Want to accumulate wealth and retire on time? Then LISTEN to this episode!

My guest this episode is wealth and investment expert Malee Rubenstein. For over 30 years she and her family have run Rubenstein Investments and have helped 1000’s of clients reach there financial goals. She’s a joy to listen to. Malee will help you apply the road map you need to achieve wealth, happiness, and retire on time.

Connect with Malee here: https://rubinsteinfinancial.com/

https://www.instagram.com/maleerubinstein?igsh=amRzMGdncTkzMDM5

STAND UP! PODCAST FEATURED ARTIST: BEAMN is a fantastic hip hop artist out of the Southern U.S.  This is the link to his new song MOOD. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/4GUel29PAxrABe9Rhf8D9z?si=YenKQ_oZQhud7q6KEgH0sA

https://www.instagram.com/onlybeamin1?igsh=MWV2aGFrY2QyYm5ydA==

Commercial by Chloe Tawse. 
Into song: Good Morning - Unknown Stories  

Contact the show! Host - Chris Tawse  standuppodcast@outlook.com

https://www.facebook.com/share/18o61XECfQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Support the show! buymeacoffee.com/tawsechrisz

New episodes come out every three weeks! Thanks for listening and be sure to hit that follow button and drop me a comment. Thank you  😊🇨🇦

Thanks for listening. You can see the recorded video on YouTube @PittMeadowspodcast. I also have business page up on Facebook. Please feel free to reach out and comment, like or follow me on your favorite streaming platform. 

Have a good day. ☺️

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Stand Up.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Hey, what's up everyone and welcome to Stand Up, a Pit Meadows podcast about resiliency, mental health, and music. On today's episode, you'll hear from a financial expert with over 30 years experience helping people grow their money and retire with wealth and independence. You will also hear from Southern U.S. hip hop artist Beam with his latest track, Mood, at the end of the interview. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the show. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Stand Up, a Pit Meadows podcast about resiliency, mental health, and music. My guest today is going to help us tackle one of the biggest stressors in life, money. We just never seem to have enough. There's always something that comes up that is going to cost us more money, and it's probably the number one thing that keeps you up, uh, most of us up at night. Well, my guest today is going to help teach us that you don't need to make more money to get good with money. She has been a financial advisor for over 30 years and owner of Rubinstein Investments. Please welcome Mailee Rubinstein. Mailey, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Well, thank you, Chris, for having me. This is quite exciting. I think this is my first podcast. So I'm excited to jump right in.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

I'm excited to have you. Um, Mailey, where did you grow up and how did you end up becoming involved in financial management?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

So I grew up in Kitsalino. Right. I'm a Kitz girl, love the beach area. And how I came into finance was we moved back from Hawaii, and my husband Arthur, who actually started Rubenstein Financial, decided to get into insurance and investing. And so we decided that we liked working together in Hawaii, and he thought it would be a good fit for me to come back into the business. So I took all my licenses and learned, you know, from the bottom up. And here we are 30 from 30 some odd years later.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

I love that. How how did you guys meet in Hawaii again?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Oh my goodness. So I was there on vacation, and this gentleman walked in with his friends, and he was sitting in front of me in a different table, and we kind of guess started flirting with our eyes. And we um, my mom and I, he didn't know at the time because she was blonde head facing the other way, so he didn't see her. We got up to leave and he came running after us and said, Could I buy you a drink?

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And that's how it all started.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Wow. Yeah. And then did you say, Maybe another time I'm just leaving? Well, and so we left.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

And then, you know, my mom being my mom, she goes, No, we can't have a drink with this gentleman. We don't know who he is. Right. March back in there and tell him no. And so I was like, Oh, how embarrassing this is, right? And so I go in there and I say, Hi, I'm I'm sorry, we can't have a drink. And he says, But I bought you flowers. Let's go. Oh, wow. And so he had already had the, as I said, the flowers. And he got his car come up in the valet, and it was a little red Mercedes convertible. And all of a sudden my mom says, Get in.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

