More Money Podcast - 089 How to Save Half Your Income Like a Pro - Desirae Odjick, Blogger at Half Banked

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to Episode 89 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thanks for joining me for another wonderful Wednesday episode. And today I am talking to one of the sweetest personal finance bloggers around. Her name is Desiree Ogic. She is from Ottawa, Canada, and I got the pleasure of meeting her in person at the nerdiest conference around. It's called CPFC for short, Canadian Personal Finance Conference. It happens in Toronto every year. And I got to meet a bunch of my favorite bloggers, including Desiree. She's been around for a little bit. And she's just fun and has some great information, some great stuff on her blog. So I knew I needed

Starting point is 00:00:43 to chat with her for this episode. She's kind of like a little, a mini me a bit, maybe not little, because I mean, I'm not that old and I'm also not that small, but you know what I mean? She's very, we're very on kind of the same wavelength with kind of what we're doing, which is pretty cool, I think. So for this episode, we just chat about her, what her kind of mission is, what her blog is all about, and what her journey, her personal finance journey is. So lots of great stuff in this episode. But before I get to all of that, a big thank you to Wealthsimple once again for sponsoring this episode of the Mo Money Podcast. Make sure to go to wealthsimple.com slash JessicaMurrayHouse to get yourself a $50 bonus. Excuse me, $50 bonus

Starting point is 00:01:26 when you sign up with Wealthsimple and start getting your investments right. I know a lot of people have goals this time of year to really look at their finances, get everything organized, and maybe look at some of their investments and see what are the most expensive ones, the ones that have really high fees. And maybe we should see if there's something out there that works a bit better for us. And WellSimple might be the thing you've been waiting for. So make sure to go to WellSimple.com slash Jessica Morehouse. They have a lot of great information on just investing in general, how to get started with them, and how you can pay lower fees and make

Starting point is 00:02:05 more money with your own business. So make sure to go to wealthsimple.com slash Jessica Morris to get a $50 bonus when you sign up with them. Thanks, Desiree, for joining me on this show. I'm excited to chit chat with you. I'm so excited to be on. Thank you so much for having me. You are so welcome, a fellow Ontario blogger. I think the only one that I know in Ottawa, correct? Yeah, I think there are some who are maybe, I'm going to say a bit more experienced than us to not bring anyone's age into it. Indeed. No, for sure, for sure, for sure.

Starting point is 00:02:41 But yeah, I'm super excited to chat with you because I think the reason I really wanted to have you on the show is like we're very similar and aligned. And I think what we're trying to get across, which is educate millennials like us about personal finance and try not to make it super dry and boring, which I think growing up, that's what I always thought like math and taxes and personal finance was. It just sounded like, you know, complicated and uninteresting, but we're trying to not make it that. Definitely. And I was the exact same growing up. And it's funny that you bring that up because when I was in high school, my mom actually paid me to read personal finance books. And so that was her method of getting, because I was an avid reader, right? Like I would dev personal finance books. And so that was her method of getting because I was an avid reader, right? Like I would devour fiction books, I was a super nerd. And but I never would have picked up like the wealthy barber, which was actually the first one she paid me to read.

Starting point is 00:03:38 And so that was her little strategy, because she was fantastic with money. And she, like, she ran her own business from the time I was like six or seven years old. And she tracked all her finances by hand and she invested. She was fantastic with money. And she was like, OK, well, you're not going to sit and listen to me talk about it. So let me just pay you 20 bucks and have you read this book. That was actually the first personal finance book that I read too. I think that's kind of just like the starter book that all parents give their children. Exactly. If they at least save 10%, they'll be okay. I've done my job. This is a good starter foundation book.

