Black Star Wealth

04/06/2026

You don't have a money problem. You have a choices problem.
Every dollar you have is a decision waiting to be made.

That concert or the Galapagos trip? You can have both — just not at the same time. And when you know that, you stop feeling stuck. You stop trying to do everything and ending up in debt. You start making real decisions about what actually matters to you.

That's what a system does. It doesn't tell you what to want. It shows you what your choices actually cost — and where they lead.

No more "I can't afford it."

Just "what do I want more — and when?"

🎙️ Wendy & Kelsey wrap up the conversation on The Number — and tease something big coming next episode.

04/03/2026

Spent a little too much this week? You're never more than 7 days from a reset.
That's the beauty of building your spending around one number.

It's not about being perfect. It's about being intentional.

Got a fancy dinner on Friday? Maybe you brown bag it earlier in the week.
Business lunches every day? That changes the math entirely.

The problem isn't that we spend — it's that so much of our spending happens without us really deciding to. Tap. Click. Done. No speed bump. No pause. No "did I actually want that?"

Your one number gives you that pause back.

Not guilt. Not restriction. Just consciousness.

04/01/2026

Here's a social post for that audiogram:

Is your relationship with money built on restriction — or empowerment?
There's a difference between telling yourself don't spend and actually knowing what you can spend without stress.

That's what finding your one number does. It's not a budget that shames you. It's a permission slip.

For the people who spend too much — it's a boundary.

For the people who never let themselves spend — it's freedom.

Either way, you stop guessing. You stop checking your bank account after the fact hoping for the best. You just... know.

And when you know? The anxiety fades. The empowerment kicks in.

03/31/2026

"It's about how much can you spend on your discretionary things every week without worrying. Everything else works." — Wendy Brookhouse

New episode dropped today. "The One Number That Simplifies Your Spending Plan"

Most people are managing money by reaction — checking their bank account after the fact and hoping the math works out.

In this episode, Wendy and Kelsey walk through The One Number: a system that automates the fixed stuff and gives you a single weekly discretionary spending number to focus on.

You'll understand why it works better than a traditional budget, why it resets every seven days, and how it helps you make conscious choices instead of unconscious ones.

Listen Here: https://blackstarwealth.com/podcast/the-one-number-that-simplifies-your-spending-plan

03/18/2026

The 2026 FP Canada Financial Stress Index includes a set of numbers I can’t stop thinking about.

Not because they’re shocking — but because they’re specific.

When Canadians work with a financial professional, they’re less likely to say money is their top stressor, less likely to lose sleep over money, and more likely to feel hopeful about their financial future.

If you want the full study + resources, FP Canada has it here:
https://www.fpcanada.ca/2026-financial-stress-index
https://financialplanningforcanadians.ca/fsi-2026

03/17/2026

500 gym sessions in under two years.

Let that sink in for a second.

Kelsey didn’t start with discipline.
He started with convenience.

A gym across the street.
A block in his calendar that wasn’t up for debate.

No “I’ll go later.”
No “I’ll see how I feel.”

Just… show up.

And somewhere along the way, something changed.

He stopped trying to work out…
and became someone who trains.

That’s the shift most people miss.

In this episode of The Number, Wendy and Kelsey unpack what it actually takes to move from interested… to committed.

Because this isn’t really about the gym.

It’s about how you build anything that lasts.

Your health.
Your money.
Your business.

None of it comes from motivation.

It comes from systems you stop negotiating with.

Give it a listen 👇
https://blackstarwealth.com/podcast/002-the-non-negotiable-how-a-gym-across-the-street-changed-everything

03/17/2026

The 2026 Financial Stress Index is full of numbers — but the real story is what those numbers feel like in day-to-day life.

So here’s how financial stress often shows up (in a way people don’t always label as “money stress”):

It looks like…

The mental browser tabs you can’t close: “groceries,” “mortgage,” “kids,” “taxes,” “retirement,” “should we refinance,” “why is everything… up?”

Avoiding the numbers even when you’re “fine” — not because you’re irresponsible, but because looking at it feels like adding one more weight to an already full backpack.

Microdecision fatigue: you don’t want to decide what to do with savings, debt, investments, or a major purchase because you’re already deciding 47 other things every day.

Being “good” but not feeling safe: you’re saving, tracking, cutting back… and still don’t feel calm. (That’s often the difference between effort and a system.)

Sleep getting impacted: one of the most telling differences in the research is that people who work with a financial professional are less likely to lose sleep due to financial worries than those who don’t.

And that last point matters, because it highlights something we don’t talk about enough:

Sometimes the biggest benefit of support isn’t “more money.”

It’s less noise.

Less guessing.
Less carrying it alone.
Less “I think we’re okay… but I don’t actually know.”

If any of this feels familiar, the Index is a good reminder that you’re not uniquely failing — you’re living through a

03/12/2026

I’ve never heard anyone say “I have a complicated relationship with numbers.” But swap that word for money? And I can’t count how often I hear someone describe their relationship as ‘complicated, tense, imbalance, unfair… isn’t that wild?

Apparently 87% of people love numbers and spreadsheets.
Because an equal number of those people suddenly need a coffee, a meeting, or a small personal emergency when the conversation turns to money.

Numbers are money. Money is numbers.

And yet, so many of us pass judgement on numbers when we look through a financial lens.

And to be blunt - it’s the number one reason many people aren’t as successful or stable as they could be.

