Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Planning, Budgeting, Scarcity Mindset, Financial Freedom, Online Business

98 | Your financial freedom depends on the courage to make different decisions (with Sonya Corkery)

• Erin Gray | Financial Coach, Former Certified Financial Planner and CFO

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Ever felt that nagging voice inside telling you not to spend money on yourself? On today's podcast I invited Sonya Corkery who is the founder of Clear Plan Consulting and brings a wealth of experience as both a former financial planner and co-owner of a multi-million-dollar electrical business. 

The heart of our conversation centers on courage – not the absence of fear, and the willingness to take action despite it.  We discuss how this courage applies to investing in yourself, challenging financial advisors who don't support your vision, and teaching your children about money so they don't face the same struggles.

I hope this episode gives you permission to define wealth on your own terms. Whether you're avoiding money conversations out of fear, shame, or simply not knowing where to start, this episode provides practical wisdom to help you take that crucial next step toward financial confidence.

We discuss:

✅ Navigating male-dominated industries 

✅ How joining business groups can transform results

✅ Financial professionals work for you, not vice versa 

✅ Having open money conversations with our children provides them financial skills 

✅ How most women's wealth motivations are different than men's

✅ Why taking control of your finances doesn't make you masculine


You can connect with Sonya here ⬇️ 

Want to learn more? Here are your next steps:

Step 1: Join my FREE Facebook Community.

Connect, share, and learn how to master your money with other women just like you.

➡️ Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941450038160915

Step 2: Grab your FREE Human Design chart

Curious what your Human Design chart reveals about how you're uniquely designed to make aligned financial decisions?

➡️ Get your chart here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/receive-your-human-design-chart

Step 3: Ready to transform your relationship with money and build true financial confidence?

Let’s create a strategy that feels aligned, intentional, and empowering—just for you.

➡️ Schedule your 1-hour Money Mastery Call here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/11-support

Money doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Let's create a strategy that feels nurturing and custom to you.

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Sonia Corkery:

You know, they always say you're one decision away from the rest of your life. But we have to be willing to make the changes. And that's what's really hard, because that reptilian brain, that front brain that is built in there to protect you automatically, is like this is a scam. No, don't spend money over here. No, all these other money stories come up that have been built over time that block you when, objectively, to move forward, you need to make a decision that is other than the one that you've already been making. If you continue on the same path because you've made the same decision, nothing is going to change.

Erin Gray:

Do you want to create a system to stop avoiding your money? Maybe you're feeling guilt and shame when it comes to finances. Welcome to your Money, your Rules. I'm Erin, a former certified financial planner and CFO, and yet I used to avoid my money and had fear, no matter how much we had. I can't wait to teach you how I overcame my money avoidance and started consistently managing my finances in a really simple way. It's time to get comfortable with money.

Erin Gray:

On the podcast today, I had such a fun conversation with Sonia Corkery, a former financial planner and owner in her family's electrical business. We actually have a very similar background, so I know you're going to love this conversation. Sonia is the founder of Clear Plan Consulting and, after 16 years in her family's business, experiencing all the highs and lows, she now helps others leverage their businesses to turn their personal dreams and goals into a reality. I wanted to also mention that if you're ready to manage your finances confidently without sacrificing what matters most, and you want to use practical strategies that deliver real results, let's work together. You can schedule a free clarity call to see if we're a good fit by visiting my website at generatealifewelllivedcom and clicking on the link work with me. I'll also include the link in the show notes.

Erin Gray:

Now let's dive into today's episode. Thanks, sonia, for joining us. Glad that you're here. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, so I think Sonia and I have pretty similar backgrounds financial planners and construction work on the opposite sides of the world. So if you want to just dive in a little bit into your background, I would love it.

Sonia Corkery:

Well, it's so great to speak to someone who's like-minded and really gets how challenging it is, especially for women coming from a white collar financial background into a construction industry. I don't know about you, erin, but I got a lot of pushback when I initially came into the business. So, for me, started a couple of decades ago in banking, essentially progressed through to financial planning, which was an amazing stepping stone personally to help create personal wealth, obviously. So very fortunate there, and my husband at the time was actually in the defense and when he decided after his deployment in 2003 to Iraq, he wanted to become a tradie, he wanted to be an electrician. He then took a mature age apprenticeship, which put our finances back a little bit. But you know, sometimes you've got to invest to grow and eventually he just thought he could do it better. So he decided to go into business for himself because that seemed like the natural progression of things to make more money. And then, you know, the challenges just came, one at a time, because it was new and unexplored, and we've had that for over nearly two decades. Now. That business and it's created a multi-million dollar business that runs from multiple locations still runs today, but we're largely not involved in the day-to-day running of that business, which is great.