Wow. She really changed her tune quickly. She changed her tune quickly.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

And so we've been married. We were just talking about this last night. 42 years. Wow. Five kids and now five grandchildren.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Yeah. That is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Incredible journey and still continuing on it.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Yeah, that's that's awesome. I mean, I'm 47, so that's like I've been married all my time.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

My entire life, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

Um what was your first real lesson about money growing up?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

What was my first real lesson? Well, having children.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

You know, how to budget, how to get what everybody needs and make sure that they weren't left out, right? So I think that was always my idea. And people laugh at me because I always say, you know, we got to get everything on sale, right? Because then you you have a little bit more spending cash when you do have sales, whether it's buying groceries, putting shoes on their feet, going to programs where they give you a discount because we had so many children. You know, so it was that mentality. And I think that's where budgeting really helped me. And that was my first real concept of how to look after money and how to make money work for you and for the family.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Yeah, that's been a lot on my mind lately because I've got three kids and you know, wife's back in school. So it's very much about where do we find the money and where do we save and where to be budgets? Very much on the front of my mind. Right. Uh, so this is the perfect interview for me and for everyone I hope listening. Um well, on that note, with everything going on right now, with everything going up, how do I start saving? Where is that avenue?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

So people are gonna kind of get mad at when I say this, but you have to pay yourself first.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Right. So you get your paycheck, and most people go, oh my God, we got to pay the mortgage, we have to get the the groceries, we have to pay the insurances, all the different things, right? But my main thing is pay yourself first. So whether that is, you know, $50, $100, whatever you can, that's the way you start saving. So you pay yourself first. That money then goes into an account, not your checking account, but a different account. So you keep adding and you get into the routine of putting that money aside. And to me, the first thing you have to do is build that emergency account, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Because normally the rule of thumb is three to six months of whatever your monthly amount is that you have to pay, right? So if you have to live on, let's make it simple, $5,000 a month, you need to have at least $15 to $20,000 in a savings account. Because you never know when emergencies are gonna come, right? They just all of a sudden they hit you, and then people go, Oh my God, what am I gonna do? And then they dive into maybe their RSPs or they rack it up on their charge card. Right. Right. And so those are all things that we try not to do. So pay yourself first is the main thing.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

So I've always wondered about like on what you said there, because you know, it's paying yourself first towards like a retirement and sort of like that long-term savings, or is it like saving for that emergency fund first and then shifting to the long term, or do you do it at the same time? Yeah, what do you read?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

That would be the first thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Because that's the main thing. And it cut invisible spending, you know, and and you're gonna say, what's that? Well, most people don't know that they blow extra money on vacations or the food delivery, subscriptions, random Amazon buying, or the impulse shopping, right? Really sit down with yourself, get a budget, and really try to hone in of where you're spending those extra dollars. If you can cut that down a little bit more, then that would be wonderful because then you have your emergency money, and then now your money is saving for retirement too, working for you.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Yeah. Right. So you're saying sort of take uh take a moment on a Saturday to really look at your finances and slow it down and see where you can.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Exactly. You know, and I think uh saving is not what's left after living. Living is what's left after saving. Right. So that's a mindset that you really have to think about. And again, it goes back to pay yourself first.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Can you say that one more time for everyone listening?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Saving is not what's left after living. Living is what's left after saving.

SPEAKER_04 8:17

So I think what you're saying is save so that you can live better in the the future, but not like the far, far future.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Not the far future.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

It creates a future where you have more free time. Exactly. And and you're saving for what you actually what makes you happy.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Right?

SPEAKER_01 8:36

And that takes away the stress.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

You know, life is so hard as it is, and then to compound just general living and the stress of how will I retire? How will I get there? How does it look like? You know, and then we'll talk about this, I'm sure, a little later, but creating a roadmap, that's what I think is the most important tool any person can have. Every one of our clients, we always say you need a roadmap, right? Because if you're gonna get in your car and you're gonna drive from here to Pit Meadows and you don't know how to get there, you need some tools, right? So same thing when living in budgeting and doing life. You need a roadmap.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Right?

