Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kim Azzarelli. Welcome to this brand new season
Speaker 1: of Seneca's Conversations. In this season, we're launching a special
Speaker 1: five part series on young women's financial wellness in partnership
Speaker 1: with Secret Deodorant. It's called Secret Money Tips. We recently
Speaker 1: hosted the Young Women's Financial Wellness Form at the New
Speaker 1: York Stock Exchange in partnership with Secret, renowned financial experts
Speaker 1: gave young women their best advice about budgeting, saving, and
Speaker 1: investing financial empowerment one oh one. Now we're bringing that
Speaker 1: advice to every young woman through this series. Today, we're
Speaker 1: talking to Marsha Barnes, founder and CEO of the Finance
Speaker 1: Bar members club, which helps individuals start their journey to
Speaker 1: financial wellness. Welcome, Marsha. It's so great to have you
Speaker 1: on the show. Thank you so much for having me ken. So, Marsha,
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about your personal journey. How
Speaker 1: did your experience growing up affect your relationship with money? Oh,
Speaker 1: that's such a great question and a story I love
Speaker 1: to tell. So, I grew up in a two parent household.
Speaker 1: My parents divorced around the age of twelve, and my
Speaker 1: brother and I went to live with my mom, and
Speaker 1: once we transitioned over to her just being a single parent,
Speaker 1: I honestly felt as if our living conditions were not
Speaker 1: as nice as they once were, or at least that's
Speaker 1: how I felt. And quite honestly, my mom just did
Speaker 1: not have the financial resources to mirror the lifestyle that
Speaker 1: we had when she was with my dad when I
Speaker 1: was living with two parents, and that honestly made me
Speaker 1: feel sad. It made me feel sad for her, and
Speaker 1: it also made me feel sad for my brother and I.
Speaker 1: So what I'll say is that some of the things
Speaker 1: that I wanted, you know, when I was younger, and
Speaker 1: I wasn't able to get those same things transitioned over
Speaker 1: to when I was an adult. So I'm not sure
Speaker 1: how many individuals remember this, but when I was younger,
Speaker 1: Barbie cars existed. They were like little cars as you
Speaker 1: could get in and you could drive them around, and
Speaker 1: that was something that my mom really couldn't afford to
Speaker 1: get for me. So as I got older, I wanted
Speaker 1: a luxury vehicle. Like when I first received my first
Speaker 1: job and I started to trail the corporate ladder, I
Speaker 1: wanted luxury things. I wanted a luxury luxury vehicle, designer clothes.
Speaker 1: Because for whatever reason, Kim money gave me the sense
Speaker 1: of power, and it also made me feel as if
Speaker 1: I had a level of freedom of having options. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of my journey and my introduction to
Speaker 1: money as I was younger than as I got older.
Speaker 1: I love the way you talk about this emotional relationship
Speaker 1: with money and how a person's emotions can in fact
Speaker 1: control their finances and even affect their finances. How do
Speaker 1: you get these emotions under control and how do you
Speaker 1: make sure that they're working for you? Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: say that first one is understanding that our emotions around money,
Speaker 1: or our thoughts around money is often triggered around how
Speaker 1: we were brought or raise up to think about money.
Speaker 1: One of the key ways that you really gain control
Speaker 1: of those emotions is to begin to think about how
Speaker 1: you feel about money, what emotions does it evoke for you,
Speaker 1: opposed to considering what does that look like for somebody
Speaker 1: else in my family or my friend's circle. Money is personal,
Speaker 1: finance is extremely personal, so it's really important that you
Speaker 1: begin to develop your own thoughts around money. That's really
Speaker 1: how you get control of the emotions around it. I
Speaker 1: think That's really interesting because so much of what we
Speaker 1: are brought up on we sort of internalize, and maybe
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily realize that we're sort of internalizing other
Speaker 1: people's values, for example, or parents, or maybe other people
Speaker 1: that we kind of grow up with. You know, we
Speaker 1: probably need to take a step back and ask if
Speaker 1: our values are kind of aligned with those and do
Speaker 1: we want to have the kind of same relationship with
Speaker 1: money that they do. Yeah. Another thing you talk about
Speaker 1: which I love is having a money mindset. So I
Speaker 1: guess the question is what is a money mindset and
Speaker 1: why is it so important to think about that and
Speaker 1: shape that mindset when you're young. Yeah. So a money
Speaker 1: mindset is our thoughts and beliefs about money. It controls
Speaker 1: the way that we act, behave, and often even spend money.
Speaker 1: And the reason why it's really important to develop a
Speaker 1: money mindset when you are young, although the chances are
Speaker 1: very likely that it will change as you age, is
Speaker 1: because you want to develop your own, your very own
Speaker 1: identity with money. When we're young, they are oftentimes many
Speaker 1: distractions that come our way. So if Marcia, you know,
Speaker 1: young Marsha was someone that really want to save money
Speaker 1: and plan for her future, but then them also distracted
Speaker 1: by some of the things that my friends do, and
Speaker 1: that helps me, you know, navigate towards spending money that
Speaker 1: I really don't want to spend. Then that's the path
Speaker 1: that I will take. So it's very important that you
Speaker 1: identify when you are very young so you can develop
Speaker 1: your very own identity. It's really interesting because, honestly, it's
Speaker 1: just so true. There's just so much coming at us
Speaker 1: all time. When you're younger and when you're not so young,
Speaker 1: there's just so much coming at us, and we really
Speaker 1: need to control or at least try to take control
Speaker 1: of our own mind and kind of know what thoughts
Speaker 1: you're letting in and what you want to sort of reject. Yes,
Speaker 1: that seems to me like an incredibly valuable lesson which
Speaker 1: I know I wish I had had when I was
Speaker 1: much younger. So now that we want to develop this
Speaker 1: money mindset and get control of our emotions and understand
Speaker 1: our emotions and our relationship to money more, how do
Speaker 1: we do this? You talk about four specific steps that
Speaker 1: you suggest young women can apply right now to develop
Speaker 1: their own money mindset. Can you walk us through those
Speaker 1: four steps? Yeah? Absolutely, So. The first one, Kim I
Speaker 1: would say, is to gain an understanding around why you
Speaker 1: think about money the way that you do. What were
Speaker 1: some of the things that you were taught and even
Speaker 1: if you hadn't been taught any thing, what are some
Speaker 1: of the things that you hear about money that now
Speaker 1: may have you believing that that's how you feel about money.
Speaker 1: An example of that, oftentimes, when we're younger, or at
Speaker 1: least I heard that wanting to have money or desiring
Speaker 1: more money is greed or money is only used to
Speaker 1: pay bills. Well that's not the case. Money is a
Speaker 1: financial resource to provide for our needs and many of
Speaker 1: the things that we want in life. So number one
Speaker 1: would be gay understanding why you think about money the
Speaker 1: way that you do. Number two is to write down
Speaker 1: what you truly value. When we think about value, consider
Speaker 1: is it time with friends and family? Is it you
Speaker 1: want to be your own boss on entrepreneur or to
Speaker 1: own a business when you grow up? Do you feel
Speaker 1: more financially confident when you have money saved? So write
Speaker 1: down what your values are. Again, I want to that
Speaker 1: this may change as you age, however, it's very important
Speaker 1: to identify that now. Number three would be work on
Speaker 1: creating really good financial habits very early on. What does
Speaker 1: that look like? One could be putting back money, some
Speaker 1: level of money, no matter how young you are. As
Speaker 1: you start to earn put money away. You can also
Speaker 1: consider giving to charities or organizations that you really enjoy
Speaker 1: their mission or you really believe in their mission. If
Speaker 1: you have expenses to pay, get in the habit of
Speaker 1: paying your bills on time. It's very important to develop
Speaker 1: these very good financial habits when you're young because you'll
Speaker 1: only get better at this as you age. And then
Speaker 1: number four CAM would be to embrace the journey. As
Speaker 1: you age, your income could increase, it could decrease, you
Speaker 1: could have financial roadblocks, financial mess perhaps that may happen
Speaker 1: over your lifetime. But it's really important to stand in
Speaker 1: financial gratitude because every financial lesson just helps you to
Speaker 1: gain more financial confidence and more financial awareness as you aid.
Speaker 1: So that's what I would say would be the top
Speaker 1: four ways to develop a really great money mindset. While
Speaker 1: those are really practical and super helpful, you know, I
Speaker 1: think this question of how you value money or how
Speaker 1: you see money is really sort of fundamental. Like you said,
Speaker 1: is it just to pay the bills? Or is it
Speaker 1: a tool. I think these are all really interesting questions.
Speaker 1: I know for myself. You know, I think when I
Speaker 1: was much younger, I looked at money it's just something
Speaker 1: that sort of paid the bills. And as you said,
Speaker 1: that aspiring to too much money might have seemed a
Speaker 1: little greedy, maybe not the best values. But if you
Speaker 1: see money as a tool towards accomplishing goals that you
Speaker 1: want to achieve, that's that's really freeing, frankly. And you know,
Speaker 1: whether that goal is to help other people in the world,
Speaker 1: to help your family, just to be responsibly taking care
Speaker 1: of yourself. I mean that mindset can really change your
Speaker 1: relationship with money and you can have a much more
Speaker 1: positive relationship. So I really love that. And then it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem so scary or difficult, frankly, you're kind of
Speaker 1: motivated to make it happen. So I think these four
Speaker 1: steps are really important and I really appreciate them. So
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being with us. And I know
Speaker 1: that the young women listening are going to learn a lot.
Speaker 1: And I wish that i'd heard all this when I
Speaker 1: was sixteen years old. I'm still learning, so thank you
Speaker 1: for this. You're welcome, Kim. Thanks so much for having me,
Speaker 1: so let me recap some of what we learned here today. First,
Speaker 1: it's so powerful to recognize that we all have an
Speaker 1: emotional relationship with money and that if we control our emotions,
Speaker 1: we can control our finances. Second, there are so many
Speaker 1: myths and misconceptions about money, and one of the biggest
Speaker 1: is that we have to react to money the same
Speaker 1: way that our parents or our friends do. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: important to chart your own path. Third, know what you
Speaker 1: value that is truly value that will help you wisely
Speaker 1: determine where to spend your time and money to achieve
Speaker 1: your goals. Talking to Marcia was truly delightful. Join me
Speaker 1: next week for more money tips for young women on
Speaker 1: our next episode of Seneca's Conversations, Secret Money Tips in
Speaker 1: partnership with Secret Deodorant. Thank you for listening, and please
Speaker 1: share today's podcast episode with others in your life. This
Speaker 1: is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and co
Speaker 1: founder of Seneca Women. Seneca's Conversations is a production of
Speaker 1: the Seneca Women podcast network and iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows,