Work Your Wealth Podcast

One of the fun parts of being a financial planner is getting to discuss some of the money moves we've made in our household knowing clients and readers are going through similar things. In these Work Your Wealth episodes I'll be taking time to address how we approached the different money situations and the results of our decisions. Today I'm talking about the amazing and positive impact gratitude can have on your finances.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How to have a more fulfilling life through gratitude
• The way gratitude can positively effect your own finances
• What gratitude can prevent in your financial life
• Things to be cautious of that can bust your budget
• When we feel like we have less than what we need, we tend to do this
• How gratitude can help you curb your impulse spending
• Where being grateful for what you currently have can lead you
• When was the last time you made a financial decision because you were afraid/frustrated with your current situation
• How chasing dollars can impact your life in other areas
• Finding the balance between life fulfillment and needing more stuff
• How to approach a new financial opportunity to maximize the impact it will have
• The dangers of making financial decisions out of fear
• How to find fulfillment and growth in your finances
• Understanding if your spending is in line with your values
• The effects gratitude can have on your emotional, mental and physical health
• The snowball effect of gratitude and giving
• The positive effects of approaching life with abundance
• The best way to avoid making financial decisions out of fear
• A way to approach financial decisions when you desire to help others
• Do this to create a gratitude focused financial plan
• The number of Americans stressed out about money regardless of income level
• The importance of reflection on the gratitude that you feel
• The impact an attitude of gratitude will have on your finances

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• Abacus Wealth Partners
• Mary Beth

LET'S CONNECT!

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Are You Better or Worse off Financially This Year?

One of the fun parts of being a financial planner is getting to discuss some of the money moves we've made in our household knowing clients and readers are going through similar things. In these Work Your Wealth episodes I'll be taking time to address how we approached the different money situations and the results of our decisions. Today I'm talking about some ways to evaluate how your financial health measures up to where it was a year ago.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why the end of the year is my favorite time of year for clients
• Questions I get all the time as the year is closing out
• A way to gauge if you are better or worse off financially this year
• First step in measuring your financial progress
• The measurement to use when evaluating your financial health
• How to calculate your net worth
• A good way to evaluate your debt situation for the year
• The check you should be doing on your debt every January
• Why you should review your spending throughout the year
• How your savings goals play into your financial health
• Different savings vehicles you can utilize to grow your net worth
• A few things you should consider when talking about your retirement savings
• The role a change in income can play in figuring out if you're financially better off this year
• How "lifestyle creep" could potentially hurt your financial health
• Here's why employer benefits must be evaluated too each year
• Do you have the right insurance policies in place
• 6 questions you can ask yourself about your financial health

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• Abacus Wealth Partners
• Mary Beth

LET'S CONNECT!

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

This week I sat down fellow financial planner and Abacus financial advisor Emily Benedetto to talk about decisions millennials make around their money.

Though she has always had a penchant for numbers, she took a bit of an interesting route to becoming a CFP but now loves every minute of it. If she had her druthers she'd be living on a farm and working as a farmer/financial planner. She's married, has 5 siblings, love reading, horses, and helping folks systematize their money lives.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How Emily got into financial planning and what convinced her to become a CFP®
• The inner discovery she made by deciding to work at Abacus Wealth Partners
• When your inner voice tells you "You can't" how to get to "You can!"
• Why it's important to face the things you are afraid of
• Emily's timeline of getting to Abacus
• How money relationships can evolve overtime
• The importance of taking control of your finances
• Two different approaches to managing savings goals
• Which archetype category do you fall into?
• The impact that is made going from a saver to an investor
• Emily's other passion besides financial planning
• Future savings bucket to consider as you grow in your career

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• TD Ameritrade
• com
• Financial archetype quiz (on Abacus website)
• Saving vs Investing WW blog post

GET SOCIAL WITH EMILY AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• Emily's e-mail

This week I sat down Angela Greaser to talk what it's like running a business with your significant other.

