Improve and Understand Your Money Mindset with Financial Expert Rita Boccuzzi

Rita Boccuzzi joins The Business Serum today to talk about her journey to becoming the well-known and loved Mamma Rita Money. As a child she developed a curiosity about money that could not be quenched. At 18, she opened her first retirement savings account, and bought her first real estate property at 21. With her experiences and wisdom from surviving multiple financial hits including the crash of 2001, cancer including the financial debt on the side, and paying down all of her business debts while building her savings, she rises from the ashes with a wealth of knowledge to share about how to take care of your money.

Mamma Rita has built her knowledge base throughout her entire life. Then, on top of that, she invested her time and money into learning more in order to educate others. She hosts free events such as “Wine, Women, and Wealth” for female entrepreneurs to have access to the information they need to not only make money but take care of their money. She has also started and led many money education workshops and bootcamps. Armed with her mission of educating at least 1 million families, Rita is relentless when it comes to making sure people have the information they need to make the best decisions for them and their families. 

We are fortunate to have Rita on The Business Serum to give tips and tricks on the importance of financial intelligence, how to conquer debt, how to enter the financial space, and most importantly the formula to money! 

Here's what you'll learn:

• Rita shares her definition of financial intelligence. 
• How can you gain more financial intelligence?
• Learn the formula of money.
• What is a sustainable way to get rid of debt?
• How do women think about money differently?

Follow Mamma Rita “Money” Boccuzzi on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Email her and check out her websites for Mamma Rita Money and Financial Resetting. 

Set up an appointment for a consultation session here. 

Check out our skincare line: Apollo & Artemis.

Instagram: @lauraleebotsacos

Interested in learning more about this show?  Go back to the homepage.

Transcript

Laura Lee Botsacos  0:02  

Hi everyone, I'm Laura Lee Botsacos founder and CO creator of Apollo and Artemis Beauty by equality. And you are listening to the business serum podcast where I'll bring you stories of people who have impacted the world through their unique business experiences, and how they have utilized their past and excavated their own life story to master the art of the ever changing sales strategy, beginning with themselves, because if you can close yourself on you, you can close yourself on anyone. Welcome to the Business serum podcast. I'm your host, Laura Lee Botsacos and today we'll be talking with Rita Boccuzzi, also known as mama Rita money, she is an entrepreneur, Financial Intelligence expert, educator, and motivational speaker. Rita, thank you so much for joining us today. I really, really do appreciate it.

Rita Boccuzzi  0:56  

I am so honored and super excited to be here with you Laura Lee.

Laura Lee Botsacos  1:00  

Thank you. So first, let's start off. Well, there's so many questions I want to start off with. And I think I think so many of our listeners are going to have questions too, because you know, everything. But why don't? Let's start off with what exactly is a financial intelligence expert?

Rita Boccuzzi  1:17  

Well, I like to start off answering that question with understanding what is financial intelligence? What does that really mean? Most people think that means that it's tied to your IQ, maybe around money. But that's not in fact, true. It really is about what level of intelligence we have. Even in elementary school, we have financial intelligence, but because of a lack of money education, really most of us learned how to break $1 right into four quarters, 10 dimes, 20 nickels, but that's our level of financial intelligence. So when you get educated, like, I've been studying for well over almost 15 plus years, all around money, understanding how it's done, your level of intelligence then raises it's like your confidence level. Right? Like when you gain a new job, you learn all the ins and outs, do they become the experts. So I learned about what wealthy people do and smart money people know and I get to share my intelligence with others so that they can level it up. And I'm going to tell you one more thing that it is about what I call vibrational familiarity. Like when a mom reads to a baby a book in her womb, that baby is connected to that vibration, which also builds up their confidence and helps them to feel safe and secure. So, you know, study long enough, you can be an expert, too. And so that's how we come to financial intelligence.

Laura Lee Botsacos  2:50  

Do you have a degree in psychology or anything? 

Rita Boccuzzi  2:53  

No and it's amazing that really what I did is I learned from really well, multi millionaire and billionaire wealth builders, and what they were learning, neuro linguistic program, brain science around this. And then there is a psychology to all of it. And as we're exposed to it, we're creating new neural pathways and new neural transmission. And so see, again, it's that level of intelligence of just learning. And for me, it's mostly been experiential, for over about 12. Like I said, over heavy 12 years in straight head down learning all about reading every book about finance, and seeing what wealthy people do and actually even interning with their financial professionals so that I could see the

Laura Lee Botsacos  3:41  

 this might be a hard question for you, because I know that there's a lot of masters out there, but is there? Is there one person that you would say to everybody, listen, you have to read this book. 

Rita Boccuzzi  3:51  

 Actually, there is, and I love his books, because they're super simple. And actually, I do have them here. One is Patrick Kelly. I like his books because he does books like this retirement miracle. Well, retirement means different things. And I don't know about you, but I want to retire as early as I can. doing what I love not watching grass grow. Right. Right. So retirement miracle, he wrote a book called stress free retirement, but in reality, everything he's talking about can actually start being implemented for people when they're babies. It's amazing and powerful.

Laura Lee Botsacos  4:26  

So how did you get involved with studying? If I'm and I don't mean to like, I don't mean to break it down. But how did you get so interested in studying wealthy people?

Rita Boccuzzi  4:40  

You know, it's really funny. I'm going to say if I go way back, even as I was young, like a five year old little girl, I would be asking questions about money because it was just curious. It seemed a mystery to me. And as a little girl, it wasn't a proper discussion for young ladies. And then as I got older, it was just save, save, save with no concept of understanding. And I'm going to say it's because of experience, every experience created a new curiosity for me. So I listened to my parents when I was 18. And I put in, I set up a retirement plan at 18 years old, because my parents said, save. So I had savings. And I had a retirement plan. So I had both, then I actually bought my first real estate property when I was 21. And then I ended up in 2001. When I was 33, that retirement account that I had set up at the bank was half of what it should have been, it went back to almost the amount it was when I was 18. And I'm going to tell you, I was ticked off. I was like, what just happened? Well, the year happened to be 2001. Most people lost their money to the tune of over 40% in that one year without even understanding what happened. Because we didn't even realize we were in the market. I didn't know I was in the market. I thought my money was safe. I was, you know, because I went to the bank to set up the account. So I was like, Okay, what happened? I'm curious, like, what just happened? So again, research it. What did they tell you? Oh, don't worry, sweetie, the money's gonna come back. Not a lie. But I didn't know that I should ask another question. When, When? When? Right, the all important question. And then it did come back in 2007. But at that point, I was reacting in my ticked off mode. I thought, I'll just do real estate investing. And I did mega guru programs, I've spent well over probably over 300,000 just implementing like to have so to say a doctorate in understanding around money. But we all know what happened in 2008, don't we? So then I took another hit. And I'm like, Are you serious, like this cannot be happening. And it was stressful. And I thought I am going to figure out a way how. And two short years later, I took another financial hit. I was married, I had two kids and still have them. And that hit was what I call cancer. And so along with it, I got what I call financial cancer, I went from being the breadwinner to the burden on my family. Now, that's not the truth. No one is a breadwinner to a burden ever. But again, your reactive mind says that I let my family down, I let myself down. Oh my gosh, it happened once, twice, three times. One of the cool things for me is kind of being that girl scout, like you set up a retirement plan at 18. To save, I had been saving. I knew how to rebuild. No one can unteach me what I learned. But I also realized with my two sons, I taught them all the life skills, eat clean, do laundry dishes, interview for jobs, go to school, get that education. They were doing all of that. You know what I didn't teach them how to protect themselves from losing their money. From that point on. I was like, That's it. I'm on the heaven sent mission to create change in the world to educate over 1 million families in the next 10 years. What do I get to do? Because people keep on saying the schools aren't teaching about money? Nobody's teaching about money? How do we learn about money? I stepped up, I raised my hand. I'm answering the call. I didn't know it was gonna be a call I answered. But I just did. And I love it. And I love teaching.

