More Money Podcast - 038 How to Survive Financial Hardships like a Fighter - Tahnya Kristina, Blogger at Blonde & Balanced

Episode Date: February 24, 2016

In this episode, I talk to certified financial planner, freelance writer and Blonde & Balanced blogger Tahnya Kristina about how she lost her job during the 2007 financial crisis, and then turned that into an opportunity to become debt-free and never be put in that position again. Long episode description: I’ve known Tahnya Kristina for several years — initially from the personal finance blogging world, then when we were roommates at FinCon 2014. The one thing that always amazes me about Tahnya is how no matter what, she always has such a positive attitude. Case in point, when she lost her job as a certified financial planner during the financial crisis and had to dig her way out of debt and find a new source of income. It wasn’t easy going from earning a good pay cheque as a commission-only CFP, to becoming unemployed and not sure where to go. But like so many successful people, Tahnya turned those lemons into lemonade and fought her way to a better life. She could have easily thrown her hands up and given in to this major setback, but instead she wallowed for a few days then got to work. She started by using some of her talents in a totally new way. With her deep financial knowledge, she sought out work as a freelance financial writer, which eventually led her to a job in digital marketing. Now, several years after the economic collapse, Tahnya continues to freelance write for various websites and blogs (including Blonde & Balanced), as well as works full-time so she never has to worry about depending on just one job again. It’s a notion I absolutely live by and advocate whenever I can. Never rely on only one source of income. If it means getting a job on the weekend, at night, or freelancing in your spare time, it will seriously make all the difference in terms of you reaching your financial goals quicker and just feeling all around more secure. I haven’t lost sleep about money for years, and I know it’s because I’ve been debt-free since 2010 and have multiple streams of income. Article I Mentioned on Vancouver Housing Prices 91% of Single-family Homes in Vancouver Now Valued at Over $1 million Learn More About Tahnya Kristina Check out her blog Blonde & Balanced Follow Blonde & Balanced on Facebook Check out Tahnya’s professional website Follow Tahnya on Twitter Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/38 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to Episode 38 of the Mo Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thank you so much for joining me again for another episode of this fabulous podcast that I am hosting. I am super pumped to talk to my next guest. Her name is Tanya Christina, and I've known her for quite a few years, actually. She was actually my roommate at the first FinCon that I went to in New Orleans a couple years back. And ever since then, we just kept in touch. And when she's in town, Toronto, she lives in Montreal, we'll grab a bite to eat and just chit chat and catch up. And last time we did that, I'm like, hey, girl, why aren't you on my podcast? And she's like, I don't know. So she's

on my podcast today. Not only is she a personal finance blogger and freelance writer, she is the blogger behind Blonde and Balanced. She's also a certified financial planner. And she has a crazy story. She was working as a CFP, and then the market crash happened and her whole world got turned upside down. And ever since then, she has put some kind of safeguards in place and just hustled to the max. So she would never be in that kind of financial situation again, because hey, I totally like that. That was a terrible time in my life too. And I never want to go back. And that's why I'm doing everything in my power to be prepared financially if something does happen again. So with all that being said, let's get to the program. Thanks, Tanya, for joining me on the show today.

Absolutely. My pleasure, Jess. Thanks for having me. You are so welcome. So let's kind of start from the beginning because you have a very interesting path. You're a certified financial planner and also a personal finance blogger. So let's start from the beginning. Your first career was a certified financial planner. How did you decide to go into that career? Were you always interested in personal finance or? No, I wasn't. I actually was really bad with money as a teenager. And even in my 20s, I moved from Ontario to Montreal to go to school and I was actually accepted into the French program. Yeah. And when I got here, I was working, you know, like retail jobs and at cafes and stuff. And I, it was just, it wasn't enough to pay for school and pay expenses, you know, living on my own and stuff. So I started

