In this episode of the ‘We Learn Something’ podcast, hosts Andrew, Alvin, and Carly welcome wealth advisor Dami Gittens, CFP, CLU, CIM. Dami shares her journey with personal finance, shaped by unique experiences growing up in Nigeria, moving to Canada at age 17, and her professional career. The discussion covers various financial topics and anecdotes, spanning effective money management, navigating economic uncertainties, preparing for unexpected job loss, avoiding scams, risk tolerance, investment strategies, and teaching children about money. Dami also addresses common financial myths and provides practical advice for navigating economic uncertainties, avoiding scams, and preparing for unexpected job loss. This episode is rich with insights to help listeners pursue financial wellness.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:38 Meet Our Guest: Dami Gittens
01:36 Dami’s Background and Early Influences
09:04 Financial Myths and Misconceptions
11:55 Navigating Financial Volatility
13:54 The Importance of Diversification
22:52 Risk Tolerance and Behavioural Finance
29:17 Balancing Finances in a Relationship
30:12 Avoiding Online Scams
35:43 Preparing for Unexpected Job Loss
37:17 Teaching Kids About Money
46:15 Defining Success Beyond Wealth
This episode was recorded on May 8th, 2025.
For more insights from Dami, visit: https://nicolawealth.com/our-team/dami-gittens
Recommended Resources:
https://mcgillpersonalfinance.com/
Psychology of money – Morgan Housel
The Soul of Wealth – Daniel Crosby
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome and Introductions
Andrew: Alright, welcome to another episode of the We Learn Something podcast. I’m joined by my usual cohort of hosts today. We’ve got Alvin rocking his uniform. Hello, hello. And we have Carly rocking, what we just discovered are homemade or customized headphones, headphones. Yeah.
Carly: Yes. I’ve spray painted them pink.
That’s what we learned so far today.
Andrew: Yeah.
[00:00:38] Meet Our Guest: DMI Gittens
Andrew: So if anything, that’s what we’ve learned today, but we’ll definitely learn a lot more because we have a really cool guest today. Very happy to have DMI Gittens with us who has numerous credentials. C-F-P-C-L-U-C-I-M. Dami. You’ll have to explain what all of those mean.
Dami: Oh my.
Sure. Hi everyone. Thank you for having me today. It’s always fun to learn something new and, I’m happy that I can lend some insight into my own world and maybe I’ll leave here with having learned something new too.
Andrew: So full transparency. My wife and I actually met Demi in the past and worked with her back when Demi was working at Edward Jones as a financial advisor.
And she was really, really helpful for us. I’m thankful again, to have a chance to catch up with her and, explore some other topics. And one of the things to prepare for this, I found Demi, you were interviewed. There was an article that I just passed on to Alvin and Carly.
[00:01:36] Dami’s Background and Early Influences
Andrew: So they had a little bit of background for you, but for our listeners who haven’t heard that, I was curious if we could start with a little bit of your background and maybe talk about your parents and what sort of influence they had on you in your current career?
Dami: Hmm. Great place to start. I guess if I were to look back to my parents, and if you look at the family unit in general, we do get an influenced a lot about what , we’ve witnessed or what we’ve viewed or what we’ve experienced. And for me personally, my parents were both entrepreneurial.
So there wasn’t usually a steady cash flow at home because it depended on if my dad got a project that he was working on and for my mom, how much she made in sales. So growing up there was always like conversation around like. Do we have enough or what’s going on? Of course, sometimes there were some fights or misunderstanding around that.
But, generally speaking, I think. I never saw them live beyond their means. Their, personality wise, they always kind of stuck with what they had. They were very hesitant to, to borrow from others or even for the bank. I mean, eventually my mom got over that to expand her business, but over time she’s always been focused on like paying down.
Her debt. So, I think that influenced how I view money. Some of those I’ve changed over time. The fighting, I definitely didn’t want to do that and my own relationships. So, I focus on being very open and candid communicating well when it comes to finances and finding ways to be on the same page.
Andrew: That’s awesome. And I experienced that when my wife and I met you because we talked to several different advisors and some of them are just like, well, you need to invest in this and this and this, and that was not where you started. You wanted to know what our values were. And I think as you described, getting to know the people and that relationship, it seems like a.
A calling card for you, at least my impression.
Dami: Yes, very much so.
Andrew: Your parents were not working in Canada, is that right?
Dami: No, they weren’t. I grew up in Nigeria. I moved to Canada at the age of 17, so. Telling my age a little bit.
Andrew: You’re 19?!
Dami: I wish, actually, I don’t know if I wish
Andrew: true, true.
Dami: But yeah, I moved here , pretty much on my own. I had a sister who lived here as well, or I have, she still lives here. And, I went to SFU and studied economics. And I guess that sort of brings us to the article you would’ve read in the Global Meal, which explored the beginnings and how I ended up in the industry.
