Latest / The Realtor Who Wines / It’s Never Too Late to Start: Financial Literacy, Building Wealth & Making Money Work for You

Transcript

It’s Never Too Late to Start: Financial Literacy, Building Wealth & Making Money Work for You · The Realtor Who Wines

• 0:00
  Speaker: Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines Podcast.
• 0:02
  Speaker: I'm Rachel Newmeyer, your hostest with the mostest, a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest, savor the finest wines, and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship.
• 0:18
  Speaker: Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership, and uncovering the stories that make this community unique.
• 0:25
  Speaker: So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together.
• 0:30
  Speaker: Cheers.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Hi everyone, welcome back to the Realtor Who Wines.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy to have you here, as well as my guest.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Cheers, Kristen.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Thanks for being here.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I am excited to dive into all things money with you today.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Will you please introduce yourself to everybody so they know who you are and what we're talking about?
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I sure will.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Hi, everybody.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I'm Kristen Winter.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I am a financial educator and personal financial strategist.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So I help everyone that I work with learn how money works, how to be smarter with money, and put together very clear step-by-step roadmap on how to achieve your financial goals.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: One thing that I really appreciate about you, and we have had so many conversations around financial literacy together, is how much you care about financial literacy and like what people know, and you just love giving out knowledge.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: No matter where you are in your financial journey, sometimes you're at the beginning steps, and sometimes you're a teenager, sometimes you're a grown-up that no one ever talked to you about these things and stuff.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: So I just like that you have different resources and steps to help people no matter where they are.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Have you always been into financial literacy or like when did this kind of come into your life?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely right about how important financial literacy is.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And it when it started is kind of an interesting question for me because I actually grew up in a home where my father was a very successful financial advisor, and also he was extraordinarily financially savvy and also very frugal.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Um so I I did learn by observing, but to be honest, like even the things he probably tried to teach me as in my youth.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Um, I mean, I don't know about you, like I maybe didn't listen to everything my parents tried to teach me.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: I don't nobody, nobody the teenage years are the silent years because they hear nothing.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: And we were all there once.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: So I it's like I had it there in my home, which I realize looking back how blessed I was because it's actually quite uncommon.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: That is very don't learn these things in school.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Right, totally in school, right?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: And our parents either don't know the right things to teach us, um, or they're just not doing it.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So I had that, but I wasn't really taking advantage of it.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: But I will say that as I became an adult and started doing the adult things and earning my own money, I had a very successful business, so I earned quite a high income in my early 20s.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: But I was not making smart decisions with I was earning a lot, but really kind of uh going down a path that was gonna lead to um I hate to say financial failure because that feels uh so extreme, yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: But um when the recession hit, it did feel a little bit like failure because we had made some choices that were were not wise.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was my big wake-up call that I needed to learn how money really works, and I became fiercely determined to understand the true path to financial independence.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And that is what put me on a different track financially, and then also led me down the path of this career when I realized I'm not the only one that needs those guys.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And so um I became very passionate about helping people along this journey, being able to step into financial confidence um and not just knowledge, but being able to then apply what we've learned and take action to change the outcome.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: And I think your point about a lot of times I guess it doesn't get talked about.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Money does not get talked about at all, really in the home, or at least not.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I do think it is starting to happen more and more now.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: But how we were raised, and for sure how our parents were raised, money was private, it's none of your business.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Like those aren't the questions you ask, and you're you weren't supposed to discuss it with family, friends, anybody like you just knew your money.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: And a lot of times there was one person in the family that was the sole provider, a lot of times the man.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: And so it was like, you don't challenge, you don't ask those questions.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: And then so when you are out in the world by yourself, you're like, uh, how do I do this?
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: And so many people don't talk to our youth about credit cards, that it's like fake play money to them because they don't actually see it, and then all of a sudden they just have these huge payments, and then yeah, it's like we're just expected to know how money works and know all about financial literacy just by nature, right?
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: It's not how it is.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: No, we're either not learning at all or maybe learning the wrong things.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's or learning outdated things.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: So that's another thing is sometimes if you did maybe have parents or even grandparents who were savvy and they want to, you know, share that knowledge, but is the information that they're uh sharing is it relevant to your specific situation and yes, absolutely to today and and modern practices and things that are available to us that maybe weren't 20 or 30 years ago.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Well, and something that I've noticed too, especially once you hit a certain age, I would say, like even late 20s, early 30s, a lot of people are like embarrassed to ask the questions.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Like now they realize financial literacy is important, but I don't want to admit that I've been doing it wrong this whole time because there's a little bit of pride or shame in there, which there shouldn't be.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: But like everybody does go through those, like, oh, was I supposed to know this?
