Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!
Value-Based Money Moves with Allie Beckmann
If you’re a freelancer, self-employed, or working without traditional benefits, the idea of long term planning can feel overwhelming. If you’re just starting out, navigating a major transition professionally, or feeling like you’re just trying to survive financially, how are you ever supposed to plan for retirement?
In this episode of Women & Money: The Shit We Don’t Talk About, we sit down with Allie Beckmann, the founder of Beckmann Financial, where mission-driven individuals and business owners are empowered to use money as a tool to turn their dreams into reality- one that reflects their values and vision for impact.
Allie knows what it takes to save for retirement and she shares the exact tools women can use to build wealth, even with an unpredictable income. During our conversation, she explains why financial planning should be about your life first and the numbers, second. What do you care about most? What are your values? Your money should help you live in alignment with what really matters most to you!
This episode is a must-listen for creatives, side-hustlers, or anyone feeling like they’re behind or don’t belong in “the financial world.” Because you’re not behind, you do belong, and Allie’s here to show you exactly how to walk your path towards financial freedom!
Are you ready to take the next step? Join our weekly Money Talks series every Thursday at 11am CT! Register for FREE to gain access to our weekly sessions where Purse Strings-approved professionals discuss various financial topics. Click here to register now and bring your questions!
Got a unique financial story to share? Whether it’s about crushing debt, building wealth, an unexpected windfall, or just a wild money moment, we want to hear it! Or are you a professional who helps women with money? If you’re a financial coach, attorney, CPA, or work in any area that empowers women financially, we’d love to hear from you too! Your story could inspire our community of women. Fill out our intake form here!
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Maggie: Okay. TBH, I was supposed to buy a birthday gift for a friend when her birthday was like a week ago, so I should have bought it like two weeks ago, right? But there's this specific place I wanna go that's just downtown and it has picky hours, but it's this really cute women owned business. And I know I could just buy those things online and just ship 'em to her house. That's not as fun, but specifically wanna go support this business, except sometimes they have inconvenient hours for not living right there. But as we talk about a lot of the time, is how important that value based spending is. And I think that's just like a really clear example. I am mad about being late on this birthday gift, but it's really important for me to, if I'm gonna spend that money on a gift to buy it from a women owned business.
And I even do this very specifically with my nieces, my nephew, he's still kind of young, where it's like you have to buy the thing, the Legos, or whatever. If it's like makeup or a t-shirt, I really ensure it's like a woman-owned business. I ensure that card's in there, like I am projecting this onto them and I a hundred percent admit to it.
But it's so important because we talk about how it's kind of voting with your money and we spend, let's say 40 hours a week earning that money. I wanna only give it to people who want it, are gonna honor it, are grateful for it, all those different things. And that could be either a product, I guess, or professional service as well.
But I think you also need to know what those values are, which I don't know if people sit down and pencil out.
Barb: No, I don't know if people do either, but I would say that you and I are very keen to making sure we're always purchasing from a woman owned business. I'll never forget you sent me this little video. Remember when that girl made that sale at her business and the lady walked out the door and she was so excited that she called her husband and she was like, I made a sale, and she was just so happy.
It's like we understand that feeling that, wow, somebody came in and purchased what I was selling. And I'm a business owner, it warms their heart and I have a dear friend who owns a business in town and anytime I need a gift, I just go there and buy it from her, because she has lovely things.
I love her so much, and that's where I want my dollars to go. Not to some online big box store or some other store that could care less if I'm spending my money there or not. It means a lot to her and it means a lot to me to support other women owned businesses.
Maggie: And I would say most of the time, it's very equal in pricing. A couple times it's gonna be a little bit more expensive. But it's usually not a huge price difference either. So it's just about doing those actions differently. When you're saying that, I'm like, wow, I got a skin girl.
Like I got a face person, like I got a flower person who like, I would call up if I need these gifts, I have 'em all in kind of my back pocket. I got a lady who I know can do branding and we're not going through, those big companies online.
It's just these smaller businesses where I'm glad it's the stay at home mom who can do this as a side hustle, and I get to support that. There's no need to go to these other ones. And that's just a huge thing for both of us, and I know that's something we dive into in this podcast as well, is that value-based spending and knowing what your values are and speaking with your money.
