Unleash Your True Value®

Growing up, I was taught that “A Spouse Comes with a House.” Not a very feminist notion, but one that was woven into the fabric of our societal beliefs about money and home ownership.

In this NPR, Nothing Funny About Money segment, I bust open the myth, “A Spouse Comes with a House,” and discuss some interesting statistics, including the fact that 24% of homebuyers in the United States are single and 17% of these homebuyers are single women.

Why is it that more than twice as many single women are purchasing a home compared to single men? Tune in and find out.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Patti Black, CFP®, Bridgeworth, LLC, Partner https://bridgeworthfinancial.com/

Are you looking forward to the day you retire and sail off into the horizon without any cares? Did you know that planning for the non-financial side of retirement is just as important as the financial side? Patti and Kathleen talk about how to determine your retirement vision and how doing so along with number crunching is vital to when preparing for this next phase of life.

 Key Take-Aways: 

Don’t just focus on the day you are to retire. You actually need to think about what life is going to be like the days after you retire. For example, what are you going to be doing on the first Monday of your retirement? Better yet – what are you going to be doing six months into your retirement?

Spend time working on your health and relationships. These are two things that everyone can work on. Take care of yourself now, so you can enjoy your retirement fully. Also, spend time creating and maintaining friendships as social interactions are a key to well-being as you age. If you are married, have conversations with your spouse about your expectations for your social life when one or both of you decide to retire.

Decide on your purpose in retirement. Ask yourself, are you retiring from something or to something? If you find your answer too big, then break it into smaller steps. Determine what you are excited to do and how this will make you feel a sense of purpose when you no longer have your career as your identity.

Patti Black has more than 20 years of experience helping affluent clients align their goals and their money. This work is especially important in times of transition such as starting a family, sending children to college, changing jobs, or retiring. For more information, visit https://bridgeworthfinancial.com/

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Paulette Perhach, Author, Host of Can We Talk About Money podcast

Why bother saving money because you’ll either just spend it or give it away. Kathleen and Paulette discuss this myth and the psychology behind saving money and roadblocks to being financially healthy.

Key Take-Aways:

Understand your money history. Understanding your money history is crucial to understanding your mindset about money, savings, spending, and investing. It is the first step toward changing an unhealthy financial habit.

Be compassionate to yourself. Knowing who you are and how you relate to money can help you deal with feelings about wealth and ambivalence about taking financial responsibility. Compassion is key in removing money shame and being more at peace with your finances.

Find accountability partners. Make yourself accountable to your financial goals by finding an accountability partner (could be friends, family, or an advisor). We all struggle from time to time and need support.

Paulette Perhach’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Vice, ELLE, Slate, Cosmopolitan, and Marie Claire. She was honored as one of the 2016 BlogHer Voices of the Year award for her essay, “Fuck Off Fund,” which has been included in several anthologies. Her book, Welcome to the Writer's Life, is out now from Sasquatch Books, part of the Penguin Random House family of publishers. She lives in Seattle, where she writes from a tiny place and tries to keep her bank account positive.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

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Lisa Zeiderman, Managing Partner, Miller Zeiderman & Wiederkehr, LLP

https://mzwnylaw.com/

Lisa and Kathleen delve into the myth that as a stay-at-home parent, you don’t have to worry about finances. Getting married can offer many benefits, including financial ones. It can also bring some devastating financial consequences. Couples who don’t talk about money before they get married might find themselves in a situation where they feel they are shouldering more of the financial burden than their partner. Having these hard conversations before getting married sets financial expectations from the beginning, helps build trust, and reduces financial conflict.

Key Take Aways:

Believe and understand marriage is a financial partnership. Once you understand your marriage is a financial partnership, each partner has the ability to negotiate a better outcome for themselves, if things start to fall apart. Negotiations can be done before or during marriage with pre- or post-nuptials. Honesty and understanding finances actually build a stronger relationship.

