61 | Women’s Wealth Shift with Kelly Gushue: Owning Your Financial Future

Do you want to feel confident with money and stop carrying fear, scarcity, or someone else’s money story?

In this episode, I’m joined by Kelly Gushue, former Wall Street insider and founder of Personal Finance Warrior, to break down what it really takes for women to build wealth and step into financial independence. From her mom losing access to money after leaving a marriage to graduating with $120K in debt, Kelly shares the experiences that shaped her mission.

We talk about why investing feels so overwhelming, the biggest mistakes women make (like sitting on too much cash), and why the “Women’s Wealth Shift” makes this conversation more important than ever.

Plus, you’ll walk away with simple, actionable steps—like the three accounts every woman should have and how to start investing with confidence.

This is your permission to invest, build wealth, and take up space financially.

Connect with Kelly Gushue:

• Website: https://personalfinancewarrior.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/personalfinancewarrior

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And so I like to call the great wealth transfer the women's wealth shift. So by 2030, and this is underway over the next five years, women will take control of more than 65% of investable assets. So we will control a majority of investable assets, this massive wealth shift. What happens is baby boomers are passing and often they're unlocking this huge amount of money. So in the wealth transfer is really referring to whys, typically why, and children inheriting that money. What I like to say though is or talk about is this unprecedented financial power that women have. What I also think is so exciting is that it's not just about the women who will inherit this directly. We need more women supporting women in different areas.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Hi there, I'm Jen Cassetta, and your chief badassery officer. If you're feeling drained, hesitant, stuck in self-doubt, or you just have a case of the vlogs, the Art of Badasserie podcast is here to help you unleash your mojo once and for all. We'll provide you with tips, techniques, and real-life examples of how you can pick at in all areas of your life. You'll learn how to flex your mental muscles, rise above fears, and turn setbacks into superpowers. So let's enter the dojo and let's get to work. Welcome everyone to the Art of Badas 3 podcast. I'm Jen Cassetta, your chief badastery officer, and today we're talking about money. And I have an excellent guest. Her name is Kelly Gashu. And Kelly Gashu is a Wall Street Insider turned financial coach. And she's the founder of Personal Finance Warrior. Do you see the synergy here already? With 20 years of industry experience at firms such as Fidelity, JP Morgan, and City, she helps women take control of their finances, invest with confidence, and build lasting wealth, yes, please, alongside their careers and businesses. Kelly understands how overwhelming investing can feel, and she's passionate about making it approachable, practical, and empowering. Whether it's financial markets, real estate, digital assets, or alternative investments, Kelly guides women step by step to create financial freedom on their terms. Kelly, thank you so much for coming to the show.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So excited to be here, John.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yes. So Kelly and I met at a book event in Santa Monica. We were seated next to each other and just started chatting. And here we are. And that book was Megan Rabbit's Women's Health Manifesto book. So she was already on the podcast. So look at this. I just love this community so much. So with that, I want to jump right into you, listener. We've been setting intentions for each podcast. So my intention for this podcast and bringing Kelly on today was that I want more women to have money, period. More wealth, because I know that the world will be a better place. Less war, less conflict, more generosity, more kindness, better for the planet, all of it, better for children. That is what I truly believe. So that's my intention for you to get the tools and the confidence to build more wealth. Kelly, how about you? Do you want to add anything to that?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Uh, my intention for this session is that women feel energized around this topic of money. A lot of listeners will bring different emotions to the table here. And what we want to do is energize them about the topic of money, provide helpful resources so that you want to take action and take control of your finances.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Awesome. Yes. So how do you work with clients right now? Is it one-to-one? Like how what is that like for you?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

