Content Editor Kellie Hush meets Sugar Mamma TV creator, Canna Campbell, who has joined forces with Klarna
Chatting to a financial planner about buying a Chanel brooch has to be a first. Klarna’s financial expert, Canna Campbell, and I are discussing our love of fashion and how she would love to buy herself a Chanel brooch for her upcoming 40th Birthday. I’m naturally enabling her because I have owned one for years and the cost per wear is worth the initial investment. Canna doesn’t need convincing but she does tell me that you can’t have everything all at once. She says she has her own personal fashion wish list and not everything on that list will end up in her wardrobe. “There’s nothing wrong with loving fashion, and spending money on fashion, but there has to be a balance like with anything in life,” says Canna. “I like to use the analogy that it’s like the food that we put in our body or the exercise that we do, it’s all about finding the right balance.”
Canna has been working in the finance industry for almost two decades and set up her own financial planning consultancy SASS Financial in 2007. It was one of her SASS clients that convinced her to set up her now hugely successful Sugar Mamma TV. That client was beauty influencer Chloe Morello. While Canna gave Chloe financial advice, Chloe, already a global YouTube and Instagram star, gave Canna advice on how to launch her own YouTube channel and social media accounts.
“Chloe confirmed that what I had been thinking about in a half-hearted manner was worth pursuing,” says Canna. “She really pushed me and said to me ‘do this because it’s really important for young girls because they are making a mess of their finances and have no one to turn to for help’. So, l launched my YouTube channel and it went from 5000 subscribers to 28,000 within 48 hours. It was mind-blowing. Chloe made a video talking about how I had helped her with her finances and we made a video together as well and it took off.”
Today Sugar Mamma TV has 122,000 subscribers and 45,000 Instagram followers. Canna’s book The $1000 Project was also a hit, with Canna sharing with readers how she saved $32,000 in 12 months by using her unique savings strategy she calls bundling.
“It’s been so great helping people and to make people see that money and finance isn’t dull and intimidating. There’s also this misconception that a financial planner will tell you not to spend money and frown upon you and make you feel bad, but that’s absolutely not the case.”
When working on financial goals with clients they are tailored to meet their needs but her top three apply to everyone:
- Have a budget. Having a budget more so now than ever, is so important. The job market is unpredictable so you really need to understand what your outgoings are and what you should be cutting. When you do a budget it’s like the lights come on in the room. Previously you had been stumbling around in the dark and easily tripping over something.
- Thoroughly understand your financial situation. For example, know you have a Klarna payment coming up in two weeks and it’s your last payment. Or you know you have a friend’s birthday coming up and you’ll need to buy a gift and have money to go out. Understand who you owe money to. Do you have a credit card or a car loan? Do you have money to put aside for a rainy day? Do you have a months’ living expenses? All things you need to think about.
- Have financial goals. You need to have a financial goal because a few years will pass by and you will find yourself in the exact same financial position you were in three years ago. Even if it’s a very small goal, like saving $1000, or something ambitious like saving for a deposit on your first home. I think having financial goals adds passion and ambition to your life. It also helps us anchor ourselves. “Even for me. I was looking at this really beautiful Zimmermann dress online and I thought, hang on, I want to get the mortgage paid off so no. The mortgage is more important to me than that dress so it’s very grounding to have financial goals.”
However, Canna, you absolutely do need that Chanel brooch for your birthday.