More Money Podcast - 273 How to Be an All-Star in Your Financial Life - Courtney Stephen, Financial Educator & Professional Football Player for the CFL

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

It’s not every day you get a celebrity sports star on your podcast…who also doubles as a financial educator who is passionate about helping more Canadians become empowered through personal finance! For this episode of the show, I have professional football player (he plays defensive back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL) and financial literacy advocate Courtney Stephen as my special guest to discuss his career and his mission to help others better manage their money and understand the importance of generational wealth. Although you may not think that sports and finance go hand in hand, they actually really do! As we discuss in this episode, they can both seem intimidating, but at their core, they are quite simple. For sports, it's about understanding the rules, practicing, and then implementing what you've learned. The same goes for money. It's really just simple math, understanding some best practices and rules for money management, then actually putting into action what you've learned.  Still, it can seem easier said than done, which is where that mindset component comes in. You need to trust yourself and not let your imposter syndrome get in the way. And that means showing up for yourself, your future, and your family every single day.  I hope you enjoy this inspirational episode just as much as I enjoyed interviewing Courtney! And don't forget to check out his website and amazing YouTube channel! For full episode show notes, visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/273 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. This is episode 273, and I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. So excited to have this episode ready for you. I've got a bit of a celebrity on the show. If you're a big football fan, you will already know this guest, but I'm having him on the show, but he's also in the personal finance sphere, and he's doing some amazing, amazing things in terms of financial literacy. So I've got Courtney Stephen on the show. You may already be familiar with him because he's a professional Canadian football defensive

back for the Hamilton Tiger Cats for the CFL, and he's doing some amazing things off the field, a little sports. Yeah, that's all I got. I'm not even going to try to do any sports analogies because let's be honest, I don't know what I'm talking about. The only thing I know is off the field. Anyways, he's doing some amazing things in terms of educating Canadians and everyone really about personal finance, generational wealth, how to be smarter with your money, which and surprisingly, like how I found out that, uh, Courtney isn't just, uh, you know, an amazing, uh, football player, but also

is, you know, trying to do what he can to get the word out about personal finances. I found him on Twitter actually. I don't know how I found him on Twitter now that I think of it, but I found him. And then I immediately like, Oh my God, I need to have to, you want my show? Maybe it was YouTube. I don't know. It was, it was online somewhere. So you can find more information about Courtney at CourtneySteven.com. His last name is Steven, uh, like the PH, not the V. So, uh, let me just spell it out for you. C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y-S-T-E-P-H-E-N.com. Okay. Um, so he's got a blog. He's got an amazing YouTube channel. He's got so many great resources on his website. He breaks it down the personal finance jargon into a way that is exciting, interesting, and most importantly, understandable. Cause let's be honest,

sometimes it's, it's not super understandable. So anyways, I've got him on the show. So excited to have him on and, uh, yeah, we're going to have a great old time. You're going to love it. So before I get to that interview with Courtney, here's just a few words I want to share about this podcast episode sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by Aviv. So I don't know about you, but I have definitely gained some pandemic pounds. Luckily, this is a podcast, so you can't tell, but I can. I honestly use the stressfulness of the past year as an excuse to work out less and indulge in my favorite not-so-healthy foods. But it's a new year, and I am recommitting to a

healthier lifestyle. And you and I both know the best way to lose weight and get fit is to eat better and move more. And one way to introduce more superfoods, plant-based proteins, and whole fruits and veggies into my diet that I'm trying out is Aviv's blender-free smoothies. First introduced to our TV screens on an episode of Dragon's Den in 2019, Aviv was founded in Sherbrooke, Quebec by Dominique Dubé and Claudia Poulet. As busy university students, they were looking for a way to eat better that wouldn't require time-consuming prep or cooking. So they crafted their first generation of Aviv smoothies in their parents' garage, and they clearly caught on because their smoothies can now be found online and in over 2,000 grocery stores across Canada and the U.S. To try it out for yourself and to get a bit of a discount, visit jessicamorehouse.com slash aviv. That's E-V-I-V-E. And use code jessicamorehouse10 to

get $10 off your first order. Once again, visit jessicamorehouse.com slash aviv and use code jessicamorehouse10 to get $10 off your first order. Welcome, Courtney, to the More Money Podcast. So excited to have you on the show. Honestly, I'm happy to be here. Appreciate you bringing me on. Yeah, well, I mean, I discovered you when you recently followed me on Twitter. I'm like, oh, this guy has a really cool story. I should definitely have him on the show.

So excited. And also another voice in the Canadian personal finance space. So very excited to chat. I want to start off with your interesting story because you came, you kind of came from one space, like, you know, a professional athlete career, but now you're really kind of focused on, you know, financial literacy and really pushing that. I want to know how the hell... I mean, I'm also someone who has a very bizarre background. I didn't start in finance. I started in fine arts, like film production. So I kind of get it. But I'm like, wow, pro athlete to financial planning.

Okay. So tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you... Well, first, tell me how does one become a pro football player? Oh, yeah. So where should I begin? Well, first of all, thanks for allowing me to even come tell my story. It's one of those reasons why I got into personal finance. And I guess it's one of the reasons why I got into my first business venture, or I'd say my first really successful business venture, which was like a youth mentorship program, which was really teaching the up and coming kids, how to replicate the process that I took to go from where they're at, whether they're in grade six, seven, eight, or in high school and how to get into college. And then if they wanted to,

how to go pro. So yeah, it's an important story to me. And it really starts basically back when I was young, when I was about eight years old, I started playing football. And around that time, kids play sports and it's just to have fun. But I actually was, I had like a natural gift for certain things that had to do with the game. Like I was able to catch the ball, run, find this space where nobody was at. So all along the way, people were, you know, pushing me to go further and further. And it wasn't until I was really in high school when I decided that I wanted to commit to, you know, the goal of really pursuing football at the highest level, whether that be, you know, in college or pro. And so at that point, I started to really treat my life as if I was already a pro, right?