I have two different ways that I work with clients. So I first have a monthly membership where I teach a live class every month, and then they're available on demand. So there are more than 20 classes that are already available in my monthly membership. I call it my wealth builder membership. And then I do one-on-one financial plans with clients. And one of the mistakes that I see is a lot of women don't have a financial plan. And the idea is how do you make progress towards your dreams if you don't have that financial plan? So those are the two ways that I work with money. And then we can talk about some of the reasons why money is especially personal for me and important to my heart.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Absolutely. And that's what I want to dig into right now. Why did you get into finance and what made you then go on your own? So tell us.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Sure. And with my background, we could circle back to I ended up attending Harvard, I studied Asian studies, I live in China. I went to Chicago Booth to study my MBA. But why money is important to me is when I was just two years old, my mom needed to leave my dad and was frozen out of the bank account. And so she needed, she was a homemaker and needed to make the tough decision of to rebuild her life from scratch with four young kids. And so my mom made that tough decision. And so that experience early on instilled in me the importance of financial independence. And she juggled multiple jobs for us to get back on our feet. And that instilled in me this hard work. And it wasn't actually until I started my career and learning about investing, but I actually wasn't investing for myself. So I was focused on that hard work aspect of things. And many of us need to be very familiar with that work hard mindset. And for women especially, how do we make our money work for us? And so it wasn't until I actually was I graduated from grad school and I had $120,000 in debt. And call me naive. I did not expect to walk away with that much in debt. And so I was school loans. Yeah. So I was investing on behalf of clients and I needed to learn to invest for myself, to dig myself out of this hole. And so what I realized, what I need to do is I need to give myself permission, permission to invest for myself, permission to build wealth for myself. A lot of women out there, if you are looking for that permission, then we are here to give it to you. Just like James said from the beginning, I am on the same wavelength. We want more women to embrace building wealth. We want more women with warm out.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yes. Now, can we go back to that as a kid? Because often when we see why we get into the fields that we got into, it's easy to look back and see that. But when you're in it, in those formative years, this is when most people's money story begins. When you're watching your mom, maybe she's stressed about money, or there's fights in the home about money. That's my money story. Is I remember my parents fighting about money. They would scream and yell at each other. That's just like normal in the Italian-American family I grew up in. And but it was always related to money. And then I have a kind of complicated story because my dad and mom were very different around money. My dad was an entrepreneur. So there was years where there was lots of surplus and abundance. And then there were years when he was in real estate. So when the markets crashed and it was really stressful. My mom was always giving me advice about save, become a teacher, be very practical, do these things. And then my dad was always cheering me on as far as when I wanted to be an entrepreneur, et cetera. So my my money story is just a little complicated, but I'm sure everyone's is. What was that like being raised by a single mom who was frozen out of the bank account? Like, what do you think that money story became for you?

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Short, and I can take you back to one of my first vivid money stories. And I invite audience members to think about your first vivid money story is when I was in fourth grade, we had a half day at school. And so I asked my mom, there was a $2 pizza special at our local pizza place. And so the night before, my mom was in the kitchen. And so I asked her mom, can I have $2 for the pizza special? And she shook her head and said, Kelly, I don't have $2. And I said, What do you mean? It's only $2. And she took out her, we call it a pop the book on the East Coast, took out her purse and showed me her empty wallet. Friday would be payday, and there wasn't anything like kind of credit cards or anything back in the day. And so I couldn't go to to meet my friends for that pizza special. And what it what I learned that day that it money was about choices and that we had limited choices. And so I actually realized on that day I want to make my own money. I don't want to have to ask my mom. I actually, that was just a really humiliating experience for my mom and from my eye of asking her in a way, putting herself in that situation. So the good news is a few months later at school, they said there's a paper root that's available from Boston, the Boston Globe. Like you could make money and you didn't have to be like the age of 14. So I had my first paper root at the in actually, it was I think in fifth grade. And so at 10 years old, I was zipping around the neighborhood dropping off newspapers. So I started to make my own money. So that instilled in me, I wanted to make my own money. And it dovetails into I was focused on working hard and growing up in my neighborhood, earning money was really the focus. It wasn't on investing and making it work for me. That was a concept later on. And that's where, like Jen, often as women, we you had said that your mom encouraged you as savers, like earners and savers. And we weren't, I was not introduced to the idea of investing in making my money work for me. And I think there maybe is a little bit more information out there for all ages, but we don't learn about how to manage our money in high school or in college. The good news is that's changing. Yeah. That there are high school mandates that are out there, but we're all well beyond high school. So how do we do that today? Is we need to take that upon ourselves and the focus on financial education and finding that those helpful resources, trusted resources. The other thing is just there's a lot of noise out there, as there is with everything. So finding a trusted resource is key.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Awesome. And I just want to close the loop because I brought up the money story. If you're thinking about your own money story, my biggest takeaway over the last couple of years that completely shifted everything for me in my, let's call it, fine, yeah, my financial world is that I was carrying someone else's fear around money. And it and I figured it, I unearthed it during this session, actually on my own retreat in Italy. I had someone on the retreat, Deborah, do an exercise for us all. And she, and I sat with this feeling of fear around money, like lack. And once I got in settled into my body and like really felt around, I said, Oh my God, I it came to me right away. This is not mine. This is my mom's fear. And what happens is when it builds up, I feel anxious and then I get angry at my partner or whatever about finances. And it was like the most eye-opening experience I've had, and it shifted everything for me. So from then on, I said, I don't need to carry someone else's fear around money. What I need to do is create my own feelings of safety and security and build that myself. And I wound up doing that. So with a with the woo manifestation of feeling into it and then actually having it worked. I can't even explain to you how the last couple of years have been so different in my money story. So I'm just I just want to share that because a I know that money can bring up so many different feelings for people, especially around lack and insecurity. And so many people don't have a safety net. Right?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yes. And Jen, I was like, what an amazing story and a breakthrough. And if I can actually just do a quick exercise with audience members, is to invite you to think about what is your first vivid memory around money? And it usually is with whether a family member or a friend. And the question you want to ask yourself is at first, did you think, did you come from a place of scarcity or did you come from a place of abundance? No, there I when I work with clients, there are both sides of that. For those who may have been rewarded with a great rapport card and you received maybe like a financial reward for that. Some have that and they they learned more of an abundance mindset. Once you recognize this default, and so for some, it's this I really want to shift this default. So for me, it was scarcity, right? As I said, my mom opened her wallet and didn't have that $2. And so I had to focus on personal development to shift into that abundance mindset. Totally. When you think about this for yourself, there's an opportunity. If your default is scarcity, the great news is you can shift into a mindset of abundance. And whether the awareness starts today, the idea is more money's coming in, in that you have the opportunity to build wealth from in a step-by-step way with it.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah, like why not me? You could see there's so many examples, especially here in LA. Wealth is everywhere. And that was another turning point for me when I started to travel with these uber wealthy billionaires when I was a health coach. Hang on a second, why not me? Like his kids were like born into this wealth, and they're walking around like they own the world. Why not me or anyone else for that matter? What are the most common mistakes that you see women make around their finances? Like, how can we and sorry, and how can we protect ourselves using financial self-defense?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