Here's what I've actually learned after years of sitting across from clients at every stage of the wealth journey:

Numbers aren't neutral because we make them emotional.

And no spreadsheet on earth was designed to help with the emotional part.

Very few of us ever learned that every number has a story.

A story we were either born with, developed over time, or wrote ourselves in the recesses of our own busy subconscious minds.

We tell ourselves stories about:

The number in ourr bank account.
The number the business needs to hit.
The number on the LOC or credit card statement…

The reality is numbers (and money) are neutral and require context to mean anything. It’s that context that helps us make decisions. Because $2M to one person in their 60s has a totally different contextual meaning than $2M to a person in their early 20s.

That's the whole reason Kelsey and I created 🎙 The Number https://blackstarwealth.com/podcast.

Not to add more math to your life. To help you understand what your numbers are actually telling you.

Because you don't need to love numbers.

You just need to understand yours.

03/12/2026

I’ve never heard anyone say “I have a complicated relationship with numbers.” But swap that word for money?

And I can’t count how often I hear someone describe their relationship as ‘complicated, tense, imbalance, unfair… isn’t that wild?

Apparently 87% of people love numbers and spreadsheets.
Because an equal number of those people suddenly need a coffee, a meeting, or a small personal emergency when the conversation turns to money.

Numbers are money. Money is numbers.

And yet, so many of us pass judgement on numbers when we look through a financial lens.

And to be blunt - it’s the number one reason many people aren’t as successful or stable as they could be.

Here's what I've actually learned after years of sitting across from clients at every stage of the wealth journey:

Numbers aren't neutral because we make them emotional.
And no spreadsheet on earth was designed to help with the emotional part.
Very few of us ever learned that every number has a story.

A story we were either born with, developed over time, or wrote ourselves in the recesses of our own busy subconscious minds.

We tell ourselves stories about:
The number in ourr bank account.
The number the business needs to hit.
The number on the LOC or credit card statement…

The reality is numbers (and money) are neutral and require context to mean anything. It’s that context that helps us make decisions. Because $2M to one person in their 60s has a totally different contextual meaning than $2M to a p

03/09/2026

Seven university teams walked into a room with real problems and left with solutions. One of them is making soap out of potatoes. I'm not joking.

[last week] I spent a morning judging university teams for the Enactus Canadian Tire Sustainability Eco Challenge.

Let me set the scene:
Seven teams. Real problems. Real solutions built from scratch.

One group, University of Prince Edward Island, took potato waste and a shortage of hygiene products at local food banks and turned them into a potato-based soap.

They called it Spuds2Suds.

The group from University of Prince Edward Island was tackling two seemingly distinct problems:

Waste from potatoes

A measurable shortage of personal hygiene products at the local food bank.
So what did they do? They took the potato waste and figured out how to turn it into…SOAP.

I mean, I fully expected I’d be impressed, this level of creative thinking blew me away.

What struck me wasn't just the creativity. It was how clear they were about the problem they were solving.

When you can identify the problem, it’s a lot easier to stay on track to solving it.
That's a lot of what Kelsey and I talk about on The Number https://blackstarwealth.com/podcast/.

What it actually means to clearly define what you’re solving for and then pursuing that one metric of success.

Grateful to judge alongside Phil Otto and Lynn MacQuarrie. Best of luck to all seven teams at Nationals.

And honestly? At their age, my biggest achievement was remembering my student number.

These students are something else.

02/20/2026

Do you feel like you are the peanut butter and the jam in the sandwich of your life?

If you're providing support for your children and your aging parents, you're not alone. As part of the sandwich generation, you may feel as though you're being stretched too thin—both emotionally and financially.

The good news? A few simple steps can help you better manage the stress that comes with supporting multiple generations.

From identifying opportunities to cut costs to setting healthy boundaries with family, Alim Dhanji, CFP, shares practical guidance to help you create a plan to support your loved ones—without losing sight of your own financial well-being.

https://www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca/insights-detail/the-reality-of-being-part-of-the-sandwich-generation

Supporting aging parents while raising children has many middle-aged Canadians struggling to protect their own financial futures.  

02/20/2026

I did a post yesterday being totally sarcastic about receiving the Rules of Thumb book Financial edition. There is no such book.

I'm tired of the "Rules of Thumb" for retirement savings.

You know the ones: "Save 15% of your income." "You need 80% of your pre-retirement income." "The 4% rule will carry you through."

Here's my question: where is this magical book that somehow knows what you want to do with your life and how much it costs? (Hint the one I got yesterday was built by AI. It doesn’t exist.)

Does it predict your tax bracket? Does it include the costs of visiting your grandchildren, who live 5 hours away by plane, twice a year? Does it add back in all the costs you used to run through your business – your vehicle, phone, days tacked on for vacation at the conference? What about your healthcare needs? How long will you live? Whether inflation spikes? What do you want to leave behind?

If that book existed, we'd all own it.

Rules of thumb are helpful when you're starting out. But if you're serious about building wealth. If you actually want to know whether you're on track, you need your number. Not an average. Not a percentage someone made up in 1994.

Your number. Based on your life.

That's what our *brand new financial clarity quiz helps you figure out. It takes about 3 minutes and gives you clarity on where to focus: monthly savings target, return rate range you're aiming for, or how to think about risk based on your timeline.

Take the assessment: https://freedomscore.blackstarwealth.com/
And if you want to go deeper after that? Let's talk.

Get your personalized score, discover your retirement funding gap and receive one actionable step to amplify your wealth.