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: How did I get myself in this situation?
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Kind of like what you were talking about in 2008 for yourself, where you're like, what the heck?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: How did this happen?
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: And so I love that your approach is just so open and like come at any education level, literacy level, and general education, like ask the questions, like there's no shame in it.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: You don't know what you don't know, and you can't learn it if you don't actually seek the knowledge.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: So well, and a couple of things about that I find, especially with the younger generation, there's an interest in learning and they realize they want to learn.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Um, but the the tendency is to maybe seek out information like on TikTok or social media, little sound bites, little things, and those those are entertainers, they're there to yes, give a little quip that sounds good.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And some of the information I'm not saying is necessarily wrong, but again, it comes to this idea of does that apply to you in your situation?
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: There's it's just it's a it's a a wide universe when it comes to financial things, and so hearing little clips and sound bites um from people who are, you know, more trying to get eyeballs and get followers is not the same as working with a professional who really can dive in on your specific situation.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And don't so don't let that maybe shame or fear, you know, keep you from working with someone who can be more intentional about helping in your own specific situation.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and if you are listening and you are like, I don't know that much of I'm let's say I'm 55 and I still don't know financial literacy.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: It's okay to start at 55.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Like it's okay to ask these questions, and no one is gonna fault you for not knowing.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Because again, we've already talked about the fact that like you're not alone.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: There's tons of people out there that want the knowledge but don't know how to get it, or they feel ashamed that they didn't get it along the way somehow.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Or that people don't sometimes want to admit that they need the help or the guidance.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: You know, sometimes that's just part of the obstacle too.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: But I think what you said earlier about you don't know what you don't know is maybe the biggest part of this because a lot of people who I work with and help aren't necessarily financially illiterate.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: So I want to steer that conversation from that we're not talking just about people who are drowning in credit card debt and don't know how to save a dollar, you know.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: What I also help with is up-leveling financial knowledge and empowerment.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: So yes, I've saved.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm out of debt, or I have investments or retirement plans in place.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: But are all of those things doing the very best that they possibly can?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Are there any areas of opportunity that have maybe been missed?
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Um, and and so the the piece, the financial literacy, which you've already brought it up, is kind of meeting where you're at.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, we we can help anyone who's starting out or hasn't learned it, but I don't want to discount the many people who feel like I I think I've done a great job, I've done a good job, I'm I'm building some wealth here or there.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Um, and and oftentimes those are the really fun conversations because we get to shed light on some opportunities and ideas that sometimes these financially savvy individuals are like, I had no idea about that.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Why hasn't anyone shown me that?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: So fun and enlightening.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: They already have a good retirement account, but if they moved where that money was sitting, it could grow faster and things like that.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of different opportunities.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Um, what is some advice that you would give if somebody came to you and said, I have a teenager, I want them to be financially literate.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Where should I start?
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Um first of all, just having positive conversations at home with teenagers and young children.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Every time that a child hears things like, we can't afford it, there's not enough money for that, that that negativity, um it it becomes ingrained in the way we think about money and kind of the fear and the scarcity mindset.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: So the first thing I like to encourage with our children and younger folks is to keep it positive.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: And even if you don't have the money for it or you can't afford it, reframing that conversation into how could we find the money to do this, or something even as simple as like, if we choose to make this purchase, we'll need to not make not make a different purchase, or we we need to trade.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: So yeah, just keeping that positive.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Um, but actually the financial literacy company that I work with recently published our third uh book, and it is specifically for the next generation.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: So it's a book uh designed to teach our teenagers and young adults who are all just starting to become adults and starting to have their own money to go through not only the financial literacy concepts that are crucial, but also um a section in that book that's really unique is called the firsts.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: So the first car you're gonna buy, right?
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Getting into your first home, maybe in a relationship or having kids, um, your first job that maybe offers a 401k.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: What is that?
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: How does that work?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So this book is really the match or yeah, all those things.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: So this book is specifically geared toward educating our youth, and um, it's such an easy and fun read.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: You've seen our books, and they have little colorful characters, and it's it's a it's a fun way to um it's not a snooze fest.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: I feel like they do this book.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: It's like an entertaining um and it's not very long.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: So well, and it is in layman's terms, even though this one in particular is for youth, but like even the one there's one that's just for women, and then there's one in general um for anyone learning to grow, but it is it's approachable.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: I think is the best way to describe about it.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it just you're not gonna get overwhelmed or start reading it and be like, I don't know anything about this, yeah, and then get frustrated and put it down.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Right, like tiny super long black and white text all about like the economy and finances would be so boring.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: You're right.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: This one makes it entertaining.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: And what I like about it is it kind of it can bring just enough literacy and knowing the right words to maybe give ideas and questions to ask when you're ready to have the conversation about how does this apply to me, and you don't feel completely lost, or as you mentioned before, like feeling ashamed or feeling confused about yeah, what do I even need to know?
