More Money Podcast - 227 No-BS Financial Education for Women - Amanda Holden, Financial Educator & Speaker

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

For this episode of the Mo’ Money Podcast, I have someone on who is making some major waves in the personal finance space – money writer, speaker and educator Amanda Holden (a.k.a. Dumpster Doggy). I’ve been following her on social media and reading her blog for a while now, but I was lucky enough to finally meet her this past fall at FinCon 2019. She has such a positive energy, it's no wonder she's been able to cultivate a community of super-engaged followers who want to empower themselves through financial literacy. Amanda has such an amazing story too of how she decided to become a financial educator. She was first introduced to the world of finance when she starting working for an investment firm in San Francisco. But after a few years helping the rich get richer, she realized that was not the path for her. So, she started living extremely frugally (hence why she has the nickname Dumpster Doggy) to save up enough money to leave her job and travel around South America. On her travels, she realized what she was meant to do with her career – build a business that focused on educating young women about finance and investing. This led her to start her blog, Dumpster Dog Blog, and her business, Invested Development. In this episode, Amanda shares some of her top investing tips, how she was able to live extremely frugally for so long (and doesn't regret it), and what #TRASHION is all about. Make sure to check out her Instagram for some constant inspiration and check out her website to find out when she'll run her next live online Invested Development course. For full episode show notes visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/227 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the Mo Money Podcast. This is episode 227, and I am your host, Jess Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. So excited for this episode. I met this guest. I've been following her, I think, for a very long-ish time, but I finally got to meet her in person this past fall when I went to FinCon. That's kind of where I meet a lot of guests on the show. It's great. I knew I wanted to get her on the show and I'm so glad I did because it's such a good episode. I'm talking about Amanda Holden, aka Dumpster Doggy, and we will talk about that name in the show. Makes sense when you hear this background. Anyway, she is a money writer,

speaker, and educator. And she ended up leaving her job in investment management in San Francisco to get critically needed financial education to the demographic she cares the most about, which is young women. And through her business, Invested Development, she educates young women about investing in other money topics because the world needs more women with financial power. Totally agree. And she also has a blog called the dumpster dog blog, which is a scrappy, no BS financial education, a blog for women and also a hundred percent follower on Instagram at dumpster dot doggy. Really great. So much great content. And just like, she makes me happy. And a happy. I mentioned this in the podcast, not a lot of crap on the Instagram makes me feel good. You feel me? You probably feel the exact

same way because we're all doing the exact same thing. Before I get to this amazing interview with Amanda Holden, just a few words I want to share about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by EQ Bank. I've been a customer of EQ Bank for over three years, and it's no surprise why I've been such a loyal customer. Their EQ Bank Savings Plus account offers the flexibility of a checking account with free transactions, no everyday banking fees, no minimum balances, and fast, cheap international money transfers, while still offering one of the highest interest rates in Canada for savings accounts at 2.45%. In other words, there are no fees, you can move your money around between accounts and other banks freely,

and did I mention you'll earn 2.45% on all of your deposits? Because of that, EQ Bank is where I choose to house my emergency fund and money I save up throughout the year for my taxes. And to be totally transparent, since I started banking with them in 2017, I've earned a total of $1,121.82 in interest just by letting my money sit in there until I needed it. So the question remains, how much are you earning on your savings? If it's less than 2.45%, why not see if EQ Bank is right for you? To learn more and to open an account, visit eqbank.ca. Once again, that's eqbank.ca. Interest is calculated daily on the total closing balance and paid monthly. Rates are per annum and subject to change without notice. Well, welcome to the Mo Money Podcast,

