"MONEY TALKS" WITH WEALTHSIMPLE EVENT RECAP

Last week we gathered a room full of women to discuss MONEY.

Looking out over Union Station from Wework’s 1 University location, we sat down with a few industry experts to talk saving strategies, parental leave for the self-employed, home ownership, and single parent specific financial hurdles.

Some sipped Domaine Chandon sparkling wine – others opted for Welo Kombucha; Chef Christine Flynn (a single mama and financial literacy warrior herself) served up delicious snacks; and we all settled in to air our fears, insecurities, curiosities and our collective determination to learn and empower ourselves to finally take control of our finances.

In case you missed our Live to Air on IG, we had our panel experts tackle some questions submitted by our community, so even those who were not able to be in attendance can reap some financial benefits.

How do I start investing when I don’t have any extra money?

Streamline monthly cash flow. Automate. Start small. Even automating $25 a month to start, next month $35 etc. If you start slow you won’t feel it as much as you build it up. Don’t be too aggressive. That just sets you up for failure and makes giving up altogether way too likely.

With Wealthsimple, there are no account minimums so you can start investing with as little as $1. You can also use features like Roundup to stay on track. Roundup which automatically rounds up each purchase you make and invests the extra cash at the end of each month. For example, if you spend $4.50 on a latte, it rounds up the charge to $5.00 and automatically invests the extra $0.50. While it’s not a large sum at first, it’s the small amounts that can add up to a big difference in the future.

How do I prioritize savings goals (RESPs? Emergencies? Retirement? Debt? Invest?)

Consumer Debt first, then emergency savings, then long-term savings, then RESP. Always put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then you help your babies.

Do I need life and disability insurance?

Likely yes. If someone would be in trouble financially if you passed away, then you need life insurance. Be sure to assess how much you need based on mortgage, kids, and retirement savings replacement for your spouse. As for disability, most times it’s good to have because your biggest asset in your financial life is your future cash flow. If you can’t work, that tap turns off. Disability insurance is a good way to protect your future cash flow should anything happen.

Give us some first time home owner saving tips. Is it O.K. to rent?

It’s totally O.K. to rent. If you’re going to rent, ensure that you’re saving double for retirement since you aren’t paying into the equity in a home. If you’d like to own a home one day, be sure to use the RRSP and TFSA strategically to give you biggest bang for your buck. The first time home buyers plan is an amazing place to save for your down payment. Right now, up to $35,000 per person can be used to buy a house!

Hit me with your best tax strategies/Does having a good accountant really make a big difference?

When you’ve got kids, you want to ensure that you’re not missing any family tax credits. You can share medical receipts, charitable donations across your family. You also want to ensure you’re saving child care receipts! Child care acts as a tax deduction – which is a HUGE boon to your family tax savings each year. (Psssst: when you sign up for RESPs through Wealthsimple, they automatically register you to receive all the credits you’re eligible for once you have kids)

Any recos on books, courses, podcasts, apps, etc. that can help me become more financially savvy?

Umm… shameless promotion? I have two bestselling books Worry-Free Money and Living Debt Free. Also, I have online financial planning courses (Budget With Your Boo and Get On Track and Sole-Prop School (for small biz owners). As for podcasts, “Canadian Couch Potato”, “Because Money”, and “Mo Money” are all Canadian and excellent.

The questions above were answered by Financial Planning Expert (and hilarious mama of 2) Shannon Lee Simmons who sat on last week’s panel despite having birthed a human TWO WEEKS PRIOR! Check her out. She’s awesome.

Wealthsimple also offers a totally jargon free Investing Master Class to help you becoming a financial genius in just under 45 minutes. Whether you’re an expert or a financial novice, this series will give you a strong investing foundation.

And you’re ever looking to dive deeper on a specific topic, Wealthsimple has a Personal Finance 101 section on their website with articles on a wide range of financial topics like, How to Make a Budget, Retirement Strategies, and How to Save for a House.

We also had the one and only Mariana Iordanova (a.k.a. The Wolf of King Street) on our panel to help us field questions about real estate investments and contribute to a discussion about self employment and parental leave. Follow her escapades on Instagram (DM her if you need her) and get better acquainted with her by reading her latest feature in Medium.

How do we feel about Real Estate as an investment?

As someone who has invested heavily in real estate, I can absolutely attest to its appeal and success as an investment strategy. It follows the same criteria as in any other investment: there has to be a clear objective, time horizon, risk tolerance, and exit strategy. The biggest danger of real estate investment comes from the lack time dedicated to the investment, as in the case of “flipping” (selling properties within a couple of years of acquiring them).

One important piece of advice to share is buy what you can afford. Your first property may not be your dream property, but it will help get you to your dream destination. It may take a few moves, but if that is your goal, just remember to be realistic and humble. Rising prices require more creativity on everyone’s part, so what we see sometimes is people purchasing a property as an investment (i.e. pre-construction condo) and renting their dream house (since renting is usually cheaper than owning). Point being: there are many different ways to achieve home ownership. As long as you’re assisted by the right team of advisers, real estate can be a great investment.

What’s the best advice for a self employed woman preparing for maternity leave?

Most self-employed women are not eligible for mat leave benefits (not like the ones you’d receive in a corporate job, anyway!) so it’s ideal to start saving way in advance of pregnancy to help ensure a comfortable experience. I’ve spoken numerous times about this topic with women who run their own businesses, and the majority agreed that they take their babies to work pretty soon after birth (around the 3 month mark) since the business needs active management on their part. There are benefits offered by Employment Insurance, known as Special Benefits for Self Employed People, but those have few stipulations, most importantly, the individual has to begin participation 12 months before they can be eligible for the actual benefits. Basically, you need to be paying into it for 3 months before even conceiving. It’s also important to note that once you start paying into it, you will have to continue doing so, even after you go back to work. For some women, this makes sense. For others, they’re better off simply saving throughout their pregnancy in preparation for taking time off (with plans to go back in some capacity relatively soon after giving birth).

In the coming weeks, we’ll reveal more about why we’ve partnered Wealthsimple and we’ll take you on our own financial journey as we scrounge $500 together to invest in our future selves #bless. Where will we find this magical “extra” 500 bucks? We’ve got a few ideas that we’ll be sharing over the next few months … one of them being, SELL YOUR SHIT!

We’re here to learn right alongside you guys and we’re so relieved to have so many of you guys accompanying us on our journey to TOTAL FINANCIAL FREEDOM. This is the real self care. This is the real empowerment. Let’s get our fucking money in order, ladies.