What is Critical Illness Insurance?

This type of insurance is a form of coverage to cover unexpected medical costs that impact your livelihood and ability to work. For instance, if you end up with a cancer diagnosis or suffer a stroke — having this type of insurance would protect you financially.

Although we have public healthcare in Canada, you’ll often pay for some expenses out of pocket. And those expenses can be overwhelming, particularly if you face loss of income or an income reduction. Critical illness insurance will provide a lump sum payment so that you can continue to pay your bills and essential expenses while also providing for family members that may need your financial support.

After all, no one wants to deal with the added stress and overwhelm that comes with an unexpected and life-altering medical diagnosis.

Who Needs Critical Illness Insurance?

This type of insurance can be extremely important if you don’t have access to a significant emergency fund that would be able to cover your inability to work due to a medical situation.

You may be thinking, how likely will I end up using this policy? The reality is: probably more likely than you think. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 40% of Canadians will experience cancer in their lifetime. Another 90% of Canadians are at risk for a heart condition, stroke, or vascular disorder. For this reason, it’s not unrealistic to arm yourself with the right amount of critical illness insurance.

Why I’m Considering Critical Illness Insurance

When it comes to the unexpected, my mindset has always been to overprepare. I have three emergency funds and am always considering whether my retirement plans are solid. In the past, I’ve found I’m sometimes over-saving in my bank accounts rather than finding financial products that protect me for a reasonable cost. Critical illness insurance is one of these products.

Before I pull the trigger on any new monthly payment that will impact the bottom line of my budget, I must ensure I’m not paying for more than I need. So, I checked to see what my critical illness insurance coverage was through my full-time employer. As it turns out, I have none.

How Much Is Critical Illness Insurance?

Before you go Googling critical illness insurance and opt for the first link, it’s super important to do some comparisons. After researching, I found that the cost could range based on a few factors, including age, health, gender and the plan you choose.

To check whether the cost of critical illness was worth it for our family, I got a quote from my favourite life insurance provider, PolicyMe. The total cost for my husband and I to receive coverage for 44 potential illnesses, the most coverage in Canada, were under $50/month. That is a manageable cost considering the financial burden it could prevent in the future. After comparing a few other providers, this is far beyond the best price we could find. This price, of course, will depend on your personal needs.

How Do You Sign Up?

If, after reading this post, you feel like critical illness insurance is something that would benefit you or your family, the first thing you can do is get a quote from PolicyMe to determine how much it could cost you to receive coverage, how much coverage you need, and whether you’re eligible.

These days, you don’t have to go through the agony of walking into an insurance company and feeling like you have to expose every part of your health history to get an estimate on cost. Instead, you can check out what you need and what you’ll pay with a few clicks and a few minutes of time.

When it comes to financial security, there isn’t much I wouldn’t pay for peace of mind and protection in moments of difficulty. Critical illness insurance is a cost that makes me feel like I’m covered by the unexpected.

The post Do You Need Critical Illness Insurance? appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

My favourite book I read in 2021 was undoubtedly Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

I’ve leaned on its contents before in previous posts and at this rate, I might be doing so every other post, but by golly what a masterpiece! Every single one of the concepts in this post has been influenced by concepts from Clear’s book. So while this isn’t a review, it is hopefully a testament to the type of quality content that resides within those pages.

I have taken the concepts from Atomic Habits and infused them into my own life, and wanted to share the ideas with you in hopes that this encourages you to grab a copy and start doing the same.

The Problem

At age 31, with no direction in my career, a negative net worth, and no idea what I wanted to do next, I realized that something had to change. At that point in my life, the one thing I did have an abundance of was time. So, during this quarter-life crisis of sorts, I reflected a lot about how I ended up where I did.

The answer I came up with was that I tended to veer toward the path of least resistance. To do the easy things and avoid the difficult things.

Instead of setting a goal and working backwards, I’d simply make the best decision as situations presented themselves. I was reactive to my reality rather than the creator of it. Alas, we can’t control everything, and it’s dangerous to think that we can, but there are many things in our lives within our control. So why is it so hard to stick to the things that we already know to be in our own best interests?!

We get back in the gym only to quit days, weeks or months later. We think about writing a book but immediately get deterred by the magnitude of the task. We haven’t proven to ourselves often enough that we can act with the discipline and consistency required to accomplish challenging goals.

As Clear says in his book Atomic Habits, “Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become.” And unfortunately, the opposite is also true. The longer we procrastinate the actions we wish we could or know we should be making, the more we perpetuate the story and drive into our identity that we can’t do those things.

Our ambitious dreams are quickly washed away by avoidant behaviour and self-doubt without that belief. Even worse, sometimes we stop dreaming altogether.

The Antidote

The solution to our lack of confidence is a commitment to the behaviours that we know are in our best interest and aligned with our goals. A devotion to do the things that we feel better after doing but don’t do enough of. 

Intentionally planning our lives with processes and designing our environments with purpose will give us the best chance at success. The more we can successfully commit to the activities that keep our mind and body in a healthy and happy state of being the more fulfilled we will be. 

#1. Track Your Habits

Before completing even the first half of the book, the first thing I did was start a Habits Scorecard. As you can see, I have linked Clear’s version here, but I prefer to make my spreadsheets from scratch, so mine is slightly different. Nonetheless, it is working! I am now three months into the practice, and I can’t imagine not utilizing this tool. 

I only accomplished a 55% success rate in the first two weeks with the ten habits I committed to. Not a great score. Still, I gave myself a break because this was mid-December when I started, so the holiday season had a lot to do with the lack of routine and some extra food and alcohol.

Even still, I committed to the process. I kept tracking, even though I didn’t love the results. But I established a baseline and committed to the process. That was something to be proud of. 

I also realized how much lower my success rate would have been without tracking at all. Even with the low daily habit scores, there were still plenty of times I didn’t feel like completing a habit, but I did. Now that I was objectively tracking it, I added an extra layer of accountability. I craved that checkmark on the screen. 

I now had a new accountability buddy — my future self. And I knew damn well he would be reviewing this spreadsheet at the end of the month, heavily invested in the outcome. So, knowing he’s a ruthless leader, I thought I better keep him happy. 