Amanda. I'm so excited to have you on here. Thank you so much for having me. You're welcome. It was so nice to finally meet you in person at FinCon this year. And I feel like I've been following you online, especially on Instagram, your Instagram. So it makes me feel nice. There's not a lot about Instagram that I like, I'll be honest, but your posts make me feel good about myself. So thank you. Well, dang, that makes me so happy to hear because I'll be honest, but your posts make me feel good about myself. So thank you. Well, dang, that makes me so happy to hear because I also agree that Instagram can be a place that can leave you feeling very vulnerable. And I don't want to add to that. I want to make people happy and I want to teach them some things. Yeah. And I feel like you somehow figured out a really good recipe for like being, you know, bright and positive and happy, but also being

like, but I'm going to now teach you something and you're not even going to know it. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, you're welcome. So you, I want to kind of start from the beginning because you have a very interesting story. So your background actually is in investment management. You used to work in that world for a good like six years or so in San Francisco. Do you want to kind of explain like what did you actually do and how did you kind of end up in that world? Were you always interested in finance or you just kind of ended up there? Okay. So the opposite. I was never interested in finance. But like so many college graduates after leaving school, I pretty much just was looking for a job because I needed money.

And I did study economics. And so that was the trajectory that I was headed on. And so I ended up at an investment management firm in San Francisco, like you mentioned. And so for the six years that I was there, the primary role that I filled was I was working as an investment counselor. And so my job was essentially to be the liaison to our high net worth clients. And so what does that mean? That means I was talking with our clients, answering questions about the market, keeping them apprised of portfolio strategy, getting to know their personal financial situations. And so basically what I was doing was just like a lot of handholding for old rich guys.

That was kind of... That sounds interesting. Well, it was interesting in that the learning curve was super steep. Like they kind of threw me into the job. I was working in an associate role and a higher up at the firm basically came and tapped my shoulder and was like, hey, we've noticed that you've been like talking shit to all of your coworkers. Why don't you come upstairs and talk shit to our clients? But that's truly what he said to me.

And he was like, let's get you up there and talk some sense into these people. Because really what our job was to just keep people calm and keep them invested no matter what was happening in the market. Because as you and I both know, a big part of successful investing is just riding the wave and not thinking that you can weave in and out of the market or try to get cute with the market and instead just sticking to a strategy over the long term. But this is something that is very difficult for people, even people who are wealthy and even people who have figured out how to make tons of money. And so that was essentially the role that I was filling. And so it was definitely a great job. I learned a lot. It was a great job for a young woman at the time, but I personally didn't love it. In fact, I kind of hated it. It just

didn't align with my personal set of values because really at the end of the day, what was I doing? I was helping rich men get richer. And so I ended up quitting that job and I left and I thought I was going to leave the money space altogether. I did some traveling while I was traveling and witnessing women at a consistent financial disadvantage, which happens not only abroad, but also in the United States and Canada where you are, and deciding, you know what, maybe my work in this space isn't done.

And so that's when I turned around, came back and created my business, which is essentially trying to help get this information to the people that are often left out of these conversations to begin with. Yeah, absolutely. I love that story. I'm just so curious because you did work with some really high net worth people. Any interesting stories? Did you learn anything from, because you got to know their backgrounds and their situations pretty closely, I'd imagine. Sure. So I would say that the most interesting takeaway from working with lots and lots of these people is that just because somebody has figured out how to make money does not mean that they know how to manage their money. Interesting. I always kind of feel like,

how? Because some people struggle their whole lives to try to figure out how to make money, but they're very good at like budgeting and all that stuff. And then there's people on the other side of it. And I find that kind of so frustrating. Well, it's interesting, right? And that just goes to prove the fact that you're talking about the inverse situation, that there are two different tracks, right? There are two different skill sets. Learning to build wealth through whatever it is that you're doing in your career or your business or whatever it is, is a slightly different skill set than managing your money. And it's a reason that, for instance, I have a lot of friends that work in, let's say, corporate finance or investment banking.

