Glory Gray 0:00
Welcome to Women’s Wealth Canada, I’m Glory Gray.
Today I’d like to tell you about another great Canadian podcast, called “Focus and Freedom for Entrepreneurs, hosted by Val Low.
Val is a digital & efficiency expert located in British Columbia who helps entrepreneurs clear the business clutter and thrive.
Entrepreneurs are sometimes known for their tendency to be distracted and have too many projects going at once. Val shows us how to calm the overwhelm and distractions with focus and efficiency strategies and tools that enable them to have the freedom to do the things that matter most in their business and life.
I recently sat down to chat with Val on her podcast. To listen to our conversation, go to the episode notes in the episode you’re listening to right now, that’s episode 13 and scroll down to the direct link to the podcast on Val’s website.
Or, search on any podcast platform for the Focus and Freedom for Entrepreneurs Podcast and go to Episode 110. I’ll see you over there!
[Love Life by Purple Planet Music]
If you’ve been listening to Women’s Wealth Canada for a while, you know that I don’t like to use the word budget. I prefer the term “spending plan.” A spending plan just seems like a more empowering term.
But, whatever term you like to use, you need a tool to help keep you on track. Some people can use a spreadsheet and that works great for them. Other people like to use envelopes.
The way that works is you have an envelope for each spending plan, one for groceries, one for utilities, and so on. These were much more popular when we were accustomed to using cash to pay our bills, but you can still use it by keeping a slip of paper in each envelope. At the beginning of each month, write the amount of your anticipated spending for that expense and subtract your spending as you go. You’ll find out pretty quickly when you’ve hit your spending plan target. Then you have to decide if you’re going to borrow from another spending plan for that month or just wait it out until the next month. It’s a very tactile way of keeping track of your spending.
It can also be a great way to teach children about how to manage their money and practice their arithmetic at the same time.
In this busy world, of course, there’s an app for this. One I know of is mint.com. It’s created by Intuit, the same company that provides Turbotax. So, the security of this app is pretty dependable.
What’s nice about Mint.com is number one, it’s free and number two, it links with your bank and investment accounts to automatically track all your expenses and categorizes all your purchases for you. You can set spending plans for categories so you know if you’re spending too much on any one thing and it also has a goal setting feature. The great thing is, it connects to most Canadian financial institutions.
Another choice is youneedabudget.com . That one is not free. It uses a different philosophy for managing your money than mint.com. For some people, it helps them get to their goals faster.
Because the two apps are quite different, you’ll want to compare them to see which one is right for you. I’ll leave a link in the episode notes to a review by Investopedia. Take a look and see which one is best for you.
[Outro music]
That’s all for today. As I said, for more tips this week, be sure to check out my discussion with Val Low on the Freedom and Focus for Entrepreneurs podcast in the links in the episode notes.
If this podcast helped you, please subscribe and please let others know about it so we can help them too. You can follow Glory Gray Wealth Solutions on Facebook too.
Are you going through a life transition and need to find a financial advisor to manage your investments? You don’t have to feel intimidated wondering how to find the right one. Grab my free guide, “12 Smart Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Financial Advisor.” This guide gives you all the questions and why you should ask them. Just go to GloryGray.com, pop in your email address and we’ll send it right to your inbox.
You can also schedule a free 15 minute phone call with me where you can ask your specific financial questions. Just pop over to my website, GloryGray.com and contact us.
Until next time, this is Glory Gray, your personal trainer for financial fitness telling you to take charge of your finances, plan for the future but most of all, enjoy today. Bye for now.
Announcer: 4:56
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice. It is not an offer to sell or buy or an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any entity or security cited. Mutual funds offered through Portfolio Strategies Corporation. Other products and services provided through Glory Gray Wealth Solutions.
