The Get Ready Money Podcast
The Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Steuer features insightful conversations with thought leaders who are transforming how we think about money.
Each episode provides actionable tips and meaningful insights to help you ask the right questions, improve your financial conversations, and take control of your financial future. Whether you’re a financial professional or simply looking to strengthen your financial foundation, this podcast will leave you empowered and prepared.
“The litmus test for a terrific podcast has to be that you found yourself wishing you were ‘in the room’ for the conversation you're listening to, so you could participate. I had that feeling when Tony Steuer, CLU, LA, CPFFE and Bobbi Rebell Kaufman, CFP® were discussing the importance of understanding who you are taking financial advice from, and how much further in life just a little more intention can get you. Worth a listen!” – Karen Holland
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The Get Ready Money Podcast
Discover How Everyone Can Attain Financial Freedom!
On this episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Prisca Benson, Founder and CEO of Our Green Life about changing the way we think about money and how we can all achieve financial freedom.
In this episode we discussed:
- Be intentional with your money - and set your limits.
- Financial success is achievable for everyone, we can all get there.
- Health and wealth go together.
- Why you need to change your money story.
- Results come from taking action.
- Budgeting is the foundation of financial freedom.
Connect with Prisca Benson:
Freebie:
- 3 Steps to Financial Freedom Guide (here)
Resources mentioned:
Bio:
Prisca Benson, RN is the CEO & Founder of Our Green Life. Prisca is a passionate money coach and nurse dedicated to empowering professional women to achieve financial freedom. As a first-generation Haitian-American, she understands the value of perseverance and hard work. Prisca's journey began with a desire to do more with her money, leading her to increase her net worth from $40K to $340K in just 6 years through effective money management.
She serves as a money coach because she believes in making financial concepts simple and accessible, helping her clients create customized plans that balance enjoying life now with securing their financial future. Prisca’s clients achieve remarkable results, from eliminating debt to growing their savings and investments, all while maintaining a fulfilling lifestyle.
The Get Ready Money Podcast and its guests do not provide investment advice. All content is for educational purposes. Guest opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Get Ready Money Podcast and Tony Steuer.
Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Catch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work, Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast, changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Prisca Benson. Prisca is a nurse as well as the CEO and founder of Our Green Life.
Speaker 3:In this episode, we'll be discussing Prisca's insights on how we change the way we think about money and our money story.
Speaker 2:Prisca welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me, tony, yeah, excited for this conversation. So, to start out, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your origin story?
Speaker 3:So I graduated from nursing school in 2011. And it was a great time because I made more money than both my parents combined and I thought that was a solution to my money problems. And in terms of money problems, you know, growing up first generation Haitian American, like my parents didn't have a lot of money. It was always like we can't afford this, we can't afford this, but they did do the best of what they had. So this was like new for me, right To have access to all these funds now. And so what I did with those funds was I bought a car, a brand new car and then, when I got it for me, when I went for maintenance a few months later, I replaced it with another one because I was like, oh, I like the car that they gave me, that they loaned me, and then I also ran up all my credit cards. I was doing that in college anyway, but it didn't get better after I started making income, because that's just the way I got accustomed to living is just keeping just enough money on my cards to spend on it and then pay it down again. Enough money on my cards to spend on it and then pay it down again. And then even like with my first 401k 403b actually in healthcare when I left that job I just cashed it out. I was like, what use is this? Like it wasn't that much. I was like, whatever, now I know the difference right.
Speaker 3:But in all that time I wasn't like necessarily stressed out about money, I was just nicely oblivious, nice and ignorant about it and it was just kind of the norm, because that's how a lot of people around me lived is, you know, with debt, like that was just the norm. And I got married two years later and my husband didn't have debt and I saw what he could do with his money. I was like, huh, what a concept, like a different way of doing things, like being able to actually save some dollars. So I, we started living a little bit more intentionally. We started talking about like, kind of like how we want to spend money, kind of like having our own money principles as a couple. And then still, though, after time I would say like five years later, I'm like, eh, you know, like I still don't feel like my net worth looks like what people would imagine. When they think of a Northeast nurse, people always assume you're rich. I'm like my bank account nothing shows that I'm rich.
