More Money Podcast - 175 Being Intentional with Your Money - Patrick Ens, VP Strategy & Brand at Capital One Canada

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 175 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Thanks for joining me for another episode. And also to my Canadian friends, happy Financial Literacy Month. Yay! Only money nerds like us would get super excited for Financial Literacy Month, but I'm a huge money nerd. So I look forward to November every single year. So November is financial literacy month. That means that the month of November in Canada, we all try to focus on our finances and try to educate ourselves and really use this time because it's right before spending season December to really take a good look at what's going on with our money. And so I know you're going to love this episode because it is all focused on not just money, but also a really

Starting point is 00:00:52 big component to personal finance that's becoming a little bit more popular. I've had a lot of guests on the show to talk about it. Mindfulness, money and mindfulness and the role that mindfulness really plays in money. And specifically, we're also going to talk about debt and credit and how we can just be more mindful with our money so we don't get into debt and we can use credit responsibly. And to talk about all this great stuff with me for this episode, I am joined with Patrick Enns. He is the VP of Strategy and Brand for Capital One Canada. And he's the best. And we actually were recently on a panel together for the Canadian Personal Finance Conference, CPFC, this past weekend. And I was moderating the panel. I was joined by Patrick and also Laurie Campbell,

Starting point is 00:01:41 who is the CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions. And we had a great panel discussion about money and mindfulness, and I was just living my best life. I've got to tell you, when I, you know when sometimes you manifest, or manifest the right way? I don't know. But when you dream about like, what's my dream kind of job, or what would I love to be doing? Sitting on that panel and talking to these really amazing, smart people about money and mindfulness. Yeah, living my best life. I was having the best time ever. So I know you're gonna love this episode because we're going to talk about a lot of the things that we talked about at this panel. So if you weren't at the conference, you missed it. That's okay. We're going to talk about a lot of good stuff in this episode.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Before I do get to that episode, I do want to just, uh, let you know, cause, uh, credit education week is actually coming up soon. It's actually coming up next week. It runs from November 13th to 16th. So it is basically, uh, kind of a sub category or a component of the grander financial literacy month. And it's focused obviously is on, you know, responsible credit use and understanding, uh, debt and all that good stuff. And there's free events happening. I think Patrick in the episode mentions that there's over 200 free events happening throughout Canada for Credit Education Week. And you can find all that information on CEWC.ca.

Starting point is 00:02:59 So once again, that's CEWC.ca. A lot of great stuff and resources that you'll want to check out for Credit Education Week. So without further ado, let's get to that interview with Patrick Enns from Capital One Canada. Well, thank you, Patrick, for joining me on the MoMoney podcast. I'm looking forward to talking to you, especially since Credit Education Week is around the corner. Very excited about it. So you are the VP of strategy and brand for Capital One Canada. That's correct. Can you kind of talk a little bit about actually your background? I kind

Starting point is 00:03:32 of did a little snooping on your LinkedIn. Sorry. So you're going to find that out. You're like, oh, someone's been looking. And you've been with Capital One for a very long time. So can you kind of talk a little bit about your background and your experience and what kind of brought you into this role now of VP and strategy and brand? Yeah, absolutely. I've, I've been at Capital One for 12 years. As you mentioned, I joined out of my undergraduate degree. Believe it or not, I came to Capital One. I knew absolutely nothing.

Starting point is 00:03:57 What did you study in school? I was in the world of business, but I had used a credit card precisely once when I, I ran out of money and was borrowing from my mom at the time. Yeah, I guess that happens. And so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I've had an awesome journey just working through a whole bunch of different opportunities and problems here at Capital One. And in my role today, my focus is on building out the the Capital One brand. Helping customers succeed with credit is our primary mission.

Starting point is 00:04:31 And so designing products and services that really let people do that. Yeah. So I guess one question I have, and sometimes this is a question that I get from audience members, is I work with a lot of brands. And part of personal finance is doing your research and really finding products that are right for you. And there's a lot of stuff out there. So can you kind of tell me a little bit about, you kind of talked about like you, you work for Capital One Canada, you guys got products, you make money obviously because you're a business, but you also are very cognizant and you want to make sure that people are being like smart with credit. Can you kind of talk a little bit about why that is actually so important, working for a business that isn't like the credit industry, but also making sure that the customers are not going in blind, not making mistakes, not doing something wrong with credit?

