Hello, and welcome to the Borealis experience. I'm

your host Aurora, and I'm very excited to have Clinton with me

today, we will be talking finances, your financial health

is so incredibly important when it comes to your relationships,

but also your own health, your mental health. And this is why I

want to raise awareness that there are so many people out

there who have the knowledge and who are willing to help you,

sometimes even for free, like in this case here with Clinton

today to make you aware of how to get rid of your debt, on how

to get a mortgage, and how to be more stable when it comes to

your finances. And this, in turn, will help you to live a

more fulfilled life. Hi, Clinton. Here, Hey, are you

today? I'm doing awesome. I'm very excited to be doing this

episode with you. Because I know it's very important for people

to hear your message. And yeah, to learn about what people,

wonderful people like you are doing out there and supporting

people with their finances.

Awesome. Well, yeah, thanks a lot for having me again. This is

my second episode. So I'm very appreciative. I really like your

podcast, I've been telling lots of people that they're great.

And I need to check it out. So yeah, like I said, I'm I'm very

happy to be here again. And so thanks for having me.

Yes, thank you for making the time. So let's just jump into

the most juiciest part of finances. When it comes to debt.

I think most of us people out there have debt. And how would

you say? Can debt be aggressive? aggressive? I wanted to say but

addressed quickly? How can a person feel more stable and

comfortable when it comes to their debt and trying to Yeah,

tackle it.

So I mean, you know, that from one person to another can be you

know, there's a big difference between them. So sat down with

someone who was just stressed out with their debt, they didn't

know what to do. And she only had 15 $100 that she owed, it

wasn't very much when she was stressed out. And I could tell

she was very stressed out about it. But I reassured her you

know, actually, you're actually in a pretty decent situation

statistics across Canada right now. So, you know, the average

family is $30,000 in debt. It's probably more than that now. So

there's, you know, there's a lot of debt problems in Canada. And

there's just, there's, there's help out there. People don't

know that there's help or where to look, but there's help, you

know, whether it's budgeting, you know, trying to show them

you know where to spend money, we're not to spend money, that's

great as well. But you know, when it does come down to debt,

there's different options. So depends on how much debt you

have, or what you want to do with your debt. But there's a

lot of different options. You know, bankruptcy, obviously, is

the last option. You don't want to go that route unless you have

to, but you know, there's consumer proposals. There's debt

consolidations, you know, there's loans you can get

personal loan on, you can even wrap up your more your debt into

your mortgage, and if you have enough credit, but yeah, there's

a lot a lot of areas where we can help people adapt. And I've

been, you know, obviously, the economy here in Alberta, in

Canada hasn't been the greatest. It's been the worst I've seen

ever since I've been alive. Um, and yeah, more and more people

nowadays are reaching out and needing help, because it's

really, you know, it's a tough situation right now. And I'm

always happy to help people. And obviously, you know, I sit down

with people and help them either save money or have more money,

help them out with their debt, and, you know, changes their

lives. They're happy about it, they really appreciate it. And

it also makes me feel good for helping people. That's one of

the reasons why I do what I do is because you know, financial

health is important. And it's one way that I can actually give

back to the community and help out.

Beautiful. Just for the interview here. We had a little

chat. We were talking about divorce and how it is very

difficult for people. Yeah, going, the emotional stress of

divorce, but then also the financial stress that can be

enormous. What are the experiences with clients that

you've made there?

Yeah, so I mean, obviously, you know, people don't think about

financial health as a health issue. Of course, it's money,

you know, people worry about their wage or eating habits, or

they're exercising all that help, but when people, you know,

looking at financial health, you know, people that are, are in

debt, or they're struggling, you know, that causes them stress.

