[Ep. 373] Borderless Banking & How to Be Wise With Your Money with Brigit Carroll

Jessica

Hello and welcome back to the more money podcast. This is your host Moorhouse and this is episode 373. In the final episode of season 16 of the show, this is your official season finale episode, and oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’re here already. But hey, you know, we got to take a little break for the summer. And I want to end things off kind of honestly talking about some of the things that I aspired to do this summer, like travelling, and just the financial aspects of that, quite honestly. And so that is why I have my guest, Brigit Carol on the show. She is a policy lead for North America at Wise. And she advocates for you know, Wise’s mission of instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free cross-border payments, visa vie policymakers in the US, Canada and beyond. And she is currently based in Washington, DC but Brigitte joined Wise policy team in Brussels in 2019. And also focused on EU policy. And prior to joining Wise, Brigit gained 5+ years of experience in Public Affairs and Advocacy in Brussels, at global communications firm Fleishman Hillard. And the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. So we are going to be dissecting and talking about, you know, just how to kind of open up the borders in terms of how we move our money around, which has typically been very difficult to do with our traditional banking system and how you know how you could use a platform like Wise to open up those borders, whether it’s for your personal finances or your business finances. And the reason I’m, you know, having Britain on the show is like I was the one who discovered why is maybe at the beginning of this year, because my husband was looking for a solution for his business he, well, he really wanted to figure out a way how can I accept, you know, payments from my clients in the US in the UK and not pay crazy fees, not to mention the, you know, bad or inflated currency conversion rate that he was getting? And so I started to look online, because I also wanted to know, Is there is there a better solution out there, and that’s when I stumbled upon Wise, which is a platform that He now uses all the time for his international clients. But then I also discovered this is actually a great platform for when you were, you’re living internationally like as like a digital nomad, or if you’re travelling internationally, and you’re looking for a way to not just get gouged on all those, you know, foreign transaction fees, and all the fees that you pay that you may not even be aware of that you’re paying, because you’re probably paying them. So I thought this was fitting, as you know, we are all kind of thinking about maybe our summer vacation plans. And maybe you’re looking for a way to how can we kind of cut costs make, you know, stretch this travel budget a little bit, this may be a tool that you want to have in your toolbox. So that is why I have bridgid on the show. So without further ado, let’s get to that final interview of season 16 of the more money podcast. Welcome, Brigit to the more money Podcast. I’m excited to have you on. Let’s dive right in. So for all of my listeners, who are you know, who were like my husband, who wasn’t familiar, initially with Wise now uses it all the time. Do you want to kind of share a little bit about what is Wise? How did it get started? What’s his history?

Brigit

Sure. Thanks so much for having me, Jessica. So Wise, used to be called TransferWise. If you knew about us before, we were founded about 12 years ago by two friends who realized that they were losing money transferring between the UK and Estonia on a hidden exchange rate markup. And so what they realize is there’s a simpler and more transparent way to do that. And so they created TransferWise, now Wise, and today we have 16 million customers around the world, consumers and businesses. And our mission really remains the same instant, convenient, transparent, and eventually free cross-border payments. We think sending money should be as fast as sending an email.

Jessica

I’m curious, as you just mentioned, eventually free that’s usually not in most businesses, business future business plans. Why is that so important for ways to really, you know, publicly state that this is one of their goals for the future?

Brigit

I think it’s just with the thought that this is something that, like I said, should be as fast and easy as sending an email and money really is just data in a way, right? So if it doesn’t actually need to cross borders in a way we can reduce a lot of those costs a lot of those barriers and make payments faster and cheaper for consumers. And when you can do that at scale, the price becomes low are obviously overtime. So that’s really a long-term sort of vision. But it does guide us, I would say like, in terms of our everyday what we’re trying to deliver for our customers, it is trying to go faster, be cheaper, be more convenient and more transparent.

Jessica

And I guess kind of the benefit of doing that is to encourage more people to use the platform. I know you have 16 million users, which is a lot but there’s, you know, millions more people in the world that could probably use an account that is really a Yeah, a cross-border account that again, when I was doing research, I couldn’t find anything quite like it. So let’s talk a little bit more specifically about, you know, how does Y’s work? How does it function? What’s involved in setting up an account?

