A Chat with QUBER Co-founder, Jen Leger
It’s estimated that 53% of Canadians live paycheck-to-paycheck, meaning the bulk of their monthly income goes towards their expenses with little or nothing left over to save. People who habitually find themselves in this situation often struggle to cover their daily expenses without relying on the help of credit, and are generally not well-prepared to handle a sudden financial emergency. It’s important to note that the phrase “living paycheck-to-paycheck” refers to one’s degree of financial security, not to a specific income level; Canadians at all income levels live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Of course, there are a number of different reasons a person may find themselves in such a cycle of financial vulnerability, including the rising cost of living, stagnant wages or socio-economic factors. However, millions of Canadians exacerbate the effects of these issues by practicing poor financial habits, like neglecting to create a budget, racking up credit card debt and spending impulsively on non-essentials. From that problem, the concept for QUBER was born. But, the idea didn’t arise from a theoretical place; it came from the real experiences of one of our co-founders, Jen Leger. Jen came up with the idea for QUBER as a solution to her own problems with financial management, and created the app to make that solution accessible for all Canadians.
We recently sat down with Jen to ask her a bit about her life, what inspired her to start QUBER, the importance of financial literacy and what’s next. Her responses are a must-read for all QUBER users!
[Alina]: Hi Jen! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
[Jen]: I was born and raised in Fredericton NB, and graduated with a Computer Science degree in 2001. My first job after university was in Ottawa in the tech sector, and then I moved to Moncton in 2003 and worked for a number of tech companies in the region. I have 2 wonderful kids, plus a cat and a dog. Between running a company and raising 2 almost teens, life is busy!
How would you describe your financial habits over the course of your life?
My brother was always the saver in the family, and I was always the spender. I remember even as a child, I’d babysit, and then very quickly spend that money at the local store. Any money I had would get frivolously spent. I carried those same bad habits into my early adult years, even though I was making a decent salary, I still struggled to get to the next pay cheque. I then got married, built a house, had kids, and before I knew it had build up a sizeable amount of debt on line of credit and credit cards.
What was your turning point with learning to manage your money?
A few years ago I went through a divorce, and vowed to make better choices with my money. I had a lot of bad habits to break, but I was determined. I cut back drastically on buying coffee, eating out, and online shopping. I started to become much more mindful of where I was spending my money. I cut back on subscriptions I didn’t need. I built an emergency fund, so the money was there when I needed it, and didn’t need to turn to my credit card. I got into the habit of paying off my credit card every month and paid off all debt except for mortgage and car loan.
Can you share a little bit about how you came up with the idea for QUBER?
Being debt free is an amazing feeling. So many people are living pay cheque to pay cheque and money is such a stress in peoples’ lives. I wanted to help change that. I worked in the gaming industry, and was always interested in the psychology of gaming, gamification, and the decision-making process of consumers. I wanted to make an app that would get people addicted to saving money, instead of spending.
Running a fintech startup must be very challenging at times. What keeps you going?
The fact that QUBER is helping other people learn to better manage their money and build an emergency fund is what keeps me going. We love to hear people’s stories, how QUBER has helped them transform the way they are spending and helping them to make better choices. Every comment, post, review, story keeps me going and motivated to make QUBER even better! Deposits in the QUBER Vault continue to grow, people are saving more than ever, engagement with QUBER is high, and our QUBER community is growing!
What have you learned from other QUBER users?
That I was not alone in my struggle with personal finance. And how much we can learn from each other. Many ideas we have built into QUBER have come directly from our users, I do believe if it helps one person it will help others. And there is no one size fits all solution, the solution needs to be flexible enough to work for a variety of income levels and people.
What are your best tips for someone trying to improve their financial habits?
Start small. I know it can be overwhelming and feel like you’ll never get out of debt, but you can. Take baby steps – start by rounding up purchases.
Don’t use excuses. Many people like to use the excuse that they aren’t making enough interest on their money. But the amount of bank fees people are paying is extraordinary and often times overlooked. Start saving so you don’t have to pay interest, overdraft fees, NSF fees. Or do some QUBER challenges, they offer better interest than most saving accounts out there!
Make a goal and stick to it. Make saving money part of your daily life whether it’s tying it to a fitness goal or saving as soon as you get a deposit. Everyone can find $20 extra a month to save!
I know you have two kids. What have you been doing to teach them to be financially literate?
Depending on the age of your child, you can either let them create some jars on your account and move money into the jar when they do their chores, get money for birthdays or holidays, or get good grades. They love to see their jar fill up. If they are older and have their own bank account, you can help them setup the app on their own device. Talk to them about money and get them saving as soon as possible. You can even offer them your own match-based savings – when they save $100 give them a few bucks in interest to reward them.
What’s next for QUBER?
Many of our users are ready to go to the next step on their financial journey. We want to help our users connect with a financial advisor when they need one or find the financial product they need at the right time. Our goal is to make an all-in-one app where people can pay off debt, put money aside for RESPs, RRSPs, and other financial products, donate, and save using the many different QUBER features we have today.
And finally, what do you most want to share with QUBER users?
Know that you are not alone. Don’t be embarrassed about your situation. We are all in this together. Use the community to help keep you motivate, learn, and stay on track with your goals. You’ll find some great tips and tricks from others and be able to share your own. Helping others can motivate you to stay the course on your financial journey and continue to improve.
Ultimately, we hope reading some of Jen’s story inspires you to get proactive when it comes to improving your financial situation. You can’t control every factor that affects your financial health, but you do have control over the way you manage your money. As such, you should be making financial decisions that benefit your long-term security, not ones that diminish it. But, never forget that you’re not in it alone: there are a ton of amazing resources and tools out there (*ahem*… like QUBER!) that can help you achieve positive change in your financial life.
Our mission here at QUBER is to support Canadians as they strive to achieve financial security and to empower them to live their lives free from financial stress. We’re proud to offer all Canadians QUBER’s platform as a simple, fun and free way to help grow their savings and change the kind of behavioural patterns that may have negatively impacted their financial health in the past.
Interested in learning more about the history behind QUBER? Jen recently sat down with Nicholas Belliveau from Fintech Cadence to share about her experiences coming up with the idea for QUBER, how the app got started and more on where we’re headed next. You can watch the interview here.
Check back to Money Talks every Monday for a new post featuring more tips and tricks on how to reach your saving goals, and subscribe to our mailing list for blog updates!
Have a suggestion for something you’d like us to write about? Shoot us a message at contactus@quber.ca and we’ll get to work.