More Money Podcast - 179 8 Major Money Takeaways from 2018 - Jessica Moorhouse

Episode Date: December 5, 2018

Well, we’re almost at the end of another podcast season! Just like last year, for my second to last episode I wanted to do a special solo episode. I wanted to just chat one-on-one with you about some of the things I’ve been up to and have realized this year. Then, I wanted share some of the biggest money takeaways from both Season 6 and 7 of the Mo’ Money Podcast. My Personal Realizations from 2018 Let’s first start with some of my personal realizations this year. This year has been truly amazing. I’ll do a longer blog post closer to the end of the year really reflecting on all that happened, but two keys things I’ve realized this year: my mission/purpose is to help others, and the only way to do that is to talk to real people like you (meaning, don’t get stuck in my little personal finance bubble). Going back to when I was a missionary in Africa at 18 (you can learn more in Ep. 20), I’ve been looking for a way to have a career that isn’t just personally meaningful, but also impactful on other people’s lives in a positive way. In short, I’ve felt for a very long time that I’ve been put on this Earth to help people. When I was in my 20s, I thought maybe the way to do that was to become a filmmaker and make documentaries that educated others, or films that lifted people’s spirits. Then, real life happened and I just needed a job to earn a living. My dream of having a job that helped others went by the wayside, until I got the idea to start my personal finance blog. Even though it was just a hobby at the time, I finally felt like I had a creative outlet and a means to help others by sharing my own personal finance journey. It’s crazy to think that by starting my blog over 7 years ago, I would eventually end up running my own business and helping others with their personal finances full-time. Life is unpredictable, but for the first time since I became self-employed (almost 2 years now), I finally feel like I’ve been able to accomplish that big goal of having a job that helps others too. And honestly the big reason I feel like that is this year I’ve had more opportunities to talk to real people. Sometimes they are people like you who listen to my podcast, read my blog, watch my videos, or follow me on social media. Sometimes they have no idea who I am, but I meet them at events or through friends and we strike up a conversation about money. It is seriously so cool to be able to find out what people do with their money, and what they struggle with. For years I was pretty much in this echo-chamber of just talking with other personal finance content creators or reading articles by finance journalists. That’s not real life. The only way to understand how to help people with their money is to talk to them. It’s been an education, but it’s definitely been helpful in me having a better sense of direction in terms of what I can do in the future to spread the word and help even more people. 8 Money Takeaways from 2018 I’ve interviewed 41 people on the podcast this year. That’s almost one person per week! I’ve loved every single interview, but there are a 8 interviews in particular that stuck out to me because of the tips and takeaways they shared. For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/179 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Episode 179 of the Mo Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. This is Episode 179. So wrapping up this season, today I'm going to do a solo episode, just me talking at you. And the next week I am going to be sharing the live recording of my Millennial Money Meetup number five that happened just a few weeks ago. So if you weren't able to attend, if you don't live in Toronto, that's why you couldn't make it. Don't you worry, I've got the recording. So it's all about retirement planning and pensions. Very exciting stuff. So make sure to tune in next week for that. But for this week, week as i mentioned we're doing a solo

episode because i uh just looked at all the episodes that i've recorded in uh 2018 and i haven't done a solo episode just giving you you know an episode just me talking in your ear since last december i just checked december 7th 2017 so it's uh it's about time because as much as if you listen to the podcast often, you hear my voice quite a bit. I haven't talked to you directly for a year and I got some things to say. But before I get to all of that, and what you can expect in this episode is me giving you kind of an update of what I've been up to this year, some reflection. And also I'm going to kind of take a look at all of the episodes and guests that I've had on this year and kind of give you, in my opinion, some of the biggest takeaways in terms of finance, money, life balance that I want to share with you so you can kind of

take that in with you and, you know, do some awesome stuff in the new year 2019. But yeah, before I get to that, here's just a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Momany podcast is supported by Copower Green Bonds. Looking for a sustainable way to invest in fixed income without sacrificing high returns? Then Copower Green Bonds. Looking for a sustainable way to invest in fixed income without sacrificing high returns? Then Copower Green Bonds may be the investment solution you're looking for. Investing in clean energy projects throughout Canada is a great way to put your money to work while making a measurable impact on the environment. Let me break down how this works for you. You buy Copower Green green bonds, and that money

is used to fund clean energy projects and energy efficiency projects that reduce carbon and generate steady revenues. Revenues that are used to pay Canadian investors like you. How much do you earn on these bonds, you may be wondering? For a four-year bond, you'll earn 4% annually, and for a six-year bond, you'll earn 5% annually. The only thing is, there's a limited supply of green bonds left. If you're interested in investing this year, don't miss out. To learn more, visit greenbonds.ca. Once again, that's greenbonds.ca. Okay, so first, let's talk. Let's chat. So this year is pretty much basically done. In terms of work stuff, it pretty much wraps up around this time. Everyone's now talking to me about 2019.

