Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurry, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start the show off the same way we do everyone, uh, with gratitude. I want to thank everybody for tuning in today from the bottom of my heart. It means the world to me. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us really a special. So thank you. Now on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:26 Oh, she caught me loves you're listening to the next anymore.
Speaker 0 00:00:36 All right. Now we have my favorite type of guest here today. This is a gentleman that, uh, reached out to us, wanting to be on the show. I have no idea who this guy is, so I'm going to have a conversation with them for the first time. And that's kind of why I started this show to meet new people and, uh, tell the story of, uh, Fort McMurray. So on that note, as everybody knows, I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job at it than I. So, uh, sir, can you please tell the world who you are and a little bit about yourself? Well, great. Well thank you, uh, for the opportunity to be here and, uh, appreciate the, uh, the gratitude going out. I think that's a, that's a good way to start the, uh, uh, start the, uh, time here together.
Speaker 0 00:01:14 So my name is JFL Kone. Uh, I've been in Fort McMurray for 37 years. Came here just out of university. Uh, I'm a facilitator for the multicultural association of wood, Buffalo, where we teach financial literacy, which we'll talk about a little bit later. Uh, I'm also involved with a company called Prospero financial solutions limited where we teach employees of small and medium-sized companies about financial literacy. And my day job is working at Syncrude. I'm the, uh, I work in pensions and benefits, uh, there, uh, so that's what I do full time. Okay. So you're a busy dude to say the least very busy. That's awesome. Okay. Well, when you reach out to me, you first wanted to talk about financial literacy. So let's just jump into that because this is a topic that's near and dear to my heart in regards to, I'm shocked that this topic doesn't, isn't taught in school.
Speaker 0 00:02:08 It's something that we all need to know, and it seems like the system really isn't geared for us to succeed. You really have to go out and kind of search this information out. So when you messaged me to say, Hey, I talk about this stuff. I was super excited to be like, yes, finally, okay, let let's chat about it. So let's hear a little bit about the program and you bring up a good point, uh, and this is nothing against the education system, but if you think about one skill that we need as adults that we use every day is, is financial literacy, right? We're making decisions, financial decisions. Every day we get up in the morning. Am I going to make my lunch? Am I going to buy it? Uh, I got to pay a bill. I go shopping. And even, even though, you know, you're buying groceries, it doesn't seem like a, a consequential decision, but it is a financial decision, right.
Speaker 0 00:02:54 So, you know, and the school doesn't prepare us for that. Right. And, uh, it's kinda funny. I saw this, uh, I was talking to Tanner too, but, uh, I was, uh, saw this cartoon that talked about I'm so glad I learned about parallelograms because it came early handy, this parallel grime season. Right. You know why, and I'm not, you know, nothing against the math teachers out there, but, you know, in addition to the math and the sciences and social study in English, why don't we add, you know, financial literacy? So we prepare these kids for adulthood. Right. Uh, you know, and, and I know some schools are starting to do that, but you know, doing it in grade 11 or 12 and one, you know, let's say a couple of chapters on how to bank and get a credit card is not, it doesn't do no.
Speaker 0 00:03:41 You know, so it doesn't suffice. Right. Do we need to teach kids at the elementary stage junior high and high school so that when they get to university college, whatever they do, they're able to manage money. Right. And if you think about it, kids, you know, they get money from their parents and grandparents and birthdays. Uh, they get a job you're starting to manage money at an early age, but we're not giving those kids skills that's. Right. Right. So one of the things that we did, uh, a little bit background on, on how we started the financial literacy program, was it, uh, because I worked in the oil sand industry, I was asked to go speak to, uh, an English for new Canadians class at Canno about, you know, how to get a job, how to prepare for an interview type of thing. So I talked about that and, and then, you know, the students were just opening up about, Hey, you know what, I'm coming from a different country.
Speaker 0 00:04:35 It's a new language, it's a new culture, right. It's a new climate look at outside. Right. Right. And I got to find a job, you know, it's really tough. And on top of that, there's all this financial maze that I got to navigate through a new banking system, definitely a new income tax system. Right. Uh, credit, I, you know, my credit rating and wherever I came from, doesn't matter a Hill of beans here. Right. So I said to myself, I had some friends at the multicultural association and I said, Hey, you know what? I think there's a need in the community for these folks. So we put together a, a level one program where we talk about banking, credit, income, taxes, investments, insurance, uh, government sponsored programs. We talk about fraud and we went out and we started marketing this program. And, you know, we, we, you know, we'd get a few people come out and then slowly, we all, you know, we offered it again and we would get more people to the point where we're getting 30 people, a class in a waiting list.
