The MoneySaver Podcast

In episode #14 of the MoneySaver Podcast, Ellen Roseman chats with Shannon Lee Simmons, CFP and author of Living Debt Free about how she racked up over $9000 worth of debt in a fourteen month period and how guilt, shame and regret took over because of the debt.

Questions Asked:

1:29  Tell us about the experience of being in debt and what you learned from it.

5:17  And you were worried about your now husbands reaction.  But it turned out to be ok?

7:16  How long did it take for you to raid your RSP to clear up the debt?

12:05  What made you decide to write your book and how is it different from other financial books on the market?

17:52  How long have you been a financial planner?

18:15 You’ve actually included some case studies in your book. 

19:33  I understand that your main focus is the average, everyday Canadian.  How do you make financial planning accessible to those who may not necessarily be able to afford financial planning?

21:47  What does affordable mean in terms of your services?

26:34  Do you find that online courses work well?

32:02  What are your three best tips on money, life, and managing your money and your life.

Ellen’s Tips and Tricks : What you can do when you run into problems with your new or newly purchased used car!

Lana Sanichar talks with Jessica Moorhouse, host of the Mo'Money Podcast, blogger and millennial expert about the most pressing issues on millennial minds right now.  We touch on topics about home ownership, investing, retirement and side hustles.

Questions Asked:

2:40 Tell us a little bit more about yourself. Tell us about your personal finance journey.

7:24 Who were your mentors?  What were you reading to help you make that leap from your old career to becoming a speaker, educator, blogger and an accredited financial councillor?

10:25 Describe who your listeners are. 

11:15 What are the most pressing financial issues that millennials are facing today?

16:53  How is the stress test affecting millennials?

17:39  Are millennials active investors? 

21:32  Are millennials thinking about retirement? 

23:55 Are millennial women actively engaged in their personal finances?

29:14 Have you faced any barriers as a woman in the personal finance industry?

30:40 What are your best three tips that you tell people or that you have used personally to reach your money goals.

31:35 What do you use to track your spending?

In the 12th edition of the MoneySaver Podcast, Ellen Roseman chats with Colin Ritchie from colinsritchie.com and Canadian MoneySaver contributor about grandparents funding RESPs, TFSA or RRSP, The Smith Manoeuvre, taxation, Wills and Powers of Attorney as well as his tips for a successful financial career.

Questions Asked:

1:15  How do I make the best of my TFSA or RRSP for retirement?  Let’s say the person is 10 or 15 years out of university, making an income and has a little bit of student debt but not a crushing amount.

4:03  Who should be focusing more on maximizing their TFSA contributions?

7:18  What are some ways to get the max benefit from an RESP?  And how to you invest at the beginning versus near the end when you’re about to pull the money out for post-secondary education?

10:04  Can you explain what the Smith Manoeuvre is?

15:02  We should have a will and a power of attorney.  What is your advice for people to get up to date with these important documents? 

18:05  Does the power of attorney go along with the will?

19:37  What are your three best tips for handling your finances?

20:15  What’s the best way to educate yourself about your taxes?

25:08  Since you’re a CFP, have you made any mistakes in your day?  Or do you find yourself procrastinating when it comes to financial planning?

27:40  What is the earliest age that you can start contributing to a TFSA?

In the 11th edition of the MoneySaver Podcast, we speak with Rona Birenbaum, Certified Financial Planner, from Caring For Clients.  In honour of Financial Planning Week, we discuss financial planning, the process of creating a financial plan, debt, spending and her new tech start-up Viviplan, a new, low-cost financial planning service for Canadians. 

:48  Tell us a little bit about what attracted you to financial planning.

3:51  You’re one of the few fee-only certified financial planners.  Is it much more difficult to make money with this type of service model?

5:41  For the benefit for our listeners can you explain how the process of creating a financial plan works and what fee an individual who seeks out your service can expect to pay?

9:50  How many hours do you think it takes to create a financial plan for someone who has even just a simple situation?

10:50 Tell us about Viviplan and the $800 fee expressed on your website.

14:03  Describe how you tailor this new service to the client?

17:45  Could you explain the two financial goals at most that is mentioned on your website?

18:38  As we all know, start-ups take money. How are you doing on the financing front?

20:30  Robo-Advisors have, for the most part, gotten rid of much of the personal interaction with customers. How essential is it for a customer to keep that personal relationship with a Certified Financial Planner in the process?

22:60  I understand that you’re looking at a subscription model. 

24:47  What kind of a monthly fee are you expecting?

26:29 What are you top three tips for our listeners when it comes to managing their finances?

Ellen’s Tips and Tricks – Skin Care Subscription Fraud

In the tenth episode of the MoneySaver podcast we chat with Ryan Modesto, CFA and CEO of 5i Research Inc.  We discuss what an investor should take into account when creating a portfolio including assessing risk tolerance, ability to accept risk, debt, ETFs, stocks, mutual funds, TFSAs, RRSPs and fees.

2:42  How do you know when it’s time to start considering investing?

4:45 What about people who are young?  Have a small savings and really don’t know what to do with it? 

6:20  Do you think it’s harder for a young person to learn how to do ETFs?

7:28  Do you pay down debt before you begin investing?

9:43  What are some of the factors to take into account when setting up your portfolio?

15:10  It sounds like you need a lot of cash to investing properly in equities?

17:30  What should be your anchor investment?

19:24  What are some signals to watch out for to sell a stock?

23:35  Can you explain what the 60/40 split is?

24:32  Can you discuss the impact of fees on a portfolio?

30:55   Taking into account the RRSP, TFSA and Cash accounts, how you decide which investment goes into which of those accounts? 

34:28  How does cannabis fit into a portfolio?

39:16  Have you ever invested in a similar stock as a flyer with a small amount of money because of the potential?

40:36  What are your three best tips for a successful investing career?

42:00  How do the first time investors asses their risk tolerance?

In the ninth episode of the MoneySaver podcast, we chat with Doris Belland, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and author of Protect Your Purse: Shared Lessons for Women about steps that a woman can take to secure herself in the even of divorce or even the death of a spouse.  We also chat about her women's money group and how she overcame $400 000 of debt after the death of her first husband.

Getting to Know Doris,

0:35   What drove you to write your book Protect Your Purse: Shared Lessons for Women?

13:10   Tell me a little bit more about the book.

18:06  What steps did you take to clear up the $400 000 debt?

25:06  You write a lot about mindset and money habits.  Can you elaborate on how mindset can affect our money habits?

27:09  Do you have another book in the works?

27:49  How can women get involved in your women’s money group?

 29:51  What are the three best tips that you recommend that someone can take to ensure their security?

In the Episode #8 of the MoneySaver Podcast, we talk to Tea Nicola, CEO of Wealthbar, a robo-advisor.  We talk about robo-advisors, women in the boardroom, investing advice and Nicola Wealth Management funds.

2.49   How did your family connections help you get started?

4:55 Tell us what your firm is, what it does and what led you to opening this type of firm instead of a traditional firm.

7:55 How’s it going so far and who is your typical client?

9:20 Suppose I’m one of those pre-retirement people. How much advice would I receive from you and how do you deliver it?

11:40 I understand that In your firm, I will have a dedicated advisor. That is different from other firms that are robo-advisors.

14:00 And how do you like being a woman in the financial services industry? And how do you feel about encouraging female clients to handle their own money?

18:06 Are women well represented within your client base?

19:57   You are also involved in the government of Canada’s digital industries table. Can you tell us what that is and why you decided to take part?

23:08 You are also part of Nicola Wealth Management in that you offer some of their funds. How do you decide how much of the managed funds go into somebody’s account vs the ETFs that you also use.

25:30 What are the top 3 tips that you have found helpful?

28:37 Do you offer a socially responsible portfolio?

In the seventh edition of the MoneySaver Podcast, we chat with John De Goey, Portfolio Manager, Author of four books, Canadian MoneySaver contributor and frequent Business News Network. We talk about embedded compensations, regulatory reform, ETFs and portfolio management.

Getting to Know John De Goey: Questions Covered

1.28 What questions should ask when I am looking for in a good financial advisor?

6:22 What do you think about setting future expectations on portfolio performance based on past performance?

10:38 Do you think that a call from your manager/advisor is necessary when the market is down?

14:00 How did you get into industry?

16:09 You’ve written four books. What is your new book about?

22:25 What do you think the prospect are for getting rid of embedded compensation?

24:39 What do you think is behind the surge in ETFs?

29:18 How do you get the bulk of the financial money managers to accept ETFs?

33:49 How optimistic are you that some of these needed reforms will happen in the next three years?

35:24 What are your three best tips for consumers to manage their portfolios responsibly?

In episode six, Ellen chats with Bridget Casey, creator of the blog Money After Graduation

They discuss the debt snowball, debt avalanche and the debt snowflake methods of clearing up debt as well as the overall financial health of millennials in Canada.

0:52  Tell us how you got started and what your finances were like when you graduated university.

 1:38  So you found blogging about your personal finances was motivating you to clean them up?

3:42  Tell us a little about what you’ve learned about personal finance as a new mother.

5:51  How are you managing to balance work and life right now especially with the high cost of daycare?

6:29  Tell us about what www.moneysaftergraduation.com is.

7:45  Tell us a little about your course, The Six-Figure Stock Portfolio. 

9:00  How does your course, The Six-Figure Stock Porfolio,  compare to the Canadian Securities Course?

10:33  What is your personal approach to investing?

11:01  What is the typical age of the people who take your course?

11:16  Are they investing inside an RRSP or TFSA?

11:45  What approach do you take regarding debt and investing?

13:45  What do you think about the general financial health of millennials in Canada?

14:58  Earlier, you talked about the debt snowball vs debt avalanche.  Now I see you talking about the debt snowflake.  Maybe you could tell us a little about the different approaches.

17:15  You’re on YouTube a lot.  Do you do all the work yourself or do you have help with it?

19:45  Do you spend a lot of time editing videos?

20:02  What are your three best personal finance tips that you try to live by as well?

20:53  What is some practical advice to negotiating a salary?

23:11  As a self-employed individual, do you still use those negotiating skills in your own personal situation?

24:00  I heard you’re writing a book.  How is that going?

Tips to improving your success when negotiating with big companies on their services.

In the fifth episode of The MoneySaver Podcast, we speak to Kelley Keehn, award-winning author, media personality and personal finance educator. We discuss two of her books, She Inc and The Women's Guide to Money, instilling confidence in men and women, consumer protection, where/how to we begin the journey of personal finance.

2:29:  How did you come about to write the book "She Inc."

6:18:  Have women progressed to the point where women are now more confident about our finances?

12:33  Where/How do we start in terms of instilling confidence/accountability within men and women regarding their finances?

17:31  How did you become involved with Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and their work around consumer protection and the issues are facing Canadians?

22:05  What is your role at the Financial Planning Standards Counsel as their Consumer Advocate?

26:19  Do you have three tips on how Canadians can begin paying attention to their finances?

30:22:  Anything else that you feel Canadians should know about when it comes to their finances?