Why We Have 5 Bank Accounts 🫢

Good morning, and welcome to the first day of a new month! April is here, which means it’s officially spring. 

It also means a new issue of Money Convos with Steph & Den - new month, new season, new money tips… What more could you ask for?! 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• Should you ‘switch’ banks? 🤔

• Your first $100k is the hardest 🥱

• We’re doing something fun… 🎙️

• More free investing workshops! 💰

• What should you do with your tax refund? 👀

Money Convo Of The Month

Do you need a new bank? 🤔

Think about the first bank account you ever opened - why did you choose that specific bank? It was probably because it was the same bank that your family or friends used (or maybe your parents opened up your first bank account for you, so you didn’t actually choose it at all). 

That’s exactly what happened for both Dennis and I - we ended up with the same bank that our parents used… Which is completely fine. When it comes to your personal finance journey, getting started in general is way more important than the specific details, so getting set up with a chequing and/or savings account at all is amazing, especially as a student (when those accounts are free!). 

Here’s where the problem comes in - at a certain point, it probably (*cough* definitely *cough*) makes sense to use more than one bank for all of your different accounts. 

We both realized this when we started getting charged a monthly fee for our chequing accounts - I remember Dennis coming to me a few months after we graduated from university with a confused ‘Why am I being charged for this account all of a sudden?? I’ve never seen this charge before…?’. After looking into it, we realized that student accounts had no fees, but since we weren’t students anymore, we’d be charged $3.95/month (no thank you!). 

So, he switched to a no fee chequing account (and I did too, eventually!). The thing is, the bank he used at the time didn’t offer a no fee chequing account (unless he kept a set minimum balance in his account, which you probably know we aren’t a fan of). So… he had to switch banks! 

Fast forward a few years later, and between our chequing, saving, and investment accounts, we’ve each been with at least five different banks or financial platforms. What we’ve learned (from our own experience) is that switching banks for the first time feels daunting, and kind of… wrong? I think a lot of people aren’t sure if it’s even okay to use multiple banks - but, it is! It’s really a mindset shift that you’ll (hopefully) go through at some point in your money journey, where you realize that it makes sense to switch banks or platforms for specific purposes. 

What are those purposes? Well, in general, you want to be using a no fee (or at least low fee) chequing account, a high interest savings account, and an investment platform that’s low fee and offers the different features that you need to invest efficiently and consistently. All of those features, for all of those different accounts, might not (and likely won’t) exist all at the same bank or financial platform, and when you realize that, you’ll have to switch banks - or at least add on to your current banking set up.

By the way, I’ve been using ‘bank’ and ‘financial platform’ interchangeably, because you have a few different options, including -

• Banks - Physical and/or digital

• Credit Unions - Physical and/or digital

• Financial technology companies - Digital only 

Keep in mind that you need to ensure that the option(s) you use are safe and secure - there are many safe and secure choices for all three of the options listed above. 

If you are looking to switch banks, then check out this YouTube video for our Switching Bank Accounts Checklist - you can use it as a step-by-step guide!

Your First $100k Is The Hardest 🫠

We’ve been sharing quite a few net worth updates recently, and it got us thinking about the concept of your first $100,000 being the hardest. 

If you haven’t heard that before, it’s true - for most people, getting your net worth from $0 to $100,000 is usually much harder than it is to go from $100,000 to $200,000, and so on. 

If you’re wondering why, there actually is a specific answer - compound interest! 

For both of us, getting to $100,000 across all of our bank accounts took a few years, and most of that money came from what we saved ourselves, even though we were investing almost all of that money consistently. 

Think about it this way - every month, we’d save $2,000 from our income, and we’d purchase investments with that money. Then, in theory, that invested money would grow over time. 

But, when we hit the $100,000 mark for the first time, the majority of that $100,000 was made up of our contributions, not the growth of our money. 

