Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing

#152| The Financial Confidence Gap That's Costing You More Than Just Money - And What To Do About It: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing

• Michelle Gauthier | Inspired by Mel Robbins, Jen Sincero, Brene Brown, Glennon Doyle, Emily Ley, Shauna Niequist • Episode 152

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Do you avoid looking at your budget, feel overwhelmed by financial decisions, or secretly believe you're “just not good with money”?

In this episode, we talk with Certified Financial Planner™ Sara Gelsheimer, who cuts through the noise and shame that often surrounds women and money. She breaks down how your money stress might have less to do with financial knowledge — and everything to do with confidence and alignment.

In this episode, you will:

  • Learn why confidence, not knowledge, is the real barrier to financial clarity for most women.
  • Discover three simple ways to make your finances easier and less time-consuming.
  • Understand how aligning your spending with your values can shift your entire relationship with money.

Hit play now to learn practical strategies you can use today to feel more confident, less overwhelmed, and totally in charge of your financial life.


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Life can be overwhelming, but on this podcast, you'll discover practical strategies to overcome overwhelm, imposter syndrome, and negative self-talk, manage time effectively, set boundaries, and stay productive in high-stress jobs—all while learning how to say no and prioritize self-care on the Overwhelmed Worki...

Sara Gelsheimer:

I think for us it's more of a financial confidence gap than it is a financial knowledge gap.

Michelle Gauthier:

You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less. I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach. On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman and current life coach. On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences, and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life. Hi, friends, today's episode is a must listen if you've ever felt overwhelmed by money and who hasn't felt overwhelmed by money.

Michelle Gauthier:

My guest, Sara, is a financial planner who speaks our language. No jargon, no shame, just simple, smart advice for women who want to feel more confident and less stressed about their finances. When you listen to this episode, you'll learn why money struggles might be more about confidence than actual knowledge and how to shift that mindset. She's also going to give you three simple ways to simplify your finances, including one that will save you lots of time. And then, finally, you'll learn how aligning your money habits with your values can help you feel more empowered and intentional in the way that you save and spend money. So, if you've been avoiding your budget or feeling like you're never going to be good with money. You are in the right place. Let's dive in. So let's say hello to Sara Gelsheimer. Thank you for joining our podcast today.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be on it.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yes, and as you know, we talk a lot on this podcast about feeling overwhelmed, the way that we spend our time, and also we've done several episodes around money and how money can be particularly overwhelming for women, for a whole variety of reasons which we're not going to get into on this particular episode. But the reason why I wanted to reach out to you is because I know that you give talks and are really passionate about women in finance and that you are able to simplify it for us, and so that is what I was hoping that you could do today is tell all the overwhelmed working women who are listening today how to make money as easy as possible.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yes, absolutely. So. This is such a daunting topic, right? Money touches so many things in our lives. It can be very overwhelming. I've heard lots of women say well, I'm not good at math or numbers, and so I think we just have this general anxiety that comes with that and feeling like it's just this huge overwhelming aspect. But I wanted to share just three overall areas to really hone in on to make it a little bit more palatable.

Michelle Gauthier:

A little bit easier, daughter's 14. I don't feel like that's the story that they get sold anymore, but it definitely was for me. I think from fifth grade on I was like, oh, I'm just not good at math. I just decided and you know, the other thing that's driving me crazy right now is the girl math. Have you seen that on social media? Like why are we dumbing ourselves down? Like we can't do actual math Right?

Sara Gelsheimer:

We're not doing anything for ourselves by that.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yeah.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yes, so interesting. You know, part of my spiel I give to women is yes, you can do it. If you look at some of the studies on financial literacy, so when a woman is given a financial literacy test where there's an option that says I don't know, they tended to choose that answer a lot. But when that option was removed from that test, they actually tended to get the answer right. So it's just, I think for us it's more of a financial confidence gap than it is a financial knowledge gap A lot, I think that is so interesting and that makes so much sense.