#2. Track What’s Right For You

As Clear puts it, “Does this behaviour help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for my desired identity?”

So what was I tracking? The list below is composed of activities, and when I complete them regularly, I feel very healthy in both mind and body. In brackets are all the minimum thresholds for each habit. Of course, I often go well beyond these metrics, but these are attainable for me on a regular busy day. 

• Sleep (7 hours)

• Exercise (20 minutes)

• Stretching (10 minutes)

• Water intake (2-litres)

• Spending ($20 max)

• Reading (10 minutes)

• Writing (10 minutes)

• Junk Food (Y/N)

• Alcohol (Y/N)

• Tracking on-time (Y/N)

#3. Keep It Simple, Silly

I attempted a very similar version of this a year before even reading Atomic Habits. However, I made a couple of critical mistakes. 

First, I overcomplicated it. 

Rather than stick to a binary measure of success with objective thresholds to determine a clear pass or fail for the day, I initially took a more qualitative approach, including a ranking system. So I tried giving myself a score out of ten for each habit. Then I’d add up all the categories and give myself a daily score out of 100. This lasted like three days. Cool. Cool. Cool. I spent too much time wrestling with what score to give myself in each category that I would dread opening it up at all.

I can track my entire day in 30 seconds with the new version and feel very clear about how things went. 

I will admit that I get tempted to track more and more habits all the time. I legit have a wishlist for things I want to track in the future, and there are about 20 things on it now!  However, I don’t want to fall into the same trap again. So in 2022, I will commit to keeping the total number of habits tracked to ten per month. 

Secondly, I was overly ambitious. 

I challenged myself to reasonable goals to accomplish on my best of days, not thresholds of success that were appropriate for an average day. When building a habit in our daily life, we must start by committing to just showing up. Start small and simple and grow from there to challenge yourself more.  

But Wait, There’s More

In a short blog post, I, of course, couldn’t cover all of the topics that I found helpful in the book even though I wish I could! So, as a bit of a teaser on the topic of how our environment affects self-discipline, I am going to leave you with this:

“Disciplined people are better at designing their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations.”

Recommended Readings

If you do end up grabbing a copy of Atomic Habits and are interested in similar types of material, you should check these out. I have read them all and found them useful in different ways.

High Performance Habits

Power Of Habit

The Upward Spiral

The post 3 Ways to Build Healthy Habits in Life appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

As the book’s title suggests, “The Psychology of Money” does not take the crunching approach to finance education and instead focuses on a study of what happens between the ears. As Housel so eloquently reminds us, “You’re not a spreadsheet. You’re a person. A screwed up, emotional person.”

Instead of giving you a playbook describing the do’s and don’ts of money management, this book gracefully introduces concepts of personal bias, emotional factors, and the psychological shortcomings we all fall victim to. In addition, its pages are filled with telling anecdotes of how and why even the smartest of us slip up when caring for our finances. 

Was It Any Good?

Rather than grade this book with a score based on some arbitrary metrics I’ve created, I will share with you the lessons I took away from the book. 

In many cases, I will rely upon direct quotes to get a feel for Housel’s writing style and his ability to convey complex topics in digestible terms. The quotes throughout this post are some of the highlights I made to the book during my first read. If they’re intriguing to you, then you might find this book to be worth the read.  

By all accounts, this book has been wildly successful. It is #1 ranking in various financial categories and #20 in books overall.

Although there were many things to ponder and take away from the book, my top four lessons are here.

#1. Embrace Complexity 

“We prefer simple stories, which are easy but often devilishly misleading.”

To the analytical mind, nuanced topics with insights stroked in shades of grey are more challenging to integrate into our lives than concrete solutions with black and white answers. Or, as Housel puts it, “We have brains that prefer easy answers without much appetite for nuance.”

This concept of being comfortable with the unknown was one I noticed Housel inserting many times in his book. As he says, “The illusion of control is more persuasive than the reality of uncertainty.”

“Everyone has an incomplete view of the world. But we form a complete narrative to fill in the gaps.” We like to think we’ve got things all figured out. Deep down, we know we don’t and can never possibly understand all of the complexity of our world. But accepting that and surrendering control is a scary feeling. So instead, especially in times of stress, we resort to closing the case on complex problems, making up our minds, and calling it good. 

“Coming to terms with how much you don’t know means coming to terms with how much of what happens in the world is out of your control. And that can be hard to accept.” 

#2. Learn How to “Have Enough”

“The hardest financial skill is getting the goal post to stop moving.” 

The more I learn about personal finance, the more I realize how important this concept is. Even the most wealthy of us all can find ourselves stuck on the hedonic treadmill, constantly trying to fill a void with spending on fancy and stimulating products and services. The temporary escape that we get from the feelings we choose to avoid in our fancy cars or otherwise will still be there for us after the pleasure dissolves. The purchase becomes just another row on our credit card statement.

“Independence, at any level of income, is driven by your savings rate. And past a certain level of income, your savings rate is driven by your ability to keep your lifestyle expectations from running away.” (215)

#3. Cultivate Patience

This stat blew my mind. 

“84.2 Billion of Warren Buffet’s, 84.5 Billion accumulated after his 50th birthday. 99.6% of his wealth.”

Compound interest takes time. Your most considerable returns are always going to be at the tail end of your investment career. This is why it is always emphasized to start as early as possible. If you’re like me, you’re just getting started in your 30’s. Take a breath, be patient. Starting late is infinitely better than never starting at all.

As Albert Einstein famously said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it; he who doesn’t pays it.”

#4. Wealth is What You Don’t See

Last but not least, I will summarize my favourite concepts from my favourite chapter in the book – Chapter 9, “Wealth is what you don’t see.” 

Let’s kick this off with a tandem of two excellent quotes.

“When people say they want to be a millionaire. What they might actually mean is, “I’d like to spend a million dollars.”  

“It is so ingrained in us that to have money is to spend money that we don’t get to see the restraint it takes to actually be wealthy.” 

