Latest / The Financial Feminism Podcast / Stop Chasing More Money. Start Building Ownership.

Transcript

Stop Chasing More Money. Start Building Ownership. · The Financial Feminism Podcast

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Financial feminism, ownership, income, freedom, financial feminism, more
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options, more ownership, more freedom.
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Welcome back to Financial Feminism.
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I'm Dr. Toneka Bruce.
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And every week we're having conversations that many
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of us should have have been having years
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ago.
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Not because women aren't capable.
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Not because women aren't intelligent.
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But because somewhere along the way, many of
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us were taught how to work hard without
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even ever being taught how to own.
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And today I want to talk about one
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word that I believe has the power to
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completely change your financial future.
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Ownership.
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Not because everyone needs to quit their job.
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Not because everyone should become an entrepreneur.
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But because ownership changes the way you think.
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It changes the questions you ask.
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It changes the decisions you make.
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It changes what you leave behind.
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If you've been following this journey with me,
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we've already talked about money shame.
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We've talked about why so many successful women
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still feel financially insecure.
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Today we're taking the next step.
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We're moving from healing to building.
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So grab your notebook.
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This episode may completely change the way you
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think about money.
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When I ask women a simple question, what
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do you own?
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Most people immediately start naming things like my
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car, my house, my furniture, my jewelry, my
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retirement account.
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Those aren't bad answers, but they're incomplete because
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ownership is bigger than possessions.
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Ownership is influence.
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Ownership is opportunity.
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Ownership is options.
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Ownership is having something that continues creating value
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whether you're working today or not.
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Think about it.
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If you stop going to work tomorrow, what
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continues working for you?
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For many women, nothing.
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And that's not criticism.
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It's awareness.
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Because almost every one of us grew up
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hearing the same advice.
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Go to school.
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Get good grades.
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Find a stable job.
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Work hard.
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Retire someday.
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There's nothing wrong with that path.
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It's created incredible opportunities for millions of women.
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But here's the question I want you to
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wrestle with today.
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Is your income your only strategy?
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Because if the answer is yes, then your
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financial future depends almost entirely on your ability
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to continue working.
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What happens if you get sick?
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Need to care for a parent?
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Want to spend more time with your children?
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Choose to work less?
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Want to volunteer?
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Want to travel?
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Want to retire earlier?
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When income stops, what continues?
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That question changed my life, not because I
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suddenly became wealthy, but because I realized I'd
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been measuring my progress by income instead of
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ownership.
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They're not the same thing.
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You can make a great income and own
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very little.
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You can also earn a modest income while
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slowly building assets that create more opportunities over
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time.
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That's the shift we're making today, from earning
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to owning.
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When we come back, I'm going to introduce
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a framework that's completely changed the way I
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think about financial growth.
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I call it the ownership ladder, and I
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think every woman should understand it.
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Financial Feminism is presented by OwnThePurse.com.
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If today's conversation is helping you see money
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differently, download your free ownership resources, join our
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community of women building financial confidence together, and
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discover tools designed to help you move from
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earning to owning.
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Visit OwnThePurse.com to get you started.
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When we left off, I asked you one
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question.
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What continues working for you if you stop
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working?
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Now, don't answer too quickly.
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Really think about it.
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Because for years, if someone had asked me
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that question, my answer would have been nothing.
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And maybe that's your answer today, too.
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And if it is, don't feel discouraged, feel
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encouraged.
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Because awareness is where change begins.
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You can't build what you don't first recognize
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is missing.
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So I want you to imagine something with
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me.
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Picture two women.
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They're both 45 years old.
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They both make $100,000 a year.
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Both are respected in their careers.
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Both have worked incredibly hard.
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On paper, they're almost identical.
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Now, let's look a little bit closer.
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The first woman has one stream of income,
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her paycheck.
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If she doesn't work, the money stops.
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The second woman also has a paycheck.
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But she also owns a small rental property.
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She owns investments.
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She wrote a book that earns royalties.
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She has a digital course.
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Maybe she owns part of a business.
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Maybe she owns land.
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Maybe, you know what, let's throw this in
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there.
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Maybe she invested in someone else's company.
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Her paycheck matters, but it isn't her entire
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financial identity.
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And here's the interesting part.
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They can earn the same amount, yet one
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woman has options the other doesn't.
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That word, options, that's what ownership creates.
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Ownership isn't about becoming rich.
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Ownership creates choices.
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The choice to take time off.