Barb: Yeah, and it's not only just women owned, but there are places that don't align with my politics or the fact that I think about ecology and I don't like their packaging, so I don't. Buy from there things like that, I think more about do I wanna support this business if that's what their values are.
If they don't align with mine, no, I don't need to. I mean, there's so many places you can buy things from and I think it's about being financially conscious and using your dollars as your voting tickets.
Maggie: I also think we have to ensure that everything we're purchases is in line with our own values, not just from the person we're buying it from, but the thing that we're buying. And just ensuring, like if health is a huge value and then you're spending a lot of money on liquor, like that actually might not be spending in your value if you're really valuing your health.
That's just one example, but making sure that everything I am spending, do I need to find another source to buy it from, or is that value no longer aligning with me? And those things can change. They're constantly in flux, so you have to check back in.
Barb: Yeah, so, money is emotional, money is powerful. Understanding money is the most powerful thing. And we love that women have so much control and power over money and to be financially conscious and really vote with your dollars and being value-based purchasers. In our podcast today, we have Allie, who talks a lot about value-based financial planning and really thinking through where you're putting your time, your money.
I absolutely loved her answer to what she thought financial freedom meant to her. It's an answer we've never heard before and it was super cool, wasn't it?
Maggie: Yeah. I mean, every time we ask it's always something different and they're always all great. So I'm gonna need a compilation of everyone's answers by the time we're done with this.
Barb: Yeah, that's for sure. Let's get into it. Let's see what Allie has to say about value-based selling, especially working with creatives. Let's get started.
Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women in money, the shit we don't talk about.
Maggie: Allie, thank you for coming on the show today. I am so excited, or we both are to have you here. So before we dive into our questions, can you share a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Allie: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here too. I am a financial advisor and wealth manager and I came to this career by way of being a theater artist. An actor, a director, a musician and also a longtime yoga and meditation instructor, and student.
So naturally, a financial planner next.
Barb: You are right naturally.
Allie: Yes.
Maggie: So I'm sure you're like, yes, math comes to me. I'm gonna be a yoga instructor. So what sparked this shift for you? That's such a major change and so let's start there.
Allie: Yeah. I know. It can throw people off sometimes. It's funny because growing up I was highly academic, total math nerd, really excelled in math to the point where I learned I could test out of it in college depending on I majored in and I did.
And so, I think it was a lack of understanding of how to use those skills and having adults see different opportunities within my skills. But I'm also a highly creative person as well as being highly analytical, and so I kind of spent the first 18 years of my life in the analytical side and the next 15, 20 years of my life going into theater. I think what brought me back around to the place of being in finance was as an artist, felt like I couldn't care about money. I was so focused on the work and on the passion, and there's a lot of particular money stories and shame and limiting beliefs that artists can carry around money.
And I had them too, totally subconsciously. The big. Shifting point that made me reevaluate what was and wasn't working in my life. So much of it I realized after some deep root cause analysis could be traced back to a lack of prioritizing my own financial stability. The realization then was financial stability isn't just about security and it's not selling out to care about having financial stability, that sense of safety and security is the thing that underlies creativity, freedom, choice, risk taking, and the things that I really love. I ended up looking to make a career change and solve that problem. And finance actually found me after some tough COVID days of job seeking with a very unique background.
My network actually as it's shown up for me my whole life. Someone in my network who knew me pretty well, worked for a large prestigious insurance company and saw an alignment for me. And I was pretty skeptical at first having lived in the kind of the counterculture for so long.
But really when it came down to it, I realized there was a lot of alignment. An opportunity in the financial sector that made sense with my background. I've been a social justice facilitator and activist my whole career, and so I saw a lot of opportunity to continue to serve people who are underserved, make an impact, which is what drives me as an artist and stay an educator.
I've been an educator my whole life and I'm just so passionate about using accessible education to empower people. And so I'm like, actually that all works when I look at this new industry and I can stay a business owner.
So, after my first year, I actually won the Rookie of the Year award for the state of Colorado
Barb: That's awesome. That's awesome.
Allie: Just was like, maybe there's something here worth pursuing. I'm enjoying it. Yeah, I just kept learning and growing and pushing through the system toward independence and autonomy.
And now today I have my own 100% fully independent myself owned firm, and kind of brought it full circle in that I love working with- women entrepreneurs, creatives, who are also driven by impact and recognize that money can be a really powerful tool for change. So kinda a crazy journey.