So I kind of spend December just wrapping up a few little things, trying to plan, trying as best as I can to kind of plan what I'm going to do next year. But also big projects in the works that I've kind of teased along in the podcast and on my blog, email list, all that stuff, is really preparing to launch my first online courses. As I mentioned, I'm definitely for sure going to launch my first course, which will be called Investing Foundations for Canadians. So as you can expect, it's an online course about the foundational elements of investing in Canada. I'm super proud and excited about that. But I'm also hopefully, I'm saying hopefully, because it's like December 3rd as I'm recording this, and I'm like, I've got a lot of work to do,

and I'm leaving December 20th to go to Vancouver for the holidays. I'm gonna have to get my butt in gear and get to work because I also wanted to have ready my second course, which is kind of the second part. So it's like once you understand how investing works and all the important elements that go into that, once you have that kind of foundation, you're ready for a part two, which is implementation. So what do you do next? Like how to invest basically. So it's going to be a course about index investing and how to either use a robo advisor or do the DIY kind of thing and how that all works together and how to actually do it. Because for me personally, it took me a while to really not only just understand the foundations of investing. It's been very helpful for me to have my own podcast because

then I have an excuse to bug all these amazing investing experts and authors so I can ask them all my dumb questions or smart questions. But at the beginning, in the first season, I had a lot of dumb questions. But you know what? No, I'm going to take that back. We're taking that back because there's no such thing as a dumb question. It just means you don't have the answer. So no. Okay. I need to be nicer to myself.

Sometimes I'm very harsh on myself. Anyways, so what I'm trying to say is it took me a while to really build my own kind of investing foundation. I felt like I didn't know enough. It made me anxious. It made me feel overwhelmed. It made me feel stupid. But I carried on. I'm like, no, we're not going to let them win, whoever that is. We're going to continue to educate yourself because no one's born good at money management. I know that. But no one's especially born good or, you know, no one has this aptitude to just be better at investing. It's something you learn. There's a bunch of rules. You just got to understand the rules. And now I understand the rules because I've been studying my butt off for the past several years. So I can really

understand this stuff so I can help other people with it. Now I'm going to share all of my knowledge in my investing course I'm very excited about. So that's what I'm like right now working on. But I want to kind of reflect on the entire year because it's been a whirlwind. It really has. Some parts went real fast, Some parts went kind of slow and then back to fast. To break down what my year looks like, it really is pretty busy from February to the beginning of June. It's pretty slow in the summer months, June, July, August. And then it just gets crazy town from September to the beginning of December. That's what it was like in 2017, my first year of self-employment. That's how it was this year. I'm going to just guess that that's not a coincidence. It's probably a pattern. So now, at least now I know that so I can kind of

plan. I kind of knew, especially November is always my crazy month because it's financial literacy month. There's always a lot going on. So I did kind of prepare myself mentally for that. And I had to say no to a lot of things. So I'll actually share some things that I may have never shared with anybody. So remember last year, and I probably put this in last year's solo episode too. I think I did because it was a big thing that happened to me last year was I did the Money 2020 Payments Race. So I also have a blog post on my blog about it. And there's videos on my YouTube channel if you actually want to see because I had to document it over video. But basically, this UK company came to me asked me if I wanted to participate

in this week long race where I could only use swipe, you know, like the what's it called the swipe debit, like you can use debit, but only if you swipe it. I wasn't allowed to use, no, no, sorry. That's a lie. Sorry. It was so long ago. I forgot what it was. When you use your debit card and you have to pin and chip, chip and pin, that's the thing. So me and the other racers, we had one payment, type of payment we could use to purchase things like, you know, transportation or accommodation or food. Someone had cash, someone had gold, someone had Bitcoin, someone had a tap with their debit or credit card. And for me, I had chip and pin debit or credit. And we had to get ourselves from Toronto to Las Vegas, but we also had a couple checkpoints. My checkpoints were Cincinnati. And then, well, then I think it was just Cincinnati I had to get

to. And then I had to get to the Grand Canyon. And then I had to go to the finish line at Las Vegas. But I also in between went to Denver, Colorado. So that was pretty cool. Anyways, long story short, they contacted me again this fall and asked me if I wanted to do it. And I took a think because it was a pretty incredible experience last year. It was also very difficult. It was very hard on my body. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat very well. I was a mess after. It took me a while to recover. I'm not as young as I used to be. And so I had to take a think. I'm like, do I want to do this again? Because I am typically the type of person, I'm a yes person.. I'm like, do I want to do this again? Because I am typically the type of person, I'm a yes person. If someone asks me to do something, I will automatically say yes.

And then if I don't actually want to do it, just like then think about it later. I'm like, oh, shoot, I probably shouldn't have said yes. I've been getting better as I've been getting older, but it's still like just something I have to kind of practice at. I just say yes to everything because part of it was just I want to be nice and I want to please people. So the people pleaser kind of part of me, but also part of it now being self-employed, I'm always terrified that if I don't say yes, then all of my opportunities, whatever they may be, will dry up one day. And I'm sure if you're self-employed and you're listening, you're like, yes, that is very common. I talk to my husband about this all the time. And he's been self-employed for 11 years. We just had this conversation last night.

