131 – 5 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2024

Wayne Kay 00:00
Five ways to improve your finances in 2024. Welcome to the Debt Matters podcast, where we help Canadians find solutions to their debt with Licensed Insolvency Trustees from across Canada.

I’m Wayne Kay, and coming up in the show that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about. We want you to have better finances at the end of next year than you do right now. So what is it that you can do to better your money in 2024?

What can you do to reduce your expenses? Maybe your finances often feel out of control. What are some of the steps you can take to change that? How do you go about starting to build any savings? And what do you do if the financial pressure is just too much already?

My guest today, Derek Chase from Chase & Associates Licensed Insolvency Trustee serving Vancouver Island, Sunshine Coast, BC and the BC North Coast. Hi, Derek.

Derek Chase 01:01
Hi, Wayne. I’m really excited to be here today.

Wayne Kay 01:03
Well, I’m excited to have you here as well. Here we go. Goodbye 2023. Hello 2024. There’s probably some things we need to do. Do we look back at 2023 and see how we did financially? Do we look forward? Tell me, what are some habits you have?

Derek Chase 01:21
I think it’s always a great idea to reflect a little bit on your finances and you don’t want to be so wound up about it that you’re checking things every day. But there’s definitely benchmarks in the year that you want to touch in with your finances. 

Maybe just think a little bit about what happened in 2023. But more importantly, looking forward, thinking about ways to improve your finances in the next twelve months, I think it is time well spent.

Wayne Kay 01:50
I know I do that with fitness, but maybe not as much with the financial goals as I should. I think it takes a different kind of habit. Do you look at budgets at this point?

Derek Chase 02:03
I think any article that you read about finances and most podcasts are going to be repeating the importance of budgets. And it’s true. They are a cornerstone of good finances. 

But the practicalities of it, people have super busy lives, maybe a young family working tons. The budgeting – kind of just maybe doesn’t happen. But I would suggest if that’s the case for a listener today, that maybe they just focus in on one very important line item in that budgeting process, which is the cost of food and eating out. 

I think that’s one way you could improve your finances in 2024. Just track that number because I think that’s one that can get out of hand, especially if you are in the habit of stopping at a 7-11 and then stopping at a coffee shop and then eating lunch. And maybe there’s different ways that the food or eating out can creep up and knowing those numbers is important.

Wayne Kay 03:13
And it’s shocking if you don’t track that kind of information. It’s shocking how much you can just spend here and there where it seems painless until you add it all up in a month.

Derek Chase 03:25
I know that my wife and I just ordered a favorite dish just this last week and the costs had jumped and the amount had shrunk and it is no longer on our favorite list.

Wayne Kay 03:41
Funny how that changes, right? That’s what restaurants have to deal with right now. They’re having a tough time as well. So that’s really good. So that would be one of the main focuses on what you can do to get better with your money in 2024.

Derek Chase 03:56
That’s definitely one recommendation, is just having that awareness on how much you’re spending on eating out and your food in general. I’m not suggesting that you never eat out. I mean, that’s just not practical. Food is part of the great joys of life and time to celebrate sometimes, but it can go over the line and be a real finance wrecker if you’re eating out too much.

Wayne Kay 04:24
But also, I’m just going to say this, that sometimes I have to say when I get the bill, I’m like, you know what? I could have done this at home and I would be happier.

And that’s the worst when you go out and you’re like, why am I doing this? Because the bills are very high to go out for dinners these days. And if you add a drink in, oh, like, I can’t even imagine. That’s just horrible. So I’ve made it kind of a challenge to be making a whole bunch of different meals here at home.

Derek Chase 04:57
Yes, it sounds like you might have been chatting with my wife because I often hear that from her. There’s a balance there. You want to be able to enjoy a nice, like a birthday or whatever, but it’s just that daily or weekly patterns of consuming prepared food can be too expensive in today’s finances.

Wayne Kay 05:21
Yes, we’re going to do a show actually just on food coming up very soon. Let’s talk about the expenses. Are there certain expenses that you can look at to reduce in 2024?

Derek Chase 05:35
Yes, when you switch gears and don’t focus so much on food, you say, where else can you go to help in making your monthly finances better. And a second way I think you could improve your finances in 2024 would be to look at all the different subscriptions that you have. Particularly around streaming services –  just review them and say, do I really get a bang for my buck out of these? 

You might click on a streaming service to watch a movie and never cancel it. All of a sudden, you’ve got a handful of these different services, and you’re just not using them. So my challenge would be to look at one streaming service that you could cut in 2024. And I know I’ve done that, and it just makes sense, and it’s something that’s easy to overlook. 

So that’s one way I think you could improve your budget just marginally. And when people think about changing their finances, they often think about big numbers.

The way I look at it is you don’t want those $10 bills falling out of your pocket or those $20 bills. You have to keep them in your wallet somehow. And conversely, you feel pretty good if you find some money. So, yes, that’s one way to improve your finances, I think, in 2024. 

And that kind of extends to maybe cable TV. I heard a report the other day that the only people that have cable TV are over 55 years old. We’ve tried it. We tried cutting the cable, and we don’t miss it. So I run our favorite programs through an app, and these smart tvs are wonderful. So it’s something else to consider.

Wayne Kay 07:22
Okay, I’ve still got it. I’m not 55, but it’s for sports for me, I’m fine. We had people over for dinner yesterday. We were talking about subscriptions to certain things like exercise apps, and there’s one that we all used around the table, and it’s for cycling. But one of the ladies said, oh, yes, I haven’t used that for two years now, and I just canceled the subscription. That’s $20 times two years every month. Right. That adds up. That’s almost $500.

