Real Money, Real Experts

Year in Review: Looking back at some of our favorite episodes

December 21, 2021 AFCPE® Season 1 Episode 42
Real Money, Real Experts
Year in Review: Looking back at some of our favorite episodes
Show Notes Transcript

Before we leap into an exciting new year for the Real Money, Real Experts podcast, we’re taking a moment to look back at some of our favorite episodes from 2021. In this episode, you’ll hear clips from a variety of guests we’ve had on the show this season as we remember the incredible stories, insights, and advice they had to share.

From all of us at AFCPE, we extend a huge thank you to everyone who’s tuned in this year! If you're interested in coming on our podcast for season three, check out the Guest Application linked in the show notes. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2022!

Show Notes:
01:08 John Sileo’s Key to Unlocking Cyber Security
03:30 Financial Therapy & Healing Money Scripts with Dr. Brad Klontz
06:58 Demystifying Credit with Experian’s Rod Griffin
08:35 Life Long Learning: Financial Education for All Ages with Ann House, AFC®
11:59 Jen Hemphill, AFC®: Why Her Dinero Matters
16:37 Going for Gold with Lauryn Williams
20:07 Overcoming addiction and leading with empathy with Ambus Hunter IV, AFC®  Candidate
23: 01 Show your Pride: Building an Inclusive Practice with Cait Howerton, AFC®, CFP®
24:43 DataPoints: The Psychology of Building Wealth

 Show Note links:
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https://www.afcpe.org/real-money-real-experts-podcast/

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to real money, real experts, a podcast we're 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 wigs, executive director of the association for financial account counseling and planning education, or a F C P E.

Speaker 2:

And I'm your co-host 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.

Speaker 1:

Welcome everyone to the real money, real experts podcast. I'm

Speaker 2:

Rebecca. And this is Mary. Thanks for taking the time to join us today.

Speaker 1:

Today on this show, we're gonna do a look back at the best episodes from 2021. What an incredible year it was. It is so hard to believe Mary, that it's already December. I can't believe that we're staring down the end of the year. This was really fun to review this season's episodes, and we're excited to share them

Speaker 2:

With you. Absolutely. And it's gonna be fun to do this episode, Rebecca, because we're gonna be playing clips from these different episodes that we've heard throughout the year. The very first episode that we started with in the new year was a clip from John. Silio. A topic of his conversation came from personal and both business identity theft. So it was detrimental, but he was able to overcome it and not only overcome it, but find a huge success in what he does now in helping others realize and recognize and get out of identity theft circumstances and issues. Number

Speaker 3:

One, be a resource for your people. What it's a newsletter or a video, or you do a, a wellness event for your people. That's number one. Number two is you gotta protect your own data. I can't tell you the number of planners that I have seen inside of that are not doing what they need from a cybersecurity perspective, whether it's their cloud offering, whether it's the, a way that they send, you know, social or financial information back and forth via email, rather than a secure portal that has been tested. Those are critical to keeping your members in business. And I, I can't emphasize enough that they have to think through their security as well as their clients security. I think the number one thing that I would recommend to them as businesses is to not get caught up in all of the fear. Fear is a, a great motivator at the very start. It does not keep people doing what they need to do. It does not get their clients to make the changes that they need to make. What I think works really well is a bite size entertaining clips that, that tell them one thing at a time that tell them, listen, turn on your two-factor authentication on your Schwab account, or start using a password manager, turn on account alerts so that, you know, when somebody is shifting money inside or outside of your accounts, using those little bite size pieces is probably the best use of this information to kind of further that relationship with the client. On the personal side, I would say, you know, stop listening to this podcast when it's over. And I would go, and I would turn on two factor authentication for every financial and medical account that I have got. That is absolutely one of the greatest things along with kind of locking down your smartphone.

Speaker 2:

Rebecca, another top download episode this year was one of my favorite conversations with Brad CLO. He did a great job of the symposium, where he talked about our understanding money, history and money scripts. And in our podcast, he delved deep into what this means and how you recognize it, not just in clients, but in yourself as well.

Speaker 4:

I sold what I had of value, which for me at the time was a pickup truck. And, um, I put all the money I had into day trading and swing trading, and I had a fabulous three months and then the tech bubble burst and the.com party ended<laugh> and I watched my money melting away and I was like a big slap on the forehead. And the question I asked myself is how could a reasonably intelligent person do something so stupid with his money? And that's really what got me interested in financial psychology. And so for me, I did what a good recent grad from clinical psych would do or any PhD program. And I started doing lit reviews. All right, I'm, I'm gonna find about, find out about my psychology around money. I'm gonna set it right. And then I'm gonna move forward in my life. And I really couldn't find anything. And I realized that the field of psychology at that point had totally or money as an area of interest. And I got even more interested at that point. And so that's really what sent me on my journey. I went home, I started interviewing my mother, my poor mother. I'd done this term many times. And my training as psychologist, I put a tape recorder in front of her and I start interviewing her<laugh> what was it like for your growing up around money? Mom? What, what was it like for grandma and grandpa? How to, did you feel about it? And these stories started to emerge from my family system, that all of a sudden, my like crazy boneheaded financial mistake made perfect sense. It made perfect sense. When I saw these stories instantly my shame dissipated I'm like, of course I did something so stupid around money when I understood my family history and my own psychology around money. You know, so what I see is I see coaching as sort of in between financial planning and psychotherapy, and essentially coaches are equipped with knowledge around personal finance. So they have some of what financial planners would have in that regard. But they're also equipped with a set of skills that have been drawn, um, the therapy, the psychology world on how to help people change their behavior. So it's more than just, here's the advice, here's the information you need to know, you know, from my perspective, everybody already knows what they need to know.<laugh>, you know, mm-hmm,<affirmative>, um, I mean the problems we have with money aren't because people don't know the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA that that's not where we're really in trouble as a country. It's not saving for the future and spending more than we make I've yet to find someone who doesn't already know better in those regards. Now, obviously we need help around it. And so that's where I see coaching coming in is helping people facilitate change and understand themselves and Institute new behaviors and maintain those behaviors. And I see therapy in the traditional definition as treating a disorder and those disorders around money do exist. You know, compulsive buying gambling disorder, hoarding order. These things are medical conditions is how we look at it in the, um, psychotherapy world. You can bill insurance to treat these. And I just feel like when, when it comes to coaching and planning, you need to know what those are so that you can know when to refer someone for help and not try to tackle that in your role. As a coach,

Speaker 1:

I also learned a lot from our discussion with rod Griffin, from Experian, he talked about the history of the credit industry, credit scores, and some common myths about credit that everyone should

Speaker 2:

Know. Absolutely. In fact, I even use Rod's podcast now in my classes, when we talk about credit, because there was so much insight in education that came from his episode,

Speaker 5:

Understand and know what's in the credit report. I think for consumers in general, don't be afraid to look at that credit report and use it as a financial tool. You know, I, I talk to people and, and groups often, and I, I always ask who hears, looked at your credit report and I see the heads drop and they don't wanna look at me anymore. And I'm why, why are you, why don't you wanna check your report? And they'll say, I'm afraid don't be afraid because it's, it probably isn't as bad as you think. And if you don't look at it, don't know what's there. You can't do anything about it. So get that credit report know what's there. We want people who work with us. We want people to know what's in that report because it should be a financial tool. It should be empowering. It shouldn't be a barrier. And that just means you need to engage in it, understand it. It's not as hard as you, as you think it might be, or as complicated as it, you think it might be. Uh, so the, the thing that we, we encourage people most is use the tools that are available to them. Like Experian boost know what's in that credit report and use it as a financial tool so that when you walk into the lender, you know what they're gonna see and you'll know that you have the, uh, ability and that you're in empowered to get the credit you need when you need

Speaker 2:

It. Another one of my most memorable interviews was with Ann House and Ann has been a pioneer in the field of financial counseling and education. She helped create power pay, which many of us use today. But my favorite part about her interview was hearing her authentic story. She was a woman who faced tragedy in trials and yet has not let them stopper. And she's turned them into opportunities.

Speaker 6:

