Shifting Your Money Mindset with Rachel Durci
Do you find yourself constantly saving, worried that spending a dime will lead to financial disaster? Or maybe you’ve been taught that money is meant for security, but never really questioned what that means for your happiness today?
In this episode, we sit down with Rachel Durci, a Financial Wellness Coach & the Founder of Effortless Budgeting. She is passionate about supporting individuals & couples on reaching their financial goals through coaching, education & encouragement.
Rachel explains that before you set any financial goals or budgets, you need to first focus on the mindset behind your money. She shares how your childhood experiences with money could shape your adult financial habits, and how, in order to break free from old patterns, we need to confront, forgive, and reframe the way we think about spending and saving.
If you’re struggling to manage your money without stress or feeling stuck in a cycle of guilt around spending, this episode is for you!
Are you ready to take the next step? Join our weekly Money Talks series every Thursday at 11am CT! Register for FREE to gain access to our weekly sessions where Purse Strings-approved professionals discuss various financial topics. Click here to register now and bring your questions!
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Here’s some of what we discuss in this episode:
00:00 Intro
05:57 Introducing Rachel Durci
07:23 Rachel’s Money Story
14:11 Steps to Improve Your Money Mindset
16:28 Changing Your Money Mindset
17:37 Understanding Different Financial Situations
18:14 Client Success Stories
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Episode Transcript
(This transcript was generated using AI, so please excuse any misspellings or errors)
Barb: Maggie, it’s so interesting how money stories impact so much of our financial decision making, how we think about money, and what we do with our money. And it’s interesting because the more and more that we’ve grown with Purse Strings, we’ve heard this over and over again. And it challenges us to just before.
We even think about investing or money or savings to really stop and reflect about how do we feel about money? I was raised in a way different generation than you were. And of course, me being one of 13 children, I was raised in a household where money was scarce. Sure, we did go to private school, believe it or not, and we had food on the table, but everybody worked.
Everybody in my family worked hard.
Maggie: For those who don’t know, Barb’s family owned a 7 Eleven, so they all just had the kids rotating and working there. So it wasn’t just oh, you guys all got told to go get jobs. It’s like we’re doing free labor at the time.
Barb: Yeah, we had shifts. We had a schedule. It opened at 7 in the morning. It was really, truly 7 Eleven at the time. Now they’re 24 hours, I think. We weren’t a gas station. We were just the store. So we opened at 7. So your shift started, 6:30. You had to get up and get there till 1.
And then the other one was 1 which was closing. Two of us were on shift all the time, so you were, you had one of those shifts. And then while we were in school, you had a shift after school. You had to come in and, if you weren’t at the register, you had to face shelves or clean or whatever.
It was always something. So I think my money story resides a lot around constantly working and making sure you have enough, nothing was fancy, but getting all your needs met so that you could work, save, provide for yourself, nothing fancy or out of the ordinary.
Maggie: Yeah, we are seeing this money mindset and behavioral finance come up through and through books and just talking to these different professionals. I don’t think I’ve ever sat so much and thought about like the way you guys talked about money growing up and really have sat so much on it than I have probably the past year just because it’s even been talked about even more, but it’s something you don’t really sit down and reflect about unless you’re told to, and so it’s interesting to think about and see how those different things come up.
But also since for those who don’t know, I live with my brother, it’s interesting to see how growing up in the same household, very similar in ages and how our money mindsets are still so different growing up under the same roof, hearing the same verbiage, like we picked up on different things.
It’s just interesting to see the way that works and how much that reflects back into our lives. I know we talk about this a bit in the episode, but even these millionaires, who’ve won lotteries and things like that, have lost all their money again because they don’t have the right money mindset or these millionaires who lost all their money have made millions again so quickly.
Because they know how to have that abundant mindset. So it can help you or hurt you either way. But no matter what the money, income, or outgo is, it’s not going to be better unless your mindset is better.
Barb: I’m curious about how your money mindset is different from your brother’s.
Maggie: I’m definitely one who’s like cheaper on groceries and like love to go to the Aldi and just get it done. Where he loves to pay for the convenience and will always pay for the convenience. One day I realized he just kept all his money in one account.
And gets, rent, income and different things. I was like, you don’t have a savings or high yield savings account or just it’s just all one lump sum, and that’s where you write like a new zero in your head.