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it gives some framework to the conversation.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and if you're having those conversations with your kiddos and you're still learning too, it's kind of fun to like learn as you're teaching them.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: And having the book kind of makes it seem like you know more than you do, maybe.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can kind of be the one that has the information, but yet you're bringing it down to yourself and learning as you go.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I love making a financial education a family affair anyway.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Well, no, it should be.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: It should be, absolutely.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Because not that like your kids need to know your business as far because this is where we get into again, like it's none of your business how much a maker.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: It's not your business what the bills are.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: But if you approach it from a different um angle, like you were saying earlier, um, it's also teaching them so when they leave how to look at those things.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: So, like my daughter's 11 and she'll always ask, like, how much is our like randomly?
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: She'll be like, What's our electricity bill?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: And instead of being like, none of your business, I just talked to her about it because someday she's gonna have an electric bill.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: And she should also know, like, if that's normal or not, like this amount.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: So, or that I look at it monthly, like, whoa, why was our electric bill sixty dollars more this month versus last month or whatever?
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Like, did we leave a window open while they see it was running?
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: You know, like what's going on?
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: But like just teaching them to also look at that instead of just self-discovering.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Your daughter's a a unique little individual who really has a mind for that, which they love.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: But I'm just down the path from you where my daughter, who's 19, is actually getting ready to move into her own first place.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: So we have been sitting down having the conversations of like it's not just the rent you have to account for, but let's brainstorm what are all the different bills that you're gonna be responsible for now, things that we've been paying that now you get to pay.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: And so um, it's been fun to be a part of that journey for her becoming her own adult person.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It's um it's exciting, of course, and uh just great opportunities for conversations around not just the bills, but also like you need to also be saving for emergencies, and you know these are the foundational pieces that need to be in place.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: And we've even talked with her and her partner about having life insurance, even though they're so young and healthy, but they have a little baby.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: So if anything happens to one or the other of them, what would that mean for their financial situation?
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: So we're already starting to have those important conversations.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Well, and it is, and back to the whole um we can't afford it conversation that you mentioned earlier.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: If you help them navigate young, like, well, we can buy these cupcakes or these granola bars because we're trying to stay within a budget, that'll also help them when they're 19 buying their own groceries.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: It's true, yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: It's all just mount mindset um elements that kids actually absorb that not in you know, it's not intentionally like you're you have to try to teach them things, they're picking it up whether you're doing it this way or that way.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: So may as well try to get something that's positive and helpful.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Have you opened a home app several times in the last week and still haven't called an agent?
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Hi, it's me.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I'm Rilator Rochelle.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: Let's talk, you know, before you go down that spiral.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: What advice would you give um somebody that is looking to so we kind of talked about the beginners a little bit, but somebody that is looking to like level up, how do I make my money work for me?
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Where's some place that that person would start?
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Um, well, honestly, it's very similar to someone who's getting started.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Of course, there's oodles of information out there.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: You can Google, you can chat GPT, you can go on TikTok and get the bits.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Um, but I really would recommend sitting down with a qualified financial professional, somebody who's fully licensed, um, who can not only provide general information about investing and building wealth, protecting wealth, estate planning, but also someone who can take an analysis of your specific situation.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And it all starts with your own individual unique goals.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Because there's no one size fits.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: In your own portfolio.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Like what do you want to pay off?
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: What are you saving up for?
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Or what kind of retirement system do you want to have in place?
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: The way I work with people is not so much about numbers, but what that money is meant to do.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, because when we talk about retirement, that kind of has it's almost become like I don't want to say dirty word, but retirement has this connotation from days of old of like, you know, sitting on the porch on the rocker, right doing nothing.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: And that's living off your pension.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, people are living very active lifestyles and contributing and doing many things, including sometimes still working.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: But um, the phrase I like to use in place of retirement is work optional lifestyle.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: So when we talk about in your future, yeah, what does your work optional lifestyle look like?
