Total Health in Midlife Episode #206: Mind, Money, & Motion with Marie Burns

Marie: You know, I used to talk about balance, variety, and moderation as a registered dietitian. And that’s so true throughout our life. And the money side of it, can fall into that as well. Because the money mindset, you’ve probably seen this yourself with clients or otherwise. And with your certifications that our money personality was really built for us with no fault of our own from childhood through our relationship.

Marie: So, we need to start with understanding what was our experience with that to help recognize why our money personality is what it is today. Because you can’t change anything going forward until you recognize where you are right now.

Welcome to Total Health and Midlife, the podcast for women embracing the pivotal transformation from the daily grind to the dawn of a new chapter. I’m Elizabeth, your host and fellow traveler on this journey.

As a Life and Health Coach, I am intimately familiar with the changes and challenges we face during this stage. Shifting careers, changing relationships, our new bodies, and redefining goals and needs as we start to look to the future and ask, what do I want?

In this podcast, we’ll explore physical, mental, and emotional wellness, offering insights and strategies to achieve optimal health through these transformative years.

Yes, it’s totally possible.

Join me in this amazing journey of body, mind, and spirit, where we’re not just improving our health, but transforming our entire lives.

[00:00:40] Elizabeth: Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Total Health and Midlife Podcast. I am your host, Elizabeth Sherman. And let me tell you that today’s episode is just going to be so incredibly fantastic. Now, if you’ve ever felt like your health and your finances are in absolutely no way connected, then this episode is going to be eye opening for you.

[00:01:07] Elizabeth: You see, there’s so much carryover between how we manage our money and how we care for our health. And today, we are diving deep into that connection with an incredible guest who truly embodies the term holistic approach.

[00:01:22] Elizabeth: Joining me today is Marie Burns, and she is a certified financial planner with over 20 years of experience. And who has a fascinating background as a registered dietitian. Yeah, that’s right. A financial expert who started her career helping people balance their diets and has since transitioned into helping them balance their financial lives.

[00:01:45] Elizabeth: Talk about a powerful combination. This conversation is packed with wisdom, relatable stories, and tools that you can start using today. So, grab your headphones and get comfortable. And let’s explore how mastering your money and your health can lead to a more vibrant, stress free midlife. Let’s dive in.

[00:02:11] Elizabeth: All right, everyone. Welcome Marie Burns to the Total Health and Midlife Podcast. Marie, I am so excited that you’re here. I’m really looking forward to our conversation. And thank you for being here. So, first off, tell everyone who you are, what you do, who you help, all the great things.

[00:02:39] Marie: Oh boy. Well, thank you. I’m excited to be here too. Total health is right up my alley. I’m very passionate about that. I started my professional life, I should say, way back as a registered Dietitian. So, I tease my current clients that I used to help people balance their diet and exercise. And now, I’ve evolved into my [00:03:00] financial background as a Certified Financial Planner, and I help them balance their finances instead. Because it’s all behavior based, really.

[00:03:07] Marie: So, I work mostly with women, either trying to educate them with tools, resources, blogs, workshops, or work with them individually. So, I have my ‘Mind Money Motion’ business is really my financial wellness education for women effort. And then, my focus point planning business is my one-on-one financial planning and investment management business.

[00:03:32] Marie: So, excited to be here because it’s all related and total health is what it’s all about. It’s not just one things. It’s all like a big domino game. It’s all interrelated.

[00:03:41] Elizabeth: Well, and you know, one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on the show is because of your dietician background, your food background. Because I love the analogy between our health and our wealth. I think that it’s so tightly connected. It goes back to the phrase [00:04:00] of how we do one thing is how we do everything, right?

[00:04:02] Marie: Yes. Absolutely.

[00:04:03] Elizabeth: And I find that with a lot of my clients. If they have good money sense, I don’t know if I said that right. But if they have a good mindset around their money and their spending, that we can sometimes pull on those same thought patterns when it comes to their health. Do you find that also?

[00:04:23] Marie: Yes. And that’s all of that is how I named my business ‘Mind, Money, and Motion’ because it’s all interrelated. And the general philosophy that I’ve seen over the years is the more we take care of our mind, our money, and our emotion. The healthier we are, and the less you have to worry about running out of money.

[00:04:43] Marie: So, the mind and body, whether that’s keeping your brain active or your body active, feeding your body healthfully from diet, as you say. And then, the money piece of it is really a stress aspect of your health and the more you [00:05:00] can feel comfortable with your money life, the less stress and healthier again you will be. And good health costs. Less.

