About me

I was not savvy or smart with personal finance at all when I first became a single mom. Prior to that, I went through life with an attitude of “I guess things will somehow be ok as long as I wasn’t gambling away my money.” I managed to save and invest consistently throughout my working years into mutual funds. I didn’t question my mutual fund manager on my investments’ performance compared to other investment options, what their fee was, and whether those investment funds still made sense given my goals and timeline. I wasn’t tracking my spending, nor did I have a budget. I had zero clue about better investment options out there, and the much better returns I can get. I didn’t know what an ETF was, that “FIRE” was a thing (Financial Independence, Retire Early), nor that keeping cash in my bank’s savings account yielding 0.3% interest was atrocious. I had no idea if I would have enough for retirement. 

Being thrown into single parenthood forced me to take a hard look at my finances – I was responsible for keeping me and my kids and alive, afterall, on mostly one income. I learned about budgeting. I learned about TFSAs, RRSPs, and RESPs. I learned about the power of time and compounding for investments. I learned about investment platforms, robo-advisors, DIY investing, asset allocation, high yield savings accounts, and tax-efficient strategies. I also made and learned from my mistakes along the way.