Well, before I was a pro, I lived like a pro. So I was monitoring what I was eating. I was, you know, counting the macros, seeing how much protein, carbs and fats I was supposed to get to hit the weight goals I wanted. I was, you know, researching what was the best ways to train your body? What was the schools that were going to allow me to have the best opportunity to play? You know, how do I market myself as an athlete? And so I was very deeply involved in, you know, going from a prospect to a college player, because that's where a lot of people fall off. There's thousands upon thousands upon thousands

of high school athletes and there's, you know, many less in college and even less in the pros. So I guess it's important to tell that story about how I just took it so seriously and I became a pro before I ever signed a contract just by the way I conducted myself because that's a theme that carries over into how I went from college to pros and how I pretty much do everything. I treat the work as if I'm already at the place I want to be and you give it the detail it deserves to get the results that you want. And that's kind of the main lesson I've taken from football and my football journey. And I apply that to everything else, whether it be, you know, relationships, you know, I try to treat my wife like she was my wife before we were married.

You know what I mean? I try to treat my business like it's a million dollar business before we ever really have our first customer. I try to just act in the essence of where I want to be. And that's been a strategy that's gotten me pretty far so far. Wow, that's a good strategy. I feel like I've heard things like that before, like, you know, act or address or act like you have the job already and things like that. And I think that's actually so important. Hard to do, though. It is hard to do. You've got to have some sort of self-confidence, you know, and I think the imposter syndrome is something that a lot of people experience. How were you able to actually implement that strategy?

You know what? Like, I'll be real with you. Imposter syndrome is something that to this day is going to be there because you're continually striving to get on bigger and bigger stages, right? Like, if you're the type of person who really excels in any one field, you're probably not going to be the same kind of person who's complacent once you get to the next level. So the imposter syndrome is just one of those things that comes with, all right, I'm in a new territory that I've never been before. So how can I act with confidence when I'm not sure? But when you do reps, like, you know, and this goes back to football, right?

Catching the ball is something that, you know, a three-year-old kid could catch a ball, but all of a sudden you turn on bright stadium lights, put 20,000 people in the crowd, and then you have somebody with other color jersey chasing you. And all of a sudden now, when you catch that ball, the stakes are so much higher, but at the end of the day, you're still just catching a ball, right? So when you can break things down to their core elements, whether that be budgeting, right, it's just pluses and minuses, multiplication, division. You know what I'm saying? Whether that be, you know, starting a business, you got to design a product, market the product, find customers and then complete the sale. So it's like if you can break things down to their core components, it's going to help you get over that imposter syndrome because, you know, you're not trying to claim that, you know, everything. You're just trying to understand and be aware that like you're worthy of being where you're at and you did the work to get

there. So now just keep learning and keep moving forward. Don't ever think that you're not where you're supposed to be. The things that have happened to you in your life, good and bad, brought you to this moment and you're qualified for this moment. That's not even finance. That's not even professional. That's just life. Life brings you to moments that you're prepared for and you're prepared to deal with them with all of the experiences that brought you there. I think I want to edit that and then I want to play that every morning as my morning affirmation. Good morning. Get out of bed. You are worthy. You're here for a reason. That is so amazing um so tell me so so you were able to successfully

go from high school to to college and and then you became a professional football player and you did that for a number of years um which is really difficult to do um and and so how long were you in that career for and are you still sorry i know nothing about sports so please i'm so sorry are you still playing football it know nothing about sports. So please, I'm so sorry. It's so refreshing, though, because like, I Yeah, well, I'm still under contract right now. Gotcha. Okay. So I was, I was I signed my first contract 2013. I was drafted 2012 wrestling college. So from 2013 till now, that's eight seasons, nine years, because COVID took one from me. But it's honestly, it's one of those things where you kind of got to continue to show up every single day. You just got to continue to show up every single day. And that's how you get in the game,

but then that's how you stay in the game, because you got to think about it for them. It's a business, right? So if I'm not producing, then what are they going to do? They're going to find somebody who costs less and produces more. So it's on you to find out how can I continue to increase my value? One, how can I stay healthy? Because it takes a little bit of luck. Like you could be the strongest, most flexible person, but you get caught between two moving objects and it's going to get dangerous. You know, so it takes a certain combination of people believing in you, you continuing to work hard, being in the right place at the right time, being on teams that are good, because when teams are bad, they tend to break them up. You know what I mean? So it's a lot of factors. And to be honest,

people ask me all the time, like I just have, I have two young kids and people ask me all the time, like, if your son wanted to play football, would you let him? Oh, of course I'd let him. I definitely let him. It's his life to live and only he has to go to sleep with whatever regrets he has, but like play golf. You know what I'm saying? Like football has so many outside factors. You got referees, you got coaches, you got all these different outside factors that are going to either accelerate or slow you down on these different outside factors that are going to either accelerate or slow you down on your path. If you know how to swing a nine iron, no one can argue with that. No one can, no one can debate the fact that when you tee off, it's,

you know, 275 yards to the hole, you got three shots to get it in. And if you do, that's called par. You know what I'm saying? Like there's certain things in life where there's a lot of outside factors that come into play and there's other races that you can run where a lot more is under your control. And just depending on what you want in life, you got to get in the right race for you. That's why some people invest passively. And that's why some people are more active in the investing. It's not like one works and one doesn't. They all work.