The main thing for me coming here was. The system was so different from what I grew up with in that people view money differently. I don’t know if it’s changed ’cause it has been a while, since I’ve been in that environment. But, you know, money there was a lot of distrust for banks. Like you would still find a lot of people who kept money literally under their mattresses.
And, I didn’t hear about people getting mortgages. As often you are more likely to use cash to purchase land and build your own family home, and that’s where you would live for the rest of your days. So there were different views about money and the banking system that kind of. Shaped how it was for me when I came here.
I, I, well, it made me fearful, I would say, when I first moved here because everyone seemed so reliant independent on the banking system and I didn’t understand it. So, through school. Taking a few courses like money and banking and ultimately going through with a co-op at the bank. It gave me an opportunity to learn a lot and gain more of an understanding and reduce the fear I had about banking here.
Andrew: That may have also been an asset in the future with other clients because I’m sure there’s, especially in Canada, there’s a lot of different cultures here, right? And so having that background, maybe you’re one step ahead of someone who wouldn’t have had that experience when talking to clients who are like, ah.
I’m a little bit apprehensive about putting everything in the bank or investing this and like, how much should I keep under my mattress? Right. Maybe that comes up sometimes.
Dami: Very true. Although we have. Almost quite the opposite in some cases where people are very dependent on the bank and don’t want to hear any other advice because they think the bank is the be all, end all where there are other avenues or other ways for you to grow your wealth.
So, that was also interesting for me to unlearn after learning so much about the banking system.
Alvin: Yeah. So I read that when you came to Canada, you did have kind of that lump sum of money that you had to support yourself. Did you put all of that into a bank or you kind of kept it as cash? How did you manage to, I don’t know, keep it safe and, and, spend it wisely over, you know, certain amount of time given your upbringing?
Dami: Mm-hmm. Well. I was afraid of losing it, so I figured I better put it in the bank. And then I had literally the fear of God, like my parents would kill me if I spent all that money. So there was no way I was spending it all, but. It did teach me how to budget in terms of making sure my school fees were paid, making sure they were paid on time, paying my phone bill, you know, looking after personal finance.
I never had to do that before. And then I had to self-manage my allowance and you know, my mom didn’t really go, oh, okay, this is how much you can have per week. She was busy running her business and she sort of trusted me to. Not spend it all frivolously. So imagine knowing you have access to more money, but you’re like, no, this is all I can spend.
It was, it was, it was, well, it was interesting. Every once in a while I would give myself like, you know, a pay raise, but still I try to keep it to a minimum. I also didn’t understand. Credit cards very well, and I was very fearful of using credit cards. I think I had a prepaid card for the longest time, and then eventually I got a better understanding of how they worked and I, I still went through a period where I overspent on a credit card, and so I had to learn that too and how to use it and not let it use me essentially.
Andrew: I hope my kids grow up to be like you. They sound very responsible. Thank you. Like even the language of giving yourself a, a pay raise. I’m like, oh, that’s, that’s great. Alvin, you had a question I think we had talked about, about like kind of debunking different financial myths or things like that.
[00:09:04] Financial Myths and Misconceptions
Alvin: Do you wanna Yeah, just.
Thinking about with all everyone that you’ve worked with, are there things that you kind of hear often, some, some things that have been repeated that are kind of misconceptions or myths around saving or investing? Just things that, I don’t know. Maybe some folks accept as just a fact of, of investing or, or saving money that are actually.
A little bit more nuanced or just downright inaccurate. Is there anything you’ve come across that might be something like that?
Dami: Yeah, that’s a good question there. I think there are quite a few. Myths out there specifically to investing. A lot of people view equities or the stock markets, well, I shouldn’t generalize, but quite often you hear that it’s, extremely risky or it’s like gambling and a lot of that’s because there isn’t an understanding of how the stock market works or how equities work.
And so I do spend a lot of time educating. On that. , So that people understand how it can help them in terms of their long-term goals. Another myth, I suppose would be I don’t have enough to save, which. I think there’s a fine line there because the cost of living is pretty high, and I’m sure there are people who truly are just going paycheck to paycheck trying to make ends meet.
So it’s possible that you don’t have much to save. But, I love going through the effect of compounding. It doesn’t matter how little it is, like whatever you’re doing, you’re still getting yourself one step closer to maybe financial stability in some way, shape or form.
Andrew: Is that like maybe surrounding the idea of habits then?
Is that maybe. For young people listening, maybe one of the things you’d recommend that they just start saving, like maybe set aside a certain percentage of that and maybe start there.
Dami: Yes, my rule of thumb was usually 10%, but you know, sometimes that’s too high. But it could be a percentage, it could be a dollar value that you think you are able to carve out.
If you start saving at 20, like it will really, really amaze you How. Possible it is for you to get to become a millionaire. If that seems to be like something that’s out of reach, like sure, it might take time, you know, it usually takes time, but there’s a way for you to get there
Andrew: and I, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about how, you know, these days economically, people are kind of like, oh, what’s going on?
