Let's Talk About Money Baby!

[00:00:22] Speaker A: Hey, friends. I love talking about money and ways money can help us have the happiest lives. And it has nothing to do with having a lot of it or more than the next guy. It has to do with your views on money and what your goals are. On today's episode, I invited my friend Cherie Austin to talk about money, freedom, and how both individuals and couples can develop their own personalized money strategies to build the life they want. Cherie's holistic approach to money focuses on being practical while carving out space to dream. Enjoy our chat. Hey, girl. It is so good to see you. [00:01:03] Speaker B: It's so good to see you, too. It's been a long time. [00:01:06] Speaker A: It has been a long time. So Sheree and I met working at a tanning salon when I think we were both in high school. And we had a lot of fun because we didn't have the same circle of friends and we didn't necessarily get to work together that much, but we cross over a lot. And I was so excited when your name popped up on my LinkedIn a couple of weeks back. And I said, I need to understand what is going on in your life. So I'm so glad you're here. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Likewise. Thanks for reaching out. This is so exciting to catch up and see what's what. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And what I found to be so interesting is I didn't know where you went, what you were doing kind of after high school, and I'd kind of see your name popped up a couple of times and then coming across your LinkedIn and seeing kind of your message overall about mindfully approaching money, attacking financial freedom. I said, okay, I'm going to talk to her because this is such a huge part of the conversation that I have with my clients when I'm talking about premarital, know, educating them throughout the divorce process and throughout the divorce process. And it's just something people just don't pay enough attention to. Okay, so I can't wait to hear what you have to say, but tell everyone where you're joining me from. [00:02:28] Speaker B: Yeah, so I live in Chicago now, but as you mentioned, I grew up in the Bay area, went to school in the Bay area. So it's a new chapter of life, new career, but very much laid on the foundation of my finance career and finance education. [00:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So tell me about your education background and your work background and how it got you to where you are now. [00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah, so I got my finance degree from Santa Clara University. I went straight into corporate, started working in accounting, and then decided to go back to school. To get my MBA, continued my work through corporate accounting and finance. I worked in a lot of startups that went IPO. I started working in equity management and then finally ended up in financial compensation and financial analysis. I love math. Love excel. Accounting was a little too mundane for me. It was too routine. So I really enjoyed the compensation aspect where it's a lot of psychology and behavior behind money. So that kind of led me down a very interesting path to where I am today. [00:03:42] Speaker A: Yeah. You know what's funny is it's always funny when I talk to people who are in finance or wealth management because we could not be more opposite. As a lawyer, I don't want anything to do with math. When I have to create an excel spreadsheet, I'm literally on Google or sometimes TikTok because I feel like the young people know what they're doing. I don't know what I'm doing. We learned it in college, but it is like the bane of my existence, especially when it comes to tracking data. So I think that that's what's so funny sometimes when you talk to people in finance and then somebody who's drastically trying to keep their hands out of the math world because it's the last thing I want to deal with with my client. [00:04:26] Speaker B: I totally get it. I feel like if I were in your shoes, I would be very out of my depth. So leave the excel to me. [00:04:34] Speaker A: Yeah, good. Exactly. I plan on doing that. So why don't you tell me about your transition into starting your own kind of financial advising, coaching business? [00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So I had always kind of, in the back of my mind, envisioned myself as having my own business. I just didn't really know what that looked like. And I was so focused on my corporate career, climbing the ladder, grinding, and being that type a performer, that was always my mo. But as I continued to move through the corporate world, I started to realize I was getting really tired. I was super burnt out, I was getting really unhappy, and I was basically having no work life balance. So the more and more I realized this, the more and more I was like, okay, something needs to change. This is not working for me anymore. [00:05:24] Speaker A: Right. [00:05:25] Speaker B: So I kind of came to a point where I kept telling myself, okay, I'm going to quit. I'm going to figure it out. But of course, that's not like the quote unquote responsible thing to do, just to quit without a plan. And very unlike me being super type a. So I kind of got to that point so many times where I was like, no, it's not that bad. I'm kind of talking myself out of quitting. And eventually I was like, okay, something's got to change. I started looking at my career history, seeing, okay, there's a pattern emerging. I started a new job. It was fun and exciting for a while. Then I started getting tired, burnt out. I'm like, okay, I'm going to find a new job. Cycle of repetition over and over again. I'm like, okay, it's not the job. It's me in the job. It's how I'm approaching work. So I figured, okay, we're going to try something completely different. We're going to quit. No plan, no agenda, no milestones, nothing. We're just going to take some time off, reset and see what happens. So