Claire and I met in high school because we were both members of the Model UN club. Since then, she’s lived in Toronto, Ottawa, New York City and Amman working for the federal government and the United Nations. Her interest in finance stems from working for the Office of the CEO & Economics at a large bank in Toronto.

Claire recently graduated with a Master’s in Global Affairs, specializing in global capital markets, from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She started Btchcoin News because she wanted to offer straightforward financial news that young Canadian women can relate to.

BTCHCOIN is my favourite source of financial and economic news. I love that you breakdown these daunting subjects into digestible bits. How and why did you get started? 

When I started Btchcoin a year and a half or so ago, I had just graduated and was working for the Office of the CEO at a large bank. I got to work closely with the bank's economists, but I found that despite my interest in finance and education in economics, I still found their reports to be fairly difficult for me to decipher. At the same time, I was in the process of figuring out a repayment plan for a massive student loan, and I had the chance to ask questions about interest rates and debt from my coworkers, who were  experts on those subjects. I realized I was in such a privileged position, having an economics background and access to their expertise, and if I still felt lost, so many other young Canadians were probably in the same position. Btchcoin was created out of that desire to make economic topics relevant, straightforward, and applicable to young people's financial situation. From basically the get-go, I've been lucky to have Erin Fiell, our Managing Editor by my side to keep me accountable to that mission and make the newsletter come out every Monday.

Why do you think it’s important to have women run businesses? 

I think ensuring women's full access to participate in the economy is essential to building strong markets. Women and people outside the spectrum of the typical white, educated, cisgender businessman we grew up seeing on TV have so much to bring to the economy in terms of experience, creativity, and innovation.

Getting more women to the C-Suite or the Boardroom is a worthwhile goal. But when it's the only goal we see promoted by corporate feminism, we miss out on the bigger, more systemic changes our economy needs to actually support gender equality. We need to also be advocating for the elimination of racism, ableism, transphobia, and homophobia in the workplace. We need to be advocating for equal labour in the home and paternity and adoptive leave at work. We need to advocate for living wages for workers, and generally a more equal distribution of wealth and educational opportunities in this country. That's how we get closer to gender equality in the economy.

During this unprecedented time there are a lot of uncertainty about the future of the economy. What can we expect to see in financial markets in the upcoming months? How about in the next year?

This isn't a terribly helpful answer, but I think we can expect to see uncertainty! Especially for those of us in Alberta, it's been a double whammy between the oil price war and the overall economic impact of COVID-19. The global economy will really depend on how big players like the States, the EU, and the BRICS respond to the first and presumed second wave of this virus. I'm not a financial professional, but my guess would be that airlines and entertainment industries will certainly be depressed for the next year. On the positive side, I think this virus is really motivating Canadian consumers to purchase locally made goods (like FAUN!). And on a broader scale, I think it's forcing corporations and governments to consider how they can prepare for these unpredictable global events - hopefully preparing for and mitigating the effects of climate change will be top of mind for executives and policy makers once this current phase subsides.

How are you personally dealing with this state of financial insecurity?

For me, I'm lucky because I work for a humanitarian aid organization in the Middle East, and our staffing budgets are typically secured a year or so in advance. But it's been hard watching my friends back home cope with pay cuts, furloughs, and layoffs. For our generation, we're actually less financially prepared for this recession than people who were in their 20s/30s when the 2008 recession happened. I think it's really bringing home the fact that our generation will deal with lots of economic uncertainty, and especially so for those of us who plan on living in Alberta for the entirety of our careers.

Personally, I'm dealing with it by saving more and doing my best to maximize my TFSA. As someone with a lot of student debt, I'm thankful the government has suspended payments until September, but I'm even more conscious of the fact that once the economy recovers, reducing my debt and building my savings is crucial to weather whatever economic sh*tstorm comes our way next. Let's just say I'm not planning on buying a house for a loooooong time.

In the future, how can the average 20-something year old person starting their career build up a safety net? Please share your tips and tricks for saving money and investing. 

If you're still fortunate enough to have a steady income, many experts taking advantage of today's bear market to build a diverse investment portfolio. An approach that has been recommend is picking stocks that issue dividends, so that you can reinvest those earnings even if your income isn't enough to invest much. I've honestly found it really helpful to get started on this by simply setting up an appointment at my bank to discuss what investment options available to me. That's a good starting point, and then you can begin to learn more on your own.

In terms of savings, I think the temptation to spend rather than save is huge right now. Whenever I go on Instagram, it seems like everybody is travelling, wearing trendy clothing, and eating out! But from personal experience, I know that going into credit card debt to 'keep up' just isn't sustainable! Keeping track of your spending through an Excel spreadsheet or certain apps is helpful, but personally I just got the old fashioned route and take out a certain amount of cash at the beginning of the month and try to use as little of it as possible, and only have my credit card for 'emergencies' (you can imagine that definition is pretty loose though). I also avoid malls and online shopping in times when I'm trying to save. Where I'm living now, I can't receive deliveries, so that keeps the online shopping temptation low!

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