More Money Podcast - 073 Listener Series - How to Overcome Life's Major Obstacles Like Erika

Episode Date: November 10, 2016

For this special Listener series episode, I chat with Erika from Red Deer, Alberta about how she experienced extreme poverty in her childhood, was later adopted to a new family with her brother and had to accept the news that she had MS in her early 20s. She's had to overcome a number of obstacles in her young life so far, more than most people ever have to deal with. But despite that fact, her optimism is infectious and she's proof that when there's a will there's a way, and it's never too late to start managing your money right and crushing your debt. Long description: Erika emailed me a little while ago answering my call-out for more interviewees for my Listener Series, and I'm so glad she did. Talk about a strong woman who has overcome some major life challenges. Not only did she have to experience extreme poverty as a child, then foster care, then being adopted to a new family, she was also diagnosed with MS in her early 20s. It's not surprising that she struggled with striking a balance between living frugally and spending her money freely to live in the moment. Luckily, she soon realized that YOLOing it up wasn't the answer, nor was living like an extreme cheapskate. She needed to find a system that worked that gave her clarity, freedom and balance. Now she's well on her way from being debt-free, and I absolutely have it in my calendar to see if she achieves her goal of crushing her debt by this time next year. Actually, I hope to follow-up with all of my Listener Series guests to see how they're all doing in a year's time, how cool would that be! Thank you Erika for sharing your story with me and to all of the Mo' Money Podcast listeners. You are a rockstar, so keep up the great work! Erika's Budgeting Go-to Software YNAB (You Need a Budget) Her Words of Wisdom on Living with MS I really just want to get rid of that stigma of [living with MS] being shameful. 20 plus years ago it was very much don't tell anyone...it was a black mark. It's no longer that way and I want to work towards making sure that people no longer feel that way about it. Got a story that you think would be good to share on an episode on of Listener series? Please email me! For more podcast episodes, check out the Podcast page. Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/73 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to episode 73 of the Mo Money Podcast and another listener series episode. For this episode, I'm interviewing Erica Lutz who reached out to me over email. She heard my call out for people to interview for my listener series of the Mo Money Podcast. She had a fabulous email, her whole kind of life story, which I was like in awe of because a lot she's gone through a lot and overcome a lot and is super inspiring. So I'm very much looking forward to sharing my interview with her with you right now. Thanks, Erica, for joining me on the show for another listener series episode. I'm so glad you reached out with your very long, detailed email about your story. I really appreciated it.

So, yeah, I'm so excited for you to share your story with everyone because it is very fascinating and diverse. And let's just start. Yeah, for sure. Where do you want to start? You just go. Let's do this. Yeah, let's start, I guess, from the beginning.

So I... Yeah. That's always a good place. I figure that's pretty good. So I was born to young immigrant parents, and we came over from the Communist Republic when I was about two. And we lived in Montreal till i was five and then moved up to towards calgary and um we're out i've pretty much raised out there and we really we struggled quite a bit my father was had a really hard time having consistent work. And then my mother got pregnant when I was nine and had my brother. And then never went back after her mat leave.

And so we ran out of money. And after about a really tumultuous year, we were both, my brother and I, who was two at the time and I was 11, were apprehended from my parents by social services. And so we were in foster care for a year and a half. And yeah, we got... That must have been really tough. It was really tough. But you know, my brother, I, I wanted my brother when I when my mom was pregnant with him, I was thrilled. And I knew it was a boy and I was so he was my everything. And yeah, so we kind of helped each other along the way. And then so spent the year and a half in foster care, and we got really lucky we had good foster parents. And then so spent the year and a half in foster care and we got really lucky.

We had good foster parents. And then another couple came along and adopted us. And it was really serendipitous. We met in June and we moved in with them in August. Yeah. And it just kind of fit and it worked. And by that time I was 13 and my brother was three. So, yeah. Just the juxtaposition of the finances, like just the way of life from being beneath the poverty line for so long to basically upper middle class. Yeah, I can imagine.

