In this episode of Real Money, Real Experts, Rebecca and Dr. Mary Bell Carlson talk with Simple Wealth Author, Holly Morphew about the connection between health and wealth. Having experienced chronic illness themselves both Mary and Holly reflect on what they've learned and how to apply it to financial well-being today.
For many families impacted by COVID-19 whether it be a job loss or falling ill themselves, the financial implications were a first-time experience. Listen in as the women talk through how to not only be financially prepared but how to support your overall health during difficult times. Holly also talks about how to coach clients through different experiences in their lives and helping them see the correlation between finances, needs, and values to create abundance.
Show Notes:
00:52 Holly Introduction
01:41 The correlation between health and wealth
08:39 The role of the pandemic
10:03 Making the most of your resources
11:42 Defining value
14:07 Becoming an AFC®
19:31 Private practice and coaching
25:02 Three ways to create wealth
31:39 Simple Wealth
35:38 Key Resources
Show Note Links:
Chime: https://www.chime.com/
Aspiration: https://www.aspiration.com/
Financial Impact: https://www.financialimpact.com/
Connect with Holly: Instagram
Simple Wealth: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wealth-Practical-Transform-Relationship-ebook/dp/B08TYW2JT3
AFCPE Membership:
https://www.afcpe.org/membership/
Want to get involved with AFCPE®?
Here are a few places to start: Become a Member, Sign up for an Essentials Course, or Get AFC Certified today!
Want to support the podcast? We love partnering with organizations that share our mission and values. Download our media kit.
In this episode of Real Money, Real Experts, Rebecca and Dr. Mary Bell Carlson talk with Simple Wealth Author, Holly Morphew about the connection between health and wealth. Having experienced chronic illness themselves both Mary and Holly reflect on what they've learned and how to apply it to financial well-being today.
For many families impacted by COVID-19 whether it be a job loss or falling ill themselves, the financial implications were a first-time experience. Listen in as the women talk through how to not only be financially prepared but how to support your overall health during difficult times. Holly also talks about how to coach clients through different experiences in their lives and helping them see the correlation between finances, needs, and values to create abundance.
Show Notes:
00:52 Holly Introduction
01:41 The correlation between health and wealth
08:39 The role of the pandemic
10:03 Making the most of your resources
11:42 Defining value
14:07 Becoming an AFC®
19:31 Private practice and coaching
25:02 Three ways to create wealth
31:39 Simple Wealth
35:38 Key Resources
Show Note Links:
Chime: https://www.chime.com/
Aspiration: https://www.aspiration.com/
Financial Impact: https://www.financialimpact.com/
Connect with Holly: Instagram
Simple Wealth: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wealth-Practical-Transform-Relationship-ebook/dp/B08TYW2JT3
AFCPE Membership:
https://www.afcpe.org/membership/
Want to get involved with AFCPE®?
Here are a few places to start: Become a Member, Sign up for an Essentials Course, or Get AFC Certified today!
Want to support the podcast? We love partnering with organizations that share our mission and values. Download our media kit.
Welcome to Real Money, Real Experts, a podcast where leading financial counseling and coaching experts share their stories, their challenges, and their advice for helping people manage money in the real world. I'm your host, Rebecca Wiggins, executive director of the association for financial counseling and planning education or AFCPE. And I'm your cohost, Dr. Mary Bell Carlson. I'm an Accredited Financial Counselor or AFC®and the CEO of Chief Financial Mom. Every episode, we're taking a deep dive into the topics that personal finance professionals care about helping clients, building community and your professional growth. Welcome everyone to the Real Money, Real Experts podcast. I'm Rebecca and I'm Mary.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Thanks for taking the time to join us today.
Rebecca Wiggins:Today on the show we're talking with Holly Morphew. Holly is an entrepreneur financial coach speaker and author. She's also one of our very own AFC®s like many of our professionals. She has a really great story about her own path to financial freedom, which we'll talk much more about today, along with her new book, simple wealth, which debuted a number one bestseller in nine out of 10 personal finance categories on Amazon. Her work has been featured on Forbes business, insider Yahoo finance femme founder. Just to name a few. So we have a lot to talk about today. Welcome to the podcast, Holly,
Holly Morphew:Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here and talk with you ladies today.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Holly, you've got a really interesting story about your own journey to financial independence and how you overcame a chronic illness. Tell us more about your experience.
Holly Morphew:I would say that my, my chronic illness was a big factor in, you know, becoming financially independent and really just understanding sort of the way money works. And, and I think there's a strong correlation between health and wealth and that when we choose to face the things in our lives that need attention, there can be a lot of healing and abundance that can come from that. And the way my journey started to financial independence, I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and real estate investors. And so we talked about money at the dinner table and it was always a fun conversation. You know, we would talk about, you know, what both of my parents were doing in their businesses. My dad ran a franchise store and my mom invested in real estate. And so they, my mom, at least, you know, she was kind of learning as she went and she always took the time to teach us kids. I have an older brother and a younger sister about what she was learning in her business. And so when I was a teenager, she added me to one of her credit cards so that I could start building credit. And it wasn't until I was in my early, early twenties, that this became a huge asset to me in my life, because I was diagnosed with a chronic illness when I was 20 years old. And like most young people, I just felt like I was invincible and I kind of chose the denial route. And I did graduate from college on time. And I moved to the East coast with three of my best girlfriends and things were really great until I got really sick. And when I did, I had health insurance, but it didn't cover my expensive medication, which was$5,000 a month. And so thank goodness I had the credit to fall back on. And it, it really wasn't until, you know, six months of charging my medications on my credit card. And, you know, here I was, an entry level worker and, you know, I had a great job. I worked really hard. I loved my job, but, you know, managing my health and then managing my bills and, and my medication became really difficult. And I remember one day I was walking home from my office and I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up my medication. And I'll never forget the pharmacist looking down at me cause she was kind of standing up in her, her area. And she said, honey, you know, this isn't covered by your insurance. Right. And I just, I felt a tear fall down my cheek. And I thought, you know, yes, I know this, but it's, it's my life or it's, you know, charging this. And so of course I chose my life. And at that moment I just thought, you know what, I have to make a change. And so I decided to move back home, back to Colorado where I'm from and live with my parents. And now, you know, looking back that was one of the best decisions I made for my financial plan, because it gave me the ability to nurture myself and my health and save a lot of money. My parents didn't charge me rent and I, you know, I was able to get healthy again. And then I got a great job. And after about a year I had saved enough money to buy a house. So I want to just kind of pause there and, you know, say like this was the first step to my financial independence plan was, you know, having the credit, using it responsibly and then choosing to take care of my health, which I always say, you know, your mind, body and spirit or your soul or your emotions, that's your money maker. And by really taking care of myself, I was able to put myself in a better situation. So that temporary living with my parents was a huge blow to my ego. But my ego wasn't so big that I was willing to risk my life for it.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Absolutely. You know, Holly, it's interesting. I too had a chronic illness and was diagnosed about the age of 20. And I remember very vividly going through college and not having quote unquote, the normal college experience. And you start to realize, especially at an early age, just how valuable your health is. You know, I don't know that you really can even put a dollar amount on health. Talk to us a little bit more about how health and wealth influence one another. You know,
Holly Morphew:I feel incredibly blessed to have gotten the lesson at a young age, that health is wealth. And I knew at such an early age that, you know, without my health, I couldn't then go out and work. You know, I couldn't then, I mean, yes, depending on what, what we're dealing with when it comes to our health, you know, it does influence how we feel and our ability to earn. And so I prioritized my health. In fact, I remember, you know, really after about four or five years of just really struggling and kinda just doing all of the things that I was told to do in terms of taking medications, et cetera. I remember waking up one morning and thinking, you know what, I'm going to take a different route. And I really started to open my mind to alternative modalities of healing and really taking care of my diet and addressing things that, that might've been a little bit uncomfortable. And I think that that when we choose to take care of our physical body and, and decide what kind of life do I want to live, then everything else can flow from there. And I think that that's a good metaphor for money because when you have a vision for where you want to go, then you can work backwards from that. And you can create financial goals that allow you to achieve that vision. And for me, it was just, you know, I just wanted to be healthy. I just wanted to have a home. And as time went on, I realized that while I, I love work, you know, I'm, I'm a doer. And I realized that I also wanted freedom in my life. And in order for me to be free, I realized that I needed to have more money so that I could have more choices in my life. So by taking care of my health, that enabled me to earn and by earning that enabled me to create a lifestyle that gave me the life that I wanted to live.