Understand your finances and budget. If you are in the process of getting a divorce, it’s important to understand your finances. This includes expenses and all sources of income – salaries, child support, alimony, etc. Once you know this information, you will know what your expenses are and how much income you will need to meet those expenses.

Identify all of your assets. Another important step in the divorce process is to identify your assets. This can be harder to do if you aren’t involved in financial decisions. Working with professionals can ease the difficulty in locating assets – both personal and business for either stay-at-home moms or dads to help them understand what their whole financial picture actually is.

Lisa Zeiderman, a Managing Partner of the law firm of Miller Zeiderman & Wiederkehr, LLP, is both a matrimonial attorney, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and a Certified Financial Litigator. It was during her own divorce that Lisa’s path to a career in matrimonial law was forged. Lisa, a businesswoman in the fashion industry, was dismayed at being a bystander in court as complex issues relating to her finances were contested by a disorganized attorney. It was then she decided that she would go to law school herself and help clients navigate the stressful, and sometimes traumatic, process of divorce by becoming a responsive attorney who would protect her clients’ assets as though they were her own hard-earned dollars. Lisa can be reached at [email protected] for more information about her firm’s services.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

We all know estate planning is an important part of being financially responsible and leaving things in order for our family so they don’t have to worry about when we die. But, did you know that estate planning for our pets (or our furry kids) is equally important?

Did you know:

68% of the households in the United States have at least one pet.

Less than 40% of dog and cat owners have named a pet caretaker upon their death.

Only 12% of dog and cat owners have made financial provisions for their pets in their will.

According to the legal world, pets are property, so they can’t inherit money, but you can assign a guardian and set aside funds to cover the cost of their care after your death.

In this Nothing Funny About Money segment, I talk about the importance of estate planning for our pets and offer some tips on how to break money silence and get the conversation started with friends and family about taking care of our furry kids.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Stacy LeBaron, Host of Community Cats Podcast

At a young age, Stacy’s mother taught her to invest, and the money she made from her portfolio allowed her to pursue her passion for rescuing animals. In this episode, Kathleen interviews Stacy about her belief that parents should empower their children from a young age to invest in the stock market and how it is inevitable that your kids (or the next generation) will control your finances as you age.

Key Take Aways:

Women are great financial role models. Stacy’s grandmother and mother were skilled investors and passed this talent down to her. Learn how Stacy plans to pay this gift forward.

Allow teenagers to practice investing. Many experts encourage parents to wait until their children are in their mid-twenties to discuss their inheritance. Stacy thinks this is a big mistake and wants parents to know that practicing these money skills is important while the kids are still live under your roof.

Stay open to ongoing money conversations. Stacy grew up in a family that broke money silence early and often. She shares how she has money conversations with her children and how even when it gets a tad uncomfortable she thinks it is for the best.

Stacy LeBaron has been involved in animal welfare for over 20 years. She currently hosts a three-day-a-week podcast called the Community Cats Podcast  where she interviews nationally and internationally renowned experts helping with the problem of cat overpopulation and cat welfare. Previous to starting the podcast, Stacy served for 16 years as the President of the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society and under her leadership, the organization assisted over 105,000 cats and kittens through a variety of innovative programs.

An expert in her field, Stacy is a current member of the Shelter Medicine Committee at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Advisor to the Massachusetts Animal Coalition, Vice President of the Board for PAWSitive Pantry in Vermont, and committee member for HubCats Chelsea. She serves as the current administrative trustee for the LeBaron Foundation and now lives in Vermont with her husband, son, daughter and two cats.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Steve Lockshin, Founder and Principal of AdvicePeriod

Will robo-advisors replace human advisors? Find out one thought leader’s opinion in this episode. Listen in as Kathleen interviews Steve about his work at AdvicePeriod and his view of how advisors need to embrace change to best serve their clients.

Key Take Aways:

Technology helps advisors better serve you. If you are a do-it-yourselfer now, then you probably will embrace robo-advisors. However, if you prefer to meet with an advisor in person, this technology will only enhance your advisor’s customer service.