Starting point is 00:04:19 So you weren't initially interested in personal finance growing up, though you were sort of paid to be. I wish my parents paid me to read personal finance, though maybe I probably would be interested at that age. But so when did you kind of, you know, just naturally become interested in personal finance and then eventually start your own blog? Yeah. So when I graduated from university, from all of those years being paid to read about personal finance, there were a couple of things that did stick. So mom, if you're listening, like you did a good job. I hope your mom's listening right now. I'm totally going to send her this link. Please do. But the ones that really stuck were the message that if you can't afford to pay for it in full, you can't afford it. So luckily that one stuck

Starting point is 00:05:05 and I never got into any problems with credit card debt, which I'm so, so thankful about. And the other one that stuck was the saving the 10% for retirement. And so when I graduated, I like went to the bank and I was so proud of myself. I was like, I would like to open an RRSP and a TFSA. And I could not have told you the difference. I literally like I had no idea. So I just contributed to both and like went on with my life. But it was at that meeting, I was like, okay, well, I'm in the really, really lucky position that I have a couple of thousand dollars, which is not a position most people are in at that age. And I was like, I, you know, I want to invest it. And my bank personal finance advisor human was like, oh, well, you don't have enough

Starting point is 00:05:47 to invest. Oh, they told you that? Oh, yes. Oh, my gosh. And so I didn't know enough to say, actually, I do. And if you won't invest it, I'll take it somewhere else. I had no idea. So I was like, OK, cool.

Starting point is 00:06:04 And I thought, OK, I checked all the boxes. I have my RSP. I have my TFSA. And I just didn't know enough to know that like leaving it in cash was maybe not the best thing I could be doing. Um, and that I did actually have enough to invest. So I went on with my life and then it was about two or three years later that I finally started looking into personal finance more, looking at my budgets and kind of taking the first like baby steps into managing my money properly. And I realized there was so much else that I needed to know other than don't carry credit card debt and save 10%. So what were those other things that you figured? Oh, it's funny that you mentioned the TFSA actually, because when I first started out, I'm like, okay, I'm going to open up an

Starting point is 00:06:52 RSP and TFSA. And I definitely use my RSP for investing. I think I invested in index funds with ING Direct. That's what it was back in the day. But my TFSA, I just had it in cash because I didn't actually know any better. I'm like, well, I don't, you know, what if I need it? Like, I was just like, I didn't really know how to optimize the T of his day. So you're not alone in that respect. Yeah. So in terms of what other things I needed to learn, it's really funny when I look at how I, like what order I tackled things in before even thinking about like, oh, I should have an emergency fund or oh, I should have a savings account in case my dog gets sick. I signed up for a tangerine and that was my like big first step of like, I'm not going to pay

Starting point is 00:07:36 bank fees anymore. I was so proud of myself. So I did that almost two years ago now. And then that was kind of the first step. And then I was like, okay, well, if I've done that, I should really start thinking about investing. And should I look into investing with Tangerine? Should I look at a robo advisor? And then that summer, I actually signed up with Wealthsimple and literally did not do enough research before I did. I lucked out that it was the right fit for me and it was the lowest cost option and I loved it. But I literally just Googled robo advisors for Canadians and picked one. And then it was right after that that I started tracking my spending. And that was the really big one. And it was, ironically enough,

Starting point is 00:08:24 something that my mom had always done and always modeled for me. And that was the really big one. And it was, ironically enough, something that my mom had always done and always modeled for me. And I just never clued in that it was something that I should be doing. And it changed how I look at my money and my spending and my budget and my saving and literally everything. Because when I look back to before I was tracking my spending, my metric for can I afford this is, is the money in my bank account. That was it. Like not what else do I have to pay for this month? Or what else do I have coming up? Or what are my savings goals? Or could I put this money towards something that I'm saving for? It was literally if the money's in my account, I can spend it, which is not the worst because I never spent money that wasn't in my account, but it made for some pretty tense end of month scenarios where I was like, okay, I've got $30.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Got to make it to the end of the week. Like go. I still sort of like do that. And I think like the crazy thing about personal finances, it really is personal and it really depends on like what works for you. And I feel like I've tried so many different things over the years. The one thing that somehow works for me is that kind of, I don't know the fear that I'll go into overdraft. And so, you know, I have all of my different accounts set up. And so all my bills are covered, my investments are automated, my savings is everything's automated. But basically,

