You said yes before you even checked. You know you want to go. You know you'll figure it out. But somewhere in the back of your head, there's this low hum of uncertainty that follows you the whole time — and it takes the edge off the fun.
A few weeks ago, a friend texted me about a beach trip for the Fourth of July. It was an immediate yes. No hesitation. But before I sent that confirmation text, I asked for a few days to look at the numbers.
In this episode, I breaks down exactly what happened when I sat down to do that money check-in, what I found, what I adjusted, and why my husband didn't quite get it at first. I also explains the difference between asking "can we afford this?" and asking "how are we going to cash flow this and still hit our wealth goals?" — because those are two very different questions, and only one of them actually builds wealth.
You'll learn:
✅ Why "can we afford it" is not the right benchmark if you are serious about building wealth
✅ What it actually looks like to cash flow a fun expense without derailing your goals
✅ Why a 20 to 30 minute money check-in, asking yourself the right questions, before a big decision can give you total peace for the whole trip
✅ How to give every version of yourself — present you, future you, mom you, wealth-building you — a seat at the table
If you are the person who always figures it out later but never quite feels settled about it, this episode is going to hit home. The goal is not just to afford the trip. The goal is to enjoy it fully, knowing your numbers are already handled.
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

You check your bank account, the number looks okay, and you feel like you are probably fine. So you spend. Or you think you can save a little this month because things have been pretty good. And then somehow, at the end of the month, you are sitting there wondering where all your money went. If that cycle sounds familiar, this episode is for you.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down three money decision-making patterns that feel completely right in the moment but are actually keeping you stuck. It's not that you're being irresponsible or undisciplined. But that you might be making money decisions without the right information, and your brain is doing exactly what it was built to do: help you survive. But what if the goal isn't survive...but build wealth?
In this episode, you will learn:
✅ Why checking your account balance feels helpful but is actually giving you a false sense of financial security
✅ What energetic minimums and maximums are and how they are silently running your money decisions
✅ Why saving only when it feels like you have enough will never build consistent wealth
✅ What a real money system looks like and how automation removes the mental load and helps you build wealth with every paycheck
If you are making more than you ever have and still feel like nothing is sticking, this episode will show you why, and what to do about it.
Let's connect:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

You have a 401k through your job and you keep hearing that you also need a Roth IRA. But no one ever sat you down and explained how these accounts actually work together, what the difference really is, or whether you even need both. So you are out here doing your best, hoping it all adds up one day, and trying not to feel behind.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down the 401k and the Roth IRA in a way that actually makes sense, starting with what these accounts really are, how they are different, and how they can work together to build your retirement.
In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ What a 401k and a Roth IRA actually are and how to think about them as tools, not just accounts
✅ The key tax difference between both accounts and why having both gives you more flexibility when you retire
✅ When it makes sense to focus on just your 401k and when it is time to open a Roth IRA
✅ How to shift from hoping your retirement works out to actually knowing it will
If you are ready to stop guessing and start building a retirement strategy that is specific to your goals and your life, this episode is your starting point.
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Have you ever gotten a raise and immediately thought, I am going to get fired? Have you ever avoided looking at your debt because something about that number feels like it says something about who you are? If you are first-gen, you probably were not taught how to build wealth. You were taught how to survive with money. And there is a big difference.
In this episode, I sit down with a career coach Evie Prete who has been in the trenches of this work for years, helping first gen Latinas/WOC stop undervaluing themselves, start asking for what they are actually worth, and build the kind of identity that can hold more money without self-sabotaging it away. We get real about our own stories, and what it actually took to go from knowing we needed to do something different with money to actually doing it.
This episode is for you if you have ever felt like asking for more was ungrateful, if you have ever taken a job offer at the bottom of the salary band when you deserved to be at the top, or if you have ever wondered why building wealth feels so hard even when you know all the right steps.
You'll learn:
✨ Why survival money advice keeps you in protection mode and how to start shifting toward a wealth-building mindset
✨ How your nervous system responds to debt, salary negotiations, and financial wins, and why getting neutral matters before the strategy does
✨ How visualization and journaling help your body get familiar with a version of your life it has never lived before, so you can actually receive it when it arrives
✨ Why detaching from the outcome of a negotiation is not about not wanting it, it is about showing up from your value instead of your fear
This conversation is the one you did not know you needed. It is honest, it is warm, and it is going to give you a lot to think about, journal on, and move through.

Connect with Evie:

Salary Negotiation Checklist

Pagame Podcast
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

You are saving every month. But somehow it still feels like you are not really getting anywhere, and you are not sure what you are missing.
If you grew up with the message that saving money was the goal, you probably nailed it. You figured out how to put money aside. You built up your savings. And now you are wondering why it does not feel like wealth.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down the difference between saving money and being strategic with your money. She shares why the blanket advice most of us grew up with, save your money, was a starting point and not a destination. She walks through how to start thinking about money as a resource you can direct toward specific outcomes, how to use every paycheck to get closer to real goals, and why building the skill and identity of a wealth builder matters more right now than the exact amount you are working with.
You'll learn:
✅ Why saving alone will never build wealth and what to do instead
✅ How to treat your money as a resource that creates specific outcomes
✅ The formula Andrea uses to reverse-engineer financial goals by timeline
✅ How to stop feeling powerless with money and start feeling like a creator of your own outcomes
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