Like to me, that’d be like, all right, my new zero is 50, 000, right? Because you put all of it in one account, which was just so weird. And some of these things where it’s we live together. Like, how do you not know this? Why haven’t we talked about it? Like, how does your mind work? I’ve never, ever, I’ve always had a checking and a savings.
I’ve never just kept everything in one account. But, and it blows my mind. But that’s the way his head works. It’s just funny.
Barb: Do you ever talk about money?
Maggie: Yeah, we’ll talk about money. And it’s interesting because I think it’s a little bit more open. Because we talk a lot about sports betting and sports gambling and how much money is on it, how much money is coming in.
And so money is like a much more constant topic of where’s our money on this game? Where is our money to win? And it’s not like it’s like we’re, he’s gambling his money away. But it’s just interesting to, it’s a constant conversation, and then with some of us, I’m always like, I can’t believe we spend 400 to go football game.
I would never do it, but one of my other roommates would, and so it’s so much value spending and like where we would choose to spend this money is like, you would have to pay me 400 to show up to that game, much less me pay you. For me to go to the game when it’s literally 20 degrees out no, I won’t be there.
Other people, that’s their value. That’s what they enjoy. So it is part of that value spending as well.
Barb: Yeah. Value spending. So the money mindset thing plays so much into it. And now I’m remarried to a wonderful man who’s one of three children and grew up affluent neighborhood and money was never an issue for them. And so like you Maggie, I’m always checking prices going to Aldi, I’d go to a different grocery store for things that I think are better priced. He would never do that. He would never do that.
Or if I think something’s mispriced, I’ll ask about it. He would never do that. He would just be like, come on, let’s go.
Maggie: Which I get because it’s yo, it’s only three bucks, But it’s also sometimes I’m like yeah, they promised me that price. That’s why I bought it. I guess not it’s just the fact of the matter. But I also I just love my aldi, so it’s not because of always the prices but aldi has great prices.
I just also love them.
Barb: And they’re all organic. So you have me going there now too. But we are not sponsored by Aldi. But if Aldi wants to sponsor us, we’d happily do.
Maggie: I go there because i’m not over stimulated. The lights aren’t too bright. There’s just one option and you take that option. There’s no price comparing. There’s no price of the day. It is what it is. You got your one item. That’s all you needed. Very straightforward. I don’t need any more questions at 4 30 in the afternoon of this or that or comparison.
Just I’m a decision fatigue by that hour.
Barb: Makes sense. Okay, so back to the money mindset. Let’s listen to what Rachel has to say. She’s got an amazing money story of her own, which launched her into a whole new career. So let’s get started.
Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women in money, the shit we don’t talk about.
Maggie: Today, we have an amazing guest, Rachel, on our podcast, and we are excited to dive into her story about being a financial wellness coach and all of the things she has overcome as well. Rachel, we’re so excited to have you here today. Before we dive in, can you share with the audience a bit about who you are and what you do?
Rachel: Yeah, sure. Thanks for having me. I’m really excited. as you said, my name is Rachel Durci and
I am a financial wellness coach. My business is effortless budgeting.
I really focus on working with couples but can work with anybody. Just like helping folks feel more comfortable and confident with their finances, money mindset, getting organization together and being realistic and honest about where our finances are.
Barb: Wonderful. What led you to this work? Why this work and why couples?
Rachel: Yeah. short story of my money story because it’s longer, but I grew up quite poor, didn’t really have a lot. I watched my mom struggle a lot and I just grew up thinking I need to live in a different manner. Like I don’t want to grow up and be stressed about money. And so I taught myself a lot of stuff.
I became very interested in credit scores and reports and budgeting and where you spend and where you don’t and all that kind of stuff and saving for the future. And so I taught myself a lot because I wanted to make sure I was living in a less stressful environment. And then I got to graduating from college and was like, Oh my gosh, I have to pay back so many loans and I got very stressed out about it.
And what happened was I had learned a lot of the practical stuff, but I didn’t learn any of the money mindset stuff. And so for three and a half years, I did not enjoy my life, I did not do anything, I did not spend any money, because I was panicking over paying back my student loans. I
I did, I paid them back.
But was it worth it? And then years and years go by, and now I’m in my early 30s, and I have friends saying, why are you so worried about spending money? Don’t you have money? And I had plenty of money in the bank if you just looked at like just the facts, it looked like I was in a decent position, but I was, my money mindset was still really bad.
