Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone.
My name is Carolyn.
Welcome to the Saving for yourFirst Home podcast.
I am the CEO of the FinancialMoment.
We offer money coaching forthose who are ready and willing
to make financial changes intheir lives.
For the most of us, there comesa point in time where we think
to ourselves it would be reallynice to own property, but it
(00:22):
sometimes can feel like a pipedream and not very easily
obtainable.
So I created this podcast togive you all the information and
tools you need to take thesteps forward toward home
ownership.
Take it from me my husband andI started our lives together,
working part-time jobs with ayoung child.
Fast forward, through manyhiccups and failures, we stepped
(00:43):
our feet into our very firsthome.
For us it was a pile of dirt,but eventually our family home
was built on that dirt.
Now we are in the midst ofgrowing our investment property
portfolio.
I created the savings for yourfirst home podcast to give you
easy, actionable tools for youto do the same.
If you have that same gutfeeling that I did and want to
(01:06):
create a life for yourself andyour growing family, but don't
know where to start, you are inthe right place.
Let's do this.
Hello everyone and welcome backto the Saving for your First
Home podcast.
I'm Carolyn, your money coach,so I hope you guys got a chance
to join me on Instagram live.
For the last five days, we havehad a great time walking through
(01:31):
the Slasher Debt Guide.
Now if you haven't picked it upyet, then head to
thefinancialmomentcombackslashdebtrap and there you
will get an extensive laid outguide, step by step, on how you
can pay off your debt.
So I thought I would actuallyexpand on this topic this week
(01:54):
because it is such an importantone, and I just came off doing a
presentation on this exacttopic and I realized that I
haven't shared all thisinformation with you guys.
So I thought that's what Icould do today, because, as a
first time home buyer or someonethat is going into a major
(02:14):
financial purchase, you want toensure that you have the
foundations of your financesintact, because I sure didn't.
I remember clearly when we werethinking about purchasing a
home and it seemed sooverwhelming we were barely just
hanging on budget.
(02:35):
That wasn't even a word in ourvocabulary and, you know,
someone gave us one tip on howto save money and, to be honest
with you, that is how we gotthere.
I only wish that we had guidesand podcasts and YouTube
channels and all these things toaccess as resources back then.
Maybe I wouldn't have made somany mistakes.
(02:56):
So I am hoping I'm crossing myfingers that you guys are going
to jump into the world of homeownership with as much knowledge
as possible.
I read an article today and itwas talking about the housing
market and they called it goinginto hibernation.
(03:16):
So what do you think thatreally means?
According to the Canadian RealEstate Association, they are
saying that, quote unquote weare only in November, but it
appears many would be homebuyers have already gone into
hibernation.
So you know what that means,right?
People are not buying.
The home buyers are quiet.
(03:38):
They're in hibernation, whichmeans we're heading into a
buyer's market.
This is where the sellers haveless power and the buyers have
more buying power.
So my question to you is are youready?
Are you ready?
Do you have your financialfoundation in place?
Do you have your down paymentset aside?
(04:00):
Are you ready to check outproperties, get pre approved and
all the steps that are requiredto make this major purchase?
Because if it is a buyer'smarket, that means that the
prices are going to eitherflatten out or drop.
Now the other speculation isthat interest rates may start to
(04:20):
come down.
Now we can't promise anything,but if the market starts to
stabilize and we're finding thatthere are more properties on
the market, then trend will tellus that the interest rates
might start to drop.
So these are good indicatorsfor a first time home buyer,
because it means that you'regoing to have access to get into
(04:44):
the market without bidding warsand there'll be a lot more
selection to choose from.
So if the answer to the questionare you ready?
Is not a big yes, then there isstill some work to do with your
financial foundation.
So I'm going to go through aframework that talks about how
to build this foundation.
(05:05):
So we're going to use the wordreduce and we're going to build
it as an acronym, so it's easyto remember and you'll know
exactly the steps that you needto take.
So r stands for realize, estands for educate, d stands for
demonstrate, u stands for undo,c stands for collaborate and e
(05:31):
stands for execute.
All right, so let's dive in.
So what does it mean to realize?
Well, if you do have debt andyour financial position isn't
strong, then you have to realizewhat is it that's going wrong,
and there are some indicatorsthat will tell you this.
Number one do you havefinancial stress?
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Are you having stress andanxiety about unmanageable debt?