It's just they don't all work for everybody yeah yeah and also yeah like going back to this person like man i don't think anyone's really gotten injured playing golf but football is dangerous like there's some you know they're paid to take your head off yeah right yeah so i i guess it makes sense why you know as you you know continue to excel in your football career you've also started kind of your own business and really focusing on this kind of other career, which is fine. Is the financial planning side of things, your exit strategy, or is it just something kind of in addition to football? You know, what kind of, you know, I guess inspired you to make this kind of addition to your to your career in financial planning and financial literacy? Well, you know, to be fair, like just the whole financial education platform that I'm building, it evolved out of a necessity because, you know, just to share a personal story. You know, at the beginning of the 2020 right around Easter Friday, my father took sick, right? And he didn't have the coronavirus, but he did take sick and he was admitted to the hospital. And it was something that was, you know, real life threatening. And I only tell this story just to put an exclamation

point on the reason why I started doing the financial education. My father is such a humongous influence to this day on everything that I've been able to accomplish myself. Like my dad, he's still with us. So you gotta give people flowers while they can still smell them. You know what I mean? But it's like, he's such a huge influence on where I've been able to make it to because of not only how he showed me how to work and how to dream and have goals, but also like how to manage money. So between him and my mother, like they used to give me an allowance and it was one of those things where you earned your money and then you could choose to spend it or save it.

And then they're going to actually, if you wanted to buy a big ticket item, we would set out a plan on how you're going to buy that item. And we'll work backwards to see how long it's going to take. And then if you save up half of that, they're going to let you use OPM, other people's money to buy that item. So it's like they were teaching me without making it super nerdy and like boring with spreadsheets. They were teaching me how money works from a very young age. And that's one of the things that stuck with me to this day. That's always been in the back of my mind. How can I make my money work for me? So when the pandemic hit, just to circle back, I'm thinking back to all these lessons that

I'm learning from my dad, right? Because my dad is sitting there, his life's flashing before his eyes, my life's flashing before my eyes. And I'm looking at my kids. I want to be able to teach my kids all this same stuff. So I started writing everything that I knew about finance and about the psychology of wealth and the psychology of money. And I started writing and just wanted to put it in a time capsule, all the lessons that I felt were most important about money so that one day my kids would be able to read those and just learn from them. And then the feedback was positive because it was a time when, you know, some of my friends who were not playing, like the football season was canceled. So a lot, some of my friends are, you know, tight with money. You know, some people are getting laid off their jobs. Some people are

in between careers in a transition where they're not playing football anymore, but they don't have career experience to do something else. So the financial lessons were at the perfect time for me to put them out and for them to be received. So that just prompted me to keep pumping them out and then start doing videos and then start making Instagram posts and then start being active on Twitter and then continue to push it forward and get these certifications and really become an expert in that field. So it started very, you know, very much just to teach my kids. And now it's evolved into me wanting to help everybody who will listen. I'm curious, since you're kind of relatively new to like the personal finance content

creator space, kind of entering this space, what is your kind of view on it? Do you still feel like, wow, there's still not a lot of information out there. So like regular people, it's not easy to learn this stuff. Or like, I'm just curious what your kind of sentiments are. No, I think it's the same reason why there's a new celebrity on TV every year, or there's a new, you know, there's a new app that will come out that people will just jump to. It's just certain things communicate to people in a certain way. So there's a demographic out there who's been watching other people get rich for a very long time, you know, and especially how you and I connected over the fact that, you know,

this is Canadian personal finance. There's so much, there's volumes of information about Roth IRAs and 401ks and SEP IRAs and all, like, I feel like I could go down to the States and damn near be good because of how much I've listened to and read. But we're like, we're operating in a void, like, because between like the handful of like quality podcasts that I listen to that are Canadian based is really hard to, you know, I've read maybe like five books that are Canadian focused on personal finance and they're great, but it's like, I have 30 from the US, right? So I feel like we're in a space where there's a lot of, it's like blue ocean, right? And it's all compounds on top of each other. I don't see it at all as like a competitive thing, right? Like the people who listen to your podcast would only be benefited by listening to

another podcast also, and just taking all that information and building on top of it. So I think the more the merrier, and we got to do our best, or at least that's my goal, to normalize these conversations, right? Because there's still so many people who they don't know the difference between a tax free savings account and a savings account, you know, and it's like, and that's like killing them, actually, they don't know it, but it's slowly killing them and their future. I know one of the things that I always kind of sit back and kind of like contemplate or worry about is, you know, I've been talking about money for close to a decade now, but I realized the people that listen to my show or find me are already looking for that information. And they're, you know, they want to get inside that niche of personal finance.

