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.
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Robb Engen writes about Canadian personal finance at 
Thanks for the backgrounder, Robb. Always interesting to get to know fellow bloggers a little better.
Interesting story Robb, you are fortunate to have that relationship with your mom where you can discuss financial issues. My parents are the typical money = taboo types. Whenever I try to talk to them about it they just say to work harder and earn more. Good luck in your continued success!
Good info.
My Dad won’t stop talking about money.
Thanks for letting us get to know you better.
I believe it gives more credibility to bloggers when they let us know more about their backgrounds and education.
Thanks Steve, maybe I’ll even open up my fridge for your readers one day
@SPF – Thanks, I’m glad to have this platform to share a bit more of our story!
@Kyle – Yes, it’s been great to be able to have financial discussions with my mom. I know most families are probably like yours where money is a taboo subject. Thanks for the kind words!
@Mike – I’m sure that’s how my dad feels when my mom and I get together
What an awesome post & welcome to CFB! My daughter does well with money. I just wish that my son picked up on the personal finance zone when I was writing for Money Funk. Sadly, he still believes $ grows on trees. And I will continue to try and convert his beliefs with money.
BTW, wishing the best for your wife. Yeah to having a parent home with the chid!
Thanks Christine, we feel fortunate to be able to have a stay-at-home parent.
Good luck with your son, just be persistent and he’ll come around.
Great article, I never realized how similar in financial philosophy you and I are!
I’m hoping to do something similar to what you and your mom have with my kids. I’m trying to come up with new angles to teach them, including playing monopoly and other financial games.
Here’s wishing you and your family well!
Hey Money Reasons, I thought the same thing when reading through some of your posts.
Good luck with your kids, my daughter is just about to turn 2 so I have a ways to go before I can teach her anything about money.
Although she does like to play with her piggy bank already
Thanks for sharing so much with us Robb. I look forward to seeing what you come up with here.
Thanks for sharing your story, Echo. Very inspiring. I was assuming Boomer was your Dad. Very cool to have a financially savvy mom.
Thanks PT, yes a few people assumed at first that Boomer was my dad. I guess that’s what makes us unique.
What a compelling story! I have seen your blog name around the blogosphere, but never realized it was written by a mother/son team. That has to be a personal finance blog first. Congratulations!
Hi Julie, thanks for your comments! We both enjoy sharing our perspective on personal finance and it’s been interesting to get visitors and comments from different generations on our blog.
My wife and I both come from the old country so we are used to spend cautiously. My kids were born in the U.S. They don’t give a damn about saving.
Great article Robb! Canadian Finance Blog is very fortunate to have you aboard!
Jim
Curious to know what kind of career allowed you to buy a house at 19 and start saving right away.