And so I knew what I was doing, but I didn’t recognize like how I was still stressed. So the thing is, I didn’t want to be stressed like my mom and I ended up just being super stressed about money. And so I just deep dive therapy, all that kind of stuff to try to figure out like why I’m responding the way I am.
Of course it all went back to my childhood and now I’m just in a better place and so I want to help folks like I know what it’s like to be here and to be constantly stressed about money and what it’s like, what it’s like to be over here and just feeling a lot more confident and comfortable with where I am.
And that can literally be completely change your life. And so, I just have a passion for helping folks do that. As far as couples, I just find that a lot of people struggle to talk to anybody, including their partner. And if you’re living with somebody it’s really important and I don’t want that to cause any stress, between a couple because unfortunately, the number one reason for divorce is finances, but my argument is it’s not actually the money.
It’s the lack of communication
Barb: So let’s unpack a little bit about that because you gave us a lot of information,
that we’d love to dive into because first of all, you said you grew up poor or whatever. Can you give us a little bit of circumstances? And as a child, did you know that you were poor? Did you or did you just think this was Normal.
Rachel: No, I grew up with a single mom who just unfortunately didn’t have a college education and, didn’t have great jobs as far as money. And I very much knew I was poor. I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that my friends were doing. I wanted to go to the movies and, just go do all these other things.
And I and my mom did a great job. This is no, nothing negative on her, but this was her reality.
Rachel: And so I had to not do a lot of the things that I wanted to do that I saw my friends doing. So, yes, it was very obvious that I was in a lower financial place than a lot of my friends were.
I qualified for free lunch at school, which was just for me, and I wish it wasn’t like this. It was very embarrassing, and so we worked it out where I didn’t have to do that so I definitely knew that I was, and it’s just circumstances.
Barb: So you had some pretty loud money messages that told you your circumstances and where you were at.
Rachel: Yeah, and I also had, again, a single parent who was struggling, so she also taught me to be anxious about money,
right? without actually saying that, but
her actions were, you don’t spend any money and you do save every penny you have and you do panic when something comes up because that was the life.
So without those words being taught to me, I was definitely taught to never spend money and always save money. And so I was very panicky as I got older and I had my own money about spending it.
Maggie: Yeah, it’s so interesting how much what you learn when you’re a kid and how money was talked about really plays out. And even though you said, at one point, all your finances on a piece of paper, they look really good, but there is that point where your mindset still doesn’t match up.
And so, you don’t feel that success or, no money will ever really be enough until you take care of that mental state. And so how did you shift your mindset from thinking? Fear and anxiety to this empowerment and how can our listeners, do the same?
Rachel: Well, it’s not easy and it’s definitely not fast. Which I think is, a lot of folks want like a quick fix and sometimes people even ask me, well, how can I just pay this off or whatever? And it’s just like getting healthy and eating healthy or losing weight or whatever.
Like it’s just not there’s no one thing. So I had to do a lot of self reflection and I also did some therapy, which I’m a big advocate for therapy in general, but just like trying to understand because I really didn’t, it sounds so obvious when I tell the story, but at the time I really didn’t connect.
Oh, I’m feeling so panicky because that’s how I grew up and that’s the message that was told to me. Just didn’t really think about it. So I’m like, no, I went into nonprofits, so I never had a lot of money, but I had as much money in my savings account as I was making in a year.
So, it’s not like I was worried about paying rent tomorrow and I
had a job.
When I had friends calling me out on it, that’s when I started to be like, why am I? And then I started to recognize oh my gosh, I have more money than my mom, but I’m still just as stressed as she was.
And so that’s not helpful. That’s not what I wanted to be. And so I just had to go back and remember why I learned all this stuff to begin with and why I became interested in why I was doing good physical things with my money because I didn’t want to be stressed
and then I was really stressed about it. So just a lot of self reflection and a good therapist
Barb: So, what were your friends calling you out on? They have observed something in you before you did.
Rachel: Yeah, this is like embarrassing but you know what we all have to tell our money stories, and I have a huge advocate for that. Whenever I would go out with my friends I would order an appetizer and water because I did not want to spend any money on the whole meal or any drinks, soda, like whatever it was, and sometimes it would be like, is that all you’re eating? Or, you don’t want a beer or whatever. And I would be like, oh, I can’t spend the money. And then it was, many times of me doing that. But I was always very open about money too, like my friends and family has always asked me for advice about, like, how to pay off debt and how to just get organized and how to create a budget and all that kind of stuff.
