The Get Ready Money Podcast with Kat Walsh & Philip Adu: Legacy Planning for Everyone

On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Kat Walsh, Chief Legacy Officer and Philip Adu, Founder of the Center for Research Methods Consulting about changing the way we think about money and legacy planning. 

In this episode we discussed:

• Why you should be thoughtful & deliberate with your money (Kat). 
• Allow your purpose to drive the way you view your money (Philip).
• The importance of self-reflection (Kat). 
• Learn as much as you can about how money works (Philip) . 

Kat Walsh is Chief Legacy Officer for the world’s most prolific founders. She designs the strategies and implementation of projects that align with the vision of the family Champion and the extended family. She focuses on realizing the hopes and dreams of the family through philanthropic and for-profit endeavors that achieve personal passion goals, financial benchmarks, and longevity. However, her passion lies in supporting the family by focusing on sharing the family's non-financial, intangible assets that ensure each generation of the family lives a deliberate life in pursuit of their Purposes in Life

Dr. Philip Adu is an author and the founder and methodology expert at the Center for Research Methods Consulting, LLC. He has provided research methodology services to clients for over ten years and has facilitated hundreds of workshops with graduate students, program evaluators, faculty members, and practitioners. His skills in demystifying the qualitative research and analysis process are evident in his YouTube videos. He is also a contributing faculty member at Walden University.  

Connect with Kat Walsh and Philip Adu:

Kat Walsh: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1katwalsh/

Philip Adu, Ph.D.

Website: https://www.centerforresearchmethods.com/

Website: www.drphilipadu.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PhilipAdu 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drphilipadu

Books by Dr. Philip Adu: 

A Step-by-Step Guide to Qualitative Data Coding 

The Theoretical Framework in Phenomenological Research: Development and Application

Dissertation Research Methods: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Up Your Research in Social Sciences

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Watch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work. Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.

Speaker 2: 0:49

Welcome to the Get Ready Money Podcast changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Kat Walsh, who is a chief legacy officer, and Phillip Adieu, the founder of the Center for Research Methods Consulting. In this episode, we'll be discussing your thoughts on how we change the way we think about money and legacy planning. Kat and Phillip, welcome to the Get Ready Money Podcast.

Speaker 3: 1:14

Thank you for having us.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Yeah, thanks for being here. I'm excited to get into this conversation. As I start out, with all of my guests, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your origin story? Kat, do you want to jump in?

Speaker 4: 1:29

Sure, yeah. So I'll just start by with my superpower. My superpower is that I'm so lucky. I'm probably the luckiest person you'll ever meet and good things just happened to me and in this particular case, tony, you're one of those good things. I feel really lucky that I met you and gave you great advice and tips on my business, and I really appreciate being on this podcast because I might have an opportunity to hear from some of your listeners and try to understand the ways in which I can help them even a little bit more. I hope that they find this helpful, maybe something that their clients need, that their clients didn't even know they needed. So that's my hope. So thank you, thank you for having me. I'm super happy to be here, and Phil is amazing. He's helped me a lot with all the qualitative data analytics that I do with my business. It's going to be a really, really fun day, so thank you so much.

Speaker 4: 2:26

So back to your question, origin. So I grew up in this really magical family. My parents were explorers, adventurers, some people. Every year, we spent three or four years I mean three or four months living on a boat in southeast Alaska, just kind of exploring the bush and looking at animals and the things that I learned that I really really love are cultures, being in Alaska so much I absolutely I'm enamored by indigenous First Nation and really just cultures in general and people that live their authentic life. There's a lot of people in Alaska that live a very authentic life to who they are and it really taught me a lot. So, moving forward, I'm the first generation college graduate in my family and with that my parents didn't know how to advise me on where to go, what degree to get a career path. So I but what they did give me I kind of bummed around a little bit, but what they did give me was this ability to take risks. They were very, as I said, they were explorers, and so they never squashed my ability to go out and try and do something new, and it's served me very well. My father, on his deathbed, said that I should not be afraid to fail, and it's served me right, it's amazing. So my I started a couple of businesses. The first one was the first mail order subscription model meal kit back in 1993. I first yeah, it was a long time ago, it's hard to say, by the way subscription and I had the first yoga as part of an employee benefits package business, and now I'm kind of in a business that's quite new as well.