Starting point is 00:05:14 Absolutely, yeah. It's really at the core of why Capital One exists. So we were founded in the U.S., and we continue to be founder-led today. So Rich Fairbank, the CEO and founder, is still running our company. And he really brought this company to life because he saw banks, particularly in the U.S., providing a one-size-fits-all option for everyone. And it wasn't actually in the best interest of all consumers. And so leveraging data and technology, the goal was to provide customers with something that they couldn't get at their existing bank, something better. And then that evolved over time. And, you know, we landed in Canada in 1996. And so that's

Starting point is 00:05:51 really been, we've always been a challenger brand. We have to fight really hard for our consumers. So we got to offer more value than what you could get elsewhere. And in many cases, we, you know, we are working with a specific type of consumer who's potentially had challenges with credit in the past. And really what they want is another shot, and they want to be successful. And so that's the service that we're providing to them. Okay. That's very helpful. So I guess that probably leads me to Capital One's partnership in Credit Education Week, which happens in Canada from November 13th to 16th. And I thought it was actually really interesting that this year, it seems like every year there's

Starting point is 00:06:30 a different theme. This year, the theme is all about money and mindfulness, which I think I'm very excited about because mindfulness is becoming more of a greater theme in the personal finance world. I think especially since, I mean, I've been doing this for like in the personal finance world, starting to blog over seven years ago, and a lot has changed. The conversations have changed a lot. Before, it really was about stop being lazy, stop being bad with money, stop spending. And you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like, I get that, but let's kind of go a little bit deeper. Why do you feel like mindfulness is the theme for Credit Education Week this year?

Starting point is 00:07:07 Why do you think it's so important for people to really start thinking about when they think about money and personal finance? Yeah, I love the mindfulness concept. And it took me a little bit to kind of get into it, but it makes total sense. I think there's generally an awareness problem with Canadians. And we saw that in our own survey data with almost half of Canadians feeling some negative stress related to their finances. But mindfulness really takes it one step further, which says, how do I gain a greater level of awareness about what's driving that for me? And what can I do to take control of my situation and get myself to a better spot. And so really hoping through using mindfulness will empower and enable people to, you know, hopefully eliminate a lot of that negative stress, turn it

Starting point is 00:07:50 into positive stress, and do something about their situation. Definitely. And I definitely feel like too, because I also counsel clients one-on-one, a big thing, and a lot of them come to me because they're in debt or they have a spending problem. And, you know, obviously I can help them look at the numbers. And most of the time they got themselves into that situation because they were mindlessly spending. And that is, yeah, obviously the kind of opposite to being mindful. And it's interesting that that is kind of where the shift is going in terms of, like, educating people with finance.

Starting point is 00:08:20 I mean, that's why I pursued becoming a financial counselor because I didn't want to just, like, make people plan and be like, good luck with that. It's like, I want to talk to people and really get to the core issues. Because I feel like if you have an issue with money, it's very parallel to if someone has an issue with overeating or whatever kind of other issue and they need to hire like a personal trainer or a dietician or just a therapist because they're having some personal issues and stuff. Like, don't you find like there's some very interesting parallels between all that? Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, when it comes to stress, stress, and by the way, you'll probably know way more about this than I do, right? But stress has

Starting point is 00:08:59 a certain impact on people where it makes it harder to make good decisions. And so when you're worried about something, and it could be anything, you know, that makes it harder to exhibit willpower, you know, or to contain, say, emotional reactions to things. So, and that's why it's so important to really tackle financial stress because it can, you know, bleed over into many parts of people's lives. And that's the beauty of being involved in financial literacy projects and things like that. And that's a big reason why I personally got interested. People ask me, why I have an arts degree? Why did you get into finance?