Sonia Corkery:

But for me, a female coming into an industry like that, it was like a cold slap in the face. It was nothing that I'd really anticipated as far as how much pushback I'd actually get for being a woman coming into that industry. And we have a bit of a saying here in Australia where you just become the missus of the tradie. They just say, oh, the missus does the book work, the missus does the invoicing. And I got really frustrated because when I wanted to talk to suppliers they wouldn't talk to me or they'd be like oh, we'll have that discussion with your husband. So there was a few things there that were a challenge in the beginning. I kind of had to earn my stripes, as it were. And yeah, I don't know what your experience is, but that was kind of mine in the beginning.

Erin Gray:

Yeah, I I came in. You know my my grandfather started the company. And then I came in just very naively like, oh, I'll just help my dad and my uncle just do a couple of things financially.

Erin Gray:

And then I got in and I was like you guys are running this like a shit show, you know we really, and I remember telling my dad like I literally feel like I have a target on my back because I was the bad one. I was the bad parent, you know like oh, aaron comes in and starts saying no to this and no to this and like really starts changing a lot of things which the company needed to do. But my dad and my uncle are such good guys and they will make those hard decisions, but they make them probably later rather than sooner. And just I remember, like wanting my dad to stand up to me because he was like you're going to need to, just like you're saying like he wanted me to, like earn my stripes or earn like what you were saying, like the respect of the employees, which is valid, and I also think like you need to have that support of the owner to be like, hey, what she says goes because it's coming from me, and so there was some little bit of time before you know it started to run like a well-oiled machine.

Erin Gray:

But I think you know, with the financial industry I don't know if it's like this in Australia, but with the financial industry and in the construction, like I've basically been in a very masculine dominated industry for my working life and I I think that's been helpful and also it has and it hasn't been, you know, like I have had to in some ways feel like I've always had to prove myself, prove my intellect, prove my knowledge, which doesn't feel very good. And also you do gain lots of experience in that type of world where I think it has built me up from a, from a, um, rebound place or a, you know, strength place that, like no, I can, I can go with some of the best of them because I have the knowledge and experience, um, and it doesn't at all intimidate me to be in a room, you know, with all men, or I mean I can shoot the shit with the best of them and I can go, you know, head to head with them as well.

Sonia Corkery:

So yeah, 100%. And I found that in the beginning too, where we call it like the mom and dad complex, where an employee would come to me and not get what they wanted. So then they would go and ask my husband and we had to knock that on the head pretty quickly and I just basically said you know, know, I understand your frustration, but that behavior is not okay and that's not going to be acceptable. And it was almost like in the beginning running a daycare center, because there were all these little kids that just didn't want to listen. Right, and my, my reason for being as part of this business because my husband asked me to come on um, because it just kind of grew into this beast and he needed, needed, you know, the expertise and the hand and somebody trusted um.

Sonia Corkery:

When I came on, you know, I really had to say to them my interest here is not to hurt or inhibit you guys. I want you guys to be in a great financial position as well. If you want to sit and talk to me and pick my brain about things that you think you should do in your life financially to get yourself ahead, I'm here you want to talk about, you know, you guys have 401k, we have superannuation like you want to talk about that and what questions you need to ask or who you need to ask. I'm here to help you guys. And in all of that time, in nearly two decades, I think two people have taken up on that offer to come and sit with me and I don't like obviously I don't charge them, it's just there, right. So to not have something like not take advantage of something that's amazing in front of you, just blows my mind.

Sonia Corkery:

But talking with builders and clients and the team on the ground, that was a progression and that mutual respect came over time. But now when I walk on site like we have a great chat, you know we talk about family and everything, and in the business, you know it's making more money than it ever has. But my husband had to get to a point as well where he literally now he does not look at the money. Unless I say that there's something to be concerned about or I raise something in our regular meetings. He doesn't even look at the account. He's like no, I know, that is a hundred percent of your department. I don't touch that. I don't need to know about it. I just know that when I swipe my card, I can buy stuff Right, and it's like it's crazy, the transition that's had to happen.

Sonia Corkery:

But but that came through years and years of me, you know, feeling like I had to prove myself in the beginning and now it's like I'm like hey, I'm here and I'm doing my job, the proof's in the pudding, we're in the best financial position ever could be financially, personally and business-wise.

Sonia Corkery:

So you know, I'm not going to say I don't know what I'm talking about because, like you, you know you came from male-dominated industry in finance, which typically, you know, women have to work hard to get up the ranks there, like when I had my babies, I had to have the minimum amount of time off because I would have lost my position, and had to have the minimum amount of time off because I would have lost my position and had to start again. And men and it's sad to say they will never understand that. And same here, they've just looked at me as a woman coming into the business because she's the wife and it's the job. No, I did it to get my whole family in a better position. So, yeah, it's, it's a struggle street in the beginning, absolutely.