Barb: I love it. I love it because you would think polar opposite, one from the other. What's interesting is the fact that you were so math oriented that you decided to go into the creative space. That's interesting too.
Maggie: I think those money stories that so many artists get, so many creatives get of, why are you gonna go to school for that? You're gonna make no money. You're gonna be the starving artist. Or do you want finances or do you want art, and follow your passion.
It's never both. And so just through movies and media, I've never been like the creative one, so that's never been my route. And so it's not like, someone's telling me don't do that, but I know so many people who I'm always impressed that they keep following the art because so many people pull them down along the way and say, that's never gonna happen.
And somehow it's just gonna be big. And I think those money stories are really hard to overcome. And I'm glad that you were able to do that and see that and then can help those creatives moving forward.
Allie: Yeah, I see a real opportunity in the business, but also kind of in my passion outside of the business to be this bridge that speaks both languages. I've lived in the starving artist and I lived in those shoes for 15 years and I understand it. I speak the language, they're my people.
And I have the capacity to understand highly analytical concepts and jargon. And so I just think there's a real opportunity, not just for creatives, women, highly sensitive people, neuros, spicy people. How do we break down these concepts that are made so impossible to understand and attain. Like I think I subconsciously just wrote off seeking out financial advice 'cause it just didn't seem like it was for me. And it's a shame because someone would've told me what a Roth IRA was. When I was in my twenties, I had good savings habits like I was good with my money 'cause I had very little of it.
So I had to be really mindful of it. And I had really good savings habits when I was able to put money away. And I just didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know and didn't feel like I could ask, but it was all very subconscious. And so now I've had so many conversations with other creatives and working artists and working on a side project that really just supports that nuance of being a creative professional in a society that often undervalues our work.
And the very tricky balance of what happens when you monetize the thing that you love. Again, that's not a conversation that's really at the forefront of like people going into the arts as a career. And what happens is that like hardship, joy can really get buried. And so I think it's just important to be able to support our creatives.
I think they're such a critical foundation of our society and of our culture. And if they're not getting the support they need to keep doing the things that they're doing, which includes financial literacy and education and all of that guidance, then I see that as a larger societal issue.
Barb: You know when you say, I just didn't think that was for me. It's just so telling for so many women because we don't see financial services or the products or what we see on television standing by the ticker, us, right? We don't think it's for us. I felt that same way. I remember saying to somebody, well, who's that product for?
And they're like, for anybody like you or me? And I'm like, oh, for me, I had no idea that was a product for me. Because none of those products ever spoke to women. They weren't marketed to women. They didn't share with women how that can help advance their investing and things like that. So, it's so wonderful to have you and other financial professionals, like in our membership, who are providing all this amazing financial literacy.
That's for everybody. Everybody needs to know it. It's a life skill. So do you work with a lot of creative entrepreneurs, as your clients now, and being in that same space? What's different or unique about sharing finances and investing with them?
Allie: Yeah, I work with, I'd say creative and service-based entrepreneurs primarily. I have another kind of a quarter of my client base are like tech executives. I think the commonality is the impact piece, everyone wants to be intentional with their money. They care about how things feel, including the relationship with their advisor.
I spend a lot of time honoring the emotional side and the tactical side of financial planning. And so people who work with me are drawn to that. They're drawn to the fact that I do more than just deliver a paper plan and say, good luck. Call me in a year.
But the fact that I'm really showing up like as a partner, as a coach.
And so I think that is one of the things like the creatives and entrepreneurs, let's be real. There's so many commonalities between those two camps of people. It is that like they can be more highly sensitive. I'm a highly sensitive person myself, and so I think, again, money is so emotional for the consumer, I'd say mostly emotional.
It's my job to, compartmentalize that emotion and be able to have that objective and neutral eye looking at things. But I think where there's a gap in traditional advising approaches is that there's no seat for emotions at the table.
And if someone's not able to receive that advice because of their emotional state, the plan falls flat, it doesn't get implemented. And then how are you making progress? It's not that we want our emotions to be deriving our choices, but I think they need a seat at the table so that they have space to be heard.
So in that way we can just like come back to a more regulated and centered place in our brains and in our bodies, so that we can then start to actually receive the information, learn and process, and then feel empowered and excited to take action. So I think that emotional piece is something different with some of my clients that, again, I think everyone has emotional relationships with money.