There’s like so many changes in things. Like what, do you have any sort of. Blanket advice if for people who are sort of just now starting to invest, or maybe they started kind of recently mm-hmm. And they’re a little bit on edge about what to do. It’s
[00:11:55] Navigating Financial Volatility
Dami: usually most challenging if you just started recently and your money goes phew because then you’re likely panicking and wondering what the heck you got yourself into.
The truth of matter is volatility will always exist when it comes to investing because. Nothing stays the same, like things are always constantly changing, so you have to get used to that idea. When it comes to investing as well, some go with the rule of thumb where in any five year period you’re likely to see markets go up.
You know, three of those years. It might go down one of those years, and it might be flat in one of those years, but over the last 10 years that didn’t really follow. We’ve had a strong period of growth and, there was a pandemic and it sort of dipped, but it quickly recovered. So we didn’t really go through a long period of pain.
It was, it was a quick way out. But we still kind of remember how we felt through that time. Now everyone’s talking about. Trump and you know, the uncertainty of the way he leads and all, like all the different news that you’re getting day to day that’s ever changing, and how do you actually navigate that and how do you.
Forget about the noise to get peace of mind. First of all, turn off the tv. Don’t listen to any details, but more importantly, I find that if you can focus on what you can control, that really helps because we can’t control. What, you know, world leaders are doing. We can control their decisions. There’s so much that’s not within our control, but if you dial it back to your own day to day and how much you’re saving or how much you’re spending where you’re spending those are decisions that you can control yourself that impact your financial wellbeing.
[00:13:54] The Importance of Diversification
Dami: Having a well diversified portfolio, I, there’s no way I can talk about navigating this and not mention that that’s like key to weathering the storm. ’cause ultimately we don’t know which sector is going to come out ahead or what’s going to be best. Like, we can make assumptions and try to like gauge and, and try to pivot, but if you have something in different buckets as I like to call it, then you know.
One of those buckets will probably do very well and you’ll be okay. At any one point. The different asset classes, it’s a bit like a seesaw, right? So as long as you’re spread evenly, then you take advantage of the upsides too.
Andrew: And maybe dialing in on that sort of idea of diversification. Like in my head, I’m thinking someone listening as like, okay, I’m gonna put this much in crypto, this much in gold, this much in the stock market, this much.
In like, how would, how would you sort of further define that? Is it based off that person’s sort of preferences or is it more sort of just being spread so that if one thing is affected, the other will not be in terms of. I dunno, say tariffs or, or you know, changes in trade.
Dami: Yeah. There’s so many ways you could be diversified.
Yeah, for sure. If you look big picture, I would say it starts with your preference of what risk tolerance you have, right? So if, for instance, I. Get really freaked out by volatility in the stock markets. Maybe putting so much into stock markets isn’t the thing for me. Maybe I need to put a little bit more in bonds or, or gold if I think that’s safer.
So it’s going to vary person to person. It also varies depending on how close you are to whatever goal you had intended for your money. Which kind of brings me to. Talking about given purpose to your money, I suppose in a way it’s a financial habit. I, I really believe that if every dollar you have has a purpose, you’re more likely to.
Get that working for you and you’re more likely to achieve your goals. So if, let’s say my goal is retirement and I’m trying to figure out how to diversify more portfolio, if I have a longer timeline to retirement, then maybe I’m willing to take more risk in it. And maybe I, I would put more in the equity bucket, right?
But if my goal is to buy a home and I want to do that within the next year, then even though diversification is important to me, I might just put more into like bonds or I might even decide to put it into high interest and, and bonds or, you know, something. Not as risky as say the stock market. So there are those components when you’re thinking about how to diversify and then when you go further into it, like equities for instance, you could take a look at different types of companies there are that you’re looking to invest in.
Like do you want to go with something that’s more. Dividend producing, or are you going with smaller companies that have higher risk, more volatility, more chances of, of losing your money for the potential upside? There are different ways you can really spread your money around.
Carly: So Demi, how would you navigate that if you are say like.
You have a bucket of money, like a thousand dollars for example, and you have no clue how to diversify and there’s like all these platforms out there. How do you navigate, like what’s your advice to someone who’s, who’s trying to figure that out and knock it? Overwhelmed.
Dami: Mm-hmm. Well. I think my answer would have to be find an advisor
Andrew: and not just any advisor.
Dami: No, no, I wouldn’t go that far. Okay. Okay. No, ultimately finding an adv, an advisor helps on many different fronts. Just when you talk about behavioral finance. A lot of the reasons why people don’t do so well is comes down to behavioral finance. So panicking when things are going crazy and say selling everything, where if you had someone to talk to or someone who was helping you through that thought process, maybe you’re less likely to pull it and actually crystallize your losses.
So that’s why most times we’d encourage you to get an advisor and you can find an advisor at various levels. I know they’re not, or we are not all made the same. And it’s important for you to find a fiduciary or someone who’s looking out for your best interests. But you, I’m sure, like there’s so many options out there that you can find someone to work with.