Speaker 3:So I started listening to personal finance podcasts to kind of get the missing piece, and I started learning more about investing intentionally not just doing the bare minimum or doing it willy nilly. How to do it intentionally be more mindful in terms of optimizing my dollars today. And then that led from my investment accounts being worth about $40,000 in 2018 to $378,000 today, and it's just a market difference just having that knowledge and applying it. So that's why I became a money coach, because in my journey, I realized that I wasn't the only person that didn't know this.
Speaker 3:Like I was looking all around and people were making like what seemed to me now like minute things, like how do you not know this? Because I know it now it's like it's like, oh, and so I'm like okay, people need to, people need to be like create. We need to create a plan for people to help them realize that this is not so challenging. This is not so difficult, you know, like I know everybody's situation is not the same, but for most people, like, taking control of your money is the most freeing and peaceful thing you can do for yourself.
Speaker 2:And that's my spiel. Well, I love it. And you know, there's a couple of things that you know would be great to talk about. I mean, one is your journey, you know, as a higher income earner than your parents is, because some of us do have the privilege of growing up where our parents have had a comfortable life. But you know, I mean, what was it like for you? Do you think that was part of? Maybe not an obstacle, that's not the right word, but a challenge for you is being the that was part of? Maybe not an obstacle, that's not the right word, but a challenge for you is being the first one to win yes, because I people didn't have the knowledge that I have now in order to teach me to do it right.
Speaker 3:So, more or less even though of course they like, the way an immigrant, when they come to this country, has to manage money is completely different than someone who lives here and grew up here, and so they know how to hustle, they know how to do these things, but I didn't need to hustle Right, so like I know how to, I can work three jobs Like I've learned how to do that with my upbringing, but I don't need to. I need to manage what I have, and so like that's a completely different mindset to like learn and you have to do it on your own, because that's just not how they did it. You know there's. You just have to go find the people who do it and like learn from them.
Speaker 2:So I have a question for you and I've had it on other first generation or second generation people on the show is is there a cultural struggle, or something that people need to say to themselves is like hey, it's okay for me to look at this differently than my parents, because there is a tension there sometimes.
Speaker 3:It can. Fortunately, I've always been a little rebellious, so it didn't affect me as much as I think it would for a lot of people. So it didn't affect me as much as I think it would for a lot of people. When you have more, people expect you to do more, but you will never have more if you keep doing the more you know. So there was a lot of like people like no, I'm not going to do that, that's not how I'm going to spend my money. You know, that is a.
Speaker 3:It's challenging at first, the guilt from being someone who now has these, the capacity that you technically could do more, but it would be to your detriment long term financially. You know like you will never get ahead. Do all the things and that doesn't mean you don't want to be generous, but it's being intentional. So like I think about now that I'm this far ahead in life and I'm like I could take my mom out to dinner, like at whatever restaurant she wants, without thinking too much about it, because I've made those no choices before, you know, and I can. But in the moment when it's happening to you back, then you know it's like, it feels like the worst feeling ever.
Speaker 3:And some families, like I said, because one I was I am a little bit more rebellious and people don't really like my family was just like, okay, she's doing her. Between that and also the fact that my family just they eventually started to respect the limits. But some people don't have family that let up the limits, but some people don't have family that let up. So it's important for you to establish that for yourself and, like you know, put yourself to the back burner. Go to therapy if you have to, but put down the back, put whatever their feelings are on the back burner, cause you're. You have to protect yourself before you could help anyone else.
Speaker 2:I love that. Take care of yourself, and I think what you're saying there is, setting your limits is super important because it's easy to get run over, but it comes back to so much more than financial, because nothing you said to me was like, well, you have to set aside 5% of your income for your family or anything like that. It's about dealing with these feelings and the emotions. You mentioned guilt, and I think that's oftentimes something that happens is I had on another guest who you know he was in the NFL and he was talking about how people you know the rookies get these huge contracts but they blow through them really quickly because they feel like they have to do all these things for their extended family, and so it's like you know that's something he talks about that he's a CFP now and he helps them, you know, set their limits, for you know you're going to save most of your salary.
Speaker 2:Well, one, because an average NFL career is like a couple of years. Well, one, because an average NFL career is like a couple of years, but like for the same thing. I want to come back to one other thing you said, because I think it's super important about you and your husband developing money principles as a couple and I think people oftentimes you know money is like one of the leading causes of divorce is that they don't talk to their partner about money. How do you feel that benefited you and your husband as a couple having those money conversations?