working at a bank and it was a good job. There was good benefits. I could work full time and still go to school. And I became obsessed with money. You worked full time while going to school? I did. Yeah. Wow. Good for you. I mean, wow. It can be done. Yeah. Apparently. That's awesome. Full-time and work full-time. And, um, I did it still in four years, so it didn't set me back at all. And I had always planned to come back to Ontario and the bank was like, Hey, you graduated and you've already been working for us for three years. Why don't you become a financial planner? And I was like, why don't I become a financial planner? Yeah, that sounds like a, you know, that makes sense. That seems great. So I did. I stayed in Montreal and I did my financial planning courses. It took

two years. And in 2007, I officially became a certified financial planner and went into the bank branch and started selling investments. Wow. So as a certified financial planner, I know it seems like sometimes certain planners do different things. So did you kind of help people like people would walk in and you just kind of give them a financial plan or or were you more focused on specific investing or? It was a little bit of both. So when I went into the branch, I had a book of clients that I had to develop and obviously be in contact with to make sure that their financial needs were being met for all bank products. But the focus was investment and retirement planning. So when that comes into play, of course, you know, as people get older, estate planning comes into play. And when people

pass on, it's dealing with their families and everything, but it's always been money management as the focus for, you know, 40, 50, and then 60 and over a year olds. So mostly investments and retirement planning. Okay, that's interesting. And I'm just curious, are you kind of a planner by nature? Is that part of the draw for you becoming a certified financial planner? I am. I'm like crazy OCD obsessive. Like, oh my God, that's an inch off the corner. Could you write a line hit, please? Like, yeah, so that was great. And you know, the crazy thing is, I am super organized. And obviously, I'm good with money. But I wasn't back then in my 20s, I was like $50,000 in debt. And I would go to work every day and tell people everything they needed to do to get out of debt and save for their

retirement and everything like that and be able to afford the lifestyle they want regardless of their income because of the planning. And I wasn't even doing it. So you were giving good advice, but not necessarily living by your own. Not taking it at all. And then I turned 30 and I had like my pre midlife crisis. And I was like, I need to get my act together. Like I can do this. I know it's not like I have to learn. I know exactly what to do. I'm just too lazy to do it. And I completely turned my life around and now I'm just as crazy about money as I was with planning and organization in my twenties. Yeah. Did you end up paying off your student loan? I did. So some of that money was student loans. Some of it was just stupid spending on credit cards and lines of credit. And then I figured I'm 27. I'm a professional. I think I'll buy a brand new car

because now I have a full-time job as a financial planner and I'm so awesome. And eight months later, the market crashed. Yeah. So let's talk about that. Because that's, I mean, that's insane. Like when the market crashed, you were kind of in your career, you know, starting your adult life. And you're like, finally, I can enjoy the fruits of my labor. And then the crash. Then crash of everything. My whole life came crashing down. I was 100% commission as a financial planner, and people were hoarding cash. People, not only were they not investing, they're screaming at me because they think that I lost all their money because I'm the person managing it. And it was tough. I had no income. I had a ton of stress from not having any money

and not being able to pay bills. And I mean, you could, I could tell everybody to have an emergency fund, but if you have three months and you're in, you know, it's three months of living expenses, what about everything else that costs money in life? You know? Yeah, exactly. It's like, it's great to have a three months worth of emergency fund, but they may not help you when there's an economic crash that lasts years. Yeah, so how do you plan for that? Exactly. You can't. So yeah, I have no money. I'm lucky to be in a relationship. So we can move apartments, obviously sell the car. I considered bankruptcy. I even went to bankruptcy counselor to look at my options. I had no idea what to do.

I didn't know how I would get. My whole world came crashing down, personal, financial, professional, everything. And I was sitting in the bankruptcy office and she was like, you're going to lose this. You're going to get rid of this. Your student loans will happen. Like, you know, this will happen. And I was like, you know what? This sounds messy and it's not for me. I'm going to make a plan and I'm going to do it on my own. I'm going to just figure it out. So I started freelancing because I was a financial planner. I already had some credibility and I answered an ad on Craigslist for a financial blog. That's awesome. It's not in 2009.