Starting point is 00:09:51 I just to make things so kind of brainless for me, I just put a amount of money into my checking account. And that's what I can spend on whatever I want, whether it's like going out to dinner or buying a bottle of wine or hanging out with friends. And that's, I have to make that last for the two weeks until I get it paid again. And it may not like be the ideal situation, but it's like, for me, that's somehow the only way that works. And I have to use debit. I've used credit all over spend. That's awesome. Well, and it's, it's funny because I say it like that. So not what I do, but at the end of the day, after all my savings comes out and after all my investments are taken out, that really is basically like I track my spending. It's only really at the end of the month that I need to

Starting point is 00:10:34 watch out because my car insurance actually comes out on the 26th. So that's the one where I use the exact same debit account for everything and it comes out of there. So that's really where I have to, okay, yes, I've tracked this. I need to make sure that there's still that money in the account because I like having car insurance coverage. Yeah, exactly. So how do you track your spending? Oh, it is so low tech. Well, it's not as low tech as it could be. So I don't do it by pen and paper, but I do have a Google spreadsheet that's super easy to access in any like web browser that I want to update it. I have it on my phone and it's just a really simple spreadsheet. And I started, it's really funny. I'll send people the link to the spreadsheet that I started with. It's like literally just a public Google spreadsheet and it's three columns. It's like one is for what I've spent, one is for what I've saved,

Starting point is 00:11:25 and one is for my income. And it's like one sheet, no fancy graphs, no anything, just like you put the numbers in and that's the end of it. So how often do you put the numbers in? I'm just always so curious how other people track their spending because lots of people that I know that are really good with tracking their spending, they do very kind of low tech things. And I think a lot of it is because, you know, not knocking any apps, because there's some great apps out there. But sometimes when you have to kind of do the work, it's more in your mind. And so you're more conscious of your spending. But do you like save every receipt and then at the end of every day, you know, type in those then at the end of every day,

Starting point is 00:12:08 you know, type in those numbers or is it every purchase you just type it into your Google spreadsheet? Yeah. So I was doing receipts for a while and it's funny too, because I have this tiny little coach wallet and trying to shove all these receipts in, especially for groceries, which really are tracked month to month. I mean, it got crowded in there. But so I'm moving away from receipts fairly recently and I put everything on my credit card. So I'm able to just log into Tangerine and see my credit card purchases and just kind of transfer them over, like copy paste and then paste match style in my like obsessive spreadsheet. It has to be the exact same font, all of that. But yeah, I just update it kind of every few days, I would say. And then usually if I haven't

Starting point is 00:12:52 updated over the weekend, I make sure to go in and update it on Mondays because I find when, because I work full time and I run the blog and there's just not a lot of time to shop for things during the week. So I find the weekends are my spendy season of the week. And there's just not a lot of time to shop for things during the week. So I find the weekends are my spendy season of the week. So as long as I update it every Monday, I'm usually good to go. And I've got a pretty accurate view of my spending. Oh, that's interesting. That's really cool.

Starting point is 00:13:20 I want to chat a bit more about your blog, Half Banked. Where did that name come from, by the way? I love it. So cute. Oh, thank you. It's well, it's tied to the fact that at the time I started the blog because I had this ambitious goal of saving half of my income. And the best part is I can't even take credit for the name. I work in marketing by day. And so I have a couple of friends who are also in the industry. And I was messaging them on Facebook. I was saying like, guys, like I'm really struggling. Like I started this blog and I don't know what to call it and they asked me you know what's it about

Starting point is 00:13:49 I said well I'm tracking all of my efforts to try to save half my income and one of them came up with the name half banked I was like well that's perfect because this was the definition of a half baked idea because this goal was like the opposite of how you should set, you know, well thought out and well-reasoned financial goals. I literally sat down with a spreadsheet, looked at what I was budgeting for. I was like, I think I could save half my income. And then within like an hour, I was like, no, I'm going to do this. This is like, this is happening. That's awesome. That's awesome. And so, so it began, began as a way for you to kind of track your journey of saving half your income. And have you been successful at doing this? Well, the best part is that it took me, I think it was like seven or eight months before I actually