Rebecca Wiggins:Holly, this is such an interesting topic and actually one that I, I'm glad that we're talking about it today, this connection between health and wealth, because I think it's something we don't talk about enough, or at least haven't focused on the podcast yet. And I'm thinking about how, you know, there's so many different facets to your story. And even just going through this pandemic this past year and how health has impacted so many people's lives in a way that they didn't anticipate, and then the financial fallout from that, but just even the facets of helping our clients navigate some of these uncertain waters. Like I think it's interesting that all three of us have a similar story of some sort of diagnosis at a young enough age. But even in what I think is similar to what you're describing here is we had either had health insurance, or if the health insurance didn't cover the medication, we had family, we had some sort of safety net along the way that helped us navigate those waters. And so I'm just thinking too about the people who through this pandemic or have some other, an unexpected diagnosis and how much those things can really derail your financial life and how important it is. I guess that we, as service providers are sensitive to the fragility of that and how easy those things can change, even when you have done everything right. So to speak from a financial situation. And so I just think that's something that is important for us to talk about.
Holly Morphew:Yes. And I love how you talked about resources. You know, life does deal us all different cards and building wealth is very much an ebb and the flow. And, you know, sometimes we have a great job and we have great benefits and we're making money and we're saving and we're putting money aside for tomorrow. But at other times, you know, maybe we're not able to work for a health reason or because we get laid off and the plan doesn't have to stop there. It's just, it's a part of the plan and it's not all about money. It's, you know, yes, personal finance. We want to save money and put money aside for tomorrow consistently, but that doesn't always happen. And what's really more important than that, in my opinion, in the game of building wealth and reaching financial independence is to decide, you know, what kind of a life do I want to live and your resources, aren't just financial. You know, we have resources and family that will take care of us. You know, if you have a home that is a resource, you know, if you live in a community where people are willing to help you with daycare or with rides, or, you know, just to stop in and, you know, make sure that you're, you're okay, those are all things that contribute to living a happy, healthy life. And so I always encourage people to think about what's on the other side of a great financial situation. Like what does being financially independent? What kind of a life does that give you? And when you can really clarify that, you know, like your version of financial success might be completely different than my version of financial success. It's not just about making so much money so that we just accumulate a big pile of money. It's really about what does this money give us? Because I think that you might find that you don't need as much money as what we're taught to, to need and, and think that we need. And that's another big component of my book. Simple wealth is to really tune into the messages that we are receiving on a daily basis, both subliminally and otherwise. And when we know what it is that we value, we can start to create that in our life. And we don't have to necessarily depend on money to give us the things that we value. So, as an example of that, I highly value time with my friends and family. And, you know, that's kind of what financial freedom looks like to me, more time to spend with my friends and family and sort of like the law of attraction. Well that this is something that I can start to do in my life right now, whether I have money or not, I can start to spend more time with my friends and my family by being more proactive in creating that life that I want to live. And we don't have to listen and go after what is put in front of us every day. We don't have to have those things, you know, the ads that we're seeing on Facebook for the thing that we searched for yesterday, we really can create a different choice. And so it is about being a steward of your own life instead of being sort of a victim of what we are taught to think that we need.
Rebecca Wiggins:I love that you said actually, or underlined something in your book about your personal practices, create self-awareness and connect you with your higher self. And that really speaks to, I think the point you were just making here and even just your experience going through this challenge in your life that built that level of self-awareness for you to connect to your values, I think has to have been such a foundation for your profession today and your business. So I'd like to just kind of take a step back just a second in your sort of journey that the story that you're sharing of your journey and connect it to, when did you know you wanted to be an AFC®, how did you get connected really to building your practice? Can you take us kind of from that standpoint of moving back home and going through that period of time and realizing the connection to personal finance and then how you got to where you are today?
Holly Morphew:Yes. And thank you so much for that question. And I just want to say I'm so thankful for the AFCPE®because you know, it wasn't until I became an AFC®in 2015, but I actually started teaching personal finance in 2006 as a service project with rotary international, which is an international service organization. And I was a member of my local club. And about a year after I bought my house, I was 25 when I bought my house. And, and I just found that it was so empowering for me. You know, I, I immediately got a roommate, my friend moved in with me. I charged her really cheap rent and she helped me pay my mortgage. And I thought, wow, you know, this is, this is amazing. This is empowering for both of us. And so as I started to ask the why aren't more of my friends and peers doing something similar to this, I realized it's because, you know, they didn't have that advantage of growing up in a family where they talked about money on a regular basis. And so I had the thought, I was a member of rotary international, which is an international service organization. And I thought, you know, what, if I propose this idea where I go to local high schools and teach young adults before they graduate from high school, how to manage their money, you know, what is a credit score and how to manage their student loans and debt and, and how to, how to bank and, and they love the idea. And so I started teaching this little workshop at local high schools in Colorado, and before long, it became really popular. In fact, I started having to take days off of work to teach the workshop and, and I loved it. And it wasn't until I had teachers and parents of my students asking me if they could sit in on this workshop that I realized, wow, you know, it's not just young adults that need this. Everyone needs financial education. And not only do, does everyone need financial education, but people are thirsty for it. And, you know, we do live in a culture where it is taboo to talk about money and where it's not common to teach financial education in K through 12 curriculum, although that is starting to change. And I'm so thankful for that. So at that time, you know, I, I, I taught the workshop for a few years and then the recession happened. And because so many things changed in 2008 and 2009, um, you know, consumer laws and lending guidelines. I decided to sort of step back from that and just evaluate what was happening in our economy. And then in 2012, I, I wanted to get back into it. I found that the need was still very much there. And so I decided to reach out to all ages, to help all ages with their personal finances and help people begin to build personal wealth. And I created a little company and I just taught this workshop alongside my full-time job. And I did that until 2015 when I became an AFC. And then in 2016, I decided to really go for it. And I created financial impact. And now I am a full-time financial coach and I have a thriving practice. And what I will say is that, you know, I had the luxury of building my practice over a period of many, many years. And so I've, I've gotten to learn from the best. And, um, it's been an amazing, and while a lot of things have changed since 2006, since I started teaching personal finance, there's still a huge need. And so many people want to learn how to build wealth and create financial independence. So I'm, I'm completely optimistic about our future. I always say that wealth is for everyone. And, you know, building personal wealth is only 20% strategy and 80% psychological
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Holly. That's a powerful story. And I'd love to know more about your business. You talk about how you were able to give quite a few presentations. Do you still do mostly presentations now, do you see clients one-on-one help other practitioners out there understand how your business model works?