If you became a stay-at-home mom and quietly started feeling like you need to ask permission to spend money, or like finances are his territory because he's the one bringing home the check, this episode is for you.
Right after my daughter was born, I found herself seriously considering stepping away from work. I sat with the idea, ran through the logistics, thought about what her finances would look like, and had to confront what it would actually feel like to no longer have her own income coming in. I ended up going back to work, but everything I had to think through in that season became the foundation for this episode.
Before anything tactical, I start with the mindset that every stay-at-home mom needs to fully step into. You are an asset. Not just emotionally, not just as a caregiver, but economically. The childcare you provide, the household you run, the space you create for your partner to grow their career, all of it has real financial value. And when you understand that, it changes how you show up in money conversations.
In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ How to understand the movement of money in your household, what comes in, what goes out, where the extra is going, and where all your accounts live
✅ Why having money going into accounts in your name, a personal spending account, a personal savings account, and a spousal IRA, is about autonomy and protection, not distrust
✅ Why losing years of retirement contributions matters and how a spousal IRA keeps your financial future growing even when you are not on a payroll
✅ How term life insurance and long-term disability insurance protect your household when one partner is the sole income earner
✅ How to set clear household boundaries so you are not the default for everything, all the time, without support
This is the episode I wish someone would have handed me when I was four months postpartum, sitting with a decision that a lot of women face and not many people talk about financially. Whether you are already a stay-at-home mom, considering it, or partnered with someone who is, this one is worth a listen
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

You have been paying your bills on time. You have a savings account. You are not struggling in the way you grew up watching your parents struggle.
But you still get to the end of every paycheck and think — where did it all go?
And if that question makes you feel a little ashamed, a little stuck, or just tired of not knowing — this episode is for you.
I am sitting down with Janely, a 1:1 client who just wrapped up her 12-week 1:1 money coaching journey.
She will share how she went from feeling like she was spinning her wheels to growing her net worth by nearly $26,000 by paying off $10,000 in credit card debt and growing her savings from the ground up to almost $8,000.
We also talk about how coaching changed the money conversations she was having with her husband, why she describes the experience as therapy for your money, and what she would tell anyone who is on the fence about making that investment in themselves.
In this episode, you will learn:
✅ Why a good income does not automatically equal financial security or direction
✅ How an automated money system replaced budgeting and actually stuck & become sustainable
✅ What it looks like to build savings, pay off debt, and invest all at the same time
✅ How Janely set up investing accounts for her kids starting from scratch
✅ How her money conversations with her husband completely evolved over 1:1 money coaching
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Have you ever heard the words index fund, mutual fund, or ETF and nodded along like you knew what they meant even though you don't fully understand? You are not alone, and this episode is here to change that.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down three of the most important investing products you need to know: index funds, mutual funds, and ETFs. She starts from the very beginning — what a stock is, what a bond is, and why buying individual stocks is riskier and more complicated than most people realize.

And then, walks you through what funds actually are, why they exist, and how they make investing simpler, more diversified, and more accessible for everyday investors who are not sitting at a computer researching companies all day.
You will learn the key difference between a mutual fund and an index fund, including why the fees you pay matter more than you think. You'll also understand what an ETF is, how it is different from the other two, and why it can be a smarter choice inside a taxable brokerage account.

Andrea also shares her own investing journey, and reminds you that starting imperfectly is still the first step. You will walk away knowing how to think through which fund belongs in which type of account and how to build a strategy that runs on autopilot so you can stop stressing and start living.
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
The difference between a mutual fund and an index fund, including how fees play a role

What an ETF is and how it is bought and sold differently than mutual funds and index funds

Why ETFs can be more tax efficient and when to use them strategically

Why starting before you have the perfect strategy is always better than waiting

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: ⁠www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching⁠

If you have ever felt like money is something you are just trying to survive rather than something you actually own, this episode is going to feel like a breath of fresh air.
Today I am sitting down with my client Ariana for a real check-in conversation, about a month after she finished her 1:1 Money Coaching program.

Ariana came to me in June of 2024 as a freelancer and independent contractor dealing with inconsistent income, a blurry picture of her spending, and a Fidelity account with thousands of dollars sitting untouched for almost two years. She knew something needed to change, but she did not know where to start.
What she shares in this episode is honest, real, and the kind of story that plants a seed. Because if you have ever thought this might work for other people but probably not for me, hearing where Ariana started and where she is now might just change your mind.
You'll learn:

✅ What it actually looks like to build a money system around freelance and contractor income when your paychecks are inconsistent and unpredictable

✅ How Ariana went from financial avoidance and a survival mindset to checking in on her money every week and feeling genuinely empowered by what she sees

✅ Why Ariana had thousands of dollars sitting in her brokerage account for nearly two years without investing a single dollar, and what finally helped her move past the intimidation

This episode is a reminder that the money journey is not about being perfect. It is about building a system, shifting your mindset, and giving yourself the space to actually learn.
@arianabautista_

Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Register for my free training here: https://www.bgwprograms.com/any-economy

You know you should be doing more with your money. You have savings sitting somewhere, maybe in a Chase or Wells Fargo account earning practically nothing, and you keep hearing about investing but you are not sure if you are ready, or where your money should even go.
In this episode, I am breaking down the difference between a high yield savings account and a taxable brokerage account. Not just what they are, but when to use each one, how much to keep in each, and how to think about your money in a way that actually makes sense for where you are right now.
You'll learn:
✅ What a high yield savings account is and why it earns significantly more than a traditional bank savings account

✅ What to keep in your high yield savings account

✅ What a taxable brokerage account is and how it can grow your money outside of retirement accounts

✅ How to use timeline sensitivity to figure out exactly where your money belongs right now

If you are ready to stop letting your money sit and start building a real strategy, this episode is your starting point.

Let's connect:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching