Are you ready to kick your financial fears to the curb and take command of your money? This episode features Joey Beech, also known as the Financial Lit Lady, who proves that you don't need to be a math whiz to make smart financial decisions. Listen in as Joey shares her inspiring journey to financial literacy and the impact of money on our dignity. She'll help you see that financial independence is not just about bank balances; it's about empowering yourself to live a life of freedom and abundance.
We delve deep into the subconscious "set point" of our finances, the balance between enjoying life and saving for the future, and the all-important distinction between personal worth and net worth. Are you letting your financial status define your self-worth? Are you succumbing to societal pressures and media influences? We'll help you navigate through these tricky terrains and develop a confident and balanced approach to managing your money.
Finally, we offer practical insights on how to resist the emotional lures of consumerism and make mindful, intentional spending decisions. Joey provides valuable tips on achieving financial stability, one small step at a time. We wrap up by reflecting on the inspiration found in everyday life and how it shapes our journey towards our goals. So, prepare to up-level your financial knowledge, boost your confidence, and set yourself on a path towards financial freedom with us. Tune in now and transform your financial life!
To learn more about Joey, visit:
https://www.joeybeech.com/
To learn more about Mindy CLICK HERE
Are you ready to kick your financial fears to the curb and take command of your money? This episode features Joey Beech, also known as the Financial Lit Lady, who proves that you don't need to be a math whiz to make smart financial decisions. Listen in as Joey shares her inspiring journey to financial literacy and the impact of money on our dignity. She'll help you see that financial independence is not just about bank balances; it's about empowering yourself to live a life of freedom and abundance.
We delve deep into the subconscious "set point" of our finances, the balance between enjoying life and saving for the future, and the all-important distinction between personal worth and net worth. Are you letting your financial status define your self-worth? Are you succumbing to societal pressures and media influences? We'll help you navigate through these tricky terrains and develop a confident and balanced approach to managing your money.
Finally, we offer practical insights on how to resist the emotional lures of consumerism and make mindful, intentional spending decisions. Joey provides valuable tips on achieving financial stability, one small step at a time. We wrap up by reflecting on the inspiration found in everyday life and how it shapes our journey towards our goals. So, prepare to up-level your financial knowledge, boost your confidence, and set yourself on a path towards financial freedom with us. Tune in now and transform your financial life!
To learn more about Joey, visit:
https://www.joeybeech.com/
To learn more about Mindy CLICK HERE
Hey friends, this is your host, mindy Duff, and you're listening to Uplevel your Life with Mindy, your number one personal growth podcast that will bring you closer to uncovering your greatest self. As a certified holistic health and nutrition coach, I created this podcast for anyone who desires to improve physically, emotionally and spiritually. I'll be interviewing experts and sharing tips and tricks that have helped not only my clients, but that have guided me on my own transformational journey. I believe that we all have a greatness that lies within. We just need to uncover it. Are you ready to level up? Let's begin. Hi everyone and welcome back to Uplevel your Life with Mindy.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, mindy Duff, and today we are going to tackle a very important topic. It's something that touches all of us, whether we like it or not. We are going to delve into the world of finances, but for some of you, it's not scary or spooky. Some people are like, yes, money and math, and we love it, and then the rest of you are like me, where you're like I don't want to talk about it, it's confusing and I don't get it, and I don't like to do math and numbers. But if you know me at all, I'm not the expert at all on this.
Speaker 1:I've been on a few different boards where you have to elect who's going to be the treasurer. It's a big joke definitely not me, because I don't like to do the math. So I have brought Joey Beach with me here today, because Joey is the expert, joey is the financial lit lady, she's a speaker, she's an author, she's written the book A Girl's Guide to Personal Finance. And, joey, I am thrilled that you are the one here giving us expert advice instead of me. So thank you so much for being on here today.
Speaker 2:No problem.
