Heather Russo / Wealth Strategist. Founder. CEO at I Am Generation One

Heather Russo, wealth strategist and founder of Generation One, transforms how high achievers think about money. 

Starting with $25 monthly IRA contributions at 18 and overcoming $217,000 in debt, she discovered that traditional financial advice from experts like Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey was keeping people stuck in cycles of scarcity. 

In this powerful conversation, Heather exposes the fundamental flaws in conventional retirement planning, reveals how to identify and plug money leaks most people never see, and shares the mindset shift that took her from financial stability to true wealth. 

She breaks down why it's not about side hustles or making more money—it's about flowing your money differently and investing in yourself as your greatest asset. 

Whether you're drowning in debt, feel financially stuck despite a good income, or want to break generational poverty patterns, this episode delivers actionable strategies to accelerate your path to financial freedom.

Free Gift: https://www.iamgenerationone.com/secret

Link: https://www.iamgenerationone.com/offers/2jm5HnJR/checkout

Paul Povolni (Voppa) is the founder of Voppa Creative and a creative leader with over 30 years of experience in brand strategy and design. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, he has worked with clients internationally, leading teams in award-winning branding while serving as a coach and speaker. Paul delivers workshops and keynotes on brand strategy, creative thinking, and organizational culture, and hosts The Headsmack Podcast: Conversations with Misfits. His work centers on helping organizations lead with Clarity, Creativity, and Culture.

Headsmack Website

Voppa Creative Website

Transcript

Hey, welcome to the Head Smacked podcast. My name is Paul Pavone and I am excited to have another Misfit with me. I have Heather Russo. Heather was born in scarcity and without a high school diploma. She mastered the wealth strategies, the rich never teach.

Heather Russo (03:22.804)
I mentioned I'm an introvert, so all of this is...

Paul Povolni (03:46.732)
And now she leads a financial revolution helping high achievers become Generation One in their families. Heather, how you doing?

Heather Russo (03:54.764)
fantastic and so honored to be with you here today with all the other other misfits and mappers.

Paul Povolni (04:00.676)
Well, yeah, awesome. Well, I am so looking forward to this conversation. It's going to be a little different from maybe some of the others. We're going to be talking about finances. And so, you know, I want to hear some of your thoughts, some of your secrets, some of the things that you've found out, some of the things that you've experienced. But what I like to do is to start off with is I like to hear a little bit about your backstory. You you mentioned in your bio that you were born in scarcity.

Heather Russo (04:02.734)
Bye.

Paul Povolni (04:26.98)
without a high school diploma. So let me hear a little bit about your story, your origin story, and you can go as far back as you feel is necessary.

Heather Russo (04:35.522)
All right, fantastic. So I was born into a very unwealthy family and there was times people were dropping groceries off on our doorstep. Like that was kind of my reality at that point of growing up. And I was always very aware of that. It was always present. And so I like to realize that my wealth journey actually started in scarcity, but along the way it turned into a...

a feeling of abundance and expansion, but it really started out of fear and scarcity of, never want this for my family and how do I break this curse and what do I do different? And so I was a very untypical teenager. I was a little bit obsessed about that project of, know, changing history for myself. I hadn't even thought about like future generations, but just for myself, like, how do I not repeat these patterns? And so.

Paul Povolni (05:28.238)
So where did that gumption come from? Like, where did that motivation come from?

Heather Russo (05:31.798)
The fear of knowing where food is coming from. The fear of, do we have to move again? I think a lot of us, we all have it. We all have some sort of something we grew up with, right? And you're either gonna live into that or you're gonna go complete opposite. Whether it's alcoholism or finances or just so many things that people might have in their upbringing. And as a human, you're gonna choose one path.

Paul Povolni (05:39.118)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (05:59.416)
Right.

Heather Russo (06:00.046)
Gratefully for me, I chose like the direct opposite. Not necessarily super healthy either. I had to rein it in because you know, if anything healthy can go too far. So, but I was obsessed. I started working when I was 12. I was putting money away. I was reading investment books by high school, going to conferences. I would have to say it was with my parents, even though I really wasn't. And I, because they're like, you're 16. So it was interesting.

Paul Povolni (06:18.414)
Wow, wow.

Paul Povolni (06:25.956)
So was there somebody that inspired you? Was there somebody that you looked up to at that point that you were like, I want to be more like them than where I'm at?

Heather Russo (06:35.072)
Yeah, so my time period, because I have lived a little, I've got some years on me, was Suzy Orman, who was kind of around a little bit still. And Dave Ramsey, who I think is still pretty prevalent, but I was definitely inspired by them and just anything I could learn about money because like most people, it was not talked about in our house at all, except no, you can't have it. No, we don't have any. No, no, no. Like that was what money was. That was the only conversation we had around.

Paul Povolni (07:01.719)
Right, right.

Heather Russo (07:04.482)
I was the crazy girl who couldn't wait to turn 18 to start my IRA. Because you had to be 18. Not your typical, you know, not your typical style of how you get there. But yeah, so that was my journey. I started my first IRA at 18 with $25 a month. And I was very excited about that. And my friends thought I was crazy. Basically, I didn't graduate high school because I needed to go to work for my family. So that money thing just really had

Paul Povolni (07:09.572)
Wow.

Heather Russo (07:34.19)
my opportunities low. And I started realizing that too as I got like in high school and like out of high school that if something doesn't change like this is the only option in my life and I'm not educated so my options for jobs in the traditional workforce is not gonna be the way out.

Paul Povolni (07:38.422)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (07:54.238)
Right, right. So, so as, as you, you know, you, you, you left, high school to take care of your family. what was some of the, you know, how, how long before you got into the financial realm as something that you did? was there a lot of odd jobs? Like what, were you doing to take care of you and kind of reach that dream?

Heather Russo (08:13.324)
Yeah, so studying the experts, doing what they said. So through my 20s, I got financially stable is what I like to call it. I didn't carry bad debt. had emergency savings. I had started obviously investing in the market and was feeling financially stable, I'm like, wait, and able to help my family and still be stable, right? Doing the small things and moving up a little bit. But I was in such scarcity, like anytime money flowed into our life, it was like,

birthday money, Christmas money, that has to go to savings, that has to go pay off the debt for a car. Like it was not a abundant life, right? So it was stable, but not abundant and was my poor husband. I mean, that is not fun when you can't even have your own birthday money. As we're taking healthy things, but you can, you know, take them too far. so going through life and just realizing that that pattern was not healthy and that that actually isn't joyful. And I believe that a wealthy life

Paul Povolni (08:47.289)
Ryan.

Paul Povolni (08:56.545)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.

Heather Russo (09:10.464)
is also full of joy and peace. And there wasn't peace even though I was financially stable. So plug along through that. And then some financial hiccups in the markets, like 1999 and things. A lot of things that the gurus in the 2008 housing market, the gurus never tell you your balances can drop 50%. Nobody talks about all the risk that is really there. They're just, no, stock this money away, 40 years later, you'll be fine.

Paul Povolni (09:32.632)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (09:38.626)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (09:39.502)
That is not a guarantee, but I feel like it's sold that way. mean, in our whole culture, I'm not naming anybody. That's just how the culture is. They don't talk about the hit of inflation, the risks that are in the market and how long it actually takes to recover from those market risks. So those were things I started learning about. You know, as my things started dropping, I was like, okay, no, why is nobody talking about this part? And then what do need to learn so that I don't have that significant hit, you know, that has happened to me?

So that's where I really started diving in a little bit more, just a little bit into like what the wealthy do. But I got hardcore about it in life. I was just about to turn 40 and we're financially stable and having the things that we wanted, the basic things we wanted. We could go on a vacation a year. And I realized that that's it. I don't wanna be like, the books I read are about rich people. Like how do you get some rich people work? Like where's that?

Paul Povolni (10:10.083)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (10:36.492)
Yeah. Yeah.

Heather Russo (10:39.63)
I realized that the pathways and the people that I was following were for financial stability. It's not necessarily marketed that way, but that's really what it's going to get you. And so I started diving in deeper and started doing masterminds and studying under like multimillionaires and lucky enough to be under one billionaire, you where I got to learn from. And I learned they didn't do any of the things I was doing. was talk about head smacks. Like that was

Paul Povolni (11:04.872)
wow. Wow.

Paul Povolni (11:09.38)
you

Heather Russo (11:09.59)
But everybody says this is what we're supposed to do and you're saying the direct opposite and you have the results that really most people are wanting. I think at our core we want financial stability first, but ultimately as money or finances or wealth are the number one thing searched on the internet, we want more than just enough to get by. We want to thrive and we want to be of service to others and there's just so much that our wealth can do.

Paul Povolni (11:30.798)
Right.

Paul Povolni (11:34.372)
Wow. Well, and so, you know, as you were trying to get to the point of stable, and I want to talk about the point of from going from stable to wealth. What was some of that? What are some of the mistakes that people make in that journey that now that you're on this side of it, now that you're you've moved from the survival and stability to, you know, wealth and stability, you know, what what are some mistakes that people make in that journey?

that kind of keeps him stuck in that just making it type thing.

Heather Russo (12:06.286)
Right, so I think the first one, I always say the first foundational to wealth is actually your mindset. So most of us don't believe necessarily that we could be wealthy. Like I'm typical person, I make 50 grand a year. How am I gonna be a millionaire? Like that's impossible. So you don't even open your mind to be encouraged to learn or even connect with somebody who might have done something different because it seems impossible. Another.

Mindset I think we have is like we're so afraid to risk everything, you know feel if we do anything different than saving It feels really risky. But here's the key The biggest risk is actually doing nothing. If your money is sitting in a savings account, you've guaranteed a loss Nobody talks about that. Everybody talks about go to the high yield savings go, you know, save your way to wealth Don't spend your money, you know, don't invest necessarily because it's risky

Paul Povolni (12:50.393)
Wow.

Heather Russo (12:58.872)
but you actually are doing the riskiest thing and guaranteeing a loss where if you invest it, you're not guaranteed a loss, but 100 % you are in savings. Like that was a mind blow to me because your savings, why? Because your savings rate is not beating inflation in taxes.

Paul Povolni (13:08.931)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (13:15.843)
Wow.

Heather Russo (13:16.622)
So you think you're getting ahead because you have a hundred grand in your savings account, but that hundred grand is going down in value every single day. We don't see it mentally or understand it, but it is. So you think you're moving ahead, but you're actually moving backwards. That was the biggest mind blow, one of the biggest mind blowers to me, because that did feel safe and stable.

Paul Povolni (13:34.009)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (13:37.354)
Wow. And so, so, know, with somebody that is in that place, you know, mentioned the 50,000, you 50 to a hundred thousand, you know, you mentioned that, that savings is not enough. That investment is a better step. What, when it comes to taking those moves, there seems for some people, that seems overwhelming. You know, I don't, I don't understand that. what are some steps towards getting from that survival mode?

to investing and doing that. What, what, do you take them through in what you do?

Heather Russo (14:09.518)
Well, and what I do in here goes back to the mindset is the pain of moving backwards, guaranteeing loss and actually being risky already worth taking some time and effort to learn something different. again, it all goes to mindset because everything is on the internet. There are experts in everything that you can hire. If you want to get to a certain space, there's undoubtedly all the information you need to get there. Free, service based, all the things. And what stops you from actually building wealth is your mind.

Paul Povolni (14:21.507)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (14:39.757)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (14:39.8)
So you have to really honestly make a choice and take the identity on of, I always say like no matter what, like I can stay here and pretend and live in a fantasy land, which is feel safe, but it's not, or I can choose to stand up for me, for my family and future generations and learn something different. And what I would say is one, declare that you have to decide that you're willing to.

go out of the norm that you're comfortable with and just put your foot in the, like just a little toe, just dip a little toe in. I don't tell everybody to go all in. Let's start with $500. That feels good in 30 days. Maybe a thousand feels okay to start moving over. And it does require bandwidth. So I will say it's simple to actually become wealthy over time, but it's not easy because our mind is always playing tricks on us and

Paul Povolni (15:14.947)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (15:37.134)
things like that will pop in the way. Our scarcity, our fear, all the things that we're always unraveling as we're traveling through life. And I always think I've mastered, I will always think, I've mastered this piece and then it goes up, right? So like, work to do. So I think finding an accountability partner is really important, whether that's a paid person or just another friend that is ready to start the same journey and you both are in the same spot of no matter what, we're gonna keep our appointments with each other.

Paul Povolni (15:48.196)
Right, right.

Heather Russo (16:05.614)
We're gonna do what we say, have support. We're gonna find an expert that aligns with what feels good to us, right? And there's a lot of information out there. So I would say mindset work on being ready to move forward in something that may feel scary and accountability. And then I always recommend an expert. For me, my longest journeys are when I'm doing it alone. So I might pay somebody 5,000 or 10,000.

