Money Memories

Amir Hemmat is the co-founder and CEO of Welcome Technologies. Welcome Tech is the “digital Ellis Island” and future global platform for immigration. It is currently focused on the U.S. Latinx community, the largest immigrant community in the world. Amir shares how his parents’ immigrant experience influenced his relationship with money, and how overcoming cancer shifted his perspectives.

Bonus: with Memorial Day weekend around the corner, I asked you to share your vacation budgets in this week’s listener submissions.

A conversation with the founder and CEO of Payslip, Fidelma McGuirk. Payslip offers its customers real-time visibility and control of payroll processes, something unheard of in an industry that is typically siloed and non-customizable. Fidelma talks about how growing up in Ireland shaped her work ethic, and how she balances financial wellness with mental wellness.

Jonathan Verhaeghe, better known as "Joney Talks," is a Belgian personal finance content creator. After spending a year living in France on his company's dime, he realized that there was more that he could be doing with his money, but wasn't sure where to start. This prompted him to start documenting his personal finance journey, which he now shares via his podcast and blog.

We talk about the differences Jon has observed between Europeans and Americans when it comes to money, and the irony of being a finance major who can do options math, but not budget.

Austin Allison is the co-founder of the disruptive real estate startup Pacaso, which recently became the fastest company to ever reach unicorn status, or a $1 billion valuation. I recently featured Pacaso in a Forbes piece published on April 1st, where I highlighted the company’s unique value proposition, which centers around letting individuals own fractional shares of luxury second homes. Austin shares how buying his first home at the age of 17 sparked his passion for real estate, and the surprising start to his entrepreneurial journey (hint: it has to do with birds).

Also, I asked you to take a walk down memory lane with me and share your first ever job and salary. A few of your submissions are highlighted in the show.

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week spotlighted a company named SilviaTerra — they use satellite imagery and AI to run a marketplace that values every acre of forest for timber, carbon, wildlife habitat, and other types of natural capital.

To Money Memories listeners, this might have seemed familiar! We spoke with one of SilviaTerra's founders, Max Nova, last summer. Here's a look back at our conversation about what lessons Max has learned from Mr. Money Moustache, and why he considers himself a risk-averse entrepreneur.

This episode features Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, the co-founders of Esusu, a fintech platform that leverages data to bridge the racial wealth gap. Today, more than 7 million Americans are unbanked, and more than 20 million are credit invisible, meaning they lack credit history with one of the 3 credit reporting agencies. Esusu helps individuals build credit by allowing them to report their rent payments to these agencies. We talk about how Abbey and Samir’s shared immigrant experiences had a profound effect on their understanding of wealth and equality, and the challenges of building a product that most VCs don’t have first hand experience with.

Everyday Finance Gal is a personal finance influencer who is on a mission to help individuals build generational wealth. She discusses what her earliest money memory of translating for her immigrant parents taught her, and how she learned to overcome scarcity mentality to master investing. Plus, this week's listener-submitted money memory shares lessons learned along a paper route.

Devon Melanson is a Canadian-based mortgage agent. When he's not busy helping people make their homeownership dreams come true, he runs an educational Instagram platform called @melansonmortgages. He shares how his parents instilled the importance of maintaining good credit early on, and how to practice good financial planning habits while working in a commission-based industry like real estate.

Also, we feature a listener money memory submission that reminds us of the importance of always living below your means.

Rita Soledad is the founder and creator of the personal finance platform "Wealth Para Todos" and has been featured in Time's NextAdvisor series. She shares how growing up in the Latino community in southern California shaped her perspective, and how her debt payoff journey taught her to challenge her preconceived assumptions around money. Rita also discusses the emotional impact of poverty on our relationship to money, and why personal finance doesn't have to be hella pale, or hella male.