Speaker 1:It's a pleasure to be here, yeah, and I'm actually interested to learn about this because I will say that when it comes to money and finances, I in the past have had, I would say, more of an avoidance behavior towards money and finances and things, sometimes maybe extreme I was going to say not extreme, but sometimes I think it was extreme. But I'm kind of at a point now where it's like all right, let's get it together. You're 43 years old. Maybe you can be a grown up. Finances doesn't always mean just math. All the time, and I think that's in my brain. Somewhere along the line I've thought oh math, I can't do math, so then I can't do finances, and I don't think that that is true. I'm excited to learn from you today before we get into my questions, so just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
Speaker 2:So, through a series of unfortunate personal life circumstances combined with a series of really fortunate professional circumstances, it's kind of culminated to where I have become an economic empowerment person and I am all about. Basically, at my core, I'm an educator, financial educator, but not in the tradition of being a teacher, but more in the, as you said, author, speaker, coach. That's where that's my lane, that's where I fit best. I do go into high schools, colleges, others, but I really focus on those core concepts that make that one that apply to all the circumstances because, as you noted, it can be very overwhelming and intimidating and it's really. Math is a small portion of it and it's also the biggest part of the biggest math. Part of it is adding, subtracting, division and multiplication, and we all are carrying phone you know, calculators in our pockets these days. So I try to help people get past all the noise to what they really need to focus on and if they can focus on those core concepts then they can navigate all the other ick.
Speaker 1:Yes, all the other ick. There's another thing that I'm trying to trying to get myself where. I don't. I don't instantly feel the ick when I go math, numbers, finances and like no, no, no, it has its place, it's okay, you can do it. That's where I'm at. I'm really really back here, Yep. So I am curious, as you're talking, how did you get into this world here, and were you always someone who was good with math and numbers?
Speaker 2:No, and I'm not sure when it comes to. I know a lot of people who are wicked smart and they have one of those calculator brains and I'm not one of those. I admire them. That's not, Joey. If you give me the formula, I can work through it, but it takes a while and I have to. It just takes me a longer to do it. So I like to keep things really simple. For that reason, and you know, and power of the calculator.
Speaker 2:Yay, but I the so when I was young, my parents my father had addiction issues. He was an alcoholic and, as a result, when I was 11, my mom took me and my siblings and we basically went from a four bedroom house in the suburbs to a small rented duplex in the cities and it was really eye-opening just to see the difference of financial. You know how big of an impact I mean that's a real when you're 11 years old. You see the impact of money really clear at that. But what was? It was also interesting is it wasn't no-transcript. There was really big positives to it, in a way that my mother started holding her head higher, even though we had a lot less, and I found that you could have a lot of dignity, regardless of the house you're living in or the car you're driving or other external circumstances that we often associate with that, and so that was a huge life lesson and, of course, because my mom never wanted me to be in the situation she was in, she was always. You know, always make sure you have, you know, money of your own, and that if you can take care of any kids on your own. And that was just a big thing for me and what I learned, but it was a big part, I think, even more is about that aha of your dignity is not about the you know whether you rent or own your house and those types of external things. And then, as life would have it, I ended up working in the financial industry, and not early in my career I got paid to learn about financial products and how financial products fit into a good overall financial plan and all the things we should do to best position our lives and all of that, and so that was a really nice blessing and I think I appreciated that more because of my grow, of what happened when I was growing up and that significant experience. I also had a uniquely an unusual amount of people who in my life who have passed away. When I was really young, I had three friends out of three very different circumstances be killed in accidents and just, and then family members where it was like I had a unique sense of you know, we're here for a limited time, make the best out of it, and so I've also always had to find that line of okay, when it comes to finance, a lot of people are you know you only live once, just spend it and that's definitely. You know, we want to use it so that we can live our lives, but then also have that counterbalance of practical advice and make sure you have a rainy day fund and all of those things. So I kind of have a unique position in that.