Michelle Gauthier:

And you know, like we talk about all the time on this podcast, like that feeling of confidence or that feeling of not confidence whatever the opposite of confidence is is coming from our own thoughts. So like the thoughts that we're having about money or the beliefs that we have about not being good at math or only being able to do shopping math or girl math or whatever that is. So I think it's great. Tell us, before we jump into, what we can do to make it simple, Tell us how you got into this and how you became passionate about this topic.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Sure. So I actually went to college to be a social worker. So I was a social work major. I took a basic finance course, just for my own knowledge. I'm like, well, I'm going to be making money one day, I'll be at not much as a social worker, but I need to know what to do with money. So I took this basic finance course and about halfway through the semester my professor pulled me aside and said you know, sarah, you're the only social work major here in the class and you have the top grade in the class. Why are you not in finance? And I simply said I just have zero interest in sales, like I don't want to sell people, I just want to help people, you know.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So he is really the one that opened my eyes to this other world of finance the CFP route, so Certified Financial Planner route, where you actually can help people day to day. And I actually did like numbers. So I was like, oh, this is perfect, I can help people and use my math skills. Yes, and so you know, I actually did a dual track. I did social work and financial planning, which, by the way, has actually been very helpful to have that social work background in what I do so. Yes, after I graduated, I pursued finance and have been in that field ever since, and it's I'm just so grateful for that professor, because it really was the perfect career path for me and I just didn't know I think that's a common misconception is that finance equals sales. There's a whole other world of finance that exists.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yeah, then that yes. And was there anything in particular that made you interested in women and money?

Sara Gelsheimer:

So, yes, I, you know, in my first part of my career I was working at a smaller independent firm that was run by two middle aged males, which is pretty typical in this industry, and so when they had clients coming in, I was noticing even when it was a married couple, it was oftentimes just the male coming, which I was, you know, really kind of taken aback by which I was, you know, really kind of taken aback by Fast forward.

Sara Gelsheimer:

You know, I've been at my current firm for a little over 11 years and we've done a much better job of encouraging both spouses to come to meetings and participate.

Sara Gelsheimer:

But, you know, especially as I was a newer advisor sitting in on meetings, you know, oftentimes with a male advisor running those meetings, I was observing that, even though she was present at the table, a lot of times she wasn't asking questions, and I think my social work background really helps in terms of being able to read people and I could see on her face like she's confused and she's not asking a question, or she would ask the question like this Well, this is probably a stupid question, but X, y, z, I thought, you know, this is such a shame that women are sitting here in this room, usually with their male husband who's oftentimes running the financial you know household, oftentimes with a male advisor, and she doesn't feel comfortable asking questions. She has that in the back of her mind, that you know that, oh, I don't, I'm not good at numbers or I don't know, I don't this, and so she doesn't feel comfortable asking questions. And so that's when I started our women's initiative here at Playing Corp called Inspire. Her was really to just give women educational content written in a way that hopefully resonates with them, and then host women's only events where we can sit in a room and we can be vulnerable and ask those questions that maybe they don't feel comfortable asking when they're sitting in a conference room with their husband and their male advisor.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yeah, I absolutely love that. That's so great. Good for you to take up the cause. Help women get educated. That's great, okay. So back to our original point that we were going to talk about. Tell us a couple of the things. I think you said there were three. Tell us the three things that women can do to just simplify finances for themselves and or make it less overwhelming.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Sure, these really fall into what I would consider three buckets. So investigate, automate, delegate, okay, so do you want me to dive in with the first?

