When Hilary was in her 20’s, she was definitely not thriving financially. She was advising multi million dollar clients by day and coming home to a stack of bills she wouldn’t open because she couldn’t pay them.She was a massive overspender. Hilary was earning 6 figures and spending 6 and a half. She realized she had to repair her relationship with money and wealth.This was a very emotional time for Hilary. Looking at the numbers and realizing how in debt she was made her feel like a piece of crap. She was lucky enough to go to a great school and smart enough to graduate with honors.Hilary was determined to figure out how she got so deep in debt. She started reading everything she could on the psychology of money.Her mother was a budgeter and saver and Hilary was ashamed with the amount of money she could spend on birthday presents for friends. Hilary wanted a pair of Nikes like the other girls on her basketball team but had to get her shoes from Payless.Hilary felt like there was never enough money for the things she wanted in life. That became her money operating system. It’s a very common money operating system. And there are many others also.Through the divorce of her parents and her father not wanting to pay her mother, Hilary came to realize that money  is power. So operating with the thoughts ‘there’s never enough money’ and ‘money is power’, Hilary would spend and buy to try to show she was successful, even though she had no money in her bank account.Luckily, she was able to unravel those behaviors and make a change in her own life. This made Hilary want to teach her framework to others, especially women. Also by doing this, her business took off.So many entrepreneurs limit money in their life with their thoughts. Even though Hilary has a very traditional background as far as her training, until she changed her mindset, she would spend money as soon as it was in her back account.For Hilary to make a change, she started doing the opposite of what she had been doing. Where she had hidden her money troubles before, she became super transparent about them. And she also, just wouldn’t do things where she would be spending money. It was super tight and painful for several years.After Hilary had her condo foreclosed, she turned in her leased BMW and paid off her negotiated credit card debt, she then began rebuilding. She didn’t buy a coffee for 2 years. After she fixed the problem, she has now built up enough wealth to be financially independent. And that’s definitely thriving financially. In addition to the traditional financial advising, Hilary has Ignite Investing for people who are just getting started in investing. This program makes financial advice accessible. She also has a coaching program, that teaches exactly what she did to get out of debt and build wealth.Hilary shares her 7 Steps To Wealth with us. 1 - Decide. Involve your mindset and how you see your future.2 - Speak. Look at all your scripts about money. Journal. Write down all the things you think and say about money.3 - Plan. Most people don’t have a plan. She teaches a multiple account system, not budgeting.4 - Earn. Raise the ceiling.5 - Ask. She has a No Challenge. Make so many big requests, your goal is 100 no’s. If you get to 100 no’s, you’ll have so many yeses, you’ll have a different life. People are afraid to ask.6 - Invest. Compound your wealth.7 - Protect. Protect your wealth with wise decisions and your identity from theft.A lot of people, especially women, have this idea that money is a zero sum game, Hilary tells us. Just enough is enough. She wants us to know there is an abundance of money, you can be rich and everyone else can too.Hilary works with a lot of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s and doesn’t know many that work past 70. You need a stash of money to support your...

In this part two episode, we discuss money practices and money maps. We jump right in to the practical and discuss money dates. For example, mixing in candles and chocolate, music of any kind, whatever will be supportive for you sitting down and taking a look at your money. Whether it’s 5 minutes or 15 minutes, every few days or at least once a week, it’s important to start.Ask yourself, “What is one step you can take around money today?” It may be just looking at your bank balance. However, you may discover fraud like Bari did and catching it early is important.Bari shares how just like a daily hike a true money practice is ongoing and consistent. It may be difficult at first and some might want to just get it over with. Start with a little at a time and let it become more often and longer.There’s a big difference between the way people handle their money and that’s okay. Bari and her husband were supportive of each other but they also were competitive. It was 7 years before they completely combined their accounts.People spend differently and the main thing is to have a conversation about it. The values for each person are a part of the way they spend and important to be considered.With couples, Bari recommends starting with story time first. Step one - 30 minutes, 15 minutes each, money healing work, share stories good and bad about what happened in your childhood.Next you’ll move into values, then who’s on what and lastly, goals and dreams and getting on the same team. It’s so important to do all of this with compassion. Values based bookkeeping is so important with the renaming of the different categories. It’s all about where you’re spending your money and where you’re giving your time and attention.Even just renaming your rent by calling it home or sanctuary or love shack can make a difference. Sometimes this makes people realize where they’re living doesn’t feel good and they decide to do something about that.By taking a deeper look at your numbers, you can see if your values are reflected in them. If not, then you can make changes so you’re actually living your life in alignment with your values. Bari renamed budgets to money maps. The first step is to sit down and create a 3 tier map of the categories and actual numbers. The first tier is basic needs, the second tier is comfortable and lastly, the third tier is ultimate. These will change throughout the years.On a monthly basis, you need to review the numbers and your intentions. At different phases in life you have to be more rigid than at other times.Money healing, money practices and money maps all intertwine together. All three phases are the foundation. Bari shares about how money legacy for her is past, present and future. She talks about all she learned from her father and all that she had to learn too. She was able to heal before he passed. She talks all the time with her mother and her son about money.Bari said, “Legacy for all of us, is honoring where we come from, the beauty, the pain, what needs forgiveness. And it really asks us, ‘What do we want to pass on?’”Bari’s definition of success is having a full life in family, in work, in health and in giving to the larger community. The best financial advice Bari was given was learning the body check in. It’s the best life advice. Learn how to listen to your sensations, to your body, learn how to sit and be and feel and understand. Bring it to your relationship to money as well. Bari Tessler’s website - www.baritessler.comOn her website Bari offers a free 7 day mini course and also a year long evergreen program.Bari’s Instagram -www.instagram.com/baritessler/