Speaker 2:And then I had one of those key conversations. I had had my career, raise my kids. I had left the corporate world but was still actively professionally working. I was the executive director of an economic development organization and then I was having a conversation with a bunch of young women at a college and they were had great degrees, they were going to go off and work in the medical field and other great professions and make good money. But in talking with them it was clear they weren't necessarily positioned best to be making a lot of the decisions so that they would keep all that money they were working so hard to earn.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of one of the things that I, you know, I would talk to people and talk to do presentations and there was usually a baby boomer around who was like they're not teaching financial literacy anymore and I actually started to call BS on that because one they are teaching it. But what's really changed is our society, and there's so many things that are different now than they were when baby boomers grew up. Even when I grew up, it was, you know, predatory lender, was a loan shark, and it was illegal. Well, now they're all over and they're calling us daily.
Speaker 2:So the the financial landscape has changed a lot and so, as a result, I was talking to these young women and I'm like, wow, they really need something simple to just help them understand those key concepts, not to get marred in all the detail, but just understand those key concepts so that as they're making their decisions, they they understand the basics and then they have some confidence to do it, so that they're not persuaded by some joker who might come along and is just trying to get them into whatever would make them the most money. So I ended up writing a girls guide to personal finance, and I focused on girls, partly because of my experience with my mom and me and others, but largely because I wanted it to be interesting, and I think that's one of the tough parts about personal finance is that people think it's math and you know, yeah, I'm supposed to save more.
Speaker 1:Well, that's boring, so I tried to make it interesting oh, I love that and I love just to go back a little bit to what you said about being having a balance of. You know it's not just there are people out there and if you're listening you know see which category you feel like you fall into, if you're a saver or a spender. There's some people that just as soon as they get the money, it is just flies back as fast as they got it. There's other people who kind of more of a hoarding.
Speaker 1:You know, like I'm gonna keep it, I'm not gonna spend any of it but there is a way to find a balance in the middle and I'm glad that you mentioned that. I know for myself there are lots of times where I'll have I'll mentally spend it more than one time, just which is just a thing. So yeah, I don't know if you see any of that.
Speaker 2:I do it well, absolutely so. Some yes, it's they can't. No matter how much they bring in, they're spending it and there's lots of examples out there in the media. You know NFL and NBA have so much so they had so many problems with their athletes going bankrupt with you know, within months of retiring from the game that they started implementing programs to help educate their players so that they again kind of like me with my group with my book. They wanted to make sure that you know they're, they're paying these people good money. Let's make sure that it goes to their benefit and that it does either.
Speaker 2:You don't end up bankrupt right away. So I definitely see a lot of that. But, as you mentioned, there's the extreme two of the hoarders and I've also seen a lot of people where it becomes a control factor and their identity gets ramped up in that. And you know it goes back to isn't it the Christmas Carol where it's the Scrooge or who's you know hoarding all the money but he had no life and we've you know we need to find that sweet spot for us, and I think it even changes throughout your life, because there have been cases where I've made some really good financial decisions.
Speaker 2:I've also made some bad financial decisions, but at the time they were good life decisions and they just consciously know okay, I know I'm spending more on this, but it's. But I have a reason and there's a purpose to it and that's great because I think, again, it goes to that balance and if we're always hoarding, then who wants to do that and what's the purpose?
Speaker 1:yeah, and it's making me think and I don't know if you see this or have much to say on this or not, but it makes me think of like weight loss, for example, when I see people that you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's almost like this idea of this set point where, for some reason, your subconscious says, no, your set point is 175 pounds and you're not gonna. You might, you might lose 10, or you might like lose 20, and then before too long you right covering back to 175 or maybe 180, a little bit more, but you're kind of always around that set point with your weight. I'm wondering if that could be the same case for your financial situation, if somewhere and again this is most likely, I would imagine would have to be subconscious, but where you're somehow you think, nope, this is just, this is all I can make, or or whatnot do you have ever see that absolutely and and what actually there?
