Meet Janine Rogan, a CPA, Financial Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Podcast Host, and Financial Educator based in Calgary. A valued member of the WNORTH community, Janine established a niche in helping women become financially independent through financial education and training.
Passionate about coaching women on their financial matters, Janine has over half a million dollars invested, and works with women who want to grow their wealth to achieve their financial goals, such as retirement planning, investing for long-term growth, and managing a growing portfolio.
I had the opportunity to talk with Janine about her approach to helping women become financially independent, and the key financial lessons that she teaches her clients.
Hi Janine! Tell us a bit about yourself, where did your journey start, and where it is now?
My journey started during my studies at the University of Alberta. My friend lent me the book “The Automatic Millionaire,” which piqued my interest in personal finance on the notion that your money could make money for you. Since that point, I started doing a lot of research by myself because there was a lack of resources.
Fast-forward to the present. I’m passionate about building educational tools for women to learn how to build wealth. It’s something that people don’t talk about enough.
Women, in general, aren’t encouraged to invest their money. Considering the fact that white women are paid 84 cents on the dollar for the same work as men, whereas women of color get only 62 cents – plus, women live longer than men – we have to start educating and empowering women to invest as one of the tools to close the Gender Gap.
Let’s talk about “Financial Feminism.” What is it, and what makes you passionate about it?
To me, the core of Financial Feminism means financial equality for all. Feminism means equality between sexes, which I want to see from the economic perspective.
Sometimes, we forget that financial management is not just about saving more or spending less. As a society, we have to address many issues to get to the point where we can treat men and women equally when it comes to their finances.
What, in your opinion, are some common mistakes that women make when it comes to their money decisions?
The common mistake is that women don’t talk enough about money, and they don’t invest enough. One of the societal misconceptions is that we need to save more money for women to provide for their children.
Specifically with the increasing cost of living and inflation, it’s dangerous to leave a lot of money sitting in your bank. You should have an emergency fund, but you’re never going to reach your financial goals by simply saving money.
Have you ever been guilty of any money management mistakes? If so, which ones?
Of course! I made a lot of mistakes, and I still make mistakes sometimes. For example, early on, I didn’t understand the Contribution Room reset limit for the TFSA – it resets every January 1st. I thought you could pull money in and out as you please. And then, I received a letter from the CRA saying that I’d gone over my contribution limit and had to pay a fine. I remember being like, “Oh God, I shouldn’t be making mistakes like this. I should have known that.”
One other mistake from when I was getting started was not understanding investing in general. I pretty much just trusted the guy at the bank to do it for me. And that was a mistake. A couple of years later, I realized that those investments were not in line with what I wanted to have in my portfolio.
Where is a good place to start with investment?
Education is the foundation for everything, from books to educational content shared online. There are a lot of free resources available, whether it’s on YouTube or Instagram, or Facebook groups.
It might seem overwhelming, but I want to caution everyone – you don’t have to go from 0 to 100 in one day. Try to learn one thing at a time, whether learning how to set up an automatic savings transfer or following a Finance Coach on Instagram. One thing at a time will help you move forward.
I teach an investment course called The Wealth Lab, where I walk women through how to start investing. I cover investing from the very basics, like what is a stock, what is a bond, what is a TFSA, all the way to executing your first trade.
Can you tell us more about The Wealth Lab course?
Yes! It’s a 6 module, 40 + lesson course that walks you through everything from the basics of investing to creating a profitable, safe, and sustainable investment portfolio.
Many people are worried they’re going to lose all their money in the stock market, but the entire stock market would have to go to zero for that to happen. If it did, we’d have more significant problems as a society because money would lose all its value. It’s a very abstract concept, so I’d say – don’t worry about that and know that the stock market’s average return has been about 10% per year. So, if you’re not running close to that, it’s time to start looking into getting an investment education.
The Wealth Lab is there to walk you through easily digestible mini-lessons – you don’t have to sit there listening to me for an hour – unless you want to. The course provides you with worksheets, a Facebook support group, and live sessions with questions. I’m supporting participants every step of the way.
You just recently released your TedX Talk! Tell me about it. It’s so exciting!
It was super exciting – and super nerve-wracking! I pitched TedX in 2019 on this topic. But due to the pandemic, all TEDx talks were postponed. At the end of 2020, I had my baby, and I still haven’t heard from them. And then I completely forgot about it!
Early 2021, they reached out to me and asked if I wanted to participate – they loved the topic and thought it needed to be heard! It was a really exciting discussion. I enjoy talking about the issue of Millenials and Money. I am a Millennial myself, and we face different barriers in building wealth than our parents’ generation did.
I think that Millenials, and Gen-Z, too, often feel pressured to buy a house – because that’s what our parents did. And that’s not doable for everybody, and it’s also not always the way of how we can build and accumulate wealth as the next generation.
If you’re thinking about investing in real estate, there are other ways of doing it. Instead of investing all your cash into one asset – a house or a condo, you can invest in real estate investment trusts with companies like Addy Invest. These are trades in the same way as ETFs are. You can invest anything from $20 for a unit without building a million-dollar property.
I started looking into them and invested in two projects, one in Toronto and one in Calgary. They’re longer-term projects, it takes about two years to see a return, so I’m curious to see how it will go.
You’ve got a one-year-old son at home. When do you think it’s a good time to start educating children about money, and how?
As parents, we have to be mindful that we talk to our children about money early on. I’ve seen many people NOT talk about money or think that their kids are not picking up on it, but kids are smart. If they see you always paying with this magic card at the store, they think that you can have anything you want for free. They don’t understand the concept of money, cash, and how you get it.
My good friend, Robin Taub, based in Toronto, has written a book called “The Wisest Investment,” which is all about teaching your kids about money. She breaks it down into what you should be teaching children at various stages of their childhood. It’s powerful and impactful. Start there.