Brigit

Absolutely. So the y’s account and Wise business are sort of our core offerings. So as a consumer, you would have our Wise account, if you’re a small business, you would use Wise business. And so you can send spend, receive and convert money, like a local with those accounts. So you know, think about, if you’re sending money to a friend across borders, or spending money abroad, or making and receiving international payments, you can do all those things. And so, you know, getting that set up, everything is digital, so just takes a few clicks, it’s pretty simple. And then also to receive money on Wise, it’s easy, because you can have account details in 10 different currencies. So for example, I can have Canadian account details, I can have account details in Europe. So when I, you know, when a friend needs to pay me back in Euro, they can do that as if I were there. And so it really just removes some of these not so fun barriers to kind of living an international life, which I did as well. And that’s how I discovered was.

Jessica

Oh, do you want to speak a little bit about your your personal experience? It’s so interesting. Yeah, absolutely.

Brigit

So I’m from Minnesota, originally, so almost Canada, but I moved abroad, I was studying abroad in Belgium. And then I stayed after for several years, and so had to do a lot of different international transaction. So paying tuition from the US to Belgium. That was I remember, and I was working on that with my parents as well, I think we paid $50 per transaction flat. So you know, if you can afford to send a huge lump sum, then you’re going to lose out, right. So if you have to send 250 500 at a time, that’s really painful. And looking back, I didn’t even realize there was a hidden margin in there that I that I wasn’t even aware of, you know, unless you’re able to do that complicated math. So I don’t even want to think about how much money that was lost during that very painful process. But then equally, you know, I have student loans, having to pay student loans while living abroad back home. And I don’t know if this is actually the same in Canada, but in the US, you’re forced to pay it from a domestic bank account. And so, yeah, sounds like it’s similar. And that was actually a barrier for me, because, luckily, I kept a US bank account. But if you, you know, it’s expensive to keep an account open as well. So you know, if you’re truly living in a national life, you’re a Canadian studying abroad, and you need to pay money back home, that’s one really key way that Wise can help as well. So there are so many, I mean, I love talking to our customers about this too, because every time I’ve talked to someone about Wise everyone has sort of a different story to tell them like how it helped them. And I think having been a customer originally, that really kind of drove me to want to join the company.

Jessica

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. So you mentioned that there’s a lot of different account types, I’m assuming when Ys got started, it started just like a personal account, then they expanded it into kind of different types like business, do you want to kind of talk a little bit more about the personal account. So you know, for example, one thing that really drew me to Wise on the kind of personal side, where were all the benefits when it came to international travel, like when I think about what I typically do is like you go to the bank, you exchange your Canadian currency for foreign currency, which can be very expensive with the foreign exchange rate that they give you in any kind of fees, or you use your credit card and unless you have a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees, it can be very expensive and so you’re paying you know, an extra layer on top of a trip that’s already going to be expensive and so when I was you know, kind of slowly planning our Europe trip for next hopefully summer, something that we wanted to go in 2020 and then the world changed and put it on pause and hopefully this will actually happen soon. I was starting to really look at Wise as a great solution. Do you want to kind of share a little bit more about what are some great uses for Wise’s personal account?

Brigit

Absolutely. I mean, I think that’s that is one great example so you know, travelling for example, a lot of friends that I talked to say, Well, my bank or you know, my car doesn’t charge any international fees. And I would just encourage everyone to take a deeper look and really read the fine print there. So that’s one. But that’s exactly what I use Wise for. So I talked about money on to my wife’s account, I know I’m going to be in Europe next week, I already have that money sitting in euros. So I know that then when I use my Wise card, whether that’s taking out cash, so saving on, you know, expensive ATM fees, or spending with my card I’m spending at the mid-market rate. So that’s the rate you would see on Google or Reuters. And if you’re a nerd, like me, you look that up. But it’s, you know, it just gives you that peace of mind to know you’re not losing that extra few percent. And that can really add up on a trip. And then also, you know, people studying abroad, actually, a lot of people are moving abroad to retire, as well, you know, just because of cost of living and things like that. That’s a kind of a hot topic. And it just pains me when I see someone using their foreign card, you know, over several months in one place, and it’s like, really think about using Wise, because I think that’s just such a great use case. And then you can with our within our app, you can hold money in different balances. So another example, I have to deal with paying taxes cross border, which is very complex, my tax advisor is based in Belgium, and he accepts money in euros. And he said most of his customers pay him via Wise. So it’s just it’s a funny one. So he has a business account, but I’m paying him from my personal account, right?