Speaker 2:so one of the things that happened over the last few years is that I've been working with some women and they know their stuff, they know the math, they understand what they're doing. They to the penny. They know their income, they know their expenses, they've got it all down. But I finally, with one of them, like you, you have all the competencies for this. You don't have the confidence, and so a lot of the work then became about building the confidence, because she already had the competence and it was that confidence that I can do this and you know, just helping her along the way.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can put this money away and a lot of it is now. Okay, how does that feel? And Get it starting to get comfortable with having some money in the bank? And I also think you know Money, extra money in the bank, best sleep aid ever but we need to get comfortable with it and, like weight loss, if If your mindset is, I'm always going to be at this same thing happens with with finances there's always something that you have to spend it on or you really need. I Often use the comparison of you know, we all know we should eat more vegetables. We all know we should save more it's, but we don't do it a lot of times, and that's why we have to think about what are our priorities and Find that balance so that we can reach both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and for, as you're talking here, I'm thinking for people that are still like I don't get it. I think what that might look like is let's just say I'm gonna use just round numbers because it's me easy math. Let's just say that somewhere in your subconscious you think okay, I can make $70,000, but no more, maybe a little less, but 70,000 is kind of where your subconscious has your set point at. Then let's say you get a raise or whatever happens, and you get this extra money. Now, all of a sudden, you're gonna have other expenses that you didn't have before. Like your car broke down, you need to replace whatever. You know, your dog chewed up your couch and I need to buy a new couch.
Speaker 1:So it's still. You know, you got this extra money. You should have this extra savings, this extra cushion, but now suddenly you have all these extra expenses that you didn't have before and it's not. It's somehow. I I think, just from my standpoint it's an energetic thing, but you know, you can argue with that or not, but somehow you're kind of drawing these experiences to. Your subconscious is looking for these experiences, are creating them in your life so that you can get rid of this excess money that you don't believe that you should have, so that if you're somebody in your life that is having you know. Well, I got a raise and this happened and that happened, but now I still don't have any more money than I did before. I think that's a pretty common scenario actually.
Speaker 2:It's very common. One of the things that I recommend people do when they're getting a raise and even before it hits your First paycheck, where that raise it comes into effect is Mentally think about it. Okay, you're gonna have an increase amount. I Recommend, of course, that you take that and chunk it out. A certain portion of that should go to you, something you want to do and enjoy, because you've worked hard to to get that. You deserve to Reward yourself and have some of the benefits that come with the additional income. So, mentally, I recommend and then I also recommend automating this so that you can really do this Okay, allow, if you know, let's say it's a hundred percent, whatever it is, a third of that Should just automatically be added to savings. Now you can pull it out anytime you want. But if you automatically put it into savings and you usually have something you're saving for then If you go to pull it out, you're you're not just, well, it's there and I'm gonna take it, but you're weighing it against whatever you were your savings goal was. So then you're like, ooh, is what I'm gonna spend it on now more important than that thing I'm saving for Whatever it is? And it's just that little mental trick that if it's in savings and you've been thinking about saving for something, it just gets that little harder. And the science backs it up. Science will tell.
Speaker 2:As you know, the behavioral science will show the little trick by automating. It makes a huge difference in our actual behavior. The fact that we'd have to go, and even if it's just to click on the computer, you have to do one more step to get it to where, if it's sitting in your, in your checking account, to spend it a lot easier. So part of it, you know, put some of it aside to to allow yourself to do that extra spending, but put some of it aside to do that extra saving or whatever your other financial goals are, and that way you can enjoy it without feeling like it's, you know, suppressing what you really want or delayed gratification. You get some of that great gratification, but you also get some of the gratification for the long-term goals. So I love separating it out and making it automatic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think for for probably most everyone, the automation is key because it's just, you know to think about it. You can alter it later if you want to, but it's just done. Otherwise, if you're waiting for me to, you know, actually walk myself over to the bank and, you know, take that action step. It's not gonna happen or it's gonna be a long time because I will push it off. I'll do other things, but that automation, I think that's really key. It's a huge factor. I'm curious to know what are some of the biggest issues that you see regarding people and their finances? What are some of the most common things?