Speaker 4: 4:18

There are a couple of us out there I don't know that we all do exactly the same thing, a lot of definitions for this role, but what I do I'm the chief legacy offer serve for a very successful founder. And if you think of my business in three parts, one part is his legacy, so he's the champion of the family and I work on his legacy, making sure that he's remembered and doing the things that he needs to do to be remembered in the way that he wants to be remembered by his family and anybody else in his chosen community. The second piece is it's a family piece, so it's really understanding and defining what the family's mission is. So whether the, the, the champion of the family, the champion of the family maybe really interesting in technology, but the grandkids are not. So if the family mission and the family purpose is not aligned, then the legacy doesn't live on.

Speaker 4: 5:15

And then the third piece is really where my heart lies, and that's in helping generation two, three and four help define their purposes in life, which ultimately leads to them creating their own legacy, because at the end of the day, they don't want to say you know, when they walk into a room. They don't want to say, oh, I'm so, and so is granddaughter. They want to get out from behind the shadows. So that's my story.

Speaker 2: 5:45

That's awesome. You know so many learnings in there. You know I definitely want to actually really get into the authentic life, especially as we go on the podcast. Phillip, what's your origin story?

Speaker 3: 5:59

Yes, so my origin story starts from Ghana, west Africa. I did my first degree in psychology and then I wanted to further my education. I want to reach a stage where I want to have a great impact in people's lives. So I got an opportunity to be to get admission to one of the universities in the US Ohio University and I did international development as my master's degree. And immediately after that I got another opportunity to go to West Virginia University to do my PhD in education. And then the third opportunity is also being a methodology expert at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology for 10 years.

Speaker 3: 6:47

And at that time, you know I you know I developed a passion of breaking down research, especially when you know students are doing qualitative research. They think that they are thinking about how to collect data, how to analyze, how to present the finding. So I realized that it's a need for me to really break things down so that qualitative research will be easy for students to do and also enjoyable. So I really enjoy working with this institution for 10 years and after that I realized that I want to go beyond just focusing on students right, and also because at that time I was doing a lot of YouTube videos and I received a lot of commendation from people watching my videos, and so I just, you know, realized that, okay, can I do my own thing? Right?

Speaker 3: 7:35

So I set up a business, which is the Center for Research Method Consulting, doing the same thing, but in a wider way, focusing on research as student practitioners, trying to help them to do their qualitative research and also analyze, and then I'll be, you know, now I'm doing consultations and I've written three books and also, lastly, I do a lot of presentation workshop for organizations, and during the time also, I had opportunity to meet Kat and, based on what she wanted to do, we realized that, you know, our machines are similar and I'll be able to also help to accomplish her goal of, you know, helping families to identify their legacy and also maintain those legacy so that it to be it will exist for a long time, right? And so I'm focusing on analyzing the data that she will be collecting and then we make sense of that data and then we move on and help families. So this is my story.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Well, and I think that's super interesting because I think that something everybody thinks about is you know what is their legacy, but have you actually defined it and take care of it? And it does go beyond money. There's so much more to it. Money is just a part of the conversation. So, kat, the first question is for you how can we help future generations live a deliberate life in pursuit of their purposes in life?

