The Personal Finance Show

Mr. Prairie FIRE wants you to discover something about yourself by knowing your finances.

Mr. Prairie FIRE, let’s call him Fred, is an anonymous Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) blogger in the prairies of Western Canada at prairiefirecanada.com.

Fred calls his discovery of the FIRE movement his financial enlightenment.

After surviving 3 large financial crises in a very short time period, he was determined to take control of his finances.

Specifically Fred was drawn to the FIRE movement and the freedom that financial independence promises.

Fred joined me from somewhere in Saskatchewan to tell his personal finance story.

62 - Zena Amundsen

Elizabeth Naumovski is the host of a new television show called Finance is Personal.

On the show she talks with women who are experts in personal finance, while educating viewers about financial literacy.

Elizabeth decided to make women the focus of her show because she believes we need to change what is referred to as the women's money mindset. Many women are not interested in spending any time on their personal finances and this can be detrimental if there is a need to manage money issues on their own.

There aren't that many women on finance shows and definitely not many Canadians on TV at all talking about the financial issues that specifically affect women.

Having a broadcast and finance background, Elizabeth is very well suited to promote financial literacy to Canadians.

I met with Elizabeth at her office in downtown Toronto to hear her personal finance story.

61 - Mr. Prairie Fire

Glen James wants you to know that money doesn’t really matter.

Glen has a very successful financial planning business in Australia and hosts Australia’s top podcast for millennials, called my millenial money.

Glen believes that if you follow your passion, focus on helping others, start your own business and automate everything that you can, then the money will come.

But it doesn’t come overnight. Glen is in his early thirties, but he started in business almost two decades ago, and by the age of 25 had more real life business experience than most people in their 40s. Glen didn’t come from money, and worked hard to get to where he is today.

When the money does come, the thing to do isn’t always extreme frugality and aggressive saving. You have to take care of future you and your fixed expenses, but once you’re covered there, you should have permission to spend the rest and enjoy your life.

Glen wants you to know that the pursuit of money alone won’t bring you happiness. Money gives you options but it should not be the goal.

I didn’t get to connect with Glen during my visit to Australia in July but we were able to meet up later in Orlando during FinCon 2018, where he shared his personal finance story.

60 - Elizabeth Naumovski

Liz Enriquez wants you to grow and learn and ask questions about money.

By age 21, Liz had travelled to over 20 countries and paid for them out of pocket...

Liz worked hard, kept her costs down and saved a lot to accomplish all of this by 27.. No handouts. No help from her parents. No inheritance.

She realized while going through these financial milestones that there weren’t many resources available millennials like her. And the resources that did exist were scattered and difficult to understand for someone who isn’t a financial expert.

So Liz created ambitiousadulting.com to help Canadian Millennials understand personal finances so they can save more, earn more and reduce stress about money.

Liz joined me in the studio in Hamilton to tell her personal finance story.

59 - Glen James

At 22, Arian Beyzaei is Vice President of Operations at Enriched Academy and has investments of over $100,000.

At 16 he read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and told his parents he wasn’t going to college or university.

They were not happy with his decision.

That year he saw Enriched Academy on Dragon’s Den and decided he wanted to join their mission to help Canadians learn, understand and control their money.

Though he was young, the founders of Enriched Academy were impressed by Arian’s passion for personal finance and his willingness to learn and let him join the company as an intern at 17.

He was hired on full time after 8 months and since then he has presented to tens of thousands of Canadians and has been the keynote speaker for hundreds of different corporations.

Arian joined me in the studio to tell us his personal finance story.

58 - Liz Enriquez

Danielle Alexandria wants to help you create true wealth and freedom for the rest of your life.

She believes that creating wealth isn’t just about investing in funds and letting them grow for 40 years. A more holistic approach is needed.

As a financial empowerment coach Danielle will help you overcome your limiting beliefs about money, heal your emotional wounds and help you develop the mindset of the wealthy.

Your thoughts about money might be holding you back. You might think that you can never be wealthy or that attaining financial freedom is not possible.

Well, guess what, if you keep thinking these thoughts, there’s a pretty good chance they are going to come true!