Laura Lee Botsacos  8:33  

That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, first of all, there's some I want to go back to in a couple of years. So the goal is to educate 1 million families. I love that

Rita Boccuzzi  8:44  

audacious goal in the world, right?

Laura Lee Botsacos  8:45  

Yeah, but it is you know what, it's a good goal, because it is an audacious goal. But it's you know, but obviously, it's totally possible to Oh, yeah, just gonna say totally as possible. So where do you even begin in teaching somebody? So let's just say I came to you. And I was like, Hi, I'm a single woman, I'm an entrepreneur. And you know, as an entrepreneur, you know, you know, listen, you could have one year where you're feeling really, really great. And then, gosh, the next month, you're not doing good at all. So where would you begin teaching me?

Rita Boccuzzi  9:16  

So where I begin teaching is offering myself right, I went, I didn't end up in bankruptcy, like over 60% of Americans at that point in time when I had cancer. But there was the library. There were audibles and there were books so I always start from free to feed the right base. So start where you are right now. Oh, my gosh, concerning where I was, and the resources we have, you now have audibles. You have the books and I have a reference list on my website of all the books that I read on my mama Rita money webpage, you can get all those resources of books and reach out to me. Why do wine women wealth events? I aligned and partnered with companies that have the same vision and mission with me. So I partnered on my consulting business side with a company called Five Rings financial, I took care of that part that part's good. And I can console you, you can consult me for free, if you're really wanting to understand if you're serious, but if you just want to take baby steps, and start with like a little bit of the free things, there are videos that I can send to you or give you access to for free. I host one women's wealth event for female entrepreneurs, because women and men do relationships differently. And we get to start just having the conversation because when I call women, at my events, there's no discussion around money, right? That's about 20% of the world out there or just not even talking about, we talk about sex, politics and religion, but they're not talking about money. Because they're mostly living in silence, shame, blame, and guilt, which is a pass, right, we get to move into the future of appreciating what is possible learning as possible. It doesn't take a long time, a lot of the books are really small and thin, which is super amazing. But you start with your mindset, Jensen cero, you're a badass at making money, one of my favorites to do at a wine level, and you get to have the cliffnotes you don't even have to read the book. It's free. So those are on zoom. There is no secret to being a wealthy workshop, also free on Zoom. So people can go to Instagram and click on my profile and look at the free workshops. Go on meetup, see what other ones when you go, always remember that you're in charge. Because you may be in the world of finance, I know this is shocking. But get pressured or feel pressured. The moment you feel that you have the right to leave because no one has the right to pressure you. Because that's the past history of how we're being told and pressured and sold. If you do not feel safe, comfortable. And like you're being and being taught that's honoring and respecting you. So that is the environment you get to stay in. But always be curious, say, You know what, I'm curious, I'm learning. That's what I did. I mean, I would feel all that and I'd be like, You know what, I'm just learning. I don't have two nickels to rub together. I'm just learning.

Laura Lee Botsacos  12:01  

But I think that that's what I think that's one of the things that I'm loving about this conversation that we're having is how I think sometimes money is a stressful conversation, right? And the concept of money is stressful. The debt, the credit card debt, the you know, are we the cost of living it, especially here in the States? So I think sometimes, and I don't mean this in a negative way people think okay, well, like how reading a book kind of really helped me rectify all of that. And no, no, no, and I'm not being you know,

Rita Boccuzzi  12:30  

you're you're you're spot on

Laura Lee Botsacos  12:32  

Yeah, so and so the, the way I'm kind of hearing that is is sort of like your tip is kind of like it's almost like this suspension of disbelief, you kind of have to take the step back, you have to re navigate, start to educate, because I know for me sometimes, like if I get overwhelmed with something, I admitted, I almost don't mean, I almost just want to act like it doesn't exist. I just want to put down the Iron Curtain and act like it's,

