Greg :
Life happens. Things happen. It might be a pandemic, it might be an epidemic. It might be a family health situation. It might be a totally new opportunity for your family. That could be good. That will cause you to have to move. Like, we have to think of how can we generate money regardless of what happens to us from a life standpoint? And I think a lot of people aren't ready for that.
Greg :
Welcome to the Secrets for Success podcast. I'm your host, Greg Todd. Thank you as always, you guys, for your attention and joining me. Hey, listen, before I start the episode, can I do an ask you guys, can you do some ratings on the podcast? I saw that we were at 27 new ratings. I would like to double that, please and thank you. So anyways, that's it. All right, now we're going to give you value.
Greg :
I have a special guest on today, and we're going to say he's a canadian financial literacy guy.
Greg :
Okay?
Greg :
That's what I call him. I actually just met him recently. There's a lot of lessons that you're going to learn today about finances, about stocks. We're going to talk about how to get started. I've got a lot of questions for you because I truly believe that a lot of people, unfortunately, are not financially literate. So I'm really excited to have you on the podcast. Robin Valadares, thank you so much for being here.
Robin:
Thank you, Greg, for the opportunity. I'm glad to be here and to educate.
Greg :
Awesome.
Greg :
So why don't you tell the people a little bit about who you are, where you're from? And then I want to tell them a story about how me and you are doing this right now. Is that cool?
Robin:
Absolutely. My pleasure. My name is Robin Valadairs. I'm a physiotherapist, we call it up north in Canada. I was trained there, just outside out of Toronto in Hamilton, and I've been practicing in orthopedics for the last twelve years. So kind of, kind of similar in that respect. And I realized after my last placement at university, my preceptor at the time, Margaret, she said, hey, Robin, look around you. Tell me how many people you know are actually practicing manual therapy, which I was trained to do over the age of 50, 60 or 65.
Robin:
And I was like, whoa, reality check. When I look around at my placements, my two years of volunteering through my undergrad, I could think of maybe five out of the hundreds of people I've met, right? So like, wow, that's a little shock. Because I was assuming I got in this career with a master's degree that I'll be working till 70 or 65 when I retire. That's the retirement age. But I didn't see anybody over the age of 55 practicing. So I was like, okay, so my ability to earn an income is finite. Traditionally trading my time for money.
Greg :
When did you graduate from school?
Robin:
2012.
Greg :
You're 2012? And how old are you?
Robin:
I'm 36.
Greg :
Okay. At the time.
Greg :
You're 36 when you graduated?
Robin:
No, I was what, 24.
Greg :
You're 24?
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
So let's break this down a little bit. You're 24 years old. The majority of jobs, we're told, we're indoctrinated, that we're going to work from 23 to 25 when we graduate from college. Some of us, I know this is your second career, but you're going to work until you're 65, 70. But the reality is that we're in the physio world, and I know we have a lot of healthcare providers that are listening, but for the most part, allied healthcare professionals are listening, and it's physically taxing. And what you said is so true, and people don't talk about it enough, right? Oh, you're going to be in your profession for 40 to 45 years. No, you're not. How many physios do you see working until they're 65? I guarantee you it's less than 5%, right?
Robin:
Absolutely. Massage therapists, chiropractors, speech language technologists. You're trading your time for money. And not only is physical, it's spiritual. You are taking the burden of someone's pain every day, day, in and out, for decades.
Greg :
Right?
Robin:
That wears on you after a time. So Margaret told me this, and I was like, whoa. And going through the undergrad degree, my postgrad degree, personal finance, was nowhere to be found. And this is 2012. So the advent of YouTube was just kicking off. Instagram wasn't there, so resources were limited. So I went down the normal route where I traded my time and money, made mistakes, learned from them, and grew my knowledge that way. So I was like, this information is quite important.
Robin:
We're not getting taught about it. How can I help my peers do so? And when you're practicing, you know the day to day, you get home from your practice and you're doing your charts or notetaking. You're planning for the next day. You cook dinner, you're with your spouse or partner. So the ability to start another business is limited because your time is capped to an extent, or maybe your priorities are capped whatever you want to prefer. But then the pandemic hit in 2020 and north of the border, for your audience in Ontario, at least we had a closure for three months where our clinic was closed, we could not practice. So school told me, Robin, you go get a great job now. Take a job.
Robin:
And that's the ultimate security you have. You have one job, maximum security.
Greg :
So do you have a practice, or you work for someone that has a practice?
Robin:
I work for someone that has a practice, and I'm also the director of that clinic now.
Greg :
Okay, got you. Okay.
Greg :
And so when you were off for the three months, did you get paid your regular salary during that time?
Greg :
None. No? Okay.
Robin:
Zero. And the hard part, people have challenges. We all have challenges just to educate some of your audience. Four months before I started the new job that the clinic closed at, so I was building my caseload. At a point there, four months ago, I was making $100 a week. So I build my caseload. Four months in, practice has closed for three months. Guess what? You got to start back again three months later with zero people again.
Greg :
Right?
Robin:
But my obligations, like my mortgage, still had to pay utilities, property taxes, heating, hydro, food. So I'm like, whoa, if I'm struggling with this, fortunately, I have rental properties. I paid for some of my obligations when my peers didn't.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
How do you survive like that?
Greg :
Okay, so let's dive into this a little bit, guys. I think it's really important for us to know that we are one life event away from that happening. People are like, well, that was a pandemic. And yes, what Robin is saying was scary, but luckily, that will never happen again. Well, there's other life events that happen, right? It can be a family member gets hurt. It can be like, I know that I am one diagnosis away from either my wife or my four kids. Something happening, and it can radically uproot my life. So life happens.
Greg :
Things happen. It might be a pandemic. It might be an epidemic. It might be a family health situation. It might be a totally new opportunity for your family. That could be good. That will cause you to have to move. Like, we have to think of, how can we generate money regardless of what happens to us from a life standpoint? And I think a lot of people aren't ready for that.
Robin:
No, you're right. And someone told me this about four months ago. I said, robin, you know this quote, if you have one income, you're one step away from poverty. Whoa, you're so right.
Greg :
Yeah, you're so right.
Robin:
Which is atypical. To traditional education, where they say, go become a tactician in one skill set and master that and life will give you all the abundance.
Greg :
Yeah.
Greg :
And it's not true.
Robin:
Not true.
Greg :
It's not true. Okay, so you've been a physio for twelve years and you kind of just glanced over. Well, and I kind of was able to get some properties. So can you talk about how that happened for you and if you mind sharing what properties you have and how did you get started and all that other stuff?
Robin:
Absolutely. So 2012 is when I graduated and then I worked for two years. You developed a down payment for a home back then in the Canadian to market. It was a lot more affordable than it currently is. You probably experience the same thing. So I was able to purchase a rental property, my first rental property, just outside of where I currently live, 30 minutes away. And it was my first property, so I made all the mistakes. I thought the tenant was on my best side.
Robin:
Turns out she was a professional tenant. And in our rules in Ontario, at least, it took about eight or nine months to get that person out of the property. So she wasn't paying rent. So I lost about eight or $9,000. My first go.
Greg :
Wow.
Robin:
And in hindsight, it was great because it taught me so much. It was tuition. I spent the same amount in traditional education and didn't learn as many of the variables and information now.
Greg :
Wow.
Greg :
Okay, stop there as well. Okay, this is good. So you became a landlord and you had your first rental property. It did not go well. You lost $8,000 is that correct? Okay. But you said it was a great learning lesson.
Greg :
Huge.
Greg :
Interesting, because in school, at least in America, I don't think it's the same in Canada, but in America, the average debt for someone that's going to physical therapy school and a physiotherapy program is $194,000 over three years.
Greg :
Wow.
Greg :
So, Robin, when we break this up, it's actually a three and a half year thing now because it's a doctor program. So when you break it down, they are spending $4500 to $5,000 per month learning. But they're learning at the lowest level, meaning that they're learning about the corocorochromial process, they're learning about the corcorachials, they're learning about the long headed bicep, they're learning about the spinal thalamic tract.