Michelle Gauthier:

one, yes, please automate, delegate, okay.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So do you want me dive in with the first? Yes, please. Okay. So the first one investigate.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So I think it's so important for everyone not just, you know, overwhelmed working women, but everyone to really spend some time digging into your values, your goals. I'm a huge fan of making sure that your money is aligned with your values. So often people will come to me and say, oh, you know X, y, z is really important, and then we start looking at their finances and they're not saving towards this particular goal or you know they're spending in other places that they had said wasn't important. So it's like, okay, well, let's take a step back. Let's really deep, dive, deep into what you say is important. There's so many great exercises, you know, worksheets out there where you can really fine tune what your values are. And then I think it's just important that you take some time to review your bank statements, credit card statements, even your calendar. Making sure your time and your money really align with what you say is important is the best first step. Really align with what you say is important is the best first step.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So I love reading studies on, you know, investing and money, and there's a lot of research out there that shows that we feel the same about our future selves as we do strangers. So, for example, for us to save today for retirement, for our future self in retirement, it's almost as if we're giving money to a stranger. So it can be very hard to forego the now. I feel like, especially this day and age, with instant gratification. So we have to make a sacrifice now for a future self. So the more you can think about OK, let me think about that future self. Let me think about Sarah in retirement. What am I doing? Where am I? How do I feel? What's really getting me up every day, making me feel worthwhile? So I think doing a lot of that can help you, you know, forego the now and actually stay. You can, you know, think about what that's going to look like down the road.

Michelle Gauthier:

I love that I think that's such a great tip for money and life in general. You know to be able to think about like how do I want to feel in the future and what do I need to do now or not do now in order to get there. I just saw something the other day that said, like being healthy at age 70 started with healthy eating at age 30. It's kind of like that you know, that same kind of thing. That's fascinating, though I like that concept a lot.

Sara Gelsheimer:

XYZ today instead of putting it towards retirement. And if I can look at my vision board and see me laying on the beach in retirement? You know this presumed picture I have in my head well. That makes it a little bit easier to say today yeah, absolutely, I love it.

Michelle Gauthier:

Okay, great. So that's good. That's the first one, right, yes? And then what's?

Sara Gelsheimer:

next.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So next is automate. So huge fan of automation, especially for overwhelmed individuals. So first of all, setting up bills on autopay, I think, is a huge first step. I have heard people say well, what if you know, then I'm not looking at my bills what if there are fees and expenses that were on there that I shouldn't have received? Those are all good call outs I also go back to. I had someone say oh, I found this $10 charge on my AT&T bill that I disputed. I mean, I was on the phone with them for an hour but I got it disputed and I was like, ok, well, is your hour of time worth more than $10? And most people like, well, yeah, so you know. So, even with that argument, that there may be some fees that you could have argued against, sure, but you also have to value your time in that. So the time savings for setting your bills up on auto pay to me outweigh any potential negatives. I also am falling in this line of automation.

Sara Gelsheimer:

I love this idea of reverse budgeting. So everyone kind of knows the typical type of budget where you have all your money coming in and you allocate. You know this percentage goes towards eating out, this percentage goes towards transportation really flips that on its head and says, okay, let's focus on the savings goals we need to hit. So you know, we know we need an emergency fund that can be three to 12 months worth of non-discretionary expenses. So let's set that aside. That's going to be in a high yield savings, so we want to make sure we're saving to that a little bit each month. We also want to be saving for retirement.

Sara Gelsheimer:

You know good rule of thumb would be 15 to 20 percent of your income going towards retirement. So that would be like a 401 or 403. So that's an automatic savings. Maybe you've got kids going to college and you want to save to your 529. Maybe you want to be paying down debt. But basically, figure out your different savings goals and then automate those transfers. I mean similar to a 401k. You know, if you're enrolled in a 401k, that contribution leaves your paycheck and goes straight to the 401k, so that you know you don't even have a chance to spend it or decide whether or not to save it. So do that with all of your savings goals and if you know you're hitting all your savings goals, then whatever's left over you can spend however you want. You don't need to get down to the nitty gritty details about well, is this going towards eating out or groceries? It doesn't matter Whatever. Go back to item number one and see what you value and just make sure that it's aligning with the things you want.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yes, yes, okay, that makes sense. I love it. I really lucked out myself in that when I got my first job, the CFO was like, yeah, you should definitely contribute 10% to retirement. I was like I don't even know what that is and I don't have very much money right now. But okay, I'll just do it, thank goodness, because then I just kept doing that forever and ever and exactly to your point. It was just totally automated. I never questioned it, I never had it, you know so to think about those savings as like they're just gone, and then you can just live after that on what you've got.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yeah, so many 401k companies are trying to make it an automatic enrollment. Are trying to make it an automatic enrollment. So when you get you know, when you first start a job, it's you are automatically enrolled unless you opt out, which takes friction and we don't like friction right. Like we don't want to have to go in and do anything you know, and so you know it's just greater chance of success when it's just automatically happening for you.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So I think you know, really harnessing that to your advantage and doing that in all these different savings buckets can be so beneficial yeah that's a great point.