Otherwise, I know most people go through platforms where it’s automated and you know, we talk about ETFs a lot. I probably have to add the caveat that I’m not providing advice right now, but you know, generally speaking, like you could choose an ETF to invest in that would be, and you know, ETFs, because it’s.
It’s such a broad basket of goods, like it, it should provide ample diversification. There’s so many options out there for you to get the diversification you need, maybe without the advice. There are ways to educate yourself to like reading the information about the the funds. Sometimes some of the firms that offer I think.
ETFs or like personal trading. I think sometimes they provide you access to someone you can talk to about the investments. Unfortunately, a lot of it has to be self-directed and that you go out there and you ask the questions, but maybe a reminder not to be afraid to ask the questions and learn, because that’s the best way to learn if you.
Kick out the fear and just ask.
Andrew: Yeah. And I find that, at least when we worked with you, one thing that was really helpful about it, because talking about money, as you said, can be stressful, especially in families between, you know, spouses and partners. And I think having another party who’s kind of like the neutral person can be also helpful in that sense because they provide like a, an outside perspective that, you know, allows you to both talk and.
I was kind of curious. I’m not a professional podcaster or a psychologist but I’m curious, like in your experience, do you have any recommendations for just Yeah, people and their families talking about money or like having those conversations productively, besides. Work with a Oh yeah. Great advisor.
Dami: Yeah. I think if you do it frequently, it becomes less of an elephant in the room. Mm. So instead of making it a, okay, let’s sit down and talk about money, you are having constant conversations. You’re either learning. About how both parties in the household grew up with money. And I think that’s actually a very good first question.
Like, what was your experience with money growing up in your household? Did your parents talk about it? So if you go back a little bit, it gives you an insight as to where you, your partner is about money, and then maybe you can bring it back to present, like, oh, okay. This is what I see you doing about money, or this is what I do with money.
Like what do you think? But just having it in a way where there’s not a lot of pressure, but you are, you get each other comfortable about having those conversations on a regular basis. In my home. Interestingly enough, my husband is the one who loves the spreadsheets, so he makes the spreadsheets about our spending and about our goals, even though I have like a financial plan.
But it’s great because for me it also shows that he’s interested and having that conversation and he’s interested in us finding a common ground and you know, being able to achieve our goals together. So I think once you have. That as a foundation, the fact that you’re working together and that you understand where you’re coming from and you’re both trying to see where you’re getting to and there’s too much pressure around the conversation, then it should help.
And a lot of compromise
Andrew: that, that’s great advice and my, my extra takeaway from that is for anyone in the dating game still, if you can make super spreadsheets, that’s a very sexy quality.
Dami: I love it.
Andrew: I also love when you said, yeah, every dollar has a purpose. I think that was a really great quote and mindset to have.
[00:22:52] Risk Tolerance and Behavioural Finance
Andrew: And maybe if we could go back to talking about risk, like how to sort of determine whether you’re low, medium, or high risk. Is there like a, a sample question you could give? I’m just curious.
’cause I, I kind of would like to see what Alvin and Carly, how they reply and. We could see how we fall amongst the Sure. The team.
Dami: I’ll take this off of our risk tolerance questionnaire. So if your portfolio was to drop 20% in like one day, what would you do? Would you a,
Andrew: withdraw it all and put it under your mattress?
Right.
Dami: B, would you invest more or, I think it’s A do nothing or like withdraw it. B A, withdraw it, B, do nothing. And then C, would you put more money in?
Alvin: Yeah, so I can answer that kind of from, you know, when the pandemic hit, all of our portfolios got hit really hard and I tried not to look at mine. And, but then I did, and it was bad.
It was like five figure losses everywhere. And I was just like, oh boy, this is rough. But the thing about these types of volatile events and, and, and, you know, market unpredictability back then and, and right now is what I like to do is just literally just zoom out, zoom out of the graph, stop looking at the, you know, month to month, week to week volatility and like, where was I three years ago?
Oh, I’m still up like 59%. Oh, I’m, and then you see, you know, you see all the dips, all the ups and downs, but generally speaking, the trend continues upwards. So I personally, if I had liquid cash, I would probably. Buy more. Try to buy the tip buy the stocks when they’re on sale. But if not that, then I, we just leave it alone.
Especially, I think a big part of that question too is the answer is depends on your timeline, right? If you needed something sooner, you might have a different answer than if you’re willing to just let things sit for five, 10 years and kind of just let it do its thing. Keep dollar cost averaging all the way through.
So how about you? No
Dami: right or wrong answers. Carly, but here are yours.
Carly: I mean, I think I would not do anything just because I am trying to look at things in the long term. I think when I’m listening to you, just like, just talk about all the topics, stemmy, I’m always referencing my own financial situation, of course, and I think like the dollar, every dollar has a purpose.