that distance really was priceless. In giving me perspective, I was able to reconnect to my passions, reconnect to kind of my childhood and what I liked, doing, what I was good at, what was natural for me, and that distance was just such amazing perspective to get. Obviously, I know not a lot of people get that opportunity, so I do find myself really grateful that I was in that point. However, don't get me wrong, quitting was not an easy decision. I was scared shitless. Sorry, I don't know if I can swear. [00:06:58] Speaker A: You can swear? Okay, great. [00:07:00] Speaker B: I was totally scared shitless. It was like In Excel, running a bunch of models, doing my financial analysis. My good old Excel, my budy seeing, okay, how long can I live without getting a paycheck? I had some money saved up. I was in a very good spot to do it. And I figured if I'm not going to do this now, I'm never going to do it. So, took the risk, I took the leap, and it worked out. Luckily. I figured, worst case, I can always go back and get another corporate job if I really need to. Down the line, but I needed to take that time for me to figure out what my next step was. So again, reconnecting to my passions. I was like, oh, my God. There's been themes that have been present throughout my life that have been just constants. So one was money and math. I always loved money. I got a coin counter as a kid and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Like such a nerd. But yeah, obviously really enjoyed math. That led me into my finance career, my finance education. I also really like puzzles. I'm always like a problem solver. I like to find different solutions, get creative with how we can bypass obstacles. So that kind of is the strategy piece in my last job, obviously, was doing a lot of financial analysis, trying to figure out how to drive behavior through financial compensation. So again, it's like that money, but the strategy, the puzzling together. And I thought, okay, this could be something, right? Like, people get so much free financial advice everywhere you can find 100 different tips on how to budget, how to save, how to do whatever, but it's not really looking at the full picture. I like to approach my business as more of a holistic approach to money. So, yes, we deal with the tangible money approach. We look at your financial behaviors, your financial goals, like the actual numbers, but we also look at the emotion. So that's the mindset. Like, how did you grow up with money as a kid? What influences your behaviors? What is the psychology underneath that money stuff? [00:09:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:06] Speaker B: And that is really the piece that I think is missing. Like I said, you see a lot of financial coaches telling you, oh, save money, have an emergency fund, have this, have that. But there's a lot of emotional obstacles that people are facing that keep them in a cycle of being stuck and not being able to follow through consistently with these financial tips. So breaking down those mental and emotional obstacles is really my sweet spot. And again, it's like a puzzle of like, okay, well, why do you think this. How did you get to this point? What are those underlying conditions that drive that behavior? [00:09:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it's the human side of it, right? It's the part that you can't just have a formula for every person. It's not going to work. I approach my business the same way. While there's some procedural steps we have to follow and it has to be that way. Right, for my business. But it's what really drives people in their life. Right. If having an emergency fund isn't for them because they want to spend their money now or they have these goals, they have things that they want to accomplish and do that cost money now, whether you're young or whatever it is, before they have kids, there's all sorts of things they want to push off certain savings goals for later, whether or not that would be your overall advice, but that's what they need. So then you have to kind of craft, I'm assuming an approach based on, okay, you're going to have to be more aggressive later, you're going to have to do this. But that's the human side, and I think that's really smart. [00:10:31] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. It is not a one size fits all situation. It is specific to you and your goals, your lifestyle, your stage in life, too. Right. There's so many factors that go into it. You can't just prescriptively say, this is the only way to do money. [00:10:49] Speaker A: Totally. I love that. I think that that's really helpful because I know people that have had experiences, and it's a very rigid approach. Or there's lots of. There's podcasts, there's books, there's people online that are going to tell you, this is just the way. This has always been the way. And I just sit there, even myself, going like, yes, you can do well following this, like, step one, step two, step three. But that's just not reality. I really love that you kind of take that high level approach because I think it makes a difference, and that's also going to be what attracts the right types of clients to you. So that kind of takes me to my other question is, what are your typical clients like? What's your ideal client? Who are you serving right now? [00:11:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So I kind of have a twofold approach to my clients. One is individuals. A lot of the individuals that come to me are really money avoidant. They might be making decent money, but they're really not tracking anything. They feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck, or they're just never getting ahead on saving for a house, saving for a wedding, saving for kids, whatever their goals might be, they feel like this constant pressure, but don't seem to be making any progress towards those goals. And they're scared to look at what their financial situation might be. They're