The 50/30/20 finance ratio – or a way to budget – is something we talked about last year, where you dedicate 50% of your income to needs, 30% to wants and the remaining 20% goes towards your savings and investments. This breakdown is simple, effective, and ensures that your essentials, lifestyle choices, and future financial…
Author: budgetsense
How One Concept from Neuroscience Explains Your Financial Setbacks
Ever heard of ‘Attention Residue’? The idea is that after a distraction – say a phone call or checking social media – it takes the average person about 20 minutes (often cited as 18 to 23 minutes) to fully regain focus on the original task. This is commonly known as “attention residue” or context switching…
Beyond the Burger: How $15 Can Feed Your Mind Instead of Your Cravings
Next time you’re eyeing that fast-food drive-thru, pause for a moment and consider this: “Sure, this meal might taste good for a few fleeting minutes, but what happens after that?” The reality is, there will likely be health consequences, whether it’s the excess fat, sky-high sodium, or heavy carbs. It’s junk food, after all; what…
3 Reasons why your Friends ‘Seem’ to be Doing Better than you Financially
One of the dominant traits of wealthy and financially successful people is that they don’t care what others are doing, nor do they go out of their way to try and financially impress their friends and peers. If anything, their very success is often built on doing things with their heads down, nothing flashy, and…
This Simple Trick will get you Started and be Comfortable with Budgeting Even if you Hate it Now
Let’s face it—budgeting isn’t for everyone. No matter how much you preach its benefits, some people will never follow or practice it. To many, it’s boring, restrictive, and just not sexy enough. Honestly, I’m sure some would rather go bankrupt than follow a spreadsheet that tells them how much they can spend and where. Want…
This Financial Tool Could Either Ruin Your Life or Make It Great—It All Depends on How You Use It
As I stood in the express checkout line at Walmart the other day, tapping my card and quickly making my way out, it hit me. Credit cards have made life a lot easier, more convenient, and even more enjoyable. You can buy what you want—even when you don’t have cash on hand—and delay payment until…
Building Resiliency and Guardrails into your Credit Card Usage to Prevent Overspending
So you finally did it: after years of diligently and painstakingly paying to reduce your $15,000+ credit card balance, you have finally done it. To say that the weight lifted off your back is huge is an understatement! There is only one problem: this balance was incurred after having already paid a similar balance a…
Is Wealthsimple Worth It? A Full Guide to Canada’s Leading Online Financial Platform
For over 150 years, Canadians have been using one of the big 5 banks to do their banking, be it personal banking, mortgages or investments. But in the last 20 years, others have joined the lucrative banking and investment arena, most in the form of online banking, with no physical presence. Wealthsimple is one of…
Easter’s Supposed to Be Simple—So Why Did It Cost Me Hundreds More Than Christmas?
Easter may not garner the same fanfare as Christmas—often seen as its overlooked sibling—but it still brings the joy of the Easter Bunny, colorful eggs, and cherished traditions that make the season special. But unless I accidentally bought literal golden eggs, I still can’t quite wrap my head around how my Easter shopping — mostly…
How to Benefit from Market Crashes: The Secret to Long-Term Wealth
Few things in life are guaranteed: death, taxes (in most places), experiencing all four seasons (again, in most places), and the stock market crashing every few years. We are currently in one of those cycles—this time, driven by the Trump tariffs. The market is experiencing wild swings, mostly trending downward, occasionally interrupted by brief upswings—often…