And it's like, there's so many people that may never, you know, come across all this. So it sounds like kind of what you want to do is be there and create the content for people that may not, you know, go on Reddit looking for personal finance answers and try to find, you know, basically, the information that all Canadians should have and I guess present it in a different way. Absolutely. And just make it, you know, super easy, right? If you're a spreadsheet person, you're going to be looking in spreadsheet type places, right? But if, if you're a sneaker head or you love buying, you know, designer belts, then what's the chances of you finding on a way to, you know, use credit card points to get gift cards, to go buy whatever, like, you know, you're not, you're not thinking

frugal, you're thinking fashion. So how can I infiltrate your world to actually help you stop destroying the years of time that you could actually buy back with that same money that you're spending on some material? Not to say that there's anything wrong with material. Like I've had my fair share of Gucci glasses, but it's like you lose. If you if you leave designer glasses in the back of a taxi in a city that you don't live in and you don't never get them back, then you start to look at that $700 a little bit different, you know? Right. So that's why I'll never, I'll never buy designer glasses. I bought one pair of designer glasses. I've never lost it. I still have it, but I'm like, why did I spend so much money on glasses? Cause no one cares. You know, it's one of those things. It's like you do it and then you're like, okay, now I have,

I can't go out in the rain. Okay. I can't, I can't let them be, I can't get them to get sat on. I can't let anybody else try them on. I can't let like, you know, it's just like, they're just glasses at the end of the day. If you can't spend that much plastic, if you can't spend that much money on them, then you shouldn't be spending that much money on them, but not to condemn anybody's lifestyle, but more so just to say, um, you know, there know, there's low hanging fruit that we can all pull on and just upgrade our lifestyle for the long run, you know? And I know that's it before I hit the record button. I'm like, what are some of the key things that you want to kind of get across messaging that you want people to know? And

you mentioned long term thinking instead of, you know, in the moment thinking, which I think, I think some people still have a hard time really grasping that because we are in a society where it's all about instant gratification, thinking about today, today, today. And I think a lot of people don't want to think about the future because sometimes the future is scary or it means confronting some hard truths like your financial situation. Why do you think this is so important? And we really need to change the mindset of so many Canadians that we need to start thinking about the long term. Yeah, because to me, it's not everybody's in a situation where they're going to have good

influences around them, right? And so if you're in a situation where everybody is living check to check, for example, which is the case for so many people, and especially now, since, you know, a lot of people's job situations have been uprooted. If you weren't already a white collar worker who could work from home, you know, remote and do all those kinds of things, like you might have been laid off or got your hours reduced because the restaurant you're at or the school you clean up or whatever it is, like the work just isn't there for everybody as it used to be. So you got to be around influences that are going to teach you how to do more with what you have. Because everybody's got the same 24 hours in a day.

We can learn in those hours. So when you're in a desperation mode, right? In a desperation mode, you're thinking about how can I live right now? How can I live right now? And that's the only thing that matters. Somebody could tell you, look, next week, no, I don't care. I need to eat today. Okay. I need to eat today. When you're in desperation mode, you can't see but 12 inches in front of your face, right? So you got to teach people how can they shift from being in a mode of desperation to being in a place where they can have something to look forward to, right? So instead of trying to just live now, you're trying to have something to look forward to, right? Live now, look forward to. So that's a first step. And if you can help people do that,

then once they figure out how to live now, then they can take a look around and see, okay, I actually do have some things I can work with. Now that I have some goals, I know where I'm at, I have something to look forward to. Once they're moving down that path and they see how their lifestyle is changing, then they want to share that message and they want to pass that on. And that's the legacy, right? So you're either at stage one where you're like, I'm just trying to live right now. Then once you're able to elevate out stage one and get something to look forward to, that's stage two. And then finally, as you start moving down that path and you get closer to your goals, it hits you in a different way and you want to pass it on.

And that's the legacy, the three L's of kind of finance, right? You got to get people out of that desperation mode, though. And so the people who are in desperation, there's nobody around them to pull them up. You got to kind of go find them and put yourself in those spots to be that light in that dark space, kind of, if so to speak. Yeah, I mean, luckily, I feel like, you know, now it's never been easier to kind of find, like communities of people who are kind of on the same journeys as you. And I mean, back when I started my first blog, I mean, you could find some blogs, you really had to do some digging. Now you can go on like Twitter or Instagram, and there's people kind of talk or forums, you can see people talking about that. So, you know, in one positive way, you know, if you feel alone in that desperation mode,

and trying to find some inspiration or some community, you can find that, but you do have to seek it out. But I guess what would you say to those people? Because I know a lot of people are hurting, you know, still because of the pandemic. And still, I think it's tricky, because a lot of people, and I was talking to someone the other day about this, I think it's tricky because a lot of people, and I was talking to someone the other day about this, people are either thriving right now, like they're saving a ton of money because they're working from home, they have less expenses, maybe they moved out of the city and have cheaper rent. And then there's the people that are just really struggling because maybe they lost their job or their hours are cut. And it's hard to see, when you're in that situation to see the people thriving,

what kind of, I don't know, message would you give to those people to, to kind of, like you were saying, look forward and not be stuck in that here and now desperation mode? Well, you know, the first thing you got to do is get your feet on solid ground. So what, what I recommend is always take inventory, right? Take inventory, start to use some of the free tools that are around us to be able to get a pinpoint accuracy on exactly where you stand financially. You got to know your personal balance sheet, right? You got to know what it is that you own, right? That's your assets. You got to know what it is that you owe other people. That's your liabilities. And then you got to know when you cancel that you owe other people. That's your liabilities. And then you

got to know when you cancel those two out, what's remaining and that's your equity, right? So generally when people are in a tight situation, they don't own a lot, but they owe a lot to other people. So I love to use the app called Mint, you know, mint.com. You can get it on your phone, whatever. It's one of the most popular ones out there. It's completely free. And you just hook it up to your bank, hook it up to your visa, hook it up to your investment accounts. And over time, if you tinker with it, because you're going to plug it in, it's not going to be perfect, but you go swipe your visa. It's going to show up in there. It's going to say, look, you went to Shoppers Drug Mart. You spent $9. Does that count as a grocery store or does