Yeah. Yeah, so that was pretty much my upbringing uh and then at 23 I got diagnosed with MS and that kind of uh that was that was a big shock and and then I spent most of my 20s frantic. and YOLOing just, you know, trips and, well, I deserve furniture and, you know, the new car. And I think part of that was trying to find the self-worth that I think I lost with that MS diagnosis. So, yeah, that's a big, I mean, change to your life, especially having that diagnosis so young. And yeah, I can absolutely see how that can affect how you, I mean, not just like your overall life, but you know, specifically when it comes to your finances, it's like you want to prepare for your future, but then you also want to take advantage of the moment. And that can get, you know, confusing. Absolutely. Yeah. And yeah. And and then I was at a point. So that was at 23 and then around 25, I was laid off from work.

And and what did you do? I'm a nurse, so I was at a clinic. And they did some shuffling of staff. And then I was the last one hired and temporary. And so off I went. And instead of getting EI, I was too proud. And I had this kind of not wanting to emulate what my biological parents had done. So not wanting to, like EI to me was welfare. And so I was, you know, that was my mindset.

I know it's not. But I can see how you can make that connotation. You're like, no, I don't want to go to that place again. Yeah, exactly. And so I happened to have a $15,000 line of credit at the time because I had entertained going back to school briefly. And so I had secured that in anticipation going back. And then so I used that $15,000 during that three months, and it quickly maxed that out. And I went on for another few years, just shuffling credit card debt and the line of credit and just trying to ignore everything. And then finally, last November, I don't know what it was. I started, I love listening to podcasts. And I have for quite a few years. Shocker, I'm on one now. And I just started listening to financial podcasts and it gave me the idea to go and try to negotiate a lower interest rate on my line of credit and then uh the hotel or sorry not the hotel

the bank the bank person was like well why do you want to change into a loan if you want to plan on getting rid of it and so I did and then the more I learned the more I started taking better steps financially and so now I'm I started off with about sixteen thousand dollars in debt with all the credit cards being consolidated in the line of credit. And then now I'm at about $11,000. And that's been in the last year. That's good. And I managed to pay off my car in the process as well.

Oh, really? Oh, wow. That's really great. That's awesome. That seems like a lot has happened. You've dealt with, you know, a lot in your lifetime. Most people probably wouldn't be able to, I mean, handle kind of all those ups and downs and just the, you know, instability. I feel like that's one thing that, you know, you definitely have going for you. You seem very adaptable to situations and independent.

And you realized even though you had kind of a spending problem and you eventually at some point, whatever triggered it, you realized, okay, I need to make a change. And you did. And now you've made so much progress. And now I'm so glad that you're here sharing your story. On my podcast, I'm glad you listen to personal finance podcasts. And then, you know, kind of maybe when you're listening, that's when I decide to do this listener series. And then here we are.

It's fate, baby. I don't know. I'm really glad I'm doing this listener series. There's so many interesting people out there with unique stories like you. So I'm wondering just so so you know, talking about your debt, do you have a due date or a deadline when you hope to have it all paid off by? I was planning on this time next year, probably December of next year. And in the last week, I've been looking at needing a new mattress because I've got some back issues.

And finally, I realized after getting a better night's sleep on an air mattress in my parents' hallway that perhaps it's time for a new one. And so I'm looking at that expense as well as the tires on my car are needing to be changed and the heat on my car just went kaputs on me. So that's going to be another 800 bucks. So begrudgingly, I think I'm going to have to put that due date or aspiration date, push that off by probably at least six months. But the hope, I would say safely two years to pay it off. Yeah. No, I think it's good no matter what to have a specific date. Because you never know, you may surprise yourself and you may actually be able to make that first date. So it's good to maybe have like one date, but then you could have the plan B date.

So no matter what, you do have a date to have it paid off by. So I'm curious, besides consolidating all of your debt, what other things have you been doing so you can kind of chip away at your debt and also continue to live your life and pay for these expenses without going into more debt. I've sold quite a few things on Kijiji. And yeah, I love Kijiji. And I recently had a job change. So I work in Red Deer, Alberta, so central Alberta, and I was driving 40 minutes every day to work at a clinic. And now I work downtown Red Deer and I walk to work most days. And so that's, that's freed up a lot of, a lot of cash, just gas wise. And time wise, it's, you don't think the 40-minute commute makes a difference, especially energy-wise? Oh, it does.