Starting point is 00:09:37 It's like, yeah, I hate numbers. But I was very interested in how it could really impact my life and my future. And that's what I kind of always try to tell people. It's like, it's not about being good at money. It's not about being good at math or knowing the numbers. It's really about taking control of your life. Absolutely. Yeah. Are you sure you still hate numbers, by the way? It depends on, you know what? I don't hate numbers. I like simple numbers. I don't like when it comes to like advanced math and algorithms and trigonometry. No, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I was never good at that. That's why I always

Starting point is 00:10:09 kind of, you know, wish that when I was learning math back in high school, they actually related it more to finance. Cause then you have a context. You're like, oh, okay. I need to know this because this will help me project how much I need for retirement or something, or this will help me project how much I need to save for that awesome trip. Not just like X equals Y, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. That's a great message right there. Personal finance is not trigonometry, so that helps reduce some of the fear levels with it. Yeah, and when I talk to people too, it's like I actually,

Starting point is 00:10:37 when it comes to finance, a lot of people think it is complicated or they're like, oh, I never did well in math. It's the simplest math is all you need. If you know how to plus and minus and multiply and divide, you're good. Thank goodness for that. So I want to kind of talk about some interesting stats. There's this one stat that kind of popped out that Capital One was actually able to obtain from one of their surveys.

Starting point is 00:11:00 It showed that 44% of Canadians believe that their financial situation negatively impacts their mental health. And that is kind of going along with kind of our conversation about mindfulness. Mental health is also just a conversation that's going on a lot more, which thank goodness for that, because I'm pretty sure everyone can raise their hand and point to someone that they know that is struggling with mental health. But why do you feel like finances can have a big impact? Or maybe I don't necessarily think that finances are a reason for why you have depression or something, but it could be a trigger or it could be involved in something. And that's definitely what I see. Yeah. And finances are such an important means to an end, right? For most people,

Starting point is 00:11:44 the notion of money itself is not the physical money, but what it's intended to do for you. And so if you're feeling like your personal finances are strained, maybe you're worried about your ability to provide for your family. You know, maybe you're worried about your ability to pay the next rent bill. That can be incredibly burdensome on people. And certainly through my time here at Capital One, I've spoken to hundreds, probably thousands of customers at this point. We've seen situations where once that stress builds to a certain level, it definitely impacts other parts of their lives and the relationships that they have. And so it certainly makes sense to me that if you're feeling a lot of financial stress, it's going to have a negative impact.

Starting point is 00:12:28 And just, yeah, affect all other areas of your life. Recently, I listened to, I think it was a TED Talk, actually. And the woman, I think she was a financial planner. She was in the financial industry. I can't remember exactly who she was. But she was talking about her personal story with her brother. And they were adults. And how her brother was definitely in some debt, but never really wanted to own it and never really wanted to ask for help but would always ask for money. And eventually, sadly, the end of that story was he committed suicide because he had such a great debt burden but also the shame. And that kind of all led to him taking his life, which is awful. And there's actually another documentary I watched several years ago.

Starting point is 00:13:04 It's about credit card debt and how people who aren't informed don't educate themselves, get into credit card debt and just can't get out. And then also, you know, leads to some really sad consequences. And it's just, you know, that's why I'm really excited that mindfulness is definitely the theme for this year, because I think it's something that we all really need to talk about. It's great talking about mental health, but I think we should also really talk about, you know, one of the big things involved in kind of mental health and some of these situations where, you know, people may think of suicide or I think it's like finances. I mean, it really is a big issue that we really need to talk more broadly about. But it's also kind of a weird, I mean, it's not a positive, happy topic.

Starting point is 00:13:45 So lots of people don't want to talk about that. It's very deep and it's very personal and emotional. And I think a big part of what we can do and what you're doing with your podcast is hopefully reducing the anxiety or shame over actually talking about it, right? Because you don't have to solve all of your own problems. There are resources and people who can help you. And I think that's the key thing to remember too is don't, and this was something I even have struggled with, is if you have an issue, no matter what it is in your life, don't feel like you have to solve it yourself. Because if you were able to, you might, you know, would have been able to. But one interesting thing I learned when I was starting to become a financial counselor was the people that you're going to help, they're not,

Starting point is 00:14:31 you know, bad at money. They're not, you know, lazy. They're doing the best that they can with the tools that they have. And so if you don't have those tools, just like in any other kind of personal situation that you need, you're like, I just, I can't lose weight or, you know, I'm really depressed or I need, you know, whatever. You seek out help. You go find a, you need, you're like, I just, I can't lose weight or, you know, I'm really depressed or I need, you know, whatever you seek out help. You go find a, you know, someone who can help with your fitness or a counselor or a therapist. So why not do that with your finances? And don't, and there shouldn't be any shame about that, but there still is, it's still money's a taboo question or a taboo topic. You know, it's still kind of awkward when you want to ask other people, like, how do you manage your money? And I think it's something that hopefully all of us can work towards solving.

