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Pattie Lovett-Reid

Chief Financial Commentator, CTV

|Archive

As Financial Literacy Month kicks off in November (with Credit Education Week from Nov. 7-11), money expert for millennial women, Limor Markman, sat down with me and told me she is on a mission to make young Canadians feel “fabulous” about their finances. She wants to move people from thinking limitation to thinking abundance when it comes to money.

Here are a few of her tips:

  • Look at your financial situation with a guilt-free lens. Too many of us shame ourselves about our financial spending, and that guilt prevents us from looking at what’s actually happening with our money. The first step is about opening our eyes and really becoming aware of our spending and saving habits.
  • Treat savings like a trade-off. Long-term goals can feel insurmountable on their own, but micro-goal setting can be a highly effective motivator. For example, if you want to save $27,000 to backpack across Europe for a year and you determine that will cost you $75 per day, then start by saving money in $75 increments (micro-goal). Each micro-goal achieved in this case represents one more day of travel in Europe.
  • Negotiate everything! Limor is a firm believer that you should always ask. Ask your employer for a salary increase and know what it will take for you, work-wise, to get it.  Ask your financial institution to decrease your interest rates if possible. Ask your cell phone provider if you are over on minutes or data to consider reducing overage charges. Be prepared to accept  a“no,” but recognize that you never know until you ask!
  • Monetize a hobby and create multiple streams of income. In today’s marketplace, Limor says there’s no reason you can’t make some money off of a hobby to supplement your income. If you love to dance, teach someone. If you love taking photos, sell them on stock photography sites. If you love crafts, open up an Etsy store. With so many online platforms today like Udemy and Teachable, hobbies can become scalable money generators. We just have to start thinking differently.

In a perfect world if you dare to do things a little differently, think differently and act differently, you can have your financial cake and eat it too.