That's the only way you could get work. Yeah, for sure. Blogging wasn't as big as it is today. So there was, you know, less sites and less work. And I answered an ad on Craigslist for a company called Dinks Finance. And I did, I started blogging daily. And I, from there, I got contacts and people would, you know, email me and say, Hey, we liked your article.

I work for so-and-so company. Can you do this? And I started writing webpages, financial information for company webpages. And I did a lot of free work just to show what I could do. Yeah. That's the unfortunate part of, you know, starting as a freelancer is you have to work for free sometimes. You do of, you know, starting as a freelancer is you have to work for free sometimes. You do. And you know what? That's okay. Because to make, you know, $150, $200 an hour, you have to start from the bottom and now we're here. So it's okay.

I think that was a beautiful line by Drake. I think I like the Canadian shout out right there. Yes, I love it. Toronto. Oh my goodness. That's awesome that you kind of took, you know, what some people would think is, you know, that's the end of my life. I should just throw in the towel. But you took it as an opportunity to, you know, figure it out, better yourself and make it work.

And that's awesome. That's a great lesson that I think a lot of people live by when something bad happens, something good can happen if you just, you know, do something different. Yeah. I mean, if I was probably single, it could have went another way, you know, but I had someone being saying, it's okay. It's temporary. Let's just make changes. And, you know, you can sit on your couch and be sad as much as you want, but that's not changing anything. Exactly. It's not going to help anything. That's not a solution. No. So wallow for a couple of days or, you know, a week, but then get off your couch and get over it. That's the only, it sounds really terrible, but that's it. That's.

No, it's like, this is adult life. Being an an adult is hard so it's not like you can just go to bed and your mom makes you pancakes in the morning like you gotta it's like you gotta make some money for those pancakes so you gotta make them yourself and they may come from a box and then you need the syrup and that's expensive exactly so yeah and now i have eight jobs so i turned my that's a lot of jobs. I turned my little Craigslist ad into a somewhat media freelance side hustle career. Yeah. And you've been doing that for, I mean, it's 2016.

If you started that in 2009, that's several years. Yeah, seven years. Wow. Yeah. And I continue to do it. I mean, I'm thankful that I still do have a job in corporate banking and I do work nine to five for an investment firm, but I come home and I still, you know, those are the people who got me through and I still have some of the same clients that I

had back in 2009. And I just, I can't let that relationship go. They were there for me. I mean, of course they didn't know what I was going through. They just know that they had a writer. But yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't let that go. And I like having multiple streams of income. You know, I wouldn't want to do it full time for myself, because I do like the stability of corporate job and, you know, getting up and going to work every day. And it's nice having benefits and that structure. Yeah, I like having, you know, a pension plan and a group RRSP. Yeah, I never had that in my 20s because I was irresponsible. It's nice. I like it. But I also like to come home and work as much or as little as I want, depending on how much work I want to take that month or that quarter, and be able to spend it

or save it as I wish and not have to worry that if I do spend it on vacation that I won't be able to spend it or save it as I wish. And not have to worry that if I do spend it on vacation that I won't be able to pay rent. Or won't be able to eat. And yes, I'm 35 and I'm a financial planner and I still pay rent. I don't have a rent. No, like, believe me. You know my stance in the whole housing thing. It's like, I don't have a million dollars. So, yeah, I rent.

I live in Toronto. What do you expect? Oh, you don't have a million dollars so yeah i rent i live in toronto what do you expect oh you don't have a million dollars for 500 square feet is that not on your plan for life oh my gosh no joke before we just started chatting i was on facebook and i saw this article that was shared and it was like i i think the percentage was something crazy like 80 to 90 percent of homes in vancouver are now worth over a million dollars and i'm like okay this is literally like no i'm never gonna own a house and i don't who i don't know it's insane i don't know i i would like to be their friend

and do they have kids and a dog like where are you living a1 million in downtown Vancouver, downtown Toronto? It has to be tiny, I'm sure. It's got to be tiny and falling down. I don't know. Although the developer is making money. That's who we need to be friends with. We need to be friends with the guy charging them the millions of dollars. We should probably do that. We should probably do that.