Stress can, you know, lead to depression, anxiety, you know,

social disorders, know, a lot of people actually, when they are

in debt, you know, what changes them as a person, they don't

feel whole, they don't feel complete. Um, but yeah, and then

when it comes to marriages, like, I'm not sure the exact

statistic, but I read recently, somewhere, I think it's like,

50%. You know, most all marriages in Canada, you know,

50% of them end up in divorce. And that is a stick. But we've

been finding, you know, the number one reason why people are

getting divorced, nowadays is, is due to finances, you know,

something happens, a guy gets laid off, or, you know, he

doesn't have work or something, all of a sudden, you know, bills

aren't getting paid, you know, families not taken care of, and

it causes stress in the household, you know, there's

fights, there's all that stuff. So that's, you know, that's kind

of one area. That's, you know, making divorces, rates go up

there. And I mean, it's, it's a huge thing, especially today,

because of the economy. You know, we recently in Alberta had

the oil crash, you know, a lot of jobs were lost, a lot of

companies left Alberta, a lot of people were laid off, and in

return now, because all these people aren't working, you know,

people aren't spending the same money companies aren't, you

know, buying stuff. So it affected all industries, such

as, you know, the construction industry, you know, people like

I said, and retail and restaurants, you know, no,

people aren't spending as much money in those areas. So, it's

affecting all industries. So that's, you know, that's a big

factor. So yeah, like I said, when it comes to financial

health, and divorces and stuff like that, you know, finances

are a big thing. So I mean, I've been following a Alberta Family

Law page. And I've been seeing a lot of single dads or whatever

struggling like they're, they're making like $100,000 a year, and

they're, you know, renting an apartment sitting on a on a polo

chair, because they have to give all their money to the mom and

the kids to raise the kids and stuff. I mean, obviously, you

know, you don't want to your family to go without supplies,

they need money, meaning no, it's it's not a system that's

helping people in a lot of people are struggling because of

it. And, yeah, like it, like I said, that leads to a lot of

stress. I mean, the I'm not sure if other people know this as

well, but the suicide rates in men right now are skyrocketing.

You know, like I say, when people are stressed out, they're

in debt, they don't know where they're getting money from, but

everyone's asking him or forcing them to pay the money. They

don't have it, you know, causes huge stress. And like I say, a

lot of people are, you know, it's sad. And I see a lot of

like, single dads were happy people, happy family, man, and

they will commit suicide because they don't know what to do. So

obviously, you know, that's something I want to prevent.

Well there and help people their finances so that they, you know,

they this, they do see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's

tough right now, and people just need to understand there's help

out there. So,

yeah. Oh, man, I didn't. I mean, I was imagining that mental

health is strongly being affected about Yeah, through

COVID and the economy, but I didn't know that there were

numbers out already. And that is very, very scary.

So these, these numbers are actually before COVID. So you

can imagine COVID making everything even worse. I forgot

to mention that before. But yeah, COVID is the next step

after the oil crash the recession, the economy crashed,

and now we have this COVID which is, you know, icing on top of

it. Right. So yeah, so we would like to set I've been seeing a

lot of stuff like that. And it's sad, but there's help you know,

you can reach out there help. There's a lot of advisors out

there looking to help people and people just, you know, the the

they aren't getting the help they need or they don't, they

don't know what's out there. They don't know where to look.

So

yeah. And I find it very hard to find people that you can really

trust because there's lots of scammers out there. You don't

want to go to your bank because you think they're gonna just do

it to their advantage. But then the other people that are out

there pretending to help and then not helping you at all.

It's it's a jungle out there and it's very scary to To trust

someone with your money, that's why I'm very happy that we met

and that I know that the crew behind you is trustworthy. How

do you get about, like, how do you advise a person when they

come to you and say, hey, I want to learn how to save money? What

are the first baby steps that a person can take in order to be

more stable? In order to address these problems, and instead of

running away from them?