Jessica

Yeah, that makes a lot I just even thinking about, you know, especially in Toronto, there’s a lot of, you know, snowbirds that go to Florida for the winter, and come back here. And I yeah, I’m curious what they do. But this would be obvious, like an obvious solution to have, you know, your living or, you know, you know, there’s lots of young people now taking sabbaticals or, you know, travelling the world and stuff like that. And thinking about how to set up your finances can be really tricky. Unless you have like their, again, your bank won’t allow you to have a bank account in euros, you know, a Canadian bank. And so you have to figure out kind of how to set this up. So this could be a great way that you can prepare for that trip in advance. Because I guess the other question, people may think it’s like, okay, let’s say I’m Canadian, and I want to go to, you know, I don’t know France for three months, it’s your dream, I want to write my big novel or something like that. What would be the process of doing that? Because it’s like, I don’t have you know, euros, would I, you know, put money into my Canadian Wise account, and then, at a certain point, decide to convert all of it? Or can I do it a different time? Yeah, absolutely.

Brigit

That’s the great part, I think, is the flexibility. So let’s say you have a Wise account, you have Canadian dollars in there, you have some sitting in there. And then you can open a Euro balance, you can do that today, or you can do that when you get there. And in reality, even if you haven’t opened that Euro balance, if you’re spending in Euro, we will pull it from your Canadian dollars. But that will always be at that real exchange rate. So even if you haven’t had sort of the planning ahead, the thought to kind of say, Okay, I’m going to hold those in Euro, we’re doing that for you, and you’re not losing out on those fees. And it’s really important, I think, to like one of the tips that we share with people spending time abroad or travelling is, you know, when you’re spending money at point-of-sale, and it gives you like the two options, you always want to try to choose the local currency. So that you’re they’re not sort of making a choice as to which exchange rate they’re going to give you so and then that’s great. If you have a wildcard that that all works out seamlessly, right? You’re saving money. It’s convenient. It’s great.

Jessica

Yeah, well, speaking a little bit more about the wildcard itself, it seems also like a great subject, because I know a lot of people was like, I want to use like my debit card, or I don’t want to use my credit card. So this would be a great way for you to a also like budget on your trips, you’re like, This is our travel fund, and you can see the balance in it. And you’re using it, it’s uh, you know, like it is a debit card, you also have the option of like going to an ATM or withdrawing cash, if that’s something you want to do. There’s lots of Do you want to kind of talk a little bit about how like, the, the Wise card works? How is it you know, similar or different to a typical, you know, debit card? Yeah,

Brigit

that’s exactly right. I think what you were saying I actually use it to budget for my trips ahead of time. So we have something called jars, where you can sort of have buckets of money or we’re about to get a Golden Retriever puppy and I’ve been kind of putting the money that we’re saving for the puppy in there. And it makes it really easy to sort of budget across and you can have those in different currencies as well. So that’s super cool. Because if you know, you know, again, like you know, you’re going to the UK, you know, you can have that jar and pound, then that’s amazing because you already have that budget and I think it’s just that really The ease of use, I love seeing, you know, how close am I to like, what my goal is for that and sort of keeping that money separate, it makes it really easy to budget. And I do think, again, like in the current context, everyone’s thinking a lot about that. So that’s super important.

Jessica

And I feel like the other like, for me too, especially the reason why I usually gravitate towards like, using my credit card on trips is so when I get back home, I can easily download transactions know exactly where every single dollar went. Whereas if I, if I pull out cash from an ATM, I’m probably not going to keep every single receipt. And then I’ll be like, how did I spend $500? Like, where did that money go. And so again, using the wildcard especially when you’re using lots of different currencies, like at the beginning of your trip, you’re using Canadian dollars at the airport, and then you’re, maybe you’re going to multiple countries on your trip, right? You’re going to Europe, you’re going to England, and you’re gonna be spending euros and pounds, it would be very difficult to try to, you know, organize all that information, and also really understand how much you know, what is that conversion, but I think yeah, that’s the, for me looking at, you know, competitors. And other kind of options, really, I guess, for me is like, the biggest benefit is like you’re getting the lowest fees, you’re getting pretty much the best foreign exchange rate not getting that, you know, inflated in exchange rate where most people, like you said, have no idea that they’re paying any of this on top of what they’re they’re getting. And so that’s just like a really important thing to keep in mind, but especially to is, you know, not just for travel. But as you know, more and more younger people especially are able to work remotely and like Costa Rica, or whatever, this could be a great actually.

