Author Archive for Avraham Byers

About Avraham Byers

I'm Avraham — reformed spender, financial coach. I help people take control of their money (without giving up their lattes). Want to talk? Book a free session.

She fell behind. She didn’t beat herself up.

She was exhausted. A client. Just back from a hard trip overseas to see her mother. Batteries low. The kind of tired that doesn’t go away with sleep. Or coffee. Or a weekend. She told me she’d fallen behind on her numbers. The spreadsheet she usually keeps up with? Untouched. The tracking? Slipped. A few years ago, that would’ve sent...

$70,000 by seventeen

She saved $70,000 by the time she was 17. I’ll say that again. Seventy thousand dollars. Age seventeen. No trust fund. No inheritance. Just a kid who saved. It was instinctive. Easy. The way some people are naturally athletic or can carry a tune without thinking about it — she could save money without it feeling like a sacrifice. She...

the TSN turning point

When I was a kid in Toronto, we watched hockey on TSN. And whenever the game shifted — the moment everything changed — the announcer would call it the TSN Turning Point. We all knew the phrase. My friends and I used it constantly. Something would happen at school, at home, on the street, and someone would say, “That’s the...

30 seconds

Transitions are torture for me. Finishing one task and starting another? It sounds simple. It’s not. At least not for me. My wife can attest. Years ago, when our daughter was little, we were driving home close to bedtime. My wife turned around and said, “Okay, just so you know — we’re heading home, then supper, then bath, then bed.”...

she never told her parents

Kari’s clutch blew out on the way to Colorado. It was 2017. Starting over. Moving to a new state. And somewhere on the highway, her Subaru gave up. She burned through her savings to fix it. Then a boyfriend talked her into living way beyond their means — and funding his business venture. (She got rid of him eventually.) By...

I don’t bite

Some of you have been reading my emails for years. I offer a free session at the end of almost every email. I’ve had amazing conversations because of it. But some of you have never booked one. I WONDER WHY A reader named Holly wrote me this week: “I know where I could probably change but I’m far too embarrassed...

THE BUBBLEGUM EFFECT

My friend Sruli said something the other day that stuck with me.He was talking about potential — how sometimes, everything you want is already there, just waiting. You just have to turn the dial. Like a bubblegum machine.You know the ones: a glass globe filled with colorful gumballs. You drop in a quarter, turn the dial, and out comes a...

Desire made you eat the first chip

The other day, my wife said something I can’t stop thinking about:“Desire got you to eat the first chip. Guilt made you finish the bag.” She’s right. She usually is. 🤓 I KNOW THIS PATTERN WELL Twelve years ago, I joined a men’s weight loss program. I was all in—tracking everything, following the rules, and I lost 49 pounds in...

Akiva, this one’s for you

The other day, I got a message from a reader named Akiva: “Yours is one of the few emails I get that I have to go back to later on my computer because I don’t have a browser on my phone. Always a good read.” Akiva built a system to avoid distractions — no browser on his phone. And somehow,...

I blew my emergency money on Red Stripe

I was 19. Jamaica. I was traveling with an older friend, Rino. My mom was a flight attendant, so I was flying standby on her employee pass. Free flight — if there was a seat. No seat, no flight. A few days before heading home, I checked the flight. Looked wide open. It’ll be fine. So, naturally, I did what...