Speaker 0 00:05:36 Right. So we felt that we were meeting a need. And then what we do, uh, is that we ask for evaluations at the end of the program, you know, like a lot of courses and people were saying, you know what? I learned so much, but Hey, I want to learn how to pick stocks. I want to get into real estate. I want to learn different things about investments. Right. So we developed a level two. Okay. And that program gets more into detail. So really what it does is it expands on level one on investments. And again, we were getting, you know, 30 people to a class, a waiting list. And what we found was that Elliot is that, you know, uh, we weren't just marketing to new Canadians. We were getting Canadians coming out to these programs now, because guess what? Canadians aren't as financially literate, uh, even to the point of some new Canadians. Right. So, you know, that's how we started the program. We, we run the program twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Okay. And it's for eight to 10 weeks, it's on a, either a Tuesday night or Thursday night, depending on the level. And, uh, you know, so it's going really well.
Speaker 2 00:06:44 Yeah. Yeah. I, I'm not surprised with that at all that it's going well. Yeah. Yeah. It's been shocking to me. Um, we were talking a little bit before the show started. My background is human resources as well. Um, that's what I did for about 11 years before doing this awesome. This, um, and yeah, I used to have guys that made a butt ton of money and were living paycheck to paycheck and they would come in and they'd miss one day, maybe even just a few hours in the day on their time sheet. And they forget to hand it in and they'd come running in, Hey, I need this money. I'm like, dude, you just got a check for like eight grand for like two weeks. Like you missed an hour. I think you'll live. And no, they, they couldn't, uh, it just, it was shocking to me again and again and again, how they just didn't have the skillset,
Speaker 0 00:07:28 Which is crazy. And, and, you know, and it's all about my dad used to say, you know, it's not about the money you make. It's about the money you keep and how you invest it. Right. So, uh, you know, and that's why we hear is celebrities, uh, athletes that are, you know, multimillion dollar contracts that have made, made millions over the life of their careers. And they're either bankrupt or in for that. So why is that? It's because they're either, you know, not managing their money right. Or they given it to someone that's not doing that. Right. So, you know, what we're trying to do is, is teach people some skills, financial skills. And, you know, we were just talking about the Canadian financial literacy scene and, you know, there's is the question always becomes Elliot, how do you measure financial literacy? Right. It's one of those things that it's hard to pinpoint.
Speaker 0 00:08:14 Right. But, you know, there's, there's some, uh, surveys out there. One one's an international survey. Uh, and one's a Canadian one that says that, uh, 60% of Canadians can answer five out of seven basic questions. Right. So I thought, okay, well, that's not too bad. But then I said, Oh, I want to take the survey. To be honest, I was a bit reluctant because I thought I better pass this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the questions were so basic. Right, right. They were more of common sense questions. Like, you know, if your credit card interest is 20% and your line of credit was three, which one should you pay off? You know, stuff like that. And I thought to myself, okay, if someone answers those questions, right. Are they going to have enough skills to get through this financial maze and manage their money? And the answer is no.
Speaker 0 00:09:03 Right. So we shouldn't be, you know, kind of thinking, okay, well, if I can answer those questions, I'm doing pretty good because, you know, I always tell people and, you know, Tanner, you, um, you know, when I get on a plane, do you want the pilot to have just a basic understanding of how to fly that? Definitely not. I want that person to have experience knowledge, even if it's from a simulator, if something goes different. Right. So we shouldn't be satisfied with some survey that says that, okay, you're okay with that. Right. That's right. And, uh, you know, and there's other tests that the same thing. So that's why, you know, you may think that, you know, because there's three categories, they put people at one is a one 30% of people are financially literate. They've got enough skills to manage their money and, you know, do pretty good.
Speaker 0 00:09:55 There's another third that says, you know what, this is too complicated. Let someone else do it. Or, you know, my spouse or partner will do it. Right. And then there's another group, another third that this is the most dangerous one is the ones that think they know. Right. But they don't. Right. And, and, and the reason why is because, you know, you thinking, like you said, you make money and you're, you know, you're buying stuff and your thing, you know, you might get an RSP. So you think you're doing well, but you're not right. And during this time of the year with taxes and RSP season, and not, there's always some articles and it really, it, you know, it reinforces that they'll say things like Canadians don't have an idea of what the difference is between an RSP and a DFSA. Right, right. So it's not enough just to say, yeah, I'm going to get an RSP, you know, but there's so many things with that.