Rita Boccuzzi  12:56  

I believe that you get to access it. That's why you know, whether it's an event where it's social for you, so it just starts with conversations. That's like, you know, we hear Eat That Frog by burying Brian Tracy, or you take and you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Well, I don't know anybody that eats elephants, thank goodness. But I know that we can eat baby food, spoon feed one little bite at a time so that we can grow nourish. So really the starting point, remember I talked about financial intelligence and that vibrational familiarity. So you're having a vibrational and a visual familiarity when you're actually reading a book, right? You could do one or the other. And so it creates those new neurotransmitters that fight firing. And over time, it completely shifts everything, your words or your world, it's the creative power. We're about to start right here. And we do have mostly negative thoughts.

Laura Lee Botsacos  14:01  

Let's talk about debt. Because many, many there I mean, I know so many people that are in debt, and when you're an entrepreneur, you know, you could potentially spend a majority of yours, quote quote, in debt. And it does bring I do believe it brings a heaviness to somebody. It really really does. Yeah. Okay, great. So talk to me a little bit about your appeal V on debt and how you would help somebody and, you know, and you know, because Pete because I think that some people like okay, you know, How do I get ideas? What's the first thing that I'm going to do? Do I take $1,000 and put it into a little account, like, what's my first step?

Rita Boccuzzi  14:39  

So money is actually not just about dollars and cents and money skills. It is actually a word formula. And any part of the word formula is missing. That's when you have zero results. The word formula is you start with your mindset. You start fixing your behavior, because if you don't feel like you're open to receiving and you're not worthy, lack of deserving creates doubt which creates debt. Right? It really is all related. So you have your mindset, then you gain knowledge, you'll read a page a day, it will, when you read and you learn something, you are forever changed. So again, gaining that knowledge, so mindset times knowledge, and then get into the skill set. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that with debt. Because for me, I have never been in debt in my life. People can say, Oh, we just got it all. Okay, no, life has not been easy. And that's also part of why I think I can relate to people in such an empathic way, because I have genuinely been there. I lost my money, once I lost my real estate and money again, twice. I lost it a third time. But I knew that if I showed up, again, words, C, P. R, give myself CPR, I would show up consistently. Moving forward. I'm persistent. And I engage in being resilient. And I really, I know that sometimes you go, it can't be that simple. Literally, I have had down days. And I'm just like, am I showing up as a convicted person? Am I showing up consistent? Am I being persistent in what I need to do, like be real. And then I get to be that resiliency. So back to the debt. So the third, the third timeout, that wiped us all out completely. I told you, I didn't have to go into bankruptcy. But over 60% of families every year, just forget about entrepreneurship, a medical issue, just medical issues alone are wiping people out, because they don't know about plans and instruments and all what I'm talking about ahead of time to prepare to not be panicked. However, we are not taught that. Okay. So again, I'm going to take just one more side note, Warren Buffett talks about two rules. Rule number one is never lose your money or never lose your principal. Right? Rule number two, is remember rule number one.

