We recently took a big financial leap in our personal lives, and it has us thinking a lot about money. We’ve been taking close, analytical looks at our bank accounts, tracking our spending much more closely, making very specific short term financial goals, and thinking seriously about our investment strategies. We figured it’s a good time to start talking more openly about money to our online community, because it’s certainly at the forefront of our lives right now, and there’s often a stigma surrounding the topic. It’s taken us time and effort to get to the point where we’re fully able to have comfortable, productive conversations about money in our marriage. It takes work to cultivate a positive relationship with money as an individual and as a couple, and of course we are still learning. Our priority in recent years has been to have the financial freedom to travel full time, while also keeping our long term investment plans in mind. Keep reading for more on what we’ve learned so far about money, and what we think are the three pillars for financial wellness.
Strengthen Your Relationship With Money
Just like everything in our lives, we have a relationship with money whether we like it or not. And what that relationship looks like, has an enormous impact on our financial wellness. Most of us probably have room for improvement in this area, and strengthening this relationship is a very important place to start. Think about your relationship with money, and determine whether you may have some underlying beliefs that help to shape this relationship. Does it make you uncomfortable to talk about money? Do you see yourself as someone who is always struggling financially, or as someone who is capable and worthy of financial abundance? Does earning a lot of money make you feel selfish or greedy? Do you believe that it’s continually difficult to make the money that you want, or do you feel like money is available to you when you need it? Digging deep and asking yourself these questions, is a really important step to improving your relationship with money. We all come from different childhood backgrounds and upbringings, but none of that determines our financial success in adulthood. It’s so easy to let our beliefs about money rule our lives, and stop ourselves from being in the position that we are truly capable of being in. Remember that some people come from nothing, and are able to create enormous financial success in their lives, and other people who are raised with exceptional wealth, are unable to maintain it. It’s very easy to look at someone else’s success with money and come up with reasons of why it was possible for them, but it isn’t possible for you. And that kind of thinking is exactly what will keep you stuck in your current situation, rather than finding your own financial success that you are capable and deserving of. We highly recommend educating yourself as much as possible, and reading books and articles on financial wellness. My favourite is ‘You are a Badass at Making Money’ by Jen Sincero. Commit yourself to changing your beliefs about money, and strengthening your relationship with your finances, and see what can happen!
Develop a Savings Plan
No matter our financial situation, we are all usually saving our money for something. Saving up for the downpayment on a house, or a new car, or a trip, or our child’s college fund. There is always a reason to be saving our money, but having a proper savings plan doesn’t seem as common. I remember when I was in my very early twenties working full time as a performer and artist, I was mostly living paycheque to paycheque. After I had booked a few high paying film and television jobs, I had more than enough money to pay my expenses, and really for the first time, had money that I didn’t know what to do with. I realized I had no idea how to manage my finances aside from keeping a chequeing account for my bills. I didn’t even have a savings account, let alone know anything about tax-free savings accounts, or retirement savings plans. Whatever it is we’re saving for, it’s important to develop a plan for our savings. Not just a plan of what we are saving the money for, but a plan for how to actually save it. Maybe it means setting up a retirement savings plan that you contribute to annually. Maybe it means opening a savings account that you automatically contribute to each month from your earnings. Get real about your savings. Find out exactly how much you need for that downpayment, new car, upcoming trip, or college fund. Crunch the numbers and write it all down to know where you’re at, and then come up with a solid plan of how and when you will reach your goals. Be specific, be organized, and believe that you are capable of saving the money. Our favourite tool for saving is Tangerine. It’s a direct bank with no-fee savings accounts, and not only does it help us put aside money to reach our goals, we’ve saved thousands of dollars in banking fees, and we’ve earned thousands of dollars in interest from their high interest rates. If you’re interested in setting up a Tangerine account, use our Orange Key for a sign up bonus: 35995921S1. Depending on your country, your banking options will differ, but developing a good savings plan means finding the best option for you. So go do it!
Invest
Another aspect of financial wellness that we all likely never learned enough about before adulthood, is investing. Having your money make you money. While there are many different ways to invest to help reach different short and long term goals, it can all be quite overwhelming. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, investment portfolios, real estate, and the list goes on. Where do you even start!? While it’s easy to look at all of it and think that you don’t know enough about it, it’s too complicated, and you’re not capable of learning how to make smart investment choices, why not decide the opposite? Maybe you don’t know much about it now, but you can commit to educating yourself and learning as much as you can. Yes it is complicated, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. Everyone is capable of taking control of their finances and making smart investments, and we are all deserving of financial abundance. Change your thinking around investing and make it a priority in your journey toward financial success. Just like many other people, we spent years feeling slightly overwhelmed by the idea of investing, and we weren’t sure what was the best place for any extra money we had that was available to invest. We finally took it upon ourselves to do a lot of research, and come up with the best plan for our goals. Our favourite investment tool right now is called Wealthsimple. Known as, investing on autopilot, Wealthsimple is an online investment management service, aimed to make investing easier. Rather than talking to an expensive financial advisor, we signed up with Wealthsimple online and outlined our investment goals. The website created a diversified investment portfolio for each of us based on our needs and preferred level of risk, and it does all of the leg work for us. It manages our assets, makes trades, re-invests our dividends, and provides us with statements of our accounts so we can see what’s happening. We don’t have to do anything! We also love that we were able to choose a “socially responsible” portfolio, that aligns with our values and only invests in responsible initiatives. If you’re interested in signing up for a Wealthsimple account, you can use my invite code to get your first $10,000 managed free for a year. We are also very interested in real estate investing, but more on that in another post!
What are your personal pillars for financial wellness? Let us know in the comments below how you maintain a healthy relationship with money, and what you’re doing to stay focused on a path toward financial success.
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