Speaker 0 00:10:46 Where do I invest that RSP? Yeah. Right. Uh, when is the right time to take the tax deduction for that? Cause I don't have to take it in the year that I make it that's right. Should I start a spousal ours piece? So do you see how just having a basic understanding is not good enough? That's right. You need to know more. Yeah. And you know, so with the, with the level one, for example, we call it basic. But I always tell people that our tagline is that if you complete level one, you're going to know more than the average Canadian does. Right. Financial literacy. Right. Because one of the lessons is on income tax. And the feedback we get from our students is that they learn the most about that. Because think about it, income tax is one of those things that, you know, I always say, it's like, you know, that cousin or that relative that you only want to see once a year.
Speaker 0 00:11:38 Right. You know, you got to see them and you know, you get your taxes done. And then it's like, but people don't want anything to do about, but think about it. Uh, Elliott D your biggest expense is not your mortgage or your rent. Yeah. It's your tax, bill tax bill. That's exactly it, man. And I always tell people, do you know what your marginal tax rate was last year? And they look at, you know, cause it's something that we don't talk about. Right. So, you know, and, and, you know, you take, you know, one lesson, two hours, you're not going to become a tax expert, but you're going to get enough knowledge so that you can ask intelligent questions so that when you go to your, either your accountant or your tax preparer, right. They're not going to give you advice on how to save taxes.
Speaker 0 00:12:24 Their job is really to process that quiet. Right. Or that, that, that, that return. So you got to have enough, again, just enough knowledge to ask the questions. Right. Because at the end of the day, and this is what I tell the students is that if you don't care about your money, no one else will know. Right. That's right. Right. And you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table over the course of your lifetime of taxes, just because you've decided that, you know what, it's too complicated. I'll just let my, you know, my tax preparer do it and just leave it. Right. That's right. So that's why, you know, don't underestimate level one when we talk about basics. Cause we'll, I'll get calls from people saying, you know, should I take level one or level two? And you know, I'll say, okay, tell me a little bit about what you know, and, you know, everybody should take level one because there's, you get into things that, uh, most people don't know that's right.
Speaker 0 00:13:22 That's right. And then level two is if I can just talk a little bit of that. Definitely too, is what we're trying to do is expand people's knowledge on investments in level two. And it's, it's not only giving them methods, for example, how to pick stocks or how to invest in real estate, because there's so many methods out there, right. I'm sure you can go online and, you know, for real estate, there's hundreds and dozens of ways to do that. Same with stocks. It's only one method. But what we try to do is the first two lessons I get them to talk about and think about their core values and their financial goals. Right. So let me talk a little bit about core values. Core values are, cause everybody has, uh, your finance, your finances are an emotional thing, right? We don't talk a lot about it, right.
Speaker 0 00:14:13 With people it's, you know, but all of us come with values around our money. Right. And it comes from the way we were brought up. Right. Our parents either teach us good values around money, or maybe not too good. Right. Uh, it comes from the people that we hang around with now. Right. Because the people you hang around with, that's how sometimes you start thinking, that's how that's right. You know, we've all, I've made some bad financial decisions in my lifetime, you know, and we learned from that. But all of those things, uh, what do, is they develop your core values. And I, I get people to one of the assignments cause we have assignments in the class. Yeah. Okay. You know, one of the things that we get them to do is to write out their core values and, and, and that's broken down into things like what's my risk level.
Speaker 0 00:15:07 Right. So if you're the kind of person that you invest in a stock, and then you look at the market every day and you're, you know, you can't sleep at night stocks aren't for you. That's right. That's right. You know, are you the kind of person that's thrifty or luxurious? So what does that mean? You know, when you go on vacation, do you like to stay in four and five star hotels? Or are you okay with two and three star? Right. Uh, are you the kind of person that looks for what's called delayed gratification? So before you buy something, you want to have the money or you just get it, put it on credit. Now none of these things are good or bad. That's right. I'll leave it. Yeah. It's, it's your values. Right. And it is not about judgment, but you need to know those things and you need to articulate them.
Speaker 0 00:15:50 And most people have never done that. No. So the first assignment is to write out your core values. The second assignment is that we get into your goals. What are your financial goals? Love it. Right. And again, people, you know, they did, Harvard did a study and it's quoted quite a bit 87% of people don't have a goal, a financial goal. That's not surprising to me at all 10% have a goal, but it's up here. Only 3% of people actually write out their financial goals. Right. So what we do is we get, you know, uh, the students to actually write out financial goals. And most of them have never done this before, obviously. Right. And it's quite an exercise. So we teach them about the way to write a goal. Right. It needs to be specific. It needs to be measurable. It needs to be achievable.
