Over the past two months, I’ve had more emails from readers than I have since I started this blog.<\/p>\n
What our world is currently going through and the fear of economic and personal crisis has sparked anxiety<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n In all fairness, I don’t blame anyone who was not prepared but I certainly praise them for educating themselves.<\/p>\n At the beginning of our debt-free journey<\/a><\/strong>, the only financial resources we used came from our online bank account.<\/p>\n Although both of us had savings from previous house sales we rented a room and earned a bit over minimum wage<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n At the time we were both working full-time jobs and were still paying a vehicle debt that my wife took on 4 years prior.<\/p>\n That monthly cost alone was close to $500 and a thorn in our side although a reality for most Canadians.<\/p>\n She had to get to work as did I and walking or taking public transit was not an option.<\/p>\n It was common practice for us to review what was deposited and withdrawn from our bank to make sure the numbers were accurate.<\/p>\n I think it’s safe to say that most Canadians do this at the very least as part of protection to track their cash trail.<\/p>\n But is it enough?<\/p>\n The short answer is no.<\/p>\n Not if you want personal success that teeters on the debt-free side.<\/p>\n Many other important financial resources are critical to reaching financial stability<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n These days friends wonder how we can run a household when I’m the only person who works<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n They might not come out and ask but there have been round-a-bout questions such as, “It must be tough with one person working” or “You must earn a good income so your wife can stay home”.<\/p>\n We’ve heard it all and to be honest, how much money we earn is only a small portion of personal success when you’re using the right financial resources.<\/p>\n There’s a difference between a successful person and personal success<\/strong> so it’s important to understand how they relate.<\/p>\n A successful person achieves success first through personal success which means invest in yourself first and the rest will come.<\/p>\n Education is an example.<\/p>\n If you’re not familiar with finance and are worried about not understanding how to budget, then learn.<\/p>\n Investing in yourself<\/strong><\/a> is the best way to increase your odds of achieving your goals.<\/p>\n When setting yourself up for financial success you’ll want two things to begin your journey.<\/p>\n 1. Yearly Goals Worksheet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Plan and have a back-up plan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I remember when our financial advisor showed up at our room rental on a scooter.<\/p>\n He was just a young guy who used to drive a car but was now tooting around on what seemed to be a genius ride.<\/p>\n Not only was his insurance cheaper but the petrol to run the scooter was far less expensive.<\/p>\n I never laughed at the guy because I knew he had that frugal-mindset just from talking to him.<\/p>\n He started with the financial company learning to become an advisor and now owns his own multi-million dollar company.<\/p>\n I wasn’t shocked to read about his success because the kid was a go-getter and didn’t let much stand in his way.<\/p>\n My point is that it’s great to have this grandiose plan but if nothing is backing it up, you’re doomed.<\/p>\n Not many of you planned for Covid-19 but look at what’s happening now.<\/p>\n Even businesses are suffering the consequences of not having the means to finance the drop in sales.<\/p>\n I know one restaurant owner who re-mortgaged their home and put it on the line to open their restaurant.<\/p>\n So, not only would they lose their livelihood but they’d lose the family home if everything went south for them.<\/p>\n That’s a pretty big brick to hold on your shoulders.<\/p>\n Talk about taking a risk without wearing a pair of underwear.<\/p>\n You put yourself in a position where you’re walking around naked until and IF you become successful.<\/p>\n Only then is when you can pull up your pants and worry less, but that doesn’t happen overnight.<\/p>\n Just like a business on a personal level we have to tuck away an emergency plan of action.<\/p>\n The what-ifs are more than necessary and not meant to scare anyone but to remind us that we have to hold our own.<\/p>\n Although the government is stepping in to help as many Canadians as they can financially it may not be enough.<\/p>\n We have to be self-reliant and understand how important financial resources are to becoming financially stable.<\/p>\n You would have thought since we were both working and had money stashed away that we’d be a financial success story.<\/p>\n That’s not the case especially when we deposited a large portion of our Canadian funds into our mortgage downpayment.<\/p>\n Money was tied up in the UK and in our retirement investments including pensions that we could not touch.<\/p>\n Financial liquidity and investments meant for the long-term are two entirely different things.<\/p>\n It was that simple and since had been researching buying a house in Canada and mortgage lending we had the ball in the right court.<\/p>\n Before buying our house we had to get married and there were no big wedding bashes either.<\/p>\n You have to think about how debt will affect you in the event of certain situations.<\/p>\n How will your debt repayment plans if _______________?<\/p>\n Fill in the blank as it’s nothing new that I haven’t blogged about before.<\/p>\n The idea of a Plan A and Plan B for us became clear the more we worked together to uncover the hidden problems facing many Canadians today.<\/p>\n Spending more than they earn and even though awareness is out there it continues to happen day after day.<\/p>\n Why? Because debt bails out debt with more debt.<\/p>\n Payday loans are widely available, credit cards, banks, and personal loans either help or lend to the debt problem.<\/p>\n What you get is nothing more than revolving credit until everything crashes and people burn.<\/p>\n It’s always only a matter of time if little to no effort is put in.<\/p>\n So, what should you do? What did we do?<\/p>\n We brought out the big guns and pulled up our pants once and for all.<\/p>\n Freedom from not owing money for debt that you’ve created is something that feels so good it hurts but in a cool way.<\/p>\n By this I mean you still get that ache in the pit of your stomach because you’re never really safe however you have power.