And that is also a different skill than learning to manage your own money. Yes, you have an advantage in that you have some of the language, but at the end of the day, personal finance is personal finance. So what was it that drew you to kind of go the other way? I don't want to help these rich people get richer. I want to help specifically young women learn more about investing. Well, I think it's just my nature. I want to help those around me. And actually, when I first started my business and first came back around to doing this type of work, but with the people that I wanted to do this type of work with, in my mind, it was designed to benefit my friends. And so I was like, I will do this writing. So I started with my blog. I'll do this writing

almost as like my final gift to the world. Like here, I'm going to write down everything that I learned about investing and I'm going to hand it over to my friends. I'm going to hand it over to the friends that I don't know yet on the internet. And then I will be done with this and I will walk away and I will go and do something else. But it's just grown into something that's so much bigger than that just because this information is needed by just about everybody, not just my friends who I love dearly. And so that's when I started doing the live workshops and And I have an online course doing just like a whole lot of education on investing in other money topics. Do you find that there is kind of a lack of voices like yours that are kind of doing the

same thing? I mean, I know a few of them, but I think it's because we're in the same bubble and it's like we all know the same people. But for average people that are not in the personal finance bubble, they probably are like, no, I don't know who's talking about this. Right. Well, and if you ask just a random person on the street, who do you know that's doing what I do? They will have no idea. They won't know anybody. But it is easy to get caught up in our very small world because we know each other. And there's a lot of really wonderful people that are doing something similar to what I'm doing. And it's great because we all help each other and

we all lift each other up. And it's definitely like a rising tide situation. And with each passing year, more and more people join the fight because the more that we know about financial literacy, and I think the internet has really helped to open this up, like open up what a big dark spot this is for a lot of people, the more people that are joining in and saying, you know what, I do actually have the skill set and I can help here. And what I've found too is when I started learning about personal finance over, I guess, a decade ago, there were no women talking about investing. The women were like, the female personal finance experts or authors would just talk about like budgeting and debt.

And it was the men that talked about investing. And that's, I think, part of the reason why it took me a while to really feel confident about investing because I couldn't see anyone out there that looked like me or sounded like me or someone I could relate to. So yeah, like you said, that's why I think I'm so drawn to you because I'm like, I love that there's so many more women and have different voices and different ways of talking about investing instead of that kind of traditional old school way that didn't really do it for me. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And that's really why I got into this with a specific focus on women, because women, especially five years ago, were not being talked to at all. And even if they were being talked to, they were still not being talked to in a way that resonated with them. the material itself is not gendered. Everybody needs to know what a mutual fund is or what an exchange-traded fund or a stock or a bond is, but there's a way that you can speak to women.

And I hate to generalize, but there's a way to speak to women that just resonates with them more, speaking in their language. Another thing that I like to do is eliminate all shame from the conversation. I think that women, whether they realize it or not, internalize a lot of shame, especially around money. Like if you're a woman and you have too much money, shame. If you're a woman and you don't have enough money, shame. If you are a woman and you like to spend your money on this, shame. There's really a lot of femme shaming specifically around the way that women spend money. And I think that it causes them to hole up, right? They say, you know what? I don't really need somebody telling me that I can't spend my money on X, Y, Z. I'm going to use this as an example. not every woman loves to spend money on beauty products, but you get a lot of like beauty product shaming out there in the world of personal finance. And

it's like, we're never going to get anywhere if shame is involved in the equation, especially with women. And so there's just a lot of things that I've learned about how to speak to women, what works, what doesn't, and create a community around them so that they feel comfortable asking questions. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. No one's really put it that way, but yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I think definitely where I came from and a lot of people that I also talk to, shame is definitely a big thing. But I feel like a lot of people may not even articulate it like that or know that it's the word shame. It's like, that's what it is. That's why I feel so bad or guilty or whatever. I used to feel guilty about money and I couldn't really understand why. And I think it's something that's just ingrained in us or it's part of our

culture or society that we need to stop. We need to get rid of. We shouldn't feel bad about earning money, spending money, saving money, investing money, whatever. I mean, I used to feel a lot of shame just by my lack of financial literacy in certain things, which I think maybe a man would take that as an initiative. Oh, I'm going to learn about that so I learn more. For me, I just felt like an idiot. And I'm like, well, I don't want anyone to know how little I know. So I'm just not going to talk about it or ask questions about that. Of course. And I would say that is the most common reaction that I get, especially somebody that, let's say, shows up to one of my workshops. They will say like, oh my goodness, I am so embarrassed that I didn't learn about this sooner, which once again is a completely useless emotion. Because at the end of the day, the only thing that we're trying to accomplish is give you the tools to build wealth. And feeling ashamed