So I’ve always been very open about
money.
So they knew, I had money in the bank and I had a job and I didn’t have any debt. They’re all paying back their student loans still, and so, yeah, they just started asking me, like why can’t you just order a friggin hamburger?
What is going on? And of course I would just say, I just don’t want to spend the money and they’d be like, but don’t you have it? And my response would be like, yeah, but that’s not to spend.
Barb: I’m not supposed to enjoy myself.
Rachel: Right, exactly.
what’s it for? And I just had to stop and think I don’t actually know.
It’s just for security.
That’s what it’s for because I was taught that your money could just go away at any given second. And so if that happens, I want to make sure that I’m prepared. You do have to be prepared for the unexpected
in the future, but you also have to learn to live in today.
And I wasn’t doing both of those
Barb: Well, good for your friends. We all have blind spots that we just don’t see. And I think it’s healthy for them to say, you deserve that. You work hard. You deserve to enjoy. So yeah, can I reiterate what Maggie said, what are some good steps? I know you said you got therapy. And. You did some reflection, but what else can you give people who are like, huh, maybe I do have some money blocks.
Rachel: So, I do recommend money mindset before you make goals or start your budget or whatever else. That is the most important thing. So people think like actions create success, but what is causing you to act? It’s your thoughts. And so if your thoughts aren’t there, you’re not going to have the right actions or you’ll have the right actions for a week or two or three, like a new year’s resolution.
And then you’ll lose some steam. So a lot of people just want to dive right in. Okay. I want to save this amount, or I want to pay off this much debt. How do I do it? Well, we got to take a step back. And so my first session that I have with my clients is going back to your childhood and looking at how you grew up around money.
So I think that’s really a good first step is just like looking back and what was I taught about money? And again, it doesn’t have to be something you were physically told , but what did you learn about money growing up? What was your perception of money? How did your parents handle money?
Did they argue about money together? Or was it never talked about? And so you’ve literally never learned anything at all. I think learning some poor habits is the same as learning nothing. Right? It’s not great. And so reflecting back and I know it’s so cliche, but it’s so true.
Like you have to go back to your childhood and recognize some of those things. then you also have to forgive yourself. That’s a big thing is so many people hold so much shame and guilt around some of their money choices. And I understand that’s very common and I understand how that can happen.
But if you’re going back and you’re reflecting on your childhood and you’re starting to see some of those connections, like it wasn’t my fault that I was super stressed about money at the age of 32, even though on paper I looked fine and it wasn’t my mom’s fault either, like it was just circumstances that caused it to happen and I didn’t know any better.
So like, how am I supposed to judge myself and be angry with myself if I didn’t know any better? If you’ve learned nothing about money because your parents just never talked about it, then how can you expect to know everything and how can you expect to be really good at it? Again, it takes time, but start changing your mindset and letting go of some of those negative thoughts that you have about yourself because it’s not your fault.
Maggie: I think some of those thoughts, they’re just hard to catch in the moment. And that’s one of the hardest part is just catching when you’re thinking that thought, especially those old verbiages well, money doesn’t grow on trees, or, those different ones where you’re like, Oh, yeah, that’s not a great money thought that’s adding to my head, right .
Rachel: Right. Exactly. Exactly. And so, in the moment that this is what I have an exercise that I go over with my clients, but that’s part of it. It’s like you do have to start recognizing in the moment when you’re saying things and start to change that and it takes some time. But as an example, we all do it and I
still do it, right?
I’m just better at catching myself now than I was. But you know a couple of years ago, we had friends that bought a lake house and my very first thought in my head was must be nice. We can’t afford a lake
Yeah.
And then I was like, whoa, that didn’t feel good. Why am I saying that? And so I had to like change it.
And so what I was telling myself in that time was like, number one, that didn’t feel good. So obviously that’s not a good thing to tell myself. Cause I wasn’t feeling positive about that. And then number two, my question to myself was, do I want a lake house? If I had enough money to buy one, would I want one?
