My investment journey started a long time ago, when I somehow got myself a copy of The Wealthy Barber. I can no longer recall the specific lessons I picked up from that bestseller, save one:

“Pay Yourself First”.

It’s a really simple tenet that reminds me that the only person funding my retirement is me. If you fail to pay yourself first, “future you” will pay the price. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but it does have to be a regular and prioritized occurrence.

One way to prioritize saving is to make it automatic. Every paycheque, carve off a fixed amount to redirect to your firewalled retirement account. At the beginning, maybe that’s just a savings account, but it could just as well be an online broker, as long as that broker is helping you by paying you interest on the money you’ve saved.

As time went on, I came to realize that paying myself first also meant NOT paying advisor fees for my managed retirement portfolio and instead investing that money in future me. It was, at the time, a bit of a scary decision, but one that I do not regret at all.

I was reminded of this very influential book because I discovered you can download the updated version, “The Wealthy Barber Returns” for free from RBC Direct Investing. Do check it out! https://www.rbcdirectinvesting.com/_assets-custom/includes/wealthy_barber.pdf