[00:05:07] Elizabeth: Yeah, absolutely. Like, I was recently on a financial podcast, and they were like, well, healthy food costs more. What would you say to people who say that? That doesn’t even compute to me.

[00:05:18] Marie: No, you’re exactly right. I think that’s a myth. And then, a lot of it goes back to portion control, right? The diet stuff, eating when you’re hungry, stopping when you’re full, all of those things. And I think it’s a Tibetan [00:05:30] proverb, one of my favorite, quotes is, The secret to living well and longer is to eat half, walk double, laugh triple, and love without measure. To me, that is the nutshell of a balance.

[00:05:45] Marie: You know, I used to talk about balance, variety, and moderation as a registered dietitian. And that’s so true throughout our life. And the money side of it, can fall into that as well. Because the money mindset, you’ve probably seen this yourself with clients or [00:06:00] otherwise. And with your certifications that our money personality was really built for us with no fault of our own from childhood through our relationship.

[00:06:11] Marie: So, we need to start with understanding what was our experience with that to help recognize why our money personality is what it is today. Because you can’t change anything going forward until you recognize where you are right now.

[00:06:25] Elizabeth: Yeah. I love that. And I think that for many of us, we don’t realize how many of the thoughts that we have, the beliefs that we have about our bodies, about food, about money, about even religion, and other people, and judgments, and all of that stuff were given to us.

[00:06:49] Elizabeth: Like as children, we didn’t come out of the womb believing that ice cream was bad, and that broccoli was good. Right? Or that we should save what is it like a third of our salary, you know, put that in savings. Like all of those beliefs were handed to us by people who are well meaning, right?

[00:07:11] Marie: Right. It’s a combination of unintentional and intentional. You know, every time you come into a relationship, as an example, you each bring what we call oftentimes baggage, right? And there’s money baggage. And that was that childhood experience that we had where as a parent myself, I don’t think I even realized what an impact we were making on our children in a variety of aspects, not just money.

[00:07:35] Marie: But when you’re a child, they talk about this thermostat that’s developed. It’s your imprinting of your personality, like you said, whether it’s food, relationships, money, up until about the age of eight. Your brain is that sponge we always talk about. Children are like a little sponge. They absorb everything and then like parents, they repeat it back.

[00:07:52] Marie: So, as a child you are absorbing everything that’s going on in your household around money, whether it was experiences, feelings, discussions, you absorbed it all. And our brains are not fully developed until we’re like 25 years old. So, you had no capability as a child to distinguish or filter any of what you absorbed.

[00:08:15] Marie: You know, through the age of eight where it was crucially imprinting, you weren’t able to say to yourself or out loud, ‘oh, that was dysfunctional. I’m never going to do that again.’ Or on the positive side. So, we have to recognize that we absorbed whatever was going on in our childhood. And the other interesting piece of that to me is like, there’s four of us in my family, siblings.

[00:08:36] Marie: And so, you look around and say, well, now this one’s a saver. This one’s a spender. This one has no idea about money. How did we grow up in the same family, and get these different money personalities? And yet, when you think about the dynamics of the family at the time that each of your siblings and yourself were born, you might have been in a different city, in a different house. Certainly, the different people now, different jobs.

[00:09:00] Marie: So, totally different experiences, even though you grew up in the same household. Same families are not uncommon or odd to have happened. So, you go through childhood and absorb those messages and then you start to have relationships throughout your life. And those relationships also impact what was your role, what was your financial give and take with those relationships, whether it was parent child, boyfriend, sibling, and then married or in partner relationships.

[00:09:29] Marie: So, there’s been some interesting research that when we have time, I’d like to share what those financial personalities are for those of us that are in or have been in couple relationships because I find it fascinating.

[00:09:41] Elizabeth: Well, yeah, there are so many things going on in my brain right now, as you were talking. Like one of the things that really jumped out was, as young people, teens, maybe. When we’re starting to think about what we want to do, the voices that are in my head right now are the adults who ask the teen, what do you want to be when you grow up?

[00:10:02] Elizabeth: And if they say something like an artist or something that is more creative, a musician, the adult immediately says, well, how are you going to make money doing that? Or they put their own beliefs on that child and how that impacts them, then going through life, right?

