How Much Money We've Saved and Spent in 2024 (so far!)

[@stephandden]

What’s your biggest expense so far this year? 👀

[@Utoobp24]

Funeral

[@therichbuddha3277]

A very high quality diet. A lot of grass fed beef, organic everything, free run eggs,,,etc etc. Health is wealth. Oh, and an American city vacation. Yikes, that exchange!

[@stephandden]

Amazing 👏🏿👏🏻 where did you go on vacation? 😊

[@stephandden]

We’re so sorry to hear that!

[@Utoobp24]

​@@stephanddenthanks! And thanks for the great videos, you 2 are great

[@ginac4153]

The spreadsheet is fantastic, I've been using it to track my spending for Q1 this year. I also love the recap videos. You guys do a fantastic job of living below your means, it's inspiring!

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much - we’re so glad you like it! 😊

[@charletfoster8917]

Your graphs are great!! They show balance, have to enjoy life n your investing is 🙌🏿🙌🏿

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! We’re glad you liked the format! 🥳🥳

[@hedgefundharry]

Love Den's mindset. If you're going to be shy of the goal, having a concrete plan and some guilt/sourness to not justify/rationalize a one-off means you're committed to change. Gifts are a cost of living amongst people and as I grow older, I'm like Den, hate spending money, not frugal, but like Mr. Krabs, I love seeing money compound. Unlike Mr. Krabs, I will spend on people/events that are worthwhile.

[@stephandden]

That’s very true! And ha, great point - it hurts to spend, but some things are worth it!

[@johntryl8009]

Cool vid, nice to see content like this cause it's super motivating. Personal budget: none. Current spend as of Mar 31, 2024: $12959.58 (which includes rent of 2k/mo). Keep up the great work both, love the vids.

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much! + thank you for sharing 😊

[@Jibril_Abdulkadir]

Great vid I like your guys honesty and what you can do better in the future

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much! 🙏🏿🙌🏻

[@stonecoldhitman7662]

Great to see that you practice what you preach. It is motivation for the rest of us to be as committed as you both are to save.

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much 😊

[@ImaniLove94]

I really love these videos to check in and compare! This year I've spent $7,501.14 in expenses. Have paid off $2,700.14 in debt and invested $848.33. My biggest spend category is Travel and I spent $1596.49 and went to Paris, Corsica and Mexico! (I'm a shoe string traveler and have a lot of gracious friends that hosted me on my trips.) I am a freelancer and have been waiting on a couple of checks that I hoped would allow me to invest more, but will be looking forward to having money money this next quarter to invest.

[@stephandden]

So glad you like them! + a big congrats on paying off so much debt! 🥳 That sounds amazing re: the travelling you’ve done, too (and for such a great overall price!)

[@o1kutie89]

We’ve been using your spreadsheet so it was fun to compare results while watching the video!! Can’t wait for next quarter! Usually I tend to spend more money as the weather warms up 😅

[@stephandden]

Ah we love that! 😊 So fun 🙌🏿🙌🏻

[@Krynale]

Great work keep it up, much love from Montreal!

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! 🙌🏿🙏🏻

[@Scandal247]

I like the graphs. Love recap videos.

[@stephandden]

Thank you! So glad you liked it 🙌🏿🙌🏻

[@GrowingWithM]

Biggest expense this year is on car repairs... phew!! Thank God for an emergency fund

[@stephandden]

So glad that you had an emergency fund ready! It puts you in a way better position 🙏🏿👏🏻

[@vancouverdiaries738]

You have good branding and design guys! Its been a while since I visited here

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! Glad you’re back 😊

[@asdfghjkl905]

I really wish you guys had a Discord Server! I've been a part of another one but it's very US-centric and I would love a community of people from Canada to have a place to chat and share successes and mistakes. I would be so down to help moderate (never been a moderator but I am willing to learn)

[@saraollech3567]

This is a great Idea. I am also in an US based one and only about 3 CDNs in there so not everything jives. ☺️

[@stephandden]

We actually have something in the works right now! 👀 We’ll definitely keep you in mind re: being a moderator, too! Could you send us an email so we have your contact info? 😊

[@orangejuiceyyy]

The subreddit r/PersonalFinanceCanada has one!

[@daniel.h2940]

This was enjoyable and informative…. I NEED to start budgeting again! 🙏🏿

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much, Daniel! And this was your reminder, ha! 😊

[@christineee444]

I loved the graphics and everything else about the video!

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! 🙌🏿🙌🏻

[@Justchilling8261]

Loved this type of check in.❤

[@stephandden]

Thanks 😊

[@thabisomanyeruke4733]

Great video looking forward to more❤

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! 😊

[@emilyconner156]

Love this video concept!