Starting point is 00:14:41 finally managed to do it. And so I start this blog and people are like a couple people, like 10 or 12 people are reading it. And every month I'm like, so update, I didn't hit my spending or my savings goal again. But I have hit it three months now out of 13 months that I've been tracking the goal. So not like the best percentage of times, but those three months were really encouraging that it could be done and it could happen. And was it kind of a slow, like, even though you weren't for those other 10 months saving 50% where you're kind of like 30 or sorry, 50% of your income, was it kind of a slow progression? Like, you know, you know, 30%, 35%, 40%. It was Yeah, and it was actually really encouraging. Because

Starting point is 00:15:33 when I looked back at before I had set this goal, I mean, it's not like I wasn't saving anything, I was probably saving about 20% of my income, which is which is like really good. Like, I don't want to pretend that that's like not an admirable, awesome savings rate. If people are saving 20%, that's fantastic. Um, but I was just kind of like, listen, I have all these different savings goals. And if I'm only saving 20%, it's going to be so many years before I can do things like buy a house and fully fund my emergency fund. And I just got really impatient. So I was like, okay, I'm going to amp up the savings. This is the goal. And as soon as I started, I started to see savings rates like 35% and 40% pretty consistently throughout the 10

Starting point is 00:16:17 months that I wasn't saving 50%. So you mentioned to me before I hit the record button that there's what's it called? Stretch goals. You mentioned to me something about that. Do you want to explain that terminology? I've never heard that before. eggs, but the structural is basically something that you can set it and kind of know that it's not going to happen. Like I'm going to run like a half marathon in an hour and a half. And even if you don't actually do that, you could still run a really fast half marathon and it's not kind of a loss. And so that's kind of how I see the 50% savings goal, or I did before I was able to hit it, was that it was this really kind of hard savings goal. And I wasn't sure that I was able to do it. Theoretically, yes, of course. If I looked at my fixed expenses and my income, I could theoretically hit that 50% number, but then life tends to happen.

Starting point is 00:17:27 And so it was kind of like this concept of, okay, I'm going to set the goal anyways. I seem to not be able to hit it, but my savings rate is still going up and I'm still managing to save more than I could have otherwise thanks to this stretch goal. No, I like that a lot. And I, yeah, I totally, that's, that is the way to really go after a goal. It's like, just because you don't reach that, you know, the exact thing that you set out, if you, you know, say 40% of your income, that's still a success. It shouldn't be considered a failure. So I think that's awesome. So, um, you have a bunch of resources on your website, which I think are super great. One of them, which I love the name of the one minute budget. So how can you make a budget in less than 60 seconds? I would love to know that. Yeah, so it's more intended as kind of a gut check, because I kept getting questions

Starting point is 00:18:17 from people like, how much should I spend on rent? Or like, how much is a reasonable food budget? And there are a lot of posts out there that will take you through like what is a quote unquote expert recommended amount to be spending. Yeah. But it really all boils down to what's your income. And so I had the idea one day. I was like, OK, I'm just going to make a simple Excel spreadsheet where you can put in your income based on what your paycheck is and then put in how often you get paid.

Starting point is 00:18:44 So do you get paid monthly? Great. It'll tell you what your paycheck is and then put in how often you get paid. So do you get paid monthly? Great. It'll tell you what your monthly income is. If you get paid biweekly, it'll calculate that for you. I get paid twice a month, which is like good and bad in that I miss those kind of three paycheck months. I know I miss biweekly too. And so, yeah, you go on the first page. All you have to put in is your paycheck amount and how often you get paid. And then what the next tab on the spreadsheet does is it calculates what all of those kind of really commonly talked about percentages break down to in terms of a monthly number that the expert, the fabled experts would recommend that you spend on that category. Like 30% to housing. Okay.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Based on your monthly income, here's your golden 30% number that you, like 30% to housing. Okay. Based on your monthly income, here's your golden 30% number that you shouldn't go over for housing. And then what you can do on the third tab, which I really like is put in your actual spending. So you can put in your actual rent and your actual food budget, and it'll tell you the opposite. It'll tell you what percentage of your income that is. You can kind of like, oh, I only spend 20% of my income on housing. That's pretty good. That's awesome. And you have another resource that is more in the investing realm called Zero to Investing Hero, which I love because I feel like there isn't a lot or enough information about investing. And I feel like it is always kind of the last thing that us millennials think to do