It does, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, exactly. Luckily, I do live in the city.

I mean, still, my commute on the subway is about 40 minutes. But whenever I go back home and if I work in Vancouver and I work from the office there, I stay at my parents' house. It's quite a bit further away. It's in the suburbs. It's like a good hour, I'd say, door to door, maybe even a bit longer. And it just drains you, getting up super early to get the train all the way to the city. And it really does – a half an hour can make a huge difference. Absolutely. And are you on the train or do you take bus in Toronto? I take the subway, but I am actually close to the train, the GO train.

And I've never, I haven't tried it yet. So I might try it, but it is an extra expense. Like it's a bit more expensive than just getting the regular transit pass. So I'm not sure if I, if it's worth it, but I think I want to try it out, time it to see how much time I'd save and see if it's like worth the money. For sure. I have to always kind of balance like how cheap I am to, well, this might save you time. So I agree. I'm kind of, yeah, that's a hard balance the same way right yeah i know i know i'm

sometimes a bit of a cheapskate i'll be honest i know 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 I'm curious, you know, and congratulations to you and props to you for, you know, basically breaking the cycle. You know, it's hard growing up, you know, in a household where there isn't a lot of money and it's hard to kind of get out of that and to, you know, not live just like how you grew up in debt or, you know, money, your paycheck to paycheck or whatever. You know, what have you done, I guess, to make sure you aren't going to ever get into that place and that, you know, moving forward, you will be saving for your future and living a financially free life?

Yeah, I've been lucky enough that I've always contributed to RSPs since I was 18. But I think recently in the last year I've made sure I had that $1,000 buffer. So when the heat went on the car, it's like, this is no big deal. Otherwise, I would have, previous to this, I would have had to dip into the credit card or, you know, if the line of credit was there kind of thing. Yeah. So now I have that buffer. And it's funny because now you don't want to touch it. Exactly. buffer and and it's funny because now you don't want to touch it exactly I can probably find some

extra money somewhere else that I don't need to touch that thing um you know I those steps and just uh I've I've stuck to a budget I've I'm actually using YNAB and it's working yeah I wanted to talk to you because you're, I actually just had a conversation with someone about YNAB, which is an app, right? Or a program that's called You Need a Budget. But they were American. And I'm like, oh, I wonder if any Canadians use that. But you're Canadian and you use it.

So that's cool. I didn't know it was available here and people in Canada could use it. So that's good to hear. So I'd like to know what is this program that everyone's talking about and how has it helped you? and I'm using the 4.0 version. There is a new one that is strictly online, but I haven't. I like this one so much, I'm like, I don't want to go to the new one yet. So I'm speaking of the old version when I talk about it. And it lets you just same thing as most budgeting softwares and stuff, your line items of what you want and and making sure that every dollar that you bring in is accounted for and it's it's got an app so I'm grocery shopping and I can see how much I have and I've I've been really diligent with making sure that I don't go over budget on things like groceries.

Which is hard to do. Yeah, because it always happens. Especially if you go to the grocery store and you're hungry, that's always the worst. You're like, I want everything. And then you go back and you look at your receipt and you're like, how did we spend all that money? What did we even buy? Yeah. But I'll say to my boyfriend, I'll be like, well, we're done grocery money.

You know, it's a Monday and we don't get paid till Friday. And I'm like, we're out of grocery money. So we're just eating what's in the fridge. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Me and my husband do a lot of that. Yeah. Yeah.

We're having soup again. Exactly. Whereas before I wouldn't have have I would have been like ah it's fine whatever and and but now it's that's how much is allotted and you get to a point where it's you kind of know how much you want to spend on it and you don't really want to spend that much more on groceries or that much more things where it's somewhere else. So I'll figure out a way to make it work. Absolutely. So, you know, besides, I guess, you know, budgeting and living fairly frugally and being very conscious of your spending, you know, once you are debt free,