I think some of my clients are maybe just a little bit more aware of it and have a higher value on an advisor who's able to hold space for that side of it as well. From a tactical approach, creatives, self-employed people, entrepreneurs, right? Their income is irregular, that was another thing, right?
I never had a steady paycheck, like in my life. I had one year, and it was while I was in finance, as I was like a paraplanner at a firm. So I was like 35 by the time I had my first JOB,
and I hated it. And so I never knew how much I was gonna make that week or that year. Everything was just like as we went.
And so again, you hear financial advice and they're like, well, just take your paycheck and then do the backwards math based on how much you earn. And it's like, well, I already can't do that 'cause I don't know what my paycheck is gonna be. So again, I think a lot of people like opt out and it's like, it's not for me.
I'll be real. Everyone loves a reason not to work on their finances.
Barb: Yeah, for sure.
Allie: Yes. So I think with that I've been studying and facilitating trauma-informed care for about a decade now, and so much of that is about creating safety and then helping people find their ability to choose again. And so I think when we're dealing with fluctuating income, it's easy to outsource the power.
'I don't know and so I can't plan'. So the way that I like to work with it is reverse engineering so that it puts the client in the place of the driver's seat. And so really it's about reverse engineering. It's figuring out what do you need? What are your expenses? What is the cost of the lifestyle that you want to have?
Sometimes we can start off with like, what's basic, what's comfortable, what's ultimate? You can kind of have your own tiered goal approach, but figure out what you need. Start with your own personal and if you're a business owner, business expenses, and understand what your monthly number has to be. And then that helps you understand what you need to make. Then once you understand how much you need to make in order to support your lifestyle and your business, then you have a clear goal for the business and then you can start reverse engineering on the business side of things. How am I going to get to that number?
So once you know that cashflow baseline. I then encourage people to just have that top line number in mind, and then look at where their income is and identify either their gap or their overflow. And again, if there's a gap, then you look at the business and you start to get strategic on how to fill that gap.
But once you then start to like you're getting paid, whether it's regularly irregularly. You have, a primary spending account, a holding account, that then you always know, if it's below my baseline, I'm gonna take from what I like to call an overflow account, where, you know, anytime I have more than my baseline needs, I'm gonna shave off the excess, put it in the overflow so that on the months.
Where I'm short of my baseline need, I'll just take how much I need to fill the difference to get back to that top line number. So let's say I need $5,000 a month. I have a month where I make 10, amazing. I'm gonna stick five in the overflow, and then next month I only make 3,500. So I'm gonna take 1500 out just to get back to that baseline.
And so then you always have that kind of running overflow account. I recommend you keep it separate so that you can see those numbers really clearly. And then I also recommend always shaving off maybe 20, 25% for taxes right away, anytime you get paid, so that you can stay on top of your quarterly taxes.
You always have that money available, you're avoiding late payment penalties, if you're not paying the quarterlies. And then lastly, when it comes to saving and investing beyond kind of having your basic needs met, using a percentage based strategy, right? Determine, do I wanna be putting 5% into my savings, 10% into my investments, whatever the number is, then that percentage can be flexible as your income changes. And I'd say, look at that on maybe a quarterly basis or every six month basis so you're not having to have whiplash every month or every couple weeks, but maybe look at like every quarter I'm gonna look at my revenue and stick 5% into my investments.
So creating some sort of regularity. And again, it's just those little things that. You are directing your money, you are directing the choices rather than that, I don't know. So I'm just gonna see and hope that it all works out and ultimately that's like a disempowered stance and it's not actually gonna help you move forward.
So determine what you need and then figure out how to get there.
Barb: I love that it's, it is kind of backing into it a little bit and setting yourself up in a way that you can live within the ebb and flow of the income of your creative work. So that's fantastic. Yeah, because not all of us get the regular nine to five income, right? We have to make sure that we are accounting for the ebb and flow, like you say, with creatives. And what about retirement for creatives? When you're talking to people who are creative, are they thinking long term in terms of how to save for retirement?
Maggie: I was thinking so much of that is already taken out of your paycheck, so there's some of these added expenses that you have to also back into, like you said, the tax, but also those retirement accounts, since you don't always get that match or the insurance and those different things that also come with that JOB.