Women tend to be more receptive to changes in client service models. Steve notices a difference in how women versus men think about robo-advisors. In general, his research shows that women tend to be more receptive to this type of change in the industry and like the simplicity of the technological offerings.

Talk to your advisor about how technology can help you achieve your financial goals. Are you still unsure about robo-advisor offerings? Then talk with your financial services professional about when, where, and how to incorporate this technology into your relationship.

Steve Lockshin is a Founder and Principal of AdvicePeriod and the author of Get Wise to Your Advisor. His firm’s mission is to reinvent wealth management and improve the advisors’ and clients’ experiences. Steve has won numerous awards in the industry and has been ranked #1 by Barron’s numerous times. He helped pioneer the independent advisory industry, building one of the largest independent RIAs in the nation, which was acquired by City National Bank in 2007. In 2018, AdvicePeriod was named one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Michael Thompson, CAP®, Copper Leaf Financial LLC 

Is being philanthropic one of your life’s goals but you believe you have to be wealthy or have lots of extra cash lying around? There are many ways to be philanthropic for the charities or organizations you want to support and it doesn’t always mean having an open checkbook. Kathleen and Michael bust the myth that philanthropy is not just for the super wealthy. Sit back and listen to an enlightening conversation about how you can be involved in social causes without giving away all of your hard-earned dollars.

Key Take Aways:

Do not let the new tax laws influence your generosity. The new tax laws around charitable giving may make gifting seem less attractive. Michael encourages you to continue to follow your passion and talk to an advisor about how to still get a tax benefit for your good work and contributions.

Talk to your advisor and family about your values. Philanthropy begins with identifying your values, then investing and gifting using these as a guide. Break money silence with partner and family by discussing how you would like to use your money to better the world.

Be intentional and strategic with your giving. Work with an advisor to develop a plan for creatively and strategically making your financial donations has the greatest impact – for you and for the organizations you support.

Michael Thompson is a financial planner with 18 years of experience in the finance industry. He works extensively in financial planning, wealth management and philanthropic planning for retirees, executives, and entrepreneurs. Michael is also an entrepreneur, experiencing success when he founded an organic food distribution company while attending the University of Florida. He remains passionate about small business and sustainable food systems and currently serves on the board of directors of Burlington’s Intervale Center. Michael and his wife live on a farm in Jericho, Vermont.

 

Special Announcement: Michael and his team offer a complimentary introduction call to see if they are a good fit for you and your family.

Breaking Money Silence® Podcast was recorded at Sugarhouse Soundworks, LLC

Crystal Arnold, Founder, Money-Morphosis and Money-Wise Women Podcast 

Shame, guilt, and fear are the three strongest influences that stop people from talking about money. Listen to Kathleen’s interview with Crystal Arnold about the emotional side of money and learn some ways to get past the emotion and the influence of mainstream media to start money conversations with loved ones and become a more engaged, holistic consumer.

Key Take Aways:

Increase your financial awareness. Ways to be a rational consumer include doing a budget, checking prices, and doing comparison shopping.

Become self-aware. Looking beneath the rational mind and examining your learned money messages and what motivates you to spend or save can help you make more empowered financial decisions.

Assess your values. Crystal identifies four areas of wealth – financial, inner wealth (gifts and skills), relational or relationship, and environmental (home and work). Assess your values and then take some of your financial resources and invest in all of your areas of wealth.

Crystal Arnold is the founder of Money-Morphosis and the Money-Wise Women podcast. After graduating from Southern Oregon University in 2007 with a degree in international economics, she has designed and facilitated workshops, community events, and discussion panels about money. She has inspired thousands of people to have a healthier relationship with money. Her written work has appeared in journals, magazines, and the book called Reinhabiting the Village. She is currently Director of Education at the Post Growth Institute, servers on the Economics Guild of the Villagelab, and is co-authoring a new book due out soon. Crystal lives in Oregon with her husband and two children.

Special Announcement: Breaking Money Silence® listeners can sign up for her The Discover Your True Wealth 5-Day Challenge. For more details, visit www.discoveryourtruewealth.com.