And he said, I literally feel like that all the time still. And I've been doing this for 11 years. And you would think that I would not have this fear that one day the other shoe is going to drop or whatever. But no, he still feels like that. And so for me, the other shoe is going to drop or whatever. But no, he still feels like that. And so, you know, for me, I think that's just like self-employed life. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. But for me, that's kind of what it feels like. Sometimes I'm like, all right, this is cool. I feel secure and comfortable. And sometimes I'm like, I don't have the frame of mind necessarily that next year is going to be better. And then the following year is going to be better. And it's just going to be like this kind of roller coaster going up. Or maybe I think't have the frame of mind necessarily that next year is going to be better and then the following year is going to be better. And it's just going to be like this kind of roller coaster

going up. Or maybe I think it's the roller coaster going up and then going down one day. But I'm always terrified that something will happen and everything will dry up. I'll stop getting inquiries for any of the elements of my business and I'll have to get a regular job. Not that that's a failure or anything, but I want this to work. I really like what I'm doing. I feel for the first time in honestly my life or especially my career, and I feel like I've been working professionally full-time for about seven or eight years now. This is the first time in my life I feel like I'm actually doing something that not only makes me feel fulfilled, but I'm impacting other people in a positive way. I mean, I've worked for a number of years. I've earned money. But there's honestly,

all of the jobs I've had previously, I never really felt like I was doing anything worthwhile. Lots of the jobs I have were like sales and marketing. I'm not really helping people. I'm helping a company earn a profit. But that's... Anyway, so I keep getting distracted because I'm talking to myself. And it's just like I have all these thoughts coming into my mind. But I'm very pleased where I am in my career because I feel like finally I feel like I'm not only earning money to pay my bills and reach my savings goals and all that stuff, but I feel like I'm actually having a positive impact. And it really, I don't know. It's nice. It's nice. It's nice. It's really cool. I don't know. It's really cool. And I sometimes have to pinch myself because I feel like I'm so lucky to be able to have finally found a way to marry my passion for personal finance to an actual career. And not

only that help other people along the way, but going back to this payments race thing, got offered it, and I decided not to do it. And that was a big deal for me, because I always say yes to things, sometimes things that I don't want to do out of, I don't know, a feeling of obligation. But I realized, honestly, the only way that you're going to kind of design the life that you want is to have to sometimes say no. And saying no is very difficult for me. But it is something I'm actively practicing. So that's something that I haven't told anybody. So there you go. That's one opportunity that came my way and I had to pass. And I don't regret it at all.

And that's the other thing too. And I'm hoping that you're listening and you're just kind of also thinking about you and your life and, you know, can relate. But when you do say no to things, sometimes not only will it be like, oh, I'm, you know, I'm okay with that decision. You probably not only you just won't regret it, and maybe you're making room for other bigger opportunities, which I feel like I did because I said no to this opportunity. I think that race happened in like late October, early November or something like that. I mean, I had other things that I was then

available to say yes to. So there you go. So talking a little bit more about like, you know, rambled on about having a positive, positive impact and feeling like I'm actually helping people. I've been able to do I feel like this year, I have been able to talk to real people the most this year. And let me explain what that means. I feel like in the past, I would create content, I would write, you know, blog posts, I would create, you know, find guests to interview for my show, and just have like an idea of what I thought people want to know. But I didn't, you know, really talk to real people. You know what I mean? Like, I'm stuck in my bubble of other personal finance content creators who are stuck in their bubble as well. Or I know people

in the financial services industry. So again, they're in a bubble. And I realized, I was actually kind of surprised how little I really knew what people's biggest struggles or concerns were. And I feel like that is kind of an issue with the kind of personal finance blog sphere in general is a lot of us are inward thinking we can't or we're just, you know, staying in our bubble. And we're like, right, this is what people want, right? But you don't actually talk to real people. You don't know. And I feel like this year, I've actually been able to do that a lot lot of that has to do with, um, I think getting a lot more emails from people, um, and having conversations like that, which is great. Um, obviously doing a lot more discovery calls, um, with potential clients and then working

with real clients. And these clients are just real people that want some help. So I really get to have a good, real in-depth view of what people are struggling with. And it's really changed my just perception and just like perspective on things, which in turn helps me figure out what things I need to do to help them. Because I am past the point that I need to talk about me and my finances, quite honestly. It's boring at this point. I found a really good system and I just do it. My job right now as a financial podcaster, blogger, educator is to find ways to basically, I just need to get the word out. That is in my mind. That's my mission. That's my purpose. I need to get the word out. That is in my mind. That's my mission. That's my purpose. I need to get the word out. I need to just focus on creating new, I don't know, freebies, tools, products,