Allie: Yes, I know the benefits. Having one year of benefits at the JOB. But again, so many creatives don't have those benefits and they don't have the confidence or the sense of belonging to figure out like what are their options? It just kind of felt like there just weren't
options. And there's even a lot of room for the unions for our artists to offer more comprehensive and year-round support. Like I know for the Actors' Equity Union, you can only participate in your 401k while you are in a show, like when you're under contract. And so it's like, that's tough to work around.
So, are they thinking about it? Typically not. And I think that's kind of the hard place to fill because oftentimes when you don't know where your next paycheck is coming from, if you are really living in that gig life and you're not at a place where you're cash flowing with a little more abundance, it's so hard to plan for 20, 30, 40 years down the road when tomorrow feels so uncertain.
And so I just wanna like honor that 'cause I spent the majority of my life in that place. I just was like, how am I even supposed to, that's kind of where that understanding of what's happening in our brains, in our nervous systems, goes a long way to just understand what's happening in that it's normal and it's also not the end of the world.
One of my favorite comedians loves to say, if it's mentionable, it's manageable. Like just starting to talk about these things that are hard helps you realize, like, I've had this conversation with so many creatives so many times now it's like everyone feels
the same way. So what can we do about it? There are some great options for self-employed and business owners to set up retirement accounts. A solo 401k, you can open up a 401k, that's just for you. And then you can contribute as a business owner, as the employer and the employee.
So you are contributing as an employee but then your business also then can provide that match. It's all coming from you, if it's just you, but your business gets a tax benefit. You are getting tax benefits from using an account like that. So it's still kind of a way to get the match.
And then a SEP IRA is a common retirement account that I like to point people toward that again, it's tax deferred and tax advantaged, high contribution limits that you can really start gaining putting those investments in, getting them start to compound. Even Roth IRAs, they have a lot lower of a contribution limit, but it's a great account and you could have a SEP IRA and a Roth IRA potentially if that makes sense for you.
Just spreading things out and just starting as soon as possible. There's a lot of, I think more and more, and I believe the industry will keep going this way with tools and technologies that empower the individual investor to get started on their own without someone like me. And I think that's great.
Vanguard, fidelity, betterment, there's tons, even Charles Schwab. So there's a lot of ways to get started. You don't need to have a lot of money to get started. It's just get started as soon as you can. And then ideally, those retirement accounts are for retirement, right? They're not for the rainy day, they're not emergency money.
So looking at retirement, but also making sure that your cash flow is stable enough first too. You don't wanna be putting money in an investment fund if you don't have a little bit of cash for a rainy day in case something happens. Otherwise the investments just won't work the way that they're intended to.
Make sure your cash and your emergency savings are at a place that makes you feel comfortable, and then start to put that excess away in those retirement accounts.
Maggie: All really good tips. not A lot to manage, you gotta set it up, get it straight, and then you're usually pretty good to set it and get it on automations, right, and just continue making those small, consistent deposits.
Allie: Yeah. Yeah, consistency is key. It's a really great strategy. I like that you said, set it and forget it, get it automated. I love automating and I try and get my clients to automate as much as we can in everything. That being said, I think I'm enjoying kind of challenging this idea where a lot of people think financial freedom is like, I never wanna have to think about money.
Like that's my idea of financial freedom. And I'm like, I don't think that's real. I don't think that's possible, and I don't think that's necessarily a healthy strategy because I like to ask my clients to personify their relationship with money and if money were a person and you were in a relationship with it, describe it. It's a fun question to think about.
And then you kind of get an idea of your current state, but then you think about what is that ideal relationship? And honestly, if we think about ideal relationships with real people, it's usually not like. We had a great first year, and then I never have to see you again. And that's perfect.
That's typically not how we describe our most valuable relationships. And so I think I wanna encourage people to think about like, yeah, you don't wanna have to be stressing about money every day, but especially when doing it on your own, you do wanna still have at least, I'd say minimum an annual check-in.
Cause you still wanna like. Rebalance. There's things you wanna just make sure you're taking care of it, right? Offer it an amount of care so that you're not ignoring it. But I'm just starting to like speak up a little bit more about encouraging people where it's like, don't ignore your money.