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 😊🥳

[@xylo5750]

This is me asking Dan about headphone pads (because I was planning upgrading mine on my Sennheiser HD598 lol)

[@stephandden]

I’m usually pretty good at following videos and instructions, but I definitely ruined the look of my headphones going the DIY route 🤦🏿‍♂️ They work fine, but there’s no longer a seamless look between the pads and the actual headphone body - they look liked they’ve been stuck on.

[@CH-fw1ji]

Would love to see a video about how you guys pay for things as a household/couple (rent, groceries, wifi, etc)!

[@MFTW]

Do you include investments in your budget? Ive been debating doing it myself

[@myafrosheen]

I just treat it as a bill/fixed expense

[@stephandden]

Yes, we do! 😊

[@petengochi]

Great! could you please do a video of your income in Q1

[@stephandden]

We pay ourselves $4,459/month right now - so our personal income was $13,377 each (take home pay for three months!) 😊

[@petengochi]

Wowsers! your income mainly comes from ? I guess you have MSI

[@Genzmillenial]

Den is SO hard on himself 😅 It’s only an average of $100 over but he is so disappointed

[@stephandden]

I know right! 😅 he wants it to be so spot on, ha!

[@itz.mariavicz]

sadly for myself, I'm going to have to cut back on savings so I'm able to pay down my credit cards, lines of credits, etc. I would ideally like to keep up with every area, so pay off those credits while still saving, but the debts aren't moving LOL sucks but it's one of those things that you gotta prioritize otherwise it'll never be reached :( but I'm happy you guys are on track with your expenses - yes Dennis, even you as unhappy as you are 😅

[@stephandden]

We love to hear that you’re prioritizing your debt! It’s not fun in the short-term, but you’ll definitely feel better when you see the debts moving and you could can build up your savings more quickly. 😊 And hahaha 😂 thank you so much!

[@hn9382]

For vanilla syrup, not sure how much you spend on Amazon but there is a local shop call Beanwise that has LOTS of coffee gear :)

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll definitely check it out 😊

[@obesia1873]

I would suggest budgeting a small amount for taxi and similar expenses because otherwise you will more often than not be over budget if little things like this happen. Just look at your average and put a small amount (it can be smaller but itll be closer to reality)

[@stephandden]

Instead of doing that, I have a chunk of money budgeted for ‘other’ that should cover not just the ‘other category’, but any of those one offs - ie. if I spend on taxi services and fitness, I’ll ensure I don’t spend too much in ‘other’ so that the total of all three categories doesn’t surpass the budgeted amount for ‘other’ 😊

[@obesia1873]

@@stephandden oh ya that works! Thanks for the video and best of luck in your financial journey. I'd need me a sugar daddy to be as disciplined with money as you guys

[@stephandden]

Hahaha 😂 thank you so much!

[@HouseOfBurgz]

Groceries the past few months has been my biggest expense! I don’t see it coming down anytime soon. 🍊

[@stephandden]

Groceries can be so expensive! Thanks for sharing 😊

[@harshilparikh238]

How do you track your investment? I know we can track manually through the Excel sheet, but do you know if there is any tool available like mint. I was using mint but mint is closed now.

[@stephandden]

There doesn’t seem to be any tool that’s free and similar to Mint available! We have hear of ‘Passiv’ though, which is a platform for tracking your investments (if you’re in Canada) - I believe it’s free if you use specifically. We personally use the budget spreadsheet right now, though 😊

[@lizzy3170]

Hello Steph and Denise always looking forward to hear your videos. I am spending more money now because of some reno. I have a question I just start wetting my feet in investing. I Is ok for Wealthsimple to manage my Rrsp portfolio. whatbyour take. I am doing the TFSA on my own.

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! 😊 Yes, Wealthsimple Invest (aka the robo-advisor) has slightly higher fees than doing it on your own, but they’re much lower than many other options. I (Steph!) used it for about three years myself, and I liked it as a beginner. However, if you are comfortable investing on your own (just like you’re doing with your TFSA), that’s an option, too!

[@sindhumathi9209]

@stephandden, I am new to investing, how can I invest in s&p 500 US, from Canada, In wealth simple, the conversion fee is 1.5%, is it a good option, or are any other alternatives?

[@stephandden]

Hey! Good question - so you have a couple of different options. You can either buy VOO or VFV. They are both S&P 500 ETF’s except VOO trades on the New York Stock Exchange and VFV trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange. If you purchase VFV you won’t have any conversion fees because it’s trades on the TSX, meaning it’s a Canadian dollar ETF. This means you can buy it directly with your Canadian dollars. Hopefully that makes sense. We actually have a new resource for new investors coming soon so you should sign up for our newsletter for when it drops (it’s on our website) 😊

[@sindhumathi9209]

@@stephandden Thanks for the clarification! Yeah It would be useful… Can you please explain each and every step while buying S&P 500 ETFs in Wealth Simple, Wealth Simple is asking different options while setting up the portfolio and unable to change the portfolio, While buying also asking questions… Please address all the issues in ur newsletter

[@MFTW]

Was the haircut $600 or was there more to the increase in March?