Holly Morphew:I look at my business as an online business. In fact, I went completely online in 2016. I had three offices at the time and I just decided, you know, what, this can be done from all of my coaching and counseling can be done from, from my laptop. And that transition was pretty smooth. You know, I did have some clients that thought, Whoa, okay, like, how does this work? You don't have an actual office, but I think most people found that, you know, going completely online was a huge benefit because it took out the cost and the time of commuting to an office and finding parking and, you know, getting dressed up, et cetera. And so, um, you know, that made the pandemic a lot easier for me to navigate because I really didn't miss a beat. You know, my business really stayed the same. Um, but going back to considering my business and online business coaching is a big component of my practice. In fact, it is what I do the most of, however, I will say any private practice does need multiple income streams. And so I think it's also important to have, you know, the online course. I also consult for companies. I do financial wellness for companies all over the world and I also speak. And so, you know, it's not just the coaching clients that I rely on to create the revenue and financial impact. I'm also always growing the, you know, the passive income streams in my business. And I think that's a really important thing to highlight for anyone who wants to go into private practice is that there's so much opportunity to help people without actually being present. And this is sort of where the world is going. I think it's a great offering to have live coaching, you know, cause a lot of people need that handholding. And it's the thing that I love the most, but there are also many people out there who want to learn, you know, at midnight or they want to, you know, sit in their pajamas in the morning and take a little 20 minute course. And so I think those things are also really powerful and an important component of any private practice. Yeah. I
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Love the thought that you've got multiple income streams because you are able to ebb and flow with the demands of the time too. I think many and private practice that are only seeing clients, if for some reason the economy changes or the, the conditions in your area or something changes in that, it still gives you the ability to make income. And you'll see kind of changes I'm guessing over the years, things kind of ebb and flow in different ways to still equalize out and make it a sustainable practice. So I'm curious too, about how you help clients, you help them on an ongoing basis or is it short term kind of solution focus, timeframe that you work with them? Is there a set number of sessions? How do you work with clients?
Holly Morphew:I take my clients through a complete program. I'll give you sort of the, my, my process. And I think that, you know, it has evolved over the years. Any, any good business is always evolving and, you know, in order to be sustainable, I think we always have to be looking towards the future and evaluating trends and what people want. And, um, again, you know, because I've built my practice over a period of now 15 years, I've really been able to give it that kind of attention. And so generally, you know, I'll start out with, and, um, a coaching consultation and it's free, you know, um, people will complete a coaching application. So I have all of the information that I need to know already, how I can best help them. And if there's a fit and we always kick off with goals, you know, like what are the things that you feel like you need help with in your life? And for some people it's debt for other people, it's retirement. For some people it's spending. I mean, when it comes to money, people have so many different fears and concerns. Some people come to me in crisis mode, like they are underwater and maybe they can't pay their next month's bills. And other people come to me because they have a business that they want to increase their revenue and learn how to create a more sustainable business. So whether it's someone that's trying to manage the money that they already have, or it's someone who wants to create more money in their life, I can help them with both of those things. And I think that's what differentiates me as a, as an AFC and a financial coach is that I kind of have both of those components to my practice. And that's because of my background in entrepreneurship, real estate and corporate finance, I really do have that ability to help people start and grow businesses. But, you know, once I know what are the pain points and what people really need, I will then send them an engagement letter, which outlines, you know, everything that we talked about in our coaching consultation and how my programs work and ask them for their financial documents. And then once I get their financial documents, I'm able to create what I call a wealth strategy. And this is where I will through their financial documents with, you know, just my very fine tooth comb and, you know, I'll order their debts and, and create a debt payoff strategy for them and help them find the leaks in their spending and help them really maximize it. They're an employee, their employee benefits. And so, you know, before we even meet, I already kind of have an idea of how I can best help them. And then we go on a journey together. So I only do programs with clients. So, um, I only work with a limited number of people at a time, so I can give them my full attention. All of my clients have unlimited access to me during the course of their program, which is either four months or seven months. And, you know, generally we're meeting twice a month, but with some clients I'm meeting every single week and some, even more than that, it really just depends on how much, they can handle at one time. Because as you know, changing, you know, creating personal wealth and financial security is very much behavioral. And so there's quite a lot of psychology and understanding your relationship with money to even begin to implement the strategies. So the