The start of a new year is a great opportunity to reflect/reset/recharge – it is a perfect time to check in on your finances and to get a goal or multiple goals in place. In this episode, I share with you some of my top wealth-building strategies that are EASY to implement right now! Let’s make 2022 your most prosperous year yet! 

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I am a financial professional, who specializes in helping people to achieve their financial goals.  My absolute passion is creating new possibilities in people’s lives by showing them the ropes when it comes to money. I’m here to spark healthy and positive conversations around wealth and investment and create a world where nobody is limited by their financial situation. I believe this begins with education and shifting our relationships with money. I love getting to witness people achieving their most ambitious goals and creating new possibilities for themselves and their families! 

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Welcome to the wealth and wellness podcast with

me Kaylie Bob air, I specialize in helping people to achieve

their financial goals. I have a love for all things numbers, and

I'm passionate about financial literacy. My goal is to spark

healthy and positive conversations around wealth and

investment, and create a world where nobody is limited by their

financial situation. But wealth is just one piece of the

equation of living our best lives. So join me as we explore

both wealth and wellness topics. From your net worth to your self

worth, get ready to take confident action. Hello, this is

Kaylee. And thank you for listening to this episode of the

wealth and wellness podcast. So appreciative of having you share

your time to listen to this. And today's episode, hopefully

you're gonna find a lot of value in it. It's all about setting

you up for a strong financial 2022. So again, I think this is

really important, especially because we're starting a new

year. I like to think of the new year as a great point to

reflect, reset, recharge, and it really is a perfect time to

check in on your finances and get some goal or some goals in

place. And again, that reflection piece, I think it's

an opportune time to start a new year to take an honest look back

to reflect on the past year as well. And to really see, hey,

what worked, you know, what might I want to improve on going

forward. So using that reflection as an opportunity to

look back as something you're learning from. So not

necessarily, you're not using this as a form of criticizing or

shaming yourself, you're saying I'm looking back to gain

knowledge. So maybe it was that you blew through your holiday

budget, and you want to rein that in for 2022. Maybe you

spent more money on eating out than you realize, and you want

to scale back a little bit going into this year and be diligent

about you know, cooking your own meals at home and things like

that. Maybe you saved less than you would have hoped for. Or

maybe you weren't able to save any extra at all. And this is,

you know, again, a reminder for this year, hey, I wanted to save

money, I want to make sure that that is a priority for 2022.

Now, so again, you're just learning from this. And with

that knowledge, you can make any of the desired changes you would

like to so again, the knowledge that you gained from doing some

reflection is powerful, and it serves as you know, some course

correction to so we can, we can learn so much we can gain so

much from looking back as well. So it's all it's all good. It's

all learning experiences. And you know, we're not saying money

mistakes, we're just saying money lessons, you know,

experiences, and and there's value in that. So taking that

time to reflect. So in this episode, I want to share ideas

that will support you in starting off 2022 I would love

to see 2020 to be your most prosperous year yet. So let's

have that be the goal of today's episode. Okay, so the first idea

that I think would, that's gonna set you off with a strong start

for 2022. So first idea for this prosperous year, is to try

incorporating some no spend days into your weeks or your month.

So I honestly didn't know what a no spend day was up until a

couple years ago, which is probably a tad alarming, because

it tells you that maybe I have a tendency to find ways to spend

money. And so if you're the same as me or need some

clarification, so what are these no spend days? Well, they're

simply exactly as they're described, it means going a full

day without spending any money. So it was very easy to spend

money, all sorts of way to buy shop online. And again, which

makes it very easy to spend money it's not a hard task to

spend money.

