Canadian Finance Blog

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Robb Engen on Canadian Finance Blog Posted: 05 Apr 2011 02:00 AM PDT I’ve always viewed money and personal finances differently than my friends.  I bought my first house when I was 19 and was contributing to both an RRSP and a non-registered account while my friends were buying brand new trucks and the latest electronic gadgets.  I focused on getting ahead early in my career while my friends bounced around in different jobs trying to find the right fit. While I made my share of mistakes along the way, I had a borderline obsessive drive to constantly improve my financial situation.  Things were going really well for me right out of school.  My career was thriving, I got married, and we had a really good handle on our financial situation for a young couple. Things changed for us about three years ago when my wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Over the next few months we completely changed our philosophy on how we were going to live our lives.  Having a serious health issue definitely causes you to rethink your long term views on life.  Scrimping and saving for an early retirement wouldn’t mean much if we couldn’t enjoy it together.  We decided to start a family right away, and two years ago our beautiful daughter was born.  We also made the decision that my wife wouldn't go back to work and we would become a single income family. That year was the most important year of my life.  In addition to these major events in our life I had also just turned 30 and changed careers after 10 years in the hospitality industry to be closer to home and travel less frequently.  It was time to get serious about improving our finances so that we could survive this new reality. I read everything I could get my hands on that was related to personal finance and investing.  Along the way I began to form my own views on how to save, invest and spend my money.  I'm a big proponent of educating yourself when it comes to your finances.  There's a lot of general information out there in the media and financial institutions, but only you know what's best for your own situation. Talking about money is one of those taboo subjects that seems to make everyone around us uncomfortable.  Perhaps it's the personal nature of the topic, but people for the most part don't like to discuss their own finances for fear of being judged by others.  When you throw a health issue into the mix it doesn't make it any easier for people to understand what you're going through.  It was tough not to be able to talk to my friends about our situation.  Luckily I still had someone in my life that I could turn to. My mom was a financial planner with one of the big banks for years and we have always been able to discuss money matters with each other.  We regularly debate different investment approaches, weigh in on the real estate market and share savings strategies.  Unfortunately these discussions also make our friends and family squirm in discomfort or completely bore them to tears. That's one of the reasons why we started our own blog called Boomer & Echo.  It provides us with a platform to carry on our personal finance conversations and share our experiences with like-minded people without feeling like we need to leave the room.  I am thrilled that Tom has offered me the chance to be a regular contributor on Canadian Finance Blog and to share my personal finance experiences with his readers too. Related Posts: Welcome To The Canadian Finance Blog! Canadian Finance Blog Book Giveaway Manage Your Canadian Accounts With BudgetPulse Robb Engen on Canadian Finance Blog originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 5, 2011.

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