Speaker 2:Like you said, I think there's those limiting beliefs and some of its basic. You know I'm not good at math. I always say the Key it's. It's not about the math. The math is actually relatively simple. It's basic math multiple, you know, addition, subtraction, it's income minus expenses, whatever the result is, and we all have calculators. So get over the fact that it's really not complicated math. That's one of the biggest, the general mindset.
Speaker 2:And then people get hung up on, these days in particular, information overload. It's gotten more complicated. It's not what it was with the baby boomers generation or other things. It does take some navigation and understanding, but the technology has gotten a lot better so you can automate a lot of that and make it easier. You just have to get past that icky feeling and then start it to slowly build your confidence so that you can feel better about it.
Speaker 2:And then the biggest trick that I have found or not trick, but obstacle I have found people in is they tie their personal worth to their net worth. And when you do that it's a struggle, Because then I think that's where we get to those extremes those hoarders, those who are always hoarding their money. That becomes their identity and they identify with how much I have in the bank or something like that, or what car I drive or what house I'm in, and when you start to do that, it's a very slippery slope. And then what happens? If life circumstances change? Then it goes from like with my mother she held her head high and went okay, this is a season and these are really tough circumstances. It was ugly, it was really tough. I mean, can you imagine the laws were very different in the 70s. Being a woman in the 70s, you can't get credit on your own, you have three kids and you really, up till that point, had no job for us. But to be able to hold your head high and go, okay, well, right now I'm just living in this because it's the best solution for me right now, but it's not going to be where I'm at forever.
Speaker 2:And I think when we have a clear idea of who we are as our personal worth versus our net worth, we make better decisions. And just to get clear on that, when I say personal worth versus net worth, the net worth as part is easy. It's a basic math equation out of all the things I own and subtract what I owe and that's my net worth. It's a basic math equation and it's objective. But who I am is how I present into the world how I am as a coworker, friend, a neighbor, a spouse, a parent, a daughter, a niece, all of the things that I am in the world.
Speaker 2:That's who I am, and who I am doesn't change based on which car I drive, pull out of the garage. Who I am with my family doesn't change. So that's, and honestly, I think I can show up better when I'm not thinking about my finances. I can show up better in the world and be a better friend if I'm not thinking about well, will they care what car I drive? Or if my house is nice enough, can I still invite them over even though they have a nicer house? Because we can get, and that's a trap. You just you never win. It's a rabbit hole that you can't get out of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I agree with all of that. I speak a lot on living authentically and I have a course called how to Live Authentically. I mean, that's kind of my whole gig and I think that the reason I created that course in particular is because I was learning again, I'm not the finance expert, but as you're talking, I'm like, ah, it's the same thing. I'm coming from the health and wellness world, more or less from my expertise, and seeing that these issues that people were having the problems with their health in general, weight loss, et cetera it really wasn't about the act of, well, you just need to eat healthy foods, go, come on, just eat more fruits and vegetables. It's not about that.
Speaker 1:It goes way deeper and it's very similar to what you're saying here. It's not just about, oh, you just need to save more money, don't spend quite as much of it, oh, it's all fine. It goes so, so much deeper to really, like you say, if you're living authentically and if you're truly being complete to who you really are, it's just, it's going to, you're going to be able to separate, like you say, your personal worth from your net worth, which I think is really, really important. I'm curious now I know what I would suggest just in general terms of living authentically. But I'm curious from the financial expert how do we separate our personal worth from our net worth?