That's not necessarily the ideal place to get to a place where you're comfortable checking in and it's not a bother and it's okay to think about it 'cause it's working for you. And that's exciting.
Maggie: We just don't have to remember. It's the 10th, so it's due today.
We can check it on our own time.
Allie: Absolutely. Yeah. Make it work for you again, like keep yourself in that seat of control. You're driving the bus.
Barb: Yeah, it seems like, when people feel out of control or it's not for me, things like that. Once you work with someone like you, Allie, a really good financial professional who's kind of been in your shoes before, especially with the creative environment and the flexibility and not having a standard paycheck, but really putting a process in place, I think there's a lot of relief knowing
I understand how I can put a process in place that can work for me. And it takes, baby steps, right? But you just have to keep going. And then finally you're on this path, this trajectory that's like, Hey, this is working for me and now I like to go look at my money instead of, I hate to go look at my money, right?
Allie: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Positive reinforcement. And I think that's critical. Like you said, the baby steps, we gotta start small, we gotta start actionable, and understand that we're not gonna get it all done in a day. And that's okay. It's a process and your life is gonna change and that's gonna change the plan a little bit.
And so, entering into it with an understanding that my meetings with my clients are called progress meetings because It's about making progress. Are we just taking those steps that are furthering us along the path, toward reaching our goals, toward living in alignment with our values, toward having our money, be reflective and supportive of the things that matter to us.
There will probably never be a day where we can fully check off the list and be like, we're done, because life changes all the time. We gotta stay flexible and resilient and just present to it. So for me and my clients, it's just about continuing to take those small, actionable steps forward.
And then to your point, Barb, reinforces the confidence. It reinforces the empowerment. It feels good, and then you wanna keep doing more of that. So a lot of that behavioral science and just helping people overcome that fear and anxiety of taking action.
Because ultimately taking action is the thing that makes 'em feel better and makes more progress.
Maggie: Yeah.
All good stuff. And so I know you use this values-based approach to financial planning. And I feel like we've touched on this a little bit, but can you explain really what that means and how it helps your clients align their money with the bigger life and their career goals?
Allie: Yeah. I think this really comes from finance not being my first career and just how I look at it, in my opinion, financial planning should be life planning. It should be, your life and what matters most to you in your life, your values, your priorities. That should be at the center of the plan.
Your money should be working so that you are living in greater alignment with your values. You are achieving your goals. Your money should be a reflection of what matters most to you. Again, that helps people like their money more because it's no longer this thing that's like this separate entity that feels scary and icky, but it's this thing that
we're creating alignment with the things that truly matter most to us. And so, from a behavioral perspective, I think that helps people get excited and emotionally connected to their financial plan, which supports action and implementation. But on a larger level, this is where the ultimate fulfillment comes from, right?
Like financial planning, it's not about money, it's about your life. And money is simply the tool that we're using, right? My job is to go in the weeds and refine that tool so that it's shaped in the uniquely perfect way to support your unique life. But you shouldn't be worried about money, you should just be understanding, like, this is a tool and it's about my life.
So with my clients we prioritize their values. That's like the first exercise we do when we start working together is clarifying what those top five values are and spending a lot of time talking about them. What do they look like? If you can't tell, I'm all about action, right? Like what do your values look like in action?
How do you embody them? But then we also have that conversation around, how does money relate to these values, if at all? And how can we start to use money so that you can live in greater alignment with your values?
Is health, is your number one value? Great. How does money fit into that? Is it freeing up cash flow to support your gym membership or alternative health that your insurance isn't gonna pay for?
How do we plan around that or giving back. I work with a lot of philanthropic and impact minded people, right? So again, how do we start to make choices so that we are directing your money towards the things that are giving you financial efficiency and growth. A sense of personal fulfillment and I love you guys are so focused on women.
What I love about working with women investors is that women are statistically more likely to give back, to put their money back into their communities. And so it's so exciting working with women who are ready to take that step and want to do that as an impact driven person myself, working with people who also wanna make an impact with their wealth, it increases my impact.
And so I just think it creates more fulfillment all around. We talk about like financial freedom, financial success, and I think when you really know what matters to you from like a personal values level. Sometimes you might even be able to realize, oh wow, I'm actually already living within my realm of fulfillment, even though the number doesn't maybe match what I thought it would be for my definition of financial freedom or success.