Erin Gray:

It's so funny because I remember my uncle. I remember like the first couple of weeks that I was in there and I remember him coming in and him saying you will never be on this bank account and instead of me like fighting it. You know, I think that there's two ways right. And I think in this feminist I'm not a huge like feminist movement in the sense of like the, because I think in this feminist I'm not a huge like feminist movement in the sense of like the, because I think it's fake feminist, but like the overpowering I could have been like yes, I am, but I was like, okay, that's fine, you know, like whatever feels comfortable for you, and I let it be, but I knew that I would be.

Erin Gray:

And then it got to the point where it was like Erin, I need to check when are we at, can you? You know like I signed?

Sonia Corkery:

up.

Erin Gray:

Sorry, sorry, you're not, sorry, you got on the account. I can't help you, but I mean I got on the account, right, I was the one that signed all of that, I did all of that money and he spoke so highly of me. But that came from, like you're saying, that trust over time and him seeing that I could do it and that I did have their best interest at heart. And you speak about your babies and obviously I was a different person at this time, but I was the one doing payroll at that time when I had my only daughter, my only child, actually and I did not put my foot down because I had lots of stuff wrapped up in.

Erin Gray:

I think a lot of people do with business of like our identity, right, and I remember my mom saying Aaron is only going to take a week off with Grayson and my dad was like, sorry, we don't have maternity leave. And I and at the time I was like yeah, we don't. And now I would be like, well, you guys are going to have to figure it out because I want to stay at home with my baby. And I think that there's this balance that, like you're saying, like you know, my dad said I never understood what it was like for your mom to be with run a business, I mean like when we did startups at 3am. Of course you guys can do startups at 3am because you have a wife that takes care of the kids at home.

Erin Gray:

You know, and I think that there is this thread or this silent thing that goes unnoticed with women of like that there is this loneliness or this like I'm the only one going through this because we don't talk about stuff like that and we don't have I don't know for you, but at least for me when I was doing that there were a couple of other business owners that we would have somewhat of money conversations with, but not like what you do when you have a project manager. Project managers they shoot the shit and they're talking about all their jobs and you have the bidders that are talking about all the details. But there are very few people that I had that I could really go and talk to about money and the situation and what we were going through at that time, and I'm curious what your experience is as well or has been in like just that thread of like. Women need to be talking about this and we need more connection with each other, more talking about money, more just connection in general, absolutely so.

Sonia Corkery:

I think it wasn't until 2016,. We actually joined our first business group, so we'd been kind of struggling along and it really really put a massive impact on our relationship. Like I knew I still loved him, I knew I still wanted to be married, but there was no disconnect between our personal relationship and our business relationship. So when I was coming into the office I was really hurt with the way sometimes he would talk to me because I'd think, gee, that was really rude and abrupt. But he just wanted to get the job done and he was talking to me directly, not like a wife but like an employee. And then I got upset because I wasn't an employee, because I view this as a partnership, right, and he viewed this as his business. But nobody said anything, like he never said when you come into the business, you know my position will be that I am the owner of this business and I would view it as an employee. I assumed that I would be an equal partner, otherwise why would I have come into this? Right? I left a job on massive money, great career, to come in to take a $60,000 a year pay cut right To help him because he asked me and then to be viewed as an employee? No, no, I would have stayed at my corporate job. So there was a lot of things that we didn't discuss because we didn't think to discuss them, because we just were coming in completely blind. And when I came in, like I said there was no division of hats.

Sonia Corkery:

And then when we were just at this bottleneck in 2016, where we just couldn't crack, I think it was like we couldn't crack the 3 million, like we'd crack the 1 million, like we'd got to three and we were just fluctuating between three and five and we weren't really cracking up. So we joined a business group and it was a lot, it was a big investment for us. Like, initially, we went to an introductory seminar. It was like three or $4,000. And I was like, oh my God, three or $4,000. Next minute, we're dropping $120,000 over two years on being part of this business group.

Sonia Corkery:

And it was like a revelation being able to sit in a room with other like-minded people who are experiencing the same thing as what we were, and being able to just lay it all out because, like you're not going to see them next week, I'm just going to be raw, raw, honest, spew out everything that I'm feeling and I connected with every couple in that room. Every couple in that room were in the same position as us and outside of that, we felt so alone, we felt so disconnected. Um, locally and I don't know what it's like for you, but locally here, electricians as a whole do not share because they always view each other as a competitor. Yeah, plumbers different. Those guys will have a chin wag, you know, say hey, how's it going? What are you guys doing? You know, super open electricians like no, it's just not on the table for discussion.

Sonia Corkery:

So for us, we, we just craved going to those events where, even if they weren't in the same industry, the fact that there were couples there or people just willing to be honest about I am hurting, and this is why I'm not going to put on a facade and say things are okay, because they're not. And financially I am crippled, like I am in trouble and I need help and I was sitting there going. I can help that person, I can there going, I can help that person, I can help that person, I can help that person. But it's whether they're willing to be in that point where they're willing to listen. You know that's a whole other thing.

Erin Gray:

I think that clients that I've helped I've done a lot of market research and I am just in awe of the amount of women that when I tell them they use the exact same words that you know someone else is using, that you can see their shoulders relax.