Brigit

And also, I mean, we were using I think like Europe in the UK as examples, just because I think that’s the place that we all think about going on vacation too. But you know, the card can be used to spend in different currencies, like a local and 170 countries. So this is, you know, also thinking about all those other destinations, like, let’s not discount that. I think that’s a huge plus, in my mind. And also, you know, we think about, I think, because summer is coming up, like all of our vacation, but you know, what about new Canadians and people who are sending money back home to different currencies, making sure that it’s fast, it’s cheap. I think that’s also a really big one. And I think, Canada, we seen that trend. And you know, especially with younger people, like digitally minded, right, it’s just so convenient. You can do it, you know, you forgot, you don’t have to go to a branch to fill out paperwork to do something. It’s just, it’s, it’s so easy to do from the comfort of your own home.

Jessica

Absolutely. I was just thinking of a client I used to work with a few years back, and he lived in Canada, but he was originally from Venezuela. And he really wanted to make sure that he always had room in his budget, so we can send money back home to his family. And we were trying to find a solution. Again, this was a few years ago. And so he had this ver and he used to also live in the US. It was kind of a complicated banking situation. But he’s trying to figure out what is the cheapest way that I can send money to my family. So I should actually probably hit him up. Just be like, I don’t know if you know about Wise, but this might be better than you know, he had to he had his Canadian bank account that he sent money to his American bank account that also had, you know, fees just to hold. So he could then eventually send us dollars back home. And it was very complex. And yeah, there’s lots of cases where you want to send money back home, or you want to receive money from like your parents, if you’re an international student, things like that. And doing it through the traditional banking system may not be very easy. One thing I do want to just ask you and share as much as you can just because I always get questions about this one there is like a new digital, you know FinTech platform is is it safe? Can you kind of share a little bit more information about you know, how is your money? Where’s your money kept? How is it kind of protected by why?

Brigit

Absolutely. So that’s, you know, safety and security is obviously core to everything we do, right? We’re in finance. So we need to make sure that our customers trust us and that we’re doing everything we can to keep their money safe. So we’re a payment company. So we’re not a bank. Actually, from the policy side, there is a new sort of law coming into force in Canada, that will sort of put regulation on payment companies called the RPA. But not to get too techie there. A lot of the requirements that that introduces Wise is already doing because we are regulated around the world and many different jurisdictions. So that means that any money that you store and Wise is being what we call segregated or safeguarded, separated from the company money and making sure that that’s safe at the end of every day. So that’s really core to I think, any financial product, like a payment company like Wise, and then you know, of course, know your customer AML. All of these things we are required to comply with globally and we do that already in Canada. So we’re One, we think it’s good that sort of these, these new regulations are coming into force, but we’re already doing most of these things. And in terms of, you know, sort of stability, and I know, in Canada, there’s a handful of banks who are sort of at the core of the industry actually think, you know, flipping that kind of on its head a little bit, it’s really important that we have a diverse range of options for Canadians. So one, you know, bank or financial institution wobbles there, there are other options, right. And it’s also worth noting that we rely on banks for access to payment rails, kind of, you know, the plumbing that all the payments go through, and so important for us to that we should also have access to those rails. So, you know, as a consumer, you don’t see all these things from the outside. But actually, these things will make a really big change in people’s lives when it comes to sort of updating the plumbing and making sure people can have access to faster, cheaper payments.

Jessica

Absolutely. I think, yeah, it’s just a bigger I mean, it’s always been a concern, when there’s always a new product people like, oh, I don’t know about it, like, everyone’s always just very suspicious. But especially as we’ve seen this past year, with some of the US banks failing, a lot of people are even a little bit more kind of apprehensive. So it’s good to know that there are lots of safeguards in place, and that you can feel safe. I know, and I read this on the Wise website as well. The big difference as well, too Wise, compared to a bank is you do not lend out your money. And I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s kind of why lots of these banks failed. They are, you know, either lent too much money, or, you know, they did some risky investments that did not work out so well. And that’s definitely, you know, things that Wise does not participate in. Yeah,

Brigit

exactly. And I think, you know, we’ve our, we’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now. So although fintechs are new, you know, we’ve been doing this for a while we are a public company, now, we’re regulated around the world by, you know, the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, going to be regulated by the Bank of Canada starting early next year. So like, we’re at a mature point. And it’s always important to look at, you know, the products you’re using, be aware, you know, read all the information you can, but it’s also in our interest to keep our customers money safe.

Jessica

Absolutely. So just one last thing, and then we’ll kind of move on to discuss business accounts, which is how I first discovered it, can you kind of speak a little bit more to because you have talked a little bit about how you know, ys is really at the forefront of making sure this not only transparency in terms of like what we’re charging you but also making sure those fees are low, you’re getting the best foreign exchange rate? Can you kind of speak to what are those fees? How do they compare? Why are they lower than some of the competitors out there?

