The Personal Finance Show

Episode 1 of The Unofficial History of Personal Finance.  In this new series, Beau goes back 12,000 years to the beginning of human civilization to attempt to answer the question:  "How did we get here?"

 

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Bob Lai (https://www.tawcan.com/) joins Beau at a conference in Washington, D.C. to share his personal finance story.

(Recorded in-person on September 6th, 2019 before the pandemic. Published on April 11th, 2021.)

 

In this solo episode, Beau attempts to answer the question: How does someone get into debt?

 

Week 18 of the COVID-19 series features Acquania Escarne.

Acquania is the creator of The Purpose of Money which is a podcast and an online community for women building generational wealth for their families one dollar at a time.  

In this episode we discussed Acquania's COVID-19 experience so far and how as a US diplomat responsible for Asia, she has been working on COVID-19 related matters since January 2020.  

Acquania will be back to tell her full personal finance story on a future episode(especially how she started saving at 16 and lived in many places around the world), but in the meantime, if you want to hear more about her background, please check out her podcast:

https://thepurposeofmoney.com/podcast/

https://thepurposeofmoney.podbean.com/e/how-i-saved-80k-for-retirement-in-2019/

 

Week 17 of my COVID-19 series is a solo episode where I talk about my experience being a parent during a pandemic.

I don't pretend to know what it's like to be a single parent, have more than one child, or have older children, but I go through what it's been like for me since Henry was born almost 18 months ago.

Links to the podcast episodes about parenting that I mentioned:

Debt Free in 30 Episode 307 with Julie Wildman: https://youtu.be/pj2K5v5jMpo

Because Money Podcast S6 Ep5 - Welcome to Parenthood: https://becausemoney.ca/s6-ep5-parenthood/

Not directly connected to parenting, but something I mentioned in the episode, here's Alan Whitton aka Big Cajun Man on the Maple Money Podcast talking about the Disability Tax Credit and the Registered Disability Savings Plan:   https://maplemoney.com/podcast/disability-tax-credit-rdsp/

Week 16 of the COVID-19 series features my friends Brynn Byrne and Aaron Yeger, co-hosts of the new podcast "That Was a Show?".

We talk about Brynn and Aaron's COVID-19 experience and how the pandemic has affected their personal finances, but mostly I wanted them on to talk about their awesome new podcast.  I can't explain it better than them so here's the summary direct from their podcast page:

The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80s and 90s. Many sitcoms have stood the test of time and have millions of adoring fans—but those shows were diamonds in the rough. This podcast is not about those diamonds, it's about the rough. Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time, some were cancelled almost immediately. You probably won't recognize most of these, and you'll say 'that was a show?'

As I said in the episode, it's important that podcasts promote other podcast, especially those of a different genre.  I listen to a lot of personal finance shows but I also listen to shows like This American Life, Invisibilia, "How Did That Get Made?", and other non-financial podcasts.  These podcasts are doing fine on their own but there are some podcasts that are excellent but people just don't know about them yet.  If you are a child of the 80s and 90s and enjoy talking about television, you will love this show like I do.

 

PODCAST

Click below to listen to the first 4 episodes and subscribe today so you get the new episodes that are planned to drop every 2 weeks: 

Anchor:   https://anchor.fm/thatwasashow

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cmwWJWVBHOYLYSgpe1zqR?si=nXFtZok4ReKQVANhuvnmJA

 

CONTEST

Until July 31st, you could win a "That Was a Show?" t-shirt, featuring the amazing show cover art by Brian Walker.  Head to Instagram to find the details on how to enter:   https://www.instagram.com/thatwasashow/

 

MERCHANDISE:  https://www.redbubble.com/people/thatwasashow/shop

Week 15 of the COVID-19 series features my friend Rubina Ahmed-Haq.

Every Sunday for the last 15 weeks, right before I record The Personal Finance Show, Rubina and I record an episode of the Dear Rubi podcast.  Dear Rubi is a column podcast where we take questions from listeners and discuss the personal finance issues of the day that concern most Canadians.  So if you like the conversation that Rubina and I had today on the show, search for Dear Rubi wherever you listen to podcasts and click the subscribe button.  