SPEAKER_04 9:20

Um What do you say to people that are living paycheck to paycheck that are really having trouble getting those those small amounts to be put aside for? Or maybe there's a a conflict of interest there with someone that they're living with that thinks no, we don't need to save for the future. How can we do that when we're barely making ends meet right now?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

So first of all, I think what you have to do is stop creating new debt, right? So when you're living paycheck to paycheck, you may then all of a sudden have to put something on the charge card. Then all of a sudden, that charge card becomes two charge cards. Yeah. Then all of a sudden we're taking out a line of credit, right? So if again, it goes back to that roadmap, right? Sit down, put a budget together, and really see living within your means, right? So if that one person that you're living with is overspending, maybe. And, you know, if you both sit down and take a look at that, that could then ease some of that burden to then start saving, right? Then we're not living paycheck to paycheck. Now we're in the same mindset to go ahead and create our financial future.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

Aaron Ross Powell Definitely. And that can be such a stress on relationships. I mean, it just causes a lot of fights. I know my wife and I have gotten into some arguments. I think everybody does. Right, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Um And even wealthy people have fights about money. Right. Where to invest it, how to invest it, don't spend it, save it, right? Exactly. So it's damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of scenario, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

But really living pay-to-pay check is such a hard, hard thing to do. And we've all done it, right? I you know, starting out in our younger years, then we go into our uh gathering years where we're having children and we've got that mortgage and we're trying to, you know, get to the next level. And it's hard. It really is. But you know, try to not do debt, because that's where the problem comes from, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:35

Can you walk me through a little bit about that what that would look like to say someone in their 20s to someone in their 40s and someone near retirement? Because people have different values and they're earning different things, and things are different priorities around those times. Like I will think about when I was younger, you know, I should have saved more, I should have put more aside, I would have set myself up better now. But it's just you just gotta start somewhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Right. And it's never too late. So remember that, you know, no matter what stage you are in your life, you can always try to catch up, so to sense. But if you're in your 20s, this is the most powerful decade financially because you are um got a lot of time on your hands. Right, right? Yeah. So you're maybe not making a lot of income, but you've got time. Right. So even if you're, you know, putting $25 away, every paycheck or whatever, that compounded growth can be meaningful 20 years later. Kind of like my rule of thumb: if you can average six to eight percent investing over the long term, every eight to ten years you can double your money. And that doesn't have to be risky, right? So if you think of someone's in their 20s, that's a lot of compounding over the years, right? And it's it's even um, as I say, you know, I put this down, someone investing $300 a month at 25 often ends up wealthier than someone investing a thousand a month starting at 45.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Because of the compounding.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Because of the compounding and the time they had, right? So if you can start early, please do, because again, you have that momentum of time on your hands.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

Aaron Powell Well, let's let's unpack that a little bit because I think that even for me now, I find compound interest is um a little misunderstood. Um can you explain a little bit about what compound interest is and how do you how do you tap into it?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Sure. So the basic idea of compounding is you invest money, it grows, the growth stays invested, future growth happens on their larger amount. So let's make it simple. You put in $100, you made 5%, now you're $105. Now that $105 makes 5%. So on and so on and so on. So if you in first year, let's say you're up to $10,000 and now you're at 107, the second year 107 is now gone to $1,1449, right? It's just simple keeping the money reinvested and it keeps compounding and working for you.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