Greg :
Right. Okay.
Greg :
They're learning those things, but they're just learning about it. There's no practical knowledge, there's none of that happening, and people have no problem with that. You spent 8000, $9,000, which you didn't make any money. You spent that, but you were doing actionable learning and failing, and from that, you learned a lot of lessons. So then tell us what happened.
Robin:
Absolutely. And so that taught me how to screen my tenants particularly well, which is a lesson I've learned and kept with since now. Then I then subsequently bought two other properties.
Greg :
Okay.
Robin:
And knock on wood, have not had any issues there.
Greg :
Got you. Okay.
Robin:
Because I kept it kind of airtight with my screening because I learned from that. And then that catapulted me now saying, okay, now I have these assets that are paying me cash flow, and it's going up in equity. What can I do with that? Then I started to take out equity and invest in more opportunities that pay me cash flow. I'm conservative by nature, but I'm also open to ideas and taking risks, as long as it's not catastrophic risks.
Greg :
Okay, got you.
Greg :
When you're talking about helping people not trade their time for money, one of the examples you just gave is real estate. What are some other ways that you are a proponent of people not trading time for money besides real estate?
Robin:
Something that might be to your audience is, hey, you have a particular skill set or niche that you're quite fond of, whether it's working with tennis players, whether it's golfers like myself, concussion, pelvic floor, you have that skill set and you have a passion. You're an entrepreneur in that. How do you grow that and have an avenue where you don't have to be physically in the clinic to educate people or to help people? And it might be, hey, I develop a four week course. It's an email marketing course. I can knock it out. I have a website. Here's a visual course. I can knock it out.
Robin:
Here's a pamphlet, PDF. I can knock it out. Here's an actual presentation I can hold myself to and teach one to many. It's still trading your time, particularly. But you're scaling, right?
Greg :
You're scaling it.
Greg :
Yes. Okay.
Robin:
Those are many.
Greg :
So are you guys finding this? We got real estate. That's one way. If you don't have the money to be able to invest in real estate, you can do it by taking your current skill set and leveraging it and leveraging it in a way that people will be able to consume. And it's not always you physically being in front of them. Robin and I are here because Robin happened to be on vacation with his parents, and they were trying to escape the canadian cold.
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
And so it worked out that we were here, but if you weren't here, I would have just brought you on the podcast virtually, and we would still be able to give the same value. It's nicer for you here.
Greg :
Absolutely.
Greg :
We can kind of chat and talk and all the other stuff, but there's many different ways. If you guys feel as though what you learned in school was valuable and that your knowledge is worth the price of admission, then why are you not using your knowledge to be able to scale that and help people in just a different way than they taught you in school?
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
I totally agree. And I think we do this to ourselves where we go to work, because we need to go to work to pay for the obligations, and that work becomes less of a passion and more of a chore. We don't like it as much because now we need to do it, and we're, like, tied down to it. But imagine if you could work two days a week and treat the clients you want to see and only those particular clients, not the other 20%, give you all the headaches.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
You enjoy that it's not a chore because your obligations are paid for by other revenue streams.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
That's freeing.
Greg :
Okay. Yeah.
Greg :
I mean, I 100% agree with you.
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
We're going to get back to the financial stuff, but I would like to talk about what just happened a couple of weeks ago and how you even got this meeting. I did not know Robin up until about three and a half weeks ago, we were both at a summit. I was supporting a good friend of mine, Rick Lau, and he was hosting the clinic boss summit with his business partner, Daryl Yardley. And I know there's a few other people that are in that clinic boss summit network, so they're all from Canada. Rick and I met about five years ago at a funnel hacking live event in Nashville, Tennessee. We hit it off, and we've become very good friends since. So I was able to be a late attendee to the event. I was supposed to be somewhere at my daughter, but it all worked out, and I was able to go to the event, and then we met.