For Rubina's full personal finance story, check out episode 68 from back in February 2019:   https://www.thepersonalfinanceshow.com/e/rubina-ahmed-haq/

Dear Rubi Website:  https://dearrubi.com/

Rubina's website: https://rubinaahmedhaq.com/

Week 14 of the COVID-19 series features Danielle Desir.

Danielle is the founder of WOC (Women of Colour) Podcasters, travel and personal finance blogger, podcaster, and author of 2 books (with a 3rd on the way).

In this episode we discussed Danielle's COVID-19 experience so far, starting with her trip to China in December 2019 just before the pandemic; her level of anxiety about leaving the house (which I understand well), let alone travelling anywhere during this time; and, why it's more important now than ever to have a space for women of colour podcasters.

Danielle will be back to tell her full personal finance story on a future episode, but in the meantime, if you want to hear more about her background, please check out this episode of the Money Nerds podcast (hosted by my pal Whitney Hansen):

https://www.themoneynerds.com/danielledesir/

 

Danielle's Blog:  https://thoughtcard.com/

Danielle's Podcast:  https://podcast.thoughtcard.com/

WOC Podcasters:  https://wocpodcasters.co/

Danielle's Book about Iceland:  https://thoughtcard.com/iceland-travel-guide/

Danielle's Book about affording travel:  https://thoughtcard.com/affording-travel-book/

Week 13 of the COVID-19 series features Jackie Porter

Jackie is a Canadian CFP, author of "Single by Choice or Chance", financial confidant, and recent winner of the Mackenzie Investments award for "Female Trailblazer of the Year".

In this episode we discussed:

-Jackie's book and the importance of financial empowerment.

-COVID-19 stories from Jackie's financial planning clients and how "we're all in this together but differently".

-The importance of being able to pivot and constantly having "beginner's mind" and learning experiences in business and in life.

-Jackie's personal experience with racism in her industry and personal life and how she has been impacted by the anti-racist protests going on in the world right now.

Jackie will be back to tell her full personal finance story on a future episode, but in the meantime, if you want to hear more about her background, please check out this episode of the Mind Your Business podcast:  

https://www.themybpodcast.com/podcast/episode/79b3a9a3/153-jackie-porter-author-and-financial-confidant

 

Week 12 of the COVID-19 series features Kassandra Dasent.

Kassandra currently lives in Florida, was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada (Montreal).

In this episode we discuss Kassandra's experience with COVID-19 so far, and how it has affected her ability to see her mother in Montreal, and her step-child in Trinidad.  We also discuss the current anti-racist protests around the world, Kassandra's experience with explicit and implicit racism in her own life, and what we can all do to help change the way Black people are viewed in the US, Canada and everywhere.

Kassandra will be back to tell her personal finance story on a future episode, but in the meantime, if you want to hear her story, please check out these podcast episodes:

https://www.journeytolaunch.com/episode114/

https://paychecksandbalances.com/kassandra-dasent/

For more about the Black Tax, check out this interview on Journey To Launch with Shawn Rochester:

https://www.journeytolaunch.com/episode158/

Week 11 of the COVID-19 series features Kara Perez from Austin, Texas.

Kara's business Bravely Go was all about live in-person events, until the pandemic hit and she had to figure out how to pivot her business.  Kara decided to create an online event called the Financial Feminist Summit, which was at the end of May 2020 and attracted 3,300 registrants.  In the episode, Kara and Beau talk about the Summit, feminism, racism, intersectionality, and what the future holds for the events industry.

I resume the global tour in Week 10 of the COVID-19 series which features my friend Eric Wong in Singapore.  We discuss his personal experience with the pandemic so far, how Singapore is handling the situation generally, and how Eric's industry, hospitality, has been devastated by this global crisis, and what the future might look like.