So when someone's going to their bank and saying, I want to open up a savings account so I can accumulate that compound interest, what sort of an account are they looking at? Or do they do they look towards someone like you? Does spiritual investing what's that avenue?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Depending again, let's go back, let's get that emergency account set up, right? So we want to have that. And unfortunately now interest rates are low. Banks aren't paying very good interest payments at the time, right? So you still want to have that money working for you. So open a TFSA, right? That's the greatest vehicle that Canada has, right? We have room up to 109,000 if you've never opened one, to put money in and let that money grow because it's all tax-free when you take it out, right? So that's a great place to start. Start with the bank if you're not comfortable. An advisor, I think, is always a little bit better to have on your corner because they know a bit more what you're doing. You're seeing the same person all the time, whereas the bank, you're seeing a different teller, you're not maybe getting all the full information. So start with somebody that knows what they're doing.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Right. Can you explain when someone's looking at a TFSA and they look at it's only going to be a 1% return, how does that 1% become a 6, 8%, maybe 10% return?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So TFSA people think it's just a savings account, right? It's not. You can invest anything in a tax-free savings account. So if you just want to leave it in a GIC, you can have it in a GIC. If you want to move up because you feel a little bit more comfortable with risk levels, then move it into an investment, move maybe into mutual funds or ETFs within the tax-free savings account. Or some people even put stocks, pure stock holdings or um accounts from actual shares of businesses, because they know that those shares, future growth is going to be quite substantial. All of that then be is tax-free when you go to take it out. Exactly. So depending, it comes down to the person's risk level. Where do they feel comfortable? Of course, when you take on more risk, you have the potential for more gains. Right. But that's where I go back to that kind of rule of thumb. If you can average six to eight percent, every eight to ten years, you're doubling your money and you don't have to be risky.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

Right. And the mutual funds I found are beneficial because I don't have time to look at stocks, you know, for an hour a day and do that sort of investing on the time. Maybe I did in my 20s, but not anymore.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Not now.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

And I know I have some listeners that are in the states. Mutual funds in Canada are, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, index funds in in the States. They're kind of the same thing, aren't they? Which are kind of coupled together.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Well, an index fund mirrors the index, right? So the S P 500 or the Toronto TSX, right? That would mirror. So whatever those holdings, those top companies are, that will index would follow and purchase that. An actual mutual fund is a pooled amount of different equities. So shares of different companies. So why I like mutual funds is because you share the risk, right? The it's pooled out. So you're not concentrated in just one stock if you were a stock picker. You can say, I want a Canadian equity fund, and it may hold banks, it may hold mining companies, it may hold um uh utilities. So you can see it spread the risk and it gives the clients the flexibility to be exposed in the market, and it can be redeemable at any time. Whereas if you held a stock, you would have to wait for a buyer and maybe not get the price that you want when you sell off that stock.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

Like the two things that are generating most growth because it's designed that way, or most stocks and and property investment. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Uh property investment?

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah, like the two vehicles to invest your money in for growth. Generally those two things. Two things, yes, for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

You want to have your whether it's uh tax-free and RSP, depending on what your strategies are and position you're in. And then of course owning your home, you know, because that has a longevity of creating equity when you go to retire. And we'll be right back after this short commercial break.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Oh May, I love this month. Only five more weeks of school to go, and then summer break. Hi guys, it's Chloe here, and I'm here to tell you the top five things I think you should do this summer. Number one, Davidson's Pool in Maple Ridge. It's a natural watering hole with a small cliff to jump off, and you can inner two down the river. It's the best. We go there all the time. Number two, sweet tooth creamery in Osprey Village. Tons of flavors, huge scoops of ice cream at a reasonable price. You can't beat it. Number three, watch a ball game at Nat Bailey Stadium. We go there every year, get great seats, and even get some autographs. Awesome way to spend an afternoon. Number four, Cultist Lake Water Slides. There's lots of tandem slides or partner slides to go down with your friends. At the parking is huge. There's always something to do. Number five, Playland, we love going there on all the rides and eating tons of junk food. We usually stay till 11 and then get changed in our PJs before we leave because we are so exhausted by the time we get home. But it's still so much fun. This has been Chloe's top five things to do in the lower mainland. Bye guys.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

And now back to the show.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

What does someone do if they're 20, 30,000, $50,000 in debt right now, and they want to get in on investing, they want to get in on generating money? What where do they start? What what would you recommend to those expensive situations?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