Paul Povolni (16:12.516)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (16:33.134)
but it creates a hundred or $200,000. This is where so many people will, this is a mindset thing. I don't want to spend money to learn the best and easy way. It's not spending, it's investing. You're literally investing. It should be considered an investment, especially if it has an ROI. We can calculate out, if I do this and I can earn this. So we're not talking about sales. We're not talking about guessing. Like am I trying to sell something or a product? This is literally math.

Paul Povolni (16:35.982)
Hmm.

Paul Povolni (16:51.124)
Right, right.

Heather Russo (17:03.454)
and systems and structures that have ratios that will return something for you. So you can actually map that out. And I do that with my clients. So they can see like, you're not just frivolously spending something. The friarality will be if you're not committed.

Paul Povolni (17:18.538)
Right, right, wow. And so...

Heather Russo (17:20.174)
Because nobody can know the results if you won't do the work. I'm going to be really clear. It's going to take you all in, all in for a journey. But what's beautiful is it's not the 40 year journey that we're sold. You can do this in seven to 10 years. Many of my clients do it in five. I'm not saying that they're living in Kardashian lifestyle in five years, but they're like covering their lifestyle. Like if the job comes and goes or sales come and go or your business isn't producing.

Paul Povolni (17:33.444)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (17:39.007)
Hahaha.

Heather Russo (17:45.55)
because we've all been through some interesting economic times since 2020. So we all realize now how actually in stable jobs and businesses flow. So having that backup flow for yourself is really important. So we've been sold a lie that is keeping big business of America and the market and banks highly flourishing and wealthy and not us. And it also keeps us trapped thinking we would literally have to wait. Like I think the word retirement should be gone. Like there's...

One, you're still going to move on into your passions and you have so much life left. So retirement is like put out in the field, you're to do nothing. You know, that is not what we envision most of us for our retirement. And it feels so far off and like you have to be old. So I really like that. Just like your freedom, just freedom of time versus retirement.

Paul Povolni (18:21.571)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (18:32.504)
Yeah. You mentioned the lie that we've been told. What are some other lies that we have been told or that we believe or that is like actively put out there?

Heather Russo (18:44.716)
Yeah, so I mentioned the high loan savings and how you're losing inside of that. I like to use the example of a mortgage. When I first worked with someone, we go through every everything in our financial system. We go through money inflow. We look for money leaks and we look at everywhere your money is at. And so we always have a conversation. What is your mortgage interest rate? And if you're lucky, it's the average is three percent. You if you did this five years ago.

Paul Povolni (18:47.021)
Mm-hmm.

Paul Povolni (19:11.701)
Right, right.

Heather Russo (19:13.388)
And I'm like, okay, so let's test this theory. Pull out your mortgage statement. I'm not sure if you have a mortgage or not. So this may be, you may already know what I'm talking about. So let's look at what goes to principal and let's look at what goes to interest. And I guarantee you if your mortgage is less than 13 years old, which is most people, it's 55 % or higher.

Paul Povolni (19:34.596)
Wow.

Heather Russo (19:36.834)
So you think high interest credit cards are a lot at 29 %? We're screaming right now that they're up at 29%. It got nothing on your mortgage. We're told like this is the only type of mortgage that you can have generally, right? And it's not. So that's an amortized mortgage. And what they're doing is they're pulling all their interest upfront as much as possible and very little to your principal. So is your interest rate 3 %? It is in 30 years.

Paul Povolni (19:41.06)
Ha

Paul Povolni (19:45.483)
Wow.

Heather Russo (20:06.542)
but it is not up until then or anywhere around that time period. So that is a huge money leak that a lot of people have. Almost everybody that I talk to owns a house. Like, how is this legal? What is happening? I was like, is that?

Paul Povolni (20:08.942)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (20:19.48)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (20:21.966)
And even more clear, in more recent times, they have to delineate that. just this perception to reality is what is usually the biggest aha for my clients is like so many things of what they thought it was doing and what the reality is. The math doesn't lie. So I always say math doesn't lie. People lie, marketing lies. Math doesn't lie. So let's just do math. So the things that we do to uncover some of these.

Paul Povolni (20:44.3)
Yeah. Yeah.

Heather Russo (20:50.424)
perceptions and reality. And I think that's the biggest frustration. Like that is why I'm on a soapbox because we are really taught and our culture just spews it constantly. And to our parents, like so our parents didn't know any different to tell us any different, even if they were willing to talk about my, it wasn't really the things that were going to make us even financially stable. And can you get to financial stability? Of course, but you're giving up all of your life time.

Paul Povolni (21:09.216)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (21:19.244)
Right? You're working 40 plus hours a week. You are scrimping and saving to make sure you're saving for retirement, that you have your emergency fund, right? So there's not a lot of that living part that really is our heart and soul. And I think the biggest thing that it robs us of is that we are all blessed with innate incredible gifts that can change the world. And there's millions of people schlepping to a job that is seeking the life out of them and robbing their communities of

the genius and talents that they were born with. And I think that is one of the biggest things for our world that's missing. And it's because we're chasing this paper, because of the financial system, the way that it was designed and that we're taught.

Paul Povolni (21:59.67)
Wow. Yeah, that is very true. And a lot of people, you know, have, have this one day bucket list thing, you know, in their mind, and they're kind of bound by some of the things that they're just ignorant of. And like you had mentioned, they're kind of in a place of either scarcity, survival, or just looking for stability. And they've never moved into a place of abundance, you know, and so

You mentioned the lies of the mortgage industry. What are some other lies that keep people in that phase one of life of scarcity and existence and things like that? What are some other lies that you challenge them with and challenge it to their face and say, hey, you need to stop believing this or doing this?

Heather Russo (22:46.914)
Right. Let's see, let's talk about 401k, very popular, right? That's a very popular thing that most of us are told to go into, which is fantastic for the stock market because they win no matter what. Whether they produce a return for you or not, they win. Like this is designed for you. If you hear nothing else besides the high yield savings and your mortgage and these three, these three are.

Paul Povolni (23:05.58)
Wow.

Heather Russo (23:14.062)
wealth changers, 100 % wealth changers and mindset changers. Go and go do your research. I'm not saying just believe me. Like it's very important for you to create your own beliefs as well, right? First of all, your 401k doesn't actually belong to you. If you look at your statement, it says for the benefit of, which means any changes can happen to it without your knowledge because you are not the owner.

Paul Povolni (23:36.813)
Wow.

Heather Russo (23:42.926)
look at your statement, it'll save for the benefit of. Secondly, they don't outwardly talk about all the fees that are involved. So typically over a 30 year period of you scrimping and doing everything you can. So people are all doing the right things for the most part. People really are trying to do all the right things. They're saving, they have emergency funds, they're putting, they're maxing out their 401k, right? So I'm not saying you're not doing what's taught right things and you are making the sacrifices to make that happen. But in 30 years,

Paul Povolni (23:45.569)
Wow.

Heather Russo (24:10.83)
third of that money you put away on the earnings are wiped out in fees. So if your trajectory was a million dollars, it's not going to be that or it will or you will have to put away more than that plus the fees, which is up to a third. Like your hard earned money that you've sacrificed other joys in your life. Like, oh, this is what this means. So I'm so passionate, so passionate. And that's why I do the work that I do because

Paul Povolni (24:15.48)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (24:36.365)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (24:39.586)
There's just so much perception and reality differences out there and we need a lot more reality. And we need to be open to hearing the reality. And so not only fees, but then there's no protection, right? And I don't care if it's a 401k. So these fees are all with financial planners. They're with financial advisors mostly. So just understand your fees. I'm not saying fees are bad, but fees definitely play a role in what your outcome is going to be.

Paul Povolni (24:47.875)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (25:09.368)
Right. And so we need to pay attention to that. And often it's just noted, if you're lucky, one fee, but there's actually fees within all of these funds. When they trade them in and out or move you around, there are expense fees in there too that are often hidden. So all of these little things are pecking away at what you're building and trying to save for your future and you don't even know it. And then there's no protection. Right. So people like to say, I have a 401k or

whatever they choose to say. And I'm diversified.

all in the market. So is that truly diversified? No, you are still in one basket. You have different colored eggs in that basket. You might have a duck egg and a Robin's egg and a chicken egg. But that basket falls, the eggs break. I don't care which color eggs you have. So that is conception that I'm diversified. If it's all, if everything, if you are putting your whole entire future

Paul Povolni (25:57.187)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (26:05.965)
Wow.

Heather Russo (26:13.678)
into one basket, you're really setting yourself up for a lot of stress and volatility and most likely not an outcome that you're expecting, that you won't be prepared for at our most fragile time of life. When we're older and we may not be able to go back to work or make, you know, we don't have the time to make up the difference. So all your eggs are in a basket and they definitely, they generally don't have any layers of protection for you.

Paul Povolni (26:27.832)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (26:43.5)
Right? So if the market falls out, market falls out. It was just a bad year. Like we didn't, we don't, they don't have stop losses. They don't have, they're not doing these things there. And they don't have you outside of the market with other things. Generally. I'm not saying every single person, right? But generally they're all just saying, go into the market. That's all that it is. And they're not having outside resources that can help balance when the market shifts. am I saying don't be your 401k or have your.

Paul Povolni (26:48.686)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (27:12.354)
That would be up to you. Like if we work together and I can educate you on a lot of different other possibilities and then you make up the mind that's right for you, maybe there's a place for that. But then we're going to for sure put like a volatility shield. We're going to have a backup plan put in place so that if that happens, it doesn't derail your timeline of retirement, the funds you have available, that type of thing. And often they are also not talking about inflation and taxes, which are irrelevant that number too. So

Paul Povolni (27:39.554)
Hmm.

Heather Russo (27:41.998)
you'll get this beautiful projection, which cracks me up because it's usually 30 or 40 years away, which I don't even know if I would be alive at that point. So far off, which is also, I think, part of the sticking point for other, like especially past probably my generation. That is so far off in their reality that they're like, I don't need to worry about that right now, but even in my generation. So the average person in my generation, and I'm in my fifties has

Paul Povolni (27:49.887)
Right.

Heather Russo (28:11.662)
$75,000 safe for retirement.

That's it. That's the average person because they just thought it was like the, you know, it's so far off. can deal with it later. And that's not true. And I think some other generations don't even think about it. It's not even in their realm anymore. And so that's interesting. So there's so many myths and misconceptions just in that piece of, you know, retirement, let's say.

Paul Povolni (28:16.962)
Wow. Wow.

Paul Povolni (28:29.122)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (28:40.578)
Wow. Wow. And so one of the things that you had mentioned is that at some point you were pretty heavily in debt and within five years you got yourself out of that. For somebody else that might be kind of in that same place, they're in a lot of debt. They're kind of where you were. What did you start doing? Are the things that we talked about what you started doing? Was there something else that you started doing? Yeah.

Heather Russo (29:03.87)
things but so much more and I will say on my journey yes so when I finally like hit the point where it was enough was enough like I wanted next level life like I'm no matter what like I'm all in I'm all in I've hit the point I'm all in and I studied and I started to learn what I need to do differently and we were $270,000 in debt to my beloved husband who for his midlife crisis decided that he wanted a PhD I had no idea

Paul Povolni (29:18.371)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (29:33.253)
Wow.

Heather Russo (29:33.294)
that education, I mean, I know it's expensive, but hello. So not a Lamborghini, not a girlfriend. Okay, okay. So we did lots of things. will, I'm always honest about our journey. We did crazy things. Like he went for every grant he possibly could. We moved out of our house and rented a room so that we could have cash flow, more overflow as much as possible to put into assets.

Paul Povolni (29:40.356)
Hahaha

Heather Russo (30:02.284)
and then our assets paid our debt. So here's another myth that we're, or not myth, but just a misconception, perception reality issue. Everybody says, off your debt. Yes, but not with your direct dollars, because as soon as you pay off that debt or send everyone of those dollars, their opportunity dies. It can never do anything for you again. So you're debt free, but you're still in the same financial spot.

You don't have more cashflow. You don't have more safety net. You don't have more overflow. So a key point that I started doing very differently as we paid off that at one, we did lots of lifestyle changes. Not going to lie, like so many things. And then secondly, I invested in assets that produced income and that income now from profit paid off my debt. So it was a little bit slower, but I doubled the possibility, right? Because now that I'm debt free and I own an asset.

Paul Povolni (30:55.341)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (30:59.328)
and that asset is going be producing after the debt is paid off. So I really tell people you don't necessarily have to make more money. We just have to change the flow of everything you're doing most likely because everything's flowing in the direction that the world has told us, which is not going to be in your best interests for safety, stability, risk, any of the things that our perception in reality is often.

Paul Povolni (31:21.07)
So Heather, with what you went through and what you started changing, you talked about assets and things like that, for the person listening, I want them to really be able to understand what some of that means, because some of that is a foreign language to them. Some of that is very hard for them to wrap their mind around it. They've never thought about those things. They've heard the terms, but they don't fully understand it.