Brigit

Absolutely. So our average fee sits at less than 1% 3.6566%. compared to if you look at, like the average cost of cross border payments, for example, from Canada to send a remittance that would sit around 6.5%, according to the World Bank. Now, how do we lower these fees? Of course, financial technology, we use technology that helps us sort of fix a lot of the I think obstacles and the things that make payments expensive. At you know, going back a little bit, why are cross-border payments, so expensive, because the correspondent bank model, which is the way basically that you would if you went to your bank and sent money abroad, you know, banks have relationships with each other, there’s something called Swift, which is like this messaging service. And so what that means basically, is you could have, you know, up to eight or 10 points, different banks that that payment is going through. And at every point you’re going to have costs added on, you’re going to have time, it’s going to slow the payment down. And so it’s really just a matter of efficiency, and kind of bring this up to speed. And so, you know, the way essentially Wise works is that we have one bank account, in one country, like the US one bank account in another country, let’s say like Canada, and if I’m sending money via Wise from the US to Canada, that’s gonna go into the y’s US account. And then we’re going to net out through the y’s Canada account. But really, if you think about it, that money isn’t really technically crossing borders. It’s just an exchange of data that lets us know, okay, you have you need to net that out right. Now, of course, we still also rely a little bit on that traditional banking model for different currency routes, and, you know, that can impact the fees. But the ideal would be to remove all these expensive and slow barriers. And so really, if you think about it, it does make sense. I think from the outside people sometimes are like, wow, it’s how could it be so much cheaper, but I also think there is a certain status quo when it comes to tie fees across the end. St. And unfortunately, I do think some providers have seen that as long as consumers don’t understand what they’re paying, they can continue to charge high fees. And we just one don’t agree with that. But to think consumers will find that out and realize, you know, what, what am I actually paying for. And, you know, everyone should be able to charge what they want. But the most important thing, and I think in Canada, this is a big topic right now is like, making sure consumers have broader choice, and are able to make that choice that they’re not being tricked, that they understand how much they’re, you know, paying before making the payment. And I think that’s really core kind of to what we do, but we’d love to see that across the industry.

Jessica

Yeah, I mean, I think a big parallel would be and I talked about this on the show all the time is investment fees, most people have no idea that paying high fees on their mutual funds or their portfolios, and it’s like, yeah, you’re if you’re working with a financial firm, they’re probably taking 1% of your assets under management. If you have a mutual fund, you’re probably paying 2.5% on your assets under management. And most people, again, it’s embedded, you don’t know the exact same things happening here. And what we have seen in the financial sphere, the investment space is, you know, a lot more innovation in products to get those fees lower. So I’m sure we’ll see this in this space as well. So moving a little bit more to the business account. So like I kind of mentioned, I discovered Wise, when my husband asked me, Is there a way that I can accept international payments and some clients in the US he had some of the UK and it was getting so expensive, using some other platforms to accept payments or to send payments, it was very frustrating, especially to it’s like he’s a small business person, you know, is a freelancer, it was really cutting into his income ultimately. And so that’s what I did some research and found Wise, and he’s been using it ever since. So he’s literally Dola. This is not like, getting, yeah, literally told me yesterday, he’s like, oh, man, I’m so glad I you know, use this, it saved a ton of money in fees, which is great, because then it also to motivates him to continue to work with international clients, instead of being like, I should just do domestic clients only because it’s too expensive. The fees are so so with that you want to kind of share a little bit more about what is the difference between a business account versus a personal account? What are some of the other things that are involved the benefits of functionality?

Brigit

Yeah, so with Wise business, you know, think of your personal account, but basically built for sort of small businesses. So online, digital only multicurrency account on you can make payments, you can get paid, you can spend money around the world, again, with that real exchange rate. I think that’s important too, because you’ll see with some other providers, they’ll give different fees for consumers and businesses. And so you can use this account to pay invoices by inventory, and also handle payroll in 70 countries. And I think one of the things we’re trying to do is solve more of those problems. I think the small businesses, especially, you know, in Canada, and a trading economy where, you know, growing internationally, and being able to compete, and work with people around the world is really important. We’re trying to solve some of these problems that small businesses face, help them organize their finances, you know, make it stress-free, really, we all know, I mean, as a consumer, you’ve gone and done a cross border payment, probably in person. And now imagine having to do that all the time as a business. And it’s just super costly. And there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be