[00:10:22] Marie: Yes, absolutely. It’s all about that. I think the economic term is the opportunity cost. The tradeoff of do I pursue what [00:10:30] I value and enjoy, or do I pursue what makes me the most money so that I can do what I value and I enjoy? You know, the balance and give and take there that is definitely different for every person, again, partially because of our personalities.

[00:10:44] Marie: You mentioned teen years, and I think the elementary school through teen years are especially important for children to start learning some kind of financial literacy, some financial education. And I recently learned about the website is called giftingsense.org. They came out with a calculator that basically says, here’s how to think about the buy or save. The spend, ‘should I spend question.’

[00:11:08] Marie: And children can use it. And it’s called ‘Does It Make Sense?’ It’s the DIMS calculator. Does It Make Sense to buy this? So, it helps people start thinking about those opportunity costs, the trade-offs. The ‘do I need to meet my need now? Or is it ‘want’ immediate gratification versus delayed gratification.

[00:11:27] Marie: So, all of that comes into play as well as thinking globally about the waste of what’s going to happen to this after I’m done with it, going to be reused, recycled, all of that. So, it’s a fascinating, seemingly simple tool that helps, I think, our youth. And I found that they do workshops, apparently, that have the parents and the children using these calculators. The parents start using the calculator. In there, you know, much more complicated, maybe purchase decisions later in life. Because the process is still very valuable.

[00:12:00] Elizabeth: Oh, that’s fascinating. I love that. We’ll definitely have that in the show notes for the listeners to access. One thing that I notice a lot with my clients is we have these practices that our parents taught us as young children. Like clean your plate, right? Because we want our kids to eat. We don’t want them to have poor nutrition for fear of like judgments. We want these things for our kids, but [00:12:30] so many women now, people have grown up and are still part of the clean plate club. And that is no longer beneficial, right?

[00:12:39] Elizabeth: And we feel guilty and feel this tug that if there’s food on my plate, I still need to eat it and I can’t throw food away and all that stuff. What are some of the thoughts? or beliefs that we were taught as children that no longer serve us as adults that may have been useful as children but aren’t anymore.

[00:13:06] Marie: I think your clean the plate club is absolutely something all of us can relate to. And it was well intentioned, you know, parents are trying to make sure their children get enough nutrition and be mindful that they’re grateful for the ability to provide food versus other children and other parts of the world that that don’t have access.

[00:13:24] Marie: On the money side of things, I think part of it was, and I think society is getting better, but the whole boys are better at math, and girls aren’t side of things. That ties very directly oftentimes to dollars and money. And it used to be what? You could grow up as a woman, as a girl, you could be a teacher or a nurse. Right?

[00:13:44] Marie: And so, those other more business related, more potentially higher salary jobs were that was not even on the plate of what you can think about. And now STEM, thankfully, has opened the door to recognizing that science technology, all of those things are fair game for both sexes. And I think girls and women are having more of an opportunity than we have in the past, you know, partially because of that.

[00:14:10] Marie: From a money side of thing, again, I think it was too much of the girls learned what needed to be done at home. And boys were more primed for becoming the breadwinner. And so, once again, we kind of absorbed and then society reinforced that we don’t need to worry our pretty little heads, you know, little pat on the head with those things. And so, it’s not uncommon at all that women grow up feeling guilty oftentimes.

[00:14:36] Marie: Even though, it wasn’t our fault that we don’t know more about money, and we aren’t more comfortable with these financial decisions that we are all faced with. And the reason that I really started ‘Mind Money Motion’ to begin with was because I saw that and recognized that the statistic, to me the scariest statistic of all, is that 90% of all women will eventually be solely in charge of their household finances. 90%.

[00:15:04] Marie: So, my reaction being in the financial industry, especially was, ‘well, we better get more comfortable with it then because it’s coming.’ And don’t count on being the 10% that you always have someone else to be in charge of and making the wisest and most fiduciary decisions on your behalf.

[00:15:21] Marie: So, that’s why I started this whole, I need to help women with their financial wellness, their comfort level with money, and provide resources, and or a connection so they can have a trusted partner if and when they want one, but at least a comfort level of awareness of what they have so that when those money decisions come up, they feel more comfortable in doing that with a partner or without a partner.

[00:15:43] Elizabeth: Yeah.

[00:15:44] Marie: That was a long answer to your question.

[00:15:46] Elizabeth: Well, no. So, in terms of like, what women could be when we grew up, I think I’m younger than you, but I’m not sure. And I had a game that I used to play with my sisters. And it was called, What Shall I Be? It was aimed at girls. And it was, I could be a model, I could be a teacher, I could be a nurse.