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The choice to care for your aging parents.
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The choice to start over.
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The choice to leave a toxic job.
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The choice to spend more time with your
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children.
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To volunteer.
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The choice to simply say no.
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Money doesn't always buy happiness, but ownership often
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buys options.
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And options reduce fear.
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That's why this conversation matters.
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Because so many women have spent decades trying
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to earn more without ever asking, what am
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I building?
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Income is incredibly important.
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Please don't misunderstand me.
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Your career matters.
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Your profession matters.
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Your expertise matters.
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I'm a nurse.
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I've built businesses.
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I've worked hard for every opportunity I've had.
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I'm not against earning.
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I'm against believing earning is the finish line.
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It's the starting line.
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The goal isn't just to make money.
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The goal is to slowly convert today's income
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into tomorrow's ownership.
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That's a completely different mindset.
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And I want to introduce you to something
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I call the ownership ladder.
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This isn't an investment strategy.
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It's a way of thinking.
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So picture this.
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Picture a ladder.
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Every rung represents another layer of financial stability.
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The first rung is income.
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That's where almost everyone starts.
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Someone pays you for your time or your
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talent or your expertise.
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There's dignity in that, so never underestimate honest
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work.
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The second rung is savings.
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Now, you're not simply earning.
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You're keeping part of what you earn at
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this point.
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You're creating margin.
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The third rung is investments.
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Your money begins doing some of the work
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instead of asking your body to do all
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of it.
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The fourth rung is assets.
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Assets are things that have the potential to
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create value over time.
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Sometimes they produce income.
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Sometimes they appreciate.
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Sometimes they even do both.
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The fifth rung is ownership.
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Now, this is where everything begins changing.
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Ownership could mean a business, a patent, a
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trademark, a book, real estate, dividend-producing investments,
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a website, a piece of land, a valuable
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skill, intellectual property.
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See, ownership means you become accustomed to, or
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better yet, let's say, you've begun creating something
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bigger than today's paycheck.
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Then there's the final rung.
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Legacy.
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Legacy asks one question.
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What continues helping people after I'm gone?
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Think about that.
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That's a different way to measure success.
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Not how much did I make, but what
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did I build that continues blessing others?
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That's the financial feminism vision.
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Not more stuff, more significance.
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Not more consumption, more contribution.
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Not more comparison, more ownership.
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This episode of Financial Feminism is presented by
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OwnThePurse.com, where we're helping women build confidence
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through ownership.
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If today's conversation is challenging the way you've
11:08
always thought about money, download the ownership resources
11:12
and join thousands of women who are learning
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to move from earning to owning, one practical
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step at a time.
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I want to tell you something that changed
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the trajectory of my own thinking.
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Years ago, I realized I had been asking
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the wrong question.
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Like many people, I kept asking, how can
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I make more money?
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That's not a bad question, but it's not
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the best question.
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The better question is, how can I turn
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today's income into something I'll still own five
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years from now?
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That one question changes how you spend.
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It changes how you save.
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It changes what you learn.
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It changes who you spend your time with.
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Yes, I said that.
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It changes the books you read.
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It even changes how you look at opportunities.
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Instead of asking, will this make me money
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today, you begin asking yourself, could this become
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an asset tomorrow?
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Maybe it's learning a skill no one can
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take away from you.
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Maybe it's buying your first share of an
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investment.
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Maybe it's purchasing a domain name for an
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idea you've been sitting on.
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Maybe it's writing the first chapter of the
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book you've talked about for years.
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It took me 20 years to write my
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first book.
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Maybe it's starting a side business that grows
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slowly while you keep your full-time job.
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Maybe it's simply paying off debt so more
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of your future income belongs to you instead
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of your past decisions.
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Ownership doesn't always begin with a purchase.
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Sometimes ownership begins with a decision.
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A decision that says, I refuse to let
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my paycheck be the only thing standing between
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me and my future.
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Remember, financial feminism isn't asking every woman to
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become a CEO.
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It's asking every woman to become an owner
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of something that creates value.
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That something will look different for each of
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us.
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For one woman, it may be a rental
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property.
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For another, it's a thriving business.
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For another, it's a portfolio of investments.
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For another, it's a book that reaches people
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long after it's published.
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The point isn't to copy someone else's path.
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The point is to stop believing your only
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path is earning more.
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Now as we close today, I want to
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leave you with one challenge.
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Take out a piece of paper.
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Make two columns.
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In the first column, write everything that pays
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you.