This week on the Money Made Easy Podcast we have on Bari Tessler, author of the book, “The Art of Money”. We get to find out all about how she went from wanting to be a solid gold dancer to becoming a financial therapist.Bari started therapy when she was 16 but other than going from wanting to be a dancer to a business woman and being interested in psychology, she started undergrad not really knowing what she wanted to be and do.While spending a year in Israel, she put dance and psychology together and she briefly thought she made up Dance Movement Therapy. She went to graduate school for somatic psychotherapy.At the age of 28, her student loan came through and that was a real wake up call. At the time she was making $11 an hour in the mental health field with a masters degree in psychology.She realized in graduate school, money was never discussed. Nothing was said about how to get clients and run a business. And she also realized money wasn’t the issue, it was not being able to have conversations about money.She considered running away, but instead decided she would face her student debt by learning everything she could learn about money. She started by learning bookkeeping and starting a bookkeeping business.Growing up in a middle class family, she received mixed messages about money. There was a spirit of generosity and there was a lot of control around money.We talk about money stories we get from our family - good and bad. Tetia shares about how her father getting gas for her taught her how to receive. Now Bari is 20 years in to starting her practice of financial therapy. And she is still learning new things and she still has emotions around money.It’s important to Bari that financial literacy and emotional literacy have to be together. There are lots of ways and she thinks it’s important to get creative and find what works for you.In "The Art of Money", Bari writes about how there are 3 phases - Money Healing, Money Practices and Money Maps. She credits her somatic psychotherapy tools for getting her through her money issues and on to what she’s doing now.One of the people Bari was doing bookkeeping for encouraged Bari to do a speech about combining her healing and practical aspects of how she handled money. This is what led to the work and the book for Bari.The way Bari addresses shame around money and healing around that and other emotions is so important. She talks about how most of us didn’t receive any type of education around money. One of Bari’s favorite tools she shares in "The Art of Money" is the body check in. Simply stopping for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, and just checking in with your body on a physical level. Are you standing or sitting? Are your shoulders up?    The next level is on a sensation level. What sensations are moving or still in your body? The next level is emotions or feelings. What emotions are you feeling around money?The fourth level is what is going on with your breath? Is it more in your chest or lower? Is it shallow or full? And what adjustments can you make?This is not a one and done check in. It’s to be done repeatedly - when you’re paying your bills, talking with your partner, shopping, buying a car. This leads to understanding about what comes up for you.Bari shares how these check ins can lead to understanding and shifts and changes in money patterns. It can help create a relationship with money that is right and feels better and more successful.After the body check in you go into the practical. The gentleness and the compassionate. Instead of “I’m stupid” or “I should know this” you should try, “None of us learned this” and “I can learn this”. Knowing your values and what’s important to you is so important. Bari talks about how much more prepared you are when you’ve done this work.We love how in the book...

This week we have one of our favorites, Tiffany 'The Budgetnista' Aliche, on to talk about her new book, "Getting Good With Money". This is Tiffany's third time on the podcast because she is that good!Tiffany was on just a year ago to talk about her children's book, "Happy Birthday Mali More". She is now working on the animated version of Mali and her Youtube channel for those stories.The subtitle to "Get Good With Money" is '10 Simple Steps To Becoming Financially Whole'. This book gets back to the basics of financial education. Financial education is so important to Tiffany she even helped create a law to get financial education to be a part of Middle Schools in New Jersey.Tiffany gives some easy tips on improving your credit score. Designate a credit card for one specific small bill every month and pay it off in full. She also explains how to piggy back onto someone else's credit too.For budgeting, Tiffany shares ways to budget without budgeting. You can set up direct deposits into four separate accounts. Two checking accounts - one for spending and one for bills. Two savings accounts - one for emergencies and one for goals. Split it before you get it.Tiffany wrote this book thinking of people who are differential learners. Being a teacher, she always thought of all the different ways and levels of knowledge that people reading this will have.Tiffany also shares all about the different people that might be a part of your financial team. Even if you don't need all the different team members, you should have an accountability partner. Whether it's a spouse or parent or close friend, you need someone who will support you and not shame you.In addition to questioning to whether or not you need a CPA or an Estate Planner, you also need to see if they will be a good fit. She gives tips and things to look for and ask yourself before hiring someone.Tiffany attributes her gift of teaching to the 10 years she spent teaching preschool. It was all about teaching those basics and she learned how to best navigate all of their different levels. It makes her very affective now with adults who are at all levels.We also talked about the gender wealth gap and the racial wealth gap. It's frustrated being underpaid doing the same things as other people doing the same things.Tiffany shares a little about her financial picture. She also tells us about an experience she went through in possibly taking money out of her home. It's commonly known that black homeowners get appraised at a lower rate.The appraisal Tiffany got back seemed low. She got another opinion. Someone from the New York Times did a story about it. After getting an independent appraiser to come and give another appraisal, they found that the first appraiser did some things that were definitely not accurate.Tiffany shares about how because of the bad appraisal and not taking that money and investing into it then it's lost money from lack of investing. Now Tiffany is helping to write a law to make it illegal to appraise someone's house based on their race. Also, the realtor and appraiser will make it clear and known where you can go if you feel like your house was appraised inaccurately.Hopefully, this law will soon be passed and even get federal attention. Other states have already started adopting laws similar to their financial literacy for children law.Even though Tiffany was unsure about being on the cover of her book, she's glad her publisher talked her into it. We are so glad too, she's a great example for all women.One of the reasons we love Tiffany is because of her empathy and kindness. She doesn't believe in bringing shame and blame to people over their financial situations.You can find her book, "Get Good With Money" at the website for the book - http://www.getgoodwithmoney.comAnd you can find her everywhere as "The Budgetnista" -...

Today on the show, we welcome Jennifer Barrett. She is the author of “Think Like A Breadwinner” - a wealth building manifesto for women who want to earn more and worry less.A financial journalist first, Jennifer then moved to the management track, working for Newsweek, New York Times, Hearst, NBC, CNBC. Now she works at Acorns - an app to help people save more money.We talked about how she worked at DailyWorth - one of the first sites to focus on reaching women with money knowledge. And now thankfully, there are many sites that are trying to reach women.Jennifer stresses how important it is for women to find your people. Female leaders and female managers who feel like they’re the only in their company need to seek out other women and organizations to support and inspire them.Chief is a female only network Jennifer joined that is expanding all over the country. There are more similar groups - Luminary, The Riveter, Hey Mama, AllBright, Dreamers and Doers being a few.Jennifer shares more about the Acorns App. It’s the spare change investing app. When you use your debit card, they round up the purchases and invest the change. It makes investing so much easier.Jennifer’s book, “Think Like A Breadwinner”, was written from her own experience living in New York in a one bedroom apartment with her husband and toddler. She had been at Newsweek for 7 years and hadn’t negotiated her salary during that time.Even though she thought of herself as independent, Jennifer realized she wasn’t truly independent, she was just treading water. She knew she needed to be more proactive.After further reflection, Jennifer realized if she had been raised like a man who expected to be the breadwinner, she would have made very different choices. Then she asked herself, going forward, what kind of choices would she make if she was thinking like a breadwinner.Jennifer talks about how with each paycheck, use it as an opportunity to be less dependent on the next paycheck. Every time you have money coming in, ask yourself what is the most I can take out of this check to put towards my future, to start growing that money. One day you will be less dependent and not live paycheck to paycheck.It was also important for Jennifer to start negotiating like a breadwinner. She shares how it was difficult at first and how important and helpful a female network can be in this situation.Previously to being in management, Jennifer thought what they’re offering is what they can afford. She learned that there is usually budgeted ranges for salaries with the expectation that a candidate will negotiate.Parents talk to their daughters differently than they talk to their sons. Parents talk to their daughters about budgeting and shopping smartly, clipping coupons. They talk to their sons about building credit, investing wisely and all the skills you need to be a successful breadwinner and provider.Even though Jennifer had great role models in her parents, they didn’t have conversations about money. She also didn’t have any conversations with school counselors or advisors. When Jennifer got a job she began a cycle of overspending and then earning more.With her own children, Jennifer has taught them about pricing, investing and they have open conversations about money too.The definition for success Jennifer gives is being able to have the life and the impact she wants to have and to support the people and the causes she cares about.The 3 words that come to mind for her when she thinks about the word money are freedom, power and impact.Jennifer’s website -www.jenniferbarrett.comJennifer on Instagram -www.instagram.com/jbarrettnycThe educational arm for Acorns.com -www.grow.acorns.com

On today’s episode of the Money Made Easy Podcast we have Elizabeth of @elizabethsaves on Instagram to talk about how to pay down debt. Her and her husband paid off $227,000 in a couple of years. After buying a house, things started to spiral for them pretty quickly, Elizabeth explains. Little purchases here and there, started adding up. When Elizabeth went to make a final payment for their honeymoon, she wasn’t sure if she would have enough credit to pay off the thousand dollars still owed. This was the first wake up call. Shortly after they were married, Elizabeth’s father died unexpectedly. He had been a big money role model for her and his death motivated her to live a life that reflected their values. All of these moments, led to the realization that they weren’t living in a way that reflected the people they wanted to be. This led to them taking control of what they wanted their future to look like. Elizabeth’s husband came home and mentioned that he had heard about a debt snowball payoff method and that led her to start learning more. She quickly went deep in researching all about money and became motivated to pay down debt. Elizabeth loves a plan. If she can write it down then she is good about putting her head down and accomplishing it. When Elizabeth and her husband sold their house they made $30,000 in the 3 years they had owned it. This helped them finish paying off his student loan debts. Then with Elizabeth’s new job in New York City, they live without rent or utility expenses so that is what has definitely helped them pay off the rest of their debt. Elizabeth became very frugal and shares some of the extreme ways she saved money. She had a big friend group that socialized a lot and not wanting to miss out on this, she would eat before going or even pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cheese stick and eat in the car and then just order a beverage at dinner. Elizabeth says, “I’m a big believer that your budget should let you say yes, more than it makes you have to say no.” A lot of the time people don’t start budgeting because they think it’s going to be restrictive and change the way they live their life. You have to negotiate what’s important to you. Elizabeth would take the money that she would have spent and pay it towards a debt. One of the things they tried early on was gazelle intent. You cut all expenses you deem unnecessary. They decided that intensity just wasn’t for them. They wanted to not just pay down debt, they wanted to establish long term financial habits. If marketing does it’s job, we want all the things. I’ll start this when I have that is a way to postpone trying things or spending on things. It’s important to find a way to just start. For someone in debt, Elizabeth recommends just starting. You don’t have to have all the information before starting. Whether you do the debt snowball or debt avalanche doesn’t matter. Elizabeth thinks it’s important to know your why. Their why was they wanted to live in alignment with their values. You might need to start with what are your values. She also added that it’s important to not be afraid to fail. If you’re afraid to fail you never start. You’re going to fail with money and it’s okay. It’s just a moment, not the story. The three words she thinks of when she thinks about money are alignment, sustainable, and transparency. If you listened to this whole episode with Elizabeth, you know she lives these words. For the full blog post on this episode and all other episodes, go to  www.moneymadeeasypodcast.com Find her on Instagram at - www.instagram.com/elizabethsaves And her website is - www.elizabethscottfrancis.com

We’re welcoming back to the show today one of our favorites - Kate who is @thatdebtfreelife on instagram to talk all about becoming debt free and what’s next. Of course, we wanted to hear about how if felt to be free of debt. Kate shared that it felt free and made her feel invincible. First, Kate and her family went on a dream trip to New York at Christmastime. After their trip they then got back into their financial goals pretty quickly. Saving up a bigger emergency fund was their biggest goal. Kate really hasn’t changed much in the way she manages her finances. She still creates a zero based budget for every paycheck and she budgets it down to the penny. Kate can’t live without it because she knows exactly where her money is going when she has it done. Kate is still working overtime to reach her financial goals. Catching up on retirement contributions and funding the 529 for her son are both important and they also made a 6 year plan to pay off the mortgage. Kate feels the most important things that helped her payoff her debt were the zero based budget and 15 no spend days every month. With 15 no spend days per month that translates into 6 months of not spending but in bite sized chunks. She uses the HabitShare app. This year, they were able to pay cash for their fence. Kate also opened a Roth IRA for the first time in her life and funded that. They also purchased kitchen appliances and redid their laundry room. Kate also paid cash for Invisalign. Spending more time at home becomes more enjoyable. Angelica share how another one of our former guests, Lupe Prado, talks about tolerations. Little things that crowd our mind and how getting those small things taken care of make our life more enjoyable. When first starting to pay off her debt, Kate realized if she spent her money with intention and allocated it properly she would be able to do it. She could meet all the goals she thought were out of reach before. Starting @thatdebtfreelife on Instagram and making the promise to herself to post something once daily about something finance related made her think about it and focus on it. The accountability of that also helped keep her on track. Even just checking your bank balance every day can make you more aware and intentional. Starting with the small things and giving yourself grace can really help you not get overwhelmed and make forward progress. Let yourself be a beginner, resist those impulse purchases, make mistakes and give yourself some grace - you’re not going to be perfect ever. Kate has never written a perfect budget. To budget on an irregular income, list your expenses from most important to least important and then as your money comes in you pay your bills in that order. Then after paying the things you have to take care of you can make your debt payments and other things. If you have irregular income, Kate also recommends creating a buffer or a cushion fund. in addition to your emergency fund, set aside some money so if things fall short or you’re hit with an unexpected expense, you have a bit of a buffer or cushion to carry you through. If you have trouble with impulse shopping, then going through your house and looking for things to sell can help you buy more intentionally. One of Kate’s favorite quotes is, “Look around you, all of that stuff used to be money.” Kate thinks if you have money, you need a budget. You need to know what can you do with your money. Where some people might feel living with a budget is stressful, she feels it’s freeing and so much less stress. You can find Kate on Instagram at @thatdebtfreelife - www.instagram.com/thatdebtfreelife Kate’s blog - www.livingthatdebtfreelife.com

