Want to level up your financial game and boost your money confidence? I've got the solution to help you achieve improved financial well-being.

Let's dive into the secrets of starting an emergency fund, maximizing your savings, and navigating the world of financial literacy resources.

Are you ready to take control of your financial future?

What is one action you will take today to improve your financial well-being? Whatever you're doing, take that first step. It's worth it. —Juliette

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Build Financial Security: Learn how to start an emergency fund and protect yourself from unexpected expenses.
• Understand Different Savings Options: Discover the benefits of GICs compared to regular savings accounts.
• Look for Trustworthy Expert Guidance: Understand the importance of financial advisor certifications and ensure you're receiving reliable advice.
• Simplify Saving: Master the art of setting up automatic savings rules to effortlessly grow your wealth.

Bonjour. Hi. My name is Juliette, and I'm obsessed with all things self development, goal setting, health and sustainability. Originally from France, I made the move to Canada with a vision to design my dream balanced life. On this podcast, I share with you everything I've learned along the way, the challenges, the lessons, and of course, the successes.

It's also my chance to sit down with local experts, diving into the services and products that have the power to transform our lives. So grab your favorite headphones, stay hydrated, and get ready to learn simple tips that will elevate your life. Welcome to Good in Motion. Hi, Good in Motion, listeners. Thank you for joining me today.

I want to share with you today some finance 101 love. But first, let's go back in time to September 2020. It was during COVID I remember working from home like many of us, and I had just moved into a studio apartment in Toronto after living four years with roommates. So I was scrolling through my emails when I found one from my bank. It was talking about something called a GIC, offering a really good interest rate compared to my regular savings account.

At that point, I didn't know much about money, except for my dad's constant reminder to save for retirement every single time we talked. So naturally, I turned to my network on Facebook for advice. I asked around if anyone knew a financial advisor who could help me figure out what the deal was with this GIC thing and why everyone wasn't jumping on it, because it seemed very interesting. Finally, a friend of a friend from Montreal who is working as a senior advisor for a financial planning company, he offered to answer my questions. And let me tell you the answers I got opened up a whole new world of financial knowledge to me.

In case you still wonder what a GIC is, I don't want to keep you up in the dark. So what it means is warranted investment certificates. It's basically a savings account that locks in your money for a set period of time. It could be six months, two years, five years. And in exchange of locking this money in, you get a higher interest rate compared to, let's say, a savings account.

So thanks to my contacts, I learned so much more about finances, like inflation, portfolios, investing, and it felt like diving headfirst into a pandora's box of all things money that I had no idea about. So if you haven't picked up on this yet, this is kind of my first advice on this episode, is to ask questions. If you see something and you wonder, oh, why are things this way? That's weird or that looks interesting, then reach out to someone who has expertise and ask them. And if you don't know the person, ask a friend who knows that person.

Or I would even say maybe research them on LinkedIn and hit them out of the blue and just ask them. It could be the begging of something bigger. Most people love to give advice so much that I'm sure you've experienced it. It's often unsolicited. Anyway.

When you learn from a place of curiosity, it's always easier and funnier. So for this episode, I want to share with you three resources that kick started my financial literacy journey and what I learned from each one of them. I got into these resources right after I talked with that friend of a friend from Montreal. So I'm so glad I just, you know, reached out because my life would be completely different today. So before we dive in, remember, I am not a financial professional.

I have a degree in graphic design from the University of Québec in Montreal. So take what I say with some perspective, a grain of salt, and always do your own research. All right, let's kick things off with the first resource. The Money Guy show is an american podcast hosted by Brian Preston and Bo Henson, who are two financial planning experts. What they do is that they break down real life scenarios and answer questions that people from different levels of wealth may have.

And they often get questions directly from their audience, and they just answer them on their podcast episode, which makes them super relatable for people getting started on their financial journey, like me and maybe you as well. So one of the biggest thing I learned from the money guy show, and it's kind of a huge basic in the financial world, I feel, is to set up an emergency fund. And this was a big game changer for me because I had never heard of this until 2020, and I was 26 years old. And I just think that when it comes to finances, the younger you learn about them, the better it is. So an emergency fund, if you don't know, is basically money you set aside for unexpected expenses.