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Because occasionally people will say something to me like, Well, I don't, you know, I don't need a plan for retirement, or that's not that important because I plan to work till I die till I die.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard it.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I love what I do.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, and that that's a noble thing to say, and that is fabulous if you love what you do.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: I love what I do as well.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: I think I've heard because so I'm an elderly millennial, and so I've talked to a lot of people in our ages, like in their mid-40s, right?
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Who haven't planned at all for what do we do in retirement.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: And I think they just think now it's too late.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: And so that's why they say I think that's where that comment comes from.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: I do think sometimes it is about I love my job, always work.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I'm a busybody, like I can't picture myself doing sitting on my porch doing nothing.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: That's just not who I am.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: So I also know I'll probably be doing something right until like I can't.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But I'll say this, Rachelle, there's a big difference between I'm doing something, I'm working because I love what I do, and I'm working because I rely on the patient that I have to have this money in order to support my lifestyle.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So, what we want to do is have plans in place so that if you can't work, it doesn't matter how much you love what you do, if you were to become disampled or some kind of situation where you can't work, what does that mean for you financially?
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Or you might love what you do right now, but what if in 15 or 20 or 25 years from now you don't love it as much?
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Or the industry changes exactly like so many.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: So many things that are just unpredictable, right?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: So we want to make sure we have the best laid plans so that in any case you don't have to work.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: If you want to, go for it.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Totally great.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And that even means you just have more financial security.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Um, but we want to make sure things are set up so that in the event that you couldn't work or maybe shift your mindset a little bit and don't want to, maybe you'd want to spend more time traveling.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Maybe you don't have any grandkids right now, but you do in the future, and you want to spend your time with them.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: So many things can change.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Um and there just are so many variables when it comes to our future.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Um, that's part of what I do is help kind of bring to the conversation different variables that maybe we're not considering or thinking about or have never even heard about.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Um, and uh make that a part of the overall planning conversation.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: For that person that thinks it doesn't matter what age, because everybody has an age in their mind that they think is like, oh, it's too late.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: For that person, what would you say to encourage them to meet with somebody like you, but also to like kind of a little bit of verbal proof that it's not too late?
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter what age you're at, like starting a plan is gonna be beneficial no matter what.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's a great point.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: And it it's you know, to say too late is just a a strange comment because there's always something you can do.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Um, and I guess the best answer I can give is you'll never have more time than you have today.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: So sure, had you started at 22, would things be a little different?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Fine.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we can all admit that, but there's no point dwelling on it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Well, you might say at 72, I wish I started at 42.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: When you're at 72 and you're going, gee, I wish I'd had that conversation.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: And at 92, you might be like, I should have started at 72.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: So, and again, just having the conversation doesn't hurt anything.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: And working with me, there's no cost, so there's no barrier to just learning and getting uh even if it's a second opinion, that's something also I work with people who have an advisor or an agent that they've worked with, and just being able to make sure there aren't any missing pieces or any gaps.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Um, there's no barrier, there's no cost, there's no risk or obligation in doing so.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Um, but it's just be what sheds light on something that could make a world of difference in 10 or 20 or 30 years from now, and you wouldn't have ever known about it.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Speak to that a little bit because I do think that's the biggest myth, is some people are like, well, I don't have any money to invest, because they think of meeting with a financial advisor, planner, um, that well, I don't have extra income to invest, or I don't have the money to pay her.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Like if I had the money, I wouldn't need her help.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: You know, so I do I think so many people don't realize that like they can work with you and there is no upfront cost and things like that.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Will you speak to that a little bit?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Um, so I've always uh thought about people who say, like, well, I I don't need to work with an advisor until I have enough money.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: It's similar to in my past life, I owned gyms, and people who would say, Well, I I'm not gonna go to the gym until I've lost some weight.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: And it's kind of a a funny analogy, but it's true.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Like but the gym could help you lose the weight and the financial advisor could help you get the more money so that you have more to invest.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: So um you said from the very, very start of our conversation about how I'm here to meet people where they're at.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And that is absolutely true.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: And I do.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: I have worked with people who, you know, could kind of proverbial don't have two nickels to rib together, it's maybe not quite like that.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: But the idea of just being like a feeling lost or feeling like their finances are a mess, and how can we make sense of that?
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Um, it's true that a lot of advisors out there are really focused only on investing and wealth management.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And so in that case, a lot of times they will have um a threshold.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: You have to have a certain amount of money before they'll even have a conversation with you.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: And that does exist out there.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Um, in my model, because financial education is at the forefront, um, we are working with people at all stages.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: And um our focus, my focus is not only on the building wealth and investing piece, but our holistic financial picture.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: So um we use a framework called the seven money milestones, and that does include building wealth and protecting wealth, but it also touches on your cash flow, what's coming in and what's going out, and managing debt and just starting to build up that emergency savings or secure that emergency savings.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: So we're working in all of these different areas, not only investments.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: So if the idea is, well, I don't have any money to invest, there might be other money milestones that are your stage at this time, and that's what we focus on and build a plan around until we can reach those other areas.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Well, and I also think a myth around it is you don't have to have thousands of dollars to invest.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: You could show up and be like, I got 25 bucks, Kristen.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: What should I do with it?
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Absolutely and she can tell you where to start.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: And that 25 bucks can grow into other things, but it doesn't, you don't have to come ready with like a bucket of money and like how do I do this?
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Like there's a lot of people that start off with like five bucks a week and like let it grow instead of getting coffee once a week, they put money into something else.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: And that's I think goes back to the financial literacy component is when you actually see um visual representations like the colorful pictures in our book that show you like um the power of compounding, for example, and even starting with a small amount and growing it, um it it starts to shift the way we think of money in our day-to-day lives.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: So when we go to buy the coffee and it costs 550, can I start to think that well, it's just five fifty, but it's actually not because it's the five fifty plus all of the growth that that five fifty could experience over the future.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Well, and if you're like me and you drink coffee a lot, sometimes it's five fifty times seven for the week.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: No, exactly.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: And like that adds up, or that's five fifty plus the muffin was four dollars.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: So it's like ten or two.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Or someone's with you and you're like, like my daughter or something.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, here's a hot chocolate.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And we always want to be generous, so we buy their coffee too, our guests, whatever.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So all of but it all adds up, and it's so many things where we could go off on a tangent, right?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: All the subscriptions we're paying for, the new clothes we buy, the TikTok shop type, you know, the things.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: The rude awakening I got is when the Starbucks app first came out at the end of the year, it was like, Congratulations, here's your Starbucks report for the year.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: And I go, Why would you send this to anybody?
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Because now I'm like, oh my gosh, I gotta change my coffee intake situation.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: And it really did.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Sorry, Starbucks, your report caused me not to go to you as much because I was like, No, have coffee at home.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: And if you were to send me that Starbucks report, I could run you a report that would tell you how much your Starbucks would have been in 20 years.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: And then I would have cried in a bottle of wine and been like, what did I do?
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: But we can't go back and change the past, but we can change what we do in the future.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, totally.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: And so that's partly what I mean is it it it when it's just this like a kind of vague concept of like, yeah, I should save more money.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, it'd be neat if my money were invested.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: It's yeah, like that's not powerful and it doesn't motivate change.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: But but to me, like that example of let's see how much you spent at Starbucks in a year, and what if that had actually gone into this type of account over here?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Like, if you had seen that number, yes, you might have been mad and you might have cried and had your wine, but it potentially also could have made like a massive shift to what you do.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: And that's this is not just about you.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is just all of us every talking about swiping our cards, you know, just picking up crap all the time, right?
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: So it does happen.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: But when it becomes more like real and concrete like that, and we can put those the that reality in front of our face, because again, good being getting back to my idea of it's not just the numbers, right?
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: But if we could say, okay, in so much time, you know, maybe this amount that we've we've spent that wasn't necessary to spend, if it became twenty thousand dollars, like put into the into focus what that could be.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Twenty thousand dollars, that might be a new car for someone.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that might be toward down payment on their house that they wanted to buy.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, closing.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: That might be the most amazing vacation they've ever taken their whole family on to Europe or something.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: So when we start to like feel what it what that money means, it's not about the numbers or the bottom line of the spreadsheet.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Well, and the reason I brought up my example was to your point where it's like five bucks here, five bucks there.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: You don't think about it when it's just five bucks here, five bucks there.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: But when I saw the over the year report, and I was just like, oh my gosh, it made me sick, actually.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: I was like, that's terrible.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: I could have done, I could have maybe gone to Disney with that money.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Dang it.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, so now here's the the tough question did it shift behavior the next year?
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the next day.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Like because I instantly was like, Well, I do have a curigate.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I could make coffee at home more.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: A lot of it for me was always convenience, like running out the door, grabbing it on the way, kind of a thing.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Or I try to plan more now.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Even still, sometimes I'll notice like when I get really busy, I get coffee on the go a lot more.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: And then that pops into my head, even though that report, I think that was in 2014, something.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: It was a while ago.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: That's a lasting impact right there.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: So, but I will think like I should make a cup of coffee really quick before I leave to take with me, so I'm not even tempted to stop and grab one.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: I am notorious for drinking coffee on my way to coffee.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: So, like, because normally I am on a meeting, like, oh, I'm gonna go meet Kristen for coffee, right?
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: But I still want coffee right now.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: So I'll be drinking coffee and finishing a cup, and then when I get to you, I'm having coffee too.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: But yeah, but I you're affined.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Everyone's like, how do you get everything done?
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Coffee.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: But uh yeah, well, and for me, it's like uh not to like segue on coffee, but it's almost a comfort food.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: It's not even the energy thing, it's like I like how it smells, I like it's warm.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: I like warm coffee.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Not that I'm an iced coffee hater, but I just drink it too quickly, but like I savor warm coffee.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: So well, that's an example though, of something that is meaningful to you.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: And it's not like you said, it's not just about the caffeine.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: There's something about it that is like providing this joy, comfort for you.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: And I think there's a lot of things like that in our lives that any one of us could be like, Well, I can't not buy that, or I can't not spend money on that because you know it has this thing, it's this thing and whatever.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Um, but in most cases, we can maybe find something that can provide that same type of comfort or joy, yeah.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Um, or maybe just uh make it um a more reasonable quantity, right?
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: In fact, um uh one of our partners kind of has a great story about how she would get a latte every single day.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: It might have even been twice a day, I think.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: And anyway, at some point she decided to make a shift to where she gets one, I think it was per month, which might be extreme for some people.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: But what the point I want to make is that she tells a story of how now when she goes to get her Starbucks latte, it is like the best, so special.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it'd be and it really is something that she truly like savors it, enjoys it, and it's this like special treat.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: So that's an example of how we can in various ways find the ability to still glean that joy, that comfort, but make an adjustment in whether it's I do it less frequently, so now it's more special, or is it really more special when I get it at Starbucks than if I made it at my Keurig?
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Or can I find a way to make it special?
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Do I have like a favorite mug that just like makes me so happy to see it and drink out of it, you know?
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: And then you can kind of replace that experience, which is what you're really after.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Um yeah, but keep more of those dollars working for you.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: Well, and one way that I did it with the Starbucks example specifically is when you can preload the app and like pay on your account.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: So I just have a set amount now, and if that amount runs out, unless someone gives me a gift card or something happens.
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: And I mean, every now and then I'll break and be like, but normally, but then I'm at least mindful of it.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: Like I already went through this amount.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: Like, do I really want it that bad or not?
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: So I've given myself you always have the choice, yeah.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: You can still make the choice, but yeah, that bringing that mindfulness to it where you have kind of a threshold is that's really key.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: And I think we can apply that in in many areas of life.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: They do help a lot of folks with a um tool that helps kind of do that across all the elements of spending in your life, even if they don't have an app.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: My ex and I, when we were in college, decided we had this like jar that we would put cash into if we didn't get a drink at dinner.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: Like, and not just alcohol, like because like even today, like if you get a Coke at Red Robin or whatever, it's like $3.99.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: So if he got one and I got one, that's eight bucks, plus you're tipping on it.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: So we would just put instead, we would decide at dinner.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Sometimes we did get the Cokes or the Diet Cokes or the lemonades or the beer, whatever.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: But if we didn't, what we wanted to order, we would put that amount into the jar.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: And we took a vacation every year from that jar, just not getting soda from going out to restaurants.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Powerful.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: Because, like, either we were gonna spend the money, but it was just we turned it into something else.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: And it also gave us a visual like, do we really want a four-dollar soda that bad?
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Like, not really.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Would I rather have the soda or would I rather have this vacation?
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and some days you do want a soda.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: It's always your choice.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: But what I love about that is it really it it reframes the idea of let's say budgeting or you know, saving money totally so instead of being um restrictive and like, oh, I can't get soda.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm on a budget right now.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you it reframes it entirely to this like I'm choosing to forego this soda because of something I want more in the future.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: And we didn't even always know what vacation we were gonna take.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just it turned in, and now you can do it electronically.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: So we had a money jar, you know, because this is 20 years ago, but now you could just put it over into an account easily on a nap where it's like two seconds later.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: No, no, I think that's great.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: And to me, that's sort of a first step or first level of the trade of the um, you know, taking away the uh immediate gratification, right?
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: So instead of soda, we could go on a trip.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, right?
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: But then we can sort of build on that.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: The next level, in my opinion, would be um making the trade from what I want now to financial security in the long term, which is less tangible.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: It's a lot harder in our, you know, our brains aren't really wired for this idea of taking about 30, 40 years from now, and it just feels so far off.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: It almost just feels unreal.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: But that to me is kind of the next level of um that mindset shift, is it's it's not just saving a dollar today so that I can spend it next year, spend it on something better, spend it something different, but it is on taking the dollar that I saved today and turning it into $10 when I'm ready to use it.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: What when you're ready to make a move, make it with someone who knows the market and truly cares about your home journey.
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: I would be honored to help you each step of the way.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: Reach out now and let's start your strategic plan and the next move for you.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: With budgeting, like you said earlier, a lot of times people think of that as a dirty word.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: I think of budgeting sometimes people like even like the word diet, they're like, oh, I'm on a diet.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: I'm on a budget.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: It feels restrictive, feels like punitive.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Can't get what I want, and frankly, we tend to rebel against it.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Well, right, and I'm like, ugh, yeah.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: So um, what advice would you give somebody that to try and help them change their mindset around budget, even if it's changing the word itself, but like looking at it in a different lens?
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for one thing, words are very powerful.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: And so if we already have an association of a budget is like a diet or a budget makes me feel like I'm being controlled, then that'd be the first place is to change that word.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Actually, not the first place.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I think the first place would be backing up and really getting clear on objectives and goals and what is important to you.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Because once we've established kind of what the vision for your future and your lifestyle is, and along with that, building the belief that it is possible.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: You can live that lifestyle.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Once that becomes a part of your framework and your lens, then the idea of budgeting, or we come up with a new name for it, such as maybe like this is my financial strategy, sure.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: This is my uh future planning, you know.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: So we kind of come up with something that's positive and focused on your goals.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Um, but I do think, you know, it's hard to budget if you don't have a reason to do it.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: Like if it's just about, hey, this is how much money I make and it's all mine to spend, why should I do anything different?
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: And it's similar to a diet, frankly.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Like if someone's pretty happy with the way that they look and what they're eating, they're not going to be at all successful on a diet because they don't have any motivation to make a change.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: Well, I think some people even hesitate to take a look at their finances because they don't want to be hit with the accountability of it or um I I run into this even with real estate when I do mentoring and stuff, and they're like, I don't like accountability.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: And you're like, What?
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Like, because I for me, I I love it, I thrive in it, uh, and it works well for me.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: But they're like, do not hold me accountable, I will not succeed.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of people also look at their finances that way.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Like, if I don't know about it, it's not an issue, you know, kind of a thing.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: That's basically the ostrich with its head in the sand.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: No offense.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: But if if you don't look at it, yeah, you don't fail because you never had anything you were aiming for.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And you you in a way you're kind of quietly failing because if no one is holding you accountable, or if you don't even have any goals or specific plans or objectives, then I guess you don't call it failing because you never set anything out there to attain.
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: Well, and you don't have to restrict yourself if you're not looking at it.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: Like, oh, you spend that much on Starbucks.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, so but if you never looked at it, yeah, you're not gonna be able to do it.
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: I mean it's way easier.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: It's way easier and it's more fun to not look at it.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Totally, right?
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: And to just feel like we've got plenty of money.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'm maybe if it's someone could say, like, well, I'm not in debt and I don't spend more than I make, right?
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, what what's the kind of the next level of that?
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, I think the head in the sand approach is uh it it can bite you in the butt later.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: In fact, our the next generation book that I I shared about um the tagline on it is act now or pay later.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: And uh it's kind of like a little play on words from something you've heard before, but I think that's so powerful is like And it's the truth.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: When we think about like, well, I'll I'll figure it out later, I'll think about it when I'm older, or well, when such and such happens, then I'll figure out a plan.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Well, you'll be paying for it, maybe.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Because if you haven't done the things that are smart now, it might not uh have the same outcome.
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: I really appreciate all of your insights on the money stuff.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: I want to shift gears just a little bit because a lot of the our listeners are entrepreneur, business people.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: You've ran multiple business, you're self-employed now as um an advisor.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: What are some tips and tricks that you've learned along the way about being a business owner?
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: Because sometimes it can be a grind, it can be a little bit defeating.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: Like, how have you continued to just pursue and go forward?
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: Oh man, I mean, I love being an entrepreneur because of the flexibility, of course, provided um and being able to kind of choose my own schedule and do work that I'm passionate about on my own terms, right?
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: So I love that.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Hopefully, business owners out there are feeling the same.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: But as you said, yeah, sometimes it can feel like a grind.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: Um I think that you know, working with other professionals, uh like business coaches or advisors who can help like shed that outside perspective, it's very similar to you know what I do for people on their personal finances.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: It's like, can someone help?