So walk us through, you what are some of those things, you you talked about the assets, you talked about scaling down and things like that. You talked about the non-importance of being debt free or trying to pay off that debt the way most people think about it. So talk us through that, you know, almost a step-by-step for the person that might be in a similar place where they're overwhelmed with debt.

And you're talking about financial freedom, you're talking about building wealth and they're like, I just got to pay the bills and I'm so far down and maybe they're not $217 down in debt like you were. Maybe they're more, maybe they're less, but they just feel overwhelmed by it. Give them some hope. What do they do at that point?

Heather Russo (32:32.44)
So that isn't exactly my expertise. Of course, I can speak to you like the things that we did, but my work is really for somebody who's above water. So if you are underwater, I truly recommend Dave Ramsey. Like get those baby steps, get your emergency fund, get your spending under control, that kind of thing. But that's gonna be first and foremost, whatever you're doing. If your output is more than your inflow, the math is never gonna work. So you, again, this is where you put your line in the sand, what becomes more important.

I mean, we moved houses, we sold cars, I mean, it was, that was the goal. And that's where you have to get there. And this is where I say it's simple, but it's not easy because we're very accustomed to all the things we want. You know, we're very comfortable and to have the idea we may have to be a little uncomfortable to be comfortable the rest of our life is in its own mindset to work through in itself. So I'm going to recommend that you go to those experts that get you

Paul Povolni (33:16.269)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (33:31.008)
at least a financial, a basic financial system. And so, yes, getting your numbers in alignment, making sure there is the money to put to work to build for you. Flowing differently makes a huge, sorry.

Paul Povolni (33:39.586)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (33:49.204)
Hahaha

Heather Russo (33:52.558)
Lowing the money can make just such a huge difference. Once you learn possibly a different way to have your mortgage that isn't amortized and all that money is no longer going upfront to the mortgage company, but maybe you find a simple interest loan that I don't care if it's 8%. Compared to 55, like this is we get so stuck on numbers without understanding what the numbers actually mean. Simple interest means direct interest that I'm paying right now amortizes. We're going to take all the interest upfront that you're going to owe for the next 30 years.

Really big difference, right? So simple interest versus amortize could create a thousand dollars more a month in your life. $600, like I don't know, because everybody's numbers are different, but it's usually pretty significant. And so again, the secret isn't to make more, and that helps you get there a little faster, but we, but honestly, there's a thousand things you can do with the money you already have, just doing it differently, which.

Paul Povolni (34:22.21)
Yeah. Yeah.

Paul Povolni (34:29.378)
Wow.

Heather Russo (34:48.652)
is so freeing and this is why I love it because it's available to everybody. It's available to the minimum wage earner. It's available to, know, these are not things only the wealthy can do. And that's really what excites me is that this access is for everybody. So making sure you're spending less than you are making, stopping the debt cycle. It just, so we think getting debt free would be the answer and a piece of it could be

Paul Povolni (34:59.268)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (35:04.665)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (35:18.274)
But if we don't get out of the debt spiral, know, so emergency fund is probably more important than paying off your debt. Because if you don't have any backup plan, you're just going right back to the credit card. And that's unfortunate is what happens. There's a pretty high rate of people doing them, you know, reaching this amazing thing of paying off their consumer debt. And then it just happens again, right? Or just continuing the debt cycles. They never get debt free because they don't have money to save. So.

Paul Povolni (35:42.198)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (35:47.446)
If that doesn't feel comfortable, know, then maybe 50-50, your overflow 50 % goes to emergency fund and 50 % goes to that extra debt payment. But again, going back to that principal erosion, every time we use our dollars to do something, whether it's go to Starbucks, pay my mortgage, pay my car insurance, every one of those dollars, the opportunity is always lost. So that's...

something once you've got stabilized, educate yourself on like the next level. And that's what I say when you said it can be variable roaming and it is, and it can be just what's the next step? What's the next thing I need to do? So if it's debt and emergency savings until that is somewhat under control, then take on the next piece. It's not meant to, know, unless you're ready for it. Like I have clients who are million, you know, million dollar earners, but they're completely broke. have no network.

Paul Povolni (36:30.008)
Yeah. Yeah.

Heather Russo (36:46.872)
So it's my another thing I always say, it never matters what you make. It 100 % matters what you do with it. And so broke millionaires all the time. So sometimes they have access to funds and we can do a lot of things at once, right? But if you're in that situation you're talking about where they're just trying to survive, the first thing is to get with like...

Paul Povolni (36:52.419)
Yeah.

Wow.

Heather Russo (37:11.052)
a mentor like Dave Ramsey and his program that's going to help start giving those little baby steps to get out of it. And then once you're out of it, start building out the next pieces.

Paul Povolni (37:20.428)
Yeah, that's so good and very helpful. And I think for somebody, it does encourage them. so, you know, now that, you know, you've gotten to a place where you're out of that debt. Now you're in a place where you create a multimillion dollar wealth. You're also helping a high achievers kind of become generation one for their families. What's, you know, there's different mindsets at different levels, right? You know, that you got to overcome to move forward. So for those people that have

maybe they're in a more stable place, maybe they're surviving, they're just doing fine. What do you start with mindset-wise to help them get those high achievers, get to that next level of thinking? And maybe we've already talked about it, but what are some other things that you also start helping them with?

Heather Russo (38:10.734)
Well, the perception versus reality about all the places, what their money is doing or not doing, that's kind of where we started. That's a powerful mindset shifter just on its own. When they see the math and they realize or they understand the actual risks that are involved when they thought they were safe and building up into something and then to find out by pure math that they're actually not, that one's a huge motivator. I think...

just getting real and understanding your numbers, go look at your bills. Most people don't even know what their interest rate is on their credit card.

Paul Povolni (38:45.88)
Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (38:47.352)
or they're more than right. don't know the truth, right? So I would say that in itself is a huge mindset shifter. most of it just really, unfortunately our mindset tends not to change until we're at rock bottom. So you really just have to decide. And I think there's mindset work that can help you there, but it's really just who you are. Like you just have to have courage and tenacity and be willing to fail.

Paul Povolni (39:13.07)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (39:15.854)
I have so many failure stories. I know everybody likes to highlight real, but I'm super transparent. Like I told you, we started way into debt and then had like, you know, moved out of our house to rent it out. Like it was not an easy path. And then I had gone into a business that I had thought I had researched well. I had a CPA do all the things and put $250,000 into a business and it was closed in three months.

