The Personal Finance Show

Did you know that Canada has a Financial Literacy Leader? It's true. Jane Rooney was appointed Canada's Financial Literacy Leader in 2014 within the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC). (https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency.html) Yes, there is a government official whose main job is to make sure Canadians are financially literate. Jane is awesome and she's joining me in the second half of this episode. But first let’s talk about the only reason i even know Jane exists, and that’s because of the Conference Board of Canada. Earlier this week, February 21st and 22nd, 2018, they hosted a conference called Financial Wellness and Retirement Readiness. (http://www.conferenceboard.ca/conf/financewellness/default.aspx) While preparing for the conference I found out the FCAC was a sponsor and they offered me an interview with Jane Rooney. From the Conference Board I was offered an interview with their Vice-President of Industry, Strategy and Public Policy, Louis Thériault. Louis gave a great presentation about the current state of financial wellness in the workplace. After the presentation I sat down with Louis and asked him how he got into this world of economic and policy analysis. As Louis says in the interview, there is a quadruple gain with financial wellness programs: The employee gets financial information and support to get out of financial trouble or to prevent them from getting into it in the first place; the employer benefits from less down time and more productivity; the insurers save money when overall health is improved; and, overall wellness is good for society as a whole. So companies are making positive changes, what about the government? When I started researching Jane Rooney for this interview, I was totally surprised by the commitment the government has made to strengthen the financial literacy of Canadians. A common theme at the conference and in the discussion with Jane is the importance of overall wellness. Whether you go through what I did and have mental health issues that caused addiction which led to financial problems, or whether you have unanticipated financial issues, which in turn may cause mental health issues, we now understand that one can’t be addressed without looking at the others. And though we didn’t focus on it, physical wellness including healthy eating habits play a huge part in overall wellness as well. I would like to thank Jane and Louis for taking the time to share their stories and insight. It’s comforting to know that there are people out there who are looking out for us and trying to improve the overall well-being of Canadians. Here's the link to the FCAC hotline that Jane mentioned in the episode: https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/corporate/contact-us.html NEXT EPISODE Next week on the personal finance show, Lindsay and Graham Plumb from Moola Financial Coaches and Advisors. I had a really fun chat with Lindsay and Graham and how they are helping Canadians become unstoppable, which is now my favourite word. If you enjoy listening to The Personal Finance Show, please show your support by subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes. No time for a review? Just leave me a star rating - takes 2 seconds on iTunes. investwisely.ca is where you can find all of the show notes and links and of course all of my blog posts. I’d love to hear from you so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected].

Allison Suter is a total tax nerd.

When someone mentions income taxes, do you get excited or are you filled with dread?

Do you wait until the last possible moment to file your taxes?

When you finally start the process, are you so on edge that if the slightest thing goes wrong you want to throw your laptop across the room?

And when it’s over, are you 100% sure that you messed it up somehow?

If this sounds like you, you should probably check out SimpleTax.

Allison Suter is a former tax lawyer.

One day she was doing her taxes online and started wondering: Why is preparing my tax return so complicated? Why is tax software so slow and expensive?

If a tax nerd like Allison thinks it’s complicated, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Luckily for us, Allison and her co-founders decided to build what they like to call “the best tax software in Canada”.

Allison joined me from Vancouver to talk about how she went from tax lawyer, to world traveller, to wedding photographer and finally to SimpleTax. 

20 - Jane Rooney

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

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When someone mentions income taxes, do you get excited or are you filled with dread? Do you wait until the last possible moment to file your taxes? When you finally start the process, are you so on edge that if the slightest thing goes wrong you want to throw your laptop across the room? And when it’s over, are you 100% sure that you messed it up somehow? If this sounds like you, you should probably check out SimpleTax. Allison Suter is a former tax lawyer. She is a total tax nerd. One day she was doing her taxes online and started wondering: Why is preparing my tax return so complicated? Why is tax software so slow and expensive? If a tax nerd like Allison thinks it’s complicated, what hope is there for the rest of us? Luckily for us, Allison and her co-founders decided to build what they like to call “the best tax software in Canada”. Allison joined me from Vancouver to talk about how she went from tax lawyer, to world traveller to wedding photographer and finally to SimpleTax. 