Speaker 3:Well, for one, we were doing stuff like.
Speaker 3:Now I feel like people are more conscious in general about money, but at the time it was uncool to do some of the things that people are doing today, like, for example, the biggest thing that sticks out to me and I'm like I still like it's so, like still feel like a little scar from it is when people would be like why, why don't you have cable?
Speaker 3:Like, why, like we would just, first of all, I'm like we don't watch enough TV to pay for cable and we have streaming services. So this before cable cutting was cool. So us having a shared vision in that regard about how we're going to spend our money meant it was kind of felt like us versus the world for a bit, and it's easier to do it together than for us to be battling one another as to what is acceptable to us or not, and so I think that lays just a great foundation so that even when things change and things have changed financially between us over the years we can still talk about it. You know, we can still make a plan together about it, we can still address it together, versus it being a point of animosity all the time.
Speaker 2:That's cool and I think that's so important is because it just grows that animosity if you don't deal with it. And it's it's part of being a couple and being being a family, so it's so important to have that conversation. So you know, tell us a little bit about you, know what you're doing, what is Our Green Life? You know, you and I did a bundle together which was super cool.
Speaker 3:Yes, so Our Green Life was actually predicated on the idea that, first of all, our is meant to be inclusive, meaning I don't believe that this is out of reach for anyone. I know everybody's journey is different, but you know our way of getting there is going to be different, but we could all get there. Green is because, you know, green is associated with wealth, but also with health, and then life is just that. This is, you know, our way of living, right? And so initially, this started out as a personal finance and health blog, because I felt like, and I still believe, that health and wealth run very closely together. And also I had friends who, like I, was geeking out over the money stuff, all the stuff I was learning, but they could not care less.
Speaker 3:So, in kind of like JL Collins mindset, I created the blog so that, when they were ready, like it would be there, that information I was learning would be there, instead of me having to like start from scratch with them.
Speaker 3:So that's how our green life began. And then, over time, I just started focusing more on the money aspect, because I feel like it just it's a great through line to like one, even when it comes to health, like I feel like people feel like a lot of that is out of reach because healthcare in America is fascinating, but I'm like there are a lot of ways to save money on healthcare so that you don't have to worry about big mando bills all the time. So how to access healthcare when you don't have a job or when you don't have the funds, like those are the kind of things I like to address on my blog when it's when it was when I was posting stuff about like breast cancer, but also also how to make a budget, how to save on car insurance, like all the things that I was learning I really wanted to just put out there for people to have access to.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, you know, and sharing it is so important because I think you know there's such a fragmented information system right now where people are getting things, so you know the more ways of doing it and you have a unique perspective that resonates with people. And so I would say to other people too I've had guests from very diverse backgrounds on is that you can find somebody who resonates with you, who writes, in a way, about money. You know, who may speak your language, so to speak. So I don't know if that's the most elegant way to say it, but I hope you know where I'm going with that.
Speaker 2:So one of the things you talk about is changing our money story. Why do you feel it's important to change our money story?
Speaker 3:I think the most critical barrier that most people reach is them telling themselves that they can't do something. And that could be for all sorts of reasons, whether it's because of your background. Maybe someone's told you you can't do something. Maybe you haven't seen other people do the thing and that makes you feel like you can't do it. Or maybe you're just scared. You could be scared and that makes you feel like, no, I can't do this thing. But in taking action, that's where the results come from. You don't want to just know you should be budgeting. You don't want to just know you want to pay down debt. It's like how, what do I do to get there Right? Realistically and I'm not a proponent of doing things in a way that feels begrudging I'm very big on helping my clients find a path to their goal that fits them, that feels good for them, so that when they do implement their budget, they feel good about it. Even one of my clients said she enjoys paying her bills.
Speaker 3:I was like get out of town. She's like, once it's done, she knows it's finished and she knows how much she has left to do the rest of her stuff and it's amazing. So get out of your own way when it comes to money If you feel like financial freedom is not achievable for you. Ever. You will never achieve financial freedom.
Speaker 2:I love that, and I just want to reiterate that it is achievable for everyone. It may look different for all of us, but I think that actually is what it's about, is that it is going to be different. Now, one of the things you talk about is that budgeting is the foundation. Why do you consider budgeting the foundation of financial freedom?
