Essential Money Lessons from the Doctor Who Wrote the Curriculum

Essential Money Lessons from the Doctor Who Wrote the Curriculum

June 25, 2026 · 54 min · Season 1 · Episode 143

About this episode

Dr. Steph Zhou discusses essential personal finance lessons and strategies for financial well-being.

What are the most critical personal finance pillars that have the greatest impact on our financial wellbeing? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Steph Zhou, the creator of the mandatory financial literacy curriculum for medical students at the University of Toronto. Dr. Steph shares the core components she identified through her research that have the greatest impact on our financial well-being. What You Will Learn in This Episode The Core Pillars of Personal Finance: Discover the critical components of financial literacy that we should all focus on mastering. The Power of Expense Tracking: Why budgeting and/or tracking your expenses is essential, regardless of whether you are a lower-income earner or a highly paid professional. Practical Systems for Busy People: How Dr. Steph manages her finances as a doctor and mother, and the exact strategies she teaches her students. Debt vs. Investing Frameworks: Practical approaches to answer the classic question of whether you should pay off your debt first, invest, or do a combination of the two. Rethinking the Emergency Fund: How to best view your emergency fund, especially if you struggle with the opportunity cost of leaving cash on…

People in this episode

Host: Kornel Szrejber

Guest: Dr. Steph Zhou

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Toronto, Physicians Financial Wellness conference

More episodes of Build Wealth Canada Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Build Wealth Canada Podcast podcast page.