How Do You Decide Between Student Debt and Home Ownership?

Today I have Jessica Moorhouse on the show, who is an Accredited Financial Counsellor, an award-winning blogger, the host of the 'Mo Money Podcast, and the founder of the Millennial Money Meetup. You might have also seen her on CBC News, The Globe and Mail, The Financial Post, and many other news channels and publications here in Canada.

In today's episode, you'll learn the highest impact actions that we Canadians can do to really make a dent in increasing our savings.

We cover how to best manage your money and day-to-day cashflows, and the different types of tools and systems that you can use to help you manage your finances. We also talk about investments, and how Jessica actually invests her own money.

Last but not least, I consider Jessica to also be a very successful entrepreneur, and so if you are considering starting your own business, or are looking for ways to take your existing business to the next level, we talk about how Jessica was able to grow her company so successfully, and what lessons we can learn from her, to propel our own Canadian businesses to the next level.

• Check out Jessica's site and valuable resources over at: Jessicamoorhouse.com
• Get Free Tickets to the Canadian Financial Summit
• The top personal finance and investing tools guide mentioned on the episode can be received for free by signing up on the main page over at buildwealthcanada.ca.
• The how to invest videos mentioned during the show can be found at buildwealthcanada.ca/invest. That's also where I can answer your investing questions.
• You can get your financial planning questions answered for free for 30 minutes by speaking with our resident financial planner John Kalos.
• You can get your mortgage questions answered for free by setting up a free call with our resident mortgage broker, Sean Cooper.
• Canada's Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In this guide, I go over what I personally invest in, why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about ​are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you'll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it'll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use my special link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings accounts in Canada. At the time of this writing, they are anywhere from double, to over 30 times higher than most of the banks in Canada. It's also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you're not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I've been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it's where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you're done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I'll send you the full comprehensive guide for free.

1. As an Accredited Financial Counsellor, I'm sure you deal with many Canadians that are either struggling financially or would like to really amplify their savings so they can invest more, and eventually retire early.What would you say are the highest impact actions that us Canadians can do to really make a dent in increasing our savings, whether it's to pay off debt, save to buy a home, or have more to invest for retirement?
2. When it comes to financial management and managing your day-to-day cash flows, what sort of system or process do you personally have in place and use? Is that a good starting point for those that are looking to gain more control over their finances? Or is there something simpler you recommend for those just getting started?

3. We all know that we should get our finances in order, optimize our investments and manage our money carefully, but we're all busy and it's easy for things to slip through the cracks.When it comes to staying organized in your personal life, finances and business, are there any tools, systems and workflows that you depend on and that work really great for you?

4. How do you personally invest your money and what's your thought process behind that decision? (ie. Robo vs asset allocation ETF vs individual ETFs vs something else?)

5. I notice you've done a fair bit of work and teaching with students. Student debt is a big concern for many so when someone is debating between paying off student debt vs saving for a home vs investing in their TFSA or RRSP, what's your stance and thought process on how they should decide which to focus on? (let's do this from a qualitative and quantitative angle)

I definitely see you as a successful entrepreneur, so let's shift gears a bit and talk about your life as an entrepreneur, for anybody that wants to eventually work for themselves like you, or have a side-hustle to generate some extra income.

6. As an entrepreneur, I find it's really easy to take on too much and get burnt out. Reading your blog, I noticed you've run into this issue too. Do you have a daily routine that works well for you to balance business with personal time so that you don't burn out?
7. As a successful entrepreneur, I noticed that you work with a lot of big brands in your business. For somebody looking to start or grow their existing business, how do you personally approach such companies and close these deals?It's obviously easier to do this once you're established, so would your strategy change if someone is just starting out vs already having an established business?

8. When it comes to partnering with the different companies/brands how do you determine what to charge them and what to offer them?

9. You are in a lot of different channels and seem to have a pretty wide array of revenue streams for your business. What channels or projects have you found to be the best return on your time invested?

10. How do you prioritize which projects/opportunities to work on?
11. Thanks for coming on the show and where can listeners learn more from you?

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