We Saved $100,000 With This Set Up 💰

You know the deal by now - a new month means a new issue of Money Convos with Steph & Den! 

Summer is in full swing, and we have a few fun updates, and, of course, some timely money tips and news that you can use over the next month - let’s get into it. 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• The bank account set up that you need 💰 

• $0 UberEats, $___ groceries 😲 

• How to be a tourist… in your own city 🚫✈️  

• Come with us to close the stock exchange 👀 

• Interest rates are going down 📈

Money Convo Of The Month

How To Optimize Your Bank Account Set Up

How many bank accounts (or money accounts in general) do you have? 👀 

Earlier this year, Dennis and I both shared exactly - and I mean down to the exact cent - how much money we had in all of our different bank accounts, and we realized that people had more questions about which bank accounts we had, and why, than they did about the dollar amounts inside of them. 

We’ve actually been continuously optimizing our bank account set up over the past few years, and we want to break down how you can do the same - the good news is, it’s not hard to do! 

The first account is a no fee chequing account (if you’re in the US, chequing = checking). In a previous issue of Money Convos, we broke down why switching to a no fee chequing account is important. The TLDR version is that big banks typically charge a monthly fee for chequing accounts unless you keep a minimum balance (typically anywhere from $3,000-6,000) in the account. Now, this might not be a big deal if you keep that amount in your chequing account anyways, but 1) ideally you aren’t keeping a large amount of money in your chequing account losing value over time, and 2) no fee chequing accounts exist, where you never have to worry about dipping below that minimum amount. If you’re interested, here’s the no fee chequing account that we use. 

The second account is a high interest savings account. Traditionally, saving accounts offer very low interest rates (think 0.01-1%). Earning interest on your savings is really important; like we already mentioned, money loses value over time. You know how prices go up over time - like how your favourite product that you buy over and over again ends up getting a little bit more expensive year after year? Well, if your money isn’t going up at the same rate as prices are, then your same $100 (for example) doesn’t actually buy you as much, so, your money has effectively lost value. With all of that being said - high interest savings accounts exist, and they offer much higher interest rates than traditional accounts. Right now, a strong interest rate in both the US and Canada is around 4% - now, keep in mind that the exact rates could change at any time, but in general, you should be using a high interest savings account for any money that you’re saving. If you’re interested, here’s the high interest savings account that we use. 

The third type of account is a tax-advantaged investment account(s). We’re both very focused on investing as much money as we can each month, and we’re working toward maxing out our tax-advantaged investment accounts before moving onto taxable investment accounts. To keep it simple, tax-advantaged accounts give you tax benefits - like allowing your money to grow tax free, for example - and ideally you’ll use these accounts first to take advantage of those benefits. In Canada, this includes the TFSA, RRSP and FHSA, and in the United States, this includes the Roth IRA and 401k. If you’re interested, here’s the investment platform that we use to invest. 

The last thing we want to cover are the rewards credit cards that we use. These obviously aren’t bank accounts, but they play a big role in our overall money system. The credit card that you use should really be based on two things - 1) how much money you spend, and 2) what categories you spend the most money in. We could go on and on about credit cards (seriously, there’s so much to cover!), but the TLDR version is that if you don’t already spend a certain amount of money, then using a no fee, cash back credit card is great. If you do spend ‘enough money’ (remember, not spending a lot of money is a good thing!), then you should be looking into a rewards credit card that offers points or cash based on the categories you spend the most money in. If you’re interested, here’s one of the credit cards that we use. 

If you want to hear more about our bank account set up check out our YouTube video here.

$0 UberEats Challenge - Steph’s Monthly Update

This past month was a little crazy - between visiting family, attending a few weddings, and a busier-than-usual work schedule, I definitely felt out of my routine. But, one constant for me this year is that I’m sticking to my $0 UberEats goal, and let me tell you - having one goal that you’re sticking to, and can be proud of, every month really helps keep you calm (at least, it does for me!). 

I’ve still avoided UberEats - or ordering takeout of any kind - so far this year, and despite some crazy weeks, I got back into the habit of making new recipes at home when I could. I will admit that working from home has been extremely helpful during this challenge, as I can run over to the grocery store mid-day if I have to - but, if you don’t work from home, there are still ways to hit your goals! 

This month I was under my $150 restaurant budget, coming in at $146.50, which was made up of a lot of smaller, random food expenses, including a few trips to our favourite ice cream shop, some snacks at a concert we went to (and fast food on the way home post concert… it was cheaper than the venue!). I also spent $39.92 on coffee shops, coming in under my $50 monthly budget. 