Go anywhere with my daughter IV and it is very, very easy to

spend money. But have you ever challenged yourself to doing one

or more consecutive no spend days? If not, I would say the

start of this new year is a great time to take up the

challenge. So these no spend days it really helps to reset

your spending habits and it forces you to get intentional

with your money by having you stop and think asking yourself,

Do I really need this? Okay, so that's what no spend day can

really do for you. It's not just about You know, being cheap and

finding ways to not spend money, it's gonna force you to reflect

and think about, you know, where am I spending money, where is

all my money going to, and then maybe help you change some of

those habits that aren't serving, you are not in

alignment with where you want to see your money going. So if no

spending seem like a stretch for you, if you have never done them

in the past, try starting out with just one day a week, and

then maybe have a goal of increasing it by another extra

day, per month. And, again, this is really going to help shake up

some of your spending habits. So maybe you say this first month,

I'm going to have five no spend days and then next month, it's

going to be eight and, you know, on and on and on, the goal can

be whatever you want to set it as, but anything is going to

make a difference. Again, especially if it's not something

you've ever done or tried to challenge yourself to, it is a

really good thing to try. And the result of no spend days,

what does it mean? Well, it's more money in your pocket, which

means more money left for you. So I always remind people, you

know, if you're not giving your money away, and, and spending on

things, again, sometimes unnecessary purchases, it's just

more money for you more money left for you for your future,

for your goals for the big goals that you want to build upon.

That's what it means by not spending money by having these

no spend days. And it gets you thinking creatively too. So if

you're aiming for a no spend day, but you wanted to do an

activity with your kids, for instance, then you can, you

know, think of something that is a no cost sort of free adventure

activity to do and even get them involved in coming up with this

plan of hey, what are we going to do today, the challenge is,

we're not going to spend money, let's come up with, you know,

some adventures to go on. And it's fun to do those kind of

ideas and thinking outside of the box, especially if you're

getting your kids involved. It also helps you to, you know,

eliminate waste or use up the things you have. So maybe you're

you know, thinking I'm just going to order in tonight, it's

easier, I don't want to have to cook. But if you're having no

spend day sort of forces you to go to the fridge, look in the

freezer, see what you have what you can actually use up. So

there's lots of benefits to these no spend days, give it a

go, I highly recommend it. Another concept I want to

suggest for a strong financial 2022 is to focus on your net

worth instead of your debt. So the first reason I have for this

comes from an audio book I'm listening to so right now I'm

listening to a lot of material from Bob Proctor. And in this

specific audio book I really liked where he said, what you

focus on, you get more of so I'm not quoting directly. So sorry,

if I'm getting a little confused, but this is the

concept. So whatever you're focusing on, you're getting more

of. And that means if you spend your time focused on debt, guess

what? You will attract more debt into your life. So you know,

that's not good hearing that you're like, Nope, don't want

that. So if you have been focused on debt, try to change

that mindset and say and say and safe. Instead of focusing on

debt, I'm going to focus on building my net worth. So again,

my focus is on building my net worth, that's what you say to

yourself. Instead of saying, I need to pay down my debt, I need

to start eliminating my debt. Let's try to remove those words

from your vocabulary and say, I'm wanting to build my net

worth, I'm wanting to increase my net worth.