that you didn't start sooner is not going to help us accomplish that goal of building wealth. And so I just say, you know what? Eradicate that feeling, push it to the side. You're here now. And how wonderful and lovely is it that this came across your desk now and not 20 years from now? Absolutely. So I know you do live workshops. Like you said, you also have an online course, but it also has like a live component. Why did you want to, I just see like a lot of people doing kind of like the evergreen, you know, pre-recorded courses and stuff like that. Why did you want to make sure you did like the live aspect? Why was that really important to you? Oh my gosh, what an interesting question. So this is kind of like a business thing, which

yeah, from a business angle, I always get the advice like you need to convert it into videos. And to be honest, at some point in the near future, I probably will because more to protect my own time than anything and to protect my energy because teaching my online virtual course live, it really drains me. In fact, I had it last night and I'm on the East Coast. And so I'm teaching until 10 or 11 at night. And I'm so wired that I can't fall asleep until like three. And so it's definitely, it takes a lot of work, but I think that it is the best way for my students to learn. I used to ask this question out of all of my graduates, I call them. And I would say like, if you would have the choice to buy a video course, would you have? And almost

all of them say yes. And then I asked them, but now that you took the course live, do you feel like the live teaching was more conducive to learning? And they all say yes. There is something about having to show up and be present and be live and knowing that you may not get a second chance to hear me explain this information that makes people really be present and really be ready to take in the information. And also just the very fact that you have to bring your questions to class means that you got to be ready and you got to be on your toes. And so in summary, I think it's the best way for my students to learn. But at some point, I may have to offer video because I also know that teaching it live

precludes some people from being able to take my class. For example, I have an entire backlog of nurses that I have been promising videos forever because they simply can't make my eight o'clock EST in the evening class. And so it's probably coming down the pipeline. And I'm a little bit worried that once I convert it to videos, yes, maybe it's better for me as a business owner, but that people will not learn quite as much. Because let's be honest, you buy a video course, like what do you do? You tune it out. You watch 10 minutes of it and you're already scrolling through Instagram, right? And that's just like the nature of our attention spans these days. Like even when I'm watching my own videos, which I should be critically interested in, I'm like dozing off a

little bit and they're good. That's the thing. They're good. I know. Yeah. And I was just curious because, yeah, just, I, there's so many people creating, you know, longer form content through courses, which I think is great because kind of like you and I both know, you can write blog posts, but sometimes to get your point across or to explain everything, it's like, really, you want to write a book, not a blog post. You need kind of more runway a little bit. But business-wise, it's difficult doing the live stuff. But I agree. I think the live stuff is actually sometimes more impactful. You might get more out of your students and they might get more out of it. But yeah, I was just curious because I love that you're one of the few people I know that has a course that is actually a live component. Not a lot of people have that. Yeah, it's really great. And we've talked about this

before, but there's just something about, especially with like the live workshops, like me alive in person teaching these workshops, that, you know, there's something about getting a bunch of people together in a room where they cannot escape me for an hour, for a whole hour. And it's rude to look at your phone where, again, it's just so much more conducive to learning. And so, yeah, I encourage anybody that's listening, you know, integrate yourself into communities or find these types of educational opportunities because they're happening more and more. And I think that especially in the age of everything being online and specifically everything being in an app and everything being like needing to be like scroll worthy, that the live component and the community component and the real live teacher component

is going to be more important than ever. I think so. I think so. Definitely. Which is why I think lots of people should just take your course whenever you're going to a little self promo. I want to kind of ask you, I've been meaning to ask you this question because I talked to a lot of people that we know in common that have said, just sign your praises. But your blog, your blog's name is called Dumpster Dog Blog. Can we have an explanation? I need to know the backstory. How did that come about? Sure. So my blog is called Dumpster Dog Blog. Just so everybody knows, my business is called Invested Development. So I've got kind of two things going on. And pretty much everybody's always like, you need to switch everything under