Really hits home for me. ’cause then I think about like, oh, like what is each dollar and each purpose? And I don’t always have a purpose for each dollar, so I just kind of let it sit. Until like, I find its purpose in a way, and I don’t know if that’s like correct or not, but like I, I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future.
I don’t know. I, I just feel like when things drop they’re bound to go back up and I would, I would hope that I could, I could see that through emotionally. Yeah. I think the emotional side of of money is something I am. Really just discovering myself, like I grew up like with poor, and my, my parents were fighting for every dollar, so I watched them fight over money and I’m sure that we understand, like there’s a lot of tension in the house.
So growing up, like thinking about that and not wanting to have. My own family go through that is on my mind. So when, yeah. So I try to think long term on what to do if in a, if it’s volatile out there, which is right now
Dami: Oh great. I guess two comments. Alvin is clearly high risk.
I wouldn’t say high risk, I dunno. Medium to
Andrew: high. Yeah, ultra high.
Dami: I think Carly is more in the medium, but the interesting thing about that exercise is that I feel it also showcases the difference between how women invest and how men invest too. Women are more likely to be conservative. We’re better behaviorally actually, in terms of like.
Not doing anything, like not panicking or just sort of trusting that it’ll be okay where men are likely to either invest more or sell, like they’re gonna do something about it. Women tend to be more hesitant. People might expect that we don’t make. As much, and sometimes that does happen, like our returns aren’t as high as it might be for men, but over time, because we’re less likely to make rash decisions, we still end up doing okay.
So if that’s any comfort. That is I also found an interest in statistic around emotions and investing or behavioral finance and investing, or just having a why for your dollar two, where if you do approach your savings that way, you’re more likely to save 15% more by giving your money a purpose.
So. It does make a difference for you to have an account that says, this is my travel fund, and like everything going in here is for travel. And knowing what your goal is for it, you’re more likely to try to see that number get there, or if it’s for retirement or whatever it is, but just by. Having a purpose for your accounts versus just it being a savings account and it’s just there, it actually makes a difference in how you approach the funds in the account or how you work to get it to maybe a number you were targeting.
Andrew: I’m glad I didn’t have to answer that risk question ’cause I, I think I had a far less intelligent answer than both of you, but I, I also want to acknowledge, I wonder if maybe in some ways, if, like, let’s say a couple. And it could be either side, right? Like one person is low risk, one person is high risk.
Let’s say as an example.
[00:29:17] Balancing Finances in a Relationship
Andrew: On the one hand, that could mean that there’s more negotiating and sort of discussions that have to happen. That could be challenging. But on the other hand, I feel like maybe that also balances out. The finance is a little bit right? Is is that. Would you agree with that or?
Dami: Yes.
Yes, I definitely would. And you know, even though you’re saving as a couple, you still have individual accounts, so, you’d still have your own RSP account, for instance, or your own tax free savings account where you can acknowledge for the difference in risk tolerance. Although you look at it as a big pot.
So in that way you can find compromise. If someone is more willing to take on risk, sure the other party might not be as comfortable but with their accounts, I guess you’re trying to make sure they’re comfortable with that. So, yeah, I think there are ways to work around it. That’s what usually tends to happen.
Hm.
[00:30:12] Avoiding Online Scams
Andrew: There’s a question we had that I really wanted to get to, which is in particular, I think for, well, not to pick on anyone, but like my parents’ generation or older people. Mm-hmm. I, I really worry about scams and like sort of bad advice online and I was wondering kind of. Maybe all of you, if you have any advice that you would share or things you’ve learned that can help people avoid that
Dami: trust.
Nothing online do you? It’s crazy. Except this podcast. Well, we’re not asking for money.
Andrew: True. True.
Dami: Not yet. Right
Carly: at the end of the episode.
Andrew: We need a purpose for the dollar
Alvin: first. Right. I would say for me, I think my, my general piece of advice there is if anything tells you that you can make a decent chunk of money in a very short amount of time, I just like, no, it takes a long time.
It takes a while. There’s no get rich quick schemes unless, you know, you get into the whole crypto coin scam, pump and dump schemes. But that’s a whole, that’s a different podcast. So,
Dami: yeah. But it’s really crazy how it works. These days, like just going back to thinking about an older generation and maybe they don’t have familiarity with how things work online and the different things out there.
It’s as innocent as seeing a, what they call these things, like a raffle or like a product giveaway online, and then they ask you for. Credit card information for shipping. Like, yeah, you’ve got this free gift, but you need to pay $5 for shipping, and you think about $5 for shipping is not a big deal, so you enter all your information.
Meanwhile, they’re actually fishing, like they’re getting all that credit card information and they’re using it. You know, elsewhere. So it’s, it’s as delicate as that. And you’d never really think initially like, oh yeah, they’re just trying to get my information. But it happens so often and then, you know, you get.
