May 16, 2023

Simplifying Personal Finances with Eduek Brooks

49 minutes

Eduek Brooks is the founder of Two Sides of a Dime, which is a financial literacy platform focusing on making personal finance easy to digest and seamless to implement. I met Eduek in the Trauma of Money program and hired her to help me with my own personal finance journey. I love the way she combines practical advice and tools with the psychology behind money habits. Eduek has had an incredible impact on my relationship with money and I am so excited to introduce her to you today!

In this conversation, we talk about the ways that our financial systems here in North America are designed to encourage and incentivize us to acquire more debt. Eduek shares her own journey with debt and some of the ways she was able to pay off $47,000 in 20 months! She also gives some insights into patterns that may stem from childhood, and how awareness is the key to intentional spending. Follow her on Instagram @twosidesofadime to learn more about the resources she has to offer.

Connect with Eduek

Eduek is an Engineer, Financial Educator, Trauma of Money Certified Coach and Founder of Two Sides of a Dime, a Financial Literacy platform dedicated to making personal finance easy to digest and seamless to implement.

Eduek is passionate about equipping women with the tools they need to achieve financial freedom and build long-lasting wealth without giving up on the things they enjoy.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/twosidesofadime/

Website: https://www.stackmydime.com/

Spirit School Links

The Initiation Spring 2023 (Register until May 18!): https://www.squamishmedium.com/mediumship-foundations

The Initiation 2.0: Advancing Mediumship Development: https://www.squamishmedium.com/mediumship-advancement

Spirit School Collective: https://www.squamishmedium.com/spiritschoolcollective

Join us on the FREE Spirit School platform: https://myspiritschoolcollective.com/plans/

Visit Spirit School at https://www.squamishmedium.com/ for all courses and upcoming programs

View full transcripts of podcast episodes at https://www.squamishmedium.com/blog

In this episode:

Eduek’s journey began with paying off $47000 of personal debt as an immigrant to Canada

It was difficult to find consistent information about credit that applied to Canadian finances

Eduek is passionate about making this information easy to understand and implement

Her financial philosophy is to balance security with enjoying your life

She always wanted to be a teacher but knew it didn’t pay well so she chose engineering

Teaching is one of Eduek’s strongest gifts and people have always asked her for help

Clients say that their financial advisors haven’t broken things down as well as her

Eduek leveraged her engineering background and love for teaching and financial literacy

In Nigeria, the culture was that people worked to build their homes and it took time to save cash

Coming here, the culture of incurring debt instantly for cars and houses was surprising

All of her personal debt came from being here in Canada

Other countries don’t use credit as much and loans are based on income

The finance industry is the strongest industry in Canada and we’re incentivized to borrow

Credit cards give a false sense of security and small purchases over budget add up

We get used to using our credit card as part of our income

The system makes it so easy for you to have access to money, and live above your means

You make irrational decisions with money when you’re stressed out about debt

We cannot fathom not getting the things we want because of instant gratification

Stores make money off of their credit cards and financing

Growing up, Eduek had what was needed and what there was money for

People want more than they grew up with, but before they can afford it

We either mirror what our parents did or do the opposite

After not being able to use cash in the pandemic, we started using credit cards again

Customers also now pay for credit card processing fees instead of the store

We don’t question what we’re charged or check our receipts for discrepancies

We’re taught to get careers that pay well but aren’t taught how to manage finances

Eduek had $47000 of consumer debt and had to look at the root cause

She had the knowledge of what to do, but wasn’t implementing them

If you don’t address the psychological relationship, you’ll go in debt again

Knowing your spending triggers, like stress, can help you from jeopardizing budgets

Eduek would buy things for her home, and then return them out of guilt

Having a self care budget prepares you for times of stress

Debt is emotional so focusing on the debt that causes the most pain is a priority

Eduek didn’t use a credit card for two years to show that you don’t need it

She also stopped buying clothing and shoes for that time period

The accountability of sharing on Instagram helped for motivation

By reallocating money, I’ve been able to save for an emergency fund and pay off debt

The most important thing is to be intentional with your spending and track it

Having a budget makes you aware of what you are sacrificing for if something comes up

Ask yourself why you want to become more financially stable or have freedom?

Making informed decisions takes the guilt out of spending your money

The first step is to sit down and document what is coming in and going out monthly

...more

View all episodes

By Danielle Searancke

4.7

151151 ratings