Speaker 3:why do you consider budgeting the foundation of financial freedom? So people have different feelings when it comes to what a budget is. But the fact of the matter is, a budget looks at what's coming in and what's coming out. Whether you have it or not, it exists, okay. Whether you respect it or implement it or not, it exists. There is a limit to how much you're bringing in, right, whatever the number is. That's coming in is a hard number and whatever's coming out is a hard number. The budget is just telling you what they are.
Speaker 3:And so for the people who don't I don't necessarily prescribe to like budgeting, like, okay, well, for groceries, it's this, for the toilet tissue, I want this. You know, that's not really my way of budgeting and I'm I'm not saying that to mock anyone. If people do want to be that particular, great Um. But for me, I'm more believe like we just need to know the core numbers, right, when you first start out. You do need to know line item by line item, cause we need to know what categories all these stuff are in, because everybody thinks that they they're hard up, there's not enough money to do the things. And then I look at their stuff and there's always money to do the things. It's because we're doing things mindlessly. So the budget helps us set intentions and then we go from there.
Speaker 3:So what I like to do with my clients is like, create space in their budget, like, okay, this is going to go towards saving, this is going to go towards investing, this is going to go towards spending, and the spending is on whatever you want. Okay. And then maybe you have something for housing. You can break it down whatever ways make sense for you. My budget personally has like four categories. I have a client whose budget is eight categories. Like it's whatever works for you, but without a system right that you could implement over and over again. And this is how I feel like.
Speaker 3:To me, it's like instrumental is creating a system that you can apply over and over and over and over again. And when you could do that, that's when you see growth and that's when you see progress. And then you know when we talk about in the financial independence space, it's like, oh, the first hundred K is the hardest. I'm like, okay, when I went past pat once, I started going past that kind of like for like I stopped even thinking so much about money because I'm like, oh, it's just happening in the background and you look again and it's like whoa, you're almost at 400k. It's like whoa, like when that happened. That's systems, baby, like that's it. You just keep doing the things that have been working and that's that, and you adjust accordingly across life changes.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, and I think that's true of anything, because you've made it a habit. Once it's a system, you're repeating it, and it's always easier to repeat something than to do it the first time. And I love how you're reframing budgets, because budgets are a scary word that a lot of people don't want to talk about and I think that there's lots of different ways to know it. But it's like you say it's your resources and you have to know.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think too, in the past, I don't want to say in the past, I guess, depending on who you listen to, personal finance wise there's still some negative feelings that come with budgeting. So like this, like there's some creators, it's like you can't afford this thing.
Speaker 3:It's like that's not how I function, you know, like maybe I can't, maybe we can see about. First of all, let's actually look to see if we can afford the thing. It may mean sacrificing something else, right but that doesn't mean you necessarily can't afford it. We have to look at your plan and see if this fits your plan. If you can't afford it today, does this really matter to you? If so, let's make a plan to do it. That's what your budget will help you to do. But the whole grr of like you know you can't afford this, you shouldn't do this is, I think, part of what makes people averse to budgeting, and so much so that even some amazing creators like they'll call it something different, like a spending plan. It's a budget. Like there's a limit to how much you could spend because there's a certain number that came in. So what are we going to do with what came in? That's what a budget means.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I like that and I love especially. You said you can do some of these things. You don't have to deprive yourself. You know you may have to make choices and trade-offs. Doesn't mean you can afford everything, but doesn't mean you know you have to give up your daily coffee. That's okay, you know, that's awesome. So before we jump in, I had one other question. You know, because we've talked a lot about confidence is how can people gain confidence with their money? Is because you know, I completely agree with you.
Speaker 3:These results are achievable for everyone. But how does somebody gain that confidence to say, hey, this is me too. I think there's two things. One is to either just do the things right You're listening to this podcast Hopefully, you've made some changes already that are conducive to what you're trying to accomplish Maybe there's other content you're listening to too or reading that do the things.
Speaker 3:There's nothing more confidence raising than seeing you accomplish the things you said you're going to accomplish. But by sitting on the sidelines you'll never achieve that feeling. So that would be the first thing I think is number one. And then number two is you could borrow confidence from other people, right? So that is from maybe getting a money coach, maybe that's from even watching other people share their money wins and you're like, wow, look at what they were able to accomplish. I could accomplish it too. So I think those are the two main ways to get that confidence is to first just do the thing. That's the most effective. But if you need more support, there are plenty of people out there willing that's awesome, and you know.
