Money That Grows with my Family

This article originally appeared on cbc.ca as part of the #FinanicallyUnfiltered series.

There are a few questions I get asked a lot, all about our family planning.

Let’s face it: being an adult is hard, and talking about money is even harder. Honestly, it hit me when I was pregnant with Nico, my first baby, 7 years ago. We recently invested in our first mortgage and planned to grow our family the same year.

… just wait, I know, don’t panic, just yet!

Sitting and planning what the future looks like money-wise was something we didn’t have a full experience on and in all honesty, we aren’t so proud about. We knew financial planning means so much: retirement, our kids, debt, properties, and all that adulting you don’t know how to organize amiright?

As a mom, entrepreneur, creative & foodie, I’m going to lay all the details you need to know to change your relationship with money, for good, unfiltered, obviously!

  • The key to start? Spreadsheet magic!

Planning for my family,  saving for my two kids and maintaining a business requires some next-level organization. We sat and listed every-single-expense, and this includes fixed & variable (yes, even those dreamy travel adventures and all the food we love to eat out). This monthly overview taught us one thing: we didn’t know our numbers before, and yes, you can save and grow financially even with a family.

  • Don’t wait, start early, and I mean it, now!

When I was planning our little family, we did two things: we opened our first TFSA, and a few months later, our RESP. Different accounts serve different goals, and in our personal case, we tailored these with risk levels we are extremely comfy with (because you know, I’m everything but a trust fund). After reading, reading about smart financial planning, we discovered RBC InvestEase®, a new tool launched by our fave banking institution. . Lemme tell ya, the process is easy, breezy, voila – we were able to set up our account (all online) by just taking an online survey, knowing our family goals and tolerance levels, magic you guys!

  • Goals? Let’s make them happen.

Managing money and being self-employed is… well, hard. One week you have your monthly budget all covered and the next one you’re like, wait what? So trust me, I know that struggle is very real. I have a different mindset now as a mama of two, and I planned many goals, such as traveling more, enjoying the little things more and knowing our time is precious as well. Setting my family’s financial goals & having the comfort of knowing dedicated portfolio advisors have my back,  makes life so much easier!

Find the right tools, advisors, accountants and institutions that will help your financial journey. Money is a complex but mastering yours is a satisfying job you should be able to handle, like a real boss.

…. And yes, we’ve got this!

Click here to Get #FinanciallyUnfiltered and tell CBC about your relationship with money. Ten chosen stories will be rewarded with $200.

Disclaimer:

® Trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence.
© RBC InvestEase Inc. 2019

RBC InvestEase Inc. provides online discretionary investment management services. Other products and services may be offered by one or more separate corporate entities that are affiliated to RBC InvestEase Inc., including without limitation: Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Direct Investing Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., RBC Global Asset Management Inc., Royal Trust Corporation of Canada and The Royal Trust Company. RBC InvestEase Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada and uses the business name RBC InvestEase.

The services provided by RBC InvestEase are only available in Canada. If you are not currently a resident in Canada, you should not access the information available through this digital service