Erin Gray:

You can see, like almost this relief, like wow, so it's not just me and I think that there's so many of us that that's one of the things I love about the podcast is like I want to get the word out that, like we all are experiencing this or have experienced it, and it doesn't get better by like sweeping it underneath the rug. You know, and we need to normalize talking about money, talking about where we are with money. What are we working through? Because either someone, the person next to you, has either experienced it and can help you or is experienced it and can provide some support as you're going through it. And I think I just actually recorded a podcast today about the fear of losing money and how important it is to invest in yourself. And I think that when we have made investments in ourselves and they haven't gone air quotes, you know, like you think that they would it sometimes makes can make us feel a little bit more fearful of continuing to invest.

Sonia Corkery:

So I would love it, your ideas or thoughts on, you know, I think that we have to be in a position we can have opportunities presented to us to make change, like every day you could make. You could change your life in a completely different trajectory on one decision. Yeah, you know they always say you're one decision away from the rest of your life, um, but we have to be willing to make the changes. And that's what's really hard, because that that um, that reptilian brain, that front brain that is built in there to protect you automatically, is like this is a scam, no, don't spend money over here. No, or all these other money stories come up that have been built over time that block you when, objectively, to move forward, you need to make a decision that is other than the one that you've already been making. If you continue on the same path because you've made the same decision, nothing going to change. You need to be at that point in your life when you're ready for it.

Sonia Corkery:

So I had to catch up with some friends yesterday. We always do our own mastermind and obviously we do our own planning as well for ourselves and our business. And I said, man, they just dropped this gold nugget. Amazing, like gonna take to next level. I'm like, why did I not know this, like 15 years ago, and they said because you weren't ready, you weren't ready. You've got to be ready to make those changes and you've got to want it. And the difficult thing that I found working in a relationship partnership is both of you have to be ready, because you've got one person screaming from the rafters going this is what we need to do. People hello, this is the rest of our lives, this is the pathway it works. Let me show you and the other person's like nah, sorry, not ready. Yeah, and it's challenging, but you gotta wait like.

Erin Gray:

You gotta get there together yeah, I think, willingness and courage. Courage obviously is emotion, but willingness and courage, I think, are the top two underrated, under talked about emotions or whatever feeling whatever you want to call it that we have to have, because I think, like you said, we can want a lot of things. Right, you can want to do that, but are you willing? And I think there is a very, very slight difference. And the difference to me is like that's where courage comes in. Right, it's like I'm willing to do the hard things, even when I'm ready to shit my pants. Right, like I'm willing to, you know, make this decision or invest in myself or do it this different way. And that takes courage, and I think we don't, at least in the Western world.

Erin Gray:

I'm curious if this is the way in Australia. It's like we don't build up. What courage is? It's almost like bravery. Is this like I'm going to go in with no fear at all? And it's like courage to me is you continue to do it, even when you're scared, because you know that that is, you know, going to get you to the next place, or what you are wanting is you're worthy of that, and so it's a very different feeling. Courage to me is versus yeah, wanting or bravery or things of that sort.

Sonia Corkery:

And the difference is in the action as well. Like you need that courage Absolutely, but it pushes you to the point where you've taken an action. Yes, and you know it's like I liken it to and a lot of the men listeners might not get this, but the women will. When you've had a baby, the lead up and the fear of the unknown of you have this thing and it has to come out right, like it's coming out of your body one way or the other. And there's fear in that because you don't know what's going to happen, because the natural part of what you're built for takes over. Whether you know, you birth that baby, naturally, you have a cesarean, whatever the circumstances is, but you don't know what's on the other side of that. The first time, yeah, you are absolutely crapping yourself because and the guys are like, don't worry, millions of women have done it, you'll be fine, no problems at all. And meanwhile you're like, is my body going to be an ag? Like how much pain is it going to be? Is the baby going to be okay? How long is it going to take for recovery? Like is everything going to go to plan?

Sonia Corkery:

And you literally are in a point where you have no control. And that is the scariest thing in the world is where you can't control the outcome of what's going to happen. You just hope for the best and at the end of the day you have this beautiful baby. That hormone kicks in. You forget about that pain instantly and you you know a lot of us decide to go back and let's just have another one, because that was amazing, you know, and and it was. It was excruciating and awful and messy and gross. But so are things in life.

Sonia Corkery:

But sometimes to get onto the other side of that, you have to go through some of that crap and we do it fearfully because we're so scared if we don't end up with the thing that we've already got. Well, you've already got that thing, but what you're missing out on because you're not taking an action and stepping into the fear on the other side, could be 10 times better than what you've got now. But you'll never know if you don't try and look at the end of the day. If you're smart with money and you've provisioned and you know like profit first model, if you're doing all the things right and you're provisioning and you've got that buffer, what's the harm in giving it a go Like I don't understand, like just just cut yourself some slack, like step into the fear and push forward and take action. And yes, you're right, courage is massive, um, and we don't give ourselves enough credit. But man, we've got millions of women around the world pushing out human beings. Like, take that step for yourself, invest in yourself.