Week 9 of the COVID-19 series is a break from the global tour.  Matthew Siwiec joins me from his home in Toronto to review the "alphabet soup" of Canadian emergency benefits there are out there.  From EI to CERB to CESB to CEWS to OCECRA, among others, we try to make some sense of them.  Since these benefits change all the time is a good idea to talk about them as much as possible. 

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Matthew's COVID-19 page – look for updates later this week

TPL Event – May 27^th 5 to 6pm EST  - this coming Wednesday, open to the public

Benefits Finder for individuals – Didn’t get to this in the episode, but it is a great resource

Summary of benefits 

CERB Questions and Answers

Week 8 of the COVID-19 series features my cousin Jay who lives in Berlin, Germany.

Every week during the pandemic Beau will find someone in a different part of the world with a different personal pandemic experience to share their perspective and tell their story for others to hear. 

In this episode Jay shares his COVID-19 experience so far in Germany, where he currently lives with my cousin Liz and their son Hudson.  Jay works for a company called HERE Technologies and Liz is an experienced travel writer, having most recently researched and written for 20 Fodor's guidebooks over the last 8 years.

For Jay, Liz and Hudson, travel is their way of life.  Though they are ok financially during this pandemic and acknowledge their privilege in this regard, this doesn't diminish the fact that they may have to rethink how they live and earn in the "new normal" that emerges after the COVID-19 dust has settled.  

(As we discussed in the episode, Hudson has his own Instagram account called Hudson in Hotels and can be found here:  https://www.instagram.com/hudsoninhotels/)

Week 7 of the COVID-19 series features James Mwombela from North Carolina.  

Every week during the pandemic Beau will find someone in a different part of the world with a different personal pandemic experience to share their perspective and tell their story for others to hear. 

In this episode James shares his COVID-19 experience so far in North Carolina, which is currently on lockdown but that is changing this week as they enter Phase 1 of "reopening".  James was already working from home so his work situation has not changed much.  In fact, an interesting effect of this global pandemic is that people who may have been less focused on their finances are realizing this is the time to really figure things out.  As a Certified Financial Planner in the US, James is well equipped to help people with their finances during normal times, and the pandemic has provided him the opportunity to reach more people and help them make plans to survive and thrive in the future.

Week 6 of the COVID-19 series features César Tánchez from Guatemala.  

Every week during the pandemic Beau will find someone in a different part of the world with a different personal pandemic experience to share their perspective and tell their story for others to hear. 

In this episode César shares his COVID-19 experience so far in Guatemala, which has less than 700 cases of the coronavirus and only 17 deaths as of today.  For comparison, the global numbers as of today are almost 3.5 million cases with nearly 250,000 deaths.   César also explains how there is no employment insurance in Guatemala and how the pandemic is changing the way the people of his country view saving for the future and personal finance in general.

Search for César's podcast, "Trascendencia Financiera con César Tánchez", wherever you get your podcasts.

Week 5 of the COVID-19 series features Tom Drake from Alberta.  

Every week during the pandemic Beau will find someone in a different part of the world with a different personal pandemic experience to share their perspective and tell their story for others to hear. 

In this episode Tom shares his COVID-19 experience so far, which includes getting officially tested and having to isolate under quarantine law.  Tom and Beau also discuss investing during an economic recession like this and what to be careful of at a time when no one can predict how the economy will be affected and for how long.

Week 4 of the COVID-19 series features Jordon Cox of the UK.  Beau and Jordon discuss:

-Jordon's trip to Disneyworld that was cut short and for which he's still trying to get some money back

-His recent health issues and how that affects his susceptibility to the virus

-How the UK is handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the rules in place to protect the British people

-How 1/3 of the National Health Service (NHS) workers have been compromised by COVID-19 and the system is overwhelmed.

-How the pandemic has affected Jordon's ability to make money and what financial relief exists in the UK

-That a podcast host should never ask this question during a lockdown: "Where is your boyfriend now?"

-How the British people are excellent at queuing(standing in lines) which is very evident during a pandemic.