Speaker 2:Well, it can be tricky, and I think some of it is, especially in today's society. We're getting what? Three million messages every day from the media and advertisers and influencers, and all of those messages, almost all of them, have a financial incentive behind them, and I think it's easy and because they apply really good behavioral science to it, it's easy for us to forget that those messages are actually very motivated financially to get us to spend our money. And so some of mine is just being a cynic. It's like oh yeah, you know, as a woman over the age of 50, it's endless how many messages I get about what I should do to look younger. And that's a trap that's really easy to go down, because the number of procedures and creams and makeups and undergarments and overgarments and everything that I couldn't should use to look younger is endless. But I have to remember that and in most cases you try the cream and then you go, oh well, that didn't make much of a difference. So it's separating that it's hard, I think too. It shows up in different ways, so let me give a couple examples, because I think that's a better way of talking about it.
Speaker 2:One was I was becoming an empty nester. My son was graduating, I was walking into and went into the photo studio because they took senior pictures, and I know these guys are really good and I don't. I only need a few pictures of his senior year, but I walked in there and what a portion of it was the economic. Here's what I need to spend to get the photos we need for the senior to that. I was at that point, though, and they were showing me all the beautiful pictures of my baby boy, who is growing up, and I was about to be an empty nester and I had worked the majority of his life, so there was a guilt factor for not being around as much as I wanted to when he was young, and I spent a stupid amount of money on senior pictures and I'm not sure where most of them are and most of are now in the basement because, of course, now we have tons of pictures of everything but I would say, of that purchase, the majority was a personal worth thing. It wasn't about the actual photos I needed. It was about the guilt I felt from working too much and other things that were associated with my personal worth as a mother, and that's where I also see a lot of, in particular, women make some financial mistakes is they spend, they're giving too much for their kids and you know, I think we all want to make sure our kids have what they need, but we often overdo that and then they don't build the money muscle for themselves.
Speaker 2:I was just last week talking with a woman who she makes very little. Her daughter makes even more than she does, but her daughter's still coming to her to get some money and I'm like, well, wait a minute, this is wrong, we need to make. You know, it's a little bit like putting on the when you're in an airplane, putting on the oxygen for yourself first before you can take somebody else, and she just is focused on somebody else and not putting the oxygen mask on her. So that's a long-winded answer to that, but that's one of the ways I can see that. How about you? Do you ever find yourself kind of confusing or thinking, oh, I need to buy this and it's more of a tie to your identity than it is necessarily tied to the right financial decision?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think when you talk about pictures, I mean that's a relatable one, even just with, like, school pictures or my kids are in different activities. You know you got to get the football pictures, you got to get the whatever, whatever, and I'm better about this now and in this particular regard. There's other issues, I'm sure I'm not, but it's. It came down to like realizing, like wait a minute what do I even do anything with this stuff.
Speaker 1:So, like when they're in activities, I always get the memory mate because I like to be able to look back and see the whole team and that's fun to look back on. You have the one picture of the whole team and then you've got their little, their little individual picture up at the top and that's all I need. So I will buy whatever package is the smallest package where I can just get the memory mate, because you're right, you don't, you don't need that stuff. But it's so easy to think oh, you know, look at all these whatever and this is like just the same photo. Like school, you know, senior pictures. You got all these different poses to choose from. I'm sure that's even more difficult. Like school pictures, it's just one shot. Like you don't like, are you gonna you're really gonna wear them on a button all your route? Like, do you need that? Like, maybe maybe you do, maybe you wear buttons, maybe like some sports people like, and that's fine.
Speaker 1:But I think what I'm hearing from you is just a reminder to ask yourself why, when you're buying stuff, why, why am I buying this? Or why do I want to buy this? Do I want to buy a new car because, well, mine just feels out of date and everybody else has got newer cars than I do? Or do you need to buy a new car because you are on the last leg and it's only got, like your mechanic said? You got about 500 miles ago and this sucker is gonna get buried in the graveyard like those are two totally different reasons for needing to buy a car. You know which category do you fall into and I think that you know that question of why would be so impactful just when, when purchasing anything and that's why it's also difficult.