the umbrella of invested development. And I'm just like, okay, maybe someday. I'm not quite ready. Yeah, not ready to let it go. I'm not quite ready to let it go because the people that are on board with Dumpster Dog are definitely on board with Dumpster Dog. But so that is essentially a nickname that I got while I was working at the investment management firm. And so, yeah, so I was working at the investment management firm doing what I have to imagine a lot of people in their 20s do when they're making real money for the first time ever. And that is just blowing it left and right. I am like a reformed money blower through and through. It's still somewhat hard for me because spending money is so fun and saving money is not quite as fun. But I had a moment with work and it's almost a blessing that I hated the workplace enough

that all of a sudden one day I was like, I have to get out of here. I'm really killing myself. My drinking is getting out of control. It was definitely one of these scenarios where I'm working hard. I don't really love the work I'm doing. And so I'm self-soothing after work. And that's by spending money, that's by drinking or whatever it is. And so anyways, I just was like one day, I think it was literally a January 1st, where I was like, you know what?

I'm going to quit this job in six months. And so between now and that point, I'm going to save every single dollar that I earn from this place so I can leave and have a little bit of leeway before I decide what I want to do next because I just didn't know what I wanted to do next. I didn't quit knowing I was going to end up doing what I'm doing now by any means. In fact, I really thought I was going to leave finance altogether. And so anyway, I just started being so incredibly scrappy with my money. And so it got even down, like no social spending. Well, I mean, I would get beers with friends, but not the type of social spending that I was doing before. No shopping, no nothing. I just put a cork in it. And I also decided,

you know what? I'm going to try to get as much free food as possible. And so I worked at a finance firm. I worked in a department with all men, essentially. There was so much food waste happening. And actually one of my good girlfriends at work, she was like, Mandy, you just need to get in there. And I think she said, you just got to get in there and eat some trash, which I wasn't eating. I wasn't eating trash, but I would definitely be like, hey, don't throw away the rest of that half eaten chicken salad wrap. Pass it over this way. And so some of my dear, dear... And these were people that I was very good friends with. And so some of my dear friends would pass along their food scraps and they also started calling me dumpster dog. And so I was being super scrappy

with my money. And long story short, it ended up working. I saved up a bunch of money because I was really dedicated to the cause and left and went and traveled for a year with the money that I saved. And also a really wonderful privilege that I was able to make happen. But being super tight with my money during that time period is also what allowed it to happen. And so that's when I procured the name Dumpster Dog. And so I decided, you know what, why don't we just name my blog Dumpster Dog Blog, kind of designed after this mantra of being super scrappy, being super truthful about what these types of goals take. And it's kind of just grown from there. I love that. I love that. And also it's kind of like for all the people, they're like,

oh, I would never do that. It's like you were able to quit your job and travel for a year. So really, you wouldn't do that? That sounds like, why wouldn't you? Yeah. Everybody's got a different journey. And sometimes I look back and I'm like, wow, I never would have guessed that hating my job as much as I did would actually be a good thing because it pushed me to do something that was so drastic that it changed my life in, I mean, we're talking like 180 degree difference, right? And so I almost feel lucky because so many people that are stuck in jobs that they don't hate, but they don't love either, may not ever be inspired to do such a thing. And I've been able to take what I learned from that period and apply it to my entire

life moving forward. Now I know firsthand the reality that short-term sacrifices, like those sacrifices that I made, can produce something really beautiful in the long term. Yeah. And I feel like sometimes we need a reminder of that, especially if we do find ourselves in a job that we hate, but we're making so much money and so we stay for the money. And there is a way out. It's not easy. You do have to make sacrifices. And I think a lot

of people may have a hard time making those sacrifices, but yeah, similar to you, I've, you know, had similar situations. And I think what's important is to remember they're short term sacrifices. Like you don't always have to live like a, you know, extreme cheapskate quote unquote or whatever. It can just be for a short amount of time until you reach that goal. So what happened after you left your job? Cause I know you're from Portland. So, and then, but now you live in New York. Yeah. So I traveled in South America for a year and then moved back to Portland. And in Portland is when I started the business, I started the blog and I ended up moving back to Portland just because I was basically starting a career in a business over from zero.