Greg :
So Rick found out that I was coming to the event the week before the event. He's like, I got to get you in this event in some way. So I said, all right, just put me at a roundtable, and I'll help people out. You were one of the people that came to our roundtable. And do you remember there was people that were sitting in all the chairs around. And then there was people standing, and I counted at one point, there's like 17 people. And at the end of my presentation, or whatever I was doing, I was talking about solutions based offers. I did something, and I gave you all my card, and you took my card.
Greg :
But there were 16 other people that took my card as well. The next day, two people followed up on that card. That card is supposed to be given to potential future business associates. That card has my cell phone number. My clients don't used to get my cell phone number, but I only had that to give to you guys. So of the 16, two followed up. And since then, after the first follow up, which is a day later, only one person continued to follow up. You followed up two days after that with a video.
Greg :
And then from there, we tried to find a time to chat and my crazy schedule, this and that.
Greg :
Da da.
Greg :
And you continued to work with me until we can have a conversation. You told me, hey, I'm going to be coming in town. Would love if we can chat. And I believe we had a chat on Sunday when I was going over to Lowe's, which is our hardware store, to get something. And that was like, okay, I have a free moment now. I talked with you, and here you are on the podcast, right? Isn't that crazy? So I guess my point in saying all this, you guys, is, yes, we're going to get back to the financial stuff in a second, but most of you have so many opportunities that are available to you, but you're not being resourceful. And everybody thinks that they just need more and more and more resources. If I just had this, I've just had that.
Greg :
Why don't you just take care of what's in front of you? Like, how many people have you met that you just have not followed up with? And I'm just thinking of even a guy I spoke to this morning, I'm probably going to end up doing a pretty big deal with him. That's going to be probably multiple six figures. And the only reason why he's getting to work with me on that deal is because he followed up when nobody else followed up. It's like so easy. So is that something that you always do, or did it just happen to be that way? Because I don't know.
Greg :
Whatever.
Greg :
I don't know.
Robin:
I start doing that in my mid 20s after I read a book called how to win friends and influence people. And that book, Dale Cardinal, Dale Cardi. Love that book. One thing it taught me is the big thing that we always miss. And you'll see this with your emails or your text messages. We don't know the person's name we're talking to.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
There's no sweeter sound in any language than a person's name. Command that person's name. It's like a cocktail party effect. When you say, Greg, you'll turn around, snap, who's talking to me?
Greg :
Yeah. Right.
Robin:
But when you have their name, you have their connection. Next thing. Now, in this age, 2020 videos are very captivating. So take the effort, like I don't mind doing, and put my face on the camera. Say, hey, Greg, nice to meet you. This is 06:00 in the morning. I'm getting on a flight. I got to get this done because I will forget and life will get a hold of me.
Robin:
So I sent you the message, hey, this is where I am. This is what I'm going to do. Let's connect. It's a little more effort, right. But people don't remember the thought that counts. They remember the effort that counts. Put the effort in.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
And you remember that.
Greg :
Oh, gosh.
Greg :
I mean, that's a big thing. I think a lot of the reason why I thought that was important is not just for the follow up part. It's also for the fact that we have to learn how to be resourceful. And so let's go back to the finances. Now, a lot of people believe that. Yeah. All that sounds great.
Greg :
Yeah.
Greg :
He's got investment properties, but I don't have that and I don't have any resources to get started in order to actually make money. Work harder for me than I work for it. What would you say to that person that's struggling with I don't have it? Where would you tell them to start right now?
Robin:
A great question, because I get this often, and I think about it as a pyramid. You can have money, you can have time, or you can have opportunity or access. You may not have the time because you're particularly busy, let's say a surgeon or a doctor, and they're making big banks of money, but they don't know what to do with it but to give them the opportunity. You might be a young professional who doesn't have the money, but you have 30 hours of a week free.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
You have the time. Find someone who has the access. You can partner with someone that has the money. You can put that relationship together. It's better to take a slice of the watermelon than the whole grape, right? So take a little. Learn, grow. You don't have to get it done tomorrow.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
So there's always those three parts of the pyramid, I'd say.