what do you kind of have planned? Like, what are some of your goals? What are the things that you want to do, you know, kind of with that extra income that you won't have to be putting towards your debt? Definitely doing some catching up on investing. I've started looking into that now that I have a handle of the debt repayment piece. I'm looking at more the investment side of things and getting more interested in the robo advising and the different companies that are coming out. There's so many options these days. Yeah. Which is kind of exciting. It's like you don't just have to go to an advisor anymore. There's a lot more self-directed routes, which I think are fascinating. Yeah. And right now I have some RSPs in just your typical banks and their GICs

or yeah, most of them are GICs. And that's the other thing is that scarcity mindset I had for so long. All of my GICs and RSPs are all very safe. They're very non-aggressive. And I realize now the more educated I get that I need to change that. And the more okay I'm getting with it as time goes on. And the other thing is, my boyfriend's an indie wrestler. So he's a pro wrestler and he does a circuit through Alberta. And I'm hoping that we get to a point where we can go and travel. If he is able to get a gig in Japan or Mexico, that I can go with him and we keep our expenses low and we can just go and take off. And if I have to go teach English or I can go do different things, then I have the capability of doing that.

Definitely. No, I always, and that's always kind of my main goal is just the more money I accumulate or save and make. It's all just so I can have more flexibility and freedom in my life so I won't have to make more choices. You know what I mean? Like just have the freedom of choice instead of being forced to make a choice, I guess, if that makes sense. Yeah. So I totally hear you. I totally hear you.

So before I let you go, is there anything else you'd like to share? You did, you know, mention of your MS diagnosis. Did you want to've really been lucky in that I don't have many symptoms and it doesn't affect me a whole lot day to day. And I'm not on any medications right now. Wow, that's great. me a whole lot day to day and I'm not on any medications right now. Um, but, and yeah, and I think there was being diagnosed so young, I, it gave me a lot of shame around it. I think I was very, very upset at my body. Like it had let me down or it was you know I had done something to cause this and I think over time you you can let that go and I'm in the process of letting that go and I I see that I work really closely with people with MS and I see that some people don't even acknowledge that they have it. And I hope it's not because of, of any shame. And I really just want, yeah, want to kind of get rid of that and get rid of that stigma of it being shameful.

Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. I completely agree. And, you you know i confided in you over email that i you know have uh or my my husband has a had a family member who uh experienced ms so i you know it's it's it's a tough situation you know and yeah and just like you mentioned it is you know when you are diagnosed with something like that, it is not something to be ashamed of. But it's unfortunate if people don't talk about it, you don't feel comfortable maybe sharing or talking about it. So I'm glad that you're bringing it up just in case someone else is listening to this right now and maybe just needed to hear what you just said. I think it's important to talk about it and be open about these types of things. It's no longer – I talked with a lot of people in 20 years ago it was

with 20 plus years ago it was very much you know don't tell anyone don't tell work it was a black mark and it's no longer that way and so I really want to work towards making sure that people no longer feel that way about it. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Erica, for taking some time and chatting with me and sharing your story. I'm sure people listening will be getting a lot out of your story that you shared with me today. Thank you so much, Jessica. I really appreciate you doing this and giving people a voice. No problem. Anytime. And that was episode 73 of the Mo Money podcast and another listener series episode in the can. Thank you to Erica Lutz for sharing her story with me and with

all of you. It's so inspiring to hear these stories. And I really appreciate her sharing all that on the show with me. It's an honor. Honestly, it really is. And if you have a story that you want to share, it can be big, small, whatever, it doesn't matter. The whole point of me doing this series is to have just, you know, people that aren't necessarily in the personal finance sphere, like a blogger or an expert, but just a person that has a story that they want to share with others so they can learn from their successes, their failures, just their journey. And that's what inspires me. I've learned so much through this series. So I'm excited to hear from more of you. If you want to be on the show to chat with me, and I promise I'm super nice. I don't bite. Just email me at Jessica at

JessicaMorehouse.com. And I will reach out to you and we'll get chatting and hopefully get you on the show. So thank you again for listening to this episode. And I will see you back here next Wednesday with the fabulous Letitia Stiles as my guest. And yeah, we're kind of nearing the end, guys. We've got a couple weeks left, but then I'm going to kind of take a little bit of break in December. So exciting times, guys. Exciting times. All right. See you next Wednesday. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.