Hello friends and welcome to episode 35 of the podcast! We are very excited to announce…(drum roll please…)… our QUARTERLY BOOK CLUB! Why you may ask? As you know, our sole purpose of this podcast is about educating ourselves and building a community of individuals who feel comfortable with talking about money. What better way to further our education with a book club that keeps us accountable and helps foster these conversations!! We are excited to announce our very first book, The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness by Bari Tessler. Bari Tessler does an incredible job of diving deep into our money traumas and finding the root cause of our money struggles. This inner work will then push our motivation and knowledge to make better money decisions. Bari Tessler is a financial therapist, which is so inspiring and something I think we all need in our lives. This book is filled with important questions that will get us to reflect on our money habits and the relationship we have with money. So follow along and be a part of this community with us! Your knowledge and expertise is valuable and we want to hear from you! Join our facebook group here: www.facebook.com/groups/moneymadeeasycommunity/

Today we dive deep into examining our money blocks with Katy Chen Mazzara. She is a certified financial coach who helps creative types make more money, pay off debt, and achieve financial freedom. Katy started off as a journalist then became a television producer for 15 years, working on shows like The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Real Housewives, Love and Hip Hop. Then she became certified as a financial coach, a life coach and she is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Program in Personal Financial Planning. Growing up with parents who were at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to money gave Katy an interesting view. Her father did not want to spend money and her mother spent it freely. For a while, Katy had a few issues of her own with money, spending it on cabs when she should've been walking or taking the subway. Then she became passionate about learning more though, reading books, even stock prospectuses. After three of her family members felt like they had to stay in abusive relationships for money, one of Katy's missions became to empower people to make decisions in spite of money, not based on money. And this is whether it's staying in a bad relationship or in a job you don't enjoy. In this episode, Angelica volunteers to be the example for examining our money blocks. Katy asks Angelica about her background with money and they dive deep into childhood experiences with money. Katy shares how a simple moment isn't wrong or right but it does teach us and it's important to observe that. Does it create abundance or scarcity? It's important to ask yourself - where do these beliefs come from? Clarity is very important around money. Be clear about what is coming in and out. Our minds like clarity. The more unknown, the more you'll worry. Work on what you truly want to achieve. Where do you want to go? What does money look like for you in terms of your core values? Katy suggests tracking down your emotions around your spending like a food diary. How did you feel -before, during and after your purchase? Every time you get abundance, make a note of it. Either write it down or put it in the notes section on your phone. Some examples Katy gives are time on the parking meter, a friend buys you a cup of coffee or for waiting so long, we're giving you a free muffin. Abundance and gratitude are a powerful duo. Katy feels it's important to have balance between the spiritual and the earthly, more practical. It's still important to do the work - having savings and paying off your debt. After paying off your debt, it's important to pay attention to where the debt came from. She explains the snowball effect and why it can be such a powerful way to pay off debts. Katy shares how paying on time is so important for your credit score. As always, we asked Katy to share her definition of success. She feels success is an inside job and it's so important to do the inner work so we can create outward changes. The more you have self worth, the more you can be successful in the outside world. And when asked about the 3 words that come to mind when you think about money, she first said, "Freedom, freedom, freedom." Then she went on to add - freedom, energy and values. But wait...there's more for our listeners...Katy Chen Mazzara has launched her membership course - Financial Freedom for Creatives Club. This is a year long program that will help you build HABITS you need to create the results you want with your money. If our listeners sign up, you will receive some pretty rad bonuses:  1. You will get access into the money block group coaching program on 1/2  2. Access to You Can Negotiate Anything Mini Courses  3. 1 day Retreat on 1/31 If you sign up, let them know you're a MME listener!  http://katychenmazzara.com https://www.financialfreedomforcreatives.com/virtual-retreat

Speaker Coach and Speech Writer Helena Bowen wants to help you speak up for your business. She believes storytelling is the best way to lead, inspire and persuade. Helena Bowen has over 150 TED and TEDX Speaker Clients who have over 65 million views online. 20 of these have been featured as the "Talk of the Day" on TED.com and they've been translated into 35 different languages.