And I'm from Portland and Portland is just such an easy place to be. It's very affordable. My rent was very affordable. I've got family, which like I will be 100% honest about my privilege. I have family there that was really helpful for me in starting over from zero. And so it was just an easy place to start over. And that said, I was not planning on moving back to Portland to put roots down. I kind of always had my eye on something more exciting, I guess I would say. And New York,

LA, those were kind of the top choices. And last year I just said, you know what? I feel like I have enough stability with my business as it stands right now. I'm going to move to New York and give this thing a shot. Oh, that's such a nice... Oh, I love that. I wish I had the balls to move to New York. New York still sort of scares me. It is definitely a trip. I mean, how would you compare Toronto to New York? Is Toronto, Canada's New York? Yes, it is. And then if you, because now you're from New York, if you were to visit Toronto, you're like, oh, okay. Like we could fit several New Yorks or you can fit several Torontos in New York. You're like, this is cute. This is cute. You can fit five of these in my city.

But, and to me, like moving to Toronto, because I'm originally from Vancouver, which is similar to Portland, which is why I love Portland. Yeah, it was like a big adjustment. It was like moving to the big city, but New York is another level. Yeah, good. So props to you for up and moving

and just like crushing it and just hustling. I mean, that's not an easy thing to do at all. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. And it's definitely a trip. This city is so funny. You absolutely have to confront your relationship with humanity on a daily basis, but it matches up well with the way that I operate. I really like it. I like all of the stimulus and I'm really happy to be here. And one thing I do want to talk is I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, I love your Instagram, but you also have, I think that you call it hashtag trashian because you always look really good. Like you always have the most amazing glittery outfits that I'm like, oh man,

I wish I could have that outfit or whatever. But you again are very savvy and do this thing where you just are very good at finding secondhand outfits. How do you do this? Give us the tea. Sure. So hashtag Trashin, which is obviously a mix between fashion and trash, is what I call it. And I like to flaunt my best Trashin fits on Instagram. I think that maybe in another life I was a costume designer. You know, maybe that's not too far out of reach at some point. I would probably have to learn how to sew if I wanted to do that. Although I guess I have made it this far with a hot glue gun. Yeah, no, what I do is one of the things that I just genuinely like to do is vintage shop and secondhand shop for accessories and clothes and just about everything.

And for me, it's just something that I like to do in my spare time. I know that secondhand shopping is not necessarily for everybody. But when I do score something really, really good, I like to flaunt it to the world on Instagram and show off my new, very affordable duds. Yeah. And also it's really good for the environment. So that's another bonus. It is. And so it's good for the environment. It's good for my pocketbook. And it's also, it can be fun, again, it's something that you, that you actually genuinely like to do. And so every now and then I'll post a picture of an outfit or an accessory or whatever it is that I got it at, at Goodwill. I also call it Goodwill hunting. Yeah. And so it's, it's really good fun.

Amazing. Well, thanks so much for being on the show. I hope so many people will be inspired by your story. Like you've done a lot, I feel like, like a lot. That's been a journey. And it's so inspiring to see that you've been able to do all this amazing stuff. And also you're just very focused on helping others, especially young women, do kind of the same and reach their goals and not be afraid to do something as scary as investing. Because hopefully we won't... My dream is that in 20

years, we won't be talking about this as much because there will be more women being like, oh yeah, I invest. What's the big deal? That's the dream. That is the dream. And if I could leave all of the women listening to this with just one little tidbit, it would be that investing is absolutely within everybody's capacity. It is made way more complicated than it needs to be with all of the terminology, but with the right teacher breaking it down for you, it is absolutely something that each and every one of you is able to comprehend. That's the thing about investing, is there actually is a finite amount

of information that you need to know. I think that so often, because we're trained to believe that there is an endless amount of information that you need to know, or that you have to spend every single second of your day following the quote unquote markets, because that's what the media tells us we need to be doing when in reality that couldn't be farther from the truth. And there actually is a like open and shut amount of information that everybody needs to know. And once they know that they can be successful for the rest of time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Well said. Well, thanks so much. And where can people find more information about you, find you on Instagram and more information about your course.