Angela is a strategic operations consultant and co-founder of All The Ops. Led by Angela and her husband Dan, All The Ops helps business owners structure efficient teams and systems to skyrocket their profitability and claim their CEO seat.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How Angela and her husband decided to go into business together
• Deciding what role each spouse plays in the business
• The benefits of understanding each spouse's business strengths and weaknesses
• The two reasons why Angela and her husband chose to have a business together
• The goods and bads of having your significant other as your business partner
• How communication can make or break spouses in business together
• Why being flexible has to be a part of the framework
• How to align your life and business goals
• The importance of being intentional in your business
• The risks involved with going into business with your significant other
• Why you should have an exit strategy if the initial plan doesn't work out
• Three questions Angela and her husband asked to see if their business together would be sustainable

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• OKR Planning Method

GET SOCIAL WITH ANGELA AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• All the Ops website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Angela's e-mail

This week I sat down again with Ariel Ward, CFP® to talk about things to think about before buying a home.

Ariel Ward, CFP® joined Workable Wealth in 2018 as a Financial Planner and in March of this year, made the move to Abacus Wealth Partners with me as a Financial Planner. She and I work closely together on our clients. She has 11 years of experience in the field of personal financial services and in helping clients develop financial clarity. She is passionate about helping professionals understand their financial lives and make better decisions with their money. Ariel is married to a pilot and spends as much time as possible exploring the US with her husband and 2 children. She enjoys working with clients in the aviation industry to make the most of their employee benefits and map out a plan for personal financial strength. She is a member of NAPFA, the XY Planning Network and the Financial Planners Association.

Ariel works virtually out of Charlotte, NC. She enjoys North Carolina's mountains, beaches and everything in between. In her free time you can catch her walking to one of Charlotte's excellent breweries, playing Scrabble or building Lego houses with her kids.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why people have hesitation around investing
• Some fears people relate investing to
• Why you shouldn't use the news as a guide for to invest
• Translating the market changes to your investments
• How risk tolerance and asset allocation play into your investment portfolio
• Questions to ask yourself when considering different investment vehicles
• The trend of the market over a long period of time
• Investment vehicles for different levels of risk and what that means for your money
• The good and bad of taking on more risk in your investments
• Why you should understand the emotional aspect of investing
• How a financial planner can help you navigate your capacity for risk
• Should you invest when the markets are high?
• How to utilize dollar cost averaging to support your emotional side of investing
• What is meant when talking about "investing"

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• Dow Jones Industrial Average
• S&P 500
• MSCI
• Russell 2000

GET SOCIAL WITH ARIEL AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• Workable Wealth Website
• Ariel's e-mail
• Instagram

This week I sat down business coach, writer, designer and pocaster Ilana Burk to talk about tiny living and how this style of living could affect your finances.

Illana helps people find and create thriving livelihoods centered around their life's work. She's host of the Good Business Podcast and owner of Your Life's Workshop. With an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise and nearly 20 years of experience working with small business owners, Illana takes a fiercely rebellious and wildly ethical approach to making money.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• What is tiny living and what it entails
• The three sub communities of tiny living
• What it's like going from 2200 square feet of living down to 160 square feet
• How to do tiny living with a toddler
• One of the biggest reasons behind doing tiny living
• How long Ilana and her family expect to continue doing family living
• A few of the pros and cons of tiny living
• Unexpected challenges that come up that you might not think about
• One of Ilana's least favorite things about tiny living
• How a focus on sustainability came into play
• The importance of knowing your enough, in business, in finances and in life
• The increased and decreased costs in tiny living
• The effects tiny living has on your savings goals
• How rent will still be a cost you need to consider
• How a mailing address plays into tiny living and how that could affect your taxes
• Why you must get into the details if you want to have success in tiny living
• A few key pieces of advice if you are considering tiny living

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• Good Business Podcast
• Your Life's Workshop
• Discovering Your "Enough" with Paul Jarvis Work Your Wealth Podcast Episode
• Seth Godin's Mastermind

GET SOCIAL WITH ILANA AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• Your Life's Workshop
• The Good Business
• Ilana's e-mail
• Instagram

This week I sat down financial planner Scott Frank to go over the benefits of life planning and using your money as a tool to achieve the life you want.

Scott is the founder of Stone Steps Financial, a firm created to help professionals and families understand their financial lives and position themselves to reach their fullest potential. He does this job because he loves it. He truly enjoys taking complex issues and helping clients understand them.

Scott lives in a little beach town, Cardiff by the Sea, just north of San Diego with his wife, Amanda, their sons, Lucas and Daxton, and their dog Sophia. When he's not geeking out on financial news or white papers you'll find him surfing with friends (Stone Steps is named for a surf break just a few minutes north of his house), running along the Pacific Coast Highway, or spending time with his family. He strongly believes in giving back and currently serves on the Leadership Development Committee for NAPFA.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Using life planning to better strategize your money goals
• How to EVOKE the life you want to live
• Four things you can always invest in and how to optimize that investment
• The impact felt by those who have gone through life planning
• The three questions to ask yourself to help you live a more intentional life
• The importance of writing goals down and discussing them with an accountability partner
• The best process to discover what really matters most to you
• What can get overlooked when you are just focused on the money
• How to identify what is getting in your way of the life you want to live
• A few common changes people would like to change in their lives
• Why you must figure out what matters most before executing a solid financial plan
• How a sounding board can keep you on track with your life goals
• The most important tool to reach the life goals you have for yourself

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• George Kinder
• George Kinder's 3 Questions
• Carl Richards
• The EVOKE Process
• Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying

GET SOCIAL WITH SCOTT AND LET HIM KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HIM HERE

• Stone Steps Financial
• Scott's Blog
• Scott's e-mail
• Twitter

This week I sat down with fellow Financial Planner and Abacus partner Neela Hummel to discuss what we see in breadwinning women.

Neela is passionate about women taking their finances to the next level. Women are increasingly out-earning and in control of more money than their male counterparts, yet many company policies and financial services are leaving women out. Her goal is to step outside the "paint it pink" model and tailor financial planning to the unique needs of different types of women. As any woman knows, different women have different needs, and She specializes in working with breadwinners, decision-makers, and young inheritors. Neela is a partner with Abacus Wealth Partners. Since 2009, Neela has helped grow a firm that values and supports women through flexible policies, career advancement, and equal pay for equal work. As a consequence, 50% of Abacus' advisors are women, in an industry were 20% is the norm. Neela was named as Investment News' "40 Under 40" for financial advisors in 2016 and is a graduate of UC Berkeley. Neela lives in Los Angeles with her wonderful husband, two adorable children, and two rescue dogs. She is an avid traveler and foodie, taking any opportunity to visit a new country, try a new restaurant, or hone her language skills (she peaks both Spanish and Italian).

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Neela's background and her path to Abacus Wealth Partners
• The biggest challenge breadwinning women tend to face
• The financial opportunities that benefit breadwinning women over men
• Other factors to consider besides the dollars and cents when looking at your finances
• Why outsourcing can be a crucial tool for breadwinning women
• What it looks like for Neela being the breadwinner in her family
• Why you should use a financial planner when talking finances with your significant other
• Why you must separate out money for your financial goals
• Why so many women are asking what is their enough
• The benefits of being a breadwinning woman (or having one in your life)
• The impact breadwinning women will have on future generations
• What a family needs to be financially successful, regardless of who is the breadwinner

GET SOCIAL WITH NEELA AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• Neela's e-mail
• Instagram
• Twitter

This week I sat down with Sarah Peck to discuss the work life balance, especially as a female in the entrepreneur world.

Sarah is a writer, startup advisor, and yoga teacher based in New York City. She's the founder and executive director of Startup Pregnant, a media company documenting the stories of women's leadership across work and family. She hosts the weekly Startup Pregnant podcast, and she and her partner in life and work are the instigators behind More Women's Voices, a website that promotes women speakers and entrepreneurs. Previously, she worked at Y Combinator backed One Month, Inc, a company that teaches people to code in 30 days, and prior, as a writing and communications consultant.