that count as convenience? And you just put under category. After about a month or so of using this, then it's going to start to sort your finances out for you so that you can see exactly where your money is going, right? So now you're going to be able to take a true inventory and see, do you have one of these two problems? Do you have an income problem where you're not making enough to make ends meet? Or do you have a spending problem where you're actually letting dollars slide through the cracks unbeknownst to you? See, once you have a system in place to monitor your money, little things like your 407 transponder, which is like the toll road automated payment thing. So I had a car that I sold a couple years ago, but I actually left the transponder in the glove box and I was still paying for that. You know what I mean? So the annual subscription came around and they called me and they, they said, Oh, do you want to upgrade, upgrade? I don't even know I

had this. Right. So, right. If, if I had that, um, earlier, if I had the mint earlier checking my, uh, finances that would have popped up as a recurring payment that I would have been able to call them and see. So this is one of the reasons why I started implementing the automation, because you have to know where you're at before you can get moving. And for the people who are struggling, I would say this is something free that you can do. It's just start tapping into the free resources to get a sense of, you know, where is my money going? And if you can see a little place where you can slim down, you know, maybe you're spending a lot of money on buying food and you can go to the grocery store, maybe one extra day per week, cook at home and save yourself 50 bucks, you know, or maybe you're, you know, spending a lot on gas. Maybe it's going to tell you a little bit about the type of car you got, you know, so, or transportation, parking, maybe parking is killing you and you have no idea, right? So,

once you see where the money is going, you see the gaps and you get to identify whether you have a spending problem or income problem, and then you're able to make decisions on whether you need to cut back or you need to go get a different job. Yeah. One of the biggest regrets I have is I've always had a budget for the longest time but it's only been in the past uh you know just over four years that i've been tracking my net worth and spending consistently and it's one of those things like i really wish i'd done this sooner because i always kind of had a an estimation of what my spending was like but you don't have if you don't have that raw data you actually actually don't know for real, like where is

that money going? So I have no idea where my money went for years and years and years. Right. Could have been so helpful. But that's the thing with most people though, is because we kind of just, ah, money's always there. And if not, I just swipe it on a credit card. I only got to pay at the minimum is like two, 3%, right? It's free money. But no, it's not free money because the thing that they don't teach you in school is that compound interest is a beautiful thing when you're investing and it's an absolute killer when you're spending, right? So you can spend

$1,000 on a credit card and the minimum payment on a credit card on average is around 2%, 3%, right? So 2%, 3% on $1 thousand dollars is going to be 20, 30 bucks, right? So, you know, you spend a thousand and you do the minimum payment, say $30, it's going to take you like four years to pay down that thousand. And you're going to end up paying like 1400 instead of paying 1000. So it's like people who are not savvy with their money are going to think that they're getting over on the man. You know, they're going to think that they're getting ahead, but really they're just making it harder to get ahead because they're not aware, acutely aware of where's their money going, how much is going to interest, how much is going to a pair of shoes that I bought three months ago

for Christmas that I'm still paying for or whatever it may be. Right. It's really that data is a big key and data is most of it's free. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like you can use Mint or there's lots of other apps, use a spreadsheet. It doesn't cost any money to find or just look at your statements. I think that's the other thing. No one looks at their statements. No one looks at the statements. It's very easy to do. No. The banks are getting better though. Like when you log in, it's getting a little better, but you got to log in, you know, they ask you for a password and a 1416 digit card number. And you're like, geez, forget it. And if you bank it lots of different bangs, it can feel really overwhelming.

So yeah, it's getting better. But yeah, it's still it is on you. And it is your kind of responsibility to do that on your own. I want to shift gears a tiny bit because again, before I hit the record button, you mentioned that how important it is to also talk about generational wealth. And I feel like that is becoming a bigger conversation in the personal finance community, which I think is so, so important. And I feel like that's kind of twofold. That means actually making sure you have wealth to give to the next generation. But I guess also the other piece too is that financial literacy component because I mean, you can give, you know, there's so much evidence of like lottery winners getting money and then blowing it all. So it's like, you need to have the money and then

also know how to use it wisely. Do you want to kind of share what your thoughts are on like, why is generational wealth such an important factor? Oh, it's huge, you know, and generational wealth is one of those things where you can see it around you, but it's not it's not screaming at you to say, like, this is old money. You know, this is old money and this is what old money does. But, you know, just just to be completely honest. Right. Like I'm black. I don't know if anybody in the audience is going to know because it's on a voice. This is voice only. But just to put you guys, I'm Black, right? So my father, he's an immigrant. My mom, we're like descendants of people who got to Canada from either escaping the slave trade in the South or immigrating to Canada from somewhere else to get a better life. So the dissonance between the Black experience or the immigrant experience and

the traditional everything's available for everybody thought process is something that I've kind of been able to see as I've been growing up. And the thing is that's common among a lot of people who come from wealth, not necessarily white people, because a lot of the people who I grew up with are immigrants from Europe, immigrants from South America, wherever. The thing is that people who come from wealth, they tend to own things, right? Whether they own houses or whether they own stocks or whether they own businesses, they tend to be the owners. They have equity, right? And that equity is valuable because one, if you grow up watching your father, your mother operate in a bakery or in a construction business or whatever it is,