Michelle Gauthier:

And.

Sara Gelsheimer:

I mean companies know automation is the key right. They know we don't like friction and we don't want to mess up something that's already in place. So, as you're looking at your budget, I would say, like, on the reverse side, you know so many companies now do subscription services because, again, that's, people don't ever cancel them, so they're golden when they get you to sign up. So, as you're looking at your budget, that's always a great place to it's to check all those recurring, you know debits out of the account for your subscriptions and make sure you're actually taking advantage of the things you're paying for every month.

Michelle Gauthier:

Unautomate them. I just recently did that and I was like, ok, we have three subscriptions to Apple Music, even though I have the family one that all three of us could just use. How long have I been paying that? It's amazing how much money you can waste if you do that Right For sure. Yes, oh, my gosh, ok. So then your last suggested step is called delegate, which I love because we're always talking about delegating things on this show. So tell us about delegating as it as it pertains to money.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yes, I am a huge fan of using financial resources for delegation, and that can be. It can be hard to do, and you have to balance that with also saving right. You know, I know you. If you're not. If you're spending money now on something that you're delegating, that means you're not saving it for something else.

Sara Gelsheimer:

However, I'm a big believer that if you can offload the things that you really hate doing, things that don't bring you joy they really just bother you If you can get those off your plate, you're going to be so much more efficient, effective in all the different areas. I think it's one of those investments that comes back to you tenfold. Yeah. So whether it's investing in like, for example, I get my groceries delivered and it does cost a little bit more, but I have three small children and I can assure you that no one would be happy if I had to take all three kids to go grocery shopping every week. Yeah, so I have my groceries delivered to my door every week and it is so great.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Another one I you know had heard from one of my mentors was you really need to outsource house cleaning? And I had a mother who was a social worker. She was a single mom. She had dinner cooked every night. I mean never outsourced anything, and you know. So I had a hard time really accepting that I could do something like that, like actually you know enlist help, accepting that I could do something like that, like actually you know enlist help. And so I think you know a lot of us who saw parents doing those types of things may have a harder time actually letting go.

Sara Gelsheimer:

But I'm so glad I did. I'm so glad I get to spend my weekends with my kids as opposed to cleaning my toilets.

Michelle Gauthier:

And it's giving someone else an opportunity right? Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. But that's so important to recognize that you had your own backstory that formed a belief that was I should be able to do everything because my mom did or I'm making that up, but you know something to that effect and that you can choose again to be like, oh, do I want to accept that programming that I just happened to receive, or do I want to create a new way to think about this for myself? So that's awesome.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yeah, yeah, it's definitely. It can be a challenge, but delegating those tasks out are so important and really, you know, from a financial perspective to of course I'm biased, but I do think you know outsourcing your financial you know life can be super helpful as well. I mean, I work with clients often who are fully capable of doing this on their own, but they want to spend their time doing things that they enjoy more than dealing with their financial situation. And I just caught a mistake on a client's tax return yesterday that they're going to get an $8,000 refund, and so we often can bring up things that clients don't even know or, yes, outages they've never heard of. And so I think it's another area where the cost sure it's an upfront cost or an ongoing cost, but that the return, you know, more than pays for itself.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yes, yes, and I think that's so true with money and you know many other services where it's not that we would be unable to figure it out, but but why? That's what I think. But why, when I'm on a call with my financial advisor, who's a female, and my accountant, who also is, and they're talking back and forth to figure things out, and I'm I'm listening because I'm interested and I want to understand it, but they come up with all kinds of strategies and things that I would not even know about, nor do I even. Really I want to understand that, what they're doing, but I don't want to research and learn about them. And no, that is not my sweet spot. And yeah, it has definitely been worth the money, that's for sure. Like I've made way more money than I would have ever made on my own, you know, without their advice.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like that's a great adage you don't have to know how the watch works, you just need to know how to tell time. So, in your example, like you want to understand how to tell time, right, but they understand the complexities, the intricacies of those different areas, so there's no reason for you to try to dive deep into those.