Um yeah. Guilty.

I have always thought that you were on cruise control once you were rich. And sure, that’s probably the case in sporadic cases, but for the everyday wealthy of us, they’ve done it the fundamental way through spending less than they make for an extended period. 

Just because you’re making six figures doesn’t mean you need a nice new car or taking four vacations a year. Conspicuous consumption does not indicate wealth; in fact, it may signal the opposite more often than we think.

“Wealth is hidden. It’s income not spent. Wealth is an option not yet taken to buy something later. Its value lies in offering you options, flexibility, and growth to one day purchase more stuff than you could right now.”

Last but not least, here is a quote that ties everything together. This is essentially the thesis of the book. 

“Academic finance is devoted to finding the mathematically optimal investment strategies. My own theory is that, in the real world, people do not want the mathematically optimal strategy. They want the strategy that maximizes for how well they sleep at night.” 

The post Review: The Psychology of Money By Morgan Housel appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

Spending guilt is something that many people experience when it comes to their money. According to a 2019 survey, consumers say they feel guilty about every one in five purchases they make. They spend around $89 every week that they feel guilty for, which totals $277,680 over their lifetime. 

No one needs to carry around that kind of burden. But, for the majority of people, the feeling is inevitable. Truthfully, most of us feel a sense of financial guilt because of a scarcity mindset. 

A scarcity mindset is when you are worried and constantly thinking that you might run out of something you need. Therefore, you don’t want to use or spend (even though you might need to). 

Changing your language is step one

When it comes to removing the feelings of guilt around spending money, one thing I’ve taught myself is that the way I speak about spending is a significant factor in those feelings of shame. So, I started to reassess how I viewed my habits by doing the following three things:

#1. Acknowledge the real reason I don’t want to buy something

Instead of saying, “I can’t afford this,” I now tell myself, “I don’t want this because it doesn’t align with my current values.” By better understanding my money values, I have become better at evaluating when I’m making a good or bad financial decision. For example, if I’m buying something because it makes me happy or if I choose to spend on an experience that will provide great memories, those things are acceptable and won’t result in feelings of guilt.

#2. Learn to accept others success

When seeing other people making giant financial leaps, earning larger salaries and investing more than me, it can be easy for my mind to tell me that I’m not doing enough. But, in reality, I’m doing all that I can. Comparison can be a helpful tool *if* and only *if* you can find the balance between feeding off that energy of accomplishing something big, rather than letting that success drain you of yours. 

#3. Telling myself that I can earn more (eventually)

It’s easy to let our brains convince us that we have hit a wall. They’re powerful, after all. But they aren’t always right. Although I’m a true believer that no one can “manifest” themselves out of debt or poverty, I do think that educating yourself in what you can do to earn more is valuable. Once I allowed myself to see the potential to make money through multiple income streams, I became more excited about earning more than scared and worried I couldn’t achieve those goals. As my favourite Ted Talk says, fake it until you make it!

Invisible money scripts can inherently change how we spend

One of my favourite personal finance professionals, Ramit Sethi, speaks to invisible money scripts in his book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich. 

“Invisible scripts are truths so ubiquitous and deeply embedded in society that we don’t even realize they’re guiding our attitudes and behavior. Like water to a fish, they surround us even if we don’t know it.” – Ramit

Some examples he shares include going to university to earn good money, having a traditional family with two kids and a house, and working a 9 to 5 job that you might not love. 

So many of us unknowingly deal with money based on how we are raised. Any significant people in your life — whether your parents or another loved one — who taught you about money (whether by talking or learned behaviours) have shaped your spending habits. That means if you grew up middle class or in poverty, how you view and spend money will be directly impacted based on these facts. 

Suppose you experienced instability at any point in your financial life, whether you couldn’t afford food or had collections agencies calling you nonstop. In that case, that period will stick with us, whether short or long. In most cases, the best way to get past these feelings of spending guilt is to speak to a financial therapist or counsellor about your money trauma. 

Some people experience more money guilt than others

For women, money and spending guilt are often highlighted much more often than for people of another sex. Women also put these feelings of guilt on a pedestal for something they refer to in the book, Burnout, as Human Giver Syndrome. 

Women, especially mothers, are raised to believe that everyone in their life should be put ahead of them. For that reason, when we finally spend money on the things that we love or need, it can be impossible to avoid feelings of guilt. 

Others that experience spending guilt more than others can be:

• People who grow up in low-income households who believe they don’t deserve “fun” things because they were never allowed to prioritize non-essentials growing up

• The lower-income earning partner in a relationship because it feels like they aren’t contributing equally, such as a stay at home mom

• First-generation immigrants whose parents sacrificed everything to provide an ideal life for their children

You need to let yourself experience joy

One thing to remind ourselves of when we’re trying to move past spending guilt is that parts of how we use our money are helping us to shape our future selves. Investing in the things that you love and bring you happiness, like hobbies or experiences, can make you the person you want or hope to be. 

Sometimes, spending money can be the one thing you can do to invest in your mental health. Allowing yourself to spend and finally admitting that you deserve things is a complex but necessary thing to learn. 

5 quick tips to get over spending guilt

• Budget for the things you love, not just essentials

• Identify what your priorities are so that you know what you need

• Pay yourself first so that the rest is just for fun

• Move away from financial experts who lead with shame

• Remind yourself that the present matters just as much as the future

Spending guilt is not an easy feeling to break, but by getting to know yourself and your financial habits on a deeper level than just dollar signs, you can eventually provide yourself with the tools you need to spend money safely. 

The post How to Get Over Spending Guilt appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

Do you ever feel like life is something that you can’t quite get a handle on? I’ve been there. One of my new favourite songs, Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold, says it best:

Do you ever get a little bit tired of life?

Like you’re not really happy but you don’t wanna die

Like you’re hangin’ by a thread but you gotta survive

‘Cause you gotta survive

The pandemic has put people into financial ruin and made people who usually are good at managing stress and difficulty feel like they’ve hit their wall. Therapy has always been a place where I feel safe to speak my mind release all of the negative thoughts that I have, and it’s given me the ability to learn who I am time and time again.

