Mo' Money Podcast | Personal Finance With Jessica Moorhouse

Rachel Hernandez is arguably one of the hardest working solopreneurs out there. Having had an entrepreneurial spirit from a very young age, Rachel shares her story of working long hours to pay for university and eventually starting her own successful mobile home investment business. Long episode description: My guest for this episode is Rachel Hernandez — arguably one of the hardest working women I know! Not only does she have a strong work ethic, she’s basically been an entrepreneur since she was in elementary school. Who else could come up with an idea to sell pencils and stickers to kids (as a kid) but someone who would end up becoming a successful real estate investor. In this episode, Rachel shares her story of how she worked her way to pay for college, turned down a chance to do her MBA and took a huge leap of faith by starting her own real estate investing company. Although she now predominantly invests in mobile homes, she has a wealth of knowledge on single home investing as well. She’s even so knowl

John Robertson, the author of the DIY investing book The Value of Simple, and I discuss the why and how of index fund investing, his side gig as an investment coach and how investing can be simple (if you're doing it right). Long episode description: In this episode I talk with John Robertson, the blogger behind Holy Potato and the author of The Value of Simple, about one of my favourite topics — index fund investing. I explored this subject a bit in my podcast episode with Barry Choi, but John breaks down the principles even further and explains what actionable steps you need to take to become a do-it-yourself investor. If you are really interested in going the DIY investing route, I highly suggest reading John’s book. I did and I seriously learned a lot about what is involved and what the best ways to get started are. We mentioned a number of resources in this episode, and here they are below. Books John Mentioned The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

Revanche, the blogger behind A Gai Shan Life, and I talk about growing up extremely frugal, helping her family out of a tough financial situation and her aspirations to become a full-fledged millionaire. Long episode description: Talk about overcoming some major obstacles, Revanche seriously is one inspiring woman. It’s one thing to try to get yourself out of debt by working hard and saving aggressively, but it’s quite another to do the same to help your family out of a tough financial situation. Although I think Revanche’s story is quite unique, I also feel like she’s not alone in being thrown into a situation where your loved ones need your help and you need to make some big sacrifices to get them out. I’d love to know in the comments if anyone else has experienced something similar! Please share your stories if you have them. Although it was a long journey for Revanche, which you’ll learn in our podcast episode together, she didn’t just stop when the debt was finally paid off. She set herself an even lofti

In this episode, I interview Carrie Smith from Careful Cents about how she paid off $14,000 in consumer debt and was able to leave her stressful 9 to 5 to become a top business coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs. Long episode description: As Carrie and I mentioned at the start of this episode, we met in person over a year ago at FinCon 2014 in New Orleans and totally hit it off. It was actually Carrie, myself and Cait from Blonde on the Budget that hung out quite a bit at that conference, and I am really looking forward to doing it again at FinCon 2016 in San Diego. Speaking of FinCon, a huge congratulations to Carrie for winning Best Entrepreneurship Blog at the 2015 Plutus Awards this past September. Way to go girl! Carrie has a really interesting story all about overcoming huge financial challenges and taking some big risks to live the life she knew she deserved. She went into debt, she went through a divorce and she had a really stressful accounting job that turned her into a workaholic. But she saw

J. Money from the popular personal finance blog Budgets Are Sexy and I talk about making money online, getting fired, giving away $90,000 and making budgets sexy again. Long episode description: J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy and Rockstar Finance has been in the personal finance game since 2008, so he knows what’s going on when it comes to talking money. In this episode, we discuss how he became a blogger, why getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to him and how he’s been able to give back in a big way.  Not only is J. Money just a super cool, genuine guy — I owe him a big one because talking to him for this episode was the kick in the pants I needed to move forward with my rebrand and future money coaching business. You know when you have an idea, but are just too scared to take action because it’s not perfect yet? I’m a big perfectionist, and it’s definitely held me back from trying new things and taking risks that could help me in the long run. But J. Money is such a an inspiring guy with eve