Psychology plays a huge role in finances and Danielle is here to help you break down whatever barriers are between you and financial success.

Danielle joined me in Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto to tell her personal finance story.

57 - Arian Beyzaei

Robert Gignac wants you to know that you are capable of creating the financial future you desire.

But you can’t create a financial future if you don’t know anything about your financial present.

17 years ago, Robert lost his job in IT and realized he was actually doing ok financially. Sure, the money he had accumulated wouldn’t last forever, but as long as he generated some income to fill in the gaps along the way, he would be fine.

Robert only knew this because he had a financial plan in place.

If you are laid off and don’t have a financial plan, the only thing you can do is wonder if you’re going to be ok. You might get stressed out looking for a new job and panic if you don’t find one right away.

With a long-term financial plan, you don’t have to wonder. You’ll know if you’re ok or not.

But this personal finance stuff is really dull so Robert decided to write a book called Rich Is a State of Mind, to try to convince Canadians that taking control of your money is easier than they might think.

A highly sought-after speaker, Robert delivers dynamic keynote speeches and interactive workshop programs to International organizations, financial industry conferences and private clients.

He also has a podcast called Money, Motivation and More and a TV show called We Talk Money.

Robert joined me in the studio to tell his personal finance story.

56 - Danielle Alexandria

Rona Birenbaum wants you to be financially successful.

Rona started out in the financial services industry at a time when sales commissions were huge and the focus was on making money for yourself, and not necessarily your clients.

Rona decided that this was all wrong and in the year 2000 she founded Caring For Clients, Toronto’s best financial planning firm.

At Caring for Clients, Rona and her team do something called Integrative Financial Planning. Sometimes referred to as holistic planning, it means looking at your whole financial picture. I believe this testimonial from caringforclients.com says it best

"Rona and the team at Caring for Clients helped us put together a plan that is far beyond financial advice. Their unique holistic approach had us explore all aspects of our life to ensure that we had all the necessary support in place for our future."

I visited Rona at her office in downtown Toronto where she shared her personal finance story.

55 - Robert Gignac

Darlene Patgunarajah never fit in with the status quo. Darlene is a pioneer.

She started out as a registered nurse, and is currently working at an agency for financial advisors. This is not a very common career path.

Darlene is an excellent example of someone who built her own career path by creating new roles and systems that fit her skills and interests.

Just because you started somewhere doesn’t mean you have to end up there.

Just because a role doesn’t exist, doesn’t mean you can’t make a case for its existence.

It’s ok to reinvent yourself and even take a pay cut rather than stay somewhere that you don’t belong.

It is only by trying different things and making changes that you are able to find your true calling.

Darlene joined me in Toronto in Trinity Bellwoods park to tell the story of her non-traditional career path and how she managed her personal finances along the way.

54 - Rona Birenbaum

David Jenkins wants to help you learn about investing. But he doesn’t want any compensation.

David wants you to pay it forward. If you learn something from his website, he wants you to make a donation to charity instead. David’s charity of choice is the Sanfilippo Children’s Research Foundation which was created to help find a cure for Sanfilippo Syndrome, a degenerative and terminal genetic disorder that affects children.

To try to simplify the complex world of investing, David created a website called theansweris.ca. It’s a financial education website that provides step-by-step instructions for a Model Long-Term Investment Portfolio containing six low-cost ETFs that are well-diversified both geographically, and more importantly, by economic sector.

But David doesn’t want you to just jump right in - he wants to make sure you understand the service he’s providing - and therefore he made it so that you have to complete a 6 question quiz before you proceed.

Especially if you are new to investing, it can be dangerous to follow David’s 100% equity model ETF portfolio if you don’t fully understand that he wants you to buy and hold for at least 10 years.

It’s also important to understand that the information that he provides is purely educational and is just one option for investing your money. David is a self-taught investor and is simply using this website to convey what he’s learned to whoever wants to listen.

Similar to what I would do as a personal finance coach, David is simply interested in providing you with information to help you make the right decisions for you. Please be sure to read all the disclaimers on theansweris.ca when you check it out.

David joined me in the studio earlier this year to share his personal finance story.

53 - Darlene Patgunarajah