Derek Chase 08:00
Yes, it gets to be a big number. When you start to extrapolate it over multiple months and years, it bites.

Wayne Kay 08:09
Yes. And there’s a lot of people who might feel like their finances are just out of control, and now they’re at a point where they’re saying, I’m fed up with this. I don’t want to live like this anymore. 

What advice do you have? Maybe some steps to take charge of feeling like they’re out of control when it comes to money.

Derek Chase 08:30
That whole feeling, when you get that feeling of things that you just can’t control, it’s kind of a scary feeling. I think, and we’re constantly bombarded with that. When you think about it, as far as big macro events that we can’t control, like these dramatic changes in interest rates, or even when you hear the general news or big things that you can’t control, but one of my favorite sayings is to control the controllable. What can you do if you’re feeling out of control with your finances? Well, I think one thing that we could recommend is to do that. 

The third of five ways to improve your finances would be to commit to just reviewing your credit card statement each month. Everybody can do that. It just takes a few minutes – just sort of look at each line expense on your credit card statement and just make sure it’s in order.

That’s something that could give you just a sense of control. And you may even discover something in there where you go, wow, I didn’t know it was that much. Maybe I should make some steps to change this, or what the heck is this transaction? Have I got something on this card that I didn’t authorize? That whole process, I think, can give you more of a sense of control.

Wayne Kay 10:03
Do you find that people typically just look at the grand total, or is that why you’re bringing this up? People just look at, okay, here’s how much I owe, here’s my minimum payment, I’ll take care of it, as opposed to going through it step by step to see what the charges were.

Derek Chase 10:19
I don’t have any survey or data on that – about how many people will actually look at their credit card statement in detail. But I would suspect that not very many people do. And as a result, you can get, again, a sense of out of control. You just keep putting it on the card, and that amount can be, again, running out of control. 

One of the things that we talk about, if someone has issues with impulse spending, is to not use a credit card so that you actually see the cash leaving your wallet going out. And it’s not as anonymous as putting it on a card. But again, just coming back to being more in control of your finances or ways to improve your finances would be to have that knowledge or awareness of what is actually going through my credit card.

Wayne Kay 11:15
Okay, perfect. Taking control of that. Okay, now, moving into number four. What does that look like?

Derek Chase 11:22
Number four ties into savings. And we often talk with people, and you’re talking about savings, and they feel that there’s no way that there’s no way that they can ever save any money.

And so much about finances surrounds momentum, and starting that positive momentum. I always encourage people to take on a savings plan that is super small. Just so small they might think it’ll never make a difference. And if you can do that, then you’re symbolically going in a positive direction and realistically, you are starting to build some momentum going in a positive way. 

So you start saving something super small, $5 a month, loonies and toonies. It does not have to be $250 a month or multiple hundreds a month. It can be something very modest, and before you know it, you’ve got a couple of $100 in that account and it’s growing. So it tends to stand the test of time. So I think if someone out there is thinking it’s impossible for me to save money, well, you can save something. It’s going to be maybe super duper small, but it is going in that good direction.

So the fourth way to improve your finances in 2024 would be to start that, start small, start now, and get on with it.

Wayne Kay 12:50
And the sooner you do it, the better. Because as you start to see that grow, it doesn’t matter how small it is, but when you start seeing it grow, there’s something that happens to you where you say, wow, I’m actually achieving this and now I want to see it grow a little bit more.

Derek Chase 13:05
Yes, I totally agree. And the best case scenario is you build up that emergency savings account to a point where you’re comfortable with it, where you know you can withstand life’s curveballs that come at you, and then you continue that savings into a longer term investment scenario. And now that gets really exciting because you might get a little bit better investment income in that process.

Wayne Kay 13:33
Absolutely. And what would be your final way to improve your finances in 2024?

Derek Chase 13:39
Yes, I think the final way would be if the momentum is negative for your finances and all these things aren’t going to be helpful to turn the tide. I would say my final recommendation would be to talk to a pro, talk to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee somewhere across the country. 

Trustees are licensed and regulated by the federal government. You’re going to get some good, honest advice, and most Trustees will not charge you for that initial consultation. So that would be a way to potentially improve your finances.

Wayne Kay 14:16
That makes a big difference as well. Just being able, trying to learn it on the Internet is one thing, but for some people, it’s just a conversation with somebody that can really help. Just give them a focus of which way they’re going to be going and what they can do. And at least when you see the actual options and know that other people have gone through these steps as well. It just makes it a lot easier to do.

Derek Chase 14:40
I mean, if you don’t have any debt and everything’s good, there’s no need to talk to a Trustee. But if your finances are such that you have a credit card balance, you have a line of credit balance, maybe you’re dealing with Canada Revenue Agency – yes talk to an LIT.

Wayne Kay 14:57
Perfect. All right. Any final advice you have for us regarding money and finances in 2024?

Derek Chase 15:03
2024 is just about here, so let’s make it a great year for finances.

Wayne Kay 15:09
All right, Derek, a pleasure to have you on, as always. Thanks so much for your time.

Derek Chase 15:13
Thanks for having me, Wayne.

Wayne Kay 15:15
Well, my guest today, Derek Chase. You can learn more or schedule that free consultation with Chase and Associates Licensed Insolvency Trustee through their website site bankruptcytrusteebc.ca. 

That’s it for Today’s Debt Matters podcast. Make sure you subscribe wherever you get your favorite podcasts from. And of course, for more information, you can always check out debtmatters.ca. Thanks for listening.