Speaker 4: 9:18

Yeah. So I've never met a parent yet. I'm they must be out there, but I've never met a parent yet that didn't say that they wanted their kids to be happy, healthy and successful and those are the three words that I hear the most. And so the big question is how do we help our loved ones do that? And so the first step in doing that is going to somebody like you who helps them with the financial plans right, the estate plan, the wealth management plan. They're not sure that they are financially secure and that their grandkids and the great grandkids are financially secure. And what you're really doing when you do that is you're liberating them. You're freeing them of this burden that so many people live with, that they're not going to make ends meet or they're not going to be okay for retirement. So the gift that you're giving them is really incredible, and what that does for me, if I come in at step two, is it enables us to forget that piece of it and to focus on all of the things that are non tangible and non financial. How do we leverage all of those heirlooms, all of those beautiful gifts that a family has to give each other, that are not accounted for in the work that you do, and so I work very hard to try and really understand what drives these people, what is their passion, what brings them so much joy, and we create a purpose plan. You mentioned the plan. We create a purpose plan that helps them live a deliberate life. So they need to be making sure that the decisions that they're making, the places that they're living, the classes, the growth that they're getting is in alignment with what they say. Their purpose is Ultimately what that does.

Speaker 4: 11:09

When you have a very, very focused way of looking at your life, you ultimately get to your own individual legacy. If you think of people, there's a million examples, but if you think of Greta Thernberg, so she really had very little to lose. She was a younger. Very little to lose. She figured out that she likes climate health and she's been focused on that and she's actually created a legacy for herself at a very young age.

Speaker 4: 11:38

So the point is you may have to do a little bit of work to stumble upon what it is that you really want to do with your life, but you shouldn't give up because it's difficult, because if you don't have a plan, you're just going to. You know people fail the time I. The days go by so fast. I can't believe it's. A year has gone by and it's very true. And if you don't take control, you're just going to be tossed right into the middle of this tornado of life and it's going to spit you out wherever it spits you out.

Speaker 4: 12:08

And that's your life. You're that's it. That's so you know, if you want to, at the end of your day, I live on reducing regrets. So at the end of my life, I don't want to have regrets that I didn't take a risk and didn't try something. So that's kind of the, the overarching view, and the thing that's really interesting you were talking to Phil about, about qualitative data analytics. It feels at first glance, that there couldn't be three more different areas than financial planning what you do, what I do, which is the warm and fuzzy stuff, and what Phil does, which is data analytics, and it's been amazing to see how they intertwine and the and the, the synergies that there are among all three. It's really super exciting and super cool. Phil's doing some pretty amazing things to help enable this work that I do.

Speaker 2: 13:01

That's fantastic. I think wrapping the money part to your work is what's important, because people should be using money as a tool to take care of. What you're talking about I think that sometimes people forget is that the money on its own is not really worth anything. It's a tool to get you to a certain point. So, phillip, let's get to you and talk a little bit about what you're doing. In what ways does qualitative research play a critical role in comprehending the needs, well-being and legacies of family?

Speaker 3: 13:44

Yes, qualitative research is all about trying as much as possible to have a research question and then collecting data that will help you to address the question.

Speaker 3: 13:58

So in this way, you qualitative data will help to create a conducive environment for participants or client to share their views, their fears, their anxiety and experiences, and also their aspirations, so that you'll be able to collect rich information from them.

Speaker 3: 14:23

And then, when you collect rich information from them, you'll be able to make sense in a systematic manner. So it also helps us to move from client-based support to more of move from expert-based support to more of client-based, where you involve them in the process. After you have analyzed the data, you meet them and also we call them member checking, checking with them and finding out okay, this is what I found, what are your thoughts? Based on that, you work with them to come up with an action plan that will help them to improve their lives and their family. So qualitative research makes the personal plan that we want to do for each of the family members more systematic, because it's based on data and the data that's having collected in a very conducive environment so that you'll be able to reach a stage where they can move forward with their lives, so it's a very good way of making sense of their experience, at the same time helping them to identify their personal goals and also purpose in life.

Speaker 2: 15:42

Can I ask Fantastic? Oh yes.

Speaker 4: 15:45

Do you mind, Tony, if I give a quick example of how this?

Speaker 2: 15:48

Oh, yes, please.

Speaker 4: 15:50

So I did a survey for a very large family, meaning I did the interviews and spoke to all the family members and did surveys and gathered, gathered, gathered, gathered, gathered lots of information. So one of the girls in this family is about, I think, maybe 25 years old. She's already has children. It's an extremely conservative family, very conservative family, very, very religious family, and the majority of her life is spent in caring for the kids and she also incidentally, it's not a part of the story, but it's how her focus is right now on she's got cancer, so she is dealing with chemotherapy and things like that.

