I went to bed after a perfectly normal Wednesday and woke up at 3am with my heart racing. I got up, went to the bathroom, and tried to get back to sleep – tossing and turning for a few hours before getting up for good around 5:30am.
I felt okay(ish) and went downstairs for an easy 20-minute spin class. I came up to the kitchen to pour myself a coffee and make the kids’ lunches for school. Something felt off. I was lightheaded and generally not feeling well.
My wife came up from her workout, took one look at me and called 811. She spoke to a nurse who asked a bunch of questions – including if I thought I could stand up and walk across the room. I tried, but immediately felt the room spin. She told us to call 911.
Minutes later an ambulance pulled up to our house and two paramedics whisked me off to the hospital.
I was in atrial fibrillation (AFib).
A team of nurses and doctors swooped in and determined the best course of action was a cardioversion to shock my heart back into normal sinus rhythm. So that’s exactly what they did.
I woke up feeling woozy from the sedation, but the cardioversion worked and my heartbeat was back to normal.
AFib isn’t too common in healthy 45-year-olds, but it’s not unheard of either. It’s estimated that upwards of 40 million people worldwide are affected by AFib and one in four adults over 40 are at risk of developing the condition at some point in their lives.
While I go through a host of follow up tests and appointments to determine the cause of this episode and assess the future risks (AFib is progressive), the biggest change will be related to lifestyle.
Pots of coffee and bottles of wine will be replaced by a Single cup of coffee and an Occasional glass of wine (not that we’re big drinkers – just when we travel, it’s hard to pass up an Aperol Spritz or three on a sunny day in Italy).
I’ll keep up with my regular strength and conditioning routine, pledge to walk more, and cut down on the snacks (moderation, right?).
If anything, it’s a wakeup call that your health is wealth. While I can plan to live another 45 healthy years or more, I understand that tomorrow is never promised.
This is why I’m so insistent on balancing living for today with saving for the future. If you have too many someday, maybes on your bucket list you might find that someday never comes.
We all have money dials – categories of spending that we can turn up and down based on our preferences and ages and stages of life. I encourage my clients to turn up the dial on things they value (travel, hobbies, generosity, etc.). Have some fun with it. Experiment.
If you’re used to flying economy, staying at a Best Western, and only travelling for two weeks a year, what would it look like if you flew premium economy (or business class), upgraded to the Four Seasons, and travelled for four to six weeks a year?
Even as I cut some of the joy out of my life (like that second cup of coffee – or third Spritz), I can turn up the dial so that one cup of coffee is the best damn cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted, or that Aperol Spritz is enjoyed in front of the Duomo in Florence rather than on my couch watching Netflix.
I’m feeling good today, and hopeful for the future. I’ve spent the last few days learning about living with AFib – which is serious, but certainly not an early death sentence.
I know this is a financial blog, not a health newsletter. But what good is money without your health?
Be well.
This Week’s Recap:
On topic, I recently tackled the emotional side of spending in retirement.
Prior to that, I explained why RESPs are the hardest account to manage.
And on the last edition of Weekend Reading I walked through our decision to start drawing a salary from our business (a change from our dividend-only approach).
Look for some changes here in the coming weeks as we give the website a long overdue makeover.
What started as a personal finance hobby blog back in 2010 has now morphed into (primarily) a financial planning website with the occasional blog post. So we need the website to reflect that, and also highlight the fact that I don’t do this alone – my incredibly talented wife Lindsay is the first point of contact for all of our clients and is a big reason for the success and growth of our business, yet she’s largely invisible on this website. That will change with the redesign.
Promo of the Week:
Good news for parents (and grandparents). Wealthsimple finally has launched self-directed (family) RESPs. I’ve been waiting years for this, so I’ve eagerly opened an account and initiated an in-kind transfer from our existing RESP at TD Direct Investing.
Note that the RESP is in beta right now, so while I could open it and I can contribute new money to it, I couldn’t initiate the transfer on my own without contacting the Wealthsimple support team first (easy, it was done in five minutes).
RESPs are complicated, and there are weird provincial grants that aren’t always transferable across bank platforms, so this is completely understandable.
I expect the transfer to take place within a few days.
And, just because I’m sure many of you will ask about how Wealthsimple will keep track of contribution and grant history per beneficiary, here’s what they had to say about that:
During the transfer process from TD to Wealthsimple, information regarding contributions, grants, and beneficiary details is transmitted through a Form C.
TD will provide us with the Form C, which contains all relevant details concerning contributions, grants, and beneficiaries.
Upon approval of the Form C by Wealthsimple, they will proceed to initiate the final transfer of funds. This process guarantees that the appropriate amounts are allocated to each beneficiary.
I have nearly completed a complete transfer of our financial accounts to Wealthsimple (just waiting on dual-owned self-directed corporate accounts).
Join me on Wealthsimple and get $25 when you fund any account with my referral link (or code: FWWPDW).
Plus, you can get AirPods by moving $25,000 or more. Register first and learn more here.
Weekend Reading:
A brilliant piece from Nick Maggiulli on the mental freedom you get when you abandon fruitless stock picking for a mindless total market indexing approach.
I’m with Ben Carlson on almost everything on his list of things he’ll never spend money on (golf being the top of that list).
I love these little case studies by Fred Vettese – this one looking at aspiring retirees considering three strategies to make sure they don’t run out of money.
This is something I’ve encountered a lot in my planning practice – retirement with lots of home equity and not enough savings:
“A basic rule if you’re concerned about not having enough retirement income and own a home: Make sure you have a home equity line of credit (HELOC) in place before you leave the work force.”
A thought provoking video by Ben Felix where he says that, “people tend to assume that homes are great investments – they’re not, that mortgages are a wealth building hack – they help, but as much as some people think, that paying off a mortgage lowers your housing costs – it actually raises them, and that owning a home makes people happy – it might, but don’t count on it.”
Dear financial planners and advisors: Retirement planning isn’t just about the numbers — it’s about the person.
Russell Sawatsky writes – can annuities help the average retiree?
The Wealthy Barber David Chilton looks at two couples and one key difference in their spending – you guessed it, cars.
Finally, Preet Banerjee looks at the topic of financial influencers online and says, “while Canadian investors are distrustful of finfluencers in general, when they find one they like, they like them a lot. And that can cost them dearly.”
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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