Kristen Boss has a name made for business. She is a Mindset and Business Coach who specializes in helping women build their influence and grow their business that deeply aligns with their purpose. Pivoting from celebrity hairstylist to boutique owner to business coach has given Kristen a unique perspective. When she asked herself - Is this what I was meant to do? - she thought to all of the deep conversations she would have with those in her chair and realized she had been coaching for years. Questions to ask yourself when you’re trying to decide what to do - What would you do for free? What energizes you? What do I love? What brings me joy? When you don’t feel comfortable charging, make it about the people you’re helping. Your customers are worthy of spending money on their own transformation. Investment in themselves is a gift to your clients. What creative solutions can I bring to the market right now? Her Facebook group is called Becoming Boss - Online Sales & Social Selling and it’s very active. She finds a lot of very successful women in her group asking - Is this it? Is this all? And what’s next? Instead of being spammy, she talks about how important it is to sell solutions to their customers problems. People always want to buy solutions to their problems. If people feel like they deeply know you and resonate with you, they’ll want to buy from you. Provide value and then they’ll want to show you how much they value. Kristen says, “Every business needs a purposeful platform that speaks to an ideal audience that gives them great value and positions themselves as a problem solver.” We all have a money story and to help discover yours, Kristen recommends the book, ‘Money: A Love Story’. The 3 things she suggests you look for are - What are your feelings around money? Do you have emotions around money? What thought is creating those feelings? Look at if it is fear or gratitude. What ways can you add more value and more impact where people would thank you monetarily? Find out what thoughts, feelings and beliefs you have around money. We discuss what thoughts and beliefs Kristen had around money and how she addressed them. There’s money shame, just like poverty shame and this made her feel uncomfortable and she had to work through those beliefs. Kristen feels money amplifies who you already are. Generous people become more generous. After working through her money stories, Kristen started working with a high level coach. Her new money story became “When I invest, I always make it back.” You have the power to create your own results. Self doubt can really bring you down. When you choose to put your money down, you’re saying you believe you’ll make it back and you believe in yourself. When you invest big in yourself you know you are the business owner who does this. It’s not an amateur, side hustle move, it’s a career move. Kristen’s definition of success is knowing she is living fully, with purpose and with impact. She always measures it by how many others she is helping. The three words that come to mind when Kristen thinks of the word money - neutral, abundant and available.  Instagram - www.instagram.com/_becoming_boss  Facebook - Becoming Boss Business https://www.facebook.com/becomingbossbusiness  www.kristenboss.com Check out her Becoming Boss Podcast, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/becoming-boss-podcast/id1517235074

Amanda Montgomery is a business lawyer who helps small businesses and entrepreneurs with all of their legal needs. She truly believes your vote matters. Amanda shares that message with all of our listeners today. A passion for helping women and small business owners led her to serve this group. We talk about how growing up, she was paid for her grades and that worked for her. It was 33 days till the election when we recorded this episode. Now it’s 22 days till the election when this podcast airs. Amanda shares about how she came to be interested in politics and why she enjoys talking about it. KnowYourVote.io - shares different issues and where the candidates stand. It’s not just the presidential election, the house and senate elections are ongoing. ballotpedia.org - if you don’t know what your ballot looks like, go here. They provide profiles on each individual. These sites make it easy to find out more info about who is running in the elections and what is their background. Trying to discredit the integrity of the election process is a form of voter suppression. Voter fraud is not a prevalent problem. We talked about how we vote with our money every time we spend our money. Choosing to shop small is a form of this type of voting with our dollars. Your vote matters here too. Websites for looking at companies - bcorporation.net voteplus10.org It’s important to think about ways we can give back and take a bigger interest in our cities and underserved areas. Amanda shared the quote, “Fortune favors the prepared mind” and talks about how it can be modified to help us educate ourselves. Change favors the prepared mind. Budgets for education favors the prepared mind. Whatever side you decide to vote for, remember - your vote matters. Her definition of success - putting her kids to bed, getting to see them a lot, family time. The more you get of time with your loved ones, the luckier you are. The 3 words she thinks of when she hears the word money - security, vacation, freedom.  You can find Amanda - instagram.com/amontgomerylawyer/ velawoodlaw.com/attorney/amanda-montgomery/

What’s New For Season Two Angelica and Tetia welcome you back with a catch up on what they’ve been up tp and what’s new and coming up in Season 2 for the Money Made Easy Podcast. Tetia has been walking and listening to audio books. You too can listen for free with the Overdrive App and your library card. Angelica has been training for a marathon and landscaping their backyard. Free arm workout anyone?!! Website updates, free resources, upcoming guests, and voting with your money are some of the things we talk about. We go into how every dollar is a ballot and you can learn more at www.bcorporation.net and www.voteplus10.org. Of course, Tetia manages to throw in a bit about meditation! And Angelica announces our quarterly Book Club! Our first book is ‘The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness’ by Bari Tessler. We once again talk about money mindset and how an abundant mindset is so important. Go to Overdrive and get a copy, buy a used book or support your local independent bookstore and get to reading!! As always - give us topics you want to hear more about, money questions you have or guests you want us to have on the show!! To stay in touch and get money tips and inspiration, text money or your favorite money emoji to 310-349-3751.