And Jen, I love that. So I'm first gonna talk about five reasons why investing is different for women. And so, number one is this women's wealth shift that I'm gonna talk about by 2030. Women will take control of majority and investable assets. Number two is the gender pay gap. Women make less. And so we need to invest so that our money is working for us. Number three is that women live six to eight years longer than men. And so we need our money to last longer. Number four, and this is key, is women often take time off to take care of children and our elderly parents for those who are in that sandwich generation. And many of us are in that sandwich generation of helping to take care of our parents as well as some young, some young children. And then number five is you may be the first in your family who is a who has a career where you are responsible for your retirement andor your household for the first time. You may be the first in your lineage. So who are you learning your money habits from? So that's why I first just want to say that money is different for women and there's a different context around it. So going back to some of the money mistakes. So, as we talked about, you don't learn about this in high school or in college. So we have to take it upon ourselves to learn about financial education. The great news is April is financial education month. I prefer the term financial education. Some people use the word literacy. What um what I like to say is a man would never use the word financial literacy with another man. So they would use financial education. So let's use a universal term like financial education. So the top two mistakes that I see is number one, cash on the sidelines. Again, it relates to what we talked about that often women are savers. And so what I tend to find with clients, and one of the reasons they start to they want to work with me is often it's whether it's habitual, whether we learn from society, that we tend to be savers and there's money in cash on the sidelines. So finally, it's I want to learn how to make my money work for me. And I'm I want to learn in more of a step-by-step way with a guide. I don't want to just in a way do this myself. And then number two, as I had alluded to this in the beginning, is not having a financial plan. Life is busy, and many of us are just winging it. And what I like to say is it all starts with a financial plan. And it can be an easy financial plan, but how do you reach your goals? You first have to identify them. And I think that there also is fear with identifying different kinds of financial goals. And one some of the and I want to say that some of the goals, the most common goals I come across for women is they want to have enough on the sidelines to whether it's work at a startup so that maybe they can work at a startup that has some stock options with the idea that why do other people work at a startup and maybe make make a lot of money related to that startup? Why why can't I? Another one is to launch my own business. I want to have enough money so I have that flexibility to launch my own business. And entrepreneurship with women is the fastest growing area. It's been the fastest growing area in over a decade. But also, whether it's flexibility, the bill and financial earnings, lots of reasons why entrepreneurship with women, there also are you want to make more money, you may want to buy a seasonal house, you may want a nicer car. So there also are those lifestyle choices. But often with the clients that I come across, some of it's a lifestyle, but it's typically more related to flexibility in lifestyle rather than a specific financial goal. And maybe the financial goal is related to having that flexibility. I just think as we even talked about reason number four why investing is different of women often taking time off related to children and aging parents. It's something that we often just don't talk enough about. And it's it often is, it often falls on women disproportionately on women. And so they're often making that financial choice. Why don't we talk about money? What's the big deal? Why can't we talk about it? And Jen, I love that. And so I have this clip. So, in and in terms of resources, my Instagram is at personal finance warrior for women's history month in March. I did 30 days of resources related to this wealth shift that we'll talk about. Jen and I met at a book club. So I like books, but books, videos, articles. And we don't talk about money. One of the clips that I have is Reese Witherspoon has a conference called Shine Away. And I love every year she talks about money. And she just is a celebrity example of when we were growing up at Opton was taboo. She grew up in Tennessee as more of an extreme example where it was inappropriate. It was like viewed society viewed it inappropriate for women to talk about money. Thankfully, that is all changing. And especially on women under 25, I think, really get it. And if you're listening to this and you're under 25, you know that it's your responsibility to learn about money, that you're not necessarily going to hand it off to somebody else. And I feel like general, we were growing up, society often made it out that women, you maybe can outsource this to somebody else, whether a family member, it could be your spouse, but it could be your brother, it could be your father. And learning about it wasn't that it's your responsibility to learn about money. And going back to one of your key tenants about self-defense, what I like the analogy and why I was like excited to be on your podcast is financial education is just like learning self defense so that we so that we have responsibilities. For our own finances. And I like to say whether you're in a relationship or not. And I actually want both people in the relationship. So I also people come to me and they say, I am the one, like I'm the one who manages the finances in my household. And what I like to say is I want both people involved in the conversation, whichever, whoever takes the lead, I want both people involved in it.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Yeah. I was gonna, I was gonna say or think that one of your the biggest mistakes was women giving the all the financial decisions to their spouse. That book that just came out by Belle Burden. Yeah, it hit such a chord with folks. It's blowing up. She's on every podcast. She was just on Oprah. So here's super smart woman. She was an attorney and then stopped working to raise the kid. Her husband one day was just like, I'm out. I'm I don't want this relationship anymore. And left. I didn't read the book yet, but she was just, oh my, what just happened? And she said she left all the financial decisions to him. And we see this so much. Do you see that a lot in your practice?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yes. And I actually want to take it one step further. So Belle Burden's story resonates so deeply with a number of people. I have a couple of more details about she was actually the one who came into the relationship with the trust. And she was encouraged, and the family lawyer encouraged her to sign the prenup, which was what this kind of standard was with her family. And she she chose to go around that to appease her husband. And that's one of the money choices that she regrets that she talks about in the story. But she was actually the one who came to the relationship with a trust and from an affluent background. And still, she went against the advice of her lawyer, even. Sometimes love makes us do these strange things. And I think the reason why it resonates is because we need to learn best practice about that.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Can I ask a quick question? I see this on Instagram a lot with some of these different finance experts that are young women talking about not combining your finances with your spouse. What is your opinion on that?