Speaker 0 00:16:41 It needs to be relevant and it needs to be, I have a timeframe on it. Uh, and that's powerful. Right. And, you know, and I say, you know what, you're in the top 3% because you've done that assignment. That's right. Right. And, and, and people don't understand that because there's, there's some talk about there, about our goals, you know, why you do them, but, um, Damon John, who is one of the sharks on the shark. Yup. Yup. Okay. FUBU. Yeah. Financially successful obviously. Yeah. He talks about, they asked him, you know, what does he do every day? You know what he does every day, he writes out his goals. Right. And he says, I write them out, my short term and my, in my medium term goals. And I read them out loud and I, I don't just talk about them. I actually mean it as if I've achieved it.
Speaker 0 00:17:32 Right. So if someone like that, who is now financially successful has gotten into that type of pattern. Imagine for those that are just starting off that's. Right. Right. So it's got a funny, because some of my students will come to me and say, you know, I thought you were going to teach me about how to pick stocks. This is more like a psychology class. Yeah. And you know what, it's a good starting point. What I say is it's true. It's a financial wellness mentality mindset that we're trying to teach students. And in what we do is, uh, uh, Elliot is trying to get individuals to develop habits because it's not about the knowledge, like the knowledge, you know, like I said, you, you can get that anywhere. That's right, right. It's more about developing habits. So one of the assignments that they do every week, both at level one and two is because financial literacy is about the ability to read, uh, for knowledge and, uh, interpret financial information.
Speaker 0 00:18:36 Okay. Okay. So one of the assignments is it's called being in tune with financial literacy. We get students to listen or read business news, and then they have to in a paragraph or two summarize it. Yeah. And then how does it apply to me? Right. And what I'm trying to do is have them develop a habit of listening. Right. Interpreting the financial information, and then what does it mean to me? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And a lot of the students come back to me after and say, wow, this was a great exercise because they continue to do it after the program. That's right. Of course, right now it's that type of thing that you want to get them to, you know, to do that. So, uh, you know, that's sort of what we're trying to instill, right? Yeah. No, it's good.
Speaker 2 00:19:23 It's shocking to me, like what you just said in regards to the goal-setting, how people don't do it. If you don't know what is same, I own a marketing company. And when we sit down with a client who say, well, what would you like to achieve? And they look at me like, um, you can like, I don't know, a different language and like, what are you talking about? I just want you to put some stuff on Facebook for me was like, no, no, no. Like we need to have measurable objectives. Like we need to know the direction we're going so that we can actually like, make a plan to get there. If you don't know where you're going, then we're just going to be making noise. So setting goals in life, especially financially, or even personally, like you need to know the direction of where you're trying to go.
Speaker 0 00:20:00 Yeah. And, and again, also the core values, because the core values, it's kind of funny because when I Mark these assignments, I can tell just by someone's core values. Cause later on in the, in the, in the program, when they are, we do case studies on companies and whether you should invest in them or not, I can actually tell you by their core values, whether they're going to invest in that company or not. Right, right. Right. And again, it's, it's not about China change people, but it may mean that, you know what, I may need to tweak this core value that's right, right. A hundred percent, most people have never even thought about that. Right.
Speaker 2 00:20:34 And then you got to think about like, what are your core values? Like, you'll be shocked. You just float through life. And you're like, wait a second. If I tweak this, you mean I can get this. And they never really even thought about it before. So it's just an opportunity for them to like, think reflect.
Speaker 0 00:20:48 And like you said, potentially tweak certain core values. Right. So, all right. You, and you can talk all the I'm fascinated with everything you have to say, but it's only 20 minutes. So there's a segment of the show called the Mac city minute. It's Tanner segment. He's going to ask you a few questions. I have no idea what he's going to ask you. So best of luck. Thank you. Tana hit him with your questions.
Speaker 3 00:21:08 Question number one. What is your favorite part of working with all levels of employment through your career?
Speaker 0 00:21:16 That's a good question. So, uh, again, I'd like working, uh, I'm in human resources, so deal with employees and we deal with employees from all levels, right? From, uh, you know, heavy equipment operators to engineers, to research scientist. And it's what what's really, uh, neat about that is that all of them have some needs that they need to, uh, you know, that they want done. And it's working with those individuals and seeing them accomplish those things. Right.
Speaker 3 00:21:45 There you go. Question number two. Have you ever worked with any Maroons?
