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Life by Design

Life by Design

Written by: Jessilyn and Brian Persson
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 Life by Design is a podcast that shares the experiences and tools to help couples align their wealth goals and reclaim their time, enabling them to experience freedom, abundance, and a life by design.©2024 Projectory Economics Personal Finance Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Taxes Advantages of Real Estate

    Taxes Advantages of Real Estate
    Jan 7 2026
    SummaryIn this episode of the Life by Design Podcast, Jessilyn and Brian Persson discuss the tax advantages associated with real estate investing. They emphasize the importance of understanding how to leverage personal residences, the concept of return of capital, and the significance of maintaining good bookkeeping to maximize deductions. The conversation highlights the need for consulting tax professionals to navigate the complexities of tax laws and strategies effectively. Chapters00:00 Understanding Tax Advantages in Real Estate Investing07:04 Leveraging Personal Residence for Investment09:50 Return of Capital and Tax Strategies12:36 Maximizing Deductions and Bookkeeping for Rental Properties Contact Jessilyn and Brian Persson | Weekend Wealth Investments: Website: weekendwealth.caInstagram: weekend.wealthFacebook: Weekend Wealth InvestmentsLinkedin: Weekend Wealth Investments TranscriptJessilyn Persson (00:00)Welcome to the Life by Design Podcast, where Jessilyn and Brian Persson, struggling to align your financial goals or confidently invest in real estate as a couple, Brian Persson (00:18)That's why we created this podcast and the Riches Relationships and Real Estate program to help you build wealth and strengthen your relationship. Visit weekendwealth.ca to take our quiz and discover your real estate investor type. Let's create the life you deserve together. Jessilyn Persson (00:36)In today's episode, we're discussing a few of the tax advantages you can access when it comes to real estate investing. For us, taxes are our number one household expense above our mortgage or any other category of expenses. In Canada, we would assert it is the same for everyone. So if you can reduce that expense via real estate and create an investment at the same time, you should definitely do so. First, a quick disclaimer. This episode is for informational purposes only and should not be considered tax advice. The insights shared are based on our personal experiences and may not suit everyone's situation. We strongly encourage you to consult a qualified tax professional before making any financial decisions. So the first one we wanna chat about is your personal resident mortgage because most people are homeowners and they have a mortgage and their goal is to pay it down and be mortgage free. But as we've discussed in other episodes, There are things you can do with that mortgage that will create an asset and passive income for you instead of just sitting on something that is considered a liability. Brian Persson (01:46)Yeah. And it's considered a liability because you're paying for it with after tax dollars. your renters are not paying for it. No one else is paying for that mortgage for you. So how do you turn your personal residence, your mortgage on your personal residence from a liability to an asset? Well, in Canada, the tax law allows you to borrow money and put it into an investment which has the likelihood of creating cashflow. And when you borrow that money, you can write off the interest of what you've borrowed. So if you borrow money from your personal residence, i.e. your mortgage, then you can write off the interest of that mortgage when you invest it. So for us, we chose one of the simpler strategies just to keep our life simple. And that is we, every once in a while, when the mortgage gets paid down enough, we will borrow a lump sum of money from our mortgage and we will put it into an investment. And that way we have a single transaction. have one borrowed chunk of money and we have one invested chunk of money. And it is very, very easy to keep that paper trail clean for the revenue agency. And if an audit comes our way, we have no problem with it. Jessilyn Persson (03:06)Right, so we, ⁓ just to maybe dig just a little bit deeper, we obviously have a house and a mortgage that we had originally anticipated paying down. We've shared this multiple times that we were, I think one, maybe two months shy of being mortgage free. Well, we decided we want to refinance. We're going to pull money out and buy another property or two in this case. ⁓ And so we pulled it out. We did a HELOC, so a home equity line of credit. and we pulled a lump sum and bought a property. And like you said, keep the paper trails clear. And then we were able to write off the interest against the lump sum we borrowed. So anything that was still owing on our personal property, that was no write off. We still have mortgage payments for our personal portion of the property. the borrowed portion for an investment, to be clear, you can't borrow it and go buy a car. That's not not CRA improvement. Brian Persson (04:04)Yeah, exactly. You said it. You said it exact. ⁓ The only the portion that you've borrowed from your personal residence can be written off. ⁓ The interest can be written off. And that's why you have to have a very, very clean paper trail because if the Canadian revenue agency comes in and audits you and ...
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    15 mins
  • Giving and Investments