Yeah, so it's, I'm glad you brought that up, because there's

a huge trust issue when it does come to advising. I mean, you go

to a bank, you think they have your best interests at heart,

but they don't, you know, their, their, their main job is to make

the bank money. So they're, you know, they're selling you

credit, they're selling you things that might not even help

you, they're probably, you know, helping you get into that. So,

it's a great thing that you brought that up, because that's

the first place people go is banks. But you know, there are

there are people out there that work for companies, and they're

being pressured by their managers to know, sell, sell,

sell. So I mean, you're right, you know, trust is a huge thing,

just because a person's helping you say, getting the life

insurance or investments, you know, they're out there to, you

know, they're there to make money for themselves. So you do

see a lot of, you know, pushy people, salesmen and trying to,

you know, take advantage of people. So, it's, it's a big

factor, you got to trust the adviser you sit down with. So

that's why, you know, you want to make sure you're, you're

sitting with a nice and friendly person who's very transparent

and open. And he's actually, you know, he cares about you, he

wants to make your life better. So that's awesome. You bring

that up? And then second point. So yeah, like, what can people

do? So first off, it's kind of like, it's like, it's very

similar to your mental health, your physical health, you know,

first of all, you need to identify what the problem is. So

the first thing is, what, why am I in debt. So the first thing

you can look at is, you know, take a look at where your

money's going, no create, first of all, like, you need to track

what you're spending your money on. And then that way, that

creates a baseline a starting point, okay? Okay, I'm spending

money here, here. And here. So this is where budgeting comes

into play. You know, okay, well, I'm spending a whole bunch of

money on you know, liquor and booze or cigarettes, and money,

you know, for food, and here and there, you know, diode all the

time. So now you know where your money is going, you can make a

plan to cut certain things out. So that's the first step, the

second step is even harder. So once you know you know, what

you're spending your money on, and what you know, what you need

to cut out and stuff like that. Now you have to create a budget

and follow it. Because you know, a lot of people realize, Oh, I

spent too much money here, there. But they never put a plan

in place, or they don't think about it later on, it just they

keep going back to their same routine. So that's why you know,

writing it down, making sure you see where your money's being

spent it what you spend your money on, then then once you

identify the areas where you need to cut back, then you can

create a budget, but then you have to be disciplined, you have

to follow that budget. So I mean, a lot of people use life

coaches, or, you know, financial advisors, just to say, Hey, you

know, I have this much money, what should I do with it, you

know, obviously, we're gonna say you make sure your family is

taken care of your bills are paid first, you know, your food

bought. And so you want to prioritize things and make sure

you're spending your money, the right amount, the right places.

So that, you know, that comes down to like I said, discipline,

you want to make sure all these things are dealt with. And then

the last thing you want to look at is okay, now you have extra

money, then what can I do with it? So, yeah, all that good

stuff.

And when it comes to investing, so now we looked at, okay, where

is your money being spent? Where can you be a little more

careful? Where can you cut back? And with the little bit of money

that you have? would you advise that people who just struggled

recently that they think of investing that money? Or is it

safe to just keep it on the savings account and to wait

until you have more saved up? Do you know what I'm Yeah,

yeah, so that's a good question as well. I mean, there's a lot

of areas where you can invest your money so first off, you

need to get kind of educated on what options are out there. So

obviously, the first place a person is going to go to is a

bank you know, savings account because they think it's the most

secure places, you know, there's there's just better options in

the bank. So I mean, you put your savings account at a bank,

you know, high interest savings account, you're probably getting

a quarter of a percent growth, which isn't much. So I mean,

people there's there's a rule out there called the rule of 72

It's the rule of compound growth, it was brought up by, it

was actually designed by Albert Einstein, he was gonna call it

the eighth wonder of the world. But anyways, the way it works is

you take your annual rate of return kick, the number 72,

divided by your annual rate of return, and that will tell you

how much your money doubles. So obviously, if your your money's

in a savings account at a bank growing at a quarter of a

percent, I'm not sure exactly what they think it's, you know,

it's probably like, one or 200 years before your money will

double right. So there are better options out there.