Speaker 4: 16:39

So here we have this very, very religious mother that is distracted by her chemotherapy and she does all. I do all this work with her for a year. I do all these this work with her and in my mind I think, okay, she is really a loving mom and she cares so much about family and future means everything to her, and I have this whole thing worked out in my head. And Phil came along and he put her information into his system, into his brain and his system, and it came back that she should be a data analytics researcher. So I went back to the family and I said you're not going to believe this, this girl should be a data analyst. And they said, yeah, she is, and I never would have. I would have never gotten to that conclusion, and that's exactly what she does. None of the answers look like data analytics.

Speaker 3: 17:37

Yes, and it's so powerful how you start with assessing the needs of the family and also, after you've gotten some information, you go back and present that information to the family and find out what they think and then you see how it's consistent with what they want to do and you saw how powerful that involving them in the process will increase the probability for them to do the actions that we recommend for them. So it's more about back and forth informing them at each stage and also helping them to come up. We working with them closely to come up with actions that needs to be taken to help build a family and also maintain their legacy.

Speaker 2: 18:23

Fantastic. So, Philip, let's back up a minute for the audience, because most people don't know what qualitative data is. So for a typical husband and wife, two kids, let's say the nuclear family, what is qualitative data and how could they actually use it with their estate planning?

Speaker 3: 18:45

So qualitative data is. Think about it as waste. There are not numbers like quantitative right. So you are collecting waste from them. You are collecting their stories. You are collecting their feelings, emotions.

Speaker 3: 18:59

And how do we do that? We do that in two main ways. You can give them open-ended survey for them to respond to the questions and then you analyze. Or you can meet them one-on-one and have conversation with them, or as a group for them to share their ideas in a way that is non-judgmental manner. And as you are interviewing them, you make sure that you ask one question at a time. You have to make sure that you give them the time to express themselves and then make sure you are not judging the information that they are giving to you. You are there to receive we call it naively receiving the information so that you can get, to reach information from participants and make sense of that information. So when we receive that information, we analyze based on the questions, or we call it a research question or the goals, and then we come up with the findings and go back to participants and present the findings to them. So that's how the process is.

Speaker 2: 20:02

Yeah, I find that fascinating because that really should be part of any planning process. It does make a lot of sense because this is what people are really after and I think it's oftentimes missed in the personal finance field is people you know, if you're talking about your legacy, they want their family to be taken care of and Kat, as you talked about, as they are concerned with how they're going to be remembered, you're not so concerned about. You know, like, do I have a grant or trust? You know that's, you know, a leaky grant or trust and that's not what they're concerned with. So I think what you're talking, what both of you are talking about, is really an essential way of looking at the estate planning process or just the financial planning process in general. So it's fascinating stuff.

Speaker 4: 20:50

Yeah, it's an supplement, I don't. I definitely think that that, at the end of the day, what you're doing is so important, all of the planning that you do is so important, and we couldn't get them to the place where we do if they weren't secure in knowing that. You know it's a terrible feeling to not know if you're going to be able to pay the rent. However, I will say people immediately assume that legacy means money or fame, and it doesn't. So you know, in way, that what you do really every, but in fact, it could be that it's the reverse right the less money you have, the more you should be planning, and so it could be the reverse. Well, that if you don't come from a family of a legacy, then it's time for you to start thinking. Okay, how do we really want to be remembered in this world? What impact are we going to have? How are we going to leave this world and make sure that our loved ones are proud?

Speaker 2: 21:50

I love that, got to write that down. But I think that's important is that this is for everyone and I think you know sometimes people do think you know, in a state plan included it's like, well, this is only for the wealthy, but everybody is going to leave a legacy and that is so important to recognize that. So you know, let's get ready into the get ready questions. I'm cat. If you want to start off, what basic money concept do you wish people knew?