Erin Gray:

Yeah, I mean, I think that's the difference between wanting and willing. Right. Willing is like I'm willing, I'm going to actually take the action. Wanting is like I talk about it for a while and it sounds really nice. But willing is like I'm willing to do the thing, even though I'm scared. And you know, you said something about the having a baby. It's like I say this all the time. I'm like if we can birth a baby or there's so many things that we can do, we can figure out money, we can figure out business.

Erin Gray:

We can like that is so minute to what you know, producing a human and I know we are the house for it and it, you know, just does its own self. But I mean, there is a part of us that we co-create with that and you know, if we can do that, we can totally figure out. You know how to feel more confident with money and how to, and, and I think that that is just like really, which you know, that fable of like. It's like this boy and his grandma, grandpa, and he's talking about like which you know, which one do you choose? And it's like the one you feed the most.

Erin Gray:

You know, and it's like that's what I think it is with fear and money. It's like are we spending more time telling ourselves we're not good with money, telling ourselves that we don't know, or that our CPA knows better, or our financial planner or whatever, or are we, are we giving ourselves the credit? And like I'm going to figure this. It's a skill set, you know it's, it's something that we're not taught, I think also, as in the financial education you know, in like school, I've asked, you know, my teachers, my daughter's teacher, like do you want me to come in and talk about money? Like you guys are learning about Shakespeare, like why aren't we talking about money?

Sonia Corkery:

You know, give me a give my child a skill set they're actually going to use. Like, let's be real, it is. Don't even get me started on the education system, because I'm sure it's the same there as it is here, but so with my kids and you're probably the same you know I want my kids to have opportunity. I want them to have choice. I want them to have freedom. I want them to know enough to be able to step into the world and not be scared and have that leg up. So we do a lot of education at home and we talk about business all the time. Our conversations are extremely open. We show them when we're trading. We show them like they have their own share portfolios. We trade on crypto. We have bullion, we buy property. We explain why we're doing the things that we're doing and trying to give them that real life education so that that is their normal.

Sonia Corkery:

Yes, because even having a conversation around the dinner table in a lot of families isn't normal. It's considered rude, and why it's. It's what makes the world go around. We all have it, we all need it, we're all earning it, we're all building these portfolios.

Sonia Corkery:

Why is it not common to sit and be able to have an open discussion about money, because people are fearful of being judged on what they haven't got or don't understand. And we need to get that psychology and and build that muscle, as you said, like that tool belt, to be able to work past that and be like I'm not going to go up and ask somebody hey, how, how much money do you have or what do you earn, whilst we see that happening on the street all the time Do you drive a really nice car? What do you do for a job? And that is now becoming the normal. People are inquisitive, they want to know and understand how those people got to those positions. What did they have to do? And it's great to see a lot of women now are really getting ahead and saying well, you know, I'm in oil or I'm in, you know bullion or I'm in crypto, and I took a chance and look at what happened.

Erin Gray:

Yeah, and I think a lot of women that's, you know, some of them have issues with like, oh, I don't want to be like that, you know, like they look at certain men or things of that sort. It's like your wealth doesn't have to look like that. Your wealth, which a lot of for women, a lot of wealth for women is like I want to make sure my kids are taken care of. I want to make sure that if the school asks for money, I can just write a check whenever I want to. I want to be able to, you know, take my parents on vacation or pay for their assisted living. That's what typically I have found with women. That's what the wealth you know, what they want the wealth for.

Erin Gray:

And, like you said, I think it's so important to talk about um money with our kids, and most of the women want to, and it comes from because they didn't have that growing up and so now they are having to learn the skillset at 40 or 50 versus teaching it. Like you say, like it's just normal for us to have conversations in our house around money because I want my kid to know how to buy a car or how to invest, and those are important skill sets to teach our children, and it has to start with us first, and it's okay, and I want to say too, it's okay wherever you are, If you're listening and you're like well, that's not me, I don't know how to do a portfolio. I don't know how to do a portfolio. I don't know how to do you know crypto and all that. That's okay, Right, Like we all started somewhere. And here we go back to willingness. Who can you talk to? Who can you get around to start learning some of these things, so you can become more educated?

Sonia Corkery:

Yeah, well it's. It's about having the the taste to explore, like having the willingness to explore. As you said, we have this great, amazing thing. That wasn't like we had it in the 90s, it wasn't as great as it is now, but it's called the internet and Google and pretty much you can learn just about anything if you want to. As you and I are talking about YouTube, you know a lot of people don't watch conventional TV anymore. They have an interest that they follow, they look on YouTube and they learn it. They don't even know that they're learning because they're having a great time, because they're watching this. You know great video and what you know.