My passion came from being widowed at, at a very young age. I was 33 years old. I had three children. Uh, they were two years old, five and eight. My husband was a police officer who was shot held in line of duty. He was 35 years old. And you know, we'd only been married, uh, just shy of 11 years. And we hadn't really talked and, and done a lot of financial, uh, you know, planning at, at that age. And so I was really left with just a tiny amount of, of life insurance. Uh, some bills we had just built a home. Um, I think I had a couple of dollars in the bank and, you know, and then the, the paychecks ended, uh, two weeks after his death. So I quickly had to jump into learning about finance and really understanding from a woman's perspective, being at home with the kids and, you know, thinking well, you know, my husband is, is tending to that. He goes to the credit union and he's looking out for us. Um, and we'll get together one of these days and, and figure things out out. I did get some money after he died from, from insurance. I quickly paid off the car, cuz I didn't wanna have that payment only to find out later that a death benefit at the credit union would've paid off the car. But of course they didn't tell me that. So that was a$6,000 mistake. Uh, you know, and, and there were mistakes like that because no one really jumped in and told me, Hey, this is a death benefit. Hey, this is what you have. It was all this consumer action on my part. And that really taught me to be a consumer advocate. And I think as I teach personal finances, now it's more about teaching people to advocate for themselves. And yes, you don't have a lot of money. You need to see me about some debts that you have. Uh, so I'm not gonna charge you an arm and a leg I may see for free, but what I want to teach you is to advocate for yourself. It was hard. It was hard at the time, but it got me to get that degree. It got me to a job, uh, where I could earn enough money to support us because I could see women in my situation. And, and over the years, I've, I've seen so many women in this situation, uh, who don't jump on it soon enough and don't start advocating for themselves. And, and, and so this women in money really has become this, this passion of mine.

Speaker 1:

Another episode that I really enjoyed was our conversation with Jen Hemphill. She talked a lot about the unique barriers to financial wellbeing that members of the Latinx community encounter provided some resources to help with clients. And then she, she talked a lot about building your own private practice and the importance of having multiple streams of

Speaker 2:

Income. Yeah. One of the things that I loved about Jens is how authentic she is and being open about her private practice. She talked a lot about her mistakes that she made along the way in private practice and how she learned from them. And really, I think many of us can learn from her that it's okay to mess up because it's learning opportunities and you can simply move on from them.

Speaker 7:

When you become a business owner, you need to have some sort of content. It's just like going to the ice cream store and they give you some samples to, for, to help you decide which type of ice cream flavor you want. Uh, it's the same with a business. You need to create some sort of content. So people can really trust. You can get to know you and, and see if you're a fit for, for them. And the way to do that is can be in the form of a blog, which I found<laugh> was not the way for me, uh, was not consistent. You have to find that medium that you can be consistent with. So that can be blogging. That could be podcasting. That can be YouTube doing videos, those type of things. And, uh, so you have to choose and figure out, I mean, I've experimented, blogging and failed. Misability I tried doing YouTube, but I felt like that just took too much time. And I wasn't a point in business that I could outsource the help to edit and do like my makeup and my hair and that I want it all<laugh> I wanted to do it all. But, uh, so I think understanding that you need to create some content, cuz that I didn't know that early on. And I was wondering why people weren't coming to me well, cuz they didn't know anything about me, you in the way. Yes, you can do it through social media, but you also need to do it with, uh, some sort of medium again, blogging or YouTube or podcast. And then you have to figure out what that is. You also have to have some products or service. I think having a product, a digital product with a, a a course or uh, some something that you can sell is also essential in creating or building. I should say building your email list is very important. That's another aspect of, of building that, that I that's that's helped me because social media is helpful and you can, you know, you can make a lot of great connections on social media, but at the end of the day, that can go away. Right. And what you have and you own, if you will, is your email list and that's people that have opted in and say, yes, I want to hear from you. So you they've given you that permission for you to send them valuable content. And then whenever you have a service or a digital product, whatever that is, they've given you that permission to offer those things to them. So that has helped me. So I, I don't have, I used to have a course<laugh> um, but I need to renovate, I'm really ready to relaunch a membership because that gives a study in crime stream. And so I'm getting ready to do that. The book is also another revenue stream that I have podcast sponsors. I do don't necessarily focus on continuously getting podcast sponsors because I can also quote unquote sponsor my own things on my episodes in podcast sponsorships, it's about relationships and pitching yourself and that's time consuming. And plus I'm very selective on those sponsors that I do say yes to. I've been fortunate. It, that sponsors have come to me. I don't necessarily have to pitch myself, but I don't always have sponsors on the show. Uh, just because they have to be a good fit. I'm not going to necessarily do if some credit cards doing some promotion or whatnot because that's not the credit cards NEC not necessarily a solution for everyone. So I'm, I'm very careful as who, who I have as a sponsor on the show, because I want to be able to authentically talk about it and get excited because I can't sell something that I don't get excited about. And if I don't feel comfortable about it, it just makes no sense for me just to take the, their money and do an ad read and it's not benefit them. So, uh, that's another source of income.