SPEAKER_01 24:23

So one of the things I wanted to mention is there are generations, and I call it it's really decades, of different relationships with money. So let's take a step back. Over 60, these are in a way, baby boomers a bit older, but I'm gonna put the over 60 in that category of taboo to talk about money. Often women came into a relationship and they let the the spouse manage the money. Between 40 and 60, it was often career women juggling a career, a household, and family, and division of labor. It was just I can't do everything. So division of labor, like you're gonna manage, you're gonna manage the money because I just can't do everything. Between 30 and 40, it's a little bit of you have some who have taken that on and realized I need to do that. And part of that I feel is the 2008 financial crisis. So many individuals who went through that realized it's actually my responsibility, especially if they went through job loss or challenges with that. And then the under 25, it's like clear that they know, and I also feel like usually parental influence that it's their responsibility, whether male or female, that like money is my responsibility. So I like to give a little bit of a preface around age groups where there's a different relationship. So Belle, in that like 40 to 60, where division of division of labor, she's the one who is managing the household. And so it could be a little bit more of division of labor. So when you ask about what are best practices, I think that it depends. And where are you in that age group? So the idea with marriage, if we think about historically, is it was an economic union, which is why it's very expensive to get out of a divorce. And the idea was that usually back in the day, you may be married when you were under 25 and you may not have had any assets. You may not have bought a house, you and you may not have had student loans, always, in a way, more modern complications with the life today. So if you're over 30 and you maybe have some assets, it may be a little bit more complicated. One of the suggestions that I like to give and for, especially for women to keep in mind, is when you step off the career track to take time off for work. The research is, and I went to Chicago booth, and there's a professor, Marian Bertrand, who's the leader on this kind of data set that they've been following for the last 30 years, that the research shows that there is a dramatic change in your financial earnings if you take more than two years off. And so, really, I want to encourage women as much as possible to stay in the workforce so that you can find a part-time way. So, how you set up your accounts is you can decide if you want a separate account and then you each keep individual accounts and do a percentage. I think it depends on where you're at. Do you have assets? Do you not have assets? What age are you when you get married? People are delaying marriage. So it tends to be a little bit more complicated. So I don't have a blanket view. But what I do like to encourage women is to see if you can stay in the workforce as long as possible. And if you can find that flexibility, because I do feel like it's that earnings when you step away and then and then rejoin the workforce after some years. If it's sudden, in the example, like my mom worked several part-time jobs before she could find a more stable role. She was a homemaker and juggled several part-time jobs before, probably like year two or three, that she found something stable. And that's where when you have your own earnings, it just gives you more flexibility in case some situation arises where you need that flexibility to make a life decision.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Absolutely. We need our own money. I remember my mother always saying, always have your own money. I got married at 40. It's more complicated than, like you said, and it's an interesting way to look at it as far as age. It makes more sense why I didn't want to combine finances. I didn't want to change my name. I'm 40 years old. This is my name. I'm gonna change it all of a sudden. This is the way I run my finances. I'm not gonna really change that. So now it makes more sense. Thank you. Can you talk about that great wealth transfer?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Because there are so many things that we could talk about. So we are living in one of the most exciting times in financial history for women, and just many of us are not really hearing about this. And so I like to call the great wealth transfer the women's wealth shift. So by 2030, and this is underway over the next five years. Women will take control of more than 65% of investable assets. So we will control a majority of investable assets. How does that happen? And it's five trillion a year, and the size of the California economy of four trillion, it's this massive wealth shift. What happens is baby boomers are passing and often they're unlocking this huge amount of money. So in the wealth transfer is really referring to whys, typically why, and children inheriting that money. What I like to say though is or talk about is this unprecedented financial power that women have. And that's why I call it the women's wealth shift. What I also think is so exciting is that it's not just about the women who will inherit this directly. This financial power is we need more women supporting women in different areas. So I talk about the gender gaps, and one of the key gender gaps is funding for women. So men have been giving each other money for centuries. Unfortunately, women, there is a bit of a reluctance to give money to women. And part of this is just because even a few decades ago, there was the topic of money for women was taboo. Giving women money is still a bit of a controversial topic. And the data shows this less than 2% of venture capital funding goes to women. Oh, giving money, giving women money. I didn't understand what you mean. So for if you if for their business, less than 30% of business loans go to women. So this gender funding gap is what I call this. And so one of the key benefits of this women's wealth shift is women providing funding for more women. And in three key areas. So I love Megan Rabbit's book, The New Rules for Women's Health. Women's health care is such a critical area where we need more women founders creating disruptive business models. Less than 5% of research goes to women's health care. It's insane. I mean, think about that. So what's exciting about this women's wealth shift is the money in women's hands, there's the opportunity to change some of these dismal, like these dismal numbers. And so we need more women founders in women's health care. We see this exciting momentum with women's sports. Another area is women's financial services, so that we have more financial education available. Some firms are providing it and some firms aren't. And there's just room for more new business models. So that's why I'm so excited about this women's wealth shift, is because it's so broad-based. And these investment opportunities are trillion-dollar opportunities. And over this next decade, we are going to see changes in this. And I'm inviting audience members, we are all part of this. We as women with this new financial power are part of this. So financial education is a first step and learning more about ways that you can use your money even to invest in some of these exciting growth areas that, like, in a way benefit us, like our healthcare, our financial services, what we need to live better lives.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Absolutely. So before we wrap, I want you to get those are very broad strokes of how it can work in the economy. But what about our personal lives? What's the top two to three takeaways right now that any woman at different stages in their life should be doing with their money to play financial, not to play, but to use financial self-defense to protect their money, which is their energy, which is becomes their freedom and ability to make choices.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Okay. So there's a I have a three-step money system. So that's how easy it is. So number one is you have your cash account where your money's coming in. You're not making any money on that. Next step is emergency savings account. This is step one in self-defense, is an emergency savings account. So they say three to six months. If you don't have that, then that is an important step. So retirement is often through maybe your employer. So I'm gonna not include that. The third key step is an investment account. A number of women I come across, they don't even have that investment account. And that's what is the key financial flexibility account. That's the account that if you need to take money out of it, if you have a life event and life change. So the emergency account is to make sure that you have, if there's a challenge on with your day-to-day expenses, but that investment account is where you're making your money work for you.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