I also spent a total of $330.87 on groceries in July, which was over my $300 budget. If you’ve been following along all year, you know that I was consistently spending around $375/month at the beginning of the year, and have been able to bring that down to around the $300 mark for the past few months. Given that I’ve been cooking more recipes at home again, and that July was a slightly longer month, I’m not concerned with the total amount spent. 

Like I said, I got back into making a few new recipes at home this month, and my personal favourite was shrimp tacos with mango salsa (10/10 recommend). My main goal for August is to maintain my current spending (although I do already suspect that I’ll be slightly over my restaurant budget… stay tuned for next month where I’ll share why!).

Be A Tourist In Your Own City This Summer 🍋⛵️

Sorry to break it to you, but summer’s almost halfway over… There’s still 52 days of summer left, and if you feel like you haven’t ‘done enough’ - maybe you’re seeing people go on trips, and that’s not in the cards for you right now - we have a list of budget-friendly, and still really fun, ideas for you. 

We personally decided that this summer was going to be dedicated to being tourists in our own city (aka Toronto!). We’ve had some family come visit from other countries, and between that and seeing our family and friends in general - and planning some fun activities on our own - we’ve checked off a lot of spots in our local area. 

Here’s a list of some of our highlights from the past few months, and how much they cost - 

• Watching an outdoor movie in Toronto’s Distillery District - $50/ticket (look for free shows in your local area!)

• Going to musical(s) at our local theatre (Tina Turner & Mean Girls) - as low as $49/ticket

• A boat tour along Toronto’s waterfront - $33/ticket 

• Climbing (aka taking the elevator) up the CN Tower - as low as $45/ticket

• Trying indoor roller skating at Scooter’s Roller Palace - $21/person 

• Having BBQ’s with a group of friends or family - $? (depending on what you contribute!) 

• Exploring our favourite parks across the city - $0 (aka free!)

• Browsing the local farmers and flower markets - $0 (unless you choose to buy something!)

• Going for a long walk in a new neighbourhood near you - $0 (aka free!)

There’s probably so many other ideas that we’re missing from this list, but we hope that this gives you a few ideas so that you can spend the rest of the summer being a tourist in your city, too!

Guess What? We ‘Closed’ The Stock Exchange 👀 

Earlier this year, we shared that we had an opportunity to ring the opening bell at the stock exchange… Well, this past month, we had an opportunity to ring the closing bell, too! 

We were invited to visit the Cboe Stock Exchange - an alternative to the Toronto Stock Exchange here in Toronto - as they were celebrating the listing of three BMO ETFs. We were there at the end of the day, and were able to ‘ring the bell’ as the market closed. 

We also heard Cathie Wood (the founder of ARK Invest) speak at the event. ICYDK, ARK Invest is a collection of actively managed ETFs, largely focused on ‘innovation’ (aka active fund managers - Cathie and her team - decide which ‘innovative’ companies should be a part of the fund(s) in an attempt to outperform the overall market). She’s been a controversial figure over the past few years, as the ARK funds have been very volatile. 

(Remember, passive investing outperforms active investing the majority of the time!). 

With that being said, it was interesting to see her in person, and we had a great time meeting other personal finance creators, and being a part of a market closing event (that actually had a real bell to ring). 

We’ve now also visited three stock exchanges this year - hopefully there are more to come! 

If you want to hear more about this event, check out the post we made here.

Interest Rates Are Going Down - Don’t Panic! 🫨

If you live in the United States or in Canada, you’ve likely been seeing a lot of media coverage talking about interest rates going down. Here’s what’s really happening, and why you shouldn’t panic. 

Over the past few years, inflation has been very high, and we’ve slowly but surely seen inflation rates start to decrease over time (which is ideal - some inflation is a good thing, but not the levels we’ve been seeing). So, who’s job is it to make sure that inflation rates go down? The central bank! In the US, it’s the Federal Reserve, and in Canada, it's the Bank of Canada. 

Here’s how it works - when the central bank lowers interest rates (in the US it’s called the federal funds rate, and in Canada it’s called the overnight rate), they’re actually reducing the rate that major banks in the country charge each other to borrow and lend money between each other. If the banks are making less money in interest, then they do the same thing to their customers - aka they pay you, the customer, less interest for keeping your money with them, too. 

(TLDR so far - the central bank reduces rates for banks, so that the banks will reduce rates for customers). 

Why do the central banks do this? Because they want you to earn less on your savings, so that you’re more incentivized to spend money instead of save money. Spending money = businesses making more money = growing the economy. 

So… what does all of this mean for you? It means that interest rates on your savings accounts might start to go down (but the cost of groceries and other expenses should start to go down, too). Remember that it’s always a good time to save money if you have a purpose for it (and invest what you don’t need saved!). 

Even though rates are going down, there are still many competitive rates available, especially with high interest savings accounts. If you’re in Canada, check out some of our favourite options that we shared in this video.