kind of just floating, and they don't know where to start. Maybe like you, they say that they're not a numbers person, and they are just kind of stuck, overwhelmed, and stressed out, but they just don't have a lifeline to grab onto. So what I do with those clients is kind of do a reset, look at their financial situation, the entire landscape, and kind of get them to step one so that we can then create that path for their vision of financial freedom. And then the other piece is couples. So I do work with couples, and while a lot of the approach is the same, looking at where they are now, where they want to be, and then the steps to get there, it's also about collaborating with each other because they are partners, right. So facilitating better communication, understanding each other's perspective. So there's additional complexity when you're trying to look at two different people's financial situation, whether or not they decide to merge finances or keep them separate, and then just facilitate that better communication between them. [00:13:12] Speaker A: So what would you say are kind of like your two to three standard tips for individuals who are looking for money freedom. [00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So first and foremost is really just get clear on what that looks like for you. Right. If you don't know what you're trying to achieve or where you're trying to go, you're just going to be spinning in circles. So get very clear, very specific on what that goal is, whether it's a number, a milestone, what have you. Right. It's going to be different for everyone, but get clear on what that is. Secondly, get curious about why that's important to you. I think a lot of people pick goals out of the air saying, well, I heard I should be doing this or so, and so told me I need to be doing this. But if it's not personal to you and if it's not driving your motivation somehow, you're probably not going to stick to it. It's going to be really hard to stay motivated. So understanding that why making it personal to you is critical. And then lastly, personal finance is personal. Right. So while comparison might be a good thing in some respects, like, you can look at other people and see, okay, it's possible to achieve that, I see someone else achieving that. So comparing yourself to them is maybe inspiration, but it's also kind of a cycle that you can easily get stuck in and maybe not a positive one. So don't get cut off on what everyone else is doing. Focus on what's personal to you. Again, it's not a one size fits all situation. You have to really understand what works for you and your specific circumstance. [00:14:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And this conversation comes up sometimes not just with my clients, but friends, family, because I'm the kind of person that I would rather carry some low interest debt. [00:15:04] Speaker B: Right. [00:15:04] Speaker A: Like, I have a great mortgage, pre pandemic mortgage. That's awesome. I refinance my student loans for a really low rate. And so while, yeah, I would love to not have that debt and have that money to play with, it's not that bad because the interest rate is pretty doable. I would rather have my money in high yield savings accounts and investment accounts, earning more money on that money sitting in there than paying off my loan quicker. Additionally, when it comes to business or building myself, investing myself, I would rather go into a little bit of debt here and there to get the value for my business to grow, grow myself and then pay that off with the skills that I'm growing for myself because that's more valuable to me. That's the way I think about money. Some people are totally debt adverse. They don't want it, whatever their life situation is. Luckily, financially, I'm in a place where I know where my paychecks are coming from and I know how much and I know where I'm going. And so I have the privilege of making those types of decisions. But when it comes to the overall picture as an individual, I'm okay with carrying that debt because I know what my money is making in all my other accounts and I'm making more. And my husband's not necessarily that way, but he doesn't care. He also is like, you manage those things, you got it, right. I trust that whatever decisions we're making with our investments and or debt is the right choice. And that's the gamble that I'm willing to play because that makes sense to me in the way that I live my life and my financial goals. But lots of people are totally the opposite. And I get it. I get it. Debt is scary sometimes. [00:16:47] Speaker B: That just beautifully illustrates the notion that it's not a one size fits all, right? There are so many factors that will contribute to what is the right decision for you. It's all a trade off, right? Like, yes, you might sacrifice having debt on your credit report, but you might be benefiting in some other way versus someone who is more risk averse. They might get a bigger sense of relief by not having any debt. And that peace of mind is priceless to them. [00:17:14] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:17:15] Speaker B: You can't prescribe, again, a one size fits all situation. You have to determine what is suitable for you and your personal circumstances. [00:17:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And so when you're working with couples, what are some of the tools you use when you have couples that might have different ideas of managing money in order to come up with a plan that can work for them together. [00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think that's a critical piece that a lot of couples maybe don't even consider or don't even realize is underlying clarifying what goals you have as a couple, but then also what goals you might have as individuals. Even though you are a unit, it doesn't necessarily mean you're aligned on every single aspect of finance. So clarifying what is important to you