In the third weekly episode of the COVID-19 series, Beau calls Australia to speak to Michelle from frugalityandfreedom.com to discuss:

• How COVID-19 has affected her life so far

• How Australia and New Zealand are handling the pandemic

• How Michelle's personal finances have been impacted

• Financial independence and frugality

• The live event industry and how it has been decimated

• The importance of staying positive and taking care of your mental health during times like this

• Building other forms of capital other than financial capital to help you adapt to changes in the world or your circumstances

 

Links to things Michelle mentioned in the episode:

Rich & Resilient Living blog - Looking Beyond Financial Capital on the Path to Financial Independence

http://www.richandresilientliving.com/looking-beyond-financial-capital-on-the-path-to-financial-independence/

Nomad Numbers - Nomad life during COVID-19: exiting Bali and home quarantining in Taiwan

https://www.nomadnumbers.com/nomad-life-during-covid-19-exiting-bali-and-home-quarantining-in-taiwan/

Website & social links:

 

In the second weekly episode of the COVID-19 series, Beau talks about:

• Emergency-fund shaming and how we're in survival mode now and there is no point in telling someone they should have had an emergency fund

• Hopefully going through a pandemic without an emergency fund will give you the perspective to start saving once you have surplus income again

• What if you are in a position where you have no surplus income so you can't build savings?

• The dangers of relying on credit as your emergency fund

• This new world of video and how we need to be patient with those who aren't familiar with new technology, and how to protect yourself from hacking with online passwords for video meetings.

• How everyone's situation is different and we can't give blanket financial advice at a time like this, or ever, really.

Beau returns from his podcasting sabbatical to provide a personal update and talk about the COVID-19 global pandemic in Canada as of March 29, 2020.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc.

Debt Free in 30 podcast on Apple Podcasts or YouTube

Canada Emergency Response Benefit Infographic by Matthew Siwiec

Podcasts for US Listeners:  Money With Friends, Stacking Benjamins

This is the 100th episode of The Personal Finance Show!

My special guests today are Tanja Hester and Kara Perez, the hosts of my favourite podcast, The Fairer Cents, and James Mwombela, who is a CFP and Associate Planner at Grid 202 Partners.

Episode 100 isn’t about someone’s personal finance story. It’s about an important personal finance topic.

Today’s topic is financial privilege.

 

My goal with this episode was to encourage you to think about privilege and how it affects your life and your finances.

Most people understand obvious financial privilege.  

If you come from a wealthy family, you have an easier time than someone who doesn’t come from money.  

Having to work as a teenager to pay bills is very different than choosing to work as a teenager to buy the things your parents won’t buy you.  

Graduating with student loans puts you in a very different financial starting position from someone who’s parents saved up and paid for their schooling.  

Working to save for retirement is very different from working to pay your bills and make the minimum payments on your credit cards.

But as we discussed in the episode, there are also less obvious layers of privilege, like your gender, the colour of your skin, or whether you are an immigrant, which may affect your ability to make money.  

Like Darryl Brown from episode 93 of the show who didn’t think that anyone would want him to be their financial advisor because he’s black.  

Or Nico Barawid from episode 67 who’s parents were both doctors, but were discriminated against financially because they had immigrated from the Phillipines.  

There is still a lot of work to be done to increase Indigenous people's access to culturally relevant financial education resources, as Bettina Schneider and I discussed in episode 95. 

Women are 80% more likely to live in poverty in retirement than men, as Saijal Patel mentioned in episode 77.  This is not surprising if you consider that women only gained the right to open a bank account in the 1960s. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act was only enacted in 1974, which made it unlawful for a creditor to discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, marital status, or age.  

Think about that for a second -  45 years ago, it was so normal to financially discriminate against anyone who wasn’t a white male, that they actually had to make a law to tell financial institutions to stop being racist and sexist. On the other hand, white men have been able to open bank accounts and get credit since banks were invented hundreds of years ago.  And it’s not like everyone stopped being racist and sexist on the day the law came out. As we discussed in the episode, this discrimination still exists, though it’s not as explicit as it once was.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think this is a problem.  There isn’t anyone I know who would explicitly say that they don’t believe everyone should have equal opportunity to make money and build wealth.