So that is my three-step money system. So the first, the emergency savings, should that be in a high yield savings account? High yield savings account separate from that, like your day-to-day bank account. Okay. So if you don't have a high yield savings account, that would be the first thing. Get it now. What is it, like 3.5 to 3.8%? You could probably find.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

So three to four percent is right now what the range is, but at least you're making something on your money, three to four percent.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Okay. And then I have another question. Just based on where we are right now, we have a mad person running the United States. And I personally feel like I don't trust this administration. Like literally, he can throw us into World War III on a whim. Should we be still investing in the stock market fully this year? I'm just I'm personally just nervous to do that. Should we do safe bets?

SPEAKER_01 35:32

I want to shift your mindset. So, first of all, if we take a multi-decade perspective, the average return is eight to ten percent over the last 80 to 100 years, including the last 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Where we are right now, as Warren Buffett says, do you believe in technology? Are we in a massive technology shift? Yeah. And is the stock market a beneficiary of that? That is what I want you to keep in mind. And so, yes, I want you to be making your money work for you in the stock market. And the SP 500 is a diversified index, and index fund is a great place to start. And I want you to shift into that abundance mindset with that long-term perspective and this massive technology shift that we're in. That's what I want you to keep. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

That's very helpful because the fear is real.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

I don't want people to dismiss the fear that exists, but what is important is looking at the bigger picture and what are our goals and not letting the noise get in the way of our goals, our dreams. And even we started off with this intention. It is important to set intentions so that kind of the noise of day-to-day doesn't keep interrupting us. It will help then we just want to recalibrate and then say, what are my goals and what are my dreams?

