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MBR Knowledge Base

Origin Story

Origin-story

Section titled “Origin-story”

TODO

Section titled “TODO”
  • ensure that Origin Story notes are captured from D:\FSS\KB\MBR\_WorkingOn\Tasks\_tmp.md

Background

Section titled “Background”
  • The MBR origin story Is a critical, foundational artifact. It will be a core communication countless times, to Media, audiences, friends, Everyone learning about what I am focused on and why.
  • Upgrading the origin story to more effectively advance the mission is a high impact activity.
    • Getting attention and keeping interest is key.
    • Subtly referencing MBR benefits, interesting people and concepts maintain interest, peak curiosity, and accelerate the mission.
  • Upgraded Origin Story content follows.

Origin Story - Full Version

Section titled “Origin Story - Full Version”

  • The following describes the sequencing and how many ideas incubating over decades and cross pollinated to give birth to MyBetterRates.

    • A story about the combination of someone scratching their own itch, a thirty-year focus on helping people benefit financially, and a deep passion to give back to society after surviving cancer (at least 50% to cancer with the Cancer50Pledge, and almost all wealth like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates).

  • Globe article

    • A Globe and Mail article “Familiarity over value: The hidden cost of Canada’s mortgage habits” explained how “Many Canadians are not truly shopping for mortgages. They are defaulting to familiar brands”. And this behaviour was costing them, LOTS.
      • D:\FSS\KB\Business\Clippings\Globe\2026-04-04-Familiarity-over-value-The-hidden-cost-of-Canadas-mortgage-habits.md
      • d:\FSS\Static\Info\Finance\Investing\Globe_MBR-Origin-Story.pdf

  • Wealthsimple significant unexpected benefit

    • I reflected on how my wife and I recently transferred 9 accounts (hers, mine, corporate) to Wealthsimple to get an attractive transfer bonus, and discovered an additional and significant unexpected benefit.
    • The transfer to Wealthsimple also resulted in increasing the rates on our short-term savings by at least 0.5%. And for us that difference would would gain us thousands more. Not just that, but these financial benefits occurred every year, and compounded! I immediately recognized that over the next decade alone, this unanticipated benefit would result in tens of thousands of dollars more than we would not have had continuing our current path.

  • Lightbulb moment

    • While my efforts to manage the returns on High-Interest Savings Accounts and cashable GICs was “good”, it was not optimal. The lightbulb moment was when I recognized that if I, with my knowledge of financial strategies and rates, didn’t take full advantage of a such a simple concept with such easy, guaranteed financial benefits in year ONE, and that these benefits COMPOUND every year, how many other Canadians could also benefit?

  • How did this happen, and WHY?

    • My knowledge of personal finances was “very high”, writing three books, including the mega-bestseller “Financial Freedom Without Sacrifice” where I illustrated how the simple strategy of shopping around could sometimes be worth over $1,000 an hour.
    • In a world where we are not taught even the basics about finances, I had the huge advantage of significant knowledge in this very valuable area of life. I wrote multiple books on the topic, and specifically taught others the benefits of this ultra simple strategy!
    • I was aware of rate comparison sites, like Ratehub.ca, Rates.ca, LowestRates.ca, and visited them many times.
    • How this could happen, and perhaps more importantly, how I could ensure it didn’t happen again in the future?

  • Benefiting from good ideas

    • As a learning addict, always trying to better understand human behavior, I was deeply curious.

    • I refected on what I already knew were the steps to necessary to benefit from good ideas.

    • No Hassle, Benefit Guaranteed service

    • 1-Click Transfers

      • Born from How would Steve Jobs design the UX (1 button) + Amazon’s 1-Click shopping cart simplicity + dear friend founder of innovative Peacehold estate doc services KSF of concierge service to make it REALLY simple and his brainstorm suggestion to me a decade earlier to deliver financial strategies with a simple concierge done-for-you approach

    • Plus Massive Transformitive Purpose clarity from Peter Diamandis for SDC Mission leading to birth of C50P

  • Behaviour trumps math: ACTion, not knowledge

    • While I am one of those weirdos who genuinely likes math, I learned a long time ago that in the world of personal finance, behavior trump’s math nine and a half times out of 10.
    • “The key to financial success is not what you know, it’s what you do.”

  • The Pivot and Synergy

    • SDC mission, deferred, integrate later

  • Cancer50Pledge origin

    • EXTREMELY grateful for medical system, free in Canada, for saving my life
      • side story: was grateful before cancer; upgraded even further after, including daily alarm on phone ”
        • continued not for me; but to inspire others to be more grateful in a world that has too much focus on negative
        • proof it works: wife started emailing “gratitude thoughts” to our son
        • idea source: GREAT Talk by Sean Achor
    • giveaway “50%”
    • Buffett committing to give away almost all of his wealth, then inspiring Gates and then others
    • … thinking about David Chilton’s legacy of huge financial impact on millions of people in Canada and USA, his character and how much his insights into self-publishing my first book and encouragement helped me get started, how we almost ended up working together on investment ideas, and how great it would be to align with him to have a big positive impact on our shared passion of helping people with personal finances and his character of generosity and my need to give back after surviving cancer
    • How like Buffett and perhaps Gates, I will probably end up, giving away the vast majority, over 95%, of the wealth created by my businesses since surviving cancer. The cancer 50 pledge commits to donate at least 50% to cancer. The vast majority will be given away because I firmly believe that leaving too much money to children is harmful and because I love them I would never intentionally do that. Find some research that supports this view. Could include vendor belt, family impact as the extreme example.

  • Create mind maps of these origin stories

Tasks

Section titled “Tasks”
  • create D:\FSS\KB\MBR\01_Identity\Origin-Story.md as SSOT
  • Find existing origin story artifacts, replace all with links to the new single source of truth above.
  • Revise and upgrade the origin story to be more professional, impactful.
    • Format with Progressive disclosure, with “More” links to branches of story tree
  • Research best/official links to people/sources/books to provide jounalist-quality sources for ideas as much as possible
  • Create “MRB Origin Story” Mind Map, from above, point form
  • How else can this narrative be improved to support the cancer 50 pledge mission?
    • linking to other entities (Terry Fox Foundation, etc.) that expose and cross-sell ideas that are mutually beneficial
    • The quality of this story is very important, as it defines the birth and foundation of the business, a story which will be told many times, leads to the opportunity to mention some components that can generate intrigue and highlight specific benefits.