Sonia Corkery:

I started with, like outside. You know I never learned about crypto and financial planning. I never learned about bullion and financial planning. I learned about managed portfolios and those kinds of funds, index, etfs, you know whatever but I didn't know and understand about property investment and commercial and what those things were.

Sonia Corkery:

So I had to learn and you can go to seminars if you have a particular interest and you can meet those like-minded people.

Sonia Corkery:

Or you can open a superhero account for your child, have an app on your phone and put 10 bucks a week in there for share, investing for them. Like you can start small and play with a safe amount of money and educate yourself on a platform that you can hold in the palm of your hand this mini computer that goes everywhere with us and you can see how you go. And then, when you want to get in a position where you want to get more advice or you want to upskill yourself, you can invest when you're comfortable and go and speak to somebody who's a professional in that field. Or you can find the most successful person in your town who might be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a specific area. For us it was a really good friend of dollars in a specific area. For us it was, um, a really good friend of ours in commercial property owns like 500 million dollars worth of commercial property and I was like I want to know how you did it and let them tell their story to you and they want to.

Sonia Corkery:

They're more than willing. They want to teach.

Erin Gray:

They want to see success right.

Sonia Corkery:

We all want to see people successful. Let's just get on that train and stop trying to dog everybody and they will share with you. And for the women, like just being able to say I want to know what's happening with our finances, I want to be on the same page, let's make decisions together, let's talk about it and let me help you understand my feelings and me understand yours. You have the right to ask about the money, yeah absolutely I.

Erin Gray:

And something that has changed for me because, just like you said, with financial planning, you know it's the normal, you know investing in the market and, as I have learned more and dug deeper into the market here and like who's actually controlling it, and it comes back to like, yeah, that that has been a thing that my husband and I have talked about. It's like how do we actually want to invest our money now? Because the way that we did make our money may not be actually the way we want to continue to generate our money and grow our wealth. And I think that that's an another wonderful conversation to have is like what are the ways that investing your money, whether it be real estate or whether you know whatever it is that really light you up? Because here's the deal If you're just investing in the stock market because somebody says to invest in the stock market, but you want to roll your eyes back in your head every time, you then maybe that's not the best way to invest.

Erin Gray:

Like what is the way that is going to like really get you excited and do do those things? You know? And I think that there is no one right way or wrong way to invest and build your money right, build your wealth. And I think, having that permission because you know watching the market and what has been happening and all of this, it's just like I don't. I'm going to invest in my business. I'm going to invest in, you know, some houses that that feels so good that another family can rent from us or something like that. Like those are things that really have started to excite me. Versus okay, you just blindly and just put the money away and forget about it. It's it's actively caring about your money and how, how is it, is it growing?

Sonia Corkery:

and working for you. Well, it's like if you didn't nurture your child in the right way, they wouldn't be able to flourish and grow and be the best version of themselves. Your money is the same. It is a transfer of currency. It is a transfer into other things that they have ability to grow in the market at any given time. And, like you, you know diversification is the key.

Sonia Corkery:

But if it makes you sick at night to have your money invested in crypto, like if you can't sleep, it's probably not for you. Yep, it's. You're a hundred percent, absolutely aligned with me when you say you need to have it light you up. It has to feel good, because that is where you're going to want to put your energy into, the thing that makes you feel that way. And what's right for one person isn't necessarily always right for someone else.

Sonia Corkery:

But having the courage to explore the different options and at least get the baseline education so you know and understand what it is and its place in the world, that's the stepping stone that everybody needs to take, so you don't have to like drop a heap of money on something. If you don't want to go to a property seminar, then don't, but but do some free education online, like there's all these things, and people call up and they're like we're going to do a webinar. You know, do you want to be on? Yeah, sure, you know I'll listen, but I'm not going to commit to anything until I feel a hundred percent comfortable. But just having the courage to sit there and you know, know and understand and listen what's actually happening in the world, and just being just being aware.

Erin Gray:

I was going to say it gives you options, right? You just no-transcript will just totally abdicate responsibility. We were talking about abdicating responsibility to our husbands. I see it too with like CPAs and financial planners and bookkeepers, and there's one thing of like delegating, there's another of complete like so-and-so is taking care of it, and you just are completely removed and you are not owning and having any responsibility for your own business, your money.

Sonia Corkery:

Yeah. So when the tax office turns up on your doorstep because something has been incorrectly lodged or fraudulent, you are 100% responsible. So you need to know and understand what's actually happening and it is not okay to abdicate that responsibility because of the responsibility that comes back on you if they've done the incorrect thing. And sadly, you know, not everyone's honest, unfortunately in this world. And I want to know and understand. But you know what, for me, I love, love, the strategic aspect of finance, and so I challenged my CPA, so do I, and he, he, he must like freak out when he sees my number on that phone. But you know what? Like I give him some doozies, some curly ones, and he's like wow, you know, I never thought of it that way and I'm like good, I'm glad you learned something today and I got to do something that I wanted to get done. So excellent, and you know he's a very smart man.