Michelle Gauthier:

Yeah, exactly Like somebody else is doing that.

Sara Gelsheimer:

That's right, I love it.

Michelle Gauthier:

I love it. That's so great. Okay, well, two more questions to wrap up, which are questions I ask everybody who is a guest on the show. Is what is something that you personally do when you feel overwhelmed, to help yourself feel better?

Sara Gelsheimer:

So I have done a lot in terms of breathing and meditation, so I try to do those things in the moment, but in terms of actual like things to do, that make me feel better when I'm overwhelmed. You know, we're in Q4 right now, which is a difficult, a lot to do in Q4 work, and so there are times where my task list is so long and I feel like I need to do all these things today, and when I actually like look at the calendar and say, ok, I'm going to put this over here, I'm going to put this a couple of days out, when I actually kind of do time blocking, which I don't do day to day. But when I get overwhelmed and actually put those things on the calendar and realize I don't have to do them all today, that can make me feel a lot better.

Michelle Gauthier:

That's a great great idea, because when you feel like you have to do it all today makes you feel overwhelmed, and then, when you're overwhelmed, most people just can't think straight on anything, so it's kind of pointless. Okay, that's a great one. And then the second question is what is something that you do regularly in order to do less or save time?

Sara Gelsheimer:

I love killing two birds with one stone in any way, shape or form that I can. So you know, as a busy working mom of three kids, I don't have a ton of time to get in extra steps. So I have a walking pad at work that I try to use anytime I'm, you know, in a webinar or you know, doing some mindless stuff I have to get done. I can walk while I do it, which is really helpful. And when I'm walking, like at home, if I do get a chance to go out and walk, that's when I listen to podcasts such as this and other forms of learning, because I'm like, oh, I might as well walk and get some educational content in at the same time, or listening to podcasts while I drive.

Sara Gelsheimer:

So yes do those two things at once is very helpful for me.

Michelle Gauthier:

Okay, good, good, that is a good time saver. How is your walking pad? I've seen those before and I've wondered.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Best purchase I've made in 2023. I got it last year and it is. I mean it's nothing fancy. I mean I think it was on sale at Amazon for 200 bucks and yeah, I've gotten so many steps in that I wouldn't have otherwise.

Michelle Gauthier:

So, yes, highly recommend, oh that's good to know, because I've wondered about that before. Especially this is funny, Like this is definitely a thought I have, but I was like $150, $200. How good can that be? Is it going to fall apart, you know, like as compared to a treadmill? That's what.

Michelle Gauthier:

I'm comparing it to you know, which is like a $5,000 investment. Unless you get the Peloton one, then I think it's like $12,000. Yeah, okay, cool, that's good to know. Well, if people want to know more about you or your work, where can they find you?

Sara Gelsheimer:

So you can follow me on LinkedIn. I try to share a lot of helpful content as well as information about our women's initiative, the newsletter and things like that. So inspire her or my LinkedIn would be great.

Michelle Gauthier:

Okay, okay, perfect, and I'll put both of those in the show notes. Well, thank you so much for being on today. It was fun to talk to you. I feel like if someone can make talking about money fun and interesting, then that is a real win. And you have done that and you have helped us see how we can be so much more calm in our approach to money by taking those steps. So you have done that and you have helped us see how we can be so much more calm in our approach to money by taking those steps. So thank you so much.

Sara Gelsheimer:

Thanks so much for having me.

Michelle Gauthier:

Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast. If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier. com. See you next week.

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