what have you, events, so I can help other people understand finance. Because it always goes back to, well, it always goes back to me, but it always goes back to the reason I'm so passionate about this is because I was in your shoes. When I was in my early 20s, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I didn't know what a checking account was. I only had a savings account and a credit card. I was embarrassed to learn all this stuff. People would talk to me about this and that, and I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I'd be embarrassed. I'd feel ashamed. I felt like a loser. I felt like a failure, all these negative things. And then when I realized that actually finance can be a thing for good, it can be a positive thing in your life. It can actually, instead of being something that you're ashamed of, or you're not good at, or this and that, it can actually be something that could be freedom or

choice or opportunity. And so when I realized how you can empower yourself through personal finance, it got me fired up. It got me fired up to read books and blogs and do all that stuff so I can educate myself. And then I got really into it taking courses, getting my accredited financial counselor candidate designation. And I'm still doing more school to get more credentials just because I'm so in love with learning this stuff. But I'm also more in love really with teaching other people about this stuff because I don't have a finance background or a business background. Guys, I went to SFU. I studied film. I thought I was going to be a film editor. I graduated in 2009 during the recession. It took me a year to get full-time work. And I was broke AF. I really was broke. And so if I can go from that girl who didn't know what a checking account was to this

girl who's talking to you on a personal finance podcast, who's, you know, does lots of public speaking, who's on TV, all this kind of stuff. And this isn't just like, oh, I'm so great. It's just like, if I can go from like literally no idea what the hell I'm doing to I feel so confident and so comfortable and knowledgeable about this topic that I can teach others, then literally you can do that. Anyone could do that. Your friends, your family can do it. Finance is for everyone. And the thing that I personally have an issue with is when people just have very strong opinions about it and make that opinion feel like it's fact when it's not. And that was a big thing that I struggled with was trying to decipher when someone was saying an opinion or a fact. Because a lot of the time when you talk to people, they're actually just saying an

opinion. It's actually not a fact. Because there's so many times, I can tell you so many times it'd be an event, party, whatever. I'd be talking to a group of people about money, because I love talking about money. And they would say something and I'd be like, oh, I didn't know that. Or I thought the opposite. I'd feel like a fool. I'm like, oh, I didn't know that. Or I thought the opposite. I'd feel like a fool. I'm like, oh, I'm learning something or what I knew was wrong. Like I would automatically assume that I was wrong because this comes back to like having a lack of confidence. And then I would go back home and research and be like, no, they're the fool. They're wrong. So that's one of the things that I've been realizing by talking to all these real people out

there. It's not so much that they don't know the answers or can't find them. Sometimes yes, but most of the time, it comes back to this idea of confidence. And I know I've talked about financial confidence a lot on the show. And it's because it's, for me, it's like, okay, this is actually the most important thing we should be focusing on. You know, kind of like the tagline from that bank, you're richer than you think. Well, I think the same should be said that you're smarter than you think. You're more financially smarter. No, that's not how I say it. You're more financially equipped than you think. And I think we just need to pay attention

to that. And that's what my goal for 2019 really is. I don't really have too many specific projects for 2019, but I feel like that is going to be a big focus of 2019 is really figuring out ways to boost other people's, empower people and boost other people's financial confidence. Because that was my big issue. It was just feeling like a dummy when talking to people or reading stuff online. Because a lot of, yeah, just a lot of the information out there is skewed to a certain perspective. It may not have you in mind. So that's what I'm going to be working on. Anyways, that is, I feel like that's a lot of what I've had on my mind that I want to share. I just want to say a big thank you for listening. If you sent me an email, if you sent me an iTunes

review, if you've come to any of my meetups, and I definitely plan to do more meetups, like the big events and maybe some smaller kind of casual events in the future. Because again, I love talking to you like so much. It literally just makes my heart like the Grinch, like grow, grow, grow, grow. So it's the reason I keep on getting fuel to keep on doing this because it's tough being your own boss sometimes. And you can get distracted very easily and forget why you're doing this in the first place. So I always kind of come back to like, remember why you're doing this is to help other people like other people have helped me. And that's what I want to do. Anyways, so I'm going to kind of

take a look at some of the themes and topics and guests that I've had over the past year, and kind of give you some kind of tips or things to think about of some of the most impactful, I feel like, messages that I got from all these interviews. All right. First, I'm going to talk about one episode that in particular for me was just like a dream to do. But also, he just said so many things that have stuck with me since our interview. So I'm talking about Perez Hilton. So big Perez Hilton fan. I've been reading his blog for over 10 years. And he's such an interesting character. And it was nice to actually talk to a very successful lifestyle blogger who's been in it. He was one of the OGs really. But to talk to him specifically about his own financial background, because lots of people aren't sharing that kind of stuff. And we talked about how he had to file for bankruptcy because he just kept

on making some really bad mistakes. And again, for him, his issue was he just didn't have the knowledge. And so that's why he was making mistakes, borrowing money, getting into crazy debt. He just didn't know any better. And then he realized through this bankruptcy, all of his mistakes and turned his life around. And now he's doing very well. He's very successful. But what was interesting was we talked about spending. And spending isn't bad, which again has been a big theme of this season, is getting rid of this disgusting, terrible, freaking idea that spending is bad. It was something, honestly, I learned in my early 20s from, I'm not going to mention names, but certain books, certain TV shows would make me feel guilty about spending,