For many, though, speaking to a mental health professional isn’t always an option. Whether it be the high cost, a stigma or not yet having the strength to make the call, it can feel out of reach. I’ve always felt like there was nothing I could do to help others who were in this boat until I saw this tweet:

My best friend and I do this thing called “trickle down therapy” which is where I tell my best friend stuff my therapist says to me since she’s not in therapy

— coll (@Coll3enG) November 8, 2021

I loved this idea in the sense that sharing one thing that has changed your life in therapy with someone who might need to hear the same could bring that costly advice to another person and potentially change their life for the better.

So, I did what I love to do every single week on my Instagram and asked my followers to share the best advice they ever got from their therapist or psychologist, and these were my top favourite pieces of knowledge:

#1. Write down all of the compliments you receive

For anyone who has a hard time accepting compliments from anyone — whether strangers or loved ones — one reader shared that their therapist told them to actually write down all of the nice things people say to them in a journal. This way, you’re forced to absorb these words rather than brush them off to convince yourself it’s not true. You can then always refer back to this journal and read the kind things others have noticed about you as a person when you need a pick-me-up.

#2. It’s okay to be sad

It sounds silly that some people need to hear this, but it’s more common than you might think. Many of us pretend to be happy, excited or positive when in reality, we’re struggling. You need to give yourself permission to be sad. I’ve learned that the longer I avoid my complicated emotions, the longer it takes to get through them. Leaning in is hard, but it also prevents us from getting stuck in a place that constantly causes us stress or anxiety.

#3. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly

This piece of advice can go with nearly anything in life. If you’re having a busy week, a tough day or an impossible month, remind yourself that it’s better to do it quickly or poorly than to avoid it altogether. It’s better to brush your teeth in a rush than not at all. It’s better to stretch for two minutes after a workout than not at all. It’s better to read one page than no pages at all. You don’t have to be perfect to get something done, which leads to my next trickle-down therapy tip.

#4. You need to create a space between chaos and rigidity

There are more than two choices of being perfect or not at all. It’s okay to do some things half-assed (like we spoke about brushing our teeth) or in between (where you do what you can with the time you’ve got). Perfectionism is a hard habit to break, but starting small can be the catalyst you need to take your life back from having to get an A+ or a failing grade.

#5. My house is a mess; I am not a mess

When you’re feeling overwhelmed (which who isn’t?), it’s always a good idea to remind yourself that the things in your life do not define who you are as a person. A messy kitchen and unwashed dishes do not mean that you are a bad mom, disorganized person or failing at being an adult. It means that you are human. So take a deep breath and repeat those words to yourself: My house is a mess, I am not a mess.

#6. Anger hurts you much more than it hurts the object of your anger

As someone who fiercely feels anger above most other emotions, I can attest that this statement is true. The more anger you let into your life, the more likely you will be the one who suffers over the person or item that is bringing you that feeling. 

#7. You don’t need to be “doing” or “planning” at all times

You are allowed just to exist. Just be. Rest is a productive part of your day. Giving yourself time to recharge and disconnect will only make you better at your job and better at being a partner or parent. You deserve downtime. 

#8. Not all of your thoughts are 100% true, and you don’t have to believe them

One therapist recommended that clients challenge their negative thoughts by assigning a percentage of how much they agree with that notion. For example: if you make a mistake at work, you will be fired. In reality, most mistakes we make are not fireable offences. So, we’d assign that belief with 5% truth. 

#9: You did the best you could with the tools you had at the time

When we look back at moments of weakness or times of struggle, we often consider the “what-ifs.” For example, we say things like: “I should have done ____ sooner” or “if only I had left five minutes earlier.” However, we cannot change the past. If you could have done those things, you would have. Maybe you only had specific coping strategies back then, you were balancing multiple jobs, or perhaps you just weren’t in the right headspace to manage whatever challenge you were facing. You are a different person now, with various tools.

#10. You are not a burden just because you ask for help

If you are a people-pleasure or lack boundaries in your life, remind yourself that if you don’t ask, you are doing a disservice to the people in your life by not giving them a chance to say yes or no. You’re choosing them. Many people want to help, just like you like to help them in times of need. Give them the chance they give you.

Trickle-down therapy isn’t the perfect replacement for visiting a professional and getting the one-on-one guidance that can truly make your life more of what you need it to be. Still, there is nothing wrong with sharing helpful life advice if it means that more people feel seen, heard and most importantly — less alone.

You’re not the only one struggling, not the only people-pleaser, not the only perfectionist. We all have our battles, but they are not only ours alone. So if you’d like to share some of the best lessons you’ve learned from your therapist or mental health professional below in the comment section, please do! 

The post Trickle-Down Therapy For The One Who Can’t Afford to See a Professional appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

Reading a good book is one of my favourite ways to unplug and unwind. But, after becoming a mom, it slowly slipped away as something I felt I could squeeze into my daily routine. So, at the start of this year, I promised myself I would prioritize reading and set a big goal to read three books per month. I even went as far as setting up a Facebook group for a ‘book club’ that has now gone to silence-town.

But, that doesn’t mean I won’t have time to make that group my baby in 2022 — especially knowing how essential reading is for my mental health.

I love to read because it allows me to:

• relax while still feeling productive

• learn new things in new ways and from new people

I constantly lust for both of these things, and with the pandemic shouldering most of my hobbies, I’ve felt an even deeper need to find ways to fill this hole.

Regardless of my failure to read 36 books this month, I’ve still managed to finish 13 books so far. And, after a year of less than five in 2020, I’d call this a massive win! So, to celebrate, I’d love to share some of my favourite finds from 2021. 

#1. Know My Name by Chanel Miller

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll already have heard me go on and on about how important this book is for everyone to read. Know My Name was the first book I read in 2021 because it was on my list since preorder was available. If you don’t know, Know My Name is a memoir from Chanel Miller. She is the woman who was involved in the Stanford sexual assault case from 2015. I was glued to this case on Twitter and read so much commentary because of the uproar from people angry to see news sites painting the assailant, Brock Turner, as a swimmer with a bright future. 