You can actually use an investment calculator to do the math yourself - if you invested $2,000 per month, at an 8% average annual return, it would take you ~3.67 years to hit $100,000… and 87% of that money would have come from your contributions, not from interest. 

Well, that starts to change once you hit the $100,000 mark because of compound interest. If you did the same exercise, but going from $100,000 to $200,000, it would only take ~2.83 years. Hitting $300,000 would only take ~2.33 years, and so on.

The moral of the story? Your first $100,000 comes from a lot of hard work on your end, but once you reach that point, things start to move more quickly, until most of your money comes from your investment returns, and not your own contributions. 

Check out this video if you want to hear more!

Our First Live Podcast 🎙️ 👀

Guess what? We’re going to be guests on a live show! 

TD Direct Investing hosts a live show, and we’ve been invited to talk about simplifying your investing strategy. You know that we make money simple, and in this convo our plan is to make investing simple by sharing how we’re simple investors.

We’ll also talk about our personal journeys with money, and how we handle money as a couple. 

There’s going to be a live Q&A at the end of the show, so if you watch live you can ask us a question, too! 

We’ll include the specific details below - 

• What: Live convo with Steph & Den hosted by TD Direct Investing 

• When: Thursday, April 17th, 2025 @ 2:00pm ET 

• Where: Virtual live stream 

Register here to be sent the link to the live stream (note that it’s a free, virtual, live event!). 

We hope to ‘see’ you there!

Free Investing Workshop (Round 2!)

Did you miss our free live investing workshops last month? 

Well, we have good news - we’re doing more sessions in April! 

Throughout the workshop, we’ll break down how you can start investing in the stock market, and build your confidence with investing. 

We’ll specifically focus on passive investing, and taking a do-it-yourself approach. 

We have a few sessions available - each one will start with the workshop, and end with a Q&A where we’ll answer all of your money and investing questions. 

• Tuesday, April 22nd @ 8:00pm ET

• Wednesday, April 23rd @ 8:00pm ET

• Saturday, April 26th @ 1:00pm ET

Seats are limited, so save your spot ASAP (again, it’s free!).

Please note: We focus on Canadian specific investment platforms and accounts throughout the session. You’re welcome to join if you live elsewhere, as the general information shared will still apply to you. 

Sign Up Here - Free Investing Workshop 

We can’t wait to see you there! 👋🏿👋🏻

You Got A Tax Refund… Now What? 🤑

ICYDK… it’s tax season! 

If you actually didn’t know, don’t worry - you still have until April 30th to file your taxes. 

Once you do file your taxes, then it’s time for you to make a decision… What should you do with your tax refund (if you get one)?

This is a topic that we think is really important to touch on, because a lot of people view tax refunds as extra money, like an unexpected bonus, but they’re not - getting a tax refund actually means that you’ve paid ‘too much’ money in taxes to the government throughout the course of the last tax year. So, if you get a tax refund, you’re actually getting money back that was already yours (that’s why it’s called a refund). 

Now, it’s up to you to do what you want with your money - maybe you already save and invest on a consistent basis, and you want to spend this ‘extra’ money, instead! 

But, if you do want a few ideas on how you can use your tax refund, then here are some things for you to consider - 

• High Interest Debt - Do you currently have any high interest debt (example: credit card debt where interest rates are typically 20%+)? If you do, consider paying this down. 

• Emergency Fund - Do you have a fully funded emergency fund right now (aka a set amount of money set aside in a high interest savings account)? If you don’t, consider filling this up. 

• Short-Term Saving Goals - Do you have any short-term saving goals (example: an upcoming trip, a future wedding, or another big purchase)? If you do, consider contributing to your sinking fund(s). 

• Long-Term Investments - If your high interest debt is paid off, your emergency fund is full, and you’ve hit your other short-term saving goals, then consider investing your tax refund. Adding an extra lump sum of money to your investment account, on top of your monthly contributions, can really add up over the long-term.  

If you want to learn more about why we pay taxes, and how taxes work, check out this video.