Greg :
So, you guys, there's money, there's time, and there's opportunity. The example that I just gave you about what Robin did at the event, he took advantage of an okay, if you're pressed for time, but you have money, invest the money so that you can get back to time and you can capitalize. If you have very little, okay. Then you've got to take your time and you've got to utilize your time so that you're learning the skill sets that you've learned over the last twelve years to get you to where you're at.
Greg :
Okay.
Greg :
So we talked real estate. That was an example. We talked about how to leverage the current skill set that you have. Is there any other things that you typically tell your clients? You've had a couple of hundred clients kind of go through some of your programs and stuff, correct?
Robin:
Yes, I have.
Greg :
Is there any other things that you go through with them?
Greg :
Yes.
Robin:
The two things I look for, for an opportunity for investments or growth. Is it location independent and is it time independent? Because that's really freeing to me as a professional because I don't have to go to the clinic and earn it.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
So location independence might be me on my phone in between clients or right now in Clearwater trading stock options.
Greg :
Gotcha.
Robin:
So I've learned how to do that effectively and hedge my risk. But that's a revenue stream I can develop. I have an Airbnb in my house. That's a location independent place I can earn revenue from. I have a space in my room I'm paying for, for heating and hydro. Might as well use it for revenue generation.
Greg :
Right. Got you.
Robin:
I have private lending where I've taken capital in my real estate now given to an investor to use to deploy for another property. I'm collateralized against his property. So I'm basically acting as a bank.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
That's truly passive because I get a check in the mail each month.
Greg :
Right. Yeah.
Robin:
These are other things you can do.
Greg :
Yeah.
Greg :
Guys, he's giving you some goose here, man. He's giving you some good stuff. It's taken me so long to understand all of these different things. And one of the things that I was advised to do probably about five years ago, is to spend 1 hour a week on becoming financially literate. And I think that's an extremely, extremely valuable habit that I've been able to build today. I have a couple of properties. My businesses are my assets. I have five active businesses right now.
Greg :
And I have IrAs, I have mutual funds. I just have my money diversified. I do have stocks. And it all started from when I was a 16 year old boy where I learned how to live off of less than what I was earning. And so I've always said I'm going to take some of my money and I'm going to always invest it in some type of asset because my money has to work harder for me than I work for it. And so you've been able to do that successfully and I love that you're helping people with that. So just a couple more questions before we wrap up. How is the canadian market react or kind of responding to your message?
Robin:
I think at first it's overwhelming. Sometimes it's shock because it's the first time they're getting the messaging across. Because guess what? High school doesn't teach you about this up north. Your graduate school doesn't know, your postgrad doesn't teach you. Your first ten years of think about your 20s are the most expensive decade potentially in your life.
Greg :
Right?
Robin:
Student loan debt, 190,000. Right? You have your first car, you might have to buy, you might find a love of your life and have to pay for a wedding, might have to purchase a home. Newsflash, properties up in Ontario, our down payments are $250,000 for a million dollar home.
Greg :
Right? Yeah.
Robin:
It's expensive. So that's happening all in your first year, ten years and you're like, I have to be a professional because school teach you this much of entry level practice.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
You got to diversify your skill set.
Greg :
Yeah, I think that's a huge point that you bring up is in your 20s. I'm just thinking what happened in my 20s? My twenty s, I got married. I mean, I went to school, I got married, had to deal with the student loan. It wasn't as crazy as what it is now, but still there's a student loan, what's mine is yours and yours is mine with my wife. So I took on that, got a house, had two kids in my twenty s and actually started a business.
Greg :
There you go.
Greg :
So all of these things and not having all of that financial wherewithal of understanding, like hey, I've got to be financially responsible and in order to be financially responsible I have to be financially literate and financially educated. So this is not something that people should wait until their forty s and fifty s to start learning.
Greg :
Right? Okay.
Greg :
Now let's talk to the people that are in their forty s and fifty s. Right? You're in your 30s.
Greg :
Correct. Okay.
Greg :
What would you say to those people right now? They're like, what I'm hearing from you is like, I didn't hear anything about, where would you tell them to start?
