Dan Ahlstrand and Clinton Wilkins are joined by Mario Cloutier of Manulife to discuss the importance of risk insurance for home additions, creditor insurance, and the importance of financial literacy.
Mortgage 101 – 10th anniversary of Financial Literacy Month | November 2021 Part 1
In this episode of Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins and Todd Veinotte, as heard on CityNews 95.7, the guys talk about how to get the conversations going and education around financial literacy. This is the 10th anniversary of Financial Literacy Month and Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team has a lot of great content lined up for the entire month of November.
Mortgage 101 with Clinton Wilkins & Todd Veinotte: 10th anniversary of Financial Literacy Month | November 2021 Part 1
Don’t feel like watching the video? Check out the transcript below.
Transcript:
This is the 10th anniversary of Financially Literacy Month
Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:00:01] This is the very first, this is the kick-off for Financial Literacy Month, and we’ll talk a little bit about that later on here in our first segment. We’re also going to be live taking calls live on the air. We’re going to be back live, which is going to be exciting.
Todd Veinotte: [00:00:11:11] On News 95.7. Right here on News 95.7.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:13:27] Well, I thought it was CityNews 95.7.
Todd Veinotte: [00:00:16:05] You’re absolutely right.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:16:20] The first blunder of our show, but that’s okay.
Todd Veinotte: [00:00:18:21] I did that on purpose. I wanted to see if you, how much you care.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:21:13] I think, you know what? You’re certainly keeping me on my toes and you know, nothing keeps me on the on my toes more than mortgage lending. There’s a lot going on right now, obviously in Nova Scotia and mortgage lending here. We’re going through a regulatory process and a lot going on with real estate. So I think there’s going to be, you know, some good chats.
We’re really going to do some deep dives this month into really what does Financial Literacy Month mean for you and why is November even important? Like, why should anyone care about financial literacy?
Todd Veinotte: [00:00:50:11] This is a national thing, right?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:00:51:23] This is a national thing from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. And it’s been 10 years now that Financial Literacy Month has been, you know, celebrated, talked about, you know, respected in November
And you know, for the last several years, we have been giving a lot of information to our clients. You know, we’ve obviously been doing a lot on the radio and podcasts and, you know, TV around Financial Literacy Month. It’s really around education and it’s around breaking down these barriers. And you know, there certainly are some barriers around financial literacy, Todd. Like we hear it all the time.
You know, I think sometimes it’s easy as maybe having the conversation, you know, in your household, but it is a hard conversation to have, and a lot of people are not brought up to talk about, you know, personal finances.
Have the conversations about financial literacy
Todd Veinotte: [00:01:39:06] Well, it’s a hard conversation to have unless you’ve been having them, and let’s give credit where credit is due. Some people have done a great job with Financial Literacy Month.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:01:48:08] I think so. Yeah, for sure.
Todd Veinotte: [00:01:50:16] And not just Financial Literacy Month, financial literacy.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:01:55:13] Period. And you know, I think it really starts kind of at home and I think it even starts really, you know, in schools, I think it’s just so important. So, you know, if there are our teachers listening to our show, I think, you know, at least having the conversations and, you know, bringing some real world examples is really important.
Todd Veinotte: [00:02:11:20] Do they teach it in school, to your knowledge at all?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:13:24] They do in high school. There certainly are some segments around financial literacy. I know when I was going to school it was pretty basic. You know, it was really more about like, what is a bank account? How do you write a cheque?
Todd Veinotte: [00:02:24:27] Even did that much?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:26:03] Yeah, they did that much. But now I think it’s certainly more involved. This month I’m actually doing two classes at a high school here in Halifax.
Todd Veinotte: [00:02:36:03] You are?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:36:17] I’m doing two classes for Financial Literacy Month, talking about mortgage lending and how does a mortgage work? It’s for, you know, advanced maths class. And one of the teachers asked me to do it a couple of years ago, and she’s having me back in. So, you know, these are things that, you know, kind of makes it interesting for me and kind of get, you know, out of our comfort zone.
Todd Veinotte: [00:02:55:14] They call you, professor?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:02:56:25] I don’t think they call me Professor. They probably call me like, Hey, you,
Todd Veinotte: [00:03:00:00] But or something else after you leave.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:03:02:19] You know what? I think they really like it. And you know, you know why I think the students really like having, you know, maybe someone coming in that has that real world experience? Because I think they’re kind of interested and they ask a lot of questions.
Like, I’ve certainly been to classes before and I’ve just, you know, talk for an hour, leave no kind of engagement. But I think with these kids, at least in this class and this teacher the kids are just so, so engaged. She and her husband, I actually know for a fact our listeners of CityNews 95.7.
Trying to get more education out there in the mortgage space
Todd Veinotte: [00:03:37:04] I like that you get that right. Let me ask you a question. We’ve done this now for a long time. You and I have developed quite a rapport, quite a pedigree, a brand. I would say you and I are a brand in and of ourselves, which is great.
And although there’s a means to an end towards doing that, and that’s to drive business and all of that, and we get that, however, it’s good. It is a nice thing, I’m sure, for you to know that you have helped people who have never given you a call. But knowing that some of these people have walked away with something greatly beneficial and will have benefited their family situation and their lives because of what we’re doing right now.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:04:12:00] I think it certainly does feel good. And you know, my first motivator is not for people to call us, Todd, and I don’t want to like, just say that. I mean, you know, people do call like, that’s just reality that people want to call and talk to a trusted source. But really, our big motivation on doing the show, you know, we’ve been doing it really in this type of format and prior to this live on the air for the last three years.
And you know, it really is around education. And, you know, I don’t think there is that much education available out there in the mortgage space. Obviously, buying a home is the biggest purchase of your life and the mortgage is the biggest debt. And I think we were breaking down some of these barriers.
Todd Veinotte: [00:04:49:23] Would there be anybody else doing anything like this?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:04:53:06] Think, maybe like a smaller format they do. You know, there’s some markets across the country where they do some similar shows like this, but here’s what’s going to be interesting, I’m going to be curious to see what happens in 2022. You know, for us. Obviously a lot’s changed with CityNews. And who knows, maybe listeners will be listening to our show that we do from across the country.
And I think that’s really exciting. You know, we’ve broken down some of the barriers. Can you imagine like who wants to talk about real estate and mortgage lending? Who would have thought, like, it’s really that complex and that interesting?
Todd Veinotte: [00:05:30:25] Well, I think people thought it was complex, and therefore that’s why they didn’t have the conversations.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:37:06] And maybe they still don’t want to have it because sometimes having those hard conversations, you know, it’s not fun.
Todd Veinotte: [00:05:42:25] It’s not fun. Yeah.
Reach out with your questions
Clinton Wilkins: [00:05:44:00] You know, these are things that we need to talk about. And through this show today and through the rest of the month, we’re really going to talk about income, we’re going to talk about assets and we’re going to talk about credit and we’re going to do a deep dive into all of these things.
So if there’s anything that you want to talk about, for us to talk about live on the air, you know, or in our show that we’re going to have at the end of this month, certainly write us, wright, Todd, and we’d love to chat about it. And, you know, we’d love to kind of do a deep dive and we want to know what you want to know. So, you know, feel free to reach out to us.
Todd Veinotte: [00:06:15:17] What are you excited about the most about getting back on the air live and taking calls?
Clinton Wilkins: [00:06:21:06] Well, I think I think you kind of hit it on the nose. I think taking the calls is going to be really interesting. And, you know, I think that was one of the biggest challenges that we had when it was live.
You know, when you’re live on the air, you’re answering these questions and sometimes they’re very complex. Sometimes they’re out to left field. I mean, I think it depends like who’s calling and what the question is, but there’s some really, really good questions.
Yeah, and these are questions that you know, listeners are interested about and things that may impact their specific situation. And my guess if they’re asking these questions, there’s other people that want to know those same answers.
Todd Veinotte: [00:06:57:29] And you always want to validate somebody’s concerns or questions. You don’t want to ever just dismiss it and say, oh whatever. Always make sure that in a genuine way. And I think you do that. I think you connect with people.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:07:28] I think, you know, certainly, that is the objective is that we can connect with them. And I hope that, you know, we can kind of slow it down and explain it. You know, I think sometimes I speak quickly, but we really try to explain it in, you know, everyday language, and we’re going to be back on our next segment, going to have a special guest.
Leanne Myles and James Dwyer are coming up!
Todd Veinotte: [00:07:24:26] Yeah, I wanted to talk with that. But that’s just your unbridled enthusiasm.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:27:26] I know I’m just so excited.
Todd Veinotte: [00:07:29:02] That’s right. So your guests are Leanne.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:32:05] Yeah, Leanne Myles. She is an Associate Mortgage Broker here in our office. She’s actually working out of our Dartmouth office, and she’s been with us for over three years.
So we’re super proud of Leanne, and I think she has a lot of really great life experience, and I hope that we can drill down a little bit on our next segment and later in the show, we’re going to bring a realtor in.
Todd Veinotte: [00:07:54:01] Wow, I’ve had that realtor on my show.
Clinton Wilkins: [00:07:56:06] And you know, I think hopefully he’ll be able to share lots of great insights about what’s going on here in Halifax and the real estate market.
Todd Veinotte: [00:08:02:11] I’m sure that he will. So as we just mentioned, lots to talk about in Mortgage 101: Your Guide to Homeownership here on CityNews 95.7, we’ll be right back.
If you have any questions, get in touch with us at Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team! You can call us at (902) 482-2770 or contact us here.