Paul Povolni (39:43.242)
my, wow.

Heather Russo (39:45.672)
And that was me shooting for the stars, right? Like go big. And it's a business. it seemed, know, people concept all the things and it was fraudulent and cooked books and all the things that can happen even when you think you're doing your best. But I learned, I mean, I never lose. I learn or I win. so being open to realizing that

Paul Povolni (39:59.852)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Heather Russo (40:12.352)
you also have to be able to hold the things that don't work out because life never works out all the time. Not personally, not healthy, not financially. Like none of it is always perfect. So building up that muscle to hold the journey that we're on. And that lesson taught me so much. Like, like, okay, I survived that. Like that was the biggest investment I ever made. And this was not, this was at a time we were still building our wealth. So that was like,

everything we had. Yeah. And I had, I definitely had to work through some shame and guilt. Like I just moved our family backwards and was feeling, you know, I had a lot of feels about that, that I had to come to terms with and be able to hold and still move forward. Cause it's very easy to just crumble and say, I'm never going to try again. That's our human nature. Right? So a lot of it's just building that muscle and, remembering who you are. So this is part of the things that we go through and some of them even might

Paul Povolni (40:42.006)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.

Paul Povolni (41:02.189)
Right.

Heather Russo (41:10.882)
like little evergreen stuff, you can do like self-paced and start discovering things by yourself if working with me isn't like an option. Look at all the places you have made it through things that were difficult, right? You are stronger and more amazing and courageous and creative and we'll figure it out because we always do. We are incredible human beings, right? Think of that time that you got in a car accident and

Paul Povolni (41:23.662)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (41:35.586)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (41:39.192)
you know, there was a $2, you know, repair bill and you have no money. You're not trying to figure it out and you think it's going to devastate you and you'll never recover. then you did, right?

Paul Povolni (41:47.714)
Right, right. Well, and somebody once said, we've survived 100 % of our worst days. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (41:53.742)
Yeah, as I was saying, our survival rate is

Is it always going to go your way? No, be very clear. Let me tell you, the wealth journey is not for the weak. You have to be able to hold the wins and the losses. Nobody gets to the top with no losses. Nobody, nobody. And so hold that and, also remember who you are. Go back and remember who you are.

Paul Povolni (42:09.186)
Yeah, yeah. Now with.

Paul Povolni (42:15.128)
Right. Now with the situation that you went through with the bad investment, what are some of the key lessons that you came out of that with? Key head smacks, key things that you now use as a warning for anybody else that might be saying, hey, I've got this amazing opportunity. What are some things that you advise those people from what you've learned?

Heather Russo (42:36.814)
What I've learned if you are not a more advanced investor, I mean everything has its own specialty too, right? Like buying a business is its own specialty. I should have probably hired an attorney in addition to the CPA. So I learned that. Like this is not the place to chip out on using experts, especially if you're doing high level amounts like I did, like a quarter of a million dollars. And I thought I was doing the right things, but.

Paul Povolni (43:01.186)
Yeah. Right.

Heather Russo (43:04.534)
You know, I didn't, learned that there's other layers I probably should have put in place. Other things would be start small, where it feels comfortable or that you can live with. Like if I'm not 100 % comfortable or it is not my domain expertise or I haven't hired a domain expertise person, then I just my toe in the water. And I see. And be willing to lose. If you're willing to win, you gotta be willing to lose because it's a special, right?

Paul Povolni (43:24.94)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (43:31.637)
Right, right, right.

Heather Russo (43:32.408)
You're not going win all the time, but that doesn't mean stop. It just means, okay, maybe that wasn't for me. Or now I've learned other things that I need to put into place. So either use the experts or do a lot of due diligence yourself, but also be prepared that something could go wrong. So never put in more than you can afford to lose no matter what. And thankfully, because I had really revamped how I did everything, what I felt like was a loss of our capital.

really was actually alchemized by our assets. So I didn't take the money, right? I didn't take $150,000 from our savings. I took it from our assets. But our assets appreciated in the next few years more than the amount that I lost. So it didn't really cost me anything. And that's the power of that flow. So for me, it was real estate. had, you know, we had real estate. had the house I owned, that...

Paul Povolni (44:21.357)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (44:29.474)
Gratefully, we had turned it into an asset. So let me also be very clear to all of you out there who think their home is an asset. If you live in it and it's not cash flowing and you're paying for it, it is not an asset. And even if you own real estate, it is a appreciating liability because you have constant repairs, taxes and upgrades. That's liability, even if it's cash flowing for you. So understand.

Paul Povolni (44:44.04)
wow.

Heather Russo (44:56.418)
where each thing is placed and what it, start learning to understand the truth. Not what you're sold, not what you're told, like everybody gets rich in real estate. Actually, there's a high failure rate in real estate. That's the real. Yes, because nobody understands one tenant can cause $14,000 in damages and you're making $300 in cashflow a month. How many years are you not cash flowing now? Years.

Paul Povolni (45:07.466)
wow, yeah.

Paul Povolni (45:19.714)
Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Now, did you say you turned your home into an asset? How did

Heather Russo (45:25.814)
Right, so we moved out and rented it and then we, so it's an asset, it was a appreciating asset, but also has liability attached to it. Can't forget that. So when you look at real estate, you have to really understand all the parts and pieces of real estate and see where that fits in truly with your thing. So we did that to more cashflow to buy more other assets that could then pay down our education debt.

Paul Povolni (45:51.596)
So that was real estate once again in the assets that.

Heather Russo (45:54.35)
That was for real estate. But for like a newbie beginner who's saying, okay, how do I start flowing at least some of my money into an asset? It could be an ETF in the market that's not correlated to the market, right? So there's lots of options in there. Some of them are affected by what the market's doing and other ones actually aren't and they produce a return. And depending on what place you go to use those funds, they may allow you to leverage it. So

I might take a thousand dollars, put it into one of these, whatever source feels best and I feel comfortable with, and then I'm able to leverage parts of that. So I put a thousand in and then I can take 400 out. So now that thousand that was going to go to bills, I take the 400 off of my asset and now I go pay my bills with the $400. And then next month I do it again. So now it's 2000 and now I'm going to leverage again. Yep.

thousand rules with all this stuff. this is not financial advice. This is just as you start doing things differently, you need to also understand, you know, leverage management and the stability of what you're choosing and what could happen with a margin call. So we use it very safely and calculatedly. This is tactfully and strategic. This is not, somebody on a podcast told me to go do this and take all the money out. No, this is not what we're doing. We're doing it from an educated strategic place.

Paul Povolni (47:19.448)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (47:24.142)
But this is how you can see now I still have this permanent asset and that asset produces some cashflow. Maybe it pays 12 % a year, but that 12 % can then also help go pay down my line, the margin line on that. I move those every month and pay down the margin, 10, 12, six, $8, whatever it happens to be that month. But when I'm...

Paul Povolni (47:24.344)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (47:39.993)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (47:47.99)
more focused on is not the debt because this is good debt, right? This is debt that's building an asset and allowing me to keep opportunity and allowing me not to have principal erosion with every single dollar that I spend. So now I go put that other thousand. So now my margin is automatically reduced. So we often think I've got to get rid of the debt when actually if you build the asset, the debt is lowered automatically.

Paul Povolni (48:11.204)
while. Now, you know, talking about, you know, some debt is good. That's very different to if I understand Dave Ramsey. So, so for

Heather Russo (48:18.612)
Exactly, yeah. This is why you get healthy with Dave Ramsey, but you will get stable.

Paul Povolni (48:23.48)
Right. Yeah. And that's what you started by, you started with saying that is, is there some, some plans, some systems that get you stable, but not successful or wealthy. And, and so, you know, one of the things that you had mentioned, and I want to make sure I understand it. And I think for some people that hadn't thought about doing things that way, and you've mentioned several ways to do it is not paying off debt with wages or salary or income, but paying it off with assets. So I want you to like,

take a moment to like unwrap that even further. And I know you've already unwrapped it a little bit, but for some people that's a very interesting concept. It's like, you know, so I want to make sure that you have the time to fully unwrap that and what that actually means and looks like for somebody that is, they've, they're high achievers, they've moved beyond stability. They're ready to go next level. What does that look like?

Heather Russo (49:17.026)
Yes, first just realizing again, we'll start the basis, which is every dollar we spend loses opportunity forever. So the key with my work is flowing as much as possible into different assets, non-correlated to each other so that we have a good safety net and able to leverage. That's a big piece. And so the money flows. So I never lose that opportunity cost. Those earned dollars,

will can earn for me the rest of my life. Like most of us are used to I get paid, I pay all the bills and what's left I build my future on. And that's why it takes 40 years. And for most people, four years, you're actually, most people are never getting there. You're not going to be financially free. Go to a Walmart. Who's the greeter? Who's the cashier? Who's, I mean, the reality of people like who have retired, it's not good. And it's not what the statistics are different than what's advertised. And so

Paul Povolni (49:56.931)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (50:14.668)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (50:15.886)
understanding that reality and that there's so much you can do with the money you already make. So what if 20 % of that could go into assets? Again, get your feet wet. Maybe like I said, it's $1,000 that you do and you pull out 400 and you start small. But now you've saved that $1,000 that could theoretically earn forever for you depending on how you use it. That's the key difference of 40 years to 10 years or seven years or five years is that that earned income

Paul Povolni (50:34.978)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (50:45.254)
all gets put in places that are earning for us, income producing, so that now we can live with our expenses and we're not, our burn rate is much lower. And then our debt is paid by profit and dividends or whatever it might be that you're invested in cashflow from real estate. And we've built up these assets that can last us forever. That's a good change. Talk about stability change. know, legacy, legacy is very important to me. I always say,

Paul Povolni (51:05.965)
Right, and you meant?

Heather Russo (51:14.976)
Wisdom is the true legacy that you'll leave when you learn how to do money the right way. The money is a frosting on the cake. But if you don't learn to do different things with the money and have boundaries and, you know, spending plans and understanding of how money works, was it the first generation earns it and the second generation loses it. And so if you truly want legacy, the wisdom has to be the first foundation that we pass on.

Paul Povolni (51:40.266)
So true. so, you know, with, with somebody that is, you know, wanting to have wisdom and wanting to, dip their toe into this, you had mentioned a couple of things. You mentioned real estate, you mentioned, the thousand dollars putting that in, pulling out the 400. What are some ways to kind of start dipping your toe into building that stability and building up those assets that then take care of your debt? What is there a,

shallow end, you know, to the pool, you know,

Heather Russo (52:11.022)
So I'm like looking for ETFs that might be non-correlated to the market. You can find them. There's debt-based ETFs, you know, that are not tied to a business that have assets. So finding that then you can buy those for 50 bucks, right? So you can start small and just start building. Okay, I'm building out my asset that in the future I can leverage. Even if you're just starting to build and you're like, can't do the second piece. The key is just start. don't like that. I started with $25 a month. Like it doesn't.

Paul Povolni (52:14.968)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (52:26.937)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (52:32.227)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (52:40.504)
Wow.

Heather Russo (52:41.038)
It's the small, it's actually just getting started. So I don't care if it's $5 and that is the freedom that is great. I think from, you know, if you are using something in the market, there are ways to use the market to our advantage, but it's not the old model of accumulation that we're all talk about, you know, retirement and 401k and IRAs and just putting money away for 30 years. There's, need velocity because you're fighting inflation. live in a compounding financial world, yet we're told linear financial solutions.

just hold it and let it just sit there over time and hope and pray because you don't know what the stock market is going to be when you go to retire. So I tell my people that for me, a 401k or any of those retirement accounts, I might as well take all that and go to Vegas, but half on black and half on red, because as much as they like to tell us, just follow this plan, nobody knows if the plan is actually going to work. And I think if I remember correctly, there's like an 85 % failure rate in financial plans.

Paul Povolni (53:13.154)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (53:40.504)
Wow. Wow.

Heather Russo (53:41.838)
85 % but we're betting our whole future on it. We believe in it without researching it like we're giving so much power away because we just we don't talk about money. That's not what happens in our family and and I don't know and I feel overwhelmed and okay you're overwhelmed. So what are you going to choose that as an excuse or are you going to muster up whatever you need to tighten the boot laces and say you know I

Paul Povolni (54:09.44)
Right.

Heather Russo (54:11.692)
I can do better than this. I can do better for this for me, for my kids, because we role model all the time. Right? So if, and we care about our kids more than anything, right? We're saving for college, but we're not teaching them about money. And what is college for? College is so that they would go out and get a good job. It's still financial based, but it's not the thing that's actually going to save them and help them have a better future if they don't really understand what their money's doing and how to operate it the right way. So.