Charges from random places you’ve never been. And then there’s another one. I, I guess for most people, I would say if there’s something you’re unsure about, like always talk to someone about it. Like most times they get a wiser generation to just. Do what they’re being asked to do without any outside input.
Right? They sort of isolate them and make them feel they have to do whatever it is. So, you have situations where they’re saying, oh, you’ve been locked out of this account, or Something’s happened, but. Don’t tell anyone. We’re asking you for 20 grand to like help you through this, otherwise we won’t be able to help you.
So that’s a pattern I see often and and so I would really encourage anyone that’s going through something like, make sure you talk to somebody else. Get another second opinion before you actually give your money away.
Alvin: Yeah, some of these scams are getting pretty slick. I mean, I myself have received a number of text messages saying.
Hey, or from Comcast Xfinity, your promotional rate is going to expire soon. Call us to confirm your billing information to keep your rate. I’m like, wow. I totally, like I am, I do have Comcast internet and I do have a promotional rate. Like they just, they get really close to being true, but then something is off about it.
And if you’re not paying attention or if you’re, you’re older and you just aren’t familiar with some of the scams going around, it could be it could be pretty bad for folks. ’cause yeah, these, these scams are getting really creative now and it’s, it’s kinda scary.
Andrew: And when I sent that email to Alvin, I accidentally wrote from Andrew and that was the tip off.
But everything else was like really convincing. Not again, Andrew, like, wait a second here. Yeah, maybe my one advice too would be just really monitoring your financial statements, especially credit cards. ’cause Yeah, I’ve also, I’ve had this happen and I, it’s like you have to just go back and check and be like, wait, what was this charge again?
And just make sure you’re, you’re familiar with everything that’s there because you can’t always prevent it, but at least if something happens, you’re aware that it has happened and you can act on it quickly and call your bank.
Alvin: Yeah. Turn on transaction alerts like so you know right away when something goes down.
That’s been, I, I learned that after my information card information got stolen several years ago and because I waited until my statement came like a month later, it was a lot harder to fight it. But yeah, if you can do it quickly, you know, call the bank right away. I think it’s. It’s a lot easier to to get
Andrew: that remedied.
And Carly, I think, ’cause you and I have worked in a lot of like, sort of VFX studios where there’s a lot of proprietary content. I know that sometimes they’ll even do like training or like emails saying like, Hey everyone watch out for this type of thing. And they give you like training of like, you know, first Yeah.
Check like who, who was the actual sender and like hover over the link before you click on it and just kind of. Little things like that can also be good clues.
Carly: Yeah. I get so much spam these days, like text messages and phone calls. I get a bunch now who, that are what seems like ai, like people talking to me saying like.
What’s your, yeah, how’s your day? Even like, how’s your day going? And I, I’ve never heard of this number before. And then I get messages from like FedEx and per later, about parcels and clicking on the link. And I’m like, I don’t remember sending a parcel, but like, it seems so legitimate. So it can be really confusing.
And it’s just everywhere now.
Andrew: But that’s where having a, a good financial advisor can also be helpful.
[00:35:43] Preparing for Unexpected Job Loss
Andrew: Can we talk a little bit about, well, one other negative thing, which is like preparing for unexpected job loss. I think it’s a, it’s a valid one and I, I’ve experienced this a little bit and I know one general advice is save, like, prepare for it.
But is there something beyond that you might recommend Dami or things that you’ve seen people do that have been helpful?
Dami: Well, the first thing is having emergency savings and I, in the past, you’ve heard me talk about having three to six months of expenses put away, and that way, you know, if something unexpected happens, then you, you kind of know how long you’re good till or good for before.
Other benefits might kick in like EI to help. But most times people are afraid to protect themselves from like disability, which is actually much more common than death when we talk about the statistics, right? So, disability, of course you don’t know how or when it could occur, but it usually severely impacts your ability to earn.
So most times we talk about disability insurance. Getting something in place that either covers you up on, you know, for a specific period of time, or some of them will cover you up until age 65, which would be your typical retirement age, at least here in Canada. Right. So, those are ways to protect yourself.
Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s too much else other than having enough in the bank Right. Or shifting the risk to an insurance company.
[00:37:17] Teaching Kids About Money
Andrew: I I wanted to ask about or pivot to parents and children a little bit, and I know Dami, you’re a parent as well. I’m curious. Yeah. In terms of. How as parents, we can help teach our kids about money.
As one example, I gave my son a little box with like clear glass panels and on each one it says, give, save, spend. Love it. And I was trying to teach him that. And so, so far give is kind of just the toys he doesn’t like anymore. It’s, it’s gone beyond coins and money. It’s like little toys that can fit inside.
The safe is pretty sizable, but the spend is definitely the largest one.
Dami: I love that. I think that even as adults, we should have those three boxes of you know, give safe spend taking ’em back to kids. A lot of it will, as we all know or have experienced, will depend on your conversations around money, around your kids, so. I try to be very careful not to say things like, we can’t afford it, versus that’s not something we’re getting right now.