you're going to one, you're going to learn a skilled trade. So now your hands are valuable and your brain is valuable because you're able to provide an asset that a computer can't really replicate. A computer is never going to bake you a cake or bring you fresh bagels in the morning. So a lot of people who own those types of businesses, that intellectual property, that's an asset that they can hand down to their kids. Secondly, the business, which is a functioning machine that basically prints money, as long as you continue to give it the correct inputs, that is something that is willable down to your kids too. You know what I'm saying? Then on top of that, the property that that business sits on is also an asset that can be willable down to the kids too. So they're not

starting at ground zero. They're starting somewhere above that. But on the flip side of that, when you look at a family like mine, for example, my dad grew up in rural Trinidad, right? So you want to talk about nothing like he came from a place where it's like the electricity is a hit or miss, you know what I'm saying? So we got serious first world problems over here when people, we think we're starting from nothing. Some people are starting from nothing, you know? So the sacrifices that they made, and this is a story of many immigrants, that they made to come to a place where, you place where you can start a business, no problem. The government's going to allow you to do that. And there's even many programs that will fund that.

But being savvy enough to be able to find those opportunities and build up that foundation and then teach your kids those lessons, the psychology of money, how to to operate a business and how to acquire equity, teaching your kids those principles, that's the real wealth because that's what's going to allow them to multiply, right? You give a kid $50,000 when he's 18 and you're pretty much just crippling them financially unless you teach them how to use that money. So I guess what I'm trying to say is for the generational wealth thing, it's like when you come up around wealth, it's normalized and they teach you how to make it, where to go get it and how to multiply it. And if you're not brought up around wealth, then you better pray that you got some savvy lessons or some savvy teachers to give you the lessons to how to start where you are and continue to build. Because if you don't teach the next generation, it's not even about the money. If you don't teach the next generation, the skills and the mindset, you can give them as much money

as you want, it will be gone, and they will be in a tough spot. So it's really about teaching people how to build wealth instead of just giving them wealth. Yeah. And like you said, there's a lot of conversations about privilege lately, which I think is really important too, because it really wasn't talked about in the past several years, which is ridiculous because there's so much personal finance advice floating around and you're like, ah, that just doesn't really hit for most people. You have to kind of talk about the privilege behind that. But like you said, even if most people weren't overtly talked to about money from their parents, they may have seen examples of it.

And then like the home ownership factor. I grew up, my parents bought a home. They got married really young in their early 20s. The first thing they did was buy a home because that's what their parents did. And so that was a lesson that they learned from their parents about ownership and how important it is to build wealth. And that's something that i you know learned and then you know we'll pass on to uh my kids but it's yes

it's just so incredibly important to really talk about um these important aspects of personal finance because i think a lot of uh the conversations in the past have have kind of just like gone you know ignored them a little bit yeah we kind of have to really put a spotlight on it. No, and it's a good opportunity to kind of talk about some of the common themes in like personal finance that are, I mean, there's a joke, right? That personal finance is personal. So the answer always depends, right? And it's absolutely true because to me, I read in like every second book or maybe two out of three books and they talk about, you know, the four percent withdrawal rule, which like has all these studies behind it and like completely valid, purely makes 100 percent sense.

Except what if you want to leave money behind? Exactly. Yeah. No, no one has addressed that because it comes from a point of view like, well, either you're not going to have kids or if you have kids, then you'll just teach them the principles of financial independence and they'll be able to replicate it. But I have a different goal kind of like I want to teach my kids the principles of personal finance and financial independence, but I also want to give them a leg up, right? So 4% withdrawal rule for me doesn't really do it unless we're talking about 4% withdrawal on a certain portion of my portfolio. And then there's another part of the estate. So I think personal finance information advice is amazing, right? It's amazing. It's changing people's lives every day,

but we got to make sure that it's, I don't want to say inclusive, but I want to say that people should be more inclusive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But like, there's different levels to it, right? Like, for example, say there's a person who wants to work till they're 65, but maybe they want to be able to take six months off. Like we should talk about that kind of person, that kind of financial independence. Right? That's a beautiful thing. Being able to take six months off. We should talk about that kind of financial independence. That's a beautiful thing, being able to take time off work. Yeah. I think part of the issue too is a lot of the stories that we see online or in the media, they are kind of the flashy, exciting stories, but they only tell like 5% of the real stories. And then that kind of gets into your head and then you're like, okay, so success with your money means you have to amass a couple million bucks and then retire by 35. That's what success means. Like, not necessarily. Like, I tell people all the time, like, I have no plans to retire early because I, for the first time in my life, absolutely love what

I'm doing. So I want to do this for as long as I can. And that is my success. And you know what, that's like the truest success because if, okay, so let's go back to the football analogy. Like say the average football career is like two and a half, three years. If you're going to play for those two and a half, three years, do you want to be thinking every day when you go into work, this could be over? No, you don't. But you give your effort as if it could. Right. So I say that to say in life, do you want to say like, okay, I'm going to retire at 35 and never work again. And so I'm just going to like, hate my life and go through it. Or do you want to like, enjoy the process while you're there?

And then if, you know, we're all going to go one time at one time, no one knows when, but like, yo, if you go and it's your time and big man upstairs comes down and says, hey, all right, you did your time. You want to be able to say that during that time that you lived. Right. And you didn't sacrifice everything for some one goal down the end. Like, yes, there's delayed gratification. Yes, there's hard work.