So let’s do something about it.

Let’s talk about it on podcasts like this.  

If you have the opportunity to use your privilege for good, to help someone who might have less advantages than you, do that.

Remember that privilege is just perception.  There’s no logical reason why gender or race or all of the other differences we mentioned should impact your ability to make money.  It’s all in our heads and to stop it we need to change our thinking and our actions.

So that’s my 100th episode.  I’ll be back soon with new episodes so if you haven’t subscribed to the podcast, please do that now, so you know when the new episodes are up.  If you liked this episode, check out the other 99 episodes and please leave me a review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any questions or just want to say hello, you can always email me at beau@beauhumphreys.com.

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Beth MacMillan wants you to prioritize travel.

In 2011, Beth and her husband, Mark, decided to use their saved up money and take a 6 month honeymoon around the world.

You don’t have to save $20,000 and buy round-the-world tickets like Beth did, but if you’re interested in travel at all, you can pick up a lot of tips by listening to Beth’s story.

To be able to travel, you need 2 things, time and money.

Maybe you have the time, but not the money, so you feel like you can’t afford to go anywhere.

Maybe you have the money, but not the time, so you can just fly somewhere for a weekend or a week and it doesn’t seem worth the effort.

There will always be barriers to travel, and if you have disposable income, there are a million things you can spend your money on instead of travelling.

However, if you have the desire to travel, there are ways to make it a priority in your life.

Every time you have extra money, you make a choice to use that money for something that is important to you. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money, as Beth and I discuss in the episode.

For Beth, travel was always top of the list. Maybe you’re the same. Maybe you don’t even realize it yet because you haven’t been anywhere.

Personally I believe every dollar spent on travelling is totally worth it. The “return on investment” of travel isn’t dollars but it’s a higher quality of life.

But that’s just me. And Beth, of course.

P.S. If you want to ask Beth any questions about travel or concussions, you can email her here.

NEXT EPISODE

100 - Financial Privilege with Tanja Hester, Kara Perez, and James Mwombela

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Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

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Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

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To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

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Sarah Li Cain wants you to be open to opportunities and to make independence a priority.

Sarah was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Canada, has lived in Australia, South Korea and China, and is currently in the US.

Sarah worked mainly as a teacher, but the key to her survival and success was to be open to opportunities along the way.

Knowing that she couldn’t be a teacher in the US if she moved there from China with her husband and new son, Sarah looked into ways to make money online.

Sarah ended up finding freelance writing as something she could do from anywhere in the world and focused on personal finance writing.

Today, Sarah makes over $100,000 a year working part-time from home, creating content for financial brands and online publications. It’s not easy to create in-demand content and get paid for it, but her desires to be independent and to be free to spend her time the way she wants, keep her on track.

Sarah is also the host of the Beyond the Dollar podcast, where she has deep and honest conversations about how money affects our well-being.

Sarah joined me from Jacksonville, Florida to share her personal finance story.

NEXT EPISODE

99 - Beth MacMillan

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Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

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Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

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To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

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Bridget Casey wants us all to get rich together.

The good news is that Bridget already did most of the work for you. All you have to do is follow her instructions.

You don’t have to spend years studying the stock market and get an MBA in finance. She already did that so you don’t have to.

Bridget took all of her personal finance skills and education and spent countless hours crafting online courses for you.

Her stand-out course is called the Six-Figure Stock Portfolio. She created this course because there’s nothing like it online right now and as you heard in the intro clip, her students are doing very well.

Bridget started her website Money After Graduation in 2012 and today she has over 3,000 visitors per day.

Bridget also makes personal finance videos on YouTube where she has over 6,500 subscribers and over 500,000 views of her videos.

Bridget joined me from Edmonton, Alberta to share her personal finance story.

NEXT EPISODE

98 - Sarah Li Cain

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Click here to book a FREE 15-minute personal finance consultation with Beau Humphreys, Personal Finance Coach

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Click here to become a patron of The Personal Finance Show via Patreon

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To register for my next available personal finance webinar click here.

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