And my answer is no, I don’t want one. I literally have no interest in it. And then I had to start thinking. Technically probably could not today, but could afford a lake house. If that’s something we really wanted to do, we would just have to stop doing some of the other things that we do, to do it.
And so just like really changing that, like again, recognizing in the moment when you’re like, I didn’t feel good to say that. And even if it’s later, that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be, that exact time, but recognizing when you’re saying things that aren’t feeling good to you and then just in the moment just try to like go through some questions and change that.
Barb: mindset.
It’s interesting that you say that because it’s a knee jerk reaction, right? It’s such a knee jerk reaction based on your feelings about money and how I don’t have a, it must be nice. That must be nice. But you never know someone else’s financial circumstances. They could be in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and still
buying a lake house, and everybody has their own financial situation. And your story is also interesting because so often when we hear about money stories, it’s the opposite. I never learned anything about money that we just spent. So
now I’m in this horrible debt situation where yours is the opposite.
You didn’t want to spend, you just wanted to save. So, very interesting. But tell us about the types of clients that you work with, maybe some success stories that you’ve had and how you approach the work that you do.
Rachel: Yeah, I certainly approach it totally open minded and non judgmental because, like you just said, you don’t know what someone’s money story is and also you don’t know what their situations. And I also help my clients recognize they shouldn’t be judging themselves or other people either, right, because we don’t know where folks are coming from.
I had a couple, like a husband and wife client who Interesting, which I find this the woman was like, spend everything, don’t really care. And the man was like, oh my gosh, can’t spend a thing. And I love actually that we like that because sometimes they feel like we’re not on the same page.
We’re never going to be on the same page. We just don’t agree on this. And that’s not true. You can absolutely come and meet in the middle. She still was more of a spender and he was more of a saver.
I’m not going to change that about somebody.
I’m still more of a saver. But I helped them come in the middle and be understanding of where each other was coming from. And they both really appreciated that. They both felt like their relationship was better and their communication was way better. Because yes, while they held maybe some different Values and those things they understood where each other was coming from and we went through their money story with each other And so they were able to talk about it out loud. But the greatest thing with that couple I think well, that was probably the greatest thing is that their communication was better and their relationship was better but one very specific example was, he was invited to some kind of guys trip or something with his friends and he said he spent I forget what It was less than a thousand dollars wasn’t a ton on that trip and for the very first time in his life, he spent money without feeling stressed about it.
Barb: He knew he had it saved up and he was really excited to go and do it and he wasn’t feeling stressed about it. So, that was really important to me because that’s where we want to get to. We don’t want to get to a place where we have X amount of debt or X amount in the savings. Yes, that’s great if that’s your goal, but the ultimate goal should be, I want to feel less stress about money.Yeah. And if you’re going on a trip and you’re feeling stressed about spending the money to go on, the trip’s not enjoyable.
Maggie: It’s so interesting to always see the dynamic of two people, one who’s a saver and one who’s a spender because, neither are right or wrong. It’s really, probably how you grew up but it is a hard dynamic kind of to come together and find that middle ground just because they are so opposite sometimes.
Rachel: I will say though, that is a way better combination, than 2 spenders or 2 savers. because.
Maggie: Touche.
Touche.
Rachel: So my husband is more of a spender and I’m more of a saver and we definitely even each other out. I’m less stress spending money and he’s less he feels good about saving. Yeah. So, we enjoy stuff but we come in the middle, but we also have very good communication and we always have around money and you’ve got to have that regardless of how you feel about money.
Barb: Yeah. Awesome. So tell me more about the coaching that you do. Is it a money mindset or else do you also do financial coaching as well?
Rachel: Yes, it’s both. So I’m not a financial advisor, which some people get confused about. So I don’t do like investments and stuff. Though I have some wonderful people that I work with and I can refer folks to. But mine is, so money mindset is where we start and we, there’s not one session that I’ve ever had that doesn’t have some money mindset in it because that’s the most important thing.
And it’s also the long, like it takes the longest to truly, get past, but I also help folks put together a budget. We do it together. People are smart enough to put a spreadsheet together. I also use a very simple spreadsheet. I think the easier, the better, the more likely they are to keep it up.
But I like to talk through it because when people say words out loud and they say numbers out loud, it’s much more impactful. So we talk through it. So we put together a whole budget and then I make sure I share it with them so they have the access to it. And then we update it. We have goals. That one spreadsheet I have has their general monthly budget.