But no, I totally get, I'll probably still be renting because it's not the same time it was for parents where you could actually, I mean, my parents bought their first home in their early 20s with, I think it was me and my older sister and we were both little kids and they were able to actually afford to buy a house with land. And it's like, no, we cannot do that. And we definitely have more money than my parents did. We're older and we have more money and we still can't do that. And we definitely have more money than my parents did. You know, like we're older and we have more money and we still can't do that.

It's just a different time. Yeah, and even if you buy the house, you're not getting land. You're getting neighbors. Like in your condo. You're getting neighbors and they might share a wall with you. You know, it's just insane.

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. So, no, I absolutely, going back to when you said you had eight jobs, I love that idea because I'm so pro having multiple streams of income. I've always had a second job and I never

thought I would. Honestly, I had the whole dream of once I finished university, I'd get some full time job, then I'd just be living life and enjoying myself until I realized how expensive everything was. The life cost money. Yeah, like, oh, wait, what? I didn't think this is how much things were. And so yeah, like when I was, you know were and so yeah like when I was you know finished university um I and I was trying to find a full-time job I got this um you know my that teleprompter operator job that was just like kind of a random job on the side I thought I'd only keep it for a few months until I found my full-time job ended up being a teleprompter operator for three and a half years yeah because it's like the money was so good. I

was paid like $25 an hour to literally just, you know, scroll this little dial. And I'm like, why not? And ever since then, I've, you just kind of get used to having a second job or a third job. And it's, it's not a big deal. I still see friends and family and enjoy the fruits of my labor, but now I don't worry about not being able to afford something because I know there's probably a way I can make money to afford that. Yeah, exactly. It just takes the stress out of it. I mean, yes, you're working more, but the benefits are so much more worth it.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And so you eventually hope to not, you know, kind of turn all of your freelance businesses so you can be self-employed like lots of people do today. You just want to kind of, you know, build up your net worth. So one day you could be like, and I'm done. I don't, I don't need to work a second or third or fourth or eighth job. I'm good with my one job. Yeah, absolutely. I don't have any intention of quitting my corporate job because I actually really do love it. And it's something different than what I do in my freelance work. So, or at least it used to be when I was a financial

planner. I've since made a career change and now I actually do work in digital marketing. But I do different things in my freelance work. Some of it is just pure writing. Some of it is consulting for, you know, digital marketing strategies. And then a part of it is social media management and coaching. So it's, you know, it's a freelance income stream, but it's still multiple things. So if ever one day I decide, eh, I don't really want to do the consulting thing anymore, I would still have two other streams of revenue. Exactly. So I, I love it. And yeah, you know, it's hard work, but in order to make money, you have to work. So if I decide I don't want to do that one day, then that's fine. I still have my corporate job that covers my basic living expenses,

but I wouldn't, you know, get to travel or like you said, if something comes up, I know that it's not the end of the world financially, whereas five or 10 years ago, it would have been. Now, just I want to pick your brain a little bit since you are a certified financial planner. What were some of the maybe key things that you would tell some of your clients when you're a financial planner? Things that many people always like very popular questions that you got that you're like, this is so simple. I don't know why people don't know this. What kind of tips would you like to share with me? Oh my goodness. The first tip. Putting you on the spot. First of all, this is 150 an hour. No, just kidding.

Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry. and he's like no you're only getting a hundred thousand and i'm like why and he's like because everybody says don't put your eggs in one basket and folks that does not mean institution okay it means diversify your investments now of course you can over diversify which is never good because you don't get to take advantage of all the ups right if you don't have enough money in there you're not taking advantage. And if you have too much, you could get killed when the market crashes. But you know, it means to have a good mix. If you want to have some in cash for an emergency, do that. And that doesn't, you know, that could be a high interest savings account,