Starting point is 00:15:10 But it's a big mountain to climb. It's huge. And I think we just all got to know and acknowledge that money does not define one's self-worth. Yes. And that's a huge thing, too. And I think that's a big thing that most people don't even recognize or think about, that when you think about success and self-worth, you think about money. It's like, no, it shouldn't be like that because everyone has different values. Everyone has a different purpose in life. That's, again, something that I've really had to think about because I'm very

Starting point is 00:15:45 ambitious. I want to be successful. But then I'm like, what does that actually mean? Does that mean having a bunch of money in the bank? Or does that mean earning a certain amount of money every year? Or does that mean just earning enough to make me feel satisfied and happy and be able to spend money where it means to me? That's not necessarily something people are talking about out really, but they should be. Well, we're probably veering off topic a little bit, but I'm guessing you get great satisfaction out of your listeners who tell you you've helped them. I do. Or even just, like the ones that are like, oh, wow, this has been really impactful. Or ones that are like, I've never thought about it that way. I'm like, that's huge. Because for me, the reason I,

Starting point is 00:16:22 you know, am where I am is because other people do that to me. I read books. I read blogs. I talk to people. I had mentors. And they've impacted my life like I couldn't believe. So if I could do that. Or I can push them to sort someone else that would really fit their thing.

Starting point is 00:16:39 Because sometimes I'm like, I know I'm not everyone's cup of tea. But I probably know someone else you would like to read that would kind of fit your kind of personality a little bit more. Yeah. I mean, I know for me personally, after being here for 12 years, the greatest satisfaction I'll get comes from two spots. Actually getting feedback from our customers that we did, in fact, help them. And then, you know, playing a leadership role here at Capital One, getting that same feedback from the people that I work with every day that I help their careers in some way. Like nothing, nothing compares to that. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:17:06 We kind of talked a little bit about how money is an emotional topic. Money can be very much linked to feeling shamed, stress, unhappiness. What do you think we can do to, you know, you're a big brand that has a big voice. And I'm, you know, kind of a financial educator. And there's a lot of other people listening that could potentially play a big brand that has a big voice, and I'm kind of a financial educator, and there's a lot of other people listening that could potentially play a role in that too. What can we all do to help each other kind of switch that so we kind of think as, instead of money being like shame, stress, unhappiness, money could mean, it could mean freedom, it could mean security, it could mean happiness.

Starting point is 00:17:42 What can we do to start to make that shift together, do you think? Yeah. I mean, step one that hopefully is obvious through kind of the survey data that we showed here is that you're not alone. So such a huge portion of the Canadian population is feeling this stress, right? So if you're kind of walking around saying, well, this is just me and it's not the person next to me. Nope. That's probably incorrect, right? So you've got other people who are part of that mix. And then if you're already listening to this podcast, you probably know this, but there's lots of resources available to help you. Lots of free ones. Some of those are available through our Credit Education Week. That's a big part of it. If you go to the website, cwc.ca. But that's really what we're trying to do. We're trying to let people know that they're not alone and there's things that part of it. If you go to our, you know, like the website, cwc.ca, but that's really

Starting point is 00:18:25 what we're trying to do. We're trying to, you know, let people know that they're not alone and there's things that they can do. Yeah. Like, and even though you may not think this is something for you, like this doesn't like, even though I'm like a total money nerd and I got into this deep and now I'm like doing this for my living. I always kind of tell people, I'm like, you can like jump in and get what you need, fix your kind of financial life. So you feel comfortable and jump out. Like this doesn't have to be a part of your day-to-day life. You do not have to think about money as much as I do. No. The other amazing data point we collected was that people are, on average,

Starting point is 00:18:54 spending an hour a day worrying about this topic. Now, it's probably not completely fair to say you can just take that hour and... Yeah, it's like, I will worry about it for an hour, and then I will not worry about it for the rest of the day. It's probably a sprinkle throughout the day. But if you could somehow dedicate that hour to taking control, maybe you're doing some budgeting or reviewing your finances, reviewing your goals or discussing or listening to your podcast, whatever that might be, just imagine how powerful that could be. Absolutely. And I think a lot of it too is for me, I actually don't – I think about money a lot, but I don't necessarily think of my own money that much.