NEXT EPISODE

Next week on The Personal Finance Show I will be talking with Jane Rooney who is Canada’s Financial Literacy Leader, within the federal government’s Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. She was appointed to that position in April 2014 to exercise leadership at the national level to strengthen the financial literacy of Canadians. If you enjoy listening to The Personal Finance Show, please show your support by subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes. No time for a review? Just leave me a star rating - takes 2 seconds on iTunes. investwisely.ca is where you can find all of the show notes and links and of course all of my blog posts. I’d love to hear from you so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]. (If you don’t have iTunes, you can review the podcast on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/beau-humphreys/the-personal-finance-show)

For the Money 20/20 Payments Race in October 2017, Amélie Arras chose bitcoin as her method of payment and made her way from Toronto to Las Vegas in a week.

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Imagine you’re visiting Europe for the first time.

For some reason you didn’t think to buy any Euros before you left home. You are Canadian, so all you have is Canadian dollars on you.

You find out that things have changed recently in Europe and there is no longer a way to exchange your Canadian dollars for Euros.

Your only option is to try to find businesses and people who will accept your Canadian dollars.

You’ll need food so you start by asking at various restaurants, and each one says, sorry, we don’t accept Canadian dollars.

You have internet access so you’re able to search for the Canadian community in the city you are in. You eventually find someone who agrees to take your Canadian dollars in exchange for some food and transport to your hotel.

But not every city in Europe will be like this.

Luckily you have some hotels pre-booked, but for most everything else you’re going to have to figure it out along the way.

This is what it’s like to travel with only Bitcoin.

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Somehow, using only bitcoin, Amélie won the payments race.

Amélie joined me from the UK to tell her bitcoin story.

19 - Allison Suter

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

Imagine you’re visiting Europe for the first time. For some reason you didn’t think to buy any Euros before you left home. You are Canadian, so all you have is Canadian dollars on you. You find out that things have changed recently in Europe and there is no longer a way to exchange your Canadian dollars for Euros. Your only option is to try to find businesses and people who will accept your Canadian dollars. You’ll need food so you start by asking at various restaurants, and each one says, sorry, we don’t accept Canadian dollars. You have internet access so you’re able to search for the Canadian community in the city you are in. You eventually find someone who agrees to take your Canadian dollars in exchange for some food and transport to your hotel. But not every city in Europe will be like this. Luckily you have some hotels pre-booked, but for most everything else you’re going to have to figure it out along the way. This is what it’s like to travel with only Bitcoin. For the Money 20/20 payments race in October 2017, Amélie Arras chose bitcoin as her method of payment and made her way from Toronto to Las Vegas in a week. Somehow, using only bitcoin, she won the payments race. Amélie joined me from the UK to tell her bitcoin story. EPISODE LINKS How do you think you would have done in Amélie’s shoes? Do you think she was lucky, resourceful, or a bit of both? You can find all the videos from Amélie’s journey here: http://adastra-marketing.com/insight/abc/ And here is her Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWiaP3A1ErwY982IsSlnSkQ And if you’re curious, here’s the link to the Bucephalus Bike Shop in Evanston, IL that helped Amélie out: http://bucephalusbikes.com/

NEXT EPISODE

Next week on The Personal Finance Show I will have Allison Suter from SimpleTax. If you enjoy listening to The Personal Finance Show, please show your support by subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes. No time for a review? Just leave me a star rating - takes 2 seconds on iTunes. investwisely.ca is where you can find all of the show notes and links and of course all of my blog posts. I’d love to hear from you so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]. (If you don’t have iTunes, you can review the podcast on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/beau-humphreys/the-personal-finance-show)

Jessica Moorhouse travelled from Toronto to Las Vegas over one week using only a chip and pin credit card.

It’s October 2017 and I’m at the SIBOS global financial services conference in Toronto. I post something about the conference on Facebook and my friend Jessica Moorhouse comments that she’ll be at the conference tomorrow.

I had just found out that she would be participating in this payments race - think of it as the amazing race for money nerds.

It turned out the race was going to start the next day from the conference that I was already attending.

I was able to get an interview with all 5 contestants in the race, Jessica being the only Canadian.

All 5 racers had to make it from Toronto to Las Vegas in a week, using different methods of payment.