There's patience. But you have to also live life because this is the purpose of being here is to experience things, to go places, to have things that bring value to you, not just random stuff, not just Gucci glasses, not just 10 pair Gucci glasses. But yeah, you want to you want to be able to enjoy your your path to personal. I keep I keep saying your path to personal finance because that sounds like a good title title of a book. It certainly does. You can keep that for your book. But no, your path to financial independence, right? The path is actually what matters more than the destination, I think. I don't want to retire. I just don't want to work, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Financial independence. Yeah. Just being able to work or not work, It's up to you. It's funny that you mentioned that I, I think about that often, if I have, if I watch like a movie where they're, you know, kind of think of like, Oh, my gosh,

what if that happened to me, and I could die or whatever? Or, you know, there has been a few instances in my life where I've had like mere death experiences. And the thought that always comes to mind is, if I die today, would I be satisfied with the life that I led? And I always luckily I'm like, yeah, no, I'd be I mean, it would suck to go this early. I like to accomplish a lot more. But I'd be I think I'd be satisfied with what I did. So yeah, when it comes to personal finance, and, you know, trying to achieve all these different goals, and sometimes it means sacrifice and all these different things. It's really important to like you mentioned, enjoy the journey. It's not about just like sacrificing. So you're just having the worst time until this later date. You've got to have some sort of balance so you can be on the road to a better financial future, but also really enjoy the journey. Otherwise, what is the point? Because to be honest, like there's a lot of people who's really upset and either they're upset because they think they don't have enough or they think there's there's not enough time or, you know, things around them are so stressful.

And, you know, I've also had to look in the mirror myself and just say, you know, is stuff as bad as I feel like it is? Like I remember there was many times where I was on my knees praying to be in the situation I'm in right now. You know, and sometimes you, well, a strategy that I use to stay grounded, and I don't know if you've done this, but this is something that has really helped me when I get off track. I go back to this. I write down all my goals every year, right? But I also extrapolate out my goals until more or less, you know, maybe the next 50 years or so. So I've got goals all the way out until probably about 2065 or like something like that. When I started, as I get further out, the goals become more abstract and like fewer and far between, but like the goals for next year, I'll have like 15 solid points that I want to hit. But this is where the cool thing is.

I keep this all in one note on my phone and I have the, I have the goals that I've been setting since like about 2014. So I can actually look back and see that I set a goal for this year to do X and I actually accomplished it. So it's like one of my mentors, her name is Susan. She's like, amazing. She, she wants to sat me down and she's like, yo, people get so focused on looking at the finish line and how far it is for, from where you are to get to the finish line. They forget to look back and see how much of the race they already ran. Right. Yes. So keeping all of your goals together in one place over the years, you can look back and nothing more gratifying than a check mark on a to-do list. You got hella check marks

added up years over years over years. And now you're not going to hit every goal, right? But you just look back and you can see, oh, I said that I would do that. I did that. I said that I would read 20 books in 2017. I did that. I said that I would read 20 books in 2017. I did that. You know, I said that I would go to this place. I did that. I traveled. I had this experience.

I bought this thing. I went here. I did that. I saw this person. You know, I mended this relationship, whatever it was. And then when you're in that moment of like pity and woe is me, you just look back and say, shoot, man, I actually did a lot this year. I came from somewhere where I was dreaming to be here. So it's actually not that bad. I can afford to keep pushing and I can

make it through this. So that's a strategy I've been using for a couple years now. That's a great, great idea. I want to kind of go back because I feel like, yeah, like you said, we are so sometimes we're too forward focused and just focused on like the next goal, the next kind of thing that we want to accomplish. We immediately forget everything that we just accomplished. I'm very bad at that. And that's something that I always try to stay mindful of and try to work on. But I like that notebook idea. I mean, how smart is that? Just put it in a notebook or in your phone. I mean, that's not that hard. No, it's good. As long as I don't switch from iPhone to anything else, like I'll always have it. Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you so much, Courtney,

for taking the time to chat with me before I let you go. Do you want to tell everybody where people can find you? I know also on you have a free financial strategy workbook PDF that people can download. Do you want to kind of share a little bit more? Yeah. Everything I do is through my website, CourtneySteven.com. And that's Steven, S-T-E-P-H-E-N, two first names. So, I mean, you can find my Instagram there. You can find my YouTube there. And of course, the blog and the PDF will pop up and you can download it. It just talks all about the different pillars of finance that I love to teach. And really, I'm just trying to help people. I don't really have too much of a backend to offer anybody other than just information. You know what I mean? It's something I'm passionate about and I'm really just

trying to help as many people as I can. I got something, it's called $10 million mission. I'm just trying to help a hundred people reach a hundred thousand dollars net worth. And if we can do that, I feel like, you know, that's quite the legacy. So, um, no, I appreciate you bringing me on here and giving me a chance to talk about all this stuff. It's been really cool. It's been a pleasure having you. Thank you so much for, for sharing all of your wisdom. Oh, pleasure's mine. And that was episode 273 of the more money podcast with Courtney Steven. Make sure to check him out on his website, CourtneySteven.com. Of course, find him on YouTube, watch his videos, just subscribe. He's got some great gems of information. So definitely check him out. Of course,