She's a 20-time All-American swimmer who successfully swam the Escape from Alcatraz nine separate times, once wearing only a swim cap and goggles to raise $33k for charity: water. To date, she's written for more than 75 different web publications and and has delivered speeches and workshops at Penn, UVA, Berkeley, Harvard, Year of the X, Craft & Commerce, WDS, and more. One recent viral essay, The Art of Asking, has been used across tech companies and product teams to train teams in clear communications. She's currently writing a memoir of her experience working in the tech startup world while she was pregnant with her first kid.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How Sarah got into the startup world and what drives her
• A big issue women run into when getting ahead in their careers
• The common thread Sarah sees throughout her audience
• If it's possible to balance all that life throws at you
• The connection between being a mess and a masterpiece
• The naked truth about how Sarah raised $30K for charity
• Going from scraping by to feeling financially secure
• The real questions to ask yourself when evaluating the type of work you are doing
• Where the idea for Startup Pregnant came from
• The financial agreement Sarah and her partner made while navigating startups
• How to enjoy parental leave for beyond the infant stage
• The importance of being intentional when crafting and building a business
• A big research mistake people make when starting a business
• How growing slow can be a really good thing for your business

LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

• Y Combinator
• Cheryl Strayed
• Educated
• An American Marriage
• Laura Roeder

GET SOCIAL WITH SARAH AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

• Startup Pregnant
• Sarah's Website
• Sarah's e-mail
• Instagram
• Twitter

• This week I sat down again with Ariel Ward, CFP® to talk about things to think about before buying a home.

  Ariel Ward, CFP® joined Workable Wealth in 2018 as a Financial Planner and in March of this year, made the move to Abacus Wealth Partners with me as a Financial Planner. She and I work closely together on our clients. She has 11 years of experience in the field of personal financial services and in helping clients develop financial clarity. She is passionate about helping professionals understand their financial lives and make better decisions with their money. Ariel is married to a pilot and spends as much time as possible exploring the US with her husband and 2 children. She enjoys working with clients in the aviation industry to make the most of their employee benefits and map out a plan for personal financial strength. She is a member of NAPFA, the XY Planning Network and the Financial Planners Association.

  Ariel works virtually out of Charlotte, NC. She enjoys North Carolina's mountains, beaches and everything in between. In her free time you can catch her walking to one of Charlotte's excellent breweries, playing Scrabble or building Lego houses with her kids.

  HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

  • A big decisions we've been helping multiple clients with this year
  • Financial considerations to make before buying a home
  • The reason people many feel the need to purchase a home
  • Homeownership costs that might not always increase the value of the home
  • Where the commission fees play into your financial well being for short term homeownership
  • How long to plan on staying in a home before selling it
  • The dangers of buying a home for the maximum amount a lender approved you for
  • Why you should consider future life milestones when deciding on how much house to buy
  • Where retirement savings plays into plans for buying house
  • Some realities of homeownership that aren't always talked about
  • Tips for saving for a home down payment
  • The types of accounts to stash money away into for your initial down payment
  • A good way to prepare financially if you are considering upsizing your home
  • The down payment percentage you should be striving for
  • The way Private Mortgage Insurance can affect your cash flow
  • How to prioritize big savings goals alongside buying a home
  • Rule of thumb for establishing an emergency fund

  LINKS WE MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:

  • How to Plan (and Save) for a Home Down Payment blog
  • Is Home Buying Still a Good Idea? blog
  • Should My Partner and I Buy a Home Before we Marry? blog
  • How Much Home Can Your Lifestyle Afford? blog
  • Planning to Buy? blog
  • 8 Hidden Costs When You Buy a Home blog

  GET SOCIAL WITH ARIEL AND LET HER KNOW YOU HEARD ABOUT HER HERE

  • Workable Wealth Website
  • Ariel's e-mail