Leona joins me for the first Listener Series episode for 2017. She shares her unconventional story of leaving home at 17, starting her career in the trades, owning her own condo at 20, and eventually starting her own construction company and real estate empire. Now, she's happily raising her family and considers herself semi-retired, with the flexibility of working for herself.
Long description:
Episodes like this make me so happy I started this Listener Series on the podcast. Leona was a listener of the show and heard my call out for guests. She sent me the best email with her story that included her moving out on her own at 17, going trade school to start her career, buying her first condo on her own at 20, then eventually starting a construction business and property investment side-hustle with her husband.
She is a great example that you don't need to go to university to set yourself up for success. What it ultimately comes down to is being smart with your money, working hard and never giving up.
Now, Leona considers herself semi-retired and is focused on adding more properties to her portfolio while raising her family and adding more balance to her life.
I think that's one of my favourite parts of our chat together. When she talked about getting up early to have that personal development time, making working out a priority, and doing her daily gratitudes...basically it was everything I needed to hear to get me to do it too. It's easier said than done, and it can be hard when life gets busy, but scheduling those things into your day like Leona does is so important.
Thanks so much Leona for sharing your story and being such an inspirational guest!
Book Leona Mentioned
Interested in Getting Started with Robo-Advisors?
Leona mentioned she recently moved away from high-free mutual funds and is exploring different investment strategies like index fund and ETF investing. She also mentioned getting into the new trend of using robo-advisors, so I wanted to share two that I personally recommend if you're looking to do the same.
Helpful Resources I Mentioned to Help You Get Your Money & Life on Track
Got a story that you think would be good to share on an episode on of Listener series? Please email me!
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Show notes: jessicamoorhouse.com/86
Former gambler turned personal finance coach Beau Humphreys shares his story from drowning debt to financial free.
Long description:
It was a random weeknight when I went to the Wealthsimple headquarters in downtown Toronto for their 3rd anniversary party. I was told there would be a donut wall, and I was not disappointed.
Aside from the free donuts and drinks, I got to meet Beau Humphreys. I thought I knew all the Toronto personal finance bloggers, so it was a treat to meet Beau and hear his story at the party. Immediately I knew he had to be on my show.
This episode is very different from any of my episodes, because it deals with a topic that I think most people wouldn't be as brave to openly discuss. Luckily Beau was happy to share his story of getting addicted to gambling at the young age of 11.
There's a slogan by the BC Lottery (where I'm from) that's always stuck in my head: "Know your limit. Play within it." Good advice for sure, but let's get real here. Most people who frequent casinos or the race track on a regular basis know their limit, but are incapable of playing within it. Gambling is as serious an addition as alcoholism or drug addiction. And I think it's incredibly important for anyone dealing with something like this to recognize this and find the help they need.
That's exactly what Beau did. He got professional help and it changed his life. He found out that his addiction stemmed from him having undiagnosed ADD. With that knowledge, he was able to turn his life around.
And now look at him! He's travelling to Kenya for vacation and teaching others how they can get over whatever obstacle to achieve financial freedom.
It's a happy coincidence I'm releasing this episode on Bell Let's Talk Day, which is all about talking openly about mental health. And for that reason I'm going to include some helpful links anyone is looking for someone to talk to.
Helpful Resources
Quotes to Live By
Money problems usually having nothing to do with money. They're about something else in your life that you need to work on [...] Somebody giving you a bunch of money or you making more money isn't going to fix those things.
Money can't buy you happiness, money can't fix your problems.
You're problems probably have nothing to do with the fact that you have debt. You have debt because you have problems.
Episodes You'll Want to Listen to After This
Check Out Some of Beau's Best Blog Posts
Follow Beau Humphreys
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Show notes: jessicamoorhouse.com/85
Helena Liu wanted to learn from Canada's top investing experts — so she started her own online conference to get 20+ of the best together to share their knowledge with her & other Canadians.
Long description:
I met Helena this past summer because she was looking to add speakers to her roster for her first online investing summit — the Canadian Investors Conference. I suggested a few of my favourite Canadian experts, and now several months later the conference is just a few weeks away and registration (which is free by the way) is open to the public.
It's no easy task to start your own conference from scratch, but Helena knew that this was something she had to do. There's a huge lack of education when it comes to investing, especially for beginners, so Helena wanted to create a free summit to help close that gap.
Right now, there are 24 speakers and the online conference runs from Feb. 4 - 9, 2017.
You can register for free at canadianinvestorsconference.com.
More About Helena
Helena started learning and experimenting with investing after graduating university. She started with mutual funds but then start day trading. In the end, she realized that index investing was the right strategy for her, but she was surprised that there wasn't that much information about it online and that most people didn't know all of their options.
That's why she started the Canadian Investors Conference. She wanted to create a free, online event accessible to everyone to educate Canadians about all the ins and outs of investing and building their wealth.
Investing Books You May Want to Check Out
Don't Forget to Register (It's Free!)
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/84
Dan Bortolotti, better known as the Canadian Couch Potato, chats with me about all the ins and outs of index fund and ETF investing.
Long description:
For this episode, I interview a man many people know just as the Canadian Couch Potato. Dan Bortolotti started his Canadian Couch Potato blog in 2010, and it has since become one of the go-to online resources for learning about DIY investing.
I can't tell you how many people I know who swear by his model portfolios! And if that wasn't cool enough, Dan recently started his own podcast specifically to teach people about index fund and ETF investing.
Besides being a very popular blogger, Dan is also a financial planner. I was lucky enough to sit down with Dan face-to-face for this interview, and man did he not disappoint. He really does know his stuff and got me fired up to really look at my investments and change things up (which I did and will write about very soon!).
Dan also shares a number of great investing resources that I'm gonna include here, and I hope you all take advantage of the $50 bonus you can get when you sign up with Weathsimple, one of the major robo-advisors in Canada that makes ETF investing...simple.
Helpful Resources
Check Out the Canadian Couch Potato Podcast
Follow Dan Bortolotti
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Show notes: jessicamoorhouse.com/83
Before the holidays, I made the life-changing decision to leave my job and become self-employed. In this episode I share why I chose to quit my job and what I've got planned for the next year.
Long description:
This week, I'm no longer an employee — I'm an entrepreneur. It's crazy for me to even write that because I honestly never thought this would be my reality.
Growing up, I never had aspirations to own my own business. I thought I'd follow the path my parents laid out and would work for a company until I retired.
But...life is hard to predict isn't it.
Even though this wasn't a premeditated decision, it was something I was thinking about doing on and off for the past while. I honestly thought I'd work my 9 to 5 for another year, then maybe take the plunge, but the timing was just right.
You know when everything in your gut and in life is telling you to do something? That's basically what happened in a nutshell and I had to just do it. It's a big risk going on my own, but I really excited for this new adventure.
I will absolutely be documenting this new journey and sharing more solo episodes along the way, but if you haven't already, make sure to check out my blog post that announced my new venture.
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/82
Renting is not throwing your money away, and home ownership isn't something everyone has to aspire to. Alex Avery, author of The Wealthy Renter and seasoned financial analyst, shares his insight into why there is a misconception about the benefits of owning a home and why renting might actually make you richer.
Long description:
To kick off season 4 of the Mo' Money Podcast, I chat with a very special guest about one of my favourite topics — homeownership. Alex Avery, the author of The Wealthy Renter, and I chat about the upside of renting and how homeownership isn't for everyone and doesn't have to be.
I've been an advocate for renting for a while, having been a renter myself for close to 6 years. It was the only way my husband and I could afford to live and work in downtown Vancouver and Toronto. If we tried to avoid renting and bought something right away, we'd either be forced to move an hour away or would be chained to a huge mortgage for 20+ years.
Instead, we chose to rent and save up our money so one day we could afford to buy without becoming house poor (which we did this past August).
These are some of the points Alex touches on in his book too. The idea that renting is the equivalent to throwing your money away is outdated and unfounded. Renting can actually mean more flexibility in your life and more space to save more money so you are richer in the end.
For more podcast episodes, check out the podcast page.
Show notes: jessicamoorhouse.com/81