myself, you know, I can set up tax free savings accounts,

getting a DC portfolio is doing five to like 12% rates of

return. So first of all, you need to know your options. I

mean, obviously, there's another way to invest is trading A lot

of you know, trading starting to get really popular, but people

are not aware of that is very risky, you know, you can

actually lose most of your money when it comes to trades, if you

don't know what you're doing, or you don't manage your money

properly. You know, things can happen, and you can lose your

money quick. So you know, first off, you want to find someone

that's, you know, very knowledgeable in investing area,

and you want to make sure that you're investing in a nice safe

place, but you're also getting good returns, because what's the

point of saving money if it's not growing? So one thing I

wanted to talk about is inflation, like, because of our

economy right now, is not doing very well, people are getting

laid off, no one's getting more money, they're getting less

money, but cost of living is going up every year. So we're

there's a huge problem with that alone. But I mean, if your money

is not growing more than 3%, to stay on par of that inflation,

your money is not necessarily growing, it's actually shrinking

it dying, right. So you want to make sure that you're you're

talking to an advisor, you want to look at some a lot of

different options, the ones that best fit your needs. So we

actually have a statistic across Canada, you know, sitting with

an advisor talking with an advisor, you'll probably have

five times more money in retirement. So there's lots of

you know, there's lots of areas to invest, a lot of them have

different risk tolerances with them. But you just need to find

which one meets your needs, you know, to be risky investors who

are okay to take those big, no gains and losses, hopefully

getting those good returns. But then there's some people who are

very conservative and like, they don't like seeing ups and downs

in the markets, they just want to see a steady up. So you can

look at, you know, guaranteed interest accounts, gi C's, stuff

like that. So like I said, it just depends on what type of

person you are, what your tolerance is. And then but

sitting with an advisor, they can show you all those options,

and then we can find a vehicle that helps meet your needs.

Yeah. Awesome. What would you say is the minimum amount you

need in order to start investing? Like just very, very

plain answer if it's $100? Or no, it has to be over $1,000?

What What is the amount where you would say no, that's

realistic to start investing.

Okay, so that's a very interesting point you bring up

so obviously, like I said, today's economy is not very

well, you know, people are struggling. Yeah. So, statistics

show in the 1980s and 1990s, people were saving about 18% of

their saving their money into savings. Nowadays, that's more

like 3% so there's a huge, huge decrease there. You know, on

average, when we sit down with a client, I sit down with clients,

we say, as a rule of thumb, it's good to invest 10% of your

income into savings, or your financial plan. So let's see

more of that comes down to a lot of things even with personal

development, you know, running a business, they tell you you want

to whatever you make for the year, you want to invest 10% of

it back into yourself. So you know, reading the books, taking

courses, personal developing, becoming a better persons and

that's, you know, similar with savings, whatever your income

is, there's no specific dollar amount, but it's whatever your

income is, you know, on average, you should be saving around 10%

people who can't save 10% at least start the habit because,

you know, some people just you just need to start that habit

first because once you start that habit, it could be a very

small amount so people can afford it you know, we're

looking at maybe 5% investing into yourself but just want to

start that habit because once you do start that habit so

you're saving $25 a month you know, after a year or two you

say hey, you know what this has been drawing this has been

working well but I can afford more money and so maybe you want

to put in $50 away so it's it's a habit you want to create

because you want to create discipline. You don't want to

get into a habit of you know, saving for a year and then going

spending all that money. Yes. So you it's your money you want

with it, but I think the most important thing is to at least

start something. start somewhere. Yeah. Something

Something that you obviously even afford. But like I said,

you just want to start that habit, create good habits so

that it just, it just becomes part of your life.

Yes, beautiful. You said. And like you said at the beginning,

it's just like for mental health and your physical health, you

have to have that consistency. And that sense of I want to even

say self worth, to know that it is not only a rich people's

thing to invest money and to make more money, people with

less money, can start and put money aside and create that

habit. And then get there one day, this is, this is very

critical to say. I wanted to ask you, when it comes to your

finances, and finding an advisor out there, how can people like

hi met you coincidentally here on my Facebook? But how? We will

make sure to put all the links and all your your contacts in

there. But how do people otherwise find people like you?

Because you're not out there advertising it on TV or radio?

And then secondly, what are the books that you would recommend

us reading in order to become more aware of our finances and

spending habits? But first of all, how can we we find advisors

like you?

Yeah, so that's one of the big things that kind of disappoints

us about most financial companies and firms and banks.