strategy to me is like, you know, that that's, my book is called simple wealth because it's simple to, to build wealth. Yeah, no, you maximize your cash flow. You eliminate debt, you save and you invest. I mean, those are really the steps, but behind the scenes, you know, going back to the messaging that we're getting from society, which is spend as much as you can and earn as much as you can. Well, we know in 2021, especially now in 2021, that that's not what makes people happy. You know, what makes people happy is living a fulfilled life. And the only way to live a fulfilling life is to know what it is that you specifically value and your values are going to be different than mine values. So alongside the strap[inaudible] of the debt elimination, saving and investments, it's also learning the personal practices that create the wealth, the mindset, and transform you into a wealthy person. And, you know, my ex my, this is based on my own experience in my practice for the past 15 years, is that, you know, there, there really are three ways to, to create wealth there's financial capability, which is your, your ability and your willingness to do the things with your money that, that you need to do in order to create, um, financial security there's asset accumulation, you know, having, you know, either the retirement account or the investment accounts or the homeownership. And then finally there is the abundant mindset. And again, you know, this is sort of unique to me and financial impact is it's very much practicing on a daily basis. Those things that anchor you to what it is that you value. So the practice that is that I'm talking about are spending time and community with people who support you and are of like-mind and can really influence you to make those good money behaviors it's spending time and stillness, getting out of your head and dropping into your heart, where that is, where, you know, there is, that is our source. That's sort of what helps us connect with what is important to us. It's affirmations. It's a practice of giving. You know, there are a lot of ways to give, but if you want to receive more in your life and most people come to me because they want to receive more financial abundance giving is a great way to start, and it doesn't have to be giving financially. It can be giving a smile, giving good energy, holding the door for someone offering a ride to your friend to the airport, you know, a gratitude practices, huge, you know, because when we're in a state of gratitude, our whole being changes, and it's, it's this idea of like, attracts like, so when we're in a state of thankfulness for what we have, we're able to invite in more things to be thankful for. And for me, this is sort of the missing component in the world that we live in today. And I think that if we set the money aside for a minute and we really begin to focus on what it is that we value, and then we change our behaviors and start to do those personal practices, the money will just naturally begin to follow.
Rebecca Wiggins:I'm wondering too, just how have you seen that process change? You know, especially when along the way, and I'm thinking even just of course, in the context of this past year, where so many people hit this sort of unexpected rough patch, and there were so many more people, obviously there were a ton of people struggling before the pandemic hit, but then the pandemic hits and there's, you know, a whole slew of people who never thought they'd find themselves in this position or who seemingly had quote, unquote, done the right things now found themselves in this, you know, rough patch. And so how does that, or what have you seen, I guess, be most effective with clients as they're walking through this journey with you when they sort of get stuck and whether it's like a health-related issue, the pandemic, something like that, a job loss, or just some unexpected situation that feels too overwhelming for them, how do you help them move past that? Yeah.
Holly Morphew:Yes. Well, I always will say that this too shall pass and there are so many resources out there for those who find themselves experiencing financial hardship. It's just a matter of reaching out to those who know where to direct you to the resources AFCs and, and otherwise, and I think just knowing that, you know, everything is temporary and sometimes when it comes to money, okay, so maybe our credit goes down for certain period of time, but what's more important than having a high credit score. For example, is your ability to feed your family and have a roof over your head. And so I think just going back to all right, let's just focus on what is important right now are my basic needs being met. And, you know, if you find that you're working with a client whose basic needs are not being met, you know, reach out for help and go toward the resources that can help you get into a state where your basic needs are being met. You know, I think that we're very fortunate here in the United States to have a lot of organizations that want to keep people in their homes and want to make sure that no one goes hungry and, you know, even utilities companies have financial hardship programs. And so I think if we can get out of our head and, you know, stop worrying so much about, Oh my gosh, I'm not going to be able to, for example, save this month or pay this bill this month. What's more important than that is your physical health is the safety and security of your family. And so by focusing on what actually is the most important thing, we can start to put ourselves in a position where we can then create abundance. Yeah.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:I can't agree with you more. I love the thought that you said earlier of everything is temporary too. And getting out of that focus of all encompassing, or sometimes even overwhelming for individuals and taking it just kind of a step at a time to create a mindset in a lot of ways to help them see the future and what it can be and what life can be like when they focus on these simple steps. So Holly, tell us more about your new book, simple wealth. What made you want to write the book and who should read it?