Speaker 2:And confidence comes with repetition and having success and, like you said, building a system is. It sounds like you also become more confident as things are running in the background and you see that your system is working and everything. So that's awesome. So you know, we'll switch into the get ready questions now. These are questions I ask all my guests in a little more rapid fire. The first question is what basic money concept do you wish people knew?
Speaker 3:do you wish people knew? Ooh, okay, Basic money concept that I wish people knew is that a budget is fundamental. Okay, it is not a choice Whether or not you like we mentioned before whether or not you how granular you want to get with it on a day-to-day. That's up to you. But you need to have some kind of plan of like hey, this is how much I'm allowed to spend, this is how much I need to save, and that's that, it's not an option.
Speaker 2:I love that, but I think what you said the qualifier is super important for people is that it doesn't necessarily need to be a granular budget, and I know you talked about that earlier and I think that's something I just want to emphasize. For people is keep it wide, keep you know to your degree of comfort.
Speaker 3:You don't have to be an accountant track every penny yes, and I actually even want to add that one of my clients, her income, like she, gets paid weekly. All her expenses fit under one week of income. So I'm like you don't need a budget, just don't spend more than one paycheck a month.
Speaker 2:That's an easy rule. Yeah, yeah, and that's it. That's an easy rule. We can all you know remember in that time when we're away from the house, cause I think the other thing too is people get caught up with. Is you know? They're all you know. Can I go out to dinner tonight? I can't remember what is my budget for meals this month. Have I gone over my budget for dining out this month, instead of just kind of having a general sense of how much money they can spend that month, you know? So that's awesome advice. So what is one simple thing people can do each year to set themselves up for financial success?
Speaker 3:Track how you did the last year. Are you any closer to your goals, yes or no? Because that will tell you whether or not your systems need to be changed or updated and that'll tell you whether or not, hey, I need to put more money towards this goal if I'm trying to achieve this goal by this time which every goal should have a date and a date attached to it. Like what end date?
Speaker 2:like, if you have that and you see like you're falling behind, you're falling forward, then you can make the changes or tweaks in order to achieve that that's awesome and you know, I, I think what's important is you said, well, everything was important, but you know, is see if you're making progress towards your goals and are you making the progress that you expect to be making, because that's the other thing. It's pretty easy and, as you point out, I think something that's super important is goals need to be time bound, is you know.
Speaker 3:You need to know when you want to accomplish the goal, because an open-ended goal tends to be a slippery goal and I think, too, it makes it so that people get discouraged because, like, if you never gave yourself a timeline, your whole thing is I just want to get out of debt. And then you see like, hey, you, I'm still in debt a year later, but if you were never going to be with your plan, you were never going to pay off the debt in a year. That's what's going to happen, right? Versus if you say like, hey, this debt will be paid off in a year and a half. Let's just say, when you check back in a year, you'll see that you're that much closer to it.
Speaker 3:You don't get discouraged by the fact that it's a year in and you haven't finished, because that was never the plan. The plan was to do it in a year and a half and then. So it's just a lot easier, better on the psyche, because then people like, if they don't do that, they just get discouraged. I'm not making any headway, it's not getting any better. It's like, how are you tracking this, how are you making that judgment? If you never created that goal with that tangible number, this number, this amount by this date, then it's easy to get sucked into the discouragement of it all.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. That's great advice. All right, prisca. The next question is what is one habit that people can change when it comes to their money?
Speaker 3:Make a plan for every paycheck, every single one of them. Okay, so when I have my budget set up, it's really set up in my spreadsheet for each paycheck. This is what this goes to. This is what this goes to. This is what this goes to Every single time. Don't just take and no windfall, even Like maybe you get a bonus at work, maybe your tax return Everything should have a plan set up before the thing comes. So I have a separate budget for what I call bonus money, which is when I get bonuses at work, if I get my tax refund, whatever the case may be it goes through that funnel.
Speaker 2:Have a plan for every single thing. That is awesome.