I talk to Plutus Award winner and debt blogger Melanie Lockert about her experience tackling $81,000 in student loan debt and becoming a full-time freelancer and debt crusher advocate. Long episode description: It was such a pleasure interviewing Melanie Lockert from Dear Debt. I’m an uber nerd and couldn’t contain how much I love Portland (where she currently lives) as you may have gathered from me blurting it out at the beginning of this episode. But in addition to secretly wishing I lived on the West Coast again, I’m also a huge fan of her blog and have been for many years, so it was a huge treat to be able to record this episode with the ultimate debt crusher. Melanie’s story is one that I’m sure many of you can relate to. She took out a loan to do her bachelor’s degree, then got into her dream school of NYU to do her master’s degree. That meant she had to take on even more student debt. The grand total tallied up to $81,000 in student loan debt. That’s basically a down-payment on a house in Toronto or se

In this episode, I talk about my experience as a missionary in Africa at 18 and sponsoring a child in my 20s to give back. Long episode description: Hello and welcome to another solo podcast episode with yours truly. I know in episode 1 I said I would just being doing interviewed shows, but what can I say, I love to talk and I’ve got a lot to say. In this episode which I am super excited to share with you, I dive into my experience as a missionary and sponsoring a child to give back. I believe giving back and donating to charities is incredibly important, especially when it comes to personal finance. When we think about money management though, it’s usually the last thing we think of after saving, investing and making more money. Giving back has always been a big part of my life, starting with my childhood in the Catholic church. Participating in giving back through my church’s programs evolved into me deciding to go to Africa at 18 to do some good overseas. It was definitely an enlightening experience, good

Quin Sandler, CEO of fitness technology company Plantiga, and I talk about being a serial entrepreneur and what that means for his budget, retirement plans and career aspirations. Long episode description: My guest on this podcast episode can be summed up in one word: hustler. Quin Sandler, who I was introduced to by my husband Josh, is one motivating character. He’s an entrepreneur and is currently the co-founder and CEO of the startup Plantiga. In this episode we talk about how he’s created several different businesses including a tutoring business and a web design and branding business, and how that led him to his new venture in wearable sports technology. We also dive into how he budgets (or does he?), what he does to supplement his income when money is scarce and what his thoughts are on retirement. We mentioned a ton of things on the show, so I’ve organized everything to make it easy for you below. Thanks for listening and make sure to let me know what you think about this episode or my show by leaving

BrokeGirlRich blogger Melissa Bondar and I discuss the sacrifices you have to make to follow your passion and work in the arts industry, while paying off debt and living on a very tight budget. Long episode description: I was really looking forward to interviewing Melissa Bondar, the blogger behind BrokeGirlRich. Not only were we roommates for FinCon 2014 in New Orleans, but her story is very close to my heart. We both went to art school in university, her for theatre and me for film. But instead of pursuing a career in my field like Melissa did, I kind of chickened out and just ran in the complete opposite direction. No regrets of course, and looking back I can say confidently that the film industry and me would not have been a good fit. That being said, I think it is so cool that Melissa pursued her dream of working in theatre and now she has an awesome job as a stage manager in New York City! You go girl! Melissa and I talked about a ton of stuff on the show, and I’ve listed some of her blog posts that we

Personal finance author (Stop Over-thinking Your Money!) and TV personality Preet Banerjee and I talk about his journey from race car driver to leading Canadian financial expert. Long episode description: Can I just start off with saying how amazing Preet sounds on my podcast? He puts my “radio voice” to shame! I should have known, he is a podcaster and TV personality after all. I’ve got to say, this is probably one of my favourite podcast episodes (not to bash any of the episodes I’ve done up until this point, they are all amazing too!). Preet is such a cool, genuine guy and it was so nice to hear his story. I mean, how many people do you know who went to school to be a brain surgeon, then pursued a career in race car driving and ended up becoming a well-known financial expert on TV? I guess never having a 5-year plan might be the way to go? Before I get to the important links and book giveaway, I’ve got to hang my head in shame because I still haven’t crossed off 1) get a will and 2) get life and disability