It’s got their savings and like what’s in there so we can update it, all their debt and what’s in there so we can update it. And then also we work on like a paycheck like cash flow. Instead of just a general, but we do put the general monthly budget together first. So it’s a lot of organization and it takes a little bit of time to go through, but not really that long.
It’s just more of updating it and stuff and making sure you’re keeping up with it. So it’s both of those things. Very much money mindset, but very much also like organization and also getting some very realistic short and long term goals out there and starting to make some moves
towards that. A lot of people think, oh, well, I can’t buy a lake house. Well, if that’s something you really want to do, let’s talk about it and make sure it’s something you really want to do. And then let’s see how, what steps we can take because every little bit helps. Can you do everything that’s in your dreams tomorrow?
Probably not. But if you can start working towards them and also really recognize what is important to you, that’s where I really. A focus on 2 is what is important to you? Is it important to you to watch a lot of TV? Then great. You can have all the streaming services you want. But do you recognize that’s not really that important to you and you can cut some out?
Well, great. Let’s do that because we’re just want to it’s not about how much you spend or how little you spend. It’s about where you’re spending it. And if you’re spending it on the things that are really important to you. There’s always some where you can
Maggie: spend money, so you have to find what’s important to you because there’s always an outlet it could go to. I never run short of things that I could spend money on, lake house trips, TV subscriptions, whatever it is. So it’s just figuring out which one aligns with me and where I want to be.
Barb: I do want to go back to one thing you said earlier was that you had student loans and you worked really hard to pay them off and you did, which is a big conversation these days. Can you give us a few strategies on what you did? To get them paid off?
Rachel: I wouldn’t listen to me because I did nothing. I didn’t leave my house. I just worked. So,
literally did not spend 1 penny that I didn’t have to spend. And I paid him off in 3 and a half years. So, I’m not saying to pay your student loans off. That’s what you have to do. To pay them off in three and a half years, you might have to do that.
So in student loans, here’s the thing. So many people are very focused on student loans. And I get it because often times it’s a really big number. But if you also have credit card debt, you shouldn’t really be focusing on your student loans. Usually the interest is much lower.
And unfortunately, the amount is much higher. So it’s going to take you some time to do that, and also because the interest rate is lower, we want some of these credit cards now are 35 percent interest, and if you have a 6 or 7 percent on your student loans, you want to focus on the credit card, and then you also want to focus on not only getting that higher interest paid off, but then also the healthy money habits to set more aside, then you can start focusing on your student loans.
Barb: Got it. And then do you work with people on a monthly basis? Do you have a six month program? How does it work?
Rachel: So it’s a little flexible. I do require my clients if they purchase a package to at least meet with me monthly, but my recommendation is when you first start meeting with me to do it every other week. And then usually everyone’s different. So I can just say usually, but four or five sessions and then folks start to go back to monthly.
I do have a larger program for folks that, that. Really want to do every other week and it’s just for couples and it’s 10 sessions. So it’s about six months and they do every other week with me for the full 10 sessions, but my goal is always to work with people at least monthly until they’re feeling more comfortable And then start stepping back and have my clients end up meeting with me only quarterly It’s not a recommendation to just never just be like, okay, I’m good.
I’m never gonna see you again but you know at least if you just have a quarterly check in .
Maggie: Yeah, I always find it’s great to have that resource to turn to when, something unexpected comes good or bad, because it always will, and so how to either best utilize the money that came in or the change in situation and kind of regroup and regather it’s always great to have that one source who already knows your situation.
It’s like going to the doctor that you already are familiar with, so they know your baseline and what you’re working with without starting over right at that point.
Rachel: Right. Yep. And you make a good point too, is sometimes there’s an influx of money. And I have known many people including clients who have gotten some kind of bonus or tax refund or something. And then a month or two later, they’re like, I don’t really know what I spent it on. I just know it’s gone.
And so I help folks with that too is actually one tab on my spreadsheet. That is just for that type of thing and not everybody has that but if you have that you know that you’re getting a Tax refund or you know that you’re getting some type of I don’t know You know money coming in from somewhere you want to pre plan where you’re spending it because you don’t want it to just flow in with the rest of your spending and then you didn’t enjoy it. Where do you really want that money to go you want to put your savings you whatever?