Wow friends! We had so much time to reflect back on this season and are extremely thankful to our guests for their time and wisdom. We couldn't have produced all of this amazing content without their expertise. And to our listeners, WE LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you so much for sharing our podcast amongst your loved ones and allowing Season 1 to be a huge success. We truly do this to help everyone navigate through money and life decisions. We hope you enjoy this episode as we recap the final episodes! We are gearing up for SEASON 2 and are so excited to see you all there!

In today's episode, we chat with the inspiring Tanya Van Court - Founder and CEO of Goalsetter. A revolutionary app devoted to helping kids and families save, learn and grow their money. This mission was inspired by her mother, an elementary school teacher who perfected the skill of bridging gaps for kids and knew the importance of giving all kids the same opportunities and education. Throughout Tanya’s professional and personal life, she created a passion for creating resources and educational tools for children. These experiences included leading digital products at Nickelodeon, serving as Senior Vice President of Partner Marketing at Discovery Education, where she launched digital textbooks to schools across the country, and leading new media products for ESPN, where she led the launch of online streaming service, ESPN3. Each of these unique experiences have been the building blocks to prepare her for building a platform that educates and motivates children to learn the important of financial literacy. https://www.goalsetter.co/ https://www.instagram.com/goalsetterco/ You can download the app in the App Store and Google Play Store!

Today on the show we’ve got Holly Williams, author of Hidden Investing - What The 1% Know That We Don’t. Growing up in Houston, Texas her parents did a good job of teaching her to put money in her 401k and live below your means. When her parents died in 2010 and 2011, she realized they had done all of that but she watched them worry in their later years. When your take your money out you’re taxed at the full rate. Your expenses don’t go down when you retire. Holly worked at a successful Ad Agency and 15 years later she was paying 50% in taxes. One year she had a 1099 for $65,000 and she wasn’t even able to claim her daughter as a deductible. You think you’ve made $10,000 but you still have to pay for capital gains. About 6 years later, Holly was given the opportunity to invest passively in a garden apartment complex. She started taking money out of the stock market and putting more of it into the multi family syndication. When you’re investing in a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) they’re getting the tax breaks, it’s not passed to you. Then Holly entered a world she didn’t know existed. REIT’s are a mutual fund that invest in real estate. About 50% of the large apartment complexes are owned by these. The public REIT’s are mutual funds that buy property but in essence you’re buying a mutual fund still. The fund gets the tax breaks but doesn’t pass through to you. Another 25% of these large apartment complexes are owned by big real estate investment companies. A few examples of these companies are Alex Rodriguez, Roger Staubach and Ebby Halliday which was just bought by Warren Buffet. The other 25% are owned by entrepreneurs who have gone in and said, “I can do that.” There are a lot of FCC regulations around this type of investment. One of them being that you have to have a personal relationship with whoever is investing. If you don’t know someone then you can’t play. You can buy a REIT, but you’re buying a mutual fund. If you want to invest with the big guys then you’ll need $200,000-$300,000 minimums. You have to be an accredited investor. Most of the people Holly works with are also accredited investors. Simply put, it’s a bunch of people who know each other who are getting together and buying an apartment complex. This was a game changer for her because it allowed her to invest in income producing real estate. You get all of the depreciation that benefits with real estate but you don’t have to do any of the work. We’re not told lies, we’re just not told the whole story about tax breaks and advantages. The information appears to be complicated when it’s not. Even if the market tanks, they’re still collecting rent. It’s about relationships and being good landlords. They’re renting to working America - nurses, firemen, cops. Holly retired from Advertising 2 years ago and is now doing this full time. This is her income. There are risks involved. Any investment is a risk. She learned how the wealthy think about money. It’s a mindset. We regularly give our money to people that tell us, they do not know what is going to happen. It’s not logical. Wall Street is getting richer and richer and richer, no matter what the market is doing. www.keepmore.com www.hiddeninvesting.com Relevant past episode - Episode 6: Real Talk about Real Estate Investing with Rashauna Scott