Holly Morphew:This book Simple Wealth is my third try in writing a book. In fact, I actually had written two books prior to it that I wanted to be my book, but just were, you know, it was the system, it was just the system. It was just the strategy. And I really wanted to write a book that resonated with people and really met people where they were, you know, making decisions on a daily basis that impact their personal finances. And I think because of my own personal path to wealth and abundance, I was able to write a book that shares the stories of, you know, overcoming financial hardship. And the book really is the, the three simple steps to creating wealth in conjunction with great money habits. That again, transform you into a wealthy person, money habits that everyone can pick up as well as the personal practices that lead to wealth. The subtitle of the book is the practical guide to transform your relationship with money and live in abundance. And I think that that's what makes the book really different than other, you know, personal finance books out there is. It does speak directly to the heart of people who want to create financial freedom for themselves and just need a path that meets them where they are today in 2021 in the world that we live in and money is so behavioral and before our behavior comes our mindset. And so to create a mindset that takes you in the direction, not only of abundance, but to building financial security is really, really powerful. And so the book teaches you how to be a steward of your personal life vision and create personal wealth along the way.
Rebecca Wiggins:I love that so much. I, I feel like we have just scratched the surface of so many things that we could talk about with you. And so I'm really eager to continue reading the book. I have been able to start it and have already highlighted several things. So I'm really excited to get into it even more. But so we're unfortunately at the end of the interview, but we do like to get the guests to sense or your biggest takeaways for our listeners at this point. And so if you had just one piece of advice to offer other financial professionals that are walking alongside you on this journey and trying to help clients, what would your advice be?
Holly Morphew:I would say that it's so important to really understand what it is that our clients are facing on a daily basis. And I have found that one of the biggest things for most of my clients is spending. And so one of the most powerful things that I adopted in my practice in the past couple of years is to encourage my clients to open a spending account. And a spending account is for example, you know, a chime account or an aspiration bank account, it's an online checking account that you can link to wherever you do your personal checking. And I find that most people throw in the towel when it comes to managing their personal finances because of the spending component. But if at the beginning of the month, you can encourage your clients to transfer the money that they have set aside for spending into a spending account. And then they just use that debit card for all of their spending. There is no way that your clients can overspend and whatever goals that you and your client have set together. It makes it so much easier to achieve them because they're not constantly having to kind of nitpick their, their daily spending. Interesting. I've never
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Heard of chime. And I appreciate you offering this as a resource to many. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you use that with your clients?
Holly Morphew:Sure. Yes. And this is also I'll share too. This is a big component of my practice is, is sharing resources with my clients. And I have a whole page of resources on my website and chime and aspiration bank are both right there, front and center. And so again, if any of you have, for example, a student checking account or a child checking account, you probably know that you can transfer a certain amount of money into this account. So your child can't overspend in it. And so this is the same exact concept. It's a way to allocate a certain amount of money to a certain use, and I only use them for spending. And so there's an app that you can use for both of these banks. I love both of these banks because they're very consumer centric. You know, they're very focused on, you know, whether it's people or planet, you know, doing good things for the earth, doing good things for humanity, like chime, for example, has an auto Roundup feature, will they, where they will round up the change to the nearest dollar and set that aside into a savings account. So that's really fun because, you know, you can kind of watch your savings going up is as you're spending every day. But, you know, I believe in fail-proof ways of managing money, you know, automatic savings, automatic transfers, so that you're building wealth on autopilot. And I know clients love this stuff too. Like I love the idea of, you know, going to sleep at night and knowing that my transfers to, for example, my retirement account or my investment account are just happening without me even having to think about it. So that's how I use spending accounts. And I found that they're just, they're super valuable because it ensures that you will meet your goals every single month.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Awesome. Holly, this is so great. And we'll make sure and include the links that you talked about in the show notes. Can you tell our listeners where they can find you in your book?