And this serves as another important purpose, which is

directing cash to where it's most productive. So oftentimes,

people that come to me and ask questions with what should I do

with my extra savings? So maybe they received a bonus from work

or an increase in pay or something like that. And they

asked, you know, should I use this towards my debt? Or should

I use this towards investing? Well, if the debt in question is

low interest debt, so for instance, maybe it's mortgage

debt, and it's a below a 3% rate, maybe it's student loan

debt, and again, it's around three or 4%. Or maybe it's

something like car financing where you bought a new car and

you got 0% financing. So then technically, if you have this

low interest rate dead, technically, you would be better

off to invest, because I'm just going off of past performance of

the US markets. They've returned on average 8% annually since the

1920s. So of course, I can't guarantee future returns and no

one can and there's no guarantee again, if that's what it's done

in the past until now There's no guarantee that that is the exact

return is going to continue on average per year. But based on

these past numbers, and again, that's a lot of data. So we're

saying from the 1920s, until now that you will have received over

8% on your investments. So based on being in a low interest rate

environment, you'd likely be better off to earn that 8% or so

as you would be outpacing your interest rate on the debt. And

again, depending on how much it is, you could be outpacing it by

5% plus, so again, more money in your pocket. So the math is

math, the math doesn't lie. I'm a numbers person, I look at

math. And I go, Well, this rate is you know, you have a car, and

some people go, I don't have a car payment, but I have 0%

financing? Well, I mean, can you get over the fact you have a car

payment, because it was 0%, you could be putting that money

elsewhere, earning any sort of return and outpacing the 0%

having more money at the end of the day. And then once you've

accumulated that, you can always take that and pay it down on the

car. Or, or again, just pay it off, eventually, when you're

making the car payments. So again, math is the math, math

doesn't lie. The numbers are what they are. But what happens

with money is many people will decide to go against the math

and they'll say, Well, I'm going to pay off my debt first. And

you know, again, it's it's a feeling or they maybe they just

don't like carrying debt, maybe they were taught by parents, you

know, it was drilled into them don't have debt, make sure you

get rid of debt like that was. Oftentimes I think,

generationally, what what we were taught about money is don't

carry debt. So if you're struggling, getting yourself to

follow the math, because again, I presented the math, the math

is playing symbol, do you want a percent,

or 3%? Well, if you can get eight, why focus on the three,

right. But if you're still struggling, instead of seeing

the debt as a separate entity, see it as it relates to your net

worth. So if you've listened to this podcast, you've heard me

talk about net worth many, many times. But just as a refresher,

what is net worth, it's your assets. So what you own, minus

your liabilities, what you owe, so all your assets, you can kind

of sum that up in one column, all your liabilities, what you

owe in one column, and assets minus the liabilities is your

net worth. So again, taking the word debt out of our vocabulary

and trying to get our head around that, where is my money

better put to use, instead of looking at debt, you look at

your net worth, then what you'd be doing is you'd be focused on

increasing your net worth. And how can you increase your net

worth, you can do it in one of two ways, you can increase your

assets, or you can decrease the liabilities. So again, the

mathematical equation being net worth equals assets minus

liabilities, as the asset number goes up that number, your your

total net worth is going to go up. And then also, as the

liabilities go down, that number is going to go up. So you don't

have to focus on the debt, you can focus on that assets column,

building your investment accounts, and the math is still

going to be in your favor, because you're going well, my

net worth is increasing, my assets are increasing. So assets

minus liabilities is now higher, again, so if you look at that,

this way, you can maybe say, hey, with that bonus I received

this year at work, I'm going to invest in my TFSA account My Tax

Free Savings Account, instead of paying off my car because my car

is a 2% interest rate. And that lump sum can, you know go

towards again, my TFSA, I can invest it. And then once I do

the net worth calculation, the number has increased, I haven't

paid down the debt of my car. With that money. Instead, I've

put it in the asset column, but the result is the same, my net

worth has increased. So again, if you can instead focus on that

full picture, your overall net worth and have the goal to be

increasing your net worth each year, then you might find that

you've now removed the focus off of debt. So you aren't calling

in more debt just like our you know, Bob Proctor has warned us

don't call in more of it. And you're also having mastered that

math assignment of choosing the option that works, that's going

to yield you the higher return number. So again, you're growing

your net worth even further by putting that money in the bucket

that's gonna earn you even more. So hopefully that makes sense.