Chanel writes about the entire trial, being anonymous, and her experience with recovery. Her writing is beyond amazing. She has such a great way of telling stories, and I feel like this book should be required reading in schools. It’s a unique look at what it’s like to be a female on the other side of a sexual assault case – having to defend your character constantly. 

One of my favourite parts: Chanel often highlights the many times after her assault that she was sexually harassed while walking alone. She filmed the encounters and sent them to her boyfriend, and one of them is particularly disturbing. He says, “don’t send me any more videos. I can’t watch them; these guys make me too angry.” and she agrees, but then calls him back shortly after to express how unfair it is that he can tune out her reality. And then, just one page later, a line that stuck with me: I was trying to save the six dollars that the ride would’ve cost. It’s funny, really. Asking six dollars or safety.

The entire book is so excellent — a must-read.

#2. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Okay, this book — is so good. The number of lessons or parts of the book that I wanted to write down or refer back to frequently was ridiculous. I feel like this book has something for everyone. Whether you’re a mom, a wife, queer, been in a challenging relationship, it covers every corner of life and learning to understand why we operate the way we do and how we conform to society’s standards and expectations. But also how each of these things can limit us as human beings. 

There were many aha moments for me, where I was like, wow, I’ve never thought about it that way before or from that perspective, and I found it to be such a breath of fresh air. She covers childhood as a woman, gender narratives, femininity and masculinity, the difficulties of being a parent today, racism and being white, religion. I can’t even list everything because it is all there. This is a book where I’ll have to go back and reread or listen again because there are so many thought-provoking moments.

#3. Broke Millennial Talks Money by Erin Lowry

You didn’t think this list wouldn’t include a money book or two, did you? This was an easy read! I finished in two days, powered through because I found it super valuable and helpful for some current contract negotiations I was working through! My favourite part was the section about talking money with friends. I never really realized how difficult it can be, why it might not always be best, and why it’s essential to consider the relevance of sharing your numbers. It’s always, in my mind, been a good thing to break down the awkwardness and make it less of a faux pas to share, but her perspective framed things differently for me. 

I also appreciate the mention of enjoying different parts of money and how we spend it. This is the third book in Die Erin’s series, and she never fails to amaze me. I love her writing, tone, and variety of real-life examples. I feel it has excellent advice on negotiating and how to do it without feeling awkward. 

#4. The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

Another book I reference pretty frequently after reading is The Courage to Be Disliked. At first, when I began to read, I found it challenging to gather the purpose of some stories. In addition, I had never read many philosophy books and felt myself disagreeing with much of what the philosopher was saying to the writer. But, ironically, the writer was doing the same — which made me stop and think. And that’s exactly what this book did, time and time again. It made me think — my favourite kind of read.

My favourite line from the book: “The value given to a one-dollar bill is not an objectively attributed value, though that might be a common sense approach. If one considers its actual cost as printed material, the value is nowhere near a dollar. If I were the only person in this world and no one else existed, I’d probably be putting those one-dollar bills in my fireplace in wintertime. Maybe I’d be using them to blow my nose.”⁣⁣

This book made me question how we spend, why we compete so heavily, how to combat our initial feelings of comparison, and why it’s essential to focus on your internal values rather than society’s values. Highly recommend it to anyone who feels behind in life.

#5. Die with Zero by Bill Perkins

After seeing so many of my friends talk about this book on repeat (cough, Bridget and Desirae, cough), I knew I had to give it a go. Die With Zero is a book about doing what you need to do with your money and still allowing yourself to live the life you want. In other words, every millennial’s dream. So many of the philosophies that the author shares are relevant to my current stage of life. They challenged many of the money thoughts that I’d been taught in the earlier days of my financial journey. 

For instance, how we view retirement and the amount of money we need for retirement may not fit in the box that most financial experts tell us they do. Accumulating too much wealth can be a dangerous and unnecessary thing that many of us do, and I appreciated seeing money spoken about to such a different tune. It was refreshing and made me feel like I was doing more than enough for my future self. Please read. It’s your homework for December.

Ultimately, every time I read a new book, I feel myself looking at life differently. And isn’t that what we all desire? A chance to grow without having to hop on a plane and attempt to travel the world to become a more open version of ourselves? These days you don’t need to change your surroundings. You just need to be open to learning and using the resources at your fingertips. 

What are some of your favourite reads from 2021? I’m starting my 2022 list and would love to hear your best finds! 

The post The Best Books I’ve Read in 2021 appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

Talking about money isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Okay, let me be blunter here. It’s hardly anyone’s cup of tea. In fact, the only cup of tea that it reminds me of is the XL peppermint tea I ordered from Tim Horton’s a few years ago, spilled all over myself because the lid wasn’t on, burnt my hand and then threw it on the ground because my anger took over. So, yeah. Talking about money is like that for some people. 

What about the other people, though? Yeah, I’m finally talking about us weirdos who spend every Tuesday morning reading a blog post about personal finance. Those of us who spend the week obsessively logging into our online bank accounts, neatly folding receipts and watching news reports about the stock market. Our experience with that same cup of tea is a bit different. It’s not the same cup of tea at all. It’s more like the 16 oz London Fog I got last week from a cute coffee shop. Oh, and it’s the perfect temperature, btw.

Holy crap, am I still making money references in regards to past teas I’ve drunk? Am I okay?

Is having people who share similar money mindsets to yours important to you?

I’m sure as you read that header, you immediately answered with a “duh, lady.” Because let’s be honest here. Who wants to surround themselves with people who don’t enjoy staying in to save a buck, planning out their retirement contributions and making jokes about spending money?

“Up until I bought this bag of chips, I thought air was free.” 

Haha, man. Those personal finance lovers sure are wild.

Although we all want to find those people — sometimes it’s complicated. Let’s say that’s why I found my place in this online community. It’s to help grow, educate and interact with people who share the same focuses as I do at this point in my life. Not everyone can or will put themselves on the same financial path as you. Most of the people in your life never will.