feel bad about spending. And that's not okay. That's not cool. You don't help people by putting them down. And so this is something I still have to kind of work on is this guilt of spending. And so talking to Perez, he's like, no, I like to spend money on Uber and taxis and like some meal delivery services. Who cares? But he's also working towards earning more money and building up his net worth and how he's doing that is like he's hustling he said something i'm gonna get the quote wrong but he said something like um you shouldn't be trying to find balance in your 20s you should be hustling as hard as you can because you're young and you have the energy don't find balance there's no balance just hustle

and uh i kind of i agree with that i hustled my tail off in my 20s and i don't regret a day of it i don't regret an hour i did what i needed to do to set my future self up in a better position um i think this idea that and maybe this is just like again i'm this is just me i'm not telling this is right or wrong this is my personal personal life experience and perspective is I've never lived like a life like after a university where I had just a nine to five job and then went home and just like, I don't know, just hung out. I've always had something on the side. It was either the blog, second job, whatever. And now that I'm self-employed, yeah, I'm recording this at 7.23 p.m. Like I work all the time, but I freaking love it. I don't think there's anything wrong with hustling,

depending on your personality and what, you know, what drives you in your life. But for me, hustling is what I do. I just work and I love what I do because I'm creating some awesome stuff. And so it was nice to talk to Perez and he's like, oh no. Because I wasn't sure, I'm like, does he have like a huge team behind him? Does he like not do that much work and just assigns it mind, a celebrity. But he's not like,

oh, yeah, I just lounge about on the beach taking Instagram stories or whatever. It's like, no, he's working it. And I think that's a pretty cool thing. And it was just shocking to hear that from him. But also, it was nice to hear it too. Another episode that I loved was talking to JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly. Love his blog. And he's just like the nicest guy ever. And we talked about the title is Why You Should Be the CFO of Your Own Life. And it is something I also think about often when I'm in this situation where sometimes I'm just like, I'm tired. Like I don't want to care about my money anymore. I would love to not track my spending and my net worth and budget and keep all my receipts and be my own accountant all the time. I'm sick of it. And then I remember what he said. It's like, you really do need to be the CFO of your own life

because no one cares about your money. No one cares. You need to care the most. If you want to be financially successful, whatever that means, that doesn't mean retiring at 35 or being rich. It just means being responsible with your money and being able to use money as a tool to get the things out of life that you want that are values in your life, you need to step up to the plate and be your own CFO. Sorry, it is work. It is kind of work. So you need to do it. And if you do it, you'll realize it's actually not as hard as you think. It doesn't take as much time as you think. And you'll actually probably enjoy it. And also, again, it's another way to empower yourself. When you really take that time, put it in your schedule, make it a habit to really manage

your money, you feel more in control of your money and more in control of your life. That's at least what it feels like to me. So I really like that episode. I think you might want to check it out too. It's a really funny episode. Okay, another great episode. And this has been a book since I've read it last, I believe January is when it came out, or I could be wrong, maybe. So Worry-Free Money by Shanley Simmons is a book that I pretty much recommend to everybody because I get sent and pitched so many freaking books. You have no idea. It's just, I have a stack and it's just overwhelming. But I liked the title of her book. I liked the cover of her book. I met her in person. I loved her right away. And then I read her book and I'm just like, yeah, this is amazing. It is the first, I feel like, financial book for Canadians that

really, even if you're in the States or whatever, you'd love it too because it's not super, super Canadian. But she just frames it in such a positive way. She's funny. She's relatable. But also her kind of message, which I love, is kind of like I was saying earlier, you're not going to teach people. People aren't going to learn if you shame them or if you tell them they're not doing it right. The only way you're going to make significant change in someone's life is if you teach them with kindness and understanding. That's why I think I was so attracted to becoming a financial counselor because it really does focus on the counseling aspect. And there's one thing in my education, the program that taught us that the

people that we're helping are actually not bad at money. They're doing the best they can with the resources and tools that they have. And that's 100% true. All of the clients that I've worked with aren't just bad with money. They're not just jerks just spending their money willy nilly and don't give a F or whatever. No, no, no. They've come to me because they're like, oh, shoot. I don't even know what happened. I guess I didn't realize that this would impact this. They were doing the best they could with the knowledge, the education, and the resources they had. So she really has that messaging in her book. And we talk about that in the episode, episode 151. And it was just really inspiring. And I don't know, I get good feelings when I think about her book, which is why I'm so excited to tell somebody who hasn't read it to go check it out.