Speaker 2:It's it's. You know it sounds easy, right, just like eating healthy. It sounds really easy but it's actually very hard. One like and cars, one of my favorite examples, because if you look at the marketing, it's not. They very rarely show you all the features of the car. They show you how you're gonna feel in the car and they're gonna show you all the beautiful friends you're gonna have and your happy family. And the reality is like even if you know the base model, there's a $10,000 difference between the base model that's gonna has the same engine and the same key features that will get you where you need to go, and then the extra features with the you know, heated steering wheel. Those, don't get me wrong. That's a great thing, but do we need that and is that a priority for us? Where is that on the priority scale of? You know?
Speaker 2:I remember looking for cars when our kids were young and there was one car that I really like and it. You know I looked good in it, but I also did some math on the extra gas it would take and over the lifetime it was like a semester of college for my kids and I went okay, do I really need that and the truth was I didn't. And then I went okay, how big of one do I actually need? And everybody else was driving the bigger one with the third seat and all that stuff. I'm like the times I would need that are like once a year and for that road trip I like to take, and then I'm like you know, for for the extra money, I could rent a really good one and then I don't have to worry about all the things I would worry about if it was my car on the road trip. So it's hard to tell you.
Speaker 2:I'm a part, but because I think a lot of our decisions include both that net worth component and the personal worth. But the conscious awareness of that makes it a lot easier because when, if it's a net worth decision, you show up at the dealership, you know what you want, you know what your budget is and then, no matter what they talk about and show you all these cute little frills in it that doesn't change how it drives you're making more of a net worth decision where, if you're. You know, we just went and spent a lot of money going to New York. Our purpose was to visit our son and daughter-in-law. So we went, knowing it was gonna be expensive. For us that was a personal worth decision because we wanted to spend that time with our son and daughter-in-law and they're young in their profession so it's harder for them to get away. So we're like that's. We know we're spending more than what a lot of other trips would be, but for us it was a personal worth decision and we're like yep, money we well spent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good reminder. I'm glad you brought that up because you know, like, when we're talking about cars, this isn't to say that no one should get the fancy car with the heated steering wheel and the third row and all the things you know like, personally, for me, I need a third row. I got too many kids we don't fit. Like we literally need that physical space, but that doesn't. You know, you don't have to just get like the bare bones, like oh no, because you should spend your money or save more of your money or whatever. But you need to ask yourself again why, why am I getting this big SUV? Because I need the freaking third row? Like I need the spit? Like then that's it. Or well, because everybody else is okay, then that needs a little bit more like digging into. Are you sure you wanna buy it? And I think it's. Also when you were talking, it reminded me of marketing and you've kind of alluded to this. But like, how emotional like the marketing is.
Speaker 2:And again, you know, this behavioral science.
Speaker 1:that's a whole thing marketing is. I mean, if you know somebody in marketing, they'll tell you like there's a reason why and most, if not all, marketing is designed to make you feel like you're not enough. That's why Because you have to feel, they have to invoke that feeling in you that there's something lacking in you. And if they can invoke that feeling enough that you're not enough because you don't have XYZ, that's gonna make you more likely to buy whatever it is that they're selling. And that's not to say that you know you shouldn't buy the whatever it is, because sometimes you know what you have a need and they're filling it and cool, now I can buy it and now I don't have that problem anymore. But that's just something worth noting when you're because, like you say, where's that come to so much advertising?
Speaker 2:Well, and I think it's to the level that the human brain hasn't caught up to processing all of it. And they are at, I mean, some of the major retailers, the Amazons and Facebooks and others. Some of the biggest professions they're hiring are those behavioral scientists, because they wanna know what will drive us to click and to purchase and other things. They're really good at that and I don't know that we as a society have caught up to that, cause it's easy and we all like to think oh well, yeah, I see all of those, but they don't influence me. Well, quite frankly, they wouldn't keep doing it if they didn't influence us in some way. There, it definitely influences us. It's just a matter of what, and helping us increase our awareness of it will at least give us a fighting chance to say no, I am enough and it's okay, and I don't have. I can still be a good mother and not buy Taylor Swift tickets, and I can just, you know, cause it's always something you know with us kids.