Speaker 3:Have your system so what money myth are you trying to break that you need to be making six figures in order to build riches? It is very possible. I actually was wildly impressed by this one thread that I came across on threads where this man who was making I think it was like $50,000, $60,000 a year and the amount of money he had saved up for retirement I think it was around $600,000, $700,000. This guy's working a menial job. I'm sure anybody would have looked at him and be like, nah, he can't do that, but you can. And if he could do it, then and we have the and he's I think he's of retirement age now.
Speaker 3:People my age, people who are working now not just people my age, but people who are working. Now. We have so much at our fingertips with the internet. There's a lot of capabilities to see, even if you could make more income elsewhere in your industry, so that you don't have to feel like it's so hard to save. But at the end of the day it really is you. There's a lot of actions on you. Stop looking at external factors making you not accomplish your goals. They matter, but what matters most is what you do. So it doesn't matter how much you make. That doesn't define whether or not you will achieve financial freedom.
Speaker 2:That's 100% true, and I have worked with some people who make an insane amount of money and they're still struggling with their budget. You know, it's just. It's not an indicator of anything. I mean, granted, it's nicer to have more money than less.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and it's easier if you do the things Exactly and you follow that one basic maybe we'll call it the Prisca budgeting rule spend less than you earn. That's the whole key. Right there is avoid lifestyle creep. You get more money. You don't necessarily need to buy a new house and a new car.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, Don't get me started, Tony.
Speaker 2:You guys should do a whole episode on lifestyle creep.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay. I just want to say one little thing. I mean I didn't want to, oh, okay. Like, for example, I actually I'm a big fan of Ramit Sethi, right, and you'll have people in his podcast like, oh, I'm having a kid, so I need to get a new car. Why, ask yourself why. Why Ask yourself why? Why is it that you have to have a house? If that's something you want, that's one thing, but there's some things that happen where a life change occurs, Even for myself.
Speaker 3:I graduated from college, I went straight for a new car. It just felt like the thing that was supposed to happen. It shows that I've accomplished this goal. I went through nursing school, for God's sake, okay. I freaking passed, even though it wasn't easy. There were tears, okay, and so I made it this far. Of course, I should have a car that shows everybody that I made it, but what does it really matter? Would I? Would I have mattered? Would it have mattered to me if I got in a car that was five years old and I was well-maintained? Probably not, but it didn't even occur to me, because that is what I was supposed to do and that is like a twist on the head for you to like think actually about what you're doing, versus like just doing the things you feel like you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, the perfect example for me that I always come back to is Warren Buffett. He lives in the same five bedroom house he bought in 1958. And that man can afford a bigger house in five bedrooms at this point. He can afford a country. Yeah, he can afford a bigger country. But you know, it's like you know, and that's if you've ever listened to Warren Buffett, you know. But that's what he talks about is exactly what you're saying is don't do what you think you have to do, Do what you need to do. Think about what you're doing. So that's awesome advice. So you and Warren Buffett same sentence Love it, yeah, so let's get out the time machine now. What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time, knowing what you know now about money?
Speaker 3:Okay, I want to preface this by saying I don't believe in regrets. Okay, I believe that everything's for a purpose, and had I not gone through what I've gone through, I probably wouldn't care enough to tell people about it today and show them that they could do it too. So when I made my initial actually I could even dial further back than when I first made income, I think from when the money I just had the card and it was like a flex, like for me to be able to like hey, I got the credit card and I could swipe in this. I think that would be the first, the one thing I would tell myself for sure, like be a conscious spender, and I think the rest of it I love that Well, and you mentioned that earlier with the being intentional is being conscious, being intentional.
Speaker 2:I think those things are super important. I went through my own challenges having a credit card when I was 20 years old, thinking like, oh man, this is all the money in the world oh yeah, but yeah, not so much, so it came back later.
Speaker 2:But you know I mean. But, as you point out, you can't have regrets. Those are. That is part of what makes us who we are, and everybody has things that they wish they'd done differently, both with their money and both with the rest of their life. So you know, it's all learning. What is your favorite go-to money resource that you go to, whether it's a podcast, book, newsletter, app or website that you'd recommend for someone else?