Jessica

No, and just even just thinking about some of the ways that I would use it, or even my husband helped me more specifically, because most of my business expenses in the form of subscriptions, or, you know, programs, they get billed in USD and I haven’t had I used to have USD account years ago. But again, it’s the cost really didn’t make any sense for me to hold that account for the monthly fees and all that kind of stuff. And so this would be a great way to set up if you are going to earn some USD, you can then put that into your USD Wise account, pay your USD business expenses. So you can get rid of that layer of, you know, money that you’re losing from trying to pay from Canadian and you know, with your credit card or what have you. So there’s lots of Yeah, amazing use cases. But also, like, I think the big benefit, especially as this really does open up who could be your customer. I know a lot of people, especially in Canada are very, maybe resistant to opening up, you know, oh, I’ll do US and Canada. But that’s it. But this is a great way where it’s like, yeah, there’s so many different countries that you can open it up to different currencies that you could potentially, you know, sell your products in, which is I think, really amazing. And the other kind of thing too is although this is for small businesses, I know there is like a different option for like bigger businesses. But when you think of expanding your business, hiring staff, employees and around the world, this is a great way to also maybe try to pay them in their home currency which is pretty cool.

Brigit

Exactly. clay. And I think that’s one of the things, one of the key challenges that we hear is, you know, when you have employees abroad or vendors abroad, you know, when you go through sort of the traditional correspondent banking model, oftentimes you won’t know how much actually ends up with the other end or you have like additional fees tacked on that you weren’t for seeing. And when a vendor needs to have the exact amount for the goods and services, that creates a lot of problems and a lot of headaches for small businesses. So just as simple as knowing I can send exactly this amount, you know, to Brazil or wherever that is, and I know, this is what they’re going to receive, and I’m not going to have any issues with because that breaks trust as well. Right. And it’s a headache all around. So things like that, I think are just one aspect of the benefit of the business account.

Jessica

Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, well, you know, I’m sure I feel like there was actually in my inbox when we were preparing for this interview, there was like some new features that just launched there that I was just allowed to finally talk about, did you want to kind of share a little bit about was it interactive transfer? What is what’s what’s this new feature involved with Iraqi transfer in Wise.

Brigit

So we have launched our interact e transfer, which is an auto deposit feature. So it makes it easier to receive money into a Canadian Wise account. So there’s different ways to receive money on your wife’s account, this one just makes it easier for Canadians. And that’s in collaboration with people’s trust. So personal account, customers can now activate their Canadian dollar Wise balance to receive money from Iraq. So check it out, see, check your app and see how it works.

Jessica

Yeah, no, that’s I think that’s great. Because I mean, I think that’s kind of the number one in Canada, way that we as Canadians send money to and from each other. So having that functionality, I think will help a lot of Canadians. Are there any other kind of things in the pipeline, anything that you can kind of share that people can maybe expect or just any, you know, bigger plans that Wise hopes to kind of continue to work on for customers to enjoy?

Brigit

Yeah, you mentioned what we call now Wise platform, which is, you know, we have the customer like consumer account, personal account, let’s say, business account, like your husband uses. And then finally, why something we call Wise platform, which is where we’re essentially plugging our technology into other financial institutions, banks, etc, so that they can have international payments powered by Wise. And, you know, this is an ecosystem issue, you know, fixing international payments, making it cheaper for Canadians, making it faster. And so we’re really hopeful that, you know, by working with others, you know, we’re not just an island here, we can really improve payments for Canadians and for people around the world. You know, we’re living in a more globalized world, and I don’t think people are going away from living cross border, I think, if anything, we’re seeing more of this. So excited to see how that impacts, you know, hopefully, our reach around the world as well.

Jessica

Okay, so with that, actually, that reminds me I remember a while ago to there was a connection between EQ Bank and Wise. So that might be kind of, you know, what you were chatting about? Can you kind of explain what is that partnership all about?

Brigit

Yeah, so we’re integrated with EQ Bank. And so we let customers use the power of Wise from the convenience of their EQ Bank account. So I think it’s important just to say, you know, you might not actually have a Wise account, you might already be using us. And so check that out if you do use EQ. And like I said, this is something that with our Wise platform, we’re hoping will continue in Canada, giving Canadians more choice, cheaper options, faster options, more convenient options.

Jessica

Absolutely. Amazing. Well, before I let you go, where can people find more information about Wise, I know there’s some great resources I like did a big deep dive on the website. But yeah, where can you know any other social media platforms and the website? Where can people find more information about Wise?

Brigit

Yeah, why stock calm, download our app on the App Store. And I think we have a lot of fun blogs out right now about travel and living abroad. So do check that out. We’ve got an awesome lineup of blogs, and I don’t know how to talk to your friends. You know, I think from the beginning, WISE was a huge sort of word of mouth, I found out about Wise from a Scottish friend, and who was like, You got to use this. And so I just think still today, you know, we hear a lot of those stories. So now if you’re looking for a solution, you’re going to be living abroad, travelling abroad, you have family abroad, you know, talk to friends, see, you know what they’re using, and if they say they have no fees, I would I would incur It’s time to take a deeper look.

Jessica

Yeah, nothing in life is truly free thumb what I’ve discovered, especially when it comes to financial products, so it’s important to know okay, what are the fees? And how are they structured? How are they potentially embedded and just understand Yeah, what your options are, because there may be an option like why set has significantly lower fees out there, that may be a good solution for you. So, Brigit, it was so amazing having you on the show, I appreciate you sharing all the information and also your personal story and connection to it. So thank you again for joining me. It was a pleasure. Thanks so much, Jessica. And that was episode 373 of the more money podcast with Brigit Carroll. She’s the policy lead at North America at Wise, you can find more information about Wise and you know, test drive it and sign up if you want@Wise.com And you can find them on Twitter at Wise on Instagram, at Wise account and also on Facebook slash Wise. I will link to everything so you can easily find it in the show notes for this episode. Jessica Moorhouse comm slash 373. But yeah, you know, check it out, see if it is the solution you’ve been looking for. Just like literally, I’m not even joking. I was talking to my husband the other night at dinner, telling him I was going to record this episode. He’s like, literally, it’s something I use all the time. And he’s saved so much money in fees, which is great. It’s been great for his business, and I’m excited to use it on our trip abroad. Whenever that will be hopefully it’s sooner rather than later. Actually, no, it is gonna be sooner, rather than later. He literally just like this morning, booked us a trip to Mexico, which I’m very excited about. He was able to find a deal. We’ve been looking for a long time. And we had plans to go to like, you know, we hadn’t been to a resort Mexican resort since 2018. Maybe. And we were meant to go we booked a trip in like for late 2021. And it was after Christmas. And we were so excited. I booked it like almost a year in advance thinking that the world would have gotten better by then. And no Omicron happened, we had to cancel it, we had to cancel it. And now it’s 2023. And I just want to go on vacation for like five days, back-to-back days. All I just need, I just need a vacation guys, I just need a vacation. So that won’t be happening until around Christmas time or something like that. So, but I’ve got lots of time to save up. That’s what I’m gonna do save up and put it in my little travel fund in my Wise account so I can not be gouged by bees. So yeah, final episode, guys. Let me just get to all the reminders since this is gonna be the last time I speak to you until season 17 of the show, which will launch sometime in September. Okay, first and foremost, this is kind of your final reminder, if you want to enter to win any of the books that have been featured on this season of the show, I’m giving away a ton of books, ton of books. And this is, like I mentioned on previous episodes, this is the only place that I promote this, I think I put the link in the show notes for this episode and talk about it on the podcast sometimes promoted in my email newsletter that goes out like once a month. So I do not blast this to my all my followers on all my platforms. Now I want to make sure these books go to my wonderful podcast supporters. So go to Jessica Moorhouse.com/contest. To enter to win, I’m giving away a ton of copies. This could be one of the books that you read this summer. So go do it just Moorhouse.com/contest. And next, if you have been maybe just you’re new to the podcast, or maybe you’ve been listening for a while and you’ve never really you know, you still know you have some work to do in terms of organizing your finances, you need some help with that. Check out all the variety of budget spreadsheets I have for download on my website. They are cheap, they’re like 30 bucks Canadian so if you’re American or you know outside of Canada, that means it’s gonna be even cheaper for you because our currency is not as good as yours. And yeah, they have I have a budget spreadsheet for pretty much every scenario I could think of whether you’re self-employed, employed, have a side hustle, whatever, go to Jessica Moorhouse.com/shop You can find all the budget spreadsheets in there. There’s also a little quiz to help you figure out which is the best spreadsheet for you and your situation. So check it out. It is a very easy-to-use comprehensive spreadsheet that will help you organize your finances so you can finally feel like you’re a bit more in control of your financial life and speaking of your financial life, if you, you know, listen to the show and you’re like Gosh, I really need to get you know organized with my you know, investments. I have no idea what I’m doing. You will want to check out my wealth-building blueprint for Canadians. Of course it is just for Canadians. I’m sorry for anyone who isn’t Canadian listening but I wanted to build something specific for Canadians because guess what, there are a ton of courses out there for Americans and the information is not the same. We have different tax rules. We have different accounts. We have different things going on. In Canada, so I want to make something that specifically for my Canadian podcast listeners, so check it out, it is all about the fundamentals of investing all of the things that you need to know about investing, but then also how to actually invest on your own either through a robo advisor or self directed DIY Investing, so you don’t have to use an advisor. Now, the course has been around for two and a half years at this point, which is really exciting. And there’s a just over 400 students, and yeah, it’s, it’s a good one, it’s a good one, it’s by application only. That’s why there’s not 1000s and 1000s of students in there, I do not let everyone in it is to make sure that people that enter the course, are actually motivated and will do the course and do the thing. I don’t want you just to buy the course and never touch it and never do anything, I want you to take it, I want you to learn from it, I want you to take action. So you actually start doing something different with your investment. So check it out, all the information about what you can expect is on the website, you can apply. If you are a good candidate for the course, we will have a call one on one with me. And I will be blocking off some time in the summer. So you will probably want to register or you know, apply as soon as possible, I usually get back in terms of approvals fairly quickly. But this is if you want to enter the course before the meat of the summer like July basically, I’m not gonna be doing any calls, then you’re gonna want to apply sooner rather than later. So you can get in touch with me and enter the course. I’m not sure if I mentioned the link for that. But as just Moorhouse.com/course that is where you can find it, you can find all the information about pretty much everything I talked about. On my website, Jessica Moore house.com. And last thing, I guess, before I go, because this is kind of the most important thing. And the last thing I just want to remind you about. So of course to even though I’m ending this season, and kind of taking the summer off from the podcast, you can still reach me over email, DM on Instagram, what have you, I’m still gonna be around. Hopefully, I can also make some more YouTube videos, I’ve been kind of slacking on that a little bit because I’ve been busy writing a book, if you don’t know, if you missed the past couple episodes that I did share, hey, I’m writing a book through HarperCollins. Well, I am and I’m in the thick of it. And I have to finish it by the end of the year. And part of that is also gathering stories from real people like yourself, so I can integrate them in to the book. So everyone can see themselves inside the book is not just a book that’s, you know, quoting people or me talking about my life, I want to have a variety of stories in there, because I love reading books like that. So if you want to submit your story or be considered go to Jessica Moorhouse.com/interview. And that is where you will find the application form, you can fill in some of your info. If you’re a good fit, and I want to reach out to you for an interview, then I will do that. So just put your details in there. I’m gathering all this, you know, details and stories from people until honestly finish the book. So don’t think you’ve missed the boat. Just even if you listen to this in the future, just put your details in there. And once I’m done collecting stories that I’ll just have a page on there saying sorry, you know, no more submissions, thank you. But if it’s still accepting submissions, please submit your info. And I might get in touch with you and your story might appear in my book. So with that, I think that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say. Again, I do want to say a big thank you so much to supporting this podcast. And I don’t think I’ve ever actually acknowledged that we’ve crossed the eighth anniversary mark, like this show has been on the air I’ve been producing this show

Jessica

for eight years, that is wild, almost 400 episodes. This is a crazy thing. And I couldn’t have been able to do this without your support you listening to these episodes, you telling your friends and family to check it out. So I want to say a big thank you for doing that. And I’m excited to hit nine years, and then eventually 10 years to be able to say that I’ve had a podcast for a decade. That is wild to me and it’s going to happen and I’m so excited about it. So thank you, thank you. Thank you and you know, we’re gonna come back here we’re gonna keep on having amazing guests on the show come September at some point I haven’t decided what the schedule is gonna look like but sometime in September, I’m sure I’ll have the first episode but I will you know, let you guys know on my Instagram or if you’re on my email newsletter, Jessica Moorhouse.com/subscribers where you can get on there or if you like, download my budget spreadsheet or something like that. You can probably get on the list that way as well. But yeah, I’m excited for the future. So it’s exciting times so that is it for me shout out finally you know final shout out for the season two my podcast editor Matt right out and I just wish you having the best summer ever get outside do some summer activities. Enjoy feature go on your porch or your balcony and have, you know some Rosae for me, and I will see you back here in a few months have an amazing break and recuperate. I’ll see you soon