Robin:
First thing I would do in that position is know where my money's going. Oftentimes, we will live paycheck to paycheck because we have an x amount of dollars in our bank account. Like, oh, let's spend and utilize this. And then they're like, oh, but I want to invest in my TFSA or four hundred and one k. I want to invest in x, Y and Z. But if you don't know at the end of the month, are you in a surplus? Are you neutral, or are you in a deficit? What's the point of investing if you're in a deficit? Because you can't or anything. What's the point if your Amex is 20% and you're like, oh, I still want to invest in the s and p. That's getting me 11%.
Robin:
My Amex is 20. What? No, pay off the 20%. That's guaranteed return on your investment.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
And then invest if you need to. So know where your financial house is and it's tracking with some sort of a budget.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
The best investment I think you make is in yourself.
Greg :
Right.
Robin:
So learn the information. Whether you learn it from myself or another individual, take action, because your future self will thank you for it.
Greg :
Awesome.
Robin:
And anything above zero compounds. So do something each day.
Greg :
Do something each day. Okay, here's my last. I got one more question for you. So, most people have a loan in the form of their student loans or their home. I would say those are kind of the two biggest ones. And then maybe their car is, like, third. Okay, so let's just say that the average listener right now has student loan debt. They have a house debt, but they want to get started.
Greg :
I know there's many people on different sides. What would you say? Would you say, hey, you know what? Focus on getting rid of your debt first. Or would you say, you know what, you can get rid of your debt, but I would still allocate some money towards building a nest egg that's actually working for you. I would love to know what you think. I have my take on it. Agreed.
Robin:
Very personal. Yeah.
Greg :
So it's personal, and I'll tell you mine, but I want to hear yours first.
Robin:
I will think about it as opportunity costs. Every decision you make has a parallel decision that you're losing out on based on your opportunity cost. So when I consider that I will look at the debt and what's the opportunity cost of me paying off that debt? And can I get a better return somewhere else?
Greg :
Yeah. Okay.
Robin:
If it starts numbers to me. So at a student loan, paying 4% interest versus my house is 4%. Okay. Do I think I can get better return on my time and my money other than 4%?
Greg :
Yeah. Okay.
Robin:
So I'm going to pursue that option and use that to pay off these two. But if I don't think so, I don't have the competency, then I might pursue those debt payments.
Greg :
Right. Got you. Okay.
Greg :
That's kind of how I look at it as well. For me, there was one other piece with it, just like when I was in debt with the student loans that we had together and house and this and that. For me, it was just mentally knowing that I have something that's winning for me. So even though I had those things and even with my houses today, I have multiple houses and I've been able to leverage the debt for tax reasons. This, that, da da da da. But it was mentally knowing every single day, even when I hated my job, knowing that I've got money working for me right now. There you go. I've got my money.
Greg :
I've impregnated my money to make babies for me. Little money, babies. And it was empowering. So even when I had more debt that I owed to people, establishments, houses, properties, than compounding interest that I was making for my money working for me, it was very empowering for me to continue to invest money, whether it was in stocks, mutual funds, IRAs, businesses, because it made me feel like something was working on my behalf.
Greg :
There you go.
Greg :
So anyways, it's kind of interesting to hear everybody's different take on it. Okay, so how can people learn more about you? How can they follow you and your work?
Robin:
Thank you. My platform is called financially fulfilled physio. And don't let the physio discourage you from interacting because I bought the domain financially fulfilled clinician knowing that, hey, my audience is anybody who works in healthcare and we are not forced but put in a position where we are trading our time for money because we all can relate to each other because we're doing this very similar things.
Greg :
Right?
Robin:
So that's my platform, financially fulfilled physio. My Instagram handle is very much the same thing and that's where you can really connect with me. My email is open, so just email me at [email protected] and I'll get back to you. Pretty quickly.
Greg :
Awesome. Fantastic. Robin, it was great having you on the podcast.
Robin:
Thank you, Greg.
Greg :
Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you guys, as listeners, got some secrets for success from a financial standpoint. And I hope you got a lot of takeaways.