Starting point is 00:19:25 And that really has to do with me, you know, educating myself and also figuring out what does it mean to organize my finances. It means something different for everybody. But for me, I always kind of tell people the core three things that you can do is have a budget. So that's just a plan for what you're going to do with your income and your expenses. And then track your spending so you know exactly where your money's going. And then track your net worth so you can see what your progress is. If you do those three things, you will be so much less stressed. You'll know where your money is. And that's the key thing. Most people have no idea where their money is. Yeah. And I try and tell people, if you budget,

Starting point is 00:19:59 it's not so that you know what you can afford. It's so that you know what you can afford. And that can be really powerful, right? Oh, I'm not doing this exercise to like stop buying that thing I wanted. Yeah. It's not about limiting yourself. It's about like seeing where you're at right now. And then also looking at where do I want to be and how can I make that a possibility? And it may mean cutting out some things that you are spending your money on because they actually don't align with what you actually want. And most people don't really take the time to really look at that, but it's super, super important. So we kind of talked about this. What do you feel like Canadians could do to be more proactive? We talked a little bit about, you know, looking at resources and stuff, but I don't know, because you've been in the

Starting point is 00:20:38 industry for a long time. I kind of mentioned my kind of three top things that people should like, just they could do their own. There's lots of free spreadsheets out there. What are some other things that you've maybe done in your own life or that you recommend to customers that like, have you tried this? And this might actually be something that would really help you. Yeah, totally. I 100% agree with the three that you mentioned, by the way. The one step that I've taken before that that was really powerful in my life was some goal setting. And, you know, in my case, I'm married, I have a family. We, I had to do that with my wife. Like we were having tension about where the money is going to, to be perfectly frank. And she was, she wanted to, you know, spend it in ways that I didn't

Starting point is 00:21:15 want to spend it necessarily, or at least our rank ordering. Do you combine your finances? We do. Yeah. That, that, that was a journey we can can talk about that too. Yeah, that's a whole other episode. Yeah, but that was just such a powerful kind of exercise that we did because after that, actually making the tactical decisions, if there was ever conflict, we could true back to the goals that we said, hey, we share these goals and this is why I think this is best for our goals. So that was one. One thing I might add on the other end is thinking about what's out there in the market that can make this really easy on people. So technology has just opened up so many doors for us. I mean, 10 years ago, if you wanted to look at your credit, you had to mail in. You can still actually do this, by the way, but you'd mail in your

Starting point is 00:22:03 request. That's like there's the two free ways you can still get your credit report. You can mail it in. I can't believe that's still a thing, but it is a way you can do it. It's just inconvenient, but it is what it is. Yeah, and then there's many online service providers. Capital One is one of those, but there are other ones as well where you can review all of that information. And then just in the way that people are designing personal finance products today, if you think about a lot of the investing products

Starting point is 00:22:26 that are out there, these things automatically take money out of your account. The same thing can be done with things like credit cards where you can set them up to automatically pay. That's what I do with all my bills. I have them all linked to my credit card so I never miss a bill payment. And then my job is really just to look at

Starting point is 00:22:41 that one credit card payment and then make sure it's paid. Technology is your friend. Yeah, there's just so many ways you can set things up to be automatic. So you only have to do one or two steps instead of five steps. I mean, I remember back in the day, I definitely set up, I think, all these things. I did so many things manually, and I'm just like, why did I think that was a good way to do it? I thought that was just like, that's how my parents did it.

Starting point is 00:23:04 So balancing that checkbook, literally, I'm like, oh, no, no, that was like a good way to do it? I thought that was just like, that's how my parents did it. So that's, you know, balancing that checkbook, like literally, I'm like, oh no, no, no. There's better ways to do it. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That was a long time ago. I'd like to talk a bit more about credit specifically, because we kind of touched a little bit about, there's lots of different ways that you can now look at your credit score and get your credit report for free or online, which I recommend everyone do at least once a year. Definitely your credit report once a year and your credit score maybe once a year.