Sure. So the best way to follow what I'm doing is on Instagram. So that's at dumpster.doggy. And then if not there, come find me on the Dumpster Dog blog. Either way, as soon as I have new course dates, I will post them there. You will definitely hear about it from me. And so that's the best thing that you can do if you want to take the course. I don't have any spring course dates set because I'm waiting on some other career news, but they'll go up soon. I promise. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks so much again. It was a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks so much for having me, Jessica. And that was episode 227 with Amanda Holden. Make sure to check out her website. It has information about the course that we talked about in this episode as well. She has a blog,

of course, with so many great posts in there. Go to dumpsterdogblog.com. Also, make sure to check her out on the gram. You can find her at dumpster.doggy. She's great. And of course, check out the show notes for this episode, jessicamorehouse.com slash 227. Of course, you can find the show notes for any episode of the show by just going to jessicamorehouse.com slash whatever the number of the episode is. You're going to want to do that because I include links to three different giveaways that I am doing currently. So check her out. And I have some important things that I, of course, want to share. So do not go away. I just have a few words I want to share about this podcast episode sponsor.

This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by EQ Bank. Do you send money abroad often? I know it can be expensive, which is why EQ Bank is partnered with TransferWise to make sending money overseas even cheaper. This integration allows EQ Bank has partnered with TransferWise to make sending money overseas even cheaper. This integration allows EQ Bank customers to send money right from their EQ Bank Savings Plus account at the real exchange rate, paying only a small, transparent TransferWise charge. To give you some perspective, guess how much you would be charged to send $500 Canadian to the U.S. using one of the Big Five banks? Between $14 and $36. Guess how much it would cost you with EQ Bank? Only $6.95. Not only that, you can earn 2.45% on the money sitting in your account before

you send it out. What's not to love about that? To learn more and to play around with their international money transfer calculator, visit eqbank.ca. Once again, that's eqbank.ca once again that's eqbank.ca interest is calculated daily on the total closing balance and paid monthly rates are per annum and subject to change without notice okay first and foremost i want to share about the giveaways that are happening right now so first i'm of course giving away books that are featured on this season of the podcast i have a lot of other books that i will be revealing that I'm going to give away. Basically, I will reveal as the guest is on my show. So far, there are two books that you can enter to win copies of. Go to jessicamorales.com slash contest to find out what those books are and to enter to win. I am also giving away a scholarship to Cara Perez's debt management course. You can find

information about that in the show notes, jessicamorales.com slash 227. And last but not least, I am giving away a, uh, scholarship to my own course, my investing foundations for Canadians course, which is worth $399 guys. So if you also want to enter to win a scholarship to my investing course, go to, uh, well, the show notes, JessicaMorales.com slash 227. Yeah, that's it. Okay, so that's one, that's two, that's three contests. Oh, yeah. What was the other exciting thing I was going to share? Well, today actually is the kind of last day of the course that I have been running live, my six-week picture finances masterclass. I launched it mid-January with an amazing group of students. And today is the last day.

So we're wrapping up the masterclass today. And I will definitely be doing it again. So if you want to sign up to find out when that will be, go to jessicamorales.com slash fixyourfinances. Get on that list so you can be notified or just you can just sign up to my general. I mean, you'll be put on my general email list, but if you're not interested in this course, but you want to be on my email list, go to Jessica Morales dot com slash subscribe. And last but not least, if you don't already know it, I'm going to let you know right now.

I've got a free Facebook group that you can join. It is called the Money Life Balance Facebook group. If you go to Facebook dot com slash groups slash Money Life Balance, you can get in there, ask your questions, learn, just be part of this amazing online community that I've created a few years ago, over 2000 people in it. And it's just a really great, safe, positive, no judgment zone where you can learn more about finance, ask people questions and learn about what's going on in the financial world right now. So hope to see you in there. Okay, that is it for me. I will, of course, be back Friday with another Money Minute episode. And then I'll be back next Wednesday with another fabulous interview. So thanks so much for listening. I will see you in

a few days on Friday. Okay, have a good rest of your day. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Have a good rest of your day.