Speaker 2:

Rebecca. We've never had an Olympian on this show until Lauren Williams came along. And what I love is she's not just an Olympian, but she's a four time Olympian, a three time Olympic medalist and the first woman to medal in both the summer in winter Olympic games, she's absolutely an incredible athlete. She's an amazing financial planner, but most of all, she's an incredible human being. And that's what I really felt like I got from both her podcast, as well as when she was a speaker this year at this year's symposium, she is super relatable, which is rather astonishing to me because she is so successful in the many things that she does. But she too shared and was very open with how she fumbled the ball a few times how she's trying something that is not working out. And I think to me, it really sounded back of saying, it's okay to mess up and it's okay to try things that totally fall flat and don't work. One of the things she stated in our podcast that I really love is you can tell she's passionate about this profession and she shares why she's in this profession. But most importantly too, is she's able to be successful financially. So she continue to share that passion that it's not just something that she gives pro bono, but she's able to build a successful business as well as do what she loves.

Speaker 8:

I think one of the hardest things that we encounter as people who are passionate about the profession is how to help as many people as possible, but also not sacrifice making a living for yourself and your family in that process. Don't be afraid to graduate a client if it is not the right client for you. It's okay. I have held on, you know, you can see someone's potential, but they're just not in a place to really do the work. And at first I thought that everybody reached out to me was reaching out because they wanted help. That was the whole main purpose. And so of course I had to help them and I had to find a new way to help them. I had to try it this way and try it that way. Sometimes you're not the person that's designated to help them. So don't be afraid to refer them out and don't be afraid to tell someone the truth that, Hey, maybe you're not ready for this right now. You know, we've been doing this for eight months and you still haven't saved, you know, a single dollar, even though we've, you know, identified month one, that you should be able to save$200 a month. Whatever the case may be. We have to be very real with our clients so that they can actually get the help that they need eventually. Because if no one ever tells'em, they're not doing it, they may just be happy paying you to pretend like they're doing something. That's a block that some people have as well. It's like, well, I have a financial coach, so I'm, I'm good to go. Uh, but even if they're not implementing your thing, so don't be afraid to graduate or fire a client would be thing. Number one, the second thing I would say to someone listening is be yourself, be authentically you and don't be afraid to do so. Like I said, I think there's a lot of pressure on us as financial professionals to, to seem like we have it all together. The, there is enough of that, that exists in this world already that I think you'd be really surprised by what it feels like to be more authentic with your clients to share more about what your personal story and experience is. And just to, you know, like I said, say what you really think and feel, um, you know, sometimes we do a lot of bite in our tongue because we're like, Ugh, I don't know how this is gonna be. Um, you know, of course you can take some communication classes or something, if you feel like you're really abrasive, but ultimately you need to make sure that you're being authentic and that you're sharing yourself with the people that you're interacting with, whether that be client coworker, family member, et cetera.

Speaker 1:

Another episode that I really enjoyed was our conversation with Ambu hunter. I think a theme that we have running throughout all of these is just how authentic our professionals are and how open they are with their journeys. He talked about overcoming addiction and really leading with empathy and the importance of empathy with clients. But we also, we talked about a lot with him. We also talked about private practice again, and the importance of getting registered if you're giving investment advice, which linked back to an earlier episode that we had had about that topic too. So there was just a lot in that episode. And I think that it was really interesting speaking with Ambu and I appreciated his honesty and openness with us about his own journey. I

Speaker 9:

I'll tell you what, what helped me was realizing that, okay, this is my story. And if I'm going to, I mean, I can only be myself and we talk about the importance of being authentic in life. That's my authentic story, you know, mm-hmm<affirmative> so I, I, I can't be ashamed of that. Uh, it, it kind of is what it is. I've learned a lot from it. I actually think it's one of the most important things to happen in my life. I think it's one of the most positive things to happen in my life. It has definitely shaped who I am. I am a firm believer in adversity and overcoming adversity and, and how you can experience that, you know, post traumatic growth, so to speak. And I have definitely come to realize that does make me, me and I, I should not try to hide that, but of course, you know, when you're, when you're stepping into something new, you, you can't help, you know, our brains can't help. But think of all the reasons why we shouldn't bring this up, you know, all the negative stories that we tell ourselves that, oh, it's gonna be too embarrassing. And people are gonna think, you know, I'm an idiot or people are gonna think, I don't know anything when I'm talking about. And I have experienced the, the exact opposite, you know, to, to what you're talking about. So many people have continued to reach out to me with their own gambling addiction stories and or other type of substance abuse, addiction stories. So I, I did a, I did an interview with bigger pockets, uh, last year. And I, I remember one that episode was released. I woke up to about 50 DMS messages, emails from strangers, basically sharing that just from them hearing the story that it just released, encouraged them to, to face their gambling and, or other type of a and challenges. And that's what kind of solidified to me like, okay, no, I need to talk about this because I, I didn't go on the podcast necessarily thinking that was gonna be the outcome, but that ended up being what it was. Other people saw inspiration and an opportunity to turn things around in their own lives. And I think if we can talk about these things more, I mean, I, I continue to be amazed at, at how many people are going through similar things, but they too are thinking they're the only ones that are kind of going through it.