Sonia Corkery:

But sometimes you got to think outside the box and have that courage to go and have that conversation and say, actually I think we need to do it this way. Is it gonna is it illegal? Is it gonna, you know, get me into a financial hardship position? Like is it going to get me in trouble. If it's none of those things and it makes sense to me and it's doable, and it's okay, then let's do that.

Sonia Corkery:

You are in charge, you're paying for a service and, at the end of the day, that decision should lay with you. It's not, they work for you, not you for them. So let's, let's have that understanding of don't feel, um, like you can't have those conversations, and if you've got someone that makes you feel not able to have that conversation, they are the wrong person for you. Get a different specialist, find someone who will work with you to achieve the dreams that you want financially, because, at the end of the day, they're doing what's best for them with their own knowledge and pathways. We want you to have that too. We want you to have the absolute best and be successful. And that specialist that you've chosen to be in what we call the red team you know solicitor, accountant, banker, you know brokers, whatever those people collectively need to be on the same page about what your end result is going to look like.

Erin Gray:

I'm like preach, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, because it really I mean I have had with, specifically with my you know family's business. I remember saying like that that seems like something you read in a tax code book. That is not necessarily real life, you know, and you have to think about where the CPA is coming from is. And a lot of times they are coming from fear. Right, they are, they are erring on the side of caution because they don't want to have, like the, the a word of audit is just so everyone is so fearful of it, you know, but the likelihood of it actually happening is very small. And also, like, if you are not evading your taxes and you are and here we go back to tax law it is up to interpretation and as long as you are following the law and it is, you know it it's okay to push back on your accountant. And going back to you know you're saying like, understanding your numbers.

Erin Gray:

You know, when I came into the business and understanding franchise tax, and that was just something that they just did, and then I really dove in and I just started saving like tens of thousands of dollars a year Cause I understood above the line, below the line and like and I started questioning you know, and, yes, did that take time? Yes, but how much did I set us up for years to come of not overpaying and that is worth something? And I think that, yeah, do you need to understand and go home and read tax law? No, but do you actually need to know how your forms work and understand, like Sonia's saying, they work for you? And even if it does cost an extra hour or two to ask those questions, you're think about it as you're building this knowledge for years and years to come. And so, understanding and getting this information so that you can make informed decisions, not just today in this tax year, but down the road 20 years from now, like money well spent, money well invested Absolutely.

Sonia Corkery:

And you have to be ready to pivot. So once you learn the education, something that you've done for a very long time might change. Your tax laws might change. And again, I'm with you you don't need to know everything, but what you do need to know is what's changing in the industry and what things you might need to be considerate of to cause you to pivot. In Australia, for example and this is going to probably blow your mind they have just put forward to change the legislation for our government, our tax man, to be able to tax us on unrealised gains. Wow, so we're in a position now they're going to start that with our superannuation potentially and equivalent to, say, 401k, where you're putting your savings for retirement, and we have the ability to have what's called a self-managed super fund. If you have a certain amount of money, you can actually manage that superannuation yourself and you can have the ability to invest in all kinds of asset classes yourself, such as property, et cetera, et cetera.

Erin Gray:

So it's self-directed IRA here yeah.

Sonia Corkery:

So essentially they want to now tax us on the unrealized gains of those assets within that that which is for retirement right. So they tax it at 15% on the way in as a before tax contribution and when you reach preservation age to be able to then take the money out for retirement which for me would be age 67, normally I'd be able to take those funds at 0% on the other side. But now they're going to tax me throughout my growth of the rest of my life on the unrealized gains. Now I can bet your bottom dollar. I'm not going to get a credit back if that thing goes backwards.

Erin Gray:

I was was going to say I'm like calculating in my head how does this work. When it goes down, do I get a refund.

Sonia Corkery:

So so, for me, you have to be able to be ready to pivot, so you can't rely on always the CPA to give you the information. You probably need to be signed up for some newsletters, some updates, some things that are coming through. So it's just the little tidbits here and there to grab your attention and say, hey, this might actually be changing. Now, if that in fact does change, how does that change your wealth trajectory? What are you going to need to pivot or change to ensure that you're keeping within the tax laws but still going to reach the end result that you want to reach? And it's just that little bit of education along the way that you need to have to just be like, okay, is this going to change what we were doing? If it's going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars because you haven't noticed something or haven't been aware and the cpa hasn't advised you, well, that's up to you.

Sonia Corkery:

So, um, it's just being mindful and aware of what's changing, being able to pivot, you know and and sit down and have another meeting and say, right, like normally. This was the trajectory for the next 12, 18 months, two years and beyond. Now this legislation is changing. We actually need to incorporate something different in the business to ensure that, a we're keeping within the legislation, b that we're not spending tens of thousands of dollars where we don't need to spend it. As you said, being aware of those legislations, um and c like just making sure that everyone's on board with what's actually going on, because the communication is the key at the end of the day with finances. You've got all these specialists that you need to work with um, especially if you're doing lending and working with brokers, and then you've got your solicitors. You know and being okay with sacking those people if they're not on board with you. 100%. I had to sack my solicitor.