Sometimes it’s hard to talk about your successes with money because others won’t see it as anything other than grandstanding. While, yes, sometimes I do want to shout from the rooftops how proud I am of my accomplishments, most of the time, I’m sharing those successes so that others believe they can achieve too. It often makes me wonder if every single person has to hit their low point — as I did — before realizing that it’s time to take control of their money.

It makes me wonder if, due to privilege, some people aren’t as fortunate as I am to be able to have these opportunities to care about their financial futures because they’re too busy focusing on what bills they’ll be able to pay for this month. The most frustrating part of all, though, is when you know that some people do have the privilege to afford these opportunities but choose not to.

Does spending time with those who don’t put as much focus on their finances affect your chances for success?

It’s the classic case of your five closest friends. Who are those people? Imagine them right now. What do they do for a living? What are their goals? Are they happy? Are they what you consider successful?

When you imagine these friends and consider the answers to each of those questions, do you see some striking similarities in your personal life? We tend to become creatures of habit, after all. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m so over those rah-rah articles that say what rich people do every morning and that by doing those few things, you’ll become a millionaire in no time. However, I have noticed some interesting things about my newest friendships.

When I started to spend more time communicating with passionate people about the same things and goals I was, I invested more of my time and energy into those areas of my life. When I spent more time with writers, entrepreneurs, and marketing creatives, I became more confident and inspired to approach my dreams with open arms. It made me think that because I spend so much of my time communicating online with like-minded money lovers, they must be the reason I turned my financial life from a messy bedroom into an organized office space.

So, do I think spending time with people who don’t put as much focus on their finances affects your chances for success? Probably. You’re more likely to participate in the same activities, attend the same events and spend the same amount of money on material items because you spend more time with them. If your closest friends feel that large home in the suburbs is a form of financial success, that might become a similar ideology for you. I’m no Bill Nye, but my imaginary chemistry lab has put together some pretty severe evidence based on one individual experience and nothing more. Please note the sarcasm or leave rn; thank you.

How do you know if people have the same goals as you or whether they care about money the same way you do?

When it comes to friendships, I’ve seen that things drastically start to change when you approach milestones at different rates from others. You grow together in some areas of life, but you completely separate yourself from one another’s current existence in other ways. God, I know. Doesn’t it sound so glamorous?

Recently, I’ve discovered the best way to find supportive friendships and relationships is by realizing how much mental toughness it takes to stay on track with your goals. The ones who support those tough times are great. The others are about as annoying as a mosquito that somehow got into your house in the summer and won’t stop buzzing around your head while you try to sleep.

However, the question that can permanently settle whether or not they’re on the same path as you is this:

Have you ever questioned whether a friend was actually happy for you?

The ones who celebrate your financial success and admire your determination are important. The ones who could care less or would rather discuss something else are also important. Their importance is to help realize that some relationships can do more harm than good.

They say money isn’t everything — but it just might be to you

Whatever your everything is, I hope that you take a running start, jump in headfirst, and any other cheesy cliches you can think of. I want you to succeed and other people like you to succeed. It’s just a matter of finding out who those people are.

Have you ever had to end a relationship because you were on two different pages about financial success? Let me know in the comments!

The post Is Anyone Else Happy About Your Financial Successes? appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

Welcome to the Internet. On your left, you’ll find anonymous accounts throwing shade about people they’ve likely never met. On your right, you’ll see people aggressively offering their opinion based on research that merely includes personal experience. In front of you is a political thread that will ruin your day 1000% of the time. Behind you is an automated DM powered by CrowdFire and asking you to go and like someone’s Facebook page. And way back in the corner there, do you see that? It’s a teeny tiny door with a small lock. That special door leads to a 5 by 5 room where a small percentage of people remain decent, understanding and well, happy.

Unfortunately, I’ve lived in every part of this Internet and I’ve got to say that not one of those areas is for me. No, not even the place that leads to a small percentage of happy people. Mostly because those happy people tend to ignore those larger areas that are unavoidable. I love me a good puppy photo and Tasty recipe, but I also need to know what’s going on with the government and our economy.

The Internet is scary. It’s obviously got a lot of great elements to it. I mean, the fact that I’m writing this blog post is pretty great and the fact that I can communicate with strangers who turn to best friends is even greater. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take a toll on my mood. As I write this blog post, I’m angry. I wish I weren’t. But today just brought me a ton of impatience and stress.

If it wasn’t the school shooting in Parkland, FL covering my news feeds, it was the passive-aggressive emails I received from an ad agency. If it wasn’t the inability to get in contact with someone who should be readily available, it was the fact that I couldn’t find a statistic I needed to finish off an article. It was everything. I use the Internet for everything.

When you finally realize how much control the Internet has on your life, you’ll start to question everything.

Every single night, I wake up at 3:00 AM like clockwork. My body decides that this is our new waking hour, and it has become so routine that I now wake up fully functional. I don’t even need time to adjust my eyes to the darkness or shake off the grogginess. I know, how jealous are you right now? *wipes sarcasm from keyboard*

For the first 15 to 20 minutes I’ll try to convince myself to fall back asleep. I attempt my usual visualization tactics and belly breathing, but it’s almost always to no avail. Following that, the next 10 minutes will be spent fighting an anxiety attack that makes my arms feel like they’re no longer attached to my body and as though they’re going to fist-pump like Pauly D from Jersey Shore. That’s when I start to panic. I grab my phone, start scrolling social media to distract myself, and hang out online for anywhere from one to three hours before I can’t even keep my eyes open anymore. In other words, I never actually deal with my anxiety because why would I when I have the Internet?

At first, I wasn’t even aware that I was running this pattern. I mean, I obviously knew I was waking up at 3:00 AM every night because I, in turn, felt like a zombie every morning. But I didn’t realize that the way I was trying to combat this issue was by immediately grabbing my phone.

61% of people say feel as though they’re addicted to being online, and the other 39% are probably lying (she says, in hopes that she’s not the only one).

Although I spend about 80% of my days on the Internet, I would never say that I felt it was an addiction. This is because I know that I can turn my laptop off, go travelling and leave my phone behind for significant amounts of time. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not always thinking about what I might be missing.