So there, there are some big names out there. I don't want to

mention names because I'm not here to badmouth anybody, but

you know, some of the big banks, some of the main financial

companies that you recognize the names, you know, they won't even

sit down with you unless you have 100 or $200,000 sitting in

a checking account. Yeah, so first off, you know, there's,

there's people out there who know, they're only looking for

high net worth people. So that leaves you know, the middle

market and everyone else out of it. So there's no money in it

for advisors to go help broke people. So that's kind of one

disappointment. They're huge. Yeah, so I mean, myself, you

know, I see our company is see huge disconnect there. So I just

like want to meet if people have good conversations, you know,

I'm not here to push yourself or anything on people, but by just

by talking to them, you find out that they're struggling either

with a job or their finances, and I just, you know, I just try

and provide solutions for people, you know, like, hey,

maybe you should sit down, maybe I can help you out. And I mean,

I'm not picky, I'm not gonna go, it doesn't matter, if you have a

lot of money or less money, I actually want to help. Those are

the people that need to help the most. But the you know, there's,

there's a lot of people out there, even even people that

have their finances in order, you know, we can even help those

people out. Because, like I said, looking at a second

opinion, you know, you sit down with the first advisor, you take

their advice, and you think they're golden, but they only

told you about their options. There's other options out there.

So it's, it's good to have a second opinion, you know, get

second opinions from other people, because there's a lot of

options out there people aren't aware of. Um, so there's that

one thing as well. Another thing too, you know, when sitting down

with some advisors, they, you know, they have a fee, you know,

people need to pay a fee to sit down with them. And I mean, if

you, you know, a lot of their expertise is valuable, but you

got to pay for it. Like, there's broker fees on top of

everything, right. So obviously, it's no more more of the wealthy

people that they're taking care of. And we see a big problem

with that. So like I say, I just, you know, I look for

people who are struggling, people that need the help.

There's a lot of people out there who think they have their

finances in order because they sit down, but I'm like, you know

what, there's better options out there, let's take a look at your

financial plan. They might be set up, but I can show them

better options, that either helps them save more money now,

or I can put, you know, couple $100,000 more on their

retirement account so that they have saved more money or just

have more money. So yeah, like I said, it's another thing to you

know, you're not going to get help with your finances unless

you reach out and ask people so it's not just you know, those

companies reaching out to you, you know, sometimes you gotta,

you know, bite the bullet and be like, Hey, you know what, I

could use some help. And then go look for it yourself, right?

There's a lot of resources out there, but you just you just got

to be careful who you talk to you like you said, he, it's all

about trust. So I mean, you go to a company, a big company or

bank, you know, you're sitting down with an employee that you

Don't even know. So they're just there to do business with you.

Whereas, you know, I like to get to know people, I like to learn

about your friends and family, see how your summers going? I

keep in touch. And I like to create that friendship bond and

that trust relationship, because I want them to know that I am

there to help them on the eye, you know, their needs come

first. And another thing too, you know, there's like a lot of

banks and those big companies, once they sit down with you and

help you out, you know, they've made their money. No, they're

not, you'll probably never hear from them ever again. No

finances change, like even six months or a year your finances

changed. So I make it a habit to at least follow up every three

to six months, you know, first of all, to keep that

relationship. You know, I like I like to actually be friends with

people I help. I'm just that type of person. But you know, I

like to see how things are going, Hey, is anything changing

your life and you need help in this area? You know, these

things happen? And I'm always there to help people. So yeah,

like I said, it's just people just aren't aware that there's

help out there. They just either need to find those people or

reach out. So

yeah, no, that's very, very good. And what about some books

that you read? That changed your mindset when it comes to

finances? Can you read? So?

Yeah, there's some good books. So one of the book that comes to

mind is called and a lot of people don't know this is out

there. But it's called the 10s 10. Secrets Canada Revenue

doesn't want you to know about. So just an example. I mean, it's

a small book that I think it's really hard to find, but I think

you can get it on Amazon. But I've heard it is a little bit

harder to read, because obviously the government

doesn't, you know, they want your tax money, right. So it's

just a book, it's a book money. It's a book that teaches you how

to, you know, cool strategies that people use to save money on

taxes. So just an example, you know, life insurance is there to

protect your family and stuff in case something were to happen,

but some of life insurance products, I have come with an

investment portion attached to it. So these are called

insurance tax shelters. Yeah, it was another way to tax shelter

your money, you know, felt the government getting their fingers

in it. That's just one, you know, one tip, I think that's

secret number eight, secret number nine, you know, is being

self employed, you know, being an employee, and you're getting

taxed, 30 to 40%. But if you were to, you know, you say you

worked a trade or you did a specific job that no one else

can do, you could actually break off for that company, start your

own company. When you're self employed, or a business owner,

you get taxed. 15 20%. So right off the bat, you're getting

taxed less being self employed. I mean, there's, there's pros

and cons between being an employee and self employed.

Yeah, but one of the big ones is, you know, your how much

you're getting taxed. So I mean, as an employee getting taxed, so

you make $100,000 a year, you're getting 35% you're only taking

home. 65,000 Yeah, but if you're making $80,000, and you're

getting taxed 15%. You know, you're you're taking home the

same amount of money. Yeah. Yeah, so there, that's a good

book as well. Another one is, there's a guy called Darren

Hardy. And he's wrote some books. I believe the three most

popular ones he's written are called the entrepreneur

rollercoaster that's more so how to run a business and you know,

just be a good person, all that stuff. But the other books that

really helped me Oh, it was called the compound effect.

Hmm, very good.

So that book was huge in my personal development, not only

does that help, you know, people's finances or success, it

also helps with your relationships and lifestyle. So

remember how or I told you about what you know, people struggling

with debt, what's the first steps you can do? When I say,

you know, first off, write down what you're spending your money

on, so that you can create a baseline, then you can create

waste to what you need to cut out and then you can make a plan

to move forward. I've learned all that from the compound

effect. So as it's to do with, you know, money and finance, but

also to do with your lifestyle as well, you know, relationships

with people, your bad habits and stuff like that. So that was a

huge one. It teaches you more of a discipline, you know, how to

how to be more aware of what your money on or you know,

anything to do with that. So that was a good book. And

there's another one called living your best life ever by

Darren Hardy. I haven't read that book yet. But it's more

like a peak performance kind of thing. kind of deal. So, Darren

Hardy is I think he's the president or owner of a magazine

called Success Magazine. And yeah, he's just, you know, he

started out as a realtor. He did some of these, you know, I think

he used to sell water filters and stuff like that. I think he

did Amway for a bit, but he ended up being the realtor

because that's what is found. business was but then he, you

know, he branched off and now he goes off and he interviews

wealthy people, people that are making lots of money or

succeeding in life. And he picks their brains, because he wants

to know how people become successful. And then he writes

the books and he teaches everyone else how to be

successful. So those are some of the books that I read that

helped. finances and stuff like that.

Very, very good. Man, this was very precious I feel for all of

us listening, like for me as well, like a lot of stuff that I

was not really aware of. And, yeah, very precious information

you shared with us, I will make sure that all your contact

contact info in the show notes. So don't wonder if people are

starting to reach out to you hopefully, if they, I would

really appreciate that. I'd be happy to help more people

obviously. Yes, no. And especially in those tough times

that we are all trying to navigate through. And yeah,

we'll also put your book recommendations in there because

I feel they're very insightful and put help more people out

there. Thank you so much for being with us today. And yeah,

we'll talk very soon again.

Awesome. Yeah. Again, thanks for having me. I hope you I hope you

found lots of value out of that. And I hope a lot of your viewers

can, you know, take some tips, and I hope that helps them as

well. So thank you so much.

Thank you so much for listening to this interview. I hope it

brought to you yeah, inside and hope when it comes to your

finances. Don't feel alone with this well together in this. And

yeah, as you heard, there's people out there who are willing

to help you willing to make you feel and be more resilient with

your finances in the future. subscribe, rate and review this

podcast if you love it, and if it became part of your life and

bringing you joy and relaxation, self reflection. Thank you so