And so if you pre plan something, you’re much more likely to actually stick with it, as opposed to just you getting it, and you’re being like, Ooh, sweet, $1,000! and then, before you know it, it’s gone.
Maggie: Wishing everybody some unknown influx of money coming their way in 2025.
Rachel: And here’s the thing, I don’t have the statistics in front of me, which I should have, but some insane amount of lottery winners are completely broke in just a few years. So an influx of money is not really helpful. And that’s a lot of people are like, oh, I just need to make more money. And my response is number one, why? Oh, I just want more. No, why? Because what does that mean? What does more mean? And have you really looked into your finances to really see if that’s the issue? Of course, we all would like to make more money, but we need to know why we want to and what we want to do with that money.
Barb: So the last question we like to wrap up with is, what does financial freedom mean to you?
Rachel: Yes. It means not feeling stressed. I know that’s a simple answer, but for me, very personally, it means having enough money in my savings account that if something happens, it’s covered, but that’s not for everybody. So it’s important to remember they say you should have X amount in your savings.
That’s great. If you want to follow all that wonderful, but you need to make sure you’re doing what makes you comfortable and what makes you feel less stress. And so. It’s just about stress. Am I feeling stressed about money or not? Whether I’m spending it or not spending it, how are you feeling? And so for me, financial freedom means I no longer sit around and worry about my money all the time.
As a crappy example, I just got into a car accident and it was totally my fault. And I had to buy a new car and my car was not old and I’m still mentally struggling with it. and It sucked and I didn’t want to buy a new car, but we had the money to be able to handle it. And so the stress wasn’t about money.
The stress was about, I love my car.
I can’t believe it’s gone. I also got a ticket, I’m like, I made a mistake. And but the stress wasn’t money. I didn’t want to spend my money on that, right? That’s not, but we had money set aside for those types of emergencies. And so, what is stressing you out about money, like being very honest about that and helping to fix that concern will bring you some financial freedom.
Barb: Yeah. Well, accidents happen. Life happens. Like we say, it’s not if it’s going to happen. It’s when and you were fully prepared. So kudos to you. Yeah. Not being stressed is an excellent way to define, financial freedom. So good for you. That’s fantastic.
Maggie: I think that definition is so great as we hear so many women almost waking up in the middle of the night or
can’t fall asleep being stressed about these finances. And so if you don’t have those worries and those anxieties, it’s a full night’s rest, which is priceless, right?
And so just not wasting your energy and your thoughts and in that area can just be so relieving as well.
Rachel: And I’m calling out some women on this because I see this more often with women, but at the beginning it can be hard, right? It can be challenging because what happens is we have to be very honest with ourselves which is not always, not that men are great at it.
I’m not saying that but I just see more women saying things like I mean I get my nails done, but that’s not a big deal. I don’t do it very often or it’s fine or oh, I have to take care of my kids I’m a miserable person and I don’t ever buy anything for myself. I have to take care of my kids like but not being honest with yourself about what do you need, though?
And also, what do you want to provide for your kids? There’s a lot of that, too, is Do you want to provide your kids with a lot of stuff? Or do you want to provide them with some healthy money habits? I see that a lot with women, but also, getting off topic it’s just like the being honest with yourself and also being honest with other people.
I find that challenging for a lot of women for some reason to just be comfortable talking about money with their friends or be comfortable talking with my, or talking about money to their family. That’s also a big thing.
And I get that can be very stressful and a lot of anxiety at the beginning, but the more you do it, the easier it will be.
And it’s just like anything, if you ignore it, it’s not going away.
Maggie: Yeah. You got to get in your reps. You got to continue the conversation. And I know before people, thought it was rude to talk about, but we’re not asking, what’s your paycheck and let’s analyze it. But just more of these general conversations, making it less taboo. That’s why we’re all here talking about this shit to keep the conversation going.
Rachel: Yeah, because the thing is we all have money. We all want money. We all need money, it’s just the fact of the world and so why not talk about it?
Maggie: Yeah. Definitely. Well, thank you, Rachel, for coming on today and sharing your expertise with our community. We’re definitely going to have links to all your information if people want to work with you in the show notes and people can stay connected. And until then, for all our listeners, be financially fearless, go out there and take some action, have these great conversations.
And I know just all these little steps will really move us forward.
Thank you for coming on today, Rachel, and we’ll talk to everyone soon until then, be financially fearless.
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