but it could also be a money market mutual fund. And have some in Canadian, have some in foreign, not too much, because you're taking additional risk there. And even Canadian, you know, you could have dividend equity, and then blue chip equity, and small cap equity, that is diversified. So the people who have money a little bit everywhere, I mean, this is going to sound morbid, but when you pass away, it's a nightmare for your family. No, that's really interesting. And that's important to think about. I think about that. It's in my plans, the works in the coming weeks, I am going to get a will. And I keep on telling my husband this. I'm like, we need to get a will. He's like, do you want me to die? Why do you keep bringing it up? I'm just like, because I just want to make sure that we're organized in case something happens. And you know, that's, that's the other

thing. So the first thing is diversify, but you can do it with the same financial planner. Yeah, absolutely. You know, have that one relationship that you're confident with, or that your family has been with and passed down to you. If you're, you know, our age and our parents have dealt with somebody or choose your own but the banks and brokers can buy so many different products right now that you can you're not limited in any way but yeah same person and the second thing is i don't care how old you are and i don't care how much money you think you have or don't have get a will absolutely just the logistics of even a bank account if you have a bank account with like $300 in it, you still need a will.

You might have group benefits with your employer, life insurance and retirement plans. And it will be a nightmare for your family to get, you know, they're grieving. And that takes time. And then on top of that, to have financial stress and things to deal with is it's so awful. So plan for retirement or, you know, plan for life for your family after death at any age. Absolutely. Yeah. I think, and especially millennials like us, I don't feel like they realize how important that is until you really experience it yourself, you know, maybe with someone in your family passing away and you really see how, you know, difficult organizing all of that is, you may not

realize how important it is to do. And honestly, yeah, it doesn't matter what age you are, you should definitely look into doing it. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Well, thank you so much. Before we go, sorry, I can't believe I almost said goodbye. I want to talk about your kind of latest, you know, project because you do have eight jobs and you freelance a lot. One of the blogs that you blog at is called Blonde and Balanced. Yes, it is. So I'm a fake blonde trying to find, I'm not like you. I'm sure most, well, you know what, I'm more of a ginge, quite honestly, I'm more ginger. I used to find me. I'm not like you. I'm sure most blonde. Well, you know what? I'm more of a ginge, quite honestly. I'm more ginger. I used to be blonde. When we were younger, right? Yeah. I was so blonde. I know. And then it just got darker and now it's kind of weird ginger. I don't know. So I'm a fake blonde trying to find a real balance. And that's, you know, between spending and saving, because

I did go through that shopaholic five credit cards in a line of credit phase of my life, where I thought having a really nice apartment and a ton of clothes and eating out at fancy restaurants is going to make me happy. And it didn't, it took three years and eight jobs to pay off my debt. So, you know, now I live, I, I live, honestly, when I was debt free, I was terrified to spend money. Yeah, because you never want to go back. You don't want to go back to eating rice and beans. That's a bad time in life. So I was terrified. And then now I'm learning that it's okay within limits. And that's the balance I'm trying to find then now I'm learning that it's okay within limits. And that's the balance I'm trying to find right now between being happy and whether that be spending money or not spending money,

but being happy with my money life and being comfortable with my personal life. And, of course, there's always that work-life balance. Since I do have a 9 to 5 and freelance, I still have to find time to go to the gym and make dinner and stuff like that. So we don't have any kids. So obviously it's a lot easier to manage a schedule, but it's just finding a balance of everything in life between money and happiness. I totally agree, which is why my tagline is money life balance. Cause I am also, I'm trying to figure out how to have more balance in my life with my life and my money and everything that goes with that. So I think that's awesome. I hope everyone checks out Tanya's awesome blog. Thank you. And thank you so, so much for taking the time to talk with me.

My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me, Jess. You're welcome. And that was Tanya Christina for episode 38 of the Momente podcast. Make sure to check out her blog, Blonde and Balanced, and check out the show notes for this episode, jessicamorehouse.com slash 38. And let me know what you think. You know, you like what you hear? I hope so. Please give me an iTunes review. I really, really appreciate them. And I will give you a shout out on a future episode. So make sure you do that. And until next Wednesday, peace. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.