Let’s talk money with Cate Morris

November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and we have Cate Morris from Scout Financial Solutions sharing why it’s important to know your dough and sharing key areas that can help improve our understanding of money.

Key Money Management Areas

There are key concepts that are important: budgeting, managing your cash flow, understanding credit and debit, creating savings and protecting our assets, retirement, and estate planning.

“Part of my mission is to decolonize money, to Indiginize it so that it’s applicable to our people,” said Cate Morris, founder of Scout Financial Solutions. ‘So I created something called the Financial Wellness Buffalo, which is very similar to a financial plan; it addresses those same areas mentioned as building blocks for financial health.”

Morris says there are great benefits to learning about your money. Learning these skills will empower people to make informed decisions with their money and become less vulnerable when it comes to financial matters.

“I built a budget system that integrates a more modern Indigenous concept to help us achieve financial balance and well-being. I’ve named it the Medicine Wheel Budget,” explained Morris. “It has four quadrants for healthy life balance.”

Morris says that the Medicine Wheel Budget is simple and less time-consuming.

“The first is all the must-pays that we need to pay in order to survive; the second is short-term savings, so think things like emergency funds; the third quadrant is more long-term savings and investing; And the fourth quadrant of the Medicine Wheel Budget, I named it life, said Morris. “It’s whatever’s left over after all the spending and saving has been actioned. It’s the balance of the budget.” 

These four areas are where your money needs to be assigned to create financial balance.

“Let’s talk budget busters to watch out for: Number one, when calculating your income, only use the secured net income. That means the money that is guaranteed to hit your bank account. Number two, pay the must-pays first to ensure your survival. Number three, revisit to revise your budget as and when needed for a positive budget balance. Number four, a budget is a starting block that helps with the rest of your financial wellness buffalo,” explained Morris. “So take care on starting it up. And lastly, don’t be too hard on yourself as you learn this new skill.”