Except you retired at 34 with significantly less than a million in net worth, so I think it’s pretty clear how he missed point #2 (how much do you need to retire?)

Of course, I just realized that this article was posted in March and I’ve been grilling him pretty hard about the “what are retiring for” question since then :)

[...] of us have heard of Derek Foster, the guy who retired @ the age of 34.  Canadian Dream has got the inside scoop on Derek's [...]

When you look at it by the time you’re 65 and ready to retire:
Your house should be paid off.
You’ve travelled lots
You’ve paid off your credit cards
You drive a nice car that’s paid off
Your kids are out of the house
You’ve got money in the bank for retirement.

Also, for most people, when you reach the age of 65, you’ve done alot of things and aren’t starved to discover the world! Some people are, some people aren’t.

If you’ve done things properly, you’ve got cash reserves in bank and your debt should be paid off.
If you’re running up huge debts when you’re 65, you’re crazy!!

So, in a perfect world, retirement should cost less.

I’m not going to change our investment strategy entirely but I plan to ‘tweak’ it a bit to try my hand out at being as ‘exceptional’ as Derek.

Derek’s book is in high demand for a reason. It’s not only his strategy that’s so inspiring, it’s also the reminder that many of us won’t need millions to retire.