Starting point is 00:20:06 once we've sorted out our debt situation, our savings situation, our budgeting situation. Investing is kind of the last thing that we think of, even though, well, just like you, you were told that you didn't have enough money to invest, which is a terrible piece of advice that you were given. But I'm glad that you figured it out and now are an investing whiz. So what are some of the things that you would like people listening to know about investing? Some of the most important things that they should know to get started. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:37 And so the course is super basic. Whenever I see someone sign up with an email that's at personalfinanceadvisor.com, I'm like, Oh, this is going to be way too basic for you. Oh no. We talk about like what is compound interest? Like it's the basics. Um, but the reason I did that is because it's a lot of stuff that I couldn't have articulated in that bank meeting where I was told I didn't have enough money to invest. And I just think it's really important to have just enough information that you can tell if someone's recommending a good option for you. Like you need to know how long you're planning to invest for, because if you're thinking like, I'm going to invest this money for two years, maybe investing might not be the best

Starting point is 00:21:23 fit for that money or that part of your money. But if you're investing for 30 years, there's a lot you can know about like, okay, it's less risky because I've got time. I can ride it out. You need to know things like just what the basic terms are so that someone can't gobbledygook you into thinking like, oh, this is too complicated. I should probably pay them 5% to manage my money. Absolutely. Absolutely. So you mentioned earlier savings goals and also that you now have reached your main one of hitting 50% savings, which is awesome. What are your kind of future savings goals? Are you kind of set it like I'm going to keep it at 50% for my savings and then focus on some other savings goals or do you want to ramp

Starting point is 00:22:10 up so you can hit like 55 or 60? Yeah. So the 50% goal was actually always in service of the fact that I've got like seven different savings accounts and I've got like individual goals for each of those. Like I want to save an emergency fund for me. And I actually just recently, very excited, fully funded my dog's emergency fund. Oh, very nice. Yeah. I'm a crazy dog lady. No, that's important because pets are expensive.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Oh, so expensive. I can't even get started on how expensive pets are. I know. But I love them. And what are some of your other ones? Yeah. So I'm also saving for a house down payment, which I know really should resonate with you because you just went through that process. Also very expensive. I'm excited to see your kind of furnishing costs that I talked about because I did, I did in the Facebook group. I'm a, I'm a little afraid. Like I did calculate the, in the first couple of weeks

Starting point is 00:23:11 of us living here, cause I've been saving all of our rates receipts, not just to track, but also just in case we have to return something. Cause you do not like the amount of times we've been to home Depot and like, Oh, this doesn't fit. We have to return it. Um, but yeah, so I calculated that, but it's like, there have been some more fit. We have to return it. But yeah, so I calculated that, but it's like there have been some more purchases and I'm a big fan of some online websites that just deliver furniture to your and decor to your house immediately. So we will see how much I've spent. I'm terrified. Oh, and I totally know that that's going to be us as well because we've been talking about, you know, in the new house, this or new house, we'll get a new bed because we don't want to move it in here

Starting point is 00:23:49 if we're planning on buying in a year. And in the new house, we'll get a new barbecue. And I've literally got a savings account called big house purchases, which I don't send a lot to it. But I send, you know, like 50 bucks here and there to just have in the back of my head of like, okay, it's not going to actually bankrupt me when we get a new bed. Exactly. No, that's really smart. That's really smart. Now I didn't realize how much, I mean, cause it's like, it's not like that we, this place is huge. So I was very surprised by how many things that we actually needed to replace or, oh, we don't, we don't have to, you know, like, you know, in our last place, we just had a couch and then, you know, a chair, like, you know, a bigger kind of comfortable