For example, if your car breaks down or you have surprising medical bills, it's there to give you peace of mind when you have just unexpected events that require money. Now, the amount you should have in your emergency fund can vary a lot based on just first, your peace of mind. If you live by yourself, your expenses, if you're a contractor or you work for a company, there are so many different criteria. But a rule of thumb that I follow is to aim for three to six months worth of expenses. For example, if you spend $3,000 monthly, three months of expenses will look like $9,000 put aside in an emergency fund.

I know that $9,000 can sound like a huge amount of money, but don't freak out if you're starting from scratch, don't get discouraged. Set a monthly goal you can stick to and you will get there faster than if you had never started. And that's the most important. If you want to learn more about emergency funds from a canadian source and not this american podcast, check out Canada cA. I would include the link.

They have an exact page about specifically emergency funds. I will add this in the show notes of this episode. Moving on to resource number two. It's a book written by Tony Robbins and Peter Mallouk. It's called "Unshakable: your financial freedom playbook".

If you don't know Tony Robbins, he's the world's first life and business strategist. He has more than 100 companies. His net worth is $600 million us dollars and a big amount of this is from his stock portfolio. So I think we can both agree that he must know one thing or two about finances. So one key takeaway I learned from this book is the importance of certifications when it comes to financial planners.

Certified planners are bound by strict guidelines to act in their clients best interests, while financial brokers may have other incentives like commissions gifts driving their recommendations. So my advice is always check out your advisors credentials and have referrals from people you trust if you can, and make sure they have your best interests at heart. Because it's money you worked hard to get. That's it. Another big thing from the book that I learned is understanding fees in your financial plan.

Even if a fee seems small, like 1% or less, it can really add up. Over 40 years of saving for retirement fees could end up costing us a lot of our retirement money. So it's really important to know about them. This part of the book about fees is a bit more complex that I am comfortable to share with you on this podcast episode, and it's a bit more niche, so I invite you to explore it more on your own if you're interested. So while these resources were made for an american audience, I know they offered me a lot of value to kickstart my financial journey.

And rather than wait for the perfect canadian resource before recording this episode, I felt that it was important to share with you those, I think, universal rules when it comes to money and just to do my best right now with what I have. But if you know any great canadian financial resource. I would love to hear about them, so feel free to send me a dm even of what you would like to hear more about on this podcast. You can reach out to me on the instagram handle goodinmotionpodcast. Alright, let's wrap things up with our third resource.

It's a classic, the wealthy barber by canadian author David Shilton. I actually started to read this book because I was damn, I just know american references. I need to start learning about what's happening in Canada. So here we are. This book was published in 1989, but it is packed with timeless wisdom on building wealth and securing our financial future.

One timeless piece of advice from the wealthy barber is to save 10% of all that you earn and invest it for long term growth. I know it may sound simple, but as we talked about on previous episodes, the simplest things are the ones that, when applied again and again and again, are making the biggest differences. So trust me, it can make a huge difference for your future. I'm sure you've heard the saying, pay yourself first. While this 10% rule is a good occasion to make this into practice, when you receive your paycheck, or if you're a consultant, when you receive your invoice and it's paid, go ahead and save 10% of it.

For a long term investment strategy, some banks even offer you the possibility to create rules, automatic saving rules. And that's awesome. Why? You can automatize your savings. So one of these rules can be, each time I receive money from this company or this name, then I will save 10% and place it into that other savings account.

It's so efficient and just so convenient that it really gives us no excuse not to do it. Now, here's the thing about financial knowledge. It's easy to get overwhelmed because there are so many level around it and so many different situations you can find yourself in. But remember, there is no magic formula for building wealth. It's all about taking small, consistent steps in the right direction.

And I think it's better to move forward and to do your best with what you know right now. Then, as you keep learning, you will switch things up and improve. Because when it comes to money, it's really important to get started early. It can make the biggest difference. So here's your challenge.

What is one action you will take today to improve your financial well being? Are you going to set up an emergency fund? Are you going to read one of these resources or listen to one of them? Whatever you're doing, take that first step. It's worth it.

Check out the show notes for the links to all the resources mentioned in this episode. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep chasing those money goals. I hope you enjoyed this episode of good in motion. If you loved this as much as I did, go ahead and rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. This is Juliette signing off.

See you next time.