Black Star Wealth

08/26/2026

Rules of thumb for retirement planning sound reasonable until you actually sit with them.

"You can safely withdraw 4% of your assets per year."

So if you have a million dollars, that's $40,000 a year to live on.

But that rule was never built around *your* life. It doesn't know that your kids moved across the country and you're flying to Vancouver three times a year to see the grandkids. It doesn't know that you want to keep the cottage. Or that you have no one to leave money to and you'd rather spend it than preserve it.

Rules of thumb flatten everything that makes your situation yours.

What actually matters is getting into the messy middle of the real numbers. After tax. On a dollar basis. Anchored to the specific life you want to live.

What does a year actually cost - not a theoretical year, but your year?

→ The travel you've been putting off
→ The home you want to stay in
→ The people you want to support
→ The things that make it feel like freedom, not just survival

For business owners especially, this number matters beyond personal planning. It's the number that tells you what your business *has* to be worth when you sell. It turns a vague future hope into a real target.

And when you have a real target, you can start building toward it. You can see the gap. You can make smart decisions now - about what to grow, what to change, what to protect.

Clarity isn't a luxury. It's the thing that makes all the other moves possible.

08/24/2026

I had a domestic moment this weekend - I set out to make gluten free banana muffins.

The bananas were properly ripe. (First bad Superstore order. Story for another day.)

So I googled a recipe for Banana muffins.

The first two sites I found had gorgeous photos. Ingredients laid out just so. Finished muffins glowing on a cooling rack. A thousand words about the author's grandmother's kitchen before you got anywhere near flour. Or something like that - since I quickly scroll through these wasted words.

And when I finally got to the actual recipe? Ingredients listed. No measurements.

Lots of what. Not much how.

I googled again, this time for a recipe with actual measurements, and the AI summary that popped up gave me exactly what I needed. Cup of this. Teaspoon of that. Done.

Here's what struck me after the muffins came out of the oven.

Financial plans work the same way, except the what was never the hard part.

Anyone can hand you the list. Save money. Pay down debt. Get insurance. Invest for retirement. That part takes about five minutes and you already knew most of it.

The how is where it actually gets built.

How much do you save, and out of which account first, given what you're trying to be able to do in five years versus twenty. How is your debt structured, and does it make sense to pay it down aggressively or hold it while you put that same money to work somewhere else. How much insurance, on whom, for how long, so you're covered without paying for protection you don't need. How is your investment mix built to match your actual timeline and your actual temperament, not a generic model portfolio someone assigned you at 35 because you were 35.

And underneath all of it: how does this list turn into a sequence. What happens first, what happens next, what you check on in a year, what changes if your business has a bad quarter or a great one.

That sequencing, that judgment call on amounts and order and timing, is the entire job. It's also the part nobody can google their way into, because it isn't generic. It's yours.

The list looks the same for almost everyone. The plan never does.
(The muffins turned out great, for the record.)

Hi, I'm Wendy. I run Black Star Wealth, a flat-fee financial planning firm for business owners who are done with generic advice.

I build the how. Not a list of things you already know you should be doing, but the actual sequence, the actual amounts, the actual order of operations, built around your business, your timeline, and what you're trying to be free to do.
If your financial plan is still sitting at the "what" stage, let's talk.

08/20/2026

Unsolicited offers are showing up more and more.

A buyer calls. They're interested. They want to talk numbers.

And the owner - who has spent years building something real - has no idea what it's worth.

Not because they haven't worked hard. Because no one ever told them that business value is something you track, not something you scramble to figure out when someone's on the line.

Here's what I've seen happen when owners *are* prepared.

They say: "Sign an NDA and I'll give you access to our data room."

That one sentence does something. It signals that this business is organized. That the owner knows what they have. That due diligence isn't going to be a nightmare of missing records and mystery margins.

Buyers notice. It shifts the dynamic immediately.

And here's the number that should stop you cold: only about 1-2% of business sale transactions close at the original letter-of-intent price. The due diligence process chips away at it - equipment that needs work, gaps in documentation, inconsistencies in the numbers.

The owners who close at their number are the ones who already know their number. They can defend every piece of it. Nothing surprises them.

Preparation isn't just about being ready to sell. It's about being impossible to undervalue.

Your business will transition at some point. On your terms or someone else's. About half of exits aren't planned - disability, divorce, disagreement, or death.

The question isn't whether to be ready. It's whether you want to be the shiniest apple on the block when the moment comes.

07/09/2026

Struggling to balance today's expenses with your longer-term financial priorities?

You’re not alone. For many Canadians in the middle of their careers, balancing day-to-day financial demands with future goals can be challenging.

In her latest article, Meghan Wassink, CFP, explains how regular financial check-ins, smart savings strategies, and thoughtful financial planning can help you make steady progress toward your goals.

If you're balancing competing priorities today while preparing for tomorrow, this article offers practical guidance to help you move forward with confidence.

Read more now: https://www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca/insights-detail/tips-for-managing-money-mid-career

By mid-career, many people are becoming more established professionally while taking on greater personal responsibilities. For some, this means raising a young family, managing a mortgage, supporting aging parents, or balancing multiple financial priorities—and sometimes doing all of these things ...

07/08/2026

Kelsey says is perfectly. Buyers want cash flow, they don't want a job!

05/15/2026

Nobody wants to talk about estate planning.

It's right up there with "we should update the will" and "let's talk about what happens if…"

So we don't. We push it. We tell ourselves it's a later problem. And then later becomes never.

Here's the thing - estate planning isn't a death conversation. It's a clarity conversation. It's knowing your people are protected. It's making sure what you've built actually goes where you want it to go. And for business owners? It's making sure your business doesn't become someone else's problem to solve.

When estate planning is part of a real financial plan - not sitting in a drawer somewhere - it takes the weight off. For you now. For your family later.

If this is the thing you've been putting off, start here. Ryan Gubic, CFP, breaks it down in plain language.

https://www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca/insights-detail/estate-planning-101--understanding-the-basics

Estate planning is one of the most important—and most overlooked—parts of a financial plan. It can also help preserve your legacy at any stage of life.

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