In this episode, I interview Wealthing Like Rabbits author Robert R. Brown about how he got into the personal finance world, what inspired him to write this cheeky book and what it means to wealth like a rabbit. Long episode description: It was so great to chat with Robert Brown in this episode, the author of the personal finance book Wealthing Like Rabbits (or it’s original title and my personal favourite, Sex, Zombies and Compound Interest). I was able to review the book on the blog back in November, so it was fun to be able to chat with Robert about some of my favourite passages and find out more about the man behind the book. As mentioned at the beginning of this episode, I will be giving away a copy ofWealthing Like Rabbits so you can enjoy it just as much as I did. Make sure to enter below! And as always, below are some interesting links that we mentioned during the show that you may want to check out as well. Personal Finance Authors Robert Mentioned David Chilton Bruce Sellery Gail Vaz-Oxlade Preet Ba

Music blogger turned entrepreneur Angela Mastrogiacomo discusses why she chose to follow her passion by starting her own business (Muddy Paw PR) and travelling city to city organizing music industry meetups. Long episode description: I was so excited to talk with Angela Mastrogiacomo for this episode because her story instantly clicked with me. It’s actually kind of cool how I connected with Angela. As you know from listening to my podcast episode with my husband Josh, he’s a freelance audio engineer and a big part of his job is to network in hopes of finding his next gig. Well, he started going to this one industry meet-up called Balanced Breakfast and guess who created the whole darn thing — Angela. He came home after his first meet-up and told me that Angela would make the perfect guest for my podcast. Considering she’s a music blogger and started her own PR company at a very young age, he was bang on the money and I contacted her soon after. In this episode, we talk about a lot of different things but mai

It's not easy being in debt while supporting a family. Catherine MacLean from Plunged in Debt and I talk about her debt repayment plan, her new frugal lifestyle and what tips and tricks she uses to cut back on spending to balance her budget. Long episode description: In this episode I talk to Catherine MacLean from the personal finance blog Plunged in Debt. From the name of her blog, you can guess what it’s focus is on. Catherine and her husband have a huge amount of debt to pay off, and it hasn’t been easy. On top of that they are a young family with a 3-year-old daughter to provide for. Fortunately, Catherine is one financially savvy lady and writes about all the different ways she’s found to cut back and save on the little things. If you’re in debt and need some motivation to stick to your budget and kick your debt to the curb, you definitely need to check out Catherine’s blog (and listen to our podcast episode). In our conversation, Catherine and I mentioned a few of her most notable blog posts, so here t

Sarah Peterson from Unsettle and Suburban Finance and I talk about starting an online side hustle to make extra money or to eventually develop a full-time business. Long episode description: Many of you personal finance blog readers may already know Sarah Peterson from when she ran When Life Gives You Lemons Add Vodka, or maybe you read her current personal finance blog Suburban Finance. Or maybe you know her from her new project Unsettle.org. This girl even has her own podcast! She's everywhere! I've known Sarah for a number of years. I actually met her at the same time I met Liquid Independence almost four years ago. I don't know if I've ever told this story on the blog before, but around that time myself and Sarah and a few other personal finance bloggers in Vancouver decided to meet up in person for the very first time. We coordinated everything over email and I just prayed to God that at least one of them would be normal. It's hard to tell how a person really is just by their online persona, and meeting

Liquid Independence, the blogger behind Freedom 35 Blog, and I talk about investing in farmland and his goal to be financially free by 35 years old. Long episode description: When I was in Vancouver in June for my bi-annual visit with the HB, I scheduled some time to talk to one of the first personal finance bloggers I got to know almost 4 years ago. His blogger name is Liquid Independence and he runs the investment blog Freedom 35 Blog. As you can guess from the name of his blog, his vision is to do everything he can to achieve complete financial independence by 35 years old. Not only is that a pretty incredible goal to have (I’m just hoping to save up enough for retirement by 65 personally), but he is super savvy when it comes to property investment. He owns his own condo as well as some farmland in Saskatchewan. In this episode, I discuss with him at length his property investment strategies and what steps you need to take in order to become a farm investor too. Since Liquid’s journey is so interesting, I’