There was bitcoin, gold, contactless ring/apple pay, cash, and Jessica had to use a chip and pin credit card.

Maybe you’re thinking, that’s easy.

You can pay for everything with a chip and pin credit card in North America, right?

That’s what the race is all about.

The organizers didn’t do a trial run from Toronto to Vegas and try all of those methods to see if it was possible.

The race was created to find out if it is possible.

So Jessica and the other contestants headed out into the unknown to see whether it would be a breeze or if they would run into obstacles along the way.

Jessica joined me a few weeks after the race to tell her side of the story.

If you want all the details about Jessica’s payments race journey, you can find them here:

https://jessicamoorhouse.com/youtube

https://jessicamoorhouse.com/survived-trip-across-america-using-chip-pin/

Personal finance bloggers who helped Jessica along the way:

Cait Flanders: https://caitflanders.com/

Michelle Jackson: https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/

Barry Choi: https://www.moneywehave.com/

18 - Amélie Arras

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

It’s October 2017 and I’m at the SIBOS global financial services conference in Toronto. I post something about the conference on Facebook and my friend Jessica Moorhouse comments that she’ll be at the conference tomorrow. I had just found out that she would be participating in this payments race - think of it as the amazing race for money nerds. It turned out the race was going to start the next day from the conference that I was already attending. I was able to get an interview with all 5 contestants in the race, Jessica being the only Canadian. (https://investwisely.ca/money-2020-payments-race-podcast/) All 5 racers had to make it from Toronto to Las Vegas in a week, using different methods of payment. There was bitcoin, gold, contactless ring and apple pay, cash, and Jessica had to use a chip and pin credit card. Maybe you’re thinking, that’s easy. You can pay for everything with a chip and pin credit card in North America, right? That’s what the race is all about. The organizers didn’t do a trail run from Toronto to Vegas and try all of those methods to see if it was possible. The race was created to find out if it is possible. So Jessica and the other contestants headed out into the unknown to see whether it would be a breeze or if they would run into obstacles along the way. Jessica joined me a few weeks after the race to tell her side of the story.

If you’re wondering, Jessica did eventually pay Barry back. ;-) If you want all the details about Jessica’s payments race journey, you can find them here: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/youtube https://jessicamoorhouse.com/survived-trip-across-america-using-chip-pin/ Personal finance bloggers who helped Jessica along the way:

Cait Flanders: https://caitflanders.com/

Michelle Jackson: https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/

Barry Choi: https://www.moneywehave.com/

Next week on The Personal Finance Show I have another payments racer, Amelie Arras, who actually won the race using only bitcoin as a method of payment. How did she pull this off? You’ll have to tune in next week to find out. If you enjoy listening to The Personal Finance Show, please show your support by subscribing and leaving a review on iTunes or your favourite podcast app. No time for a review? Just leave me a star rating - takes 2 seconds on iTunes. investwisely.ca is where you can find all of the show notes and links and of course all of my blog posts. I’d love to hear from you so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]. (If you don’t have iTunes, you can review the podcast on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/beau-humphreys/the-personal-finance-show)

Stephen Weyman knows a lot about credit cards.

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In my opinion, credit cards should only be used in one way:  I think you should only buy something with a credit card if that money is sitting in your bank account right now.

Credit cards are not for borrowing.

Please don't use credit cards for borrowing.

There are times in our lives when we need to borrow money. But credit cards are one of the worst tools for borrowing. The interest rate is way too high.

So just promise me that if you ever really need money, right now, and you're thinking about borrowing it with a credit card, look at other options first.

Maybe a loan or a line of credit with a lower rate.

Just look at other options and only borrow with a credit card as a last resort. Credit cards are a tool for convenience and benefits.

Now that you have agreed to only spend money you have in the bank, I can introduce you to Stephen Weyman and his new website called Credit Card Genius.

There are so many options when it comes to getting a credit card.

Before I talked to Stephen, I would have told you to never get a credit card with an annual fee.

You know I hate fees.

But what if the benefits you get when you use the card are much higher than the annual fee?

Example: Before I owned a car I rented cars all the time. Many credit cards come with collision and damage coverage if you book the rental car with the card. If you don't have a card with collision and damage coverage, the rental company will charge you $30 per day. That's an extra $210 on a rental for just a week. So if you rent a car for a week, even once a year, maybe a $99 annual fee on a credit card isn't so bad.