[00:16:09] Elizabeth: There was a scientist in there. But for the most part, it was all I could be a secretary. So, when you said that, like girls, women couldn’t be in thinking roles as adults. Like, I am so glad that we’re seeing that change. But the other piece that you said that really resonated was that women are taught to be savers, and men are taught to be go out and make money.

[00:16:42] Elizabeth: So, how we view money in that standpoint is completely different. And how many women listening right now who may have been either homemakers, or who were in the workforce, but maybe they didn’t have the salary, you know, compensation that their partners had look at, ‘well, this is his money.’ It’s not my money.

So, therefore I have to be responsible with it. I’m spending his money instead of seeing it as a joint salary, right?

[00:17:22] Marie: Yeah, absolutely. You are bringing up so many things that, are absolutely part of helping women acknowledge to dismiss the guilt that we so commonly feel. Because you’re exactly right that men typically take more risk with their dollars and women tend to be more savers, which can also be to our detriment if, we don’t invest enough, which involves risk.

[00:17:47] Marie: And yet, from an investing standpoint, research shows that women are actually typically, better investors because men are almost overconfident, and take more risk and manipulate their investments more often than they probably should. So, the return is actually higher oftentimes for women that are investing.

[00:18:05] Marie: So, ‘kudos to us,’ but the whole aspect of again, where your money, personality, and comfort level is in all of these areas, saving, spending, investing, and then your childhood brings us to this research that was actually done, I think, well over a decade or more ago. But still applies today, it was done by Hartford Insurance, and I think a Michigan, technology, MIT.

[00:18:29] Marie: And what they found is that most of us, when we’re in a relationship, fall into one of three categories. And by the time we’re midlife or beyond, I have women telling me all the time, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been in all three categories.’ And that’s not abnormal either, because your partner definitely has an impact on which one of these three categories you fall into.

[00:18:48] Marie: So, I hope your listeners can listen to this and decide which one are they in, were they in. You may even find yourself thinking of, ‘Oh, that was my parents.’ And then again, it helps you to understand more about the spending and saving decisions that are being made because of that type you’re in for a financial couple.

[00:19:08] Marie: So, here are the three categories. The first category is called the ‘Driver and Passenger Couple.’ One person is the driver. They know about all things financial, they make all the decisions, and then they act on those decisions, whether there’s paperwork, meetings, etc. So, that used to be generational, and I’ve seen that absolutely evolve.

[00:19:27] Marie: My parents, for example, were a driver and passenger. He was a business major; she was a homemaker. And oftentimes, just like my mother, the passenger is thrilled to be the passenger. Yay! I don’t have to deal with that money stuff. That’s not always the case. But the driver is really the ‘know all, do all’ person. And the passenger is oftentimes just along for the ride, and usually very happy about that breakdown.

[00:19:53] Marie: It’s interesting that I offer a workshop twice a year called, ‘ Get Your Docs in a Row,’ and it’s really designed for helping women see what they have now and understand it a little bit more. So, I have women that are coming to these workshops that they are the drivers.

[00:20:09] Marie: The husband is the passenger. And that’s why they’re there, because they’re concerned about what’s going to happen to him if I’m gone first. And I need to be sure I have things organized and help lined up for him if I’m gone first.

[00:20:22] Marie: So, anyway, that whole driver and passenger, he, the driver, she, the passenger is not always the case and I’ve definitely seen that evolving over the past 20 plus years that I’ve been doing this.

[00:20:34] Marie: The second category is called the ‘Joined at the Hip Couple.’ You both talk about all financial decisions; you both are aware of. You actually make the decisions together. But then, there’s still one, what I call ‘doer.’ One person that goes to the meetings, signs the paperwork, makes the phone calls, goes online, and does whatever needs to be done with all of these financial decisions.

[00:20:58] Marie: So, joined at the hip is much more communicative, jointly making decisions, but still just one doer, implementer, taking the actions.

[00:21:08] Marie: Third and last category is called ‘Divide and Conquer Couple.’ Very much like they joined at NIP, they talk about everything, they’re aware of everything, make decisions together. But then, they split the duties. So, one might take care of all the banking, for example, and the bill paying, and the other one might be the one in charge of acting on the investments or the insurance.

[00:21:29] Marie: So, the research finished by concluding that looking at these three types of categories, they found that the category that did the best in the end, when, this is not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when.’ When one of you is gone, the research confirms, probably no surprise, that the Divide and Conquer Couple survives widowhood or widowerhood, the best.

