At thirteen years old my family opened a cafe and that became the start of my working career. I had no money management experience, nor was I taught anything about how to handle my money. The best advice I got was don’t spend your money, save it. But really, this advice does not go far in resonating with a teenager. The concept of money management was very foreign to me and as the years passed by, I made no progress. No matter how hard or how much I worked I found myself constantly broke.

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I decided to move away from home to study Business Management at Humber College. Like many students new to the world of loans and credit cards, I took full advantage of all the student credit cards that were being handed out like candy, and never giving a second thought to the debt I was getting into or the crazy interest rate incurring on that debt. With this experience came my very first consolidation loan, that my mom had to cosign for me. This added debt and having to pay for school myself led me to move back home. During this time, I continued my studies at Mohawk College, where I graduated with a Business Marketing Diploma. To help pay for school and my new loan I got a job, like most broke students at the mall. Little did I know that this new job at ALDO Shoes was going to be the beginning of setting my life on a new course. My manager at the time, also one of my dearest and closest friends to this day, brought in a book and got all the staff to read it. Secrets of a Millionaires Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth by T. Harv Etker was the beginning of my love affair with money, money management, and learning how to master the money game.

Fresh out of college it was time to get a full-time job. After a long search I did, and I found myself in the rat race, commuting to Toronto, not able to afford to move there and miserable. So, I packed up and moved down south to work on Disney Cruise Lines! This experience was amazing, for the first time I got a taste of lifestyle, luxury and endless cash flow. Life was amazing! But it didn’t matter how much money I was earning I was spending just as much and again waiting for my next paycheque. I knew something needed to change. So, I started reading obsessively any financial, personal development, self-help book I could find, and there was the profound lesson. I realized it’s not about how much money you make, it’s actually how you handle it. Everyone thinks once I start making more, I can start managing it. But until you start managing your money you won’t be any better off.

I decided it’s time to move back home. Now armed with this new-found knowledge, I found a job in the financial sector. I also happen to fall in love and get married. Within a year of being married and a salaried employee I switched over to a 100% commission job, and my husband at the time got laid off. Within a short period of time, we had a bunch of debt and realized just how different our views on money and money management were. This eventually led to our divorce. This chapter in my life is where I learned some of the biggest financial struggles’ life can throw at you.

Life after the divorce wasn’t easy, it was a major turning point in my life. I was now on my own, nobody to help me out, nobody to back me up. I vowed never to be in debt again. I continued to study, learn, read, attend every seminar and conference that would teach me how to manage money properly. Things were finally starting to work out. Income was steady, I was moving up in my career and I was finally able to figure out this money game. I was still working on mastering it... but it was a start. Everything I have read, every book, every conversation, and every course I ever took, all came together at this point. Money management became simple, exciting and enjoyable. I was able to pay off my debt [again], start saving, and even go on some amazing trips. Life was good, and everything fell into place.

I met the love of my life, started a family and soon after both my husband and I started our own businesses. And things are working out. We stick to a money management style I devised that accommodates us living in the now all while saving for our future.

It is my love for finance, the knowledge I have gained through education, life experiences, struggles and my passion for helping others that have brought me to this point and is at the core of why I started Redline Wealth Management.