That's right. He's, he's kind of funny, but it's kind of not because I was like, Okay, what the hell does he mean, it was driving me crazy. That curiosity is how we do it, we have all been taught, accumulate, accumulate, accumulate as much as we can, and then protect it. But that's like building a house, putting the bathtub on the bottom floor, having it leak, erode the ground, and having your whole house tilt even before you protect it. Wealthy people. You know, it's like one degree of difference. When you turn your thermostat, you could be sweating, and you get up at one degree and you're okay. Well, when you shift one degree, and you grow your money in a protected state, and then with excess, put it in things that are gonna, like whether it's your business, or, you know, stocks or things like that, that have risk, you do that second, but we need to learn about the first purse. So back to when I went in, debt, I went into debt, mostly because it was intentional. And I know that sounds crazy, I do not recommend this to people. But again, I told you never was this going to happen again to my family. And I was going to send my kids out with a financial shield of armor. They, we, they actually went to the courses with me, they were the only kids there. Wow, I have them scholarship for free. But of these courses, the least expensive one was $8,000. I've spent up to $40,000 with the intention and expectation that fast forward to where we are in the future. I can't tell you how much celebrating I've been doing this past year. But it's 12 years, to be able to educate people and teach them to learn first, and earn and then just keep doing this reciprocal nature. So if you are in debt, if you're in debt for your business, you know, you got to keep with your vision, you do get to be realistic about things. And we get to look at what ways we get to build it back. And every story I know is, you know, it's different for every person. And in my case, I had to be okay with my debt because I accrued $90,000 worth of debt within the first three years. That's a lot a lot going from never ever Mind you I was 43 years old from never ever being in debt. Oh and wait. I decided to take a leap of faith and start my business at that point because I knew I had to focus all my energies 100% on this so you know we had we lived off a credit and some little residual bits of savings and things but it was mostly debt. So how do you move yourself out of it? One you have to find ways to generate income and we have so many ways. Hey, one fun exercise for your audience. Sit down and write 50 ways you can earn money, do not get up. Until you do that, you should be able to do it in less than 30 minutes. If not, I have a sheet I've done, I'm happy to share my own, I'm always happy to share, this is the other thing we get to elevate. So I also tapped into other people to help me elevate. And if you do have debt, and you're wanting to pay it back, there's a couple of systems that don't tell you don't let anybody tell you, there's anyone, you get to find out what's right for you. Because some people, they pay it all off, which I did at one point. And then I had zero, right, so I graduated to zero. That's kind of what I felt like, I didn't really look at the fact that I paid off $90,000 worth of debt. I was like I was at zero. And I thought, God now I got to reinvest again. And I did it again. Well, now the second go round that I did was that I have been paying off my debt and building a savings at the same time. i It takes a little bit longer. But for me, it's much more rewarding and much more sustainable. Because when something happens, I have the resources I need. And I always talk to people about what works best for them.

Laura Lee Botsacos  21:09  

I love that. I love that. It's almost like you individualize it. I love that. Thank you for being so vulnerable for sharing so much. Because I think it's important for people to hear this because I think sometimes, oh my god, we think, Oh, it's only me, it's only me, I'm the one that's sitting here at night, you know, you know,

Rita Boccuzzi  21:27  

If we only know, like, I'm gonna tell all the stories, each one of us has a story. And we just get to be kind to ourselves, give permission to forgive ourselves. That's why mindset is so important.

Laura Lee Botsacos  21:40  

And I because I think the way that you're going about it is very holistic. And I love that and it almost comes from almost like a spiritual application of it. So I really appreciate that. There was something in it. I want to just go back if I could, because there's you know, your bios, it's just so, so meaty. There's so many things there. Can you tell me a little bit more about wine, women and wealth?

Rita Boccuzzi  22:07  

Oh my gosh, I'm gonna say that was my saving grace. Because I was so serious, right? I obviously started back, you know, even before 2007. But I got licensed. And I was studying and I was going from company to company. And I like to say I kissed a lot of frogs finding out what wasn't right for me. And I found out it was right for me. And, you know, you say spirituality. I had this dream and vision that when I would be teaching people would be having fun and celebrating. And we would be using technology. And as I was in these different companies, they were like, You're crazy. This is not how finances work. Because, honestly, you know, with all due respect, it's still a male dominated industry to a tune in 95%. Women do money very differently. And, in fact, when women learn about money, statistically, they make better decisions. And so we do get to come holistically from that heart space, not just the headspace. And so wine women, wells showed up in my life. And that's when I took my leap of faith. I left my job, even with all the debt I had. Because the company's mission and vision was also to educate middle income Americans. I was like, Wait, how did they get into my head? How did they write, like, I have my own mission statement written and they have theirs. And they were the same. And so it was literally because I went to a woman's conference for a girlfriend of mine, I wasn't even going for me. So sometimes when we show up for others, amazing things happen to us. And I saw this young girl that's totally hip, talking about women and money and having fun and toasting with mine. And I was like, you know what that's missing? The fun. The fun if we're not having fun, right? You see my son, it's time to feel good about money. Money is a currency of love.