[00:21:51] Marie: Because that survivor is now already accustomed to making all the decisions and acting on half of them. And they only have 50% more now dropped in their lap. Versus the other two, very, very likely could have 100% new everything, that they are now responsible for going forward. Very, very stressful.

[00:22:12] Elizabeth: Yeah. I can only imagine, well, one of my clients, her partner recently passed away, and they were definitely in the driver and passenger. And she wanted to know more, but he was of the ‘don’t worry your pretty little head about it.’ And yeah, so helping her put it all together after the fact has just been so overwhelming and we don’t want to think about that stuff. Right. So, we kind of put it off.

[00:22:44] Marie: That’s absolutely why all of this stuff is very backburner. It’s a negative thought to think about and actually plan for the whole when that time comes and you are alone. And the other trend with my workshops too, is I’m finding the passenger women are coming to the workshop because just like your clients, they want to know more.

[00:23:07] Marie: They might not be ready for the divide and conquer, but they at least would be very much more comfortable in the joined up the hip couple where they’re more aware and they’re involved, even if they’re not the doer. I know my parents are the classic driver and passenger, and so Murphy’s Law in life, which one do you think got dementia? The driver.

[00:23:29] Marie: So, my mother, the passenger was not accustomed to either writing checks or sorting through the mail. And it was very, very stressful, which is not at all uncommon. So, me, being in the industry, I tried not to make too big of a deal about it. Everybody’s different as far as how much they’re willing to share, have their children involved, their adult children involved.

[00:23:50] Marie: So, I just said, ‘Dad, please make sure everything is labeled.’ And ‘Mom, you need to know where to find everything that he has organized.’ And that was kind of the extent of the discussion because that’s all they were ready for. So, the good news was we had everything in place, and I could step in and help her.

[00:24:08] Marie: But everyone’s different in that respect. They’re not open or able. And we need to find resources that get us to where we want to be. Sometimes you can’t dive. Some of these drivers said, I’ve tried to get my husband to be more of the joined at the hip couple. He’s not interested. And so, you have to move forward from wherever you are.

[00:24:27] Elizabeth: Yeah. So, tell me, what do you think? And I realized this is just conjecture that prevents more women from taking ownership of the finances? Is it like that belief that women aren’t good with math? what is it? Do you think?

[00:24:44] Marie: I think it’s different in every situation and sometimes it is the childhood ingrained message that I’m just not good with money. Sometimes like your client, it’s the spouse kind of pushing back or making the assumption that this is my role, don’t worry about it, I’ve got it covered. And I have to tell you that I encourage women to push on that a little bit if that’s their situation because I cannot tell you how many times, I’m often helping widows or women after a divorce.

[00:25:14] Marie: And they are often coming from a driver husband who thought he had everything in charge of and taking care of. And I’m talking even CPAs or state planning attorneys. The problem becomes most of them know a good amount of certain areas of their financial, but not all of the areas.

[00:25:35] Marie: So, mistakes can still be made. And I’m a big fan. Even if I wasn’t an advisor, I’m a big fan of having an outside, third party, objective fiduciary involved to at least oversee and help you double check. Are we really, okay? Are we really on track? Have we really thought about everything?

[00:25:54] Marie: So, I think that’s hopefully also what’s happening in our society is that there is more involvement with CPAs, estate planning attorneys, financial advisors, And that’s a good thing for people to look at no matter which category that they’re in.

[00:26:08] Elizabeth: So, if someone is looking for a financial planner, I know that there are a lot of financial planners who also downplay women’s role. And that could just be from experience that many women don’t want to be involved. But if a woman does and she doesn’t want to be you know, dismissed. What are some of the things that she can look for in term, when she is looking for a financial planner?

[00:26:39] Marie: So, you’re hitting the nail on the head there. The statistic is interesting 70% of women leave their advisor, their current advisor, after losing a spouse within the first one to two years. And it’s for exactly the reason you said, they feel dismissed. They feel like they’ve never been in a conversation.

[00:26:56] Marie: They’ve never been acknowledged. Lots of times they don’t even get invited to the meeting. It’s the husband that does the conversation. And they don’t feel listened to let alone comfortable. Going forward, you absolutely have to be looking for someone that is listening and tailoring what you need to what your situation is.