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In the second column, write everything you own
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that has the potential to create value in
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the future.
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Don't judge the list.
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Just look at it honestly and then ask
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yourself one question.
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One year from today, what do I want
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to add to the ownership column?
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That one answer may become the beginning of
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a completely different financial future.
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Because here's what I hope you'll remember long
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after this episode ends.
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Income pays today's bills.
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Ownership changes tomorrow's possibilities.
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Before we finish today, I want to ask
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you to do something that may feel a
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little bit uncomfortable.
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Now don't answer this question quickly.
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Don't answer with what sounds impressive.
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Answer honestly.
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If someone sat down across from you today
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and asked, What do you own?
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What would be your answer?
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Would you start listing things you purchased?
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Your car, your home, your jewelry, your furniture?
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Or would you begin talking about the things
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you've intentionally built?
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Because again, those two are very different conversations.
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One conversation is about consumption.
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The other, it's about creation.
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And for years, I celebrated every promotion, every
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raise, every accomplishment, and I should have done
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that.
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That's true.
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I mean, hard work does deserve to be
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celebrated.
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But somewhere along the way, I realized something.
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I was spending a lot of time building
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my resume.
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I hadn't spent nearly enough time building my
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ownership.
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And maybe you felt that too.
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You've done everything people told you to do.
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You earned the degree.
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You worked overtime.
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You took care of your spouse and your
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children, your household.
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You became dependable.
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People trust you.
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People respect you.
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You're the one everyone calls when they need
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help.
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And yet, deep down, you still wonder if
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you're really getting ahead.
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Now, if that's you, I want you to
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hear me.
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You are not behind.
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You simply may have been following an incomplete
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roadmap.
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No one taught many of us how to
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ask ownership questions.
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Instead of asking, how can I earn another
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$5,000, what if we started asking, what
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could I begin building with the money I
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already earn?
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That's a completely different conversation because ownership doesn't
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always begin with a purchase.
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Sometimes ownership begins with permission.
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Permission to believe you're capable.
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Permission to learn.
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Permission to make mistakes.
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Permission to just start small.
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And I think sometimes we imagine ownership belonging
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to other people.
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People with more money.
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People with more education.
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Or more connections and more confidence.
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But every business owner once had no business.
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Every investor bought a first investment.
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Every author wrote one blank page.
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Every woman who owns something today started by
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owning almost nothing.
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That's the beauty of ownership.
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It grows.
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Slowly.
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Quietly.
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Patiently.
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You don't wake up one morning with a
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legacy.
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You build one.
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One decision at a time.
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Now I want to leave you with something
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practical.
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Tonight, before you go to bed, take out
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a notebook.
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Across the top of one page, write what
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I earn.
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And if you didn't do this earlier, pay
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attention now.
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Write what I earn.
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Across the top of another page, or the
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other half of the page, write what I
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own.
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Be honest.
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No one else is going to see it.
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Just you.
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And then ask yourself one more question.
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If I kept living exactly like I am
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today, what would those two lists look like
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five years from now?
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Would your income grow while your ownership stays
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the same?
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Or would both begin growing together?
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Because that's the future I want for you.
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Not simply a better paycheck.
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A stronger foundation.
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Not simply more income.
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More influence.
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More options.
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More confidence.
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More ownership.
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And before we close, I'd love to invite
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you to make one commitment.
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Not to me.
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To yourself.
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Complete this sentence.
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One year from today, I will own blank.
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Say it out loud.
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Write it down.
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Share it with someone that you trust.
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And bring it to our Financial Feminism Live
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Conversation this week.
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Because there's something powerful that happens when women
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stop hiding their dreams and start speaking them
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into existence with a plan to match.
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We're not chasing perfection.
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We're building progress.
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One ownership decision at a time.
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One conversation at a time.
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One generation at a time.
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Thank you for spending time with me today.
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If this episode encouraged you, would you do
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me a favor?
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Share it with one woman who works incredibly
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hard but has never been taught how to
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think about ownership.
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Then head over to OwnThePurse.com and download
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your free Ownership Ladder Assessment.
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Complete it.
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Keep it.
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Come back to it every year.
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Because I truly believe the women who changed
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their family tree won't be the women who
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simply earned more.
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They'll be the women who chose to own
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more.
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Until next week, keep climbing, keep building, and
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remember, your paycheck supports today.
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Ownership shapes tomorrow.
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Until next time.
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[♪ Music Outro ♪