Apparently, once you reach the age of 25, your addiction will grow steadily, but won’t begin to spike again until you reach the age of 65. I’d have to say that this statistic may be true of most of my friends. However, for someone like me, who works remotely and is in an industry that revolves around the world of the Internet, it’s probably spiking as regularly as my favourite character from The Land Before Time.

I’ve recently started to do more research into why I can’t sleep — yes, using the Internet. And why it has started to affect both my mood and my well-being. There are quite a few reasons:

• I sometimes work from my bed and my mind now sees this as a place of business and productivity rather than a place of rest and relaxation.

• I’ve convinced myself that it is a useful form of distraction that helps my mood by relying on my phone anytime I feel anxious

• I live far away from my friends and family so I feel that following them online will make up for the lack of communication

• The feeling that I always have something to do or someone to chat with makes me feel more productive even though I’m likely wasting time

Of course, I could probably write a list of about 100 ways the Internet has affected my lifestyle, but what I really need to do is figure out the 100 ways I can impede this behaviour. When I did the classic Google search for ways I can combat my bad habits, the only thing that came up was information on how to take a social media cleanse. Well, guess friggin what?

Social media cleanses aren’t for everyone.

I’d love to take a social media cleanse and stay offline for awhile, but this option is not realistic for me in any way shape or form. It might be hard to work, blog and educate myself if I have to shut it all off. Instead, I’d prefer to break these bad habits and create a healthy relationship with the Internet so that I can continue to be successful in all of my online endeavours. Is that really so much to ask?

Seeing as there aren’t too many online resources that help regulate your social media obsession or keep your Internet usage in check, I took the liberty of creating my own list of ways that I plan to attempt to take back control of my mood from the crazy world of hashtags and email campaigns. The best part? I even made it all pretty so that I’d remember to look at it. Feel free to print yourself a copy and put it on your nightstand or bathroom mirror like I did!

The Internet doesn’t have to be an addiction for you to need a break.

I know it might seem completely crazy to have to remind yourself to put your phone down or to log out of your apps every night. However, it’s no crazier than other addictions, such as smoking. Even if you only spend a couple hours a day online, you may still feel you need a break from the Internet. It isn’t easy for anyone to step back from their work, friendships and the news — especially when it’s right at your fingertips.

If it’s helping me to better my personal well-being, daily mood and mental health, I’ll always be on board to try new ways to break bad habits.

Would you ever consider trying out some new tactics to step back from the online world? Let me know in the comments!

The post How to Tackle a Realistic Social Media Detox appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

It’s been a summer of many ups and downs. For that reason, it’s super exciting for me anytime I see any content that isn’t depressing or downright terrifying. Luckily, so many people continue to put out amazing work that makes money fun, makes you think and helps educate us on the importance of being financially literate.

Here is a list of my favourite pieces around the web over the past few months for you to catch up on all things money:

#1. Buying a House in Canada – Why I Can’t Wait To NOT Be a Homeowner

“Why is it that when people borrow money to invest in the stock market (known as leverage) it’s considered inherently risky, but when people borrow 9x their downpayment on a house it’s considered “common sense?” When we think about how much money we’ve “made” on our home, we often forget to include all of the non-recoverable costs involved such as taxes, maintenance and repair costs, transaction fees to buy & sell, renovations that cost way more than they added resale value, etc.”

#2. I Was Taught From a Young Age to Protect My Dynastic Wealth

“If you are raised in a deeply conservative family like my own, you are taught some extra bits of doctrine: Philanthropy is good, but too much of it is unseemly and performative. Marry people “of your own class” to save yourself from the complexity and conflict that come with a broad gulf in income, assets, and, therefore, power. And, as one of my uncles said to me during the Reagan administration, it’s best to leave the important decision making to people who are “successful,” rather than in the pitiable hands of those who aren’t.”

#3. Hustle Culture: The Toxic Celebration of Working Ourselves to Death

“No human who works forty hours a week should be unable to afford to live. We shouldn’t have to try to monetize our hobbies just for a chance at survival. Life should be for living, enjoying, experiencing, and engaging. Life isn’t supposed to be one gigantic hustle. Relationships aren’t just about what you can get out of the other person. The idea that the only point of life is to work is disgusting and should be challenged regularly.”

#4. Investing Deathmatch: Timing the Market vs. Time IN the Market

“Investing is not a race, and traditional advice states that investors should be more tortoise than hare. If you want to invest your money, you shouldn’t expect an overnight return. Instead, you should invest with an expectation of returns years or even decades down the road. That’s part of why so many retirement funds are invested in stocks and bonds. You tuck your investments away early in your career, expecting them to grow exponentially over the decades. If all goes according to plan, your money will have grown like a tampon in a toilet bowl by the time you’re ready to retire.”

#5. Homeownership can bring out the worst in you

“A home is the largest asset the vast majority of Americans can ever own. Protecting its value is akin to protecting your family’s future — your ability to weather bad financial times, borrow if your kid needs help paying for college, or rest easy knowing that in a country that will leave you out to dry if you get sick, at least you can sell your house if it ever gets that bad.”

#6. How to Talk About Salary With Your Coworkers

“Most employees report deciding against talking about their salaries due to the strong taboo around discussing money with coworkers (and even friends and family!). But the fact remains that workers receive better pay and report higher satisfaction with work when immersed in a culture of salary transparency. If the company isn’t going to create that culture for their employees, you can create that culture within your working group.”

#7. America’s Investing Boom Goes Far Beyond Reddit Bros

“Survey data from Schwab analysts suggest that more than 50 percent of all new investors are Millennials, that 16 percent are Gen Z, and that more than half of the cohort started investing during the pandemic in order to build an emergency fund or to gin up another source of revenue. Only 2 percent of Robinhood users are high-use “pattern day traders,” according to the company. The median account balance of its investors is $240 and the average is $4,500 (as opposed to an average of $100,000 for E-Trade). More than 18 million people now have a funded account at Robinhood—striking, but still fewer than the roughly 30 million users at each of the more traditional brokerages such as Schwab, Vanguard, and Fidelity, which also added millions of younger users.”