    Giving and Investments
    Dec 24 2025
    SummaryIn this special holiday edition of Life by Design, the hosts discuss the importance of showing appreciation to tenants, investors, and team members in the real estate industry. They emphasize the value of personalized gifts, effective communication, and the law of reciprocation in building strong relationships. The conversation also highlights the significance of self-care and celebrating achievements, all while maintaining an attitude of gratitude. Chapters00:00 The Spirit of Giving in Real Estate01:50 Personalized Gifts for Tenants05:48 The Importance of Communication07:10 Gifting to Investors and Building Relationships09:31 Appreciating Your Team11:56 Celebrating Yourself and Your Achievements15:18 The Power of Gratitude and Giving Contact Jessilyn and Brian Persson | Weekend Wealth Investments: Website: weekendwealth.caInstagram: weekend.wealthFacebook: Weekend Wealth InvestmentsLinkedin: Weekend Wealth InvestmentsTranscript: Jessilyn Persson (00:03)Welcome to the special holiday edition of Life by Design, where we embrace the spirit of giving and reflect on the importance of showing your tenants, investors, and team how much you appreciate them. Real estate investing is a very social activity, so it's important to build strong, lasting relationships through gratitude and appreciation. So tune in as we spread some holiday cheer and commit to making a difference in our teams and beyond. Brian Persson (00:29)Yeah, and I mean, this is a real estate podcast. So the very first thing that we're going to talk about is our tenants, because we love our tenants, and we really want to show them how much we appreciate them living in our properties and paying rent on time and keeping care of the property. And the funny thing is that it doesn't take a whole lot to make someone feel really appreciated. Jessilyn Persson (00:53)Yeah, not at all. We've been gifting to our tenants for as long as I remember having tenants. we originally started by giving usually gift baskets with different things in it. And then as we got to know our tenants more, we custom. So we knew like if someone was a tea drinker, we would buy them probably a basket with specialty teas or tea mugs, or if someone really liked making a specific type of drink. we could custom a basket of that, or if they had a little bit of a larger family, maybe it was a bunch of different kind of cookies and popcorn and treats. And then as time has gone on, we've morphed that a little bit and we still do some gift baskets, but we've shifted it a little bit more to gift cards. we like, I think we like the experience. So we'd like to do dinner, theater, movie tickets, restaurants, but then there are some families where they're, like I said, they're a little bigger and maybe they don't have as much. so that we'll get them gift cards for grocery stores or Amazon, trying to make their life easier. Brian Persson (01:53)Yeah, and we, you know, our personal portfolio is small enough that we can keep tabs on our tenants and understand what they have. But for our apartment buildings, I actually put it as a year-round job for our resident managers to watch the tenants and figure out what they need so that they know what we can give them at holiday time. you know, all portfolio sizes, you can make it work and you can discover a little bit of personality about your tenants to give like a very meaningful, like thoughtful gift. Jessilyn Persson (02:29)Yeah, and all this is amazing to get through the holiday season, because we all love gifting and giving through the spirit of the holidays. But we actually do this kind of throughout the year, depending on the situation. So, like, if we're going to interrupt a tenant's suite, you know, we'll give them, it's a smaller gift card, like, it's not going to be as big as what we would do during the holidays. But just as a thank you for, you know, letting us enter your, ⁓ building and maybe we had to go fix something or maybe we're doing an audit to make sure like there's no leaky tops or things going wrong with the unit. Brian Persson (03:07)Yeah, it doesn't have to be big. Just a $10 gift card to Tim Hortons or Starbucks or McDonald's. Well, whatever you kind of, kind of know is important to them and they really appreciate it. And it, uh, it really breaks down the barriers of, having someone, even, even though it's the owner of the property, having that someone enter their home because the tenant, you know, the place you're renting to the tenant is their home. So you have to be respectful of that and just giving them a little, little thank you, like a gift card just breaks down those barriers and they're, they're much, much less resistant to have you come in and, know, like you said, sometimes you're not actually fixing something there. There's nothing wrong, but you want to make sure that your taps aren't leaking every year. That kind of, that kind of little gift card can, can like eliminate all the resistance of ...
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    17 mins
  • Mortgage vs Mortgage Free

    Mortgage vs Mortgage Free
    Dec 10 2025
    SummaryIn this episode, the hosts challenge the conventional wisdom that paying off a mortgage is the best financial strategy. They share their personal experiences and financial strategies, illustrating how leveraging a mortgage can lead to greater investment opportunities and cash flow. The discussion covers the benefits of refinancing, the importance of understanding good versus bad debt, and the necessity of experience in real estate investment. The hosts encourage listeners to rethink traditional beliefs about mortgages and investments to achieve financial freedom. Chapters00:00 Rethinking Mortgage Payoff Myths02:18 Leveraging Personal Residence for Investment05:49 The Power of Cash Flow and Equity08:30 Investment Property: Mortgage vs. Mortgage-Free15:25 Understanding Good Debt vs. Bad Debt19:26 The Importance of Experience in Real Estate Investment Contact Jessilyn and Brian Persson | Weekend Wealth Investments: Website: weekendwealth.caInstagram: weekend.wealthFacebook: Weekend Wealth InvestmentsLinkedin: Weekend Wealth Investments Transcript: Jessilyn Persson (00:04)In today's episode, we're flipping the script on a popular belief. The notion that paying off your mortgage is inherently better. And we're going to talk about two actual investments in our life that illustrate the difference. This episode was inspired by a notion that we keep seeing over and over again with our clients and friends. The idea of having no mortgage. Most of us were raised with the belief that you should pay off your mortgage as fast as possible. Well, we've learned differently. and the two scenarios that we're going to detail will show the difference, which will allow you to make a more informed decision on your mortgage. So the first one we want to talk about is your personal residential mortgage. Brian Persson (00:46)And yeah, not just everybody else out there, but us as well. We were ⁓ told by our parents that paying off your mortgage is kind of your number one priority in your financial life. But we're going to show a little bit about why that's not entirely true. And we did go down that path when we first started ⁓ with our property. We tried very, very hard to pay it off until we discovered a different way. Jessilyn Persson (01:11)Yeah, we were, and I think we've shared this on multiple podcasts, we were, think, too much shy of being mortgage free before we actually decided to, instead of pay it off, we refinanced, pulled it out and bought property. Brian Persson (01:28)Yes. Yeah. So we want to work through some actual numbers in this podcast. So just so you can really see the financial difference that it creates by using the finances and the leverage that you have available for you in your personal residence versus actually just paying that off and then not using that leverage for any type of investment. So as we just mentioned, we were very, close to paying off our personal mortgage and our mortgage had started at about 350K, but when we refinanced it, we were able to buy up to $2 million worth of property. So we now had $2 million worth of mortgages instead on those investment properties. But the portfolio is now cash flowing at $2,800 a month. which was ⁓ almost or is now almost double our original mortgage payment. So we're actually paying our original mortgage and we are cash flowing and putting money in our pocket because we actually borrowed from our personal residence. Jessilyn Persson (02:39)Right and I mean it gives us cash flow as well as we have you know The interest that we have against our residential property because we borrowed against it is right off. Yeah, right So there it's not like our expenses enough necessarily went up because we have a bigger mortgage because those costs are being covered by our tenants Brian Persson (03:01)Yeah, the costs are being covered by our tenants, yeah. And then the added benefit is that seven years down the road after we refinanced our property, so this is seven years down the road today, and now we are able to buy apartment buildings from the original portfolio that we bought when we refinanced our personal residence. And now that $2 million in property has turned into $4.5 million in property. So the contrast there is that now today we could have had $500,000 and actually specifically $570,000 in equity, or we could have refinanced as we did seven years ago and have $4.5 million in value of our properties. Plus the portfolio is now cash flowing with the apartment buildings at $6,000 a month. So if we had If we had paid off our personal residence, we would have been saving about $1,000 a month, as in not spending it. Instead now, we are earning $6,000 a month with the exact same amount of equity. Jessilyn Persson (04:16)Yeah, that's a whole mind shift, I think. I mean, to think like, ah, everyone I know their safety net is I'm going to be mortgage free. So, you know, if something happens to my job or my husband's job or the family income...
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    24 mins
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