Starting point is 00:24:32 chair or whatever. But now in this space, it looks weird just having one chair. We need two. And really you can't, there's no other chair that would go with this chair. So now we have to sell that chair and get two new chairs. And that's just like one of millions of things. So it's very smart of you to start saving now. That's for sure. Well, I'm excited for you to hear about your kind of, do you have a date for when you hope to start looking for your own place? Yeah. So it's a little bit complicated by the fact that my partner actually owns his home right now. And so he's been here for about six or seven years now, and he's looking to sell his

Starting point is 00:25:11 place before we commit to a new place so that we're not stuck in that like, oh, we put an offer on a house that we love and now we've got two weeks to sell this place. That sounds like a nightmare. Yeah. So we'll be getting his place ready to sell in the spring. And then we're both very, very lucky that we have wonderful local parents who worst case scenario would let us pay rent to them and crash in their basement for a couple of months if we had to in between houses. We would be those millennials who dwell in their parents' basements for a little bit longer, but then on the way to bigger and better things. Well, if it's only if it's literally temporary, I don't think anyone's gonna, you know, care. anything else that you would like listeners know? I know you blog a lot about different areas of your life.

Starting point is 00:26:09 What are some of the things that you've been going through in your life that you'd like to share that I'm sure some other people can relate to? So I think that, I mean, one of, as I mentioned with I'm a crazy dog lady, one of my big things is my dog and making sure that I'm prepared for anything big that comes up with him because I've just seen so many horror stories and we have pet insurance, but you know, you see these stories of it was like the one exception that wasn't covered by pet insurance. So that's a really big part of things outside of, you know, the house and all of those goals. And I'm actually also, I love that I'm in a place to help out above and beyond what I normally would. And that's actually been one of the nicest feelings that came from tracking

Starting point is 00:27:17 my spending is knowing like, yes, you can afford to help. And that feels great seeing them being able to help more dogs thanks to my tracking my spending. Wow, that's awesome. And, and that feels great seeing them being able to help more dogs thanks to my tracking my spending. Wow, that's awesome. And that's something that Yeah, I feel like I don't talk enough about is, you know, budget to give back or to, you know, donate to causes that you believe in. That's awesome that that's what you do with that extra $100. Yeah, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy. So it's not entirely selfless. I feel like giving back never really is like, have you ever seen that friends episode where they're trying to do a selfless act and trying to do it, but every time something good happens

Starting point is 00:27:55 or they just feel good. And so it's, it's okay that you feel good when you're helping out. Okay. I know exactly which one you're talking about. Yeah, you do. Okay, good. That's awesome. Well, thank you, Desiree, for joining me on the show. It was so fun chatting with you. Thank you so much for having me. I mean, this is just a total fangirl moment. I love your podcast. I listen to it all the time. So I'm really honored to have been invited. Thank you so much for having me. You are so welcome. And this was episode 89 of the Momany Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Me chat with the lovely Desiree Ogic from Half Banked, personal finance blogger from Ottawa, Canada, nicest girl in town. So make

Starting point is 00:28:38 sure to check out her blog at halfbanked.com. And of course, you can find out more information about her, stuff we talked about, some great resources. I'm going to plug into the show notes for this episode. So go to JessicaMorehouse.com slash 89. And before I go, a big thank you to Well Simple for sponsoring this episode of the Mo Money Podcast. If you want to get your investments right and you are looking for something a bit different than the stuff you've been doing because it's not working for you, maybe Well Simple is what you've been looking for something a bit different than the stuff you've been doing because it's not working for you. Maybe Wellsimple is what you've been looking for.

Starting point is 00:29:09 It is the fastest growing automated investing service in Canada. It uses smart technology to help you create and manage a diversified investment portfolio. So it saves you time and money. And since you're a Mo Money listener, if you go to wealthsimple.com slash Jessica Morehouse, you will get a $50 bonus when you sign up. I will, of course, leave that link in the show notes. So you just have to click, boop, bloop, and you're investing with Wealthsimple. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Starting point is 00:29:37 So thank you so much for listening to this episode. And yeah, I will see you back here tomorrow for another wonderful Thursday episode. Bye. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.

More Money Podcast - 089 How to Save Half Your Income Like a Pro - Desirae Odjick, Blogger at Half Banked

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