Holly Morphew:My website is financial impact.com and my book is being sold everywhere that books are sold. And of course you can also find me on Instagram at Holly morph.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:We'll make sure to include that in the show notes. And thanks again for being here today. We so appreciate you.
Holly Morphew:Thank you so much. This has been so lovely,
Rebecca Wiggins:Mary. I really enjoy talking with Holly today. I thought her story was so powerful in terms of that connection between health and wealth. I know there's a lot of research out there about the connection, both that financial insecurity causes on your actual physical health and vice versa. And I thought that was really interesting and something I'd like to talk more about, but I think what really struck me the most and what I'm going to sort of take away from this conversation is the focus on abundance. I think so often the way we're conditioned in our own society is really limited mindset thinking and the scarcity mindset. And so, you know, helping our clients to look at it from an abundance mindset and really what I took away from what she was saying was not just about abundance of more, is better, but abundance of your values and really making sure that you're living in a way that matches that. And I know we talk a lot about that, but I thought there was a lot of power between her model and really focusing in that way. The other thing that really struck me that I loved was thinking more about resources as more than money. And so helping our clients to connect to that, to where do they have support in their life from other people, from things that can help them that may have a monetary value to it. But we don't often think about it as being a resource or a source of support in our life. So I loved that. What did you think today?
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:I thought Holly was very authentic. That's probably my favorite thing about her is not only has she spoken about this and talks about it, but she does it with true authenticity in that she's actually lived this, she's experienced the challenges, both with her health. She's had downtimes that she has struggled, uh, and she's really been very resourceful herself and figured out ways to be able to use the resources in her life that have helped her become who she is today. I just think that's why she is so powerful. And if you go to her website and look at all the things that she is doing, she's really perfected quite an art for many other practitioners to follow. She's done a great job of building a business model that sustainable she's able to help several people, but she's also able to help herself and not try to serve everyone all at once. You know, she even said on the, her calls that she makes sure that they are a good fit for her too. Right. And I think that's really important as we try to build our own practices out. She had a lot of great insights on what money can do for us. It's not just about accumulating wealth in and of itself. And I think sometimes that's why I hesitate to jump in to these ideas of fire or other types of catches where it says just accumulate more wealth because at a certain point, really it's what she said is what is the point of accumulating all this wealth? If it isn't to spend it with people or with time or with energy or whatever that may be, what is this, getting you to living more of what she calls an abundant life. I really see her focus as being more, what we call them, the financial planning sector of life planning, and instead of just financial planning and that's really her intersection is health and wealth and, and abundance and life fulfillment, not just earning money to earn more money. I really like her thought kind of summing it as being a suitor in your own life and not just a victim. I think in a lot of ways she could have become a victim and said, this has happened to me. She talked about moving back in with her parents and how that was very difficult for her at the time, but how she used that as a time to thrive instead of just staying stuck in that same being. So a Holly to me is just completely authentic in who she is and how she approaches her practice and how she helps others. And I think that's what makes her so successful.
Rebecca Wiggins:Yeah. She says, I think these are good words to end on. She says the financial impact system is a lifestyle. It's a way of living with awareness, vision and intention. The task is to connect deeply with what you value.
Dr. Mary Bell Carlson:Awesome. I think she is just been a role model to so many, not just her clients, but I think the other practitioners can learn. So
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