Are you feeling guilty andashamed about the debt that you
can't manage?
That's one indicator yourcredit score.
We talked about credit score ina previous episode of this
podcast, and if you arestruggling to maintain a
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positive credit score, that isan indicator that your financial
situation is not correct.
And if you are limitingyourself with financial options,
is it difficult to get credit?
Are you having difficultysaving, making investments,
dealing with unexpected expenses?
These are all indicators thatyour financial position needs
(06:36):
some work.
So the first step of all of thisis to realize what is happening
.
So the second letter was e, andthat was for educate.
So I know I'm preaching to thechoir when I'm talking to you
guys, because you're on thispodcast, you're listening,
you're learning, you're provingyour financial literacy, but
there is probably work thatneeds to be done there.
(06:58):
So what you need to do is seekout the information that you
need.
For instance, do you know howto build an emergency savings
fund?
If you don't know how to buildone and you don't have one, then
you are going to end up in debt.
I can guarantee that, becausesomething's going to come up and
you're not going to have theresources to be able to deal
(07:19):
with that situation.
So understanding how to buildan emergency savings fund is one
of the fundamentals.
The next thing that you caneducate yourself on is really
how to develop a budget thatworks for you.
I know budgets seem restrictiveand not something that is super
fun, but if you can customizeit to make it work for your
(07:43):
habits and the way you operate,then it is very easy to follow.
So understanding how to developthis type of a budget is also
very key.
The third thing is understandingyour debt and how your interest
is being calculated.
There are different types ofdebts, so mortgage debt is one
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thing, but you have revolvingdebt, which is like a credit
card.
You have car loans, you havelines of credit.
Each one of these debt typeshave a different way of
calculating interest, and youneed to understand how that
works, because knowledge ispower.
Once you understand how itworks, then you can implement
(08:24):
some strategies to reduce it.
And finally, do you know how tochange your spending habits?
You know habits are aninteresting thing, right?
They're easy to form if they'rebad and hard to form if they're
good.
It's like going to the gym.
Right, you know you need to goto the gym to ensure that you
(08:44):
work out, to ensure that youkeep your body in shape, but why
does your mind always fightwith you every time you need to
go?
I don't know the answer to that.
Trust me, I struggle myself.
But if you know how to changethose habits, then maybe just
doing one thing a day to changethem will make a huge difference
(09:07):
.
So, bottom line, you need tomake sure that you're educated
and you understand how to buildthe financial foundations.
But it's not enough to know.
You have to demonstrate, andthat's the next letter D for
demonstrate.
How do you demonstrate thethings that you've learned?
Well, I'll give you someexamples.
Number one is to cut someunnecessary expenses.
(09:30):
If you find that you're havinga hard time saving or putting
money away or paying down debt,then you may have too many
expenses, and so going throughthem and assessing what it is
that you can cut or get rid ofor reduce is demonstrating that
you are putting your goals firstand that change is going to
(09:53):
have a big impact on your bottomline.
Another way to demonstrate thisfinancial knowledge that you've
obtained is to prioritize debtrepayment.
So, although we have our goalsof perhaps buying a home, or we
have other major financialpurchases that we want to invest
in, prioritizing your debt iskey to maintaining a good credit
(10:17):
score and building that solidfinancial foundation.
Another easy way is to automatethings right Automate your bill
payments, automate your savings, automate your debt repayment.
Getting it easy for yourself isreally going to set you at a
new level, because you know,relying on yourself sometimes
isn't the greatest option.
I can barely remember my kid'sname sometimes.
(10:40):
And now we're ready to undo.
We want to undo some of thedamage that we've caused by
making those bad financialchoices of the past.
So one of them could beavoiding emotional spending.
Spending can be the result ofsomething that is an emotional
(11:00):
thing that's happening to you.
You could be excited aboutsomething that's happened in
your life and you want to go outand celebrate with people,
right.
And then you spend money thatyou may not already have
budgeted.
Or it could be the opposite andyou're trying to cope with
stress and you're scrolling onAmazon and you're just throwing
things into your cart, right.
So emotional spending issomething that you can take a
(11:21):
look at what's happened in thepast and undo this type of
behavior and you can create abudget and actually stick to it.
Right, you want to undo thethinking that a budget is not
going to work for you.
Developing a realistic budgetis not that hard, so I'll give
you a small example.
If you have, let's say, a setamount for groceries, and that's
(11:44):
like $200.
But you know that the cost offood is much higher than it was
back, even a year ago.
So therefore, the budget needsto be adjusted right.
It needs to be increased,because come Wednesday, all of
your groceries are done andyou're going to be seeking
takeout to fulfill your foodneeds.
(12:05):
So undoing this type ofbehavior can really set yourself
up for a good foundation.
And then C C is for collaborate.
It is so important to reach outto others to ask for help.
You don't need to run thisjourney alone.
So there are people likeaccountants, right.
(12:25):
They can help you with yourtaxes, ensuring that you're
filing taxes every year,claiming all the things that you
should claim.
Very important to have one ofthose on your back pocket A
credit counselor.
Now, this is if you're in somesevere debt and you need some
help with malcomating your debtsand getting back on track.
A credit counselor can behelpful in that regard.
(12:46):
A money coach?
Hey, that's me.
Someone who can help you withmanaging your finances, creating
budgets, creating a strategicplan, helping you to understand
how to pay off your debt.
You know there are so manybenefits of having a money coach
, but then you know you don'tneed to pay for services.
You can just get a personalmentor, somebody that you admire
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, that you respect, that youtrust, that can help you and
walk with you along this journey, right?
You want them to be able toencourage growth.
You want them to beapproachable.
You want them to be able togive you constructive feedback
when you really need it, and youwant them to have a good track
record.
You want them to be proven.
Have they helped people in thepast?
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Have they done what they saythey're going to do?
Right?
You want them to be accountableas well.
So collaboration is veryimportant, and now it's time for
E, which is execute.
It's your turn to do your part.
Once you have all these thingslaid in place, it's time to
execute.
(13:50):
So, whether that be a budget,whether that be a debt repayment
plan, whether that be a savingsplan, whether that be setting
up your bill payments to beautomated all of these different
things are now in your court.
It is up to you to set up theproper systems in order to
(14:10):
ensure that you can reach yourfinancial goals.
Now, luckily, you are not alone.
I have some great tools for youto help you along this journey,
because financial freedom is anongoing journey.
It requires discipline andresponsible financial behavior,
and it's not easy to do it byyourself.
(14:31):
So I am so excited to publiclyshare that I will be launching a
digital course.
The title is Simply Paid Off.
So what does that imply?
I am going to teach youeverything you need to know on
how to pay off your debt.
Okay, so here are some of thehighlights we're going to
(14:52):
uncover why debt has become sounmanageable for you.
We're going to access yourcurrent financial situation, and
then we're going to create atailored debt elimination plan
that is specific to your needs.
And then we're going to graspthe importance of credit and
then learn how to developmindful spending habits.
(15:14):
So I have truly poured my heartand soul into this course,
which means that there is somuch more that is included, so I
will put the link to the coursein the show notes of this
episode so that you guys cantake a look and see exactly what
it has to offer.
Now, of course because I am true, at heart, a shopper that it
(15:38):
wouldn't be right if I didn'tprovide a discount.
So you know what next week is.
It is Black Friday, and that isthe biggest sale of the year
for the most part, and so thisis a one-time only offer.
It will come out on BlackFriday and it will end on Cyber
Monday, and you will never seethis price a-ing, and that is
(16:02):
50% off the cost of the course.
So the total cost of the courseis $197 and it will be marked
down 50% for Black Friday.
And on top of that, I cannotforget the loyalty of the
podcast listeners.
And so, therefore, I am givingyou guys an automatic upgrade to
(16:24):
VIP, and what that means is notonly do you get the digital
course, you will also get sixQ&A sessions throughout the
course delivery.
So what that means is you aregonna have access to me to ask
me your direct questions and Iwill provide you with the answer
.
So anything you're strugglingwith, you can just hit me up
(16:47):
with a question and I amdefinitely going to share that
week by week as we go througheach module together.
So your VIP upgrade startsright now and it ends on
November 23rd at midnight, sothat's just before Black Friday.
So you guys have one weekaccess to grab the digital
(17:08):
course and be upgraded with aVIP.
After Black Friday begins, thatdeal goes away.
So, again, I hope to see youguys on the other side and, like
I said, I've put my heart andsoul into this course and I want
to ensure that you haveeverything you need to get to
your financial goals.
(17:29):
Have an awesome week.
Thank you for listening.
We are committed to helping youplace your very first steps
into your new home.
See you next time.