Laura Lee Botsacos  24:06  

I love that. So one of the things that I love to ask of the individuals, my guests, it, you know, because as you know, I'm the founder of Apollo and Artemis beauty by equality. So if you're a brand, we're a skincare product. What would it be? What would it do? And what would you name it?

Rita Boccuzzi  24:28  

Oh, my goodness. Okay. I love that. It's all about being creative.

Laura Lee Botsacos  24:34  

Yeah, you're clearly very creative. So it should be easy for you. You're actually so creative, that I might steal some of the ideas that you're coming up with.

Rita Boccuzzi  24:45  

So for me, it's all about flourishing. Oh, I love looking fabulous in our future. Though, I think my brand will flourish. That's the name of my entity. So flourish would be the brand. What else would flourish would be the brand. I would definitely have it like our fabulous financial future. Right love, which is present right now. Um, and what was the other question? Let's see

Oh, you don't, I love it. I do I love serums I love so for me it would be a serum, you know, the crates glow, 

Laura Lee Botsacos  25:24  

we actually have that we actually might already have that for you. Yeah, we do have a serum that makes you healthy glow, and lips everything.

Rita Boccuzzi  25:33  

 So it's flourishing. So we always look fabulous in our, in our future.

Laura Lee Botsacos  25:37  

I love that. I love that. So tell me what is up next for you.

Rita Boccuzzi  25:41  

Whoo. So I'm up next. Actually, I am having a Money Love Languages free webinar on October 5. And if you go to Rita Boccuzzi on Instagram, there's a linktree link that says financial resetting tells you all about that. There's a Money Love Languages quiz. And again, those are all free resources. That's what's coming up my boot camps coming up on November 5, sixth, and seventh. I do those every other month so that this way every other month, we can be in check. And it's really transformational in one connection, transforming your money relationship and one weekend.

Laura Lee Botsacos  26:19  

I mean, I love it. 

Rita Boccuzzi  26:19  

It's really truly amazing. And the word transformational came from my attendees. It was for me it was what money education, they're like no money transformation

Laura Lee Botsacos  26:30  

say that's amazing. I love that. So I know that you mentioned your Instagram, right? Is that the best way for people to find you or is how else can we find you?

Rita Boccuzzi  26:39  

Right so you can find me I'm everywhere. Mama Rita is omnipresent. There's mama Rita Facebook, and Mama by the way felt the Italian way. The Italian no mama. So Mamma, I'm a financial resetting.com because we get to financially reset every day and level up. So those are a couple ways. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, I'm here, private message me. If you want to call me my phone number is 747-333-4470 Text me call me or go on mammaRitamoney.com. and schedule a time for a 30 minute connection call for free.

Laura Lee Botsacos  27:25  

Oh, I love it. Rita, you've been so helpful. And I think that frankly you're quite inspiring. And I know for myself, I'm definitely gonna check out some of your, your more things on your site. I'm definitely gonna check out some of the books that you recommend. And I I really appreciate you taking the time and coming on to the business Serum today. And I know that our, of course, I think our listeners have been really gifted today. So thank you so much.

Rita Boccuzzi  27:51  

Thank you for inspiring us all and being a leader, really, in spreading the word to change every person's life. Thank you Laura Lee

Laura Lee Botsacos  27:58  

That means a lot. Thank you Rita. Thank you everyone for joining us today. And thank you so much for listening. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and leave a review. If you want to learn more about the business serum or me follow me at Laura Lee Botsacos you can also find me on the worldwide web at www.lauraleebotsacos.com Thank you so much and continue closing yourself on you