🔥 FIRE Concepts
Barista FIRE
Semi-retirement, with a part-time paycheque
Coast FIRE
When compound growth takes over from here
FIRE
The four letters behind an entire movement
FIRE Number
The finish line for your FIRE journey
Fat FIRE
Retiring early without downsizing
Financial Independence
Work becomes a choice, not a requirement
Lean FIRE
Retiring early, minimalist-style
Safe Withdrawal Rate
How much you can spend without running dry
Savings Rate
The one number that predicts your retirement age
The 4% Rule
The number that launched a thousand retirement plans
📊 Investing Basics
Asset Allocation
Deciding how your money is split up
Compound Interest
Interest earning interest on itself
Diversification
Not betting everything on one outcome
Dividend
Getting paid just for owning something
Dividend Yield
Turning a dividend into a percentage you can compare
ETF
A basket of investments, one purchase
Index Fund
Owning the whole market instead of picking winners
MER
The quiet fee that compounds against you
Rebalancing
Nudging your portfolio back to plan
Total Return
Price growth plus income, combined
🇨🇦 Canadian Accounts & Tax
Capital Gains
Profit from selling, not from holding
Contribution Room
How much you're allowed to put in
Dividend Tax Credit
Why Canadian dividends get taxed differently
FHSA
RRSP's tax break, TFSA's tax-free exit
Marginal Tax Rate
The rate on your next dollar, not all your dollars
RRSP
Tax break now, tax bill later
Registered Account
An account with a tax deal attached
T1135
The paperwork that kicks in past $100,000
TFSA
Grows tax-free, withdraws tax-free
Withholding Tax
Tax taken before the money even reaches you
💰 Money Fundamentals
Asset
Anything of value that you own
Budget
Telling your money where to go, on purpose
Debt Avalanche
Attacking the most expensive debt first
Debt Snowball
Small wins first, momentum over math
Emergency Fund
The buffer between a surprise and a crisis
Inflation
Why the same dollar buys a little less each year
Interest Rate
The price of money, in either direction
Liability
Anything you owe to someone else
Net Worth
Everything you own, minus everything you owe
Opportunity Cost
What you gave up by choosing something else
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