Speaker 4: 22:19

What basic money concept. I would say two parts. I would say plan, which is my headline for what I do too. Don't just go jump into that tornado. You know you got a plan for your money, in the same way that I think that you should plan for your future. And the other is that I just want people to remember that that is only one of their assets. There are so many non tangible, non financial assets that they have to share with their loved ones, and a lot of times people say I gave them advice. Well, advice is very fleeting, it's usually time stamped. So what I'm talking about is planning for your legacy, in the same way that you plan for your finances, and have a plan. Have a plan.

Speaker 2: 23:10

Well, that's fantastic. Well, Phillip, how about you? What basic money concept do you wish people knew?

Speaker 3: 23:16

Yeah, you know what Kat said. You know having a plan and also take action, right. So you plan for your year concerning your finances and income coming, expenses coming. You know we call it budgeting and also monitoring, because you know as time goes on, things change, the market change and other things. So you always have to plan, you take action based on the plan and also monitor we call it evaluation or assessment in research. And then you know, because you always have to see whether you are on the right track.

Speaker 3: 23:54

When you get to the middle of the year, ask yourself so this one was my plan, am I going in line? Is the activities or the action that I'm taking, jeremy Towers, might go at the end of the year so that you can make it necessary, you can make some changes in the middle so that you can be able to accomplish because things change. You know the economy change, the world market change, maybe you may lose your job, right. So you have a emergency money there and all these things. Is the emergency money enough for you? You always have to think about it enough because the inflation rate might go up? So taking action when you plan and also monitoring, these are the three things that you have to. You know the basic thing that you have to do in terms of money.

Speaker 2: 24:45

Well, that's fantastic and I want to highlight that for everyone because that's at the heart of my work, as well as the monitoring part. We oftentimes forget about that with our financial services and products and we put them in the door and we don't think about it. But life changes, you know. As you point out, the macro economy may change, the micro economy may change. You're personal, you're going to have a life event, you get married, you have kids, you lose a job, and so, through all of that that is powerful advice. You have to go back and look at stuff. You can't let it sit there. So you know. The next question is what is one simple thing you can do each year to set yourself up for financial success?

Speaker 4: 25:33

So for me it actually I agree with you so much both of you on that last part about you know, if you don't monitor, you know you change. It may not be an event. You just change, you learn something new and your opinions can change and your mood can change and everything changes. So what is the one thing you can do, I would say, is a lot in the work that I do there's a lot of self reflection. So are you? Are you thinking about things as as important as they are? Are you thinking about them enough? Are you acknowledging when things are not really the way that you want them? Are your relationships in order? And there's just a whole lot of self reflection that goes into the work I do and I think in general that's self reflection can be applied to most everything you do.

Speaker 2: 26:25

Yeah, 100%, Philip. How about you?

Speaker 3: 26:29

Yeah, I think. I think one thing that you can do is, you know, always be hungry for knowledge. Right, things are changing so fast, especially we are in the AI world, and you have to also think about oh yes, people said that you know some people are going to lose their job, or maybe there's a people are going to be less efficient and other things. So, continuously reflecting and learning more, being a lifelong learner, always learning, learning new things. How can I improve my life? How can I improve my income? How can I? What can I do to diversify the way I do my investment? What can I do to make sure that my expenses are down? All these things you have to learn. You can go to YouTube, come buy books, tony your book might be very helpful for people and, you know, always trying to continue to learn and improve. That will be a best way, you know, one of the ways to live a very good life and a successful life for the year.

Speaker 2: 27:36

That's awesome, and you know I don't know if either you follow Charlie Munger, who unfortunately just passed away, but that was his biggest lesson you know, warren Buffett's partner in building Berkshire Hathaway has always been learning. That's what he talked about is, you know, reading new books, gaining new knowledge? This is a man who was, you know, worth $2 billion and 99 years old when he passed away, but you know, his mission was to learn, and Warren Buffett, you know, apparently, is an avid reader, you know. So it's powerful. Advice that shows in their success is to keep learning.

Speaker 3: 28:15

Yes, and I think, for me personally, for example, is when I heard that AI, you know, is becoming popular, I asked myself okay, what role will AI play in my profession and my service that I provide to my clients?

Speaker 3: 28:32

So I started, you know, I went to YouTube, listened to, you know, people reviewing some of the AI tools and see how I can apply to my studies. One example is that there is, you know, a tool that you know somebody can just create a photo. Right, you know, in qualitative research, you can ask participants to bring their photos so that they can talk about it and bring out their memory. Imagine that you ask participant oh, can you use this software to create a photo that reflect, maybe, the problem your family are going through, or maybe reflect your legacy, and then they bring the photo and have a discussion with you with that photo, you see. So you see how AI can play a very good role in itself them looking for a photo that maybe they cannot find. They can create their own thing to reflect their experience and also what they want to leave behind, and then having a conversation with them will be powerful. So it's always good to continue to see what is going on and see how it's going to affect your profession and learn more.

Speaker 2: 29:42

I think that's really powerful and I think the you know. One thing that's parallel to that is the way people learn and communicate. So what you're talking about also is a visual way of transmitting information, rather than just, you know, an auditory way of transmitting information. That's great. Yeah, we could probably spend the whole episode talking about AI, so we won't draw that anymore for a minute, but definitely throw in more if you have it. So, Phillip, let's start with you on this. One is what is one habit that people can change when it comes to their money?

Speaker 3: 30:23

I think that they have to move from the idea of saving to investment, right? I think that when I was, I grew up, you know my parents always tell me, you know you shouldn't spend all your money, you have to save, save, save. But I think that if you save and you don't invest some of them, then because of inflation and other things, you know, the money will not multiply. It should be there, right? So I think that you know, going beyond just saving and trying to use some of the money, and you know investing in stock or in business and other things will be very helpful for you so that at the end of the day you'll be, you know, financially independent and also bring you some kind of freedom to do whatever you want to do, to go further, to accomplish your personal goal.

Speaker 3: 31:15

So, moving from saving to investing, you know it doesn't have to be big. Sometimes you think investment means that, okay, people who are millionaires, right, but in a small way you can invest. You know, if you have even $10, $20, you can go. You know, invest in stocks and you can get some returns.

Speaker 2: 31:37

That's what I? Well, that's fantastic advice, because you know you're setting a goal of, let's say, financial independence, because everybody's goal is financial independence. You know, some people call retirement I like, I do like the term financial independence better because it's so individual. What people are looking for, but as you talk about, is investing is a tool that's going to help you get there faster. So it's using, you know, another tool and not just staying with one tool. So, cat, how about yourself? What is one habit that people can change when it comes to their money?

Speaker 4: 32:12

I think mine's a lot more pedestrian. I find that people are so impulsive and they really really are living outside of their means and they're trying to turn themselves into something that society tells them is important in the world. So they're buying things that they shouldn't be, which goes back to the investing that Phil's talking about, and on and on. But I think this the impulses that people are so readily is really dangerous. I think it's true in drinking, I think it's true in gambling. There's plenty of addictions that would align with that. But even just the way you dress and the car you drive and the vacations that you take and the places that you stay when you're on vacations and we're really getting we're going outside of our means and we're being influenced too much by whatever everybody else is doing.

Speaker 2: 33:15

Yeah, that's powerful advice. I think being intentional with your money is so important, you know, is that within different things, as maybe with our diet is we know we still may not eat what we're supposed to, but we have a really good sense and we're more and more intentional with our physical wellness, usually Within reason cheesecake is good every once in a while but we're not as intentional, like you say, with our money.

Speaker 4: 33:46

I love it Mostly, mostly. You should be really wise about what you're doing every day. Mostly are you managing your money well. Mostly are you living a happy life. Just mostly, just mostly. We don't all.

Speaker 2: 34:04

Yeah, I was going to say someday you have to eat your vegetables, whether you like it or not, so you know. The next question is you know, kat, if you want to take this one is what money myth are you trying to break, or do you think people should break?

Speaker 4: 34:23

I think that people the younger generation, and I don't know where that younger starts and stops, but I think that there is a big misconception about how easy it is to make money and how much money you should be making right out of school. Phil, you better suited to talk about this because he teaches, but I do a lot of mentoring at a couple of colleges and I'm asked over and over how do I find my dream job? And this job is amazing that there's. It doesn't pay, and I think that we need to slow down a little bit and recognize that those people that do have legacies. Warren Buffett didn't start out where he is. He started out the rest of us. So I Losing track of what it takes to get to that place where you can live this amazing life and leave a legacy. It's hard work, it's very hard work that happens overnight and that it lands in your lap like a lottery ticket.

Speaker 3: 35:25

Yeah, I completely agree.

Speaker 2: 35:29

Oh, no, no, I was just going to say what do you think?

Speaker 3: 35:34

Yeah, I think in people. As Kat said, some people just want to shut away, to accomplish, to get a lot of money, right, they don't know that the successful people, they take their time especially. One example is like you invest in stocks, right, and then you just realize that this morning the stocks are going down and then you quickly take all your money out. Right, I think, quickly take your money out Instead of you being patient. Have the sense of patience, the sense of determination, and also you have to be very deliberate, right, you have to have a strategy in mind, and I think that's what is really lacking, and I think that sometimes also social media people don't sometimes tell the whole story oh, this job or this work, within two days I was able to get $20,000, and then you just follow, but it didn't tell you all the things that you have to take into consideration to get to that destination, right, I think that in life you have to be very patient, you have to be very deliberate in terms of investing, in terms of your financing and spending and everything, so that you'll be able to accomplish a goal. And I like what Kat always says about the fact that don't be afraid to fail. Failure is part of our lives, right? So the most important thing is that you will learn from your mistakes and then move forward, but being afraid, you will not take any action. Right?

Speaker 3: 37:22

And also the last one that I think about is that people think that investments is all about having a lot of money to invest. They don't know that you can start small. The reason why you have to start small is that when you make mistakes, at least you lose a little bit, right? So it's also similar to business. You start small and you make mistakes and learn from it. Imagine that you don't learn from this one and you are being given a huge amount of money or you are being given a big business to manage. What you make a mistake is going to be big right. So starting small in investment helps you to learn, know the best practices and then go on. But people think that, oh, you have to wait to get a huge amount of money before you invest. But if you do that and you haven't learned a lesson, what will happen? You may lose and have lost everything.

Speaker 2: 38:20

That's a great point, and it gets back to what you were saying earlier about learning. Learning is the most important thing you can do. So, phillip, let's get out the time machine for a minute. What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time, knowing what you know now about money?

Speaker 3: 38:40

I would tell my younger self to learn as much as you can about how money works. I think that is some of the limitations. I should have learned this one right After you made a mistake. I should have taken this action. So I think that learning as much as money because if you learn the language of money, if you learn how to do business, if you learn how to invest life will be very easy for you you go closer to getting the resources to live a life that you will meet the purpose. So, yes, I would have told my younger self to work hard to learn more about how money works.

Speaker 2: 39:35

Fantastic, that's great advice, kat. How about you?

Speaker 4: 39:39

I would for sure agree. I would agree with everything that you just said. The only other thing I would add is that what I would tell my younger self is your younger self is your sensei. I wish that I knew how the little, tiny little things were so beautiful and inexpensive and brought me so much joy. I didn't need to spend money on certain things because if only I had listened to the two-year-old that was squatting down looking at a spider for a long period of time, I wouldn't be going off doing something else. So you, those little, I wish the two-year-olds taught college with you. Phil, I'd take that. So what else?

Speaker 2: 40:27

were you going to say, Kat? It felt like you were on the verge of saying something else as well.

Speaker 3: 40:33

Kat, I didn't hear the last part that you said about two-year-old.