And again, this is a very important concept and how I'm

hoping to help people get around that limiting belief and that

kind of that pull towards not having any Debt, instead of we

can look at it as I want to increase my net worth, I want to

constantly be increasing my net worth, then that will help you

get to the focus of what's going to increase my net worth faster

will putting that money towards a higher yielding investment is

going to increase the net worth number faster. The new year. So

that was my next point. Another one. So this is another ways to

be prosperous for 2022. So the new year is often when we think

of making RSP contributions here in Canada, so registered with

our RSP Registered Retirement Savings Plans. So you have the

first 60 days of 2022 to make a contribution for the 2021 tax

year. So I like to suggest that people use the Super Saver

strategy with your RSP contribution. So what is this

Super Saver strategy you might ask? Well, it consists of making

an RSP contribution prior to the deadline. And then when that

lovely tax return comes in as a result of your contribution, you

take that full refund, and you put it into your RSP or TFSA

account. So you've essentially double saved. So you're not just

taking the cash from your tax return that you got as a result

of making that contribution. And, you know, going down to

Vegas, and I'm just gonna gamble it away, put it all on read, it

was money I didn't have. And it's like a bonus that just

came, you know, from CRA, No, instead, we're looking at this

as a extra saving strategies. So we're putting the money away

money that you received from putting the money in the RSP. So

the double savings, by making your original contribution, you

received a return and then you saved the money you saved on

your taxes. And that is the super saving strategy. So that's

why I call it super saving strategy, because I feel like I

said the word saving over and over and over again. So that was

is what makes it a super saving strategy. Okay, another point or

idea for 2022. To make it the most prosperous year, start off

strong in your finances is all about being diligent with

spending. So I highly suggest you do try to track or take time

to be aware of your money and where it's going. If you don't

first see a way to increase your income, that is completely okay.

When we talk about building wealth and reaching your

financial independence and your retirement goals, oftentimes

people think well, I have to make more money, I'm not making

enough money to get myself there. Well, there's another

alternative for this, if you don't think you can get that

increase, maybe your company's not giving out pay increases or

something like that, and it just to you then feels like an

impossible goal to try to make well, there's another side to

that, and it's I'm saving more money. So again, if you can save

more money, that's also going to increase your net worth Yes,

making more money is going to do it as well. But people get too

hung up on that idea of thinking, you have to earn a

certain amount of income to build net worth or or build

your, you know, to get to that financial independence. And I

can tell you based on years of experience working with clients,

that there are people that I would say, have not made mass

amounts of money, you might look at their money, their yearly

income, and be quite surprised, based on where they've grown

their net worth to as a result, or as a result of of saving and

ongoing saving. And again, it's being diligent, and just

spending less finding ways to spend what less and then the

less you're spending, the more that you're saving. So I

honestly think that realistically, we could probably

all find ways to come back up, cut back sorry on some of the

unnecessary expenses and purchases. And again, just like

in the first point about no spend days, the gain is the

extra that you get to keep what you're not spending you get to

keep. So a common theme

that I see with clients that have been very successful in

their financial lives is that they do have a strong awareness

about their money and where their money is going. So knowing

what's coming in and knowing what's going out. Even wealthy

ultra wealthy people have that knowledge they don't just, you

know, decide that they don't have to track it or think about

it because they Have lots of money, They've tracked it and

thought about it. And that's how they've gotten to a point where

they've amassed a, you know, a very good amount of, of wealth

because of doing that behavior. So I know the word budget might

make, you want to just, you know, run the other way, maybe

you're like, well turn off the podcast, I don't want to hear

budgeting. And I feel the same way, like sometimes budgets,

just seeing them. And when you see like a super one time, like

online and something like that, it just, for me, it causes

stress. I'm like, Oh, they do that looks so organized and

fancy. But again, I'm not saying that you have to make this

wonderful spreadsheet and spend hours recording every dollar

spent. But I'm saying to, to be mindful, it's being mindful of

what's being spent, don't be in denial. Be aware, take time to

gain that awareness. I just watched the movie, on Amazon

Prime, it was called, I think it's called Queen pens, I might

have gotten that wrong. But it talking about this makes me

think of it in her line in the movie, where she says, Watch

your pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves. So

that's what I think of when I think of saving money, spending

less being diligent about tracking. And I mean, if you've

seen the movie, I'm not going out. And I'm not telling you

that you have to go out and, you know, clip a whole bunch of

coupons and be a coupon and Queen. But there is power to

this statement that small amounts add up and small changes

to spending behavior do make a big difference. I was watching

the movie, and it kinda was glancing. And I'm part of it.