<\/p>\n You have the power to say I’m in control and I have choices I can make and that stems from using a budget.<\/p>\n It was the budget and always will be the budget that saved us from a life of debt worry.<\/p>\n If you’re reading CBB for the first time and wondering how a budget can help you succeed, you’ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n For those of you who have read my countless articles about budgeting and are STILL not convinced, I can’t help you.<\/p>\n You see, we used financial resources that were available to us because trying something was better than doing nothing.<\/p>\n It’s comparable to putting two slices of cake in front of you, one being chocolate which you know you love, and the other carrot cake with caramel sauce.<\/p>\n You know you like caramel but are not a fan of carrot cake.<\/p>\n What would most people do?<\/p>\n They’d eat the chocolate because they know they love it.<\/p>\n However, the carrot cake with caramel sauce may just change the overall taste and texture of something you have no interest in eating.<\/p>\n The moral of the story, give it a try, you might like it.<\/p>\n Just because something is familiar doesn’t mean it’s the right decision especially if that same piece of cake isn’t exciting you.<\/p>\n You must be excited about personal finance and testing boundaries with-in reason is the only way to find your happiness.<\/p>\n Continuing to eat the same boring piece of chocolate cake not only keeps you in a safe but perhaps insecure financial situation it holds you back.<\/p>\n Review my 10 Step Mini-Budgeting Series<\/strong><\/a> and use our free financial resources to get started.<\/p>\n Free.<\/p>\n When you teach yourself financial discipline<\/strong><\/a> it’s only then you want to dig deeper into financial success stories.<\/p>\n Let’s just say that you start a diet and you begin to see how your body is losing weight.<\/p>\n Your confidence increases and you become almost hyper-aware of all things related to a successful weight loss journey.<\/p>\n The same goes for finding the best financial resources whether it be online, in-person, or in print to fuel your fire.<\/p>\n I also read countless articles from The Globe and Mail<\/strong><\/a>, The Financial Post<\/strong><\/a>, CTV News<\/a>, and read Money Sense Magazine<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Keeping up with what was happening with our bank Simplii Financial<\/strong><\/a> and government info at Canada.ca<\/a><\/strong> was not to be missed.<\/p>\n When I first started blogging about finance I followed Canadian bloggers who I felt had the same mindset as myself.<\/p>\n Spend less, earn more, invest, and kill debt while enjoying life to the fullest.<\/p>\n I chose well since both bloggers are still blogging and Rob is still writing for The Globe and Mail battling the financial wars.<\/p>\n My advice is that if you’re looking for online financial resources that fuel your fire find people that you can connect with.<\/p>\n Stop searching for the magic pill and educate yourself from someone who has lived what you’re living and has broken free.<\/p>\n These are the best free financial resources to connect with online.<\/strong><\/p>\n I often share financial success stories of readers on CBB because we relate, others might relate and it’s a time to celebrate.<\/p>\n These are the winners who understand that financial success isn’t how big your bank account is.<\/p>\n Financial success<\/strong> <\/a>is gaining control of your situation<\/strong> from as many angles as possible while reducing bad debt<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Besides setting goals, budgeting, and following other successful Canadian finance bloggers we have become obsessed with tracking.<\/p>\n Take that lightly but in a financial sense, it has been critical to know where our money is going.<\/p>\n Years ago when I started this blog the Financial Resources page consisted of our free excel budget spreadsheet and a basic budget.<\/p>\n Over time we created a budget binder which only seemed right given the blog name.<\/p>\n To be fair one blog post I’ve never written was how to put a budget binder together which is in the making.<\/p>\n I want everyone to see just how easy it is one of the most valuable financial resources to add ammunition against debt.<\/p>\n Our budget binder consisted of free printable worksheets that helped us to :<\/p>\n Many of you have downloaded and printed our free financial resources<\/strong><\/a> and changed them to suit your needs.<\/p>\n Whatever you do with our financial resources to bring you personal success should be meaningful.<\/strong><\/p>\n So, if you print them and are not using them consistently they either add no value or you are not seeing the value.<\/p>\n What I mean is, they won’t work themselves and they take time to see results, similar to dieting.<\/p>\n Let’s look at my top 10 budget binder printable picks from our free financial resources page.<\/p>\n These 10 are in conjunction with the budget spreadsheet<\/strong><\/a> and basic budget<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the first finance books that I ever read was, “The Millionaire Next Door<\/a><\/strong>” which set the framework for this journey.<\/p>\n It’s about the secrets of the wealthy and worrying about what’s in your backyard and no one else’s.<\/p>\n A highlight of our budgeting journey so vivid that I no longer care what anyone else has.<\/p>\n Enjoy your cottage life, boats, cars, a large house, and endless trips around the world.<\/p>\n It’s a freedom that comes before you start your budgeting journey because you’ve eliminated our worst enemy, comparison<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\nRemoving Barriers With Financial Resources<\/h2>\n
Money Is Not The Only Success Factor<\/h2>\n
1. Financial Goals Worksheet<\/h2>\n
2. Creating a Financial Plan A and B<\/h2>\n
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3.Using A Monthly Budget<\/h2>\n
4. Other’s Financial Success Stories<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/strong><\/li>\n5. Free Financial Resources We Use<\/h2>\n
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Top 10 Free Financial Resources To Get You Started<\/h2>\n
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Financial Resources- Must Read Books For Beginners<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"The-wealthy-barber\"](\"https:\/\/digitalskyweb.co\/canadianbudgetbinder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The-wealthy-barber.webp\")
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