So what I would suggest first is take a look at your debt. Okay. So is it again credit cards? Is it a loan payment? What's the highest interest that you're paying right now? And then start paying the minimums on everything. But try and knock off first the highest interest payment of whatever debt you have, right? So if your credit card is at 29% and your line of credit is at 7%, we want to get rid of the higher interest payment, right? Makes sense. The other way people can also do is consolidate, right? They don't know that they can maybe go see a counselor, a debt counselor, which is very helpful, and consolidate all of their debt into one payment at a reduced rate. So that's That's very beneficial. And some people, even, you know, can go to the bank and say, look, it, I haven't missed a payment, but I'm struggling. Can you work with me to reduce this debt? I'm going to pay a payment plan, right? So those would be the first things that you need to do. Once you've got that under control, then the second step is then starting to get that money back in your emergency account and then investing going forward.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

And would you recommend also you sort of touched on counselors, but I've I've found because I've done this before. I've paid off my credit card, I've racked up the credit card, I paid it off, I've racked it up again. So for me, um fortunately my credit cards are paid off now, and I really want that to stay paid off. I don't want to rack up another credit card. So for me, it's about changing my expectations and changing my habits so I don't fall into the same pitfalls. What's something that rich people understand about money that average people don't?

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Well, I don't think average people, everybody has the right to think about how their situation is, right? Being smart is where it comes into play. So, Chris, like you said, you don't want to rack up your credit cards. So how maybe a wealthier person would handle the situation is they're not spending, they're living within their means, right? So that's where it all comes back to. And again, we'll bring back that roadmap. It all comes back to what your budget is, right? So if we find so many emergencies happening, then you need to plan for that. In your roadmap, we would have seen those bumps in the road and then started a quarterly quarter quarterly get that quarterly gains. Um getting that money allocated into that section, knowing that there's going to be a couple more bumps down the line, right? So to me, when you are wealthier, you've you've got that plan in place. So you don't have to look back in the rear view mirror. You already know where you're going and you've laid the groundwork. Does that make sense to you?

SPEAKER_04 24:19

It does make sense to me. And when I know that I have some savings accumulated, it also helps me relax and it helps me think a little bit more clearer about my financial future as well.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

When I'm living paycheck to paycheck and when I've got debt, that's really all I can think about. And it just seems like an insurmountable thing that I just can't get out of. So once that roadblock has been removed and you think, okay, I've gone some solid ground right now. Now I feel like I can make the next best decision. Because I look back and I made some bad decisions. Right. So what would be a couple good little first steps once you sort of get your feet set up?

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Once you've got everything settled, make sure, you know, the family's on the same page. Right. Right. Because you don't want someone sabotaging what your direction of where you're going, right? So that's the first thing. Make sure that you are on track. And keep that budget. You know, people say, oh, I should stop going to Starbucks with that $5. Well, it's habit, right? So if you're gonna get back into those habits again, those credit cards are gonna go back up. So it's really you changing and really focusing. Once three or four, five, six months goes along and you're in that habit. Now we're putting 50. Now, oh, I just got a race. What are you gonna do with that race? People tend to go, oh, let's go on vacation, let's do this. No, let's put that money back into investing, let's create more for later. Because right now we're in a position where we are stable. We don't want to go down that rabbit hole again of being in the stress. So people tend to spend their future instead of saving for their future. Yeah so if you can kind of remember that, I guess, rule of thumb, you know, don't always spend live within your means.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Live within your means, got it.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

This question is from my friend Fletch. He has been he has some friends that got a piece of property passed down from them, and now they are gonna have to pay some capital gains on that property. He wants to know where you can save some money on some taxes instead of having to pay 50% of the gains back to the government. Are there any things people can do when they're kind of inheriting uh properties from their loved ones?