Or, you know, maybe it’s something we can. Work together to save for and then, you know, we can go buy it later or whatever it is. Just because I know for me growing up there, there was a lot of yeah, we don’t have any money to, to do that. And it’s probably normal to say that, but I find that mindset.
It carries on for so long where you’re always feeling that scarcity or that you don’t have enough, even when you do have enough. That feeling of always needing more. So I’m trying to change that, at least for my daughter. So conversations around money, making it normal, of course, teaching them things like, oh look, this is on sale, and, you know, maybe this is something we could use.
Why pay full price when you come buy something on sale? I love that one. But you have to think about how to explain it to them, you know, depending on their ages, so they understand like what you’re trying to get across. And the first one from, for me, for my daughter, is trying to get her to understand you actually need money to pay for stuff.
’cause right now she just thinks you can put it in a basket and she can tap my phone and. Off we go. So it’s a very different world to the one we grew up in where there was physical money and we used to get those and we took that to go buy something, where most times they get a card these days. Right.
And I think somehow there’s a bit of a disconnect when you’re just tapping a card and you’re not actually saying, oh, okay, so I only have $10 left. What can I buy with $10 when you’re like, I could just tap it. So. Maybe start with physical money instead of a card.
Alvin: Yeah, that’s a good one. ’cause it’s very, it’s tangible.
You can see it disappearing from your hands and handing it to someone else. That’s, that’s huge psychologically. That’s a really good point. Yeah.
Dami: So those are my thoughts around money and teaching kids, depending on your values. For me give is a very strong one. So, just thinking about ways to give and I really love that your son is thinking about toys too, because all ultimately you did use money to buy those toys, so technically yeah, but not,
Andrew: not always.
Sometimes we’re just sharing others with neighbors that gently used.
Dami: That happens, but it, I mean, still use money at some point to get it. So,
Andrew: yeah.
Dami: But just getting into the habit of giving, because you’d be surprised how much given impacts our financial wellbeing too. Like, imagine instead of thinking you don’t have enough.
Instead, you’re in a place where you’re thinking about how you can help others tangibly fulfill a need they have, whether it’s food or housing or whatever it might be, but I think it puts you into a different space where. You are more grateful and you’re more likely to realize the things you have, you know, be happy with it and actually find ways to help others.
So yeah.
Alvin: How would you interact with like a, a teenager who really wants the newest iPhone and. Doesn’t really need it, but all their friends are getting it. But you’re trying to be, you know, hey, just put that money away. It’ll grow, you know, it’ll, you’ll have more, you know, in a few years. ’cause I, I just feel like, you know, when you’re young, you, you, it’s hard to think long term.
It’s hard to think about what that could turn into in five or 10 years. All you want is the new shiny thing. I know. Do you have any, any tactics to talk to people who might. Not, not quite have the the brain development to get beyond the sort of impulsive I need it now type of thinking.
Dami: Oh man. But I’m realizing that starts from so early though.
My daughter’s only four. I’m still working on her being more patient and less impulsive. Like she’s constantly saying but I want it now. Like, why can’t I have it now? So there’s a lot of coaching around. I understand you want this now. However, this is where we’re at. This is why we can’t have it now.
This is what we can do to get there. Like should do you want me to walk along with you to, to do it? It’s gonna be painful. I don’t think there’s any easy way to get a teenager on board when they want that shiny new thing, but like, you kind of have to be firm in what you’re trying to teach instead, teenager, and go along with it no matter what.
It’s about having my
Alvin: daughter’s only. Yeah. She’s only two, so I’m, I have a long foundation I can lay Oh yeah. For the next 10 years to make that conversation easier.
Dami: Seriously I really believe that it starts like as young as two because if your daughter’s had practice with delayed gratification, when you’re going to have that conversation about why you can’t have it now and how you can work together to get there, and she’s more likely to understand it, she’ll still be sad, but she’ll be like, okay, like fine.
That’s probably not shifting on this, but it is what it is. It’s so hard.
Andrew: I have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, and two things I see with them that I think it’s true probably for adults too, but it’s just easier to see with children is one a. A toy is uninteresting until the other sibling wants it. Like we don’t really know what we want until someone else really wants it, or there’s a line of people waiting for that new phone.
Right. Or like, people tell us it’s the next best thing is like we, we kind of, we learn from other people. And I, I really see that with them. And then the other thing I saw was, it seems kind of obvious, but the general idea of like, more doesn’t necessarily mean happier. Right? Like more toys, like you were saying.
They have the impulse, they want it. And then if, even if you feed into the impulse and give it to them, you’re not guaranteed that they’ll be happy and satisfied.
Mm-hmm.
Right. And in fact, the more you feed into it, the more they start to become the, the spoiled little brat. And it’s a fine balance because you gave the example, right, of like, you don’t want the scarcity mindset, but you also don’t want them to just feel like they can get whatever they want whenever they want.
