Hello and Welcome
Getting off on the right foot. And with the right amount of coinage.
One of my favourite things to do is take a unique lesson I’ve learnt or a piece of wisdom I’ve gleaned from someone far smarter than myself and attempt to share that lesson with others.
In the past, this has often had to do with technology, Apple devices, and photography. I’ve spent years writing about these topics for various blogs and websites, and it’s truly amazing how many people I’ve connected with through these various channels. I owe a great deal to Shawn Blanc, Tools and Toys, and The Sweet Setup team for all the wonderful opportunities over the years.
But throughout my entire writing “career” (tenure? hobby? side gig?), I’ve been working as an accountant and towards the venerable CPA designation. I’ve worked at the same office for the entire time as well, gleaning and learning from an employer I call my mentor and close friend, and observing immensely intelligent entrepreneurs who operate their own small businesses.
Perhaps, of all facets of life, I feel I have more financial lessons to pass on to others than I have any technology or iDevice lessons.
Helping people improve their lives is the ultimate goal so many people hold. I feel I have a chance to fulfill that goal each day.
This newsletter lives within that scope of goals. This newsletter stands as an attempt to meet and interact with all sorts of new people — people I hope I can gain a relationship with over the coming months and years. And this newsletter provides a new channel for providing some help for those hoping to improve elements of their financial lives.
Welcome to the Toonie Newsletter, a (hopefully) consistent set of financial thoughts for Canadians; for folks beginning their careers, starting a family, or starting a business; and for folks who are looking to build wealth over the long-term.
My name is Josh Ginter. I’m Canadian and work and reside in Southern Manitoba. I work by day as an accountant and am working to finish my CPA designation in the next 12 months. I’m also a father of two beautiful little girls, a husband to someone far more interesting than myself, and an uncle and brother to boot. I’m looking to build wealth over the long-term. I’m nearly 30 years old and envision a slightly different retirement than many other personal finance writers I’ve come across.
The Toonie Newsletter — or perhaps “The Newsprint’s Toonie Newsletter”, or perhaps “TN’s Toonie Newsletter” — is, by and large, an experiment. This experiment sets out to fulfill a few different goals:
To meet, interact with, and develop relationships with individuals looking for different approaches to their financial well-being, be that through wealth generation, budgeting, saving, spending, or maybe even estate and tax planning.
To dig into and discover the world of newsletters — newsletters are super popular and super personal, introducing some new aspects and responsibilities that fall outside the scope of a regular blog.
To provide a new channel for writing on a specific topic — The Newsprint has long lived as my own personal blog and has encompassed a wide range of topics, however I feel like this break towards an increasing amount of financial writing deserves its own channel.
I hope to speak about a variety of financial topics over the life of this newsletter, most of which will be geared toward the Canadian financial system and some of which will be generic enough to apply for other jurisdictions as well. Topics will range from beginner to seasoned, but will often tend toward the semi-beginner individual, as these are the folks I work with most often. I also happen to be a semi-beginner individual, so I think this will work best.
By no means will this newsletter be a guide to guaranteed wealth. These writings will reflect my paths of thinking, some lessons I see other, extra-smart people implementing, or methods I’m using in my own life. If there was a magic blueprint to guaranteed wealth, it would have been found by someone older and wiser than me.
I genuinely want to connect with people and develop a relationship over time. My short time in this financial world has taught me the most valuable lesson of all:
Building relationships is the most rewarding practice of any career or profession.
Perhaps this newsletter will open a few doors, help me develop a few relationships, and give me the opportunity to help someone improve their life.
That’s it. That’s my single, most important goal.
Why “Toonie”?
Well, I’ve spent weeks brainstorming a name for this newsletter, and “Toonie” fulfills a few goals.
For one, it’s a Canadian slang term for a $2 coin.
For two, “Toonie” fits nicely alongside “The Newsprint” — they have many of the same letters, and “The Newsprint’s Toonie Newsletter” kind of, sort of rolls off the tongue better than anything else I could think of.
For three, toonies are silver in colour (with a gold insert) and this fits nicely alongside The Newsprint’s simple grey circular logo.
For four, “Toonie” is easy to remember and spell.
Hopefully this sticks.
I don’t have a concrete plan for the life cycle of this newsletter, nor do I think it’s wise to fully commit to a hard and fast plan. I don’t currently have a set publishing schedule, nor do I have a perfect idea of how to build out the newsletter over time.
But I will say this:
I’m going to try to post a couple blurbs a week. Perhaps it’ll only result in one blurb a week. But maybe two. We’ll see.
These blurbs may be short and sweet. They may be long and more in-depth. They may be links to financial articles I discover that I want to comment on, or which I think would be helpful for others to read through. Either way, I’m hoping to pop into your inbox as respectfully as possible and ensure you aren’t wasting your time reading Toonie.
A few of the ideas I’m hoping to build out in this newsletter include:
What Are Assets? What are Liabilities?
The Actual Difference Between Good and Bad Debt
Why Being Mortgage-Free is Overrated
When to Invest with an RRSP or a TFSA
The Three Pillars of Investing: Risk, Control, and Balance
I’m also hoping to build out some beginner’s guides for understanding the basics:
What is an RRSP? What is a TFSA?
A Quick Primer on Stocks, Bonds, Options, ETFs, and More
A Guide to Understanding Graduated Tax Brackets and Marginal Tax Rates
What are Non-Registered and Registered Investments?
There are more ideas that seem to flood in by the day, so there is plenty discuss.
Thank you again for stumbling upon Toonie and for reading this far. If you feel compelled to share the newsletter, I’d be forever grateful.
I’m excited to get started and I hope you’ll join me for the fun ride.
Respectfully,
Josh Ginter