[@stephandden]

No, just the hair appointment! Otherwise I was under my typical monthly budget categories overall 😊

[@Money_Man_Meech]

Can you guys do a video on the new Wealthsimple low rate mortgage ?

[@stephandden]

Good suggestion! We’ll add it to our list 😊

[@fasteddy3336]

$600 more in March on a hair cut? Steph? Let’s assume you two get married, would there just be one house budget? Or would you still have two separate budgets?

[@stephandden]

Yes! 🫣 hahaha We already do our budgets together now, even if they’re written out separately (it’s also easy for us considering we work together and make the exact same income!), but yes we’ll likely combine our housing expenses 😊

[@fasteddy3336]

Our big purchase this month was a new puppy and 2 new lazy boy chairs. Paid for half the chairs down, the puppy, vet bills, miscellaneous items for the puppy, paid taxes, and getting our taxes done we spent $5400 USD.😱

[@llama2301]

How much money do you guys make after taxes per month? If you guys don't mind me asking. And is it youtube only or do you guys still have a full-time job outside of youtube? I'm in the canadian airforce and half my pay goes to taxes + pension. Including the backpay we've received in June, I made 86,000$ last year and aftter the taxes + pension deducted I finished with about 46,000 in my pockets. I never realised how much was deducted for the pension until i started budgeting more. My wife is in the process of joining as well, once she joins we'll be able to actually save, but not as much as you guys though. Keep up the good work, learned a bunch from you two so far.

[@stephandden]

Our current take home pay is $4,459/month each! We’ve been doing KZbin (and everything that goes along with it!) full time for 2.5 years now. We love to hear that budgeting helped you see that - it’s crazy how much is happening with our money that we don’t even realize if we don’t check it! It sounds like you both have a great plan in place now. Thank you so much for your comment 😊

[@Kalyanachakravarthy-t4k]

Eating out and vacation

[@stephandden]

Where did you go on vacation? 😊

[@lweis123]

Talk about rrsp

[@stephandden]

We have a video all about the RRSP! 😊

[@lweis123]

@stephandden awesome will watch it

[@ashleynorthover5084]

we need an update on your take out for journey

[@stephandden]

We’re going to post a video in two weeks giving a full update! 😊

[@michaelssali]

Man this channel was better when y'all had real jobs. I unsubscribed because I lost heavy interest in seeing "goal to spend $0 on ubereats" and how much you spend on stuff that I can't afford, yet the rest of us have to wake up and walk 5 miles to work: rain, hail, or high water while you guys say you're "content creators"? It sucks that Canadiens can "F.I.R.E" while us Americans in the South gotta support them with our backs every day. SMH, congratulations Stephanie on the $100000 and Den, keep grinding; but this channel was better when it was two videos a week and y'all were going to work. As a matter of fact, I looked forward to watching y'all on my lunch break. Now I'm like, nah! I'm really not Angry or mad: I just wish the videos were more exciting like they used to be. And it's your life, I know "remote" work is a heavily controversial issue right now and I don't blame you, but at least make videos that make us the viewer look forward to watch. Please, Stephanie and Dennis, I'm not trying to disrespect y'all at all, I just miss watching the good, no, Oscar or Emmy worthy content y'all had, even as late as the end of 2023: I used to set aside 7:00 P.M. on Sundays as Steph and Den in Primetime. Now, I haven't seen a video of y'all since January. And that stuff about me walking 5 miles in rain, hail, or snow was really frustration against other "remote" workers, not necessarily you or Den, I just thought it's relevant to this comment. Please don't take this comment the wrong way. I'm not mad, or angry, just a little disappointed in the entertainment value of Steph and Den these days. I still read the newsletter though! Maybe I'll resubscribe to the channel in the future.

[@stephandden]

Hi - we’re glad to see your comment, as we hadn’t seen one in a while! That’s okay - our content isn’t going to be for everyone. We’ve worked for ourselves full time for 2.5+ years now, so our content has been similar for quite a while now - we also pay ourselves $70,000/year (or a monthly take home pay of $4,459/month), which is the same income - and therefore spending and budget - that we had with our previous full time jobs. Our current focus is to transparently share what’s going on with our money (how we save and spend it), and to share educational personal finance videos that help everyone access information to these topics in a simple and easy to understand way. We’re happy with that direction overall, and being able to have an impact with our content - and doing that full-time - is a blessing. Thanks again for checking in, and we hope to see you again in the future. 😊

[@michaelssali]

@stephandden so you started in 2021 working for yourself? Oh, I see! Well, I think it's a coincidence because I found this channel in June or July of 2021 and went back to the beginning of the videos and watched them all. I'm glad you clarified for me. And, was it Stephanie or Dennis who wrote the comment? I'm always curious.