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: If you're feeling like it feels like a hamster wheel or like, ah, I'm doing I'm working so hard.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: And then life isn't really meant to be that way.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: So is there maybe some outside perspective or guidance that could be garnered for someone who's feeling like I am just like busting it every single day, but I'm not seeing the results or the growth I want.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: Um those are some some things I guess.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: And then another piece that kind of ties into what we've already been talking about, I find oftentimes with entrepreneurs in particular, it's it's it's a common um issue, but I think particularly with business owners, there's a tendency to put all of our uh energy and thought into our business and kind of neglect personal finance.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: And again, it becomes this like, well, once my business is more successful or if I'm making this certain amount of money, then I'll figure out how to save and invest or whatnot.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Um but because time is our best friend when it comes to money or our worst enemy if we totally let it pass us by.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: Um what I I think that paying attention to personal finance, even alongside growing a business, is really important.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: Well, and I think sometimes with entrepreneurs, I know a lot of realtors that do this where it's all together in one account.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: And so they're paying for business things that are their personal account because they're a solo proprietor and so they're just a solopreneur, um, and they just don't know any different, or they think like, oh, well, once I'm making this, then I'll get my LC, then I'll get a business account.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: So to your point, it's kind of like already setting it up in a certain system.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: I think that maybe helps with the mentality too, yeah, of like treating your business the way it deserves to be treated as a business.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Um so I think yeah, there's a lot of opportunity there for people to have conversations with again, maybe a professional who can help guide on those things.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: And again, you just don't know what you don't know.
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: So like having a conversation, it doesn't have to be intimidating, as you've seen today or heard today, too.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: Like it's really easy to just have the conversation.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: Um, and it you don't even have to your first conversation doesn't solely have to be about your finances, it could just be a get to know you, what are your goals, what are you talking like, what are you trying to reach or accomplish?
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: Like it could be like surface level before you get into the weeds of everything.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: Well, it's very important if you're going to work with a financial guide to find someone who you really feel comfortable with that you trust.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: Um, and it should should feel aligned for you.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: So I would say uh whoever a person chooses to work with, or maybe interviewing multiple people to sit down, have those conversations before you lay out all your statements, you know, to get to know the person and feel like, is this someone I feel like not only I want to work with today, but I think I could grow with and continue to have this relationship for the rest of my life.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: You know, that's my objective with the folks I work with, is it's not like we have this meeting and then I send them on their way.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: But we become partners, you know.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: Like I want to be a partner in your financial life so that as life changes and things happen or or grow, that I'm right there to help guide and adjust and shift along the way.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Um so I think that's an important piece.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: And then, like you said, where the first conversation is not like we're gonna sit down and be like, tell me how much money you make, yeah, or like or how much you spent, or exactly that kind of stuff, right?
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Um for one thing, I'll say, you know, I have made my own financial mistakes through my life.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: And so there's I'm not coming from a place of high and mighty and judgmental.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like it truly is a conversation of two normal humans who have made mistakes, maybe, or have more to learn still.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: I still have more to learn.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: I'm on a constant educational growth path with finances.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: So those first conversations really are about connection and learning about each other and communication styles and all of that.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: Um, and then it's really like when when I would have permission to ask those questions is when we might do that.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: And we're not gonna dive into it until everyone's feeling comfortable, like excited and like really ready to roll.
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: Totally.
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: Can you help people outside of the state of Oregon?
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: Or are you just an Oregon?
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: Like, can people reach out to you from all over?
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, all over the country.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: I have clients in many different states.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: So um, I do have the ability to help people wherever they're living, and of course, working virtually these days and makes that really easy.
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: And yeah, you can still build the relationship over Zoom and things like that.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: How should someone try to get in touch with you if they wanted to reach out and ask for guidance or engage with you?
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm always happy to receive emails or phone calls.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: Um, so I don't know if do you provide my contact information?
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: I can provide it, but you can also say it if you want, or if there's a website they can go to to get it.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Um, well, I I like my link tree.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: If you're familiar with LinkTree, it's uh linktr.e forward slash Kristen Winter, my name.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: K-R-I-S-T-E-N W-I-N-T-E-R.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: It has all my socials and it has my email, my phone number.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: Um, all of that's kind of in one place.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Perfect.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: Emailing me is also easy.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Kristen.winter at wealthwave.com.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: Cool.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Kristen.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you being here.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: It's always good to see you.
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: Love your years.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: Thanks.
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening and tuning in, and I can't wait to see you next week.
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: Cheers.