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Well, there are ways to um to be tax efficient, right? Uh capital gains is not a bad thing. No. Right? You earn money on your investment. You earn money, right? Yeah. So there's different ways. So having a property that he inherited, you can do many different things. You could do what's called a declaration of trust. So your parents own the home, they put you on as a owner, but things can then, when unfortunately they pass, the house would then go to you and you would only pay a portion of the capital gains, not on the whole amount, right? Because then it slides over to you. So that's one way of bringing reducing taxation in that aspect. But when you think about capital gains, there's a couple of different things. Investing in a tax-free savings account, right? All that growth, no taxation, right? So that would be a first avenue once he's paid all of the gains and so on and so forth. Put that money in there and let it start working for you. Okay. Now he may say, oh, well, I've I've maxed out my TFSA. Where do I go next? Well, then the next avenue is do you need to put money into an RSP, right? That's another vehicle that gives you growth over time and that compounding, you get the tax credit up front on your taxes from uh from the um proceeds. And then what happens at the end of the year when you have to, or excuse me, not the end of the year, when you turn 71, you have to start taking that money out in what's called a riff at the age of 72. You have to pay taxes. But all that time, that compounding has happened, right? So taxes we can escape, but you just have to be more tax efficient.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Right? So there's other vehicles that you can invest in. There's ways that you have distributions that are paid out annually. And what I like to do normally for my clients, November, December, I take a look at do we have any capital losses? If I sold off something that was below their adjusted cost base and create a capital loss to offset a capital gain, right? So there's different ways to look at investing to trigger those types of tax savings. So they would look at the loss and then they would see me where they can offset it by having a gain from either a distribution at the end of the year or um what's called a T5 or a T3 income that you receive from one of the holdings that you may have within a mutual fund or a stock disdistribution. So they're gonna tax you, but then if we sold something off at a loss, it could help, you know, bring down or reduce that actual tax.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

I like what you said before about putting yourself in a trust as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yeah, the declaration of trust.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Yeah, for for help when you have parents and they're aging, it does help with taxation along the way.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

Aaron Powell I've got some friends that still just like to spend money because it's the now, and they they say, you know, well, I don't know what the future holds, so I'm just gonna spend my money now and just have fun. And I've always been like, well, you probably are gonna be older. You know, like there's like you're gonna end up being probably, you know, 60, 70, hopefully 80, 90 years old. So you're gonna want that money in the future. But what do you tell people that say, uh, you know, I'd rather just spend now and worry about it later?

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Well, I've had clients come to me and and kind of in that that situation where, you know, they just take their paycheck, they're going on holidays, they're keeping up with the Joneses, they're buying the best new cars, right? They're just going through it. And then they say, Hey, mainly, I want to retire at age 60. And I'm like, okay, well, where's our roadmap? Oh, well, I haven't done one. Well, what are we gonna do? Well, let's go through the process of putting what your budget is. Normally what happens is if you're spending like that now, and most people, whatever their monthly spendable um dollar amount is, when they go to retire, things don't really change. Just the pockets change, right? So if we're not using our car as much going to work, but now we're using the car because we're traveling more, right? So the pockets just change. But now I want to retire. Let's go, let's see. What do I have? Well, where's your savings? Oh, we didn't put any savings together. We were buying and having a good time. Yeah. Okay, well, we've got CPP and OAS. Do you have a pension from your work? No, I I don't have a pension. Do you have some? Yeah, I've got some RSPs. Okay, well, let's put that into the mix. Okay, well, let's see. So your average spending, let's just say this person spends six, seven thousand a month. Right. Right? So they're gonna need, you know, eighty-four to ninety thousand a year if they go to retire. CPP OAS, let's just say between the two, maybe brings in two thousand a month, right? No pension, if they've got RSPs, again, how much we don't know. They have a shortfall. I'm sorry, you can't retire. You're gonna have to work until you're 70. Right? That's the reality. Yeah, so people who are doing that are foolish, right? Because how are they going to manage? They're gonna be working, unfortunately, maybe till they're 75. Right.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Yeah, and that's just the situation.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Right. So people, you know, I I wish it's it's great to have fun and do all of that, but again, live within your means, put that budget together, get that savings going, then you can sleep at night. And then when you go to retire, like we have clients. I'll I'll give you another um uh example. He was working, he they have a pension, they have savings. Um and he says, I'm only 60. Really? I can retire. And I said, Yes, it's great. Look at the numbers, your cash flow is lovely. This is what you spend, you have more than enough, you have a surplus every month because you don't use all of your money. Open that champagne. He cracked the bottle the next day. He sent in his resignation.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