Speaker 2:When our kids were young, everybody around was going to Disney for their spring break and we'd get the question well, you know?
Speaker 2:So it says you know they're going there, why aren't we?
Speaker 2:We're going to grandma's and I'm like well, because we want to visit grandma and try to make it exciting and and fun for them, but say they have different priorities.
Speaker 2:I think one of the other traps we get into is the judgment, and that's part of why we don't like to talk about it. Right, and that's why we don't like to talk about it is well, it's okay for them to go to Disney and for me not to, and it doesn't mean they're good or bad or I'm good or bad. It just means they made a different decision and in a couple years maybe we'll do that, but right now that's not a priority. And for us to be able to stop some of the judgment that goes with it is one of the things that's easier for us to talk about then and easier for us to just be frank, that's not a priority for us right now. Love that they get to do that, but it's not a priority for us and I think that can go a long way, yeah yeah, so many things to be aware of with our finances, yeah yeah and yeah it's, I think, to the back, to the marketing and that I think the finance world.
Speaker 2:They try to make it easier, but the reality is there's some internal incentives to make it look complicated and to be over and over. Really do what we say, and I want people to just feel confident enough to ask the right questions and if they're not getting an answer that gives them comfort, then they need to ask more questions or maybe go find somebody else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. That's very good advice. You've been full of good advice and I'm wondering if I can just squeeze one more drop out of you. Hey, I'm one, I'm here for you. One final piece of advice, financial advice that you think. What's something you think everybody should heed, regardless of your financial situation? Everyone that's listening. If you want to improve your finances, do this one thing.
Speaker 2:Can I do two? Sure, I'm so dumb. So one is just that again, separate your personal worth from your net worth, because we can make better and create that awareness and as you make purchases you just evaluate it differently. And then the other, just real practical, is automate savings. No matter how much you're making, automate even if it's $5, if you make it automatic and do it period and have it that it's just a little bit more than you think it is, you're just going to be making.
Speaker 2:The behavioral science shows You're less likely to go take it out. You are also then later going oh, look at that, it added up what. And then the next time I get a raise, okay, maybe, if I just up that a little bit, then it's even more. And then you start getting comfortable and building that money muscle a little bit at a time. So it's like dieting instead of suddenly going okay, tomorrow or whatever. It's. No, I'm just going to improve it just a little bit and once I get that little improvement, I'm going to do a little bit more. So automate it, make it simple for you and take little steps at a time.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that, I love that, and if you need a little bit more advice, you can hop on Amazon. Look for Joey's book Again. It's called the Girl's Guide to Personal Finance and I believe it's also there's a link on your website, joey. Where can people find you if they want a little more info from you.
Speaker 2:My website is probably the easiest. It's joeybeachcom and it's like the boys J-O-E-Y-B-E-E-C-H, so not like the beach you lay on, but the beach nut tree or something. So joeybeachcom, and that has lots of information about my speaking, my writing and the other things I do.
Speaker 1:Very good and I will, of course, put that link in the show notes so everybody can just find you with a click of a button. And again, joey, thank you so much for being on here today. I know it gave me a little more peace of mind. I know sometimes when we're struggling with a certain issue and we think, oh, we can't, or it's confusing, or whatever, we really we know more than we think we do, and sometimes it just takes hearing somebody else that is a quote unquote expert in their field, like you, joey, to say doesn't have to be about complicated math, it's simple stuff. You got this, you can do it. Here's where you start. That just kind of okay, the first level of I can do this and then going from there. So I hope everybody that's listening, I hope you got a little bit out of this, just like I did, or a lot out of this, and wherever you're at, I hope you're having a good one. I'll catch you on the next one. That's it for today.
Speaker 1:Friends, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe or, even better, leave a review and let me know what resonated with you the most. The more you tell me what you love, the better I'm able to create future episodes with even better content. I'm sending you so much love and light. See you in the next episode.