Speaker 1:

Mary, I always learn a lot from Kate Howard. I really enjoyed our episode with her back in June. She talked about how we need to understand our clients' identities and their lived experiences and how that really connects with their financial lives and the decisions that they make. And just the importance of getting to know your clients. And what's important to them to help them achieve financial success.

Speaker 10:

A person's financial experience it's intrinsically linked to their comprehensive makeup of their identity. So what do I mean by that? It's, it's influenced by their race, their gender, their sexuality, their socioeconomic status, all of these things directly shape an individual's experience of life and their experience with money. So I think the difference in someone who is a successful financial professional in those who aren't long term, are those who actively affirm a client's unique experience. You know, they're not using rules of thumb or been benchmarks, cetera, to be able to provide financial advice, they are getting to know their clients. And they're employing strategies that are address the unique needs of the person sitting on the opposite side of them. So what I would probably leave our, our listeners with is yes, there are certainly things that stereotypes or potential planning issues that are, are really intimate to different populations of, of people. But really, if you can take the time to get to know the person that you're sitting across from and understand what's important to them, and then like what obstacles are facing then to give good advice to them, you will be successful.

Speaker 2:

Finally, one of our most downloaded episodes was an interview with Sarah Fila from data points. And she talked about her six wealth factors and seven attitudes that influence money decisions and the research behind understanding a client's personality, which helps them support their financial journey and create behavior change. One of the things I like about Sarah is that she has the background and educate that, help her continue on and understand research, but its research is put into practice. And so you can actually use it in your own practice and help with clients. Another cool thing that she mentions in her episode is her dad is actually Dr. Thomas Stanley, who wrote the book, the millionaire next door. And she's now taking that same research that he started over 30 years ago and is I limiting it for financial planners, coaches, and counselors to continue to use. So it's a continuation of what he started so long ago.

Speaker 11:

I think that one of the reasons a lot of folks don't reach out or, or don't maybe seek out help from a financial professional is often because they think they're going to get a spreadsheet back or that they're only focused on investments, right? That's the, those are the advertisements that we see, right? We don't see advertisements that that say, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be here for you and we're gonna get through this together. And so, you know, I think that there's a lot of room for professionals to really be out there, whether that's in the media, social media, or even just in the community, helping to build the value for the work that they're doing that way as well, that it's not just a spreadsheet function. This is, this is the whole person we're talking about. And, and it's a different experience than just thinking you're gonna get a big chart and to graph, which is not really helpful, especially if you're going through a crisis in terms of the kind of advice I would've loved to have had, especially, you know, if you could share with your clients to not make decisions during times of upheaval in their life. Certainly I think that you, you know, that's probably part of the work that you guys do anyway and proud of the training that you receive. But I think for me in particular, um, after my father died in the accident that he was involved in, I made some decisions about our business and about some, some financial decisions, quite frankly, we made as a, a as a couple. But, um, certainly I don't think that, that I, I'm not sure I made the best decisions. And, you know, I think that if your client is going through a time of stress and grief, you know, just helping them understand that their decision making can be affected by that stress and grief and emotion and to, to hold off on those kinds of decisions. I think that, you know, again, there, there are all kinds of things that could be stressful, but certainly if you can delay that decision or get some additional advice, that would be my, my advice to the professionals providing the advice

Speaker 2:

Well, Rebecca, as we close out this season and sadly, we are parting ways with you, but we look forward to having Rachel Daon on in our new season for 2022 of real money, real experts. We have had a wonderful two seasons together. Honestly, it's been more fun and successful than we even imagined. So thank you to all of our listeners out there. We appreciate you for tuning in. Please share it with a friend and leave us a review. We'd love to hear from you also, if you're interested in coming on our podcast, we're gonna include a link to the guest application and the show notes, otherwise happy holidays. And we look forward to speaking with you again in 2022 for season three of real money, real experts,