This post explains the name "On FI-Land Time".  By the end you will understand where the name comes from and what it means to us.

     You may recognize the saying "On Island Time". We heard that term when visiting small island communities during our travels in places like the Caribbean, or Hawaii. "On Island Time" suggests a lack of haste and urgency. A lack of the hustle and bustle that so many of us are accustomed to in urban life where the absence of time flexibility is so often accompanied by stress, deadlines, and judgement. The term is often used as an explanation for why the local island government office or store didn't open on time, or perhaps not at all that day. "They must be on Island Time!"

    So what's the "FI" for? In this context, FI stands for Financial Independence. Often referred to as "FIRE" (Financial Independence Retire Early), there is a growing community of people on the "path to FI" who have decided to take their personal or family financial futures into their own hands. These FIRE people get out of debt quickly, spend much less than they earn, and learn how to invest whatever is left over, which is often a large portion of their earnings. At some point on their path, they discover that their investment income has become sufficient to cover their spending needs, and so they no longer have to be slaves to a paycheque.  They have gained control over their time; and can now choose how to spend it. FI is the concept that makes our full time journey possible without the need for steady employment income.

    The island analogy fits nicely because we achieved FI while living and working on Vancouver Island, Canada. Although Vancouver Island is definitely not on the same "Island Time" as the smaller Caribbean nations we visited during our vacations, it certainly has a more relaxed pace than the metropolitan grind we see nearby in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Our last full time jobs were very much NOT on "Island Time".  We had constant time challenges, deadlines, shift work, restrictions on using vacation days, and we always had too much work to do with too few resources. Only by achieving FI were we able to reclaim control of our own lives and set out on a new adventure that is meaningful for us.

   This site is to chronicle our new life on our own time. On FI time. We are sailors and plan to be spending much of our newly recaptured time island-hopping on a sailboat. We also plan to share some resources, thoughts, and strategies about FI.

   Thank you for joining us in our journey, and stay tuned for updates "On FI-Land Time".