Speaker 3:so my favorite right now is ramit sethies podcast, um, okay, I think now it's called love and money or something of the sort, but it was initially I will teach to Be Rich. But now he has a new book out, so he's, you know, going in that direction. I just love, in general, his approach to money, where it's about enjoying it okay while building that dream future, and that's very much in alignment with what I believe. Um, his like I think for beginners at least for me, her money by Dean Chatzky was on the money.
Speaker 3:I think that you know, this is a space personal finance that is dominated by men in general. No offense, tony, women, like encouraging other women to do more than just take care of the house, to do more than just um like, let the man take care of the money, I don't need to know. Like, no, like we live longer. Um divorces happen and you got kids. These are all reasons, hey, to be in the forefront of your money. So I thoroughly enjoy her podcast. Um, like it was essential in the beginning of your money, so I thoroughly enjoy her podcast. Like it was essential in the beginning of my money journey. So Rumi Sethi is what I listen to mostly now, but Jean Chatzky was the beginning of it all for me, so shout out to her if she ever listens to this.
Speaker 2:Well, that's cool. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can count her as a listener, but I do subscribe to her newsletter and I love her weekly newsletter.
Speaker 3:I love it too.
Speaker 2:So it's a great newsletter, but I think you point out something that I think we should go back and emphasize and people have heard this on the podcast before is most women are going to end up in charge of their financial household.
Speaker 2:They're either going to outlive their husband, they're going to end up, you know, divorced you know what I mean Unfortunately, our country has a really high level of divorces but most likely outliving your husband. So if you're a woman, it's this is really important for you to start to understand about your money, why you have the opportunity to have these conversations and to learn, and for the male advisors who are listening to this, why you have the opportunity to have these conversations and to learn, and for the male advisors who are listening to this and you keep wondering why you're losing female clients. This is why Is you need to talk to your female clients and the spouses of your clients as well. So, enough said. People who've listened and watched have heard me say this before, and I'm glad that you reinforced that point, prisca, thank you. So, to wrap up, what is your number one tip on changing the way we think about money?
Speaker 3:Don't be a Debbie Downer. This is too many of it. Like everybody, one of the things you'll see a lot if you pay attention on social media is someone will say I accomplished this thing. It's like, well, I can't do that, you never will. Okay, you can keep saying it.
Speaker 3:If you keep saying it, that's exactly what's going to happen, even if you feel like you can't do it. Congratulate that person. Just focus on that. They didn't say you could do it. They said they did it right. But with every time that you tell yourself and continue to put the idea out there that this is not for everyone, you're not only denying yourself the opportunity to achieve it, but you're also influencing others in that direction as well. So if you feel like something doesn't resonate with you, it feels impossible for you, you may actually just want to follow that person, see what they're doing, ask questions, but don't tell them that either they're lying or that they. You know this is not for everyone and this is not achievable for most people. Like bro, a lot of people are doing it, so figure out how they're doing it versus being a naysayer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's awesome and you've given people some great tips on how to think about it and actionable steps on how to do it, and I think that's really important. There are some amazing people you know out there in the finance. You know, whether it's social media, blogging, newsletters, podcasts, whatever putting out some great content. You listen, take the ideas you like. There are the ideas you don't like. You don't have to listen to all of it and put all into fact that. You know the principles are what's important, so appreciate that. So, prisca, where can people find out more about you and our green life and your newsletter, which I have subscribed to and I always enjoy? So where can people sign up for themselves?
Speaker 3:um, so you could sign up for my newsletter. Um, usually through any social media where you find me on, so I am in a lot of the places, mainly on Instagram at Our Green Life NJ, like New Jersey. I'm also on LinkedIn under my name Prisca Benson. If you want to follow me, connect with me there, and also I have a YouTube that I'm working on coming up, so it's also Our Green Life NJ, nj Our Green Life NJ there, and so I'm happy to find you and meet you anywhere those things are possible, and my website is also OurGreenLifeNJcom. If you want to go straight there and you could sign up for the newsletter there.
Speaker 2:Yep. And another shout out for Prisca's newsletter Go ahead and sign up and there will be a link to all Prisca's social media profiles and her website in the show notes. So you can, as always, go to the show notes to find those links. So, prisca, thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me, tony, it was a blast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is a lot of fun and, as always, thank you everyone for tuning in to this episode of the Get Ready Money podcast. If you learned something today to change the way you think about money, please be sure to subscribe and to tell a friend. Until next time let's change the way we think about money. Thank you.