So if you plan, yeah, you can have that bottle of champagne. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

And then now you can you've got choices.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

You've got choices, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 34:16

Yeah, you know that.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Yeah. So again, planning, I think, is the most important thing you can do. You know, look after yourself. You have to look after your finances.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Yeah, and manage your expectations. Exactly. Right? Yes. Okay. Uh, Mother's Day just passed. Happy Mother's Day, by the way. Thank you. Um, do you have any motherly advice for us?

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Well, I I do. So you have children. Yes. I got three children. Okay. Have you taught them how to save?

SPEAKER_04 34:54

I'm just on that part uh because my oldest just started doing her first job. She's umpiring. She literally just got her first check yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 35:05

And it's only $35. But it's that first time that she's ever been paid by anyone other than me for like, you know, a chore. So I told her I want to put a little bit of that money aside into a savings account because I want you to start building the habit. So that's kind of my advice that I gave her. That is just a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Perfect motherly advice. Because that's what you want to do, right? When children get either their allowance or get something for doing a chore around the house, teach them. Take 50% of that and go have fun. You know, let's go to the mall or we want to go buy a toy or we want to go do something. Let's do it. That other 50% goes into a savings. Every time they do that, then they know half goes for fun, half goes for savings. If you teach them at a young age, guess what's going to happen when they become adults?

SPEAKER_04 36:07

They're going to still put money aside in the savings.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Exactly. And they're going to be able to understand what they need to do for future growth and future success.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

And you said 50 seems like a lot, but are you saying 50 because that they're so young and they don't really have any chances to put away half.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 36:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I mean, and I'll say one more thing too. I mean, in our Jewish religion, we do one-third, one-third, one-third. What is that? So one-third goes to savings, one-third goes for funds spending, one third goes back into uh what's called sedaka. So we have charities. So forgiving.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Yeah. So that's another component that we have.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Aaron Ross Powell Do you feel that uh the the charitable contributions kind of come back to you in in sort of some good luck type form? I've always found if you if you give, then you usually tend to receive some good karma back in a way.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Maybe you can look at it that way. But I think of it as just I feel better giving back to my community. Right? And and seeing someone less fortunate helping if I can, giving to the food bank whatever can be done, I think is important. That gives us a sense of community.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

I love that. And it's called Sadaka. Sadaka. Sadaka. That's so cool. I've never heard that before. All right. For my last question, why don't you tell people why you're better than Questrate? And where do people find where do people find you? I know it's a it's it's people say that, well, I go financial advisor, you go to Questrate, what are these other things? I'm like, well, because you get a real person, you get to talk about real finances, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Well, I mean, Questrate, nothing bad about them, but they're just a platform, right? So um I'm interested in a relationship. I'm um, I guess a strategist, a coach, a behavioral manager, and a long-term guide. QuestTrade gives people access to markets, low-cost trading, um, but it doesn't give them discipline during when the markets crash. It doesn't give them strategies about retirement planning, estate preservation, emotional guidance, holding hands. Sometimes it's so hard when the markets go down that you need someone, you need a buffer, you need someone with common sense to say, no, let's not jump off that cliff, right? Right. Um and you need, well, I think family conversations, right? Legacy planning. These are all things that we do. Quest Trade, again, is just a platform, right? Um I think I guess a good advisor prevents um human mistakes. So again, like when you're jumping off the ledge, when the markets go down, people get frightened. Oh, sell, sell, sell. No, you need to have long-term mindset that everything will correct itself. We can only look back at future, I mean, excuse me, at past, but the future we can see mirrors the past, right? Markets go down, markets go up. So that's why if people sell off, they're going to lose what they gained and they'll never get back to where they were. Yeah. So by having a advisor, we do that. Like we we c common sense, right? We help, we give you, I guess, confidence and we give you simplicity of how to make that roadmap, how to make better decisions when you have life-changing events, right? I mean, I think building long-term relationships is the most important thing for clients. Q trade doesn't have that. Um again, I think this is impactful. Q trade can't sit down with a spouse when a widow, you know, with a widow when a spouse dies, right? I can. I can help the family. We can go through things, the steps of where something needs to happen now, what's gonna happen later, right? Um, and I guess uh I'm always a phone call away, right? And I feel that everyone deserves financial advice. Our clients become part of our family, and us to family means everything. That's that's how we are.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