Right. Yeah. And I find that that’s, that’s the interesting, that’s the tricky thing to balance for ourselves and also for parenting.
Dami: Yeah. Totally. You’re right about feeding into it. ’cause I’ve had so many moments where I’m like, okay, like I have whatever it is. And it’s like, no, now I want this. And it just keeps spiraling.
You’re like, oh my god. It’s such a fine line. I also find that because people are having kids later when they’re more settled in life, there are things I would’ve said no to. Years ago that I don’t really think twice about now, like being honest. Prime example, sunglasses. We walk into shoppers. I know she needs sunglasses for school or daycare.
It’s 10 bucks. Maybe I could find it cheaper somewhere else. Right? Those are some of the things I would’ve thought about years ago. Like why would I spend 10 bucks on sunglasses, like probably cost five bucks at the dollar store. She’s gonna scratch it up the same way. But for me, the convenience of being there, it’s right there.
She needs it. I’m like, whatever. Like you want Moana sunglasses, we’re buying Moana sunglasses. But when I think back about it, there, there are always learning opportunities. Like we could have still tried to save to get her the sunglasses she needed for school or. I could have gone or taken her somewhere else where it would be more cost effective and done that instead.
So, it’s just, it depends. It’s, it’s about where you’re at too.
[00:46:15] Defining Success Beyond Wealth
Andrew: We’re getting close on time but I, I wanna at least ask one more question to you, Damien. And I also wanna thank you for just being so candid and sharing a lot. It’s been really like even more than I expected, generous, so I appreciate that a lot.
My, my last, maybe my last question is you know, you’ve, you’ve worked with a lot of different clients, different people at different income levels. I like to imagine that there’s some guy named Gerald who’s like, Dami, I’d like to buy another yacht. And then you’re like, Gerald, do you really need another yacht?
The other one’s already a big expense but I’m curious for you personally about success. Like what. What would you define as success in your own life? Or what are you striving for?
Dami: I heard a quote recently that I resonated with me a lot given the space I’m in. True wealth is not just about money.
Most times we’re focused on dollars and cents in our account. It’s, but at the end of the day, for me, success actually is about making an impact. It’s about the difference I’ve made to sound cheesy in my clients’ lives. Like it really is important to me. It helps me feel fulfilled to know that because I’ve had a conversation with someone.
Maybe they’ve taken better decisions with their money. Maybe they’ve. Gained peace of mind about something they were worried about, and it’s made a huge difference in their lives. So knowing that I’m able to touch people that way is like a huge measure of success for me. I really value relationships a lot.
So relationships with family, with friends, being able to be present for them, someone they can count on. Rely on, like those are like strong values of mine. And so, the ability to do that, to have the flexibility also work-wise to be there like. Not everyone has the flexibility, so for me, it’s also a measure of success that I can do that.
It’s not, it’s definitely not in the dollars for me, it’s more about the intangible things and like I’m very glad that I have the autonomy over my time and the autonomy on how to spend my money in order to do the things I love or enjoy, find happiness.
Andrew: Awesome. Well, we’ve achieved success because we got to have you as a guest.
Yay.
And I mean that, I really appreciate everything you’ve said today that’s really, really valuable and really fun. And no one could have said it better. So thank you a lot. Oh,
Dami: thanks Andrew. Yeah, thanks so much. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it was nice to meet you, alpha and Carly. Yeah. Nice
Alvin: meeting you
Dami: too.
I should mention that, I mean there are a couple of opportunities to learn. I know one of the things we talked about was how can people learn more about investing or what to do about money. I will have a seminar later in the fall for women and we call it our Women mastery series or Women Mastery webinar where my focus, ’cause I really enjoy working with females would be on teaching.
The basics of, financial planning, like what you need to do, investment strategy, and also like family law. So we’ll touch on those three things. So maybe later on I can provide you some information on that and if you want to share it, there’s that.
Andrew: Yeah, that sounds great. Just maybe send an email and I’ll try to include it.
Alright. And we can maybe time the release strategically of the podcast. So yeah.
Dami: Sounds great. Thank you. But I really appreciate this opportunity to have a conversation with you all and hopefully learn something.
Carly: Yeah, for sure. I definitely, it’s nice to listen to you speak about money in such a slow cadence.
I think. Money these days is like thrown back and forth and then people spend, people save and it’s just so instant. So it’s nice to just slow down and talk about what really is finance
Andrew: and what really matters. Yeah,
Alvin: yeah. Yeah. I think this conversation will be helpful for a lot of folks listening.
You know, regardless of their. Status in life, age and family situation. There’s a lot of really good kind of general, I know it’s not financial advice and you’re not supposed to say that you’re offered financial advice in this check, but I, it’s great general advice all around. I think it was how we ended up, so yeah.
Dami: Awesome.
My pleasure. Alright. All right.
Andrew: Thanks Dami. Take care.
Dami: Take care.
Alvin: Thanks Dami. Bye.