Brianna Firestone is the founder of The School of Betty, a platform that empowers women to create better relationships with their money, time, and energy so they can build financial freedom and lessen stress. At the age of 23, Brianna found herself living in New York City with $30k in credit card debt, $20k in student loans, and barely making $30k a year.  She then became more courageous than her financial situation, gave herself a pep-talk, and set out on a journey to stop drinking fancy coffee, become debt free, and educate herself around her money and spending behaviors. As a Certified Life Coach and Financial Education Instructor, Brianna is an expert in teaching personal finance that is fun, approachable, and easy to implement. Her Fierce Finances 8 week program is a successful group coaching course that helps women change their money mindset, pay off debt, and create incredible, positive new habits around their finances. Brianna is a financial contributor for MindBodyGreen and her expert advice has been featured in Real Simple,The Financial Diet, Money.com, Reader’s Digest, Business Insider, Reign, 5280 and on the popular lifestyle blog and podcast, PaleOMG & PaleOMG Uncensored. Brianna believes everyone is one good habit away from living a badass life.  When she isn’t coaching students, she can be found at the gym, drinking coffee, or at the theatre. Brianna lives in Denver, CO with her husband and her 9 year old rescue dog, Pink Lady. Links www.theschoolofbetty.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschoolofbetty/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettyschool/Enneagram Download: https://theschoolofbetty.mykajabi.com/the-enneagram-and-moneyCash Flow Crash Course: https://theschoolofbetty.mykajabi.com/sales-page-4cadf6a3-b2e3-4f14-985c-784d431dd932Fierce Finances: https://theschoolofbetty.mykajabi.com/Fierce-Finances

In this episode, we hear all about the different directions and industries that have been a part of Nicole’s business life. She came from an entrepreneurial family and started as a 15 year old. She sold her first business at 18 and the adventure just kept going! Listen in to hear all the twists and turns!!

This week we talk to Nicole Rodrigues, founder of NRPR Group and also, author of a great new book, Beverly Hills Boss. In her book and on this episode, she shares all about starting and growing your business. And of course having 20 years of PR experience, she gives lots of great tips for promoting ourselves. Even though Nicole had a vision for her future PR firm in college, she put in well over a decade of working for bigger firms first. She learned what worked and what didn’t work. Then when she felt the time was right for her to go out on her own, she took a hard look at her finances. She started selling stuff wherever she could. She stacked her vacation pay on top of what she had saved. She cut back on her rent. She wanted to make sure there was no stress in her finances. She says to start by dreaming big and then check your finances. Not surprisingly, next she advises you to PR yourself. Start with social media because it’s free. Check to see if your url is available and secure it. Put the branding in place, get the website built, get the messaging done. Then it’s lights on! Ready for business and ready to accept. She shares about how Linked In Pulse is a great marketing tool. You can share something as brief as an update or something more in depth like a blog post. Use and share your expertise. Collaborate with others to trade work until you can build a team. Then you can ask, “How can we market us? How can we build for ourselves?” PR is meant to get you more attention. What can the extra attention get you? Sales come after they begin to trust the brand. A magazine article will build more trust than an advertisement. 3rd party validation builds the most trust. The attention a PR firm can bring you can be measure in a few ways. Volume is important. They start from the ground up with blogs, magazines, etc. Then you can take the attention and amplify it through social media. Are you ready for the attention? It doesn’t make sense to draw attention to something that can’t be amplified. Then Nicole explains the difference between earned media and owned media. How do we make ‘you’ the media? Do you have a blog tab on your website? She tells us how to repurpose your content. Start on your company blog page then put it on Medium, put it on Linked In Pulse. Again, amplification is everything. You want to share your expertise. You want that to go far. That’s when the inbound starts coming in. The goal is for you to get more attention from people who are looking at what you’re sharing and then they realize they can use you. They need you. If teamwork doesn’t exist it between a company and NRPR as the PR firm, it’s hard to make it come together and work. It’s important as a business owner that you know where your money is going and how to make it all work together. We always ask two questions at the end of every show. The first one is “What is your definition of success?” Nicole shared how success to her is being able to do something you love, get paid well enough for it, to live in a way that feels satisfying to you. Because that is different for everyone. And when we asked Nicole for the three words that come to mind when she thinks about money she said stress, essential, and flexible. She went on to explain that money can be stretched. You can find different ways to utilize it, it’s not hard and concrete. There are so many ways to make money grow. One of the things she learned and shared about starting and growing your business is to be more flexible and creative with money. www.nrprgroup.com Beverly Hills Book and Free Top 10 Mistakes Report www.beverlyhillsboss.com Beverly Hills Boss on Youtube with PR Tips and Interviews https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1zSTRF5xY9izkdRCwGHYXQ

From preschool teacher to award winning financial educator and now author, today we have Tiffany ‘The Budgetnista’ Aliche. We are talking all about her journey and her new book ‘Happy Birthday Mali More’, releasing April 27. This trailblazing book teaches foundational education to children ages 3-7 while championing the importance of service and community. Part of her Kickstarter presale plan included funding to cover printing 1000 books to donate to children in low income communities and it was so successful that she’ll now be able to give away 2000 books. Tiffany covers all the important components of learning about money in an endearing rhyming story. Go to www.malimore.com to preorder the book and go to www.thebudgetnista.com to see more of her helpful financial tools.