I love that you use a couple of words that I love. You said the words trust and you said the word coach. And I think that's super important.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

Right? Because you're right. If something does, you know, happen, it's tragedy or something happens financially, you need someone there that you trust to kind of help you through that financial question. Exactly. You know, and that's like the coach is that's the perfect kind of image in my mind, because yeah, it's it's somebody that helps you through your paychecks and where to invest it and what to do. And ultimately it's up to the person. Right. But it's it's great getting good solid advice from someone that that you trust and you have that relationship built up. Yes, it is fantastic. Uh Mailee, where do people find you? How can people contact you?

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Well, we have our website, Rubenstein Financial Management.com. Um, we're in Steveston, lovely place. If you want to come for fish and chips, walk along the dike, go for a bike ride.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

It's the favorite, it's the best place in Richmond.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Oh, I love it. I love it. Um, and you know, we're on Google, we're on Instagram, Facebook, all those platforms. You can get a hold of us.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a huge pleasure, and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Thank you, Chris. It was fun.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

Now it's time to close out the show with a stand-up podcast featured artist. This musician is out of the southern U.S. Here is hip hop artist Beam with his awesome song Mood. Check this out.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

Nobody, nobody, nobody gonna tell me what to do.

unknown 42:22

I'm in a mood.

SPEAKER_03 42:23

I woke up this morning. I was in a mood. As I open my eyes, I do I do. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do today. I'm in a move today, nobody knows that nobody don't tell me what to do. Come back to me is not white in the mind of me. No one knows the way I'm in that, no one cares that I took that doable, that my beautiful I wanna tell a I am boded as doable. I wanna tell where the anything is doable. No one's tell my penal, I come back with the new book, I'm on my mid life that I know my whole life I'm waiting for. I'll let the needle was hold. Little bit of small, no small, put a double jacket call. I got trains, but I ain't trains I'm still like a bulk. Maybe I'm the wheel. Maybe I just take myself new but go to go from my new buttons. I don't want my new gold I'm just gonna Wait now, welcome to my plate ground. I'll be candid, most don't understand it. I don't stop to smell the roses or the seeds that I planted. I'll be fine. Trust me, I'll manage. I thrive under pressure in a place to my advantage. This one for the dreamers. Dreamers. I'm out here looking for believers. I ain't leaving Mr. Jesus. I'ma prove I'm the cleanest. I woke up this morning. I was in a mood. Ooh, ooh. As I open my eyes, came through I do. Nobody gonna tell me what to do today. I'm in a mood today. Nobody, nobody, nobody gonna tell me what to do. I'm in a mood, in a mood. Nobody, nobody, nobody gonna tell me what to do. I'm in a mood, in a mood. I woke up this morning, morning. I was in a mood, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

Nice. I really like that song in that style. It's so good. That was Beam with his first single off his new album, The Odds Were Never Even, which comes out July 17th. And that was the song Mood. Alright, we're close to the end of the show. I want to thank Mailey Rubenstein for taking the time out of her busy schedule to be on the podcast. I really appreciate it. If you like today's episode, feel free to write a comment on the show page below, and be sure to hit that follow button at the top left of the page. You can also reach me on Facebook, Instagram, and you can also email me at at stounduppodcast at outlook.com. The links are down below in the show page, as well as the links to Melee and Beam. Alright, that's it. Love you guys. Thanks for listening. I'll have another new episode in three weeks. Until then, be kind to each other, and I'll talk to you soon. See ya.