Along with the end of a hockey season comes a need to “clean house” so to speak and get things in order. This is especially true this year as I personally make a transition which includes purchasing a home on my own for myself and my three children for the first time, and moving into it (if you can avoid it, don’t to this the week before the end of school).
When I ask you what you worry about most in a hockey season (and I ask every year), along with “my child having fun” and “how to fit it all in”, the most common response is “how to manage financially”.
This, admittedly, is an area where until recently I was happy to avoid really thinking about. I’ve heard from you, and also from some hockey moms of players who have made it big, that sometimes it’s easier to pretend we don’t notice the cost of hockey and how it affects you and your family’s finances.
So, I needed some help. And for a Hockey Mom with little time or knowledge of financial planning, who better to help than Brent Tully of Freedom 55. For those of you who are hockey fans, you will recognize his name. Tully won two gold medals with Canada at the 1993 and 1994 World Junior Championships, serving as captain in ’94. and was also named to TSN’s all time, All World Junior Hockey Championship Team. But, when it’s time to hang up the skates, everyone has to do something, and Brent has been helping hockey families with financial advice from his Peterborough office for 15 years.
Brent says, “While it’s easy to ignore the costs of hockey, it’s important to pay attention and also ensure you are taking acare of other aspects of your finances so your family can have security today and down the road.” Somehow it was ingrained in me that talking about money was a bad thing. But I’ve learned that if you don’t talk about it, money problems can really sneak up on you. It’s one of our biggest stressors as hockey families, so let’s talk about it.
Over the next few months and with Brent’s help, I’ll be delving into some of the areas that we as Hockey Moms and hockey families should be thinking about. We can even answer your questions. Stay tuned, because the first post is going to be about one of the fastest and easiest ways to save yourself some money every month. Comments or questions? You can email me with Hockey Mom stuff here at contactus@canadianhockeymoms.ca, or follow up with Brent at Brent.Tully@freedom55financial.com . Follow the conversation on our Facebook Page.