Speaker 4: 40:37

I said I wish that the two-year-olds were teaching college alongside you. You learn a lot from those little people.

Speaker 3: 40:43

Oh, thank you.

Speaker 2: 40:46

That's awesome. So you know, let's say this is the last question. Is, kat, what is your number one tip on changing the way we think about money?

Speaker 4: 40:58

Oh, the number one tip, I think, is to just be very, very thoughtful and methodical and deliberate. It encompasses what Phil's been saying about knowledge. It encompasses what I've been saying about living within your means. Just be deliberate, just think about it instead of just wandering through life.

Speaker 2: 41:22

That's a powerful place. Think about it before you make a decision. So, Phil, what's your number one tip on changing the way we think about money?

Speaker 3: 41:30

Yeah, I think money should be like a means to the end. It shouldn't be the end. If you make the money the end, this is where the frustrating comes in and you continue to amaze wealth without any purpose. But I think that if you allow the purpose of your life to dominate the process, you'll live so very enjoyable life, no matter how much you have. That's why people say that money cannot make you happy, because there are some people who have a mass wealth but they're still struggling psychologically, they still don't have the purpose of life. So I think that allowing it. So the main goal is to allow your purpose to drive the way that you view money and how the money can be like a resource, giving you the freedom to make good choices so that you be able to reach the purpose that you want.

Speaker 4: 42:33

Amen, phil, amen. That's a mic drop there, phil.

Speaker 2: 42:39

You know, I'm exactly with you that's exactly where I'm coming from as well is that you have to change your perspective and think about what you want to accomplish, who you are, rather than thinking about Bitcoin.

Speaker 2: 42:54

I love picking up Bitcoin. So people who listen to this podcast or watch podcasts hear me say that all the time. But Bitcoin may be good for some people, but that's not where the conversation should start. Powerful advice. So you know, and in the show notes I am going to put you know all the links that you sent me, but you know, for everybody watching and listening, where can they learn more about each of you? Where can they, where's you know the best social media platform or whatever to follow your work? Kat, you want to go first?

Speaker 4: 43:27

For me it's LinkedIn, and I very much appreciate that, tony, because, as you know, I'm working on a book and my website is not live yet because I'm still trying to work out some details on the messaging that, will you know, supplement the book. So for now, it's LinkedIn and my email is in my contact on LinkedIn and I'm happy to exchange emails or any way that they want to communicate. I would love if you get any insight or input or feedback on this and how I can help people serve their clients better. I'd love to know that. So please let me know if you hear anything.

Speaker 2: 44:09

Fantastic. And Phillip, how can people follow you and what you're up to?

Speaker 3: 44:14

Yes, so LinkedIn, the same at Dr Philip Edou. And also, if you search even Philip Edou on Google, you can get a lot of my presentation when it goes here. I don't know whether I'm the only person called Philip Edou. I sometimes search myself. Okay, what are people looking for? And I see all my videos and also my books there, so you can also go to my YouTube channel I provide. If you want to know, get basic understanding of how to do qualitative research, you go to, you know, at Dr Philip Edou. That would be great. And also X, like I said, trader, now you go to at Dr Philip Edou. Yes, you can also find me, and also my website is wwwcenterforresetsmetalscom. You can also get a lot of information about my services.

Speaker 4: 45:09

And. I'm going to so that I so that all those things are redirected to me, phil.

Speaker 3: 45:16

Can you repeat what you said? I think the first part didn't come.

Speaker 4: 45:20

Phillip Edou, so that all of your information gets redirected over to me. How's that?

Speaker 3: 45:26

Unless we want to wonderful yes.

Speaker 2: 45:30

Okay, fantastic. Well, cat and Phillip, thanks very much for joining me on the Get Ready Money podcast today.

Speaker 3: 45:36

Thank, you so much. Thank you for an amazing conversation.

Speaker 2: 45:43

I think we had a little drop there, and thank you everyone, as always, for tuning in to the Get Ready Money podcast for listening or watching. Please be sure to subscribe to the Get Ready Money podcast Until next time.