Become the CEO of your Bank Account

Get a handle on your finances, find out where your money is going, find extra savings and work yourself out of overdraft

"Abandon entitlement. Suppress that ego"

No matter how hard you work, how long it took to get a degree and no matter how terrible a day you had, you are not entitled to spend money you simply do not have.

I still struggle with this one, especially in the wake of social media where having “things” is highly glamourized as living large and happy. Reasonable assumption….they don’t have ALL that, the bank has loaned it to them at a hefty price that many people don’t crunch the numbers for.

I am not innocent. For example, I don’t own my house, the bank does. I don’t yet own my cars, the damn bank does.

So for me personally, I have accepted that I will always have a mortgage (or rent bill) and I will occasionally have a vehicle payment (but I hope to get rid of this one).

Disclosure, there isn’t public transit where I live.

In 2019, I returned to work after my second maternity leave. Not only was my salary cut in half for 8 months while on leave, but I had to pay $2800.00/month for childcare. A rather large expense, just so I could go back to work.

6 months into returning to work, I felt like I was constantly drowning. We were always in overdraft, and it appeared I was actually doing financially better while on maternity leave; I didn’t have the added childcare costs and gas (I have a 45 min commute).

I have a bachelors in Civil Engineering, that took so much effort (6 years) and commitment to achieve. I love my job and I wasn’t about to let my career go, although it certainly crossed my mind.

My husband also works full time and we have a rental property.

This didn't make any sense, based on our salaries, child benefits and rental income, we should have been able to make ends meet.

Not long after I returned to work, we met with our bank to discuss options regarding education savings for our young kids.

At one point they had to look into our bank account, and I was embarrassed. I made a comment that I was recently back to work and our account was currently in overdraft until the next pay day.

The bank adviser gave a very general response, everyone dips in overdraft between pay days.

This didn't make me feel better, but rather sad and hopeless. Is this the "normal"?

In January 2020 I decided enough was enough, I had to get a better handle on my finances, I had to crawl out of the hole and crunch the numbers.

I found some very interesting things that I would never had discovered if the engineer in me never did a deep dive into our account. I also learned about interest, how it works and I added up those “hidden” bank fees.

I felt robbed discovering some of this information, and also embarrassed. I should have been making this more of a priority, being financially present.

I discovered how to create a budget, track our finances and stay out of the red. Hint, do not track your finances monthly!

And in the process, I have been able to grow our savings account and I even started a passive investment portfolio. More of that in future posts 😉

I have developed a 4 module course that you can access, for FREE. These are the steps I took in the beginning to get where I am today. And it continues to open more doors and opportunities for growth as I move forward.

It does take some time in the beginning, but it is SO worth it. Once you become present with your finances, it can open up a world of other opportunities you were missing out on while hiding under the covers.

Module 1: Where is Your Money Going?

Module 2: Creating a Budget

Module 3: Tracking for Success

Module 4: Summary

Bogit's Blog: Be Financially Present

Become the CEO of your Bank Account

"Abandon entitlement. Suppress that ego"

Attached is a blank Excel Spreadsheet to download:

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