Because you'll read it, you'll learn something about just some really key findings about just like how to manage your money right. Some of her kind of ways that she helps her own clients because she's a financial planner. But in like such a nice, happy, loving way, which I really appreciate. And it's not, you don't find that often in a financial book, I'll tell you. So I also really loved, and this is kind of becoming a bigger theme in the personal finance world, which really excites me, is episode 161. I had Lori J. Cameron on the show to talk more about mindfulness. She has a book all about mindfulness, not so much about money, but mindfulness. But then we talk about how to integrate mindfulness with money. Because I think as we all are realizing is finance isn't

about finance or money or numbers. It's about psychology. And mindfulness is basically a huge tool we can all use to help ourselves with whatever we're struggling with in our financial lives. And what that just means is being more conscious about all of your financial decisions and how money impacts you and your feelings and your being, basically. So I know I'm not as mindful as I could be. I'm sure we could all be better at that. But just like an example, how many times do you go to the store, pick up a few things, you do look at the prices when you're putting them in your cart, then you go to the cash register, and they're like, all right, how are you paying? And then you tap or swipe or whatever, and you leave and you're like, wait, how much was the total? Like most of the time, you won't know the total. You need to be better at freaking looking at that cash register and looking at all those line items and really thinking about that

total to be like, is that how much I intended to spend? Is that too much? Is that not enough? Did I miss something? Like being just like a little bit more conscious of like our spending, you know, habits like that. Like that's one, that's just a personal one that I did the other day. I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't even know how much I spent on that. And also just being more cognizant of like, we keep tracking our spending, but we're still spending so much money. How is that happening? Are there some little things you can do to have a big impact? Like deleting some apps that are on your phone that you tend to use to like, you know, Amazon Prime it or Uber it or

Uber Eats it or whatever the hell, maybe you should get rid of those apps because you're spending too much money. So we need to all do what we can to just be more in the moment with our money. And actually, and this isn't, there's another episode that did happen in this season too is along this kind of along the lines of mindfulness is also minimalism. So I had Kate Flanders, she has the book The Year of Less, also another amazing book that you should definitely pick up. But we talk about how minimalism and mindfulness really go hand in hand and how really in terms of because you know, she had a spending problem, she got out of it. What then she, you know, debt-free, didn't know what

to do after that. She realized the only way to maintain a life that is debt-free, especially having a spending problem, is to be more conscious of every single thing that you have, that you want to buy, that you intend on buying, and just being very, not careful, but yeah, just more present when it comes to like, do you actually need this? Or if you don't, why do you want to buy it? Is it because you're feeling a certain way? It's because you saw something on social media that made you want to buy it? Is someone pressuring you? Is it social pressure? What is it? We all need to think more before we take out, you know, cash or that card from our wallet and buy something. That's for sure.

Okay. So surprisingly, not surprisingly, but I was a bit surprised. One of the top downloaded episodes in 2018 was my episode with Catherine Hart. I had her on episode 165. The episode's called Get Paid Your Worth Negotiation Tips. Maybe it was just a good title. I need to get better titles. I'm terrible at them because I just don't care. We just talked about basically negotiating a higher salary or when you're in a job interview, how to get more money. Very simple things, you'd think. But honestly, and maybe this is also just because I'm coming from a place that I'm a woman. I was never taught to negotiate. I was always basically kind of told, just be grateful you're getting a job offer. You're so lucky. And so I never, ever, ever negotiated a salary when going into a job. There was once it kind of came up,

but it's because they actually promised a certain salary. And then when I saw the contract, it was lower. And I'm like, no, no, no. We talked about like, you promised this. And they're like, oh yeah, you'll get that later. I'm like, no. At the time, I think I was just like, no, I just, I'm tired of this. I think I'd been on way too many interviews because I was looking for a new job. So eventually they did give me that, but it wasn't that much money. It was like fighting over $5,000. But anyways, I never negotiated and I'm kicking myself for that because you're leaving money on the table. And we need to, especially as women, I say, because there is the wage gap issue, we aren't earning as much as men. We need to do better. Because yeah, we just need, we need to play our part. Obviously, there's a whole

societal aspect that needs to change as well. But as women, when we are in a situation where we're asked, what's your salary range or whatever, we need to do that research. And we need to ask for more than we want, basically. Like we need to be like, okay, I'd be happy with $50,000. Ask for $65,000. If they say that's too high, they'll tell you. They won't just take the job offer away. And that's usually, honestly, when they do ask you about your salary expectations. Sometimes they don't. But we go into this episode actually about talking in different scenarios. If they ask in the first interview and you're like, well, I hardly know what the job is because we haven't really started. And they start with like, what's your salary expectations? How to kind of change the conversation so you don't really

answer, but you're not being rude. So I'm glad you liked that episode because I really liked it. I thought it was very important and something, a topic I definitely need to, I think, explore a little bit more in depth because it's very helpful. I was so inspired by talking to her. And honestly, even though I'm self-employed now, I still have to... Actually, maybe this is why I feel like I'm better at negotiating money now is because every time I basically have to work with a client in whatever stream of my business, I have to negotiate. They'll be like, okay, so what's your rate for this? And then sometimes they'll be like, can you do it for this? I'm like, no, I need this amount. And so I am literally constantly on a weekly basis negotiating. And I think I'm a little bit better at it or more comfortable doing it. Because I'm like, no, I deserve this. I'm a little bit better at it or more comfortable doing it because I'm like,