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Awesome. That was really helpful, actually. Thank you. You helped me just shift my money mindset back into abundance. And I do a practice every morning on abundance. But last question before we get into rapid fire questions, crypto. It feels like such a broy kind of thing. Should women be investing in crypto?

SPEAKER_01 37:22

I actually have training in digital assets and I have been following it for the last decade. And what I want to say is, as part of diversification, it is considered an asset class. It's the formal term is digital assets because cryptocurrency is one of the types. What I like to tell people is it's really about the underlying technology, which is what has been so attractive and so interesting. Yes, there are questions about the ledger system creates anonymity, but the idea is that you could, from one country to another, make a transaction. There are questions about a black market. So there is some complexity. It's not as heavily regulated. And we have had bad actors like FTX and some other companies engage in fraud. So I want to encourage women to learn about it and not just think this isn't for me, but maybe it might not be for you now, but the underlying technology, we're gonna see more investment vehicles related to it.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Okay, cool. Yeah, I bought my first like ETFs this past year in to not buying crypto itself or digital assets themselves, but an ETF for them, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Yes, and an ETF is a wrapper where you get exposure to, and maybe it was some different underlying assets of cryptocurrency and then some other some other types. So that might be a great way. And I just want to encourage audience members to to take a look at something like an ETF and learn about what's inside, and then to see is this something that's relevant for me? And it's it can really just be about small amounts. And so that's a great way to start learning. And often when we make small investments, that's a really fast way when our money is invested to learn about something. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Okay, this was so helpful, Kelly. Thank you for coming on the show and just reminding us that money is energy, right? And we need to protect that energy just like we protect our mental health and our well-being and our physical bodies, all of that good stuff. So thank you, thank you. I have four rapid-fire questions that I ask every guest before we go. Are you ready? Ready. Okay. What was your favorite food when you were a kid? Pizza. If you could have a drink with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? And what are you drinking?

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Ooh, Tom Brady. So I'm from New England, so I'm a huge Tom Brady fan. And what am I drinking? I'm also a wine drinker, so I'd be drinking a very nice glass of wine. Maybe say a French Pinot. Great. What's your favorite personal growth book? Nonfiction book, anyway. Yeah, Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. I know that's a little cliche. One of one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Think and Grow Rich people. If you haven't read it, it's a classic. And last but not least, what's your favorite hype song? What keeps you going right now?

SPEAKER_01 40:26

What do you so one of my favorite songs is from Chris Martin and the chain smokers, something just like this. And he performed at the British Music Awards. And so there's bright neon colors, and it's a live performance. And just that's one of that's one of my hype songs. If you haven't seen that performance, it's just really electric. Like the colors, a live performance, the energy, and Chris Martin at the end saying, Thank you for dancing with us.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Oh, I love that. Okay, great. Kelly, just remind folks where they can get in touch with you.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

Sure. So my website is personalfinancewarrior.com. We can connect on Instagram. I have lots of helpful resources on that. And then for those who really want to take this to the next level, I have a bit.ly with a 30-day her money challenge. And it's an email, it's a daily email, and it's for 30 days, small steps every single day. And so it is a bit.ly PFW, personal finance word, PFW 30 days. And it will be in the link. And so that is my gift for audience members. Hopefully, you feel energized by some resources. And especially if you want something in one small stuff every day in your email, audience members have found that to be a useful resource.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

That's awesome. So everyone, remember what are the takeaways? First of all, know your money story. So you can change that shit if you need to. If it's not helping you, if it's not supporting you in building wealth, then let's change that money mindset to from lack to abundance. And then some of the more practical takeaways that Kelly was helping us with is high yield savings account at the very minimum, having your own investment accounts, having someone like Kelly guide you through this stuff. We need to be empowered and feel so confident around our money. So I love you all. Thank you for listening. Get that money, honeys, and I will see you next time on the Art of Badassery podcast. Thanks for listening.