This is just one example of a credit card benefit. But there are so many that trying to remember them is making my brain hurt.

That's where Stephen and Credit Card Genius can help.

For over 7 years Stephen has been the mastermind behind the website HowToSaveMoney.ca. And while he included credit card reviews on HowToSaveMoney.ca, he realized the world of credit card selection was complex and needed its own space.

So Stephen found all of the credit card options in Canada and put them on one site.

Turns out there are more than 150 different options.

He even built some cool features to help you find the credit card that works best for you. Stephen joined me in downtown Toronto for my first outdoor and underground mobile episode of The Personal Finance Show.

(And a special shout out to Daniel Trezub from savewithdan.ca for making that cameo at the end.)

17 - Jessica Moorhouse (Payments Race)

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

“Over a period of time it’s become incredibly difficult for any individual to stand in front of the data or the facts, and say that there is a defensible edge that I have in picking stocks, or creating strategies in this market that will outperform the passive indices.” - Randy Cass, NestWealth

Randy Cass is a professional investor.

After speaking to him for just a few minutes, it’s clear he knows investing. Randy spent years as an active portfolio manager making big money for big pension plans and institutions, managing their investment portfolios using complicated strategies that most people wouldn’t understand.

An active portfolio manager gets paid based on how well the portfolio does so it’s in their best interest to spend all their time coming up with the best ways to make money. Active portfolio managers work hard and it’s their full-time job, so people don’t mind paying them high management fees.

But what if you could get the same investment returns without paying the high management fees?

What if it turned out that there were passive investments, with very low management fees, that performed just as well as the high fee ones?

Over time, real data started to prove this was true. The high fees were good for the active managers but not for Canadian investors.

Randy eventually took a break from actively managing portfolios and became the host of BNN’s television show Market Sense. While at BNN conducting interviews and reporting on investment products, he realized that the majority of Canadians were still losing out on so much growth because of high fees, despite the fact that there were so many low fee options emerging.

Randy decided it was time to create a better way to help Canadians grow their money.

This is the story of Randy Cass and NestWealth.

To try Nest Wealth for yourself, click here: http://try.nestwealth.com/BeauHumphreys

16 - Stephen Weyman

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

Mike Wickware started out having no idea what he wanted to do with his life and now he is Chief Marketing Officer of a company called Planswell.

Along the way, Mike had to make hard decisions about what was right for him and really think about what he wanted to do with his life.

There will always be people that tell you that you have to stay on a certain path because of safety and security or the fact that you spent money on a degree and you shouldn’t waste it.

Most of the time these people are well intentioned and they are just looking out for you. They don’t want you to get into trouble.

But the key thing to remember is that these people aren’t the ones living your life.

You have to do what’s right for you.

Even if people don’t understand.

Even if you end up somewhere you could have never predicted.

Are you one of the lucky ones who has always had a clear picture of what you wanted to do with your life?

There are many different names for this part of our life: job, career, work, what we do for a living.

Whatever you call it, it’s the thing - or things - that we do to make money.

The ideal situation is that the thing we do every day to make money is also something we enjoy, and that aligns with our core values. A core value is something that is important to you.

For example, one of my top 10 core values is helping others, so if I’m doing work and the end result of that work doesn’t help others in some way, I won’t be happy doing that work.

You might have heard someone say: what would you do with your life if money wasn’t important?

When you’re starting out in the working world, you don’t generally have that luxury, so you might take the job that pays you well enough for the skills you have at that moment in time. But most of the time, you don’t stay in that job for the rest of your life. Not anymore anyhow.

You might move up in a company, learn more about what you are good at, and eventually you might find out that you want to do something completely different. Some people think that when we change jobs, or follow our passions, we’re being selfish.

But to quote Esther Perel: It’s not vanity, it’s sheer survival of the soul.

If you are doing something everyday and that something doesn’t feel quite right, it is very important to listen to that feeling.

It doesn’t mean that you’ve been doing the wrong thing for the past 10 years, it just means that over that time you’ve learned more about yourself and what it is you truly want.

I believe that this is something that can only come from experience.

Mike invited me to the Planswell head office where he told his personal finance story.

15 - Randy Cass

Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.