And it was so funny, because it was about like coupons. And

she's like, this makes me think of Gigi, that's our grandma. So

obviously, someone likes using coupons in the family. But yes,

again, it's it is being mindful, I do like that line, because it

does get you thinking that, that we do have control and ability

to build wealth, I think so much. So many people just think

it's out of our control and it's just not possible for you but

doing small amounts on a regular basis, saving money, putting it

away, having it compound is going to make a huge difference.

And again, that's not based on how much money you make that's

based on how much you're able to put away there's people that

make a lot of money and are still aren't able to put money

away and save and then you know, they're not even building their

their wealth. So again, being diligent about where money is

going is a very important part of that equation. Okay, and

finally, one that I really want to stress is so important when

it comes to wealth. And that's why I call this the wealth and

wellness podcast and I have such a focus on incorporating you

know, wealth and well being and investing in ourselves. Being

the you know, you are your most important asset. Don't

underestimate the power of investing in yourself, I truly

believe that one of the best investments you can make is in

you. So this year, I would love to urge you to have this focus

on designating the time and resources to yourself as well

not forgetting about you and investing in you. I am probably

one of the poster people for investing in yourself I've done

you know so many courses, education certificates, things

like that. I've worked with life coaches I go for you know, I do

the massages, the chiropractor, the natural path, the energy,

clear the all sorts of things. And again, I don't look back on

those and think of them as a waste of money. I don't think of

them as like I'm just throwing away money on all sorts of

things. I see these as investments and they helped me

to really be my best self and thrive and grow and in return

I'm able to thrive and grow in my business from that so being

my best self then reflects in my business and what I can

accomplish and my level of efficiency.

So this includes life experiences to don't

underestimate the value of amazing life experiences those

once in a lifetime experiences and adventures. checking off

dreams from your bucket list. Those are priceless things. And

I you know I learned that firsthand like I recently took

my daughter to Mexico and it was her first international trip and

I loved just seeing her in that experience. Like it's just she

was so you would just see your them taking it all in. And it's

it's also new and different and still when she hears someone

like mentioned Mexico on like TV or in passing she he perks up,

because it's like I've been there, I know about Mexico. So

it's, it's so cute to just see that. And again, it was I always

dreamed of being able to take my daughter on trips and go on

adventures with her. And now, she'll say things like, Let's

travel around the world, and I want to go to Hawaii and Paris.

And, and I love that, like, she's thinking big, and she's

dreaming big already. And it's gotten her mind, you know, going

thinking that way. And knowing that there are these

possibilities, and that you get to create the life of your

dreams and do the things you've always wanted to do. You know,

this is, we're given this one precious life, and we don't have

an endless amount of time here. So there's, you know, I highly

suggest and stress to that, you're making sure you're

investing in yourself and those, those experiences that you've

always dreamed of, and not putting them on the back burner

and pushing them off. Because I know we've had to do that for a

while now during COVID. And, and so hopefully, that it hasn't

changed that you are going to do those, maybe it's just delayed

them and push them out a bit further. But make sure you're

doing those things. I love having those conversations with

my clients of the big dreams and goals they have and what they're

planning to do with with their finances, that they've they've

been successful with their finances, they've done the right

things in the right behavior. And now they get to reap the

rewards of it. It's not because it's, it's work. And it takes

effort. And you have to have that that thing at the end that

makes it all worth it. And that's what that is. So make

sure that you're not under estimating that and make sure

you are doing those things to invest in you as well when it

comes to money and wealth. And that's all I have for you today.

Hopefully, again that you found value in this episode. And I'm

so appreciative of you joining me and listening in and I look

forward to delivering another hopefully valuable just as

valuable more valuable episode for next week. All right, thank

you so much and I will catch you all next episode.

I hope you found value in this episode. And because I'm such a

proponent of taking confident action, I want to pose a

question to you the listener. What is one action that you feel

inspired to take after listening to today's episode? If you enjoy

listening, please subscribe and share with your friends and

family. Thank you so much and I will catch you next time