Starting point is 00:23:36 It's not super important to know that unless that is something that you want to make sure that you are improving if it's not at a good place or if you have one of your goals is, you know, I want to get a car. I need to get a car loan or a home and get a home loan. I actually recently checked my credit report and my credit score, and I thought I was actually quite shocked because it's been about maybe two years since I've done that. And yeah, there were some things

Starting point is 00:24:00 that I didn't actually notice in my credit report the past couple of times. I'm like, oh, I closed that credit card, but it's still listed as open. That's affecting my credit score. And it was an easy fix to do. Or actually, I had too many credit cards, actually. I just didn't think of closing one. I'm like, what's the big deal?

Starting point is 00:24:19 And then I looked, oh, it's negatively affecting my credit score. I should actually close that credit card I'm using. So I highly recommend that. I would even recommend more frequent, and mainly because, unfortunately, in this day and age, technology is also enabling bad people to go out there and try. Oh, yeah, that's true. Do you recommend checking more than once a year, then?

Starting point is 00:24:41 Yeah, certainly. I don't think there's any harm with checking monthly you know, monthly. Um, I personally might check way more frequently than that, but that's, you know, heck I work at Capital One. Yeah. That's normal. Yeah. But I do think that's a really important exercise in this day and age. And even if you don't have a credit card, you probably have a credit bureau. Um, You know, so like you're still... You're probably in the system. You're in there. So it's good to know what's on there. I feel like a lot of people have no idea what has been reported. And they, I mean, I think it's pretty common for them to there to be mistaken. Oh, totally. I mean, I was a little bit embarrassed.

Starting point is 00:25:18 But the first time I looked at my credit profile, I found credit cards on there. I did not know I had. Oh, did you actually have them? their mistakes well um this is this is unrelated to capital one just to be perfectly clear it was kind of in the vein of those credit cards that they used to sell on campus universities oh and you open them and you forgot about it and like i don't think i knew at the time i was open so that was like a great thing to look at like oops i don't really want to have that so and that's also super common, and that's another thing we should talk about, too, is people's entry points into credit and credit

Starting point is 00:25:49 cards, a lot of it is on campus, and I mean, there's nothing wrong with getting a credit card on campus, but I think most people don't actually know what they're getting for that free t-shirt or free Frisbee or whatever it is, and will be like you and forget that they don't even realize that they opened a credit card, because maybe they're like, oh, we'll send it to you in the mail and then they never get it

Starting point is 00:26:07 and then it's you know a scary thing i think it's like anything else you want to be intentional about what you do right so it's it's less so about who's who's providing it but you want to get a credit card for a specific reason yeah not just for for having a credit card stake right right think think that part of it through and think through how you actually want to use it once you have it because you are, in fact, borrowing money. And I'm sure any personal finance coach would say, don't borrow money without a plan. Yeah, to pay it back. If you don't have the money, then don't buy it on your credit card, right? Especially when you are in school and you have student loans to probably deal with after university.

Starting point is 00:26:44 I mean, I deal with a lot of clients who have both. They have a student loan and then they're like, oh, but I got a credit card because I thought I needed it. And now I also have that debt and that's very expensive to pay off. I don't know what to do. It's like, because you didn't really have all the facts. You didn't really know how to use your credit card properly. I also know a lot of people use, have, you know, because we're talking a little bit about like, why would someone get a credit card, especially, you know, in university? Um, you know, obviously one good reason is to start building your credit and start those good, healthy, uh, responsible credit habits. Um, some people get into that mind frame. It's like, I want to get points. It's like, yes,

Starting point is 00:27:19 there's nothing wrong with that, but that shouldn't like, that's not a good enough reason to like, you need to have a good structure. Like, okay, that's good that you want points. Well, how are you going to get those points? Are you just going to, you know, link your credit card to your bills, and then that's how you're going to get points? Are you going to use it for your variable spending, and then just really, you know, make sure that you're on budget? What are you going to do?