#8. Toxic Work Environments Shouldn’t Be a Rite of Passage

“The myth that young people are supposed to endure abusive work environments as a rite of passage into the labor market skims over the systemic issues that allow those environments to persist in the first place. At a first job, it’s almost a cultural expectation that you’ll be underpaid, harassed, or exploited in some way, despite research that shows that early career experiences can have significant impact on the rest of our working lives.”

#9. Financial Experts Debunk TikTok’s Viral Money Advice

“Accusing low-income people of being lazy or being extravagant spenders is just straight-up classism and racism. Research shows that low-income people are far better than rich people at budgeting and managing their money, and they’re much more likely to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, which hardly qualifies as laziness.”

#10. Your bank probably funds climate change. Here’s how to save more sustainably

“While your checking and savings accounts might be only a sliver of what your bank directs to the fossil fuel industry, your decision to house them there does have an impact. “Money makes the world go round,” says Sylvia Panek, a financial advisor for Natural Investments, which focuses on socially responsible investing. “If they’re sitting at a bank that is financing natural resource extraction, very extractive, exploitative practices, your dollars essentially are being used for that.”

The post 10 of the Best Articles About Money You Need to Read appeared first on Mixed Up Money.

This past year has certainly changed how I view using makeup in my daily life. Before, it was much more of a necessity when socializing or going to work or school. This was potentially due to trying to look a certain way for those around me. However, after spending so much time bare-faced at home, makeup is no longer essential in my daily life. Now, it’s something that I do on occasion to boost my mood and make me feel more put together.  

If you feel the same, let me start by saying that wearing makeup is by no means essential, and you shouldn’t feel pressured to wear it if you don’t want to.  There is no right or wrong way to use makeup in your daily life, but make sure you’re doing it for yourself and no one else, and above all, that you feel beautiful with or without it! 

Without further ado, here is our list of top five makeup brands with affordable and functional products but who also value providing clean beauty without harming animals or the environment.  

#1. Mineral Fushion  

Price range: $15 – $40 

Where to find: well.ca, mineralfushion.com 

About the brand: As the name suggests, Mineral Fushion is a mineral-based cosmetics brand founded in 2008 with the goal of “leaving skin and hair in better condition than we found it.” Their products are free of gluten, parabens, talc, synthetic fragrance and other harsh ingredients you do NOT want in your makeup. In addition to this promise, the brand also has a lengthy list of Environmental Working Group (EWG) Verified products that are only awarded to those that meet a stringent list of health and safety requirements. I love the brand’s innovative lip products like lipstick butter or lip tints and their inclusive foundation shade range.  

My favourite products: Sheer Moisture Lip Tint, 3-In-1 Colour Stick, Lip Gloss 

#2. Physician’s Formula 

Price range: $10 – $25 

Where to find: shoppersdrugmart.ca, physiciansformula.com 

About the brand: Physician’s Formula is a research-backed makeup brand that was the first to introduce me to “clean makeup” as a young teen. They are certainly pioneers in the space and pride themselves on providing high-performing products even for the most sensitive skin. They have a long list of 500+ ingredients that they don’t allow in their formulas. They are most well-known for their “Murumuru Butter” Collection, specifically their butter bronzer that has a 4.8 rating and over 12,000 reviews on their site. This brand is probably the most accessible on the list, as you can find an extensive range of products at most drug stores across Canada for a great price.  

My favourite products: Murumuru Butter Bronzer, Murumuru Butter Bush, Talc-Free Mineral Face Powder SPF 16 

#3. Burt’s Bees 

Price range: $10 – $20 

Where to find: shoppersdrugmart.ca, burtsbees.ca 

About the brand: You may be thinking, do Burt’s Bees do makeup? Yup! Although it was founded in the ’80s, the company introduced a full line of makeup products in 2017. As one of the OG’s in the clean space, they pride themselves on products being 95% of natural origin at a minimum, using no animal testing, and being a carbon-neutral company. A cool fact that I didn’t know is that they actively support saving the bees as one of their main philanthropic efforts. It’s not just a name, folks! While you seriously can’t go wrong with one of their unique lip balm flavours, I also enjoy their various glosses for a lip shine or even as blush.  

My favourite products: Mattifying Powder Foundation, Lip Balm, Nourishing Mascara 

#4. W3ll People  

Price range: $15 – $30 

Where to find: well.ca, w3llpeople.com 

About the brand: W3ll People is another great cosmetic brand trying to make clean beauty more accessible to the masses. They feel that everyone should have the option to better their skin and the planet. With an extensive list of EWG-certified products, they pride their ingredient list as being “Pure as a saint. Sexy as Sin.” which I LOVE. Their main star is Aloe Vera, which they feature in most of their products to help soothe and nourish your skin throughout the day. If you’re like me, you pay attention to the best of beauty lists, and W3ll’s Expressionist Mascaras, as well as their Bio Tint Multi-Action Moisturizer, have been featured on Allure’s Best of Beauty 2020 list.  

My favourite products: Expressionist Pro Mascara, Superpowder Bronzing Powder, Superpowder Brightening Powder 

#5. Pacifica 

Price range: $10 – $25 

Where to find: shoppersdrugmart.ca, pacificabeauty.com 

About the brand: Pacifica is another easily accessible drugstore clean beauty brand founded 25 years ago to provide effectiveness while aligning with people’s values. At the top of their mission lies being completely vegan, cruelty-free, and mindful about waste and packing with 100% of their products. On top of beauty, they offer it all – nails, hair care, body, and fragrance. With over 500k followers on Instagram, they’re certainly catching eyes and doing something right. I love their innovative mascaras to help your lashes grow with ingredients like collagen, coconut oil, kelp, and vitamin B.  

My favourite products: Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream, Dream Big Lash Extending 7 in 1 Mascara, Cherry Powder Neutralizing Mattifier 

I hope you enjoyed this list, and if I missed any of your affordable beauty favourites, please let me know in the comments below! 

The post 5 of the Most Affordable Makeup Brands We Love appeared first on Mixed Up Money.