jointly but also separately, that is oftentimes a really big shock to people who come to me because they have just never discussed it in those terms before. And then also in that respect, getting curious about why those goals are important to your partner, again, both jointly and separately. And then don't assume that you're on the same page. Right. You need to clarify where you align and where maybe you don't align and then figuring out if there needs to be an adjustment in your expectations for your goals or if you can coexist trying to pursue these maybe disparate goals. So a lot of it is just communication and knowing as an individual what's important to you, but then also being able to communicate it to your partner, along with the importance of why that goal is a goal for you. [00:18:54] Speaker A: You just said so many of my buzwords that get me tingly. As somebody who's so passionate about premarital planning, and I talk about money a lot on my instagram. I talk about it a lot in my premarital course. It's don't make assumptions. It's don't set expectations that are not based on facts. Right. And while we're talking about money specifically, this can apply to so many different parts of relationships. But additionally, knowing what your partner's goals are in life, whether that's health, career, money, whatever that is, finding ways for you to support that with or without your participation. And money is one of those key points is some people say, look, I have a goal to do this. It's going to cost me this much money, or I'm going to need this much money to accomplish it. Then the team can come together to say, okay, we're going to accomplish this together. It might benefit specifically one person's goal. But when one person of a partnership is meeting their goal, whether that's finance or personal health, wealth, whatever that is, right. Their goal, the overall partnership is so much stronger. When you watch people succeed and meet these goals, and so many people think about money in the wrong way, especially, I see this in divorce. A lot is what money can do to benefit. The joy you get from life is so different than dollars. Right. So many people just think in dollars, but we have to think about what money does to keep you safe, happy, financially secure, but also get joy. And there is a number for everybody that's different in divorce. Everybody, especially in California here, based on how the laws are written, it's always, what am I entitled? Right. Well, I want what I'm entitled to. Well, that means that's relative, right? But what are your needs? What are your needs so that you can be taken care of and accomplish your goals? And if we take that same concept, two married couples working together, or people who are in long term partnerships, whether they get legally married or not, is how can we take your individual goals and work together to support those financially? And then what are our goals as a couple financially and how is that going to impact it? It's just such a missing piece. And so many people get married without that conversation. It's surprising to me, but I get it. I do get it in the way that people have kind of seen dating to getting married. Like, the premarital planning conversation is not super sexy. I'm trying to make it that and trying to get more people to talk about it. But just listening to you talk about that, it literally just checked all my boxes when I'm thinking about like, oh, yes, just invest a little bit of time, ask questions, know what your goals are. And so it must be really enjoyable. I mean, I would think it would be, but even from your perspective, based on what you've shared about how you practice, enjoyable to watch these couples share those goals and then work together and come up with a goal together, I just love that. Yeah. [00:22:03] Speaker B: I mean, oftentimes this is the first time that they're even considering this topic. And I'm like, you guys got married without talking about this? Yeah. [00:22:12] Speaker A: So often. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Each their own. But like you, I highly recommend having very frequent and open conversations. And yes, money is an emotional topic, so sometimes it does get a little heated. But having your partner be your cheerleader, you should be able to approach uncomfortable topics with your partner. And it doesn't have to be all accomplished in one setting. Right. You can have small, bite sized pieces of conversation and build up to these bigger topics. But I think overall, again, just remembering to be kind and go in with an open mind, being curious about your partner and kind of leaving judgment to the side for a moment just to better understand where each other is coming from and understand how you can coexist and collaborate together instead of working against each other? [00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Are there any other tips for couples that you would want to share that you see coming up in a lot of your conversations? [00:23:17] Speaker B: I think also just understanding, I think a big piece is obviously how you grow up with money, and not everyone has had the same background or same exposure to a financial conversation or just good financial habits. So again, just kind of peeling back the onion a little bit and understanding where those financial conversations started with your partner to better understand kind of the foundation that they're working with. Some couples have someone who's very educated financially and someone who has very limited financial knowledge. So kind of trying to get on an even footing to, again, facilitate long term success in your financial situation, I think is so critical. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I also say, and this is from experiencing it in divorce so often, is don't let one person be the person that handles the finances. Right. That is, I think, a huge mistake. That doesn't mean, like, in my marriage, I manage the finances generally, I facilitate taxes. I kind of do the investment strategies. But my husband is on every account. We talk about updates, we talk about how the accounts are performing, whether or not we're going to need money for anything coming up in this year that we want to set aside separately. So while I might be making a lot of the decisions with that aspect is fine, but I think there's something very different about like, oh, handling the money, and I have no idea. It's shocking to me how many people don't really know how much their spouse makes. Right? Like even that little question, like, oh, I don't know, or what's on your tax returns, they just sign it. And again, there can be one person who primarily is responsible. But I think when people say that, that's kind of a cop out for the person that either doesn't want to do it or in the reverse, the person who is doing it is making the other person feel like they can't be involved. So I think it can go from both directions, but really push at the beginning to be involved in the finances or share the finances with the other person. Because in a divorce, well, obviously talking about it hopefully prevents some of those financial stressors that do come into play in marriages. But in the event of divorce, when you need that information, you don't want to play the, I don't know what's going on with the finances. It's actually a very difficult place to be in. While there's mechanisms to get that information, I just feel like there should be conversations on a. Doesn't have to be monthly, doesn't even have to be quarterly, but it should be yearly. Right? Set your goals for the year financially, exchange documents, do all those things. But I'm glad you shared that, too, because that's like. Exactly. I just want people to know more as a couple, what's going on financially, because you never know. Like worst case scenarios, we've seen couples where the person who primarily managed all the finances passes away and then that person's left wallowing. You might have a trust account or a trust in place to help manage and facilitate that, but then you're still having to figure it out. I just want everybody to be so capable of handling these moments on their own, whether that's through divorce or during the marriage. That transparency and discussion, I love that you highlighted it because I think it's so important and isn't doing these things going to prevent your divorce, right. I don't know. I don't know your relationship. [00:26:50] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:50] Speaker A: But I'm always an advocate of do as much as you possibly can that you can control to help strengthen your marriage. Right. And the rest of your life is going to fall into place. But yeah, it's hard when couples think differently or think about money differently. [00:27:07] Speaker B: But again, if you find yourself in a partnership where maybe one partner is in control again of all the money and working on all the finances in a silo, what a great resource, right. You have a built in partner to learn from. If you yourself are the more passive role in your finances, you have a partner built in. You live with them. You can talk to your partner, learn, get curious about it. Again, it doesn't have to be like, okay, this is how you use Excel and all of the ins and outs and all of the minute details. As you said, it can be just a general overview just to give you kind of a lay of the land. And that's so critical. [00:27:45] Speaker A: Yeah, stop talking about Excel. You're just going to stress me out. [00:27:48] Speaker B: I've lost half your crowd. [00:27:51] Speaker A: So are there any trends that you're seeing right now that you think people should know about when it comes to financial planning or just wealth management in general? [00:28:01] Speaker B: Well, I just love seeing that more and more women are being taking a more active role in finances. I think it's so easy to say girl math and just move on with your life. But I do see quite an influx of women trying to get control of their finances. They have good jobs, they're trying to figure it out. And again, maybe they were just never exposed to financial conversations growing up or in school. Obviously, that's not a topic that's really discussed. So seeing that women are taking a driver's seat and becoming more empowered and taking control of their finances is really awesome. I think, too, just partners, being more open with communication and maybe moving away from the man. As the traditional owner of the finances and seeing women like yourself and your husband, you are kind of taking the more active role, I think. Just be open to new ways of doing things right. Again, we've said it a million times already, it's not a one size fits all. You have to find what works for you. [00:29:03] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So where can people find you to work with you? [00:29:07] Speaker B: So I'm on Instagram at where money meets manifesting, or my website, wheremoneymeatsmanifesting.com. And I am open for new clients, both individuals and couples. And I will be launching some new workshops in the spring. [00:29:22] Speaker A: Great. Well, I really appreciate your time today. Not only do I think money is literally the number one conversation couples should be having before getting married, so it just makes me all tingly inside because I love talking about it. But I really love your perspective. And I'm so happy that more people are providing this kind of more kind of concierge based money service and this hands on coaching, making wealth management and financial advice a little bit more accessible to the average person, because I think that can be really scary. So I love what you're doing, and it was so great to catch up. So I appreciate it. [00:30:00] Speaker B: Thanks so much, Chelsea. This was great, and I hope we can catch up soon again. [00:30:05] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. Bye. Shree. Bye.