no, I deserve this. I'm working my butt off and also it's my money. You know what I mean? I have to earn my money to pay my way through life now. So it's even more important to get what I believe I deserve. So I'm a little bit more, you know, it's got to be this. So that's it. Anyways, I think you'd really like that episode. Episode 165. Episode 171 is also one of my favorites of this season. It's with Amanda Abeya. I liked it because it was a conversation that I was kind of dying to have with someone and she was the perfect person to have it with. It's called Why You Should Feel Good About Making Money. And it's because I wanted to have this conversation, this interview with Amanda, because for years, I have had my own personal

issues of feeling not good enough. And so kind of going back to like non-negotiating any salaries for any jobs I've had and feeling shame for earning money. I think some of it is internal, some of it's external. I've been publicly shamed for earning money. I think some of it is internal, some of it's external. I've been publicly shamed for earning money. I think that's BS, but I mean, that's also not my issue. And that's the other thing we need to remember. When there's negative external forces, and there are, especially in finance with those opinionated people, we need to be like, that's not my issue, that's theirs. Otherwise, why are they being all crazy? And so it was lovely to talk to Amanda about why we as individuals, also especially women, need to ask for what we're

worth. And we need to be proud of earning money. Because even though we feel like we've come so far, we haven't come far enough. And we need to support each other. And we need to especially support each other earning money. We do. And we need to not be shy about earning money. We shouldn't feel bad about making a dollar. We shouldn't. It's crazy. We need to keep pushing the envelope. We keep on earning more and more. And since that chat with Amanda, I've been following her on Instagram and Facebook. She's been killing it. She has totally grown her business from her just being a sales coach and she did some

money coaching. And then she's just like, no, I want to focus on sales coaching. And now she's grown her business that she's earning enough that she has, I believe, a business coach or a business partner, manager, manager? Yeah, manager. And a full-time assistant. Now she has office space. So it's like goals. If she can do it, why can't we do it? Because as you can listen to in the episode, she literally was like kind of a similar situation to me, graduated. There was no job. She was working in a nowhere job just to earn money.

And then eventually she educated herself on how she can earn more money and what she could do and how she can start an online business and what she could do differently. And so it's a very inspiring episode, especially if you want to learn specifically more about earning money. All right, so the last episode that I'm going to share that has some really just great things to think about, and I love it. Also, I just love it. So I'm going to, it's why you need a F off on. I'm not going to put this as like, I'm not swearing on this episode because I don't like putting that little E on there because I always feel like some people won't listen if it's like explicit, but whatever. So Paulette Perhatch, she is the author of the book, Welcome to the Writer's Life. But also she basically, people started paying attention to her and her writing because she wrote an article for the billfold called, you know, the F-Off Fund. And it went viral like crazy town. And basically, it is this beautiful story. It's in the show notes, episode 174. There's a link to that or just Google it. It's such an amazing article.

But it's basically kind of a fictionalized story sort of based on her life on why you need an emergency fund. But that in itself sounds like, oh, emergency fund. That's exciting. No, no, no. Her story is amazing because she basically describes all these scenarios that I'm sure most of us have been in once or twice and why if you didn't have an emergency fund, you wouldn't be able to get out of that situation. So as an example, if you have an abusive boyfriend, if you have a boss that's sexually harassing you, well, if you live with him and you live with your boyfriend and you don't have any place to go and you don't have any emergency savings, you can't leave him. You're stuck. If you don't have any emergency savings and you've got this gross boss making comments or just creeping you out or doing worse things,

but you need the money from that job because you don't have anything saved up, well, you're stuck. So you need to have an F-off fund or whatever kind of fund you want to call it for these kind of emergency situations. And I know for me, I've never been necessarily in those kind of scenarios, but I've definitely used my emergency fund to get me out of some situations where I'm like, I can't stay here. I mean, that was a big reason why I quit my last job was like my mental state, my mental health was, you know, taking it was done, like it was gone. It was gone. And I could not stay there another day. I was so unhappy. And luckily, I had, you know, an emergency fund. So when I was weighing what do I want to do? Do I want to quit, be a little unemployed and then find a job? Or do

I want to try to, you know, do my own thing and see if I can make this a business? I had those options because I had money in the bank that would pay my bills. And that was really important because my husband's self-employed. His income is very variable. So we're always very conscious of that. We're homeowners. We have a mortgage and we cannot let those mortgage payments lapse. There's, and we also, you know, guess what? There's a couple of times where I've had to fly back to Vancouver pretty quickly because, you know, sadly, both my grandparents have passed away in the past couple of years. I would be screwed if I didn't have money in the bank to pay for those emergency flights.