Starting point is 00:27:38 Most of the excuse I hear from people that have gotten to credit card, they're like, I want the points. I'm like, how many points do you got? They're like, I don't know. They're like, oh, okay. Well, not helpful. You don't even know how many points or what points you got, right?

Starting point is 00:27:50 So you need to know what you're doing. Yep, you need to have a plan to pay it back. That's the key thing. That's the most important thing, for sure. I think a lot of people probably don't realize this, but credit card companies want you to pay your credit card balance. That is what they want.

Starting point is 00:28:04 They are lending you money. They'd like that back, please. I think you understand how this works. I understand. But credit cards is a tricky thing because they're a great tool, but a lot of people, I think, don't really understand how to play the game, right? I mean, even if you take kind of the student component out of it for a second, a lot of people are going to need to go through this phase of building credit. I mean, even if you take kind of the student component out of it for a second, a lot of people are going to need to go through this phase of building credit. I mean, even if you want to, say, rent a place here in Toronto, you're probably going to get a credit check, right? That's kind of part of it. So regardless of your age, everyone goes through this period where you have to figure out what is this thing called credit.

Starting point is 00:28:39 Often the most common way is to build credit early on is a credit card. You want to be walking into that well-educated. Absolutely. Absolutely. So we kind of talked about a bunch of great things. I'm so happy. There's some parts of this I'm like, I didn't know it was going to this. So I'm glad you're along for the ride for that. Just to kind of reiterate, Credit Education Week is from November 13th to 16th. Do you remember that URL? I'm going to test you now. cdwc.ca. There we go. And what kind of resources can people find on that website?

Starting point is 00:29:16 Yeah, there's a few things that you can kind of get through when you go to that site. It could point you to Credit Canada Debt Solutions, which is one of our partners who can help people out when they feel like they're in more debt than necessarily they want to be. So it's like getting that help that, you know, if you need help, don't be afraid to reach out. That's a big one. And there'll be links to other sources

Starting point is 00:29:36 of kind of financial literacy and financial education that can be really important and helpful, as well as we've got over 200 events happening across the country during that time period to help Canadians out. So that's all on, as well as we've got over 200 events happening across the country during that time period to help Canadians out. So that's all on there as well. That's amazing. And you mentioned briefly that Capital One has a tool for people to check their credit scores for free. Where would they find more information about that? That's on CapitalOne.ca.

Starting point is 00:29:59 Well, thank you, Patrick, for joining me. This was a pleasure. Yeah, I had a great time. Thank you very much. And that was Patrick Enns. He's the VP of Strategy and Brand at Capital One Canada. Again, just to reiterate, you can find more information about Credit Education Week at c-e-w-c-dot-c-a. And you can also try out Capital One Canada's free credit score tool on CapitalOne.ca. So as I mentioned, part of Credit Education Week,

Starting point is 00:30:26 a lot of great and free events are happening around this beautiful nation of Canada. So make sure to check out the website to find out what kind of events are happening in your area. But speaking of events, I am doing another Millennial Money Meetup. Yay, my only one for 2018. So if you haven't gone to any, you're going to want to go to this one because I cannot guarantee when my next one will be. It took me a freaking year to do this one. So grab your tickets before they're gone. You can find out more information in the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com slash 175. Or you can go to millennialmoneymeetup.com or I bet if you Google it, it'll hopefully come up.

Starting point is 00:31:05 But again, show notes or millennialmoneymeetup.com is where you can find more information and grab your tickets are only $10 and all ticket sale proceeds are going to charity. Yay. I'm so stoked that I'm able to do that this year. It's gonna be a ton of fun. Last I checked, there's actually not that many tickets left. So I cannot guarantee that by the time you listen to this episode that it will not be sold out. So definitely check that out. I would love to see you. It's always fun. The theme for this next Millennial Money Meetup is all about retirement planning and pensions. Because I feel like a lot of us younger folk don't really focus too much on retirement planning because we're kind of more focused on, I don't know, living within our means, paying off our

Starting point is 00:31:44 student loans or credit card debt, saving up an emergency fund, just living, just being able to afford to live. But retirement planning, it's important. The sooner you do it, the better you'll be off. Yeah, the better off you'll be, I mean. So hopefully you can join me. But if you can't join me because this is happening in Toronto, should have prefaced that. Sorry, guys. It is happening in Toronto on November 27th. But if you cannot join me for that event, that's okay. I'm also doing something very fun. I'm doing a Twitter chat about retirement and pensions as well. And it's coming up next week on Tuesday, November 13th at 6.30 p.m. Eastern time all the way to 7.30 p.m. Eastern time. And we're going to be talking, I mean, obviously about retirement and it's gonna be fun. I just made the questions.

