In a world of DIY financial planning and investing it is easy to think we know what is best for our financial future. This week we go over the pro’s and con’s of DIY financial management and when it is best to talk to a professional. Christine takes you behind the scenes of her practice and talks about compensation, product availability and where it is actually better for you to do things yourself. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunf...
May 22, 2023•39 min•Ep. 75
It’s mothers’ day so what better time to talk about how we teach our kids about money, so they can spend it on mom of course! This week we welcome our first guest Robin Taub the author of “The Wisest Investment” and discover all of the ways we can push past our personal taboos about money and prepare our kids to be financially literate and independent. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our...
May 14, 2023•31 min•Ep. 74
This week we go over the recent struggles with American banks and look into what is keeping major Canadian banks from suffering the same fate. Everything from CDIC, Assuris, OFSI and the Basel accords are talked about as we discover what would happen if a Canadian bank collapsed. Continuity Note: A day after recording this episode TD Bank broke its agreement to purchase First Horizon Bank in the US. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braun...
May 08, 2023•36 min•Ep. 73
Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! By your powers combined I am Captain Dividend Yield! This week we tackle the increasingly popular ESG investment mandate, issues of environment, society and corporate governance are becoming more important for investors. However, not everything labels as ESG right now would please Captain Planet, or even the average investor looking to support true change for the better. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit b...
May 01, 2023•28 min•Ep. 72
I reject your financial reality and substitute my own! This week we bust the classic personal finance myth of saving 10% to fund your retirement. What was once a staple of personal finance is no longer enough, but there is a better way which can help you right now. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanada Useful Resour...
Apr 24, 2023•33 min•Ep. 71
This week Christine goes toe to toe with Dave Ramsey’s personal finance philosophy and his core 7 baby steps concept. How much of it is helpful to Canadians? What will and won’t work in Canada? And how can these concepts help the average person north of the border in their journey to wealth and debt freedom. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.faceboo...
Apr 17, 2023•40 min•Ep. 70
Talk of a recession keeps on looming over Canadians but is this threat more of a big bad wolf, or more of a Peter and the wolf type of narrative. This week we talk about what’s going on in the markets and how things are shaping up for Q2 across various sectors and how those changes can impact your investments. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.faceb...
Apr 10, 2023•36 min•Ep. 69
This week we talk about spendapalooza 2023, aka Canada’s 2023 federal budget, everything from grocery “rebates,” green infrastructure to taxing the rich. We read the budget so you don’t have to in order to figure out how it will impact your day to day finances. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanada Useful Resources:...
Apr 03, 2023•31 min•Ep. 68
This week we talk about one of the lesser known benefits of having a Canadian corporation, the Capital Dividend Account. This little known method of transferring tax free money from your corporation to yourself personally could change how you look at the concept of owning a business, well as long as you play by the CRA’s rules of course. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page ...
Mar 27, 2023•31 min•Ep. 67
This week we talk about the book "Millionaire Success Habits" by Dean Graziosi, but get side tracked and talk about cheeseburgers, philosophy and wolves! Seriously though this week we talk about taking stock of your goals and desires and how they continue to shape your life and may be holding you back personally and financially as well. But that could change if you only asked the question “why” to many parts of your life. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of th...
Mar 20, 2023•32 min•Ep. 66
This week we answer another fan question and talk about what to do when your income goes up significantly. Find out how to find new was to defer or deduct expenses, find new opportunities for even more income and how to protect everything you’ve worked towards. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanada...
Mar 13, 2023•30 min•Ep. 65
Hey Margaret from the Facebook page… this one’s for you! This week we tackle the age-old question about mortgage pre-payments but with a twist. How does your strategy change between being a homeowner versus being a landlord, is it better to be debt-free or tax advantageous? If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanad...
Mar 06, 2023•25 min•Ep. 64
The less you spend the happier you are, or is it the more you spend the happier you are? This week we talk about the dark side of frugal living and the trappings of the FOMO movement, aka the fear of missing out on things, experiences or just falling behind your peers and neighbours. Learn how to determine what is truly important in your life and how to best manage your spending. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com ...
Feb 27, 2023•29 min•Ep. 63
We’re not going to charge it, no we ain’t going to charge it, we’re not going to charge it anymore! This week we talk about how to prepare for a 7 day no spend challenge so you can take back control of your finances. Be it the everyday things you spend money on or on the little things you have forgotten about that are lurking on your credit card statement. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation go...
Feb 20, 2023•32 min•Ep. 62
RRSP season is upon us which means its your last chance to go over your taxes and monkey with the numbers in a totally legal way. Wait, what? This week we go over what you need to know to make the most of your RRSP contributions, or lack there of in 2023. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanada Useful Resources: TaxTi...
Feb 13, 2023•28 min•Ep. 61
Society has created an environment where people are chronically overstressed. This week we take a look at Cary Nieuwhof’s book “At Your Best,” and find out how to better manage and maximize our time so that the weight of stress is lifted off our shoulders by learning learn how to best use the hours in our day. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www...