Speaker 0 00:21:52 What's the maroon, can you tell me
Speaker 3 00:21:54 Somebody who might be putting the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable?
Speaker 0 00:22:02 I know you're getting at. So I worked with Tanner's dad. Okay. In 2000 to 2002 in mining at Syncrude. And I had so much fun with, uh, with him and he's such a great guy, but we used to just, uh, go back and forth. And, uh, we used to say that a lot, putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
Speaker 3 00:22:25 Question number three. What is your favorite change in Fort McMurray from when it was a small town into the city? It is now.
Speaker 0 00:22:33 That's a great question. Well, I came here in the early eighties, so, um, you know, just the very exciting place to be. Right. Uh, it was just, you know, younger at the time, but I just find, uh, all the facilities that we've got and things that, uh, we've acquired over the last few years, uh, you know, Mac Island complex and the theater and things like that, just, uh, you know, it makes living here really pleasurable. So I, I think those types of things. Yeah, no doubt
Speaker 3 00:23:03 Question number four. What is one piece of financial advice that you have that anyone can apply to their life?
Speaker 0 00:23:10 That's a great question. Well, I think the first thing is about self-development. So when, whenever you, uh, whenever you invest in yourself, I'll just quickly talk about Warren buffet, Warren buffet. Who's a, uh, one of the richest individuals in the world, uh, he's considered the best value investor. Uh, he was asked what's, what's the best investment that you've ever made. Right. And you would think that he would say something like, uh, you know, I bought this company at a, at a penny and I sold it for a thousand dollars a share. He said that the best investment made was in myself. He took a Dale Carnegie course because he was scared of public speaking. And he went out and he had, he was at university at the time and he said, I want to teach because before he would teach, he would actually vomit. So he went out and he taught and that's what developed his skills that enabled him to later on in life, talk to CEOs, things like that. So the best investment you can make is in yourself because no one can take that away from you.
Speaker 3 00:24:13 And your final question, what is the story behind the wet mop heads on the seats of trucks?
Speaker 0 00:24:21 Oh man. Well, we're getting into stuff that I should probably not tell because there's certain things that we did a night shift that, uh, you know, it's probably not appropriate, uh, to talk about, but, uh, we would play a few pranks on each others and sometimes we would put yes, wet, uh, mopeds on seats under the seat covers. So people didn't know, and the person would actually sit on it that I have to come away. And of course, when you're working night shift and there's a wind blowing and you don't got an extra pair of pants, it makes it a bit difficult, but we had some good times with your dad
Speaker 3 00:25:01 Go on for hours about that. That's been your five questions, right.
Speaker 0 00:25:05 That's hilarious. Thanks. A lot of Tanner man. Those questions. Yeah. He does some research. You
Speaker 3 00:25:09 Can think my dad for a couple of them. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:25:12 Yeah. So, um, yeah, like I want to talk to you forever, but we're on a time Tanner. W what are we at 25 minutes? Oh, we went way over already. We got to cut it off. So listen, you need to come back again. There's a few other things I would like to chat with you about in regards to like how long you've been in Fort McMurray, the history. Um, my background is human resources, so we could talk about that for hours. And I think you should come back again and again, and just talk about financial literacy, because it's, it's a big, um, component of life that I think a lot of people are missing. Not just, like you said, when it started off with immigrants coming in first time, Canadians, but just Canadians in general. So, but before I let you go today, um, shameless, shout out please.
Speaker 0 00:25:51 One more time, tell people who you are, how they can get in contact with you, how they can register for your courses, where they can find all this information. Sure. So again, the name is Jay Falcone. You can get ahold of me at (780) 804-7790. If you have any questions about, should I get into level one or level two? We are starting the program here on April 1st and April six. Okay. Uh, you can go on to the, uh, website for the, uh, the municipality, uh, sorry, the multicultural association of wood, Buffalo, and, and sign up. It's literally free. It's $25 to register, but we give you all that back when you, uh, attend classes and we're starting the program again, it's our Kiano college. We're doing it, live all the social distancing masks, all that thing. We've already did it in the fall and it worked out well and invite everyone to come out to and, uh,
Speaker 2 00:26:44 Take on our financial literacy program. Here we go. Awesome, man. Well, thank you very much for coming in today. It's been a pleasure. It's really good. Really enjoyed it. Thank you very much. All right. Well, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. Thank you. Once again, for tuning in to the Mac city morning show, I've been your host Elliot pier. And once again, thank you. It does mean the world that people keep tuning in and spending some time with us. So yeah, on that note, have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 4 00:27:11 <inaudible> talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