Starting point is 00:32:29 I'm super stoked. I'm super, super excited to do it. A lot of my kind of blogger friends are going to be joining into the conversation. So I hope you join me too. Just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash ready for retirement and get some more information on. And you can sign up to get some email reminders so you don't miss out. And the best part is, if you join, you are eligible. You get a chance to win one of three Amazon gift cards. So you can join. You just have to be on Twitter. Just tweet it up with us for an hour. You can be watching TV at the same time. I don't care. I don't see you. And you might win a $25 Amazon gift card. So what do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing. I have a lot of other exciting things to share.

Starting point is 00:33:13 Those are the two big ones. Also, I think I mentioned're a Carleton University student, make sure to go to my website. I believe if you go, where do you go? If you go community, jessicmorehouse.com slash community, there's a list of kind of the events that are coming up that I'll be speaking at. So you can find more information there. But yeah, I'll be speaking on Monday, November 12th. And I'd love to see you there because I'm doing a presentation on your post-grad game plan, basically how to rock your finances after graduating university. Basically all the stuff that I wish I knew after I graduated university, but I had to learn the hard way. So I'm going to share all my wisdom and I hope you can join me. I think that'd be super fun. But also I am doing a kind of unofficial meetup in Ottawa. Already, I think 10 people are joining me or more than that. I don't know. I forgot to,

Starting point is 00:34:16 I haven't checked the list in a little while, but if you're interested, if you're in the Ottawa area, you want to meet me, hang out with some other money nerds in Ottawa, because of course you do. We're meeting up on the Sunday on Remembrance Day. So hit me up over email, jessica at jessicamoros.com. Shoot me an email and I'll send you some more info. Hopefully you could join us. I'm going to leave it at that because that is a lot of stuff that I just told you. Thanks for listening. I just have like, there's so much going on, guys. There's so much going on in November. I can't wait to take a little break in December. So thanks for listening.

Starting point is 00:34:53 I hope you enjoy this. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast if you liked it on iTunes. But also if you really, really liked it, if you really, really like me, please just take two seconds to give me an iTunes review because i will read it out loud give you a shout out on a future episode and um yeah i would love you forever so please please do that that'd be nice um oh oh my gosh so exciting speaking of the podcast how could i forget this i've been nominated for an award guys like crazy town crazy town. I am just going to look at the link right now. But basically, there's this award show called The Notable Awards. And I've been crazily and also super excitedly. I'm making up words now, but whatever. I was nominated for

Starting point is 00:35:41 podcast of the year. And it's all because of you because you love my podcast and you helped me get nominated. So basically how this kind of award thing works is it also depends on votes I get. So I would love if you could show me some love, take two seconds and vote for me so I can grab that trophy because I want that damn trophy. I want to put it on my mantle. I want to do like a winner's lap. I want to do all that damn trophy. I want to put it on my mantle. I want to do like a winner's lap. I want to do all that good stuff. So that would be really cool. If you can, you know, help a gal out since you like my podcast so much. So in order to give me your votes, it's super easy. Just go to notableawards.com slash pound or hashtag slash boat slash 221. I know that's not easy to remember.

Starting point is 00:36:25 Just go to the show notes. I will include a link in there and you can do that for me. That would be lovely. Okay, I'm going to stop talking. You've got a busy day. I know you. You're a busy person. So thanks so much for listening.

Starting point is 00:36:35 I'm going to see you back here next Wednesday for a fresh new episode of the Mo Money Podcast. This podcast is distributed by the women in media podcast network find out more at women in media.network

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More Money Podcast - 175 Being Intentional with Your Money - Patrick Ens, VP Strategy & Brand at Capital One Canada

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