Personal finance blogger Jordann Brown from My Alternate Life and I talk about her paying down $38,000 in debt and completely changing her lifestyle to prevent getting into debt ever again. Long episode description: I am so excited to share my episode with Jordann Brown from My Alternate Life. I’ve been following her blog since it started (close to the time I started mine over 3 years ago), so it was so fun to chat with her about her journey. I actually first met Jordann at the Canadian Personal Finance Conference in 2013 and she was just as sweet and friendly in-person as she is on her blog. We also hung out at FinCon 2014 in New Orleans last September, partially because we Canadian bloggers stuck together for a lot of that conference, and partially because Jordann and I are both major introverts who aren’t good at networking in big crowds. What I think is so cool about Jordann’s story is that it’s the same story as a number of millennials out there. She went to university, graduated with a whack of debt, th

In this candid episode, I share my experience moving away from my hometown and starting over in a new city, in the hopes of increasing my salary and jump starting my career. Long episode description: I know I mentioned in episode 1 that I wouldn’t be doing any crazy long monologue podcast episodes…but I lied. I’ve blogged about my experience moving away from my hometown and starting over in Toronto, but I just felt like since this is such a big part of who I am now — I needed to do a podcast episode about my experience as well. I mentioned a ton of blog posts in this episode to give you a full timeline and understanding of what went down, so brace yourself for the longest list of blog post links ever! I’m not gonna write too much more, because you really do just need to listen to the episode. I’d love to hear from any of you about your experiences, or make sure to send me your feedback in the form of a Stitcher and iTunes review! I’ll thank you by giving you a shout out and reading your review on a future epi

Michelle Summerfield, from the personal finance blog Budget Bloggess, and I discuss the challenges of managing money after divorce, paying down debt and conquering your inner shopaholic. Long episode description: Michelle from Budget Bloggess was one of the first personal finance bloggers I met when I moved to Toronto over two years ago, so it was inevitable that I would have her on my podcast at some point. If you aren’t already a reader of her blog, I highly suggest it. She is super open about her struggles with debt and shopaholism, which we discuss in-depth in this episode, plus I just love her blog post series about her alter ego — Spenderella.  We also got to bond over our frugal dads in this episode, and we even talk a bit about her divorce and how that influenced her debt repayment. Lots of great topics covered in this show I must say! We both mentioned a few of Michelle’s blog posts during this episode, so here they all are. Thanks again for reading and listening, and make sure to check back here nex

Money blogger Tonya Stumphauzer from Budget and the Beach and I talk about going from employee to being her own boss in the entertainment industry. Long episode description: As I mentioned at the start of this episode, I was lucky enough to have met Tonya from Budget and the Beach a few years ago when my husband Josh and I were on our honeymoon in California. Both Josh and I were debating where to go for our honeymoon, and since we’d already done the whole Mexico resort thing a few years prior, we decided to fulfill our childhood dreams of going to Disneyland. It was beyond awesome, I’m telling you. It seriously is the happiest place on Earth. Anywho, while we were in California, we were able to meet Tonya for some beer and tacos near Hermosa Beach. Ok, here’s the thing, when I pictured Hermosa Beach I pictured people in bikinis rollerblading along the seawall. What we ended up getting was cold, cloudy weather pretty much the whole time we were there. When I told Tonya this, she broke the harsh news to us tha

Barry Choi, from the investing and travel blog Money We Have, and I talk about DIY investing through index funds and using the Couch Potato method. Long episode description: If you’ve been a reader of my blog throughout these 3 and half years, then you already know that I am by far no expert when it comes to investing. Not for lack of desire, but I guess when it comes to personal finance I just stick to what I’m comfortable with — saving and budgeting. That being said, I know that in order to continue to increase my net worth, I need to do a better job of investing. Right now, I’m justing investing in mutual funds in my RRSP and TFSA, but I definitely want to diversify in the future. That’s where Barry Choi comes in. Barry has been a DIY investor for a number of years and has been writing about his experience on his blog Money We Have as well. Since I really wanted to learn more about his investing strategies, I thought he would be the perfect podcast guest for this episode. We talk about a lot of topics, inc