And no, you do not get a discount, a family discount when, you know, your grandparent passes away. I call them. But if your immediate family does, like your, you know, your grandparent passes away, I call them. But if your immediate family does, like your, you know, brother, sisters, parents, or whatever you do, so make sure to keep that in mind. But for grandparents, no, you have to pay full price, which is really crappy. So without that emergency fund, I would be, I would have to basically, yeah, have to say no to lots of things. I would have to probably put my mental health at risk even more. I'd not

be as good as where I am right now. So it's just a really beautiful article that she wrote, and we have a really great conversation in episode 174. So those are some of my, not like top or favorite episodes, but those are just as I'm going along checking them out, they just made me feel something as I saw that kind of title. I'm like, oh yeah, I remember what I felt like when I had that interview and it was just, I wanted to share that with you. So I hope you enjoyed it. Don't go away. I have a few things that I want to share with you before I sign off. But just a few words about this episode's sponsor first. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by Copower Greenbonds.

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actively about it while also earning high returns for your financial goals. I'm talking 4 or 5% on your investment. Want to learn more and get started? Then visit greenbonds.ca. Once again, that's greenbonds.ca. Okie dokie. So as I've mentioned in a few past episodes, I am coming to Vancouver for the holidays. I am going to do a little casual mini meetup. Got a bunch of people on my list. And basically, it's just like we're going to go to some pub and have a drink and just talk money and have a good old casual fun time. You can ask me whatever you want. We can have fun. We can become friends.

If you're interested in joining me, because why wouldn't you? Because it'll be super fun. I'm super nice. I promise. You can just email me directly that you're interested. Jessica at JessicaMorehouse.com is where you can reach me. Put you on my list. I'm currently investigating locations

and dates and I'll pick something and it'll be fun. I'm really excited about it. As I've mentioned, I have some exciting things in the queue, especially my online courses that'll be launched in January. And if you want to be the first to know about all that stuff well you find it on my email list I email my list weekly Wednesdays sometimes Thursdays when it gets like super crazy but generally Wednesdays and I share all all the things I'm up to all the events all the speaking things anything you know I'm up to new blog posts all that stuff on my email list and you can get on it. Jessica at jessicamorehouse.com slash subscribe. I talked a little bit about freebies and, you know, creating stuff to help people. Well, I've got a bunch of great freebies in my resources library, all free. There's a

couple, you know, webinars, online trainings, a lot of downloadable spreadsheets, worksheets, all that kind of stuff. And you can find it all for free, get access to it, jessicamorehouse.com slash resources. Easy peasy. Last but not least, I haven't really promoted this for a while because honestly, I've been very busy. I mean, knock on wood. But I've been working with a ton of financial counseling clients since I kind of opened that part of my business back in June. So if you're interested in checking out what my program's all about, I have kind of two programs that I offer right now. And if you want to see if we'd be a good fit together so we can help you with your financial life, whatever it is, maybe you need something long-term, maybe you need just like a power session. So okay, I'll just tell you what my programs are because I kind of already said it.

So I've got two programs and I don't think I've ever shared this anywhere. It's not my website. I just share it to like people that sign up for a discovery call. So I'll share it with you right now. I've got two programs. One is, it spans four months. We meet online via Zoom for one hour every month. And before the first session and after every single session, I assign you homework. So that is it in a nutshell. But basically, it's a personalized program to find out what you need help with. And then the kind of goal is for us to really tackle some of your biggest financial struggles and also help you build your own financial plan. So we're taking all those boxes. So you've got the right insurance, you know how you're going to do your taxes, you've got a budget, we've got a debt repayment plan, whatever it is,

we're going to get it all done in those four months. And you're going to have some really great financial habits after that. Now, if that's not something that you need, you can just sign up for what I call a power session. All a power session is, is you get me for three hours in one big block of time, and we just dig into your financial life. So whatever your issue is or issues, we're going to tackle in that three-hour period. So basically, the first program is really for the people that have a lot of work to do and need that accountability because I'm going to be checking on you and you better be doing your work. But if you are just someone who's like, I think I'm doing it right. I need someone to check

my work. I'm not sure if I'm managing my money right. I just need like a good old power session, like kind of like a boot camp kind of thing. Then that would be what you would probably be more interested in. So if you want to talk to me and learn more and maybe work with me, I am accepting new clients. I'm promoting this a little bit more. I only kind of take on a few clients at a time, but I've actually finished up with a number of clients that were all in that four-month program. So I've finished a lot of them before the holidays, which is great. So I've got a bunch more them before the holidays, which is great. So I've got a bunch more openings. So if you're interested, just go to jessamorehouse.com slash discovery

call. And you can learn more, look at some of the testimonials from past clients, book a call with me to learn more, and it'll be fun. So there you go. Okay, that I feel like is probably it for me. I've been talking your ear off for a damn long time and you've got places to go, places to see and be or whatever. I'm going to be back here next week though with my live recording of the Millennial Money Meetup number five, all about retirement planning and pensions in Canada. I know you're going to really get a lot of great stuff. I'm joined with this guy called Tim Thompson, who is a pensions expert. And man, he knows everything there is to know about pensions. So yeah, you're going to love it. So I will see you back here next Wednesday. Thanks for listening. I will see you back here next week. All right, bye. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network.

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