Like I had that moment last winter. I did a review of my own values and priorities and really distilled. What success means and looks like to me because I can still get too wrapped up in a number as my definition. It's so hard to get away from that tactical measurement. And when I did that exercise, I'm like, wow, I actually already have.
Like everything I really need. Could there always be room for more? Yes. I'm a dreamer to the max. So yeah, there's always room for more and I think when we can just distill it down to the essence of what actually matters to you, it just creates more fulfillment and reduces a lot of overwhelm and comparison analysis, decision making paralysis. Because like my clients, for example, one of them got an amazing job offer from a very big tech company, and it would've been a relocation from New Jersey to San Francisco. She calls, she's like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I got this job. We would have to move.
Should we sell our house? I don't even know. Should I take this? Like all these questions, right? Overload. The first question I asked is, will taking this job help you live in greater alignment with your values? Because, when we use our values, again, it's an empowering stance.
You know what matters to you and you know what is going to feel in alignment for you. And so it keeps you at the center of your plan rather than someone else who's using some strategy that they won't stop talking about. And then you're like, should I be doing that? Is that for me? And again, if you come back that first question, well, will it help me live in greater alignment with my values?
If the answer's no, I say, move on. Go find another strategy. There's plenty of ways to build wealth. There's no reason to compromise your values and your priorities in order to do that.
Maggie: That's good stuff and life's short. And I think there's a lot of times where it's like someone passes and then we get re-centered of like, what's important to me. And it's kind of nice to take that moment when you're not in these drastic emotions, but just on a regular Wednesday, and just seeing like, okay, does this align with who I am today?
And still getting back and grounded to that.
Allie: Spending is such an easy and immediately accessible way to start that kind of work. Thinking about where you're putting your dollars, I think people overlook spending as they overlook how powerful it is. I like to remind people, spending is what makes up our economy.
What you choose to spend on, where you choose to spend your dollars, is incredibly powerful regardless of how many dollars you have. Even just like practicing mindful spending, pausing before you spend, it's way too easy to spend money these days. Taking a pause before you purchase something or even creating a wishlist, so that you can track what's important to you and then make choices.
Ask that question, am I putting my dollars? Where it feels in alignment with my values. Do I need to be spending on this? Is it actually serving what fulfills me or not? And even that little change, like I said, that's immediately available to everyone to start thinking that way.
And it can have some really, powerful and empowering impacts.
Barb: Yeah, we always say, you vote with your dollars. Every time you hand that dollar over, you're placing your vote for what's important to you in your life. So yeah, it is very important when you think about it in that way to be really. Financially conscious. This has been amazing. You've offered so many great
informative tips and outlooks on how to best manage your money, especially as a creative or anybody that doesn't have a regular ongoing income. So I think that's so powerful. I would love to close out this session with a question that we ask everybody, and it's what is your own definition of financial freedom, Allie?
Allie: Yeah, I spent some time thinking about this question and the word that came up for me a lot of it came down to financial freedom. I'm a physical person and so in my body I feel things, and when I think about financial freedom and the times I've been in a place where I've felt financially free, it creates a sense of space in my body, which, just from like a stress level it feels more open.
I think financial stress creates that feeling of constriction, right? It's so constricting and overwhelming, and from that place, like your perspective gets narrowed, your mind gets narrow, you can't think, you're ruminating. It's just like you're so pinpointed, and so I think financial freedom really creates a sense of space in my body and my mind, right? It amplifies my ability to dream to the max. It amplifies my visionary power, and then it reduces the gap between those dreams and taking action, right? When there is space, there's more freedom of movement. And so I think within that space comes more ease, swiftness and that.
I think underneath it all, that foundation, that sense of choice, like I'm all about choice. It's everything. And when we have that sense of choice, I think that's when we feel free. And so making the choices that then align with you and, work for you and just having that sense of confidence, belonging, participation, yeah that's the financial freedom. It's about that feeling and then what that feeling allows you to do.
Maggie: I like that. I was like thinking about it in my body and feeling like I need a stretch,
but I totally get what you mean. So it's fun always to hear everyone's answers and get those different perspectives. So thank you, Allie, for coming on today. We're gonna make sure we have all your links to your socials and your websites and the show notes so people can reach out and connect with you and just continue the conversation.
So thank you for coming on and we'll talk to everyone again soon.
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