Paul Povolni (54:19.15)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (54:26.637)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (54:39.798)
Our intentions are incredible with our kids and we're doing what we think is the right thing and that college is about the better paying job for financial stability. But for the most people that it doesn't actually produce financial stability and then you've got all these debts. I'm not saying don't go to college. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we are modeling all the time and the legacy and what we're teaching our kids or not teaching our kids has the biggest impact.

Paul Povolni (55:03.148)
Yeah. Yeah. That is so good. I can't believe how quickly this conversation has gone. This has been amazing. you know, one of things that I like to, to, to wrap conversations up with is, asking you, you know, what is one question that you wish I'd asked you or a head smack that you want to make sure you share?

Heather Russo (55:24.174)
Honestly, I'm just so grateful for this space to have these conversations because most people never hear these conversations. So I'm glad for every question you asked. the thing I really want to headsmack people with is it's not about a side hustle. It's not about having to make more and put more on your plate and more mental and time stress. It's about how you flow your money and investing in you.

Paul Povolni (55:32.088)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (55:54.596)
Yeah.

Heather Russo (55:55.438)
You are your best investment always.

Paul Povolni (55:59.812)
That is so good. Well, I want you to also share about your accelerator program. You have several ways that you can help those that are at that place that they're ready for it. Tell me a little bit about your accelerator program.

Heather Russo (56:12.27)
I will, but I also want to say for those who are not in a spot to work with me at all and are wanting to just learn these concepts a little bit deeper, if I didn't send you link, I do have a newsletter that is action packed with lots of these little bits and pieces. Here's one, principal erosion, inflation, stability, all of that. So a great place to learn for free. I send it out every single week. So I highly encourage people to start there.

And then secondly, I do have an accelerator program if you feel you're ready and you have some overflow and bandwidth. And this actually it's an interview process only because I'm very particular and respectful of my time and I'm really particular and respectful of your time. And I'm not here for your money. I'm here for your transformation. So if I don't feel it's the right time and space and you aren't committed to the level I know you need to be, then we don't work together yet.

Paul Povolni (57:04.994)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (57:05.782)
I only want success and transformation. So accelerator is there. is a intensive, not going to lie, like need to have bandwidth space and I'm all in attitude for a six week program where we really dive into, we get clarity around everything that you have in your financial world. And we start building a financial, just start, we get the foundation built. This is what I say, it's the first step. We just build the right foundation. We look at how you're paying your mortgage. We look at all the places your money is at. We assess.

the downfalls or possible downsides and the risks that are there. And then I give solutions of things that you could implement. that's, you you make all your financial choices. I want to be super clear. I don't think I said on here, but I am not licensed, a professional planner, stockbroker, real estate, insurance, any of the things. I am a wealth strategist. I'm just going to educate you and give you points of view to consider and options that are generally out of the box. I am the black sheep, which I now

Paul Povolni (58:04.708)
You

Heather Russo (58:05.198)
I'm the golden sheep of the family because these are just concepts that aren't usually talked about a lot. so being open to something different, being ready to make moves, but we really assess where you're at and what are the things that we can do differently that start creating a flow and lock in more of that principle for you. So we really focus on that for the first six weeks at your foundation. We plug money leaks, principal erosion, that type of thing.

Paul Povolni (58:08.131)
There you go.

Paul Povolni (58:13.752)
Right.

Paul Povolni (58:34.356)
Awesome. then so your website is imgeneration1.com and I'll be putting the link in the link in the show notes as well for people to be able to get a hold of you. Definitely sign up for that newsletter, you know, and then also there is a free gift in the show notes. So for those of you that want to go to the post on this, you'll see that as well as in the show notes and love to share it with you. It's imgeneration1.com forward slash secret.

And so thank you very much Heather for that. know, you had mentioned that you were born in Scarcity and things were kind of tough and that you are generation one. How have you seen that kind of come to life in your life? You say you're generation one. So what are things like around you now coming out of Scarcity to where you're at now?

Heather Russo (59:23.662)
Now I sleep peacefully at night. Money isn't a concern. It's a thing I get to play with now and just expand, which is really exciting. It doesn't feel heavy. It feels very light. And the biggest thing for me and the driving force for me to become Generation My Family is so that generations that I'll never meet are going to be impacted by the work I do today. And so it doesn't feel like a sacrifice for me. It's really a building up of my lineage and my family to

have better choices in experience, right? They're not gonna have to come out in scarcity or worry or fear. And this does not mean I give things away. My family will tell you everything is earned. Like there's no free ride. And they all already know that. Like when we pass away, nobody's gonna become a millionaire. You're not coming a millionaire off of us. There will be a trust that you have access to for certain things in life. You you wanna start a business, we will back.

Paul Povolni (01:00:05.805)
You

Heather Russo (01:00:20.014)
college education, we will pay portions of that, that kind of thing, right? To build up their futures. We want to take a course in money. That's one thing I really encourage. We need to change the narrative of not talking about money. We need, like in your families, just start having monthly meetings. And it can be funny and silly. In our family, when we first started, we had like...

Paul Povolni (01:00:34.605)
Right.

Heather Russo (01:00:43.246)
bucks that they earned for treats, you know, like that they could, there's a little thing. So if they talk, they came with like something new they learned about money or they found a podcast and they shared it with our little family meeting. Like then they'd earn these little bucks that they showed up. They, you know, got little bucks and then they could spend them on whatever like gift cards we had or whatever. But just start the conversation. And for me, the freedom has brought freedom for my family. So currently I'm able to help with daycare for my daughter who

has been going to college full time to become a teacher. And so they can afford college because I'm able to help with daycare. My aunt personally lives with us who has dementia and Parkinson's because she didn't have all the right planning in place. And so she doesn't have the money she needs to keep herself safe. So being able to be that safe harbor is everything to me. Like, yeah. So it overflows. You think it's about you, but it's really,

Paul Povolni (01:01:34.722)
Yeah, yeah.

Heather Russo (01:01:40.994)
I always say rich is the I, is like I'm thinking about me and I want the fancy car and the big house and all the things. And then the wealth is when it just overflows and it's a we. Like how do I get to impact? I can see any GoFundMe now on something and if I feel the call, I can just hit the donate button. And that feels incredible.

Paul Povolni (01:01:59.447)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. What a great way to end, you know, the difference between being rich and being wealthy. love that. Heather, this has been amazing. thank you so much for this conversation. And I know there's been a lot of value that people can get out of this and, start thinking about their own financial state and their financial future as well. And once again, that, that link is I'm generation one.com and it'll be in the show notes. Thank you so much, Heather.

Heather Russo (01:02:28.558)
Thank you everybody. Thank you Paul so much.