I'm going to include links where you can easily find him in the show notes for this episode, JessicaMorehouse.com slash 273. And yeah, that's really the tea. That's really what's going on. I've got a ton of exciting things to share with you as always. So stick around. Just have a few words I want to share about this podcast episode sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by Aviv. Are you looking for a way to eat better without sacrificing a bunch of time to meal prep and cleaning your blender like me because I absolutely hate cleaning my blender, then you may want to try out Aviv's smoothies. These smoothies are superfood packed, certified

organic, vegan, and all tested and approved by nutritionists. Not only that, they take just 30 seconds to make and are budget conscious priced between $5 to $6 US per portion. Not only that, there are 14 flavors currently available, each boasting ingredients targeted for brain support, glowing skin, detoxification, and boosting energy, among other coveted benefits. If you're like me and are looking for a way to eat better this year, I'm not joking when I tell you I've gained a good 10 pounds since last March, which I'm currently working to shed, then try out Aviv smoothies, which are currently available in Canada and the USA. And to get a bit of a discount, visit jessicamorehouse.com slash Aviv and that's E-V-I-V-E and use code jessicamorehouse10 to get $10 off your first order. Once again, visit jessicamorehouse.com

slash Aviv and use code jessicamorehouse10 to get $10 off your first order. Okay, so I recorded that part saying, hey, I've got some exciting things to you. And then I had to take a break. I'm like, wait, what do I have going on? What do I have going on? That's exciting. I'm like, oh, I do have one thing, but I'm actually kind of scared to tell you. But you know what? I did this when I was studying for the Canadian Securities course. So I'm going to do it again. I'm going to do it again because it worked because I actually passed both exams of the Canadian Securities course. So I'm going to let you in on a little secret I haven't told anyone with the hope that I'm going to pass once again. So just looking on my calendar, when is it? Oh my gosh, it is coming

up. So I've signed up for another course, guys, because as you may know, which I feel like I have kind of alluded to, or maybe even explicitly said on the show, I am working towards getting my credentials and becoming a certified financial planner. I'm still not 100% sure what path I'm going to take. There's a couple of routes I can take. For instance, you can kind of do a bit of a detour and become a QAFP, a Qualified Associate Financial Planner. I'm not sure if I want to do that and then get the CFP. We're going to see. We're going to see what's going to happen. But in order to even become a QAFP, I have to do a ton of different courses. And one of them is one called Financial Planning 1 through the Canadian Securities

Institute. And my exam is booked for April 2nd. Yes, that is coming up. Am I prepared? I mean, a little bit. I'm like halfway through the course materials. But I feel like this is a little bit easier. And I don't want to sound cocky. And I don't also want to eat my words when I fail. But I feel like this particular course is a bit easier than the Canadian Securities course because it's about financial planning in general, like things that I've been talking about on the show for like freaking six years almost. So I have a good feeling. But also I'd like some positive vibes. And I'm telling you this because I like you so much. I appreciate you listening. And I want to kind of share something personal with

you that I haven't shared with anybody in the entire world. Not even my family. I haven't even told them. And I know they don't listen to my podcast, so they still won't know until they pass. Yeah, so that's some exciting things I'm sharing with you um otherwise just to remind you of a few important things I am of course continuing to do my big book giveaway if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash contests I'm giving away a ton of books that have been featured on the season of the show so check it out jessicamorehouse.com slash contest of course there's also a link in the show notes jessicamorehouse.com slash contest. Of course, there's also a link in the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com slash 273. Wow, how did we get to 273 already? Gosh. So yeah, that's where you can find that. Of course, too, I've got my investing course. It

is still open for enrollment. I mean, it always will be, but I'm going to remind you as much as I can in case you are interested and just don't listen to this part of the podcast. So if you go to jessicamorehouse.com on the front page, or even just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash shop, that is where you can find some info about the course and apply and see if it's a good fit for you. So many students have signed up so many students are already starting to invest and feeling good about it. And I've got some really great reviews and testimonials so far. So I'm very excited about it. So if if investing is something that you want to do, and also I don't think, did I tell you the name? It's called Wealth Building Blueprint for Canadians. This is specific

for Canadians, which I think is also an important thing because a lot of the information we get, you know, outside of this podcast, even in this podcast, let's be honest, I have a lot of guests not from Canada. We get, you know, I think a lot of our financial news or information is Americanized. And when it comes to investing, well, we can only invest in Canada because we're Canadians and we have RRSPs, not, you know, 401ks. And so this is for Canadians who want to learn how to be a passive investor using a robo-advisor or being a self-directed investor and knowing how to do it. So the core things you should know and terminology you should know, I've got it all in the course. So again, jessicamorehouse.com

slash shop is where you can find that. Lastly, I will remind you, I've got a YouTube channel putting out new videos. Just search my name, Jessica Morehouse in YouTube or go to jessicamorehouse.com slash YouTube. I also have a newsletter that I send out bi weekly. So you can stay in touch and find out what's going on. Because again, I don't share everything on the podcast. So like sometimes I'm doing webinars or like recently I did a Twitter chat. That was a super fun and gave away a bunch of prizes. So you know, if you go to Jessica morehouse.com slash subscribe, get on the list, stay in the loop. Okay, that is it for now. I think I've shared enough, don't you? So yeah, send me some good vibes so I pass that exam and one step closer to

that almighty designation. Those three little letters at the end of my name. I can't wait to have that. Can't wait to have that. And then shove that in the face of that terrible advisor I had once upon a time at a bank that will remain nameless, who gave me some really bad financial advice. Man, is it terrible that a lot of the motivation I get for achieving things is proving people wrong? I don't know. It works for me anyway. Anyways, thanks so much for listening. I will be back here next Wednesday with a fresh new episode. I will see you then. Have a good rest of your week. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.