Erin Gray:

I'm assuming you're a solicitor as attorney.

Sonia Corkery:

Oh, yes, yes. So I still get them to do a lot of my conveyancing things when I'm purchasing properties. But when he came to me, erin, and he said, sonia, you are not Warren Buffett, you do not need all these entities I went you do not understand what the vision is. You're great. I love you, terry, awesome. Sorry, this is my position and this is what we know is best for us. Be okay with that.

Erin Gray:

Yeah, I'm like the words that come out of my mouth are you are not the boss of me and so often and this goes back to you know understanding where your specialists and advisors are coming from. If they're coming from a fear-based place or they're coming and infusing their belief system into your cause, that comment. To me, that means he probably doesn't have a lot of entities, and so that is a that is a mindset thing, that, like you said the very beginning, if he's not I know you said it towards the spouse but if he's not willing or your advisors aren't willing to change that is not a conversation. That like I'm not here to convince you. You're either on my bus or you're not, and I'm not going to try to convince you. We just thank you for your time and service and help, but I need to go find somebody else, and it's okay to say that.

Erin Gray:

And more women need to gain the courage and know that. It's okay. Like, listen, it's like the boyfriend from high school. Like there's plenty of you, right, I don't need you, need me more than I need you. So that's the type of energy and relationship and not from a disrespectful way, right, but like someone that's tolerating. No, I'm not going to. I'm not going to continue to work with you If that's the mindset that you're going to be in. I'm going to find somebody that's going to help me do what I want to do.

Sonia Corkery:

And that's right and it doesn't make them a bad person. It doesn't mean you can't be in contact with them and, like as I said, I still use that firm for my conveyancing. You know, I trust them, it's great, no problems there. But I look at my entire portfolio from different avenues. I look at, obviously, the tax position of those different entities and what's in those entities for what reasons. But I also look at asset protection, because it has taken me decades to build to the point where we are. So it of course, is in my best interest to have multi-layered protection and that's the view that I'm coming from. And I think to myself, if he really knew me as his client and he knew and understand where I was heading, that he would get that and he'd be like, okay, yes, you could do this with one. She's doing it with like several. Her reasoning is so that those assets are each separate from each other and they protect each other from each other and that is why, for example, her husband is the director in all the companies and she is the trustee of all of the trusts, and the reason that they're separate is for those reasons.

Sonia Corkery:

Like it, you know, we're an electrical business. There is risk involved, I need to mitigate everything that I have built and grown from that risk. So, yes, I, I want to come from that perspective and um, and yes, I challenge. But I challenge because, at the end of the day, when I'm on a beach somewhere in 20 years' time, you know I'm not going to be thinking about what my accountant or my solicitor is doing with their day, like I want to know that I've built and protected this thing to get to the outcome that I wanted. My kids will each have a home. Goodness knows that them trying to get anything in this current economic climate is going to be a challenge. Anything that I'm doing now is is for that right and um, and I agree with you.

Sonia Corkery:

You know, I would say to your listeners, like, reach out, just drop an email and say, hey, do you have time to have a chat? Don't be scared, call me, email me, you know, just to have a chat and a chingwag, ching, chinwag, oh, aussie, and just throw the ideas around. And if you don't feel safe, doing it in your local community because you know too many people, whatever, reach out to someone on the other side of the world. That's what COVID gave us. It gave us everyone's on Zoom. Now you know and you can reach out and connect and just have a discussion, and it's okay. And it's okay and it's okay to do that until you get to the point where you feel more confident that you can continue to pursue those pathways on your own.

Erin Gray:

I love it. You got anything else that you want to add that maybe we didn't talk about?

Sonia Corkery:

I just want to say I'm so impressed by the amount of women that I see come through on this platform that are really starting to take control. It doesn't make us masculine ladies. What it does is this means that we care about our lives and what we want to achieve in our life. We get one go at it, one crack, one body. Let's do the best things that we can for us and our families, and don't be afraid. Reach out to people and and connect with like-minded people. We are all here and we're waiting to talk to you guys oh, I love it okay.

Erin Gray:

Where can people find more about you and learn about you? Connect with you?

Sonia Corkery:

um, I'm on all of the socials so you can get me um at clearplan consultingcomau because I am an aussie, but I do talk to everyone around the world. Um, and you can drop me an email or you can contact me and and's have a chat. Love to talk to you guys.

Erin Gray:

I love it. Okay, thank you for coming on. Thanks, erin. Did you learn something today? Do you know another female entrepreneur who might be avoiding her money? Will you send this episode over to her for me and, if you have it in you, please leave me a review for this podcast? It helps the show grow and I love hearing from you. See you next week.