Feb 06, 2023•34 min•Ep. 60
With 2023 in full swing that means we’ve been inundated by mountains of opinions, charts and predictions on how the economy in 2023 will fair. So this week we wade through all of the information we've been receiving and distill it down to something usable for you. We will cover the expectations facing the bonds and stocks found in your funds and portfolio’s and how we feel the coming recession will impact Canadians, spoiler alert: less doom and more gloom! If you live in British Columbia, let us...
Jan 30, 2023•41 min•Ep. 59
Thirty Helen’s agree 57.6% of the time that the average Canadian misunderstands their finances 40% of the time, so it’s best to order a new credit card to make life easier. Wait what are we talking about again, oh, that’s right. This week we talk about Darrell Huff’s classic book, “How to Lie with Statistics.” Learn how to better protect your wallet by understanding all of the tricks of the marketing trade used to influence your decision making and to accept what they say as cold hard facts. If ...
Jan 23, 2023•31 min•Ep. 58
We have a love hate relationship with mortgages, they allow us to buy a house (or 4), but they hang over us like a dark cloud of interest payments and a 20+ year obligation. This week we talk about the in's and out's of mortgages in this already crazy time of 2023. Is fixed or variable better? What is amortization, how does it impact your finances and so much more. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conver...
Jan 16, 2023•30 min•Ep. 57
We're back for another year of podcasting about personal finance in Canada! This week we have our gratuitous talk about New Year's resolutions and how they can actually work and become a positive impact in your life and finances. Learn how to prioritize your goals, deal with the post-Christmas credit card shock and other tips to help you start the year 2023 off right. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the con...
Jan 09, 2023•27 min•Ep. 56
It’s our last episode of 2022 and this week we talk all about Christmas spending in Canada! That’s right we go over where your hard earned dollars go each holiday season and what experts are predicting for this year. We also go over the true meaning of Christmas, presents, or rather how we are buying less of them and spending more time with those we love, bad for the economy but good for the heart. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunf...
Dec 19, 2022•26 min•Ep. 55
This week we go through the topics that come up most often with our clients this time of year. That’s right its time for holiday cheer, tax loss selling, RRSP top ups, Christmas shopping, TFSA contribution room increases and so many other jolly year end matters that we need to tie up with a bow before 2023 comes rolling in. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Grou...
Dec 12, 2022•29 min•Ep. 54
Enough is enough, or is it not enough?!? This week we trek through "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel and talk about how we were raised around money impacts our future, determining the filters we use to determine what is enough money or happiness in our lives and how what we want changes as time goes on. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://w...
Dec 05, 2022•25 min•Ep. 53
It's our one-year anniversary episode. This week we dig deep into Ray Dalio's understanding of the Big Debt Cycle and find out how learning from the past can help us prepare for the future, or really the present the way things are going right now. We tackle the good days, the mad rush to by "anything" others tell us to, the peak and on through to the depression, fiscal intervention and how we can get back to a sense of economic normalcy once again, all with our own patented* Canadian perspective...
Nov 28, 2022•39 min•Ep. 52
This week we talk all about the Bank of Canada and how it makes the big decisions which impact your life. From monetary policy, interest rates to inflation protection we peel back the curtain of mystery and see how the great fiscal machine actually operates. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com Keep the conversation going on our Facebook Page and Group: https://www.facebook.com/itspersonalfinancecanada Useful Resourc...
Nov 21, 2022•29 min•Ep. 51
Our life is the culmination of the habits that we adopt. This week we talk about the power of habits and how they can shape not only your life but your financial future as well. Drawing from Christine's "Why is this baby still up at 4am book club," we look into the advice from "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear and see how they can help us. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com K...
Nov 14, 2022•24 min•Ep. 50
Christine's "Why is this baby still up at 4am Book Club" continues as she delves into the Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley. This week we talk about how often the rich don't use their wealth to impress others but instead fulfill their goal of personal financial freedom. It is the little things we do and don't do that help us follow the author's seven common denominators among those who've successfully built their own wealth and financial freedom. If you live in British Columbia, l...
Nov 06, 2022•32 min•Ep. 49
It's time for another edition of Christine's "Why is this baby still up at 4am Book Club." This week we review the core concepts of the personal finance classic "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosak. We see if these ideas can still work for you today and how find out how much of the book is applicable for Canadians. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com
Oct 31, 2022•33 min
This week we talk about all of the in's and out's of having a Group RRSP plan and how it can benefit you and your retirement. Everything from qualification, matched contributions and how employers can use then to better support their staff is covered, along with a few cautions to be aware of. But fear not as we pull back the cloak of mystery surrounding Group RRSP’s. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com...
Oct 24, 2022•38 min
This week we continue our look into different investment styles and the most famous investors behind them. Everything from Contrarian, Growth and Adaptive investing are looked at along with how they have been successful. We then cap it off by talking about how you can determine which style (or combination of) could be best for you. If you want to join Christine's "Why is this baby still up at 4am Book Club" you can follow along by reading "Principles of Dealing With the Changing World Order" BY ...
Oct 17, 2022•35 min