[00:27:20] Marie: I’m a big fan of any type of advisor or outside party service that you’re looking for EPA Estate Planning Attorney, Advisor, where these are trustworthy. They need to be trustworthy relationships. You need to meet with at least two, if not three of them. Ask them all the same questions and try to get, I think the gut check in this case counts for a lot. You have to feel comfortable with that person. But then also the logistical stuff.

[00:27:49] Marie: How do you charge? What types of services are you providing? And in the financial industry, it’s even more complicated because there’s so many different titles. Are you a broker? Are you an advisor? Are you a certified financial planner? Are you a retirement specialist? And there’s different training and qualifications to be able to use those different titles. And yet, almost everyone can call themselves an advisor.

[00:28:13] Marie: So, it can be confusing from a consumer standpoint, but women need to feel comfortable asking questions. If you don’t know, then ask. And those are the questions I’d be asking is the services. How do you charge? What’s your philosophy on investing? What’s your philosophy related to financial planning? And what does financial planning actually involve if I’m working with you. So that you can try to compare apples to apples when you’re meeting with person A versus B versus C.

[00:28:42] Elizabeth: That’s all really good information. And so, what are some of the things, I don’t even know where to go with that. Like, what are some of the things that people should be looking at? Obviously, eye contact is one of them.

[00:28:54] Marie: Another good question, I think is asking who is their typical client. Are those clients similar to you? What does a year of working with them look like? Again, trying to get a feel for how often do you typically meet? What do you discuss when you’re meeting? Who’s driving those agendas? You know, what if this happens or that happens? Most of us go into those with previous experiences and we’re trying to avoid those uncomfortable past situations where something didn’t go right.

[00:29:28] Marie: So, go ahead and specifically ask about those types of examples that didn’t go well for you. Whether it was fee related, or return related, or service related, or all of the above. Or what I find my biggest pet peeve in the industry is lack of comprehension as far as comprehensive services being provided.

[00:29:48] Marie: You know, too many times I think advisors in the industry focus just on your accounts, your investments. And certainly, that’s a big important part of your money life, but there’s so much more. There are the other aspects of planning that often either don’t get addressed, or you have to specifically ask, or they just flat out aren’t going to address. You know, insurances, a variety of insurances. Or income tax planning, or estate planning, or accumulating up to retirement, and then how do I start withdrawing. That withdrawal phase in retirement.

[00:30:24] Marie: Thinking about if somebody needs care, or helping elderly parents, or involving adult children in your money life. All of those aspects of life that should really be part of comprehensive planning, not just the talking head, talking about the economy and telling you how your account is doing.

[00:30:42] Elizabeth: Yeah. Well, it’s so personal, right? And I think that that’s one of the main reasons why I’ve been really wanting to have this conversation about health and wealth is because it is so connected. Like, your health care is going to impact your wealth. Like if you’re saving for retirement, like no one wants to spend their retirement going to doctors, spending money on insurance premiums, or deductibles or anything that is related to health that we could prevent today, right?

[00:31:20] Marie: I know I’ve evolved to; I use an agenda template so that I remain comprehensive in my conversations for each, and each client and I have an action plan at the bottom of each agenda. But I incorporate Mind, Money, and Motion into the agenda. So, even though, I’m not a physician or a registered dietitian anymore, for example. I am observing and not giving advice but noticing with them out loud about their mindset.

[00:31:51] Marie: Are they staying socially active? What are they going to continue to do that keeps their mind engaged in retirement? For example, if we’re talking about retirement planning, the motion, are they staying physically and socially active? And gently bringing up and nudging the importance of how that will impact their health care cost dollars as I tie it into retirement planning.

[00:32:14] Marie: So, I’m not advising and consulting, but I am raising and bringing the awareness. I tell my clients all the time, think of me like your nice nag. I’m the one to hear you talk about what you want to happen in your life and I keep bringing it back and nudging you toward taking action. I can help you a lot, but I can’t do some of these things for you.

[00:32:37] Marie: But those nudges and those gentle reminders of, ‘don’t forget, isolating is going to not help your mind and your body stay engaged so you can enjoy what you’ve been saving for in retirement,’ just doesn’t.

[00:32:50] Elizabeth: Well, yeah. So, do you do coaching around money mindset within your business?

[00:32:55] Marie: The mindset part I do from a workshop standpoint for most of the time, but absolutely individually. I try to talk to my clients about what was their childhood like, what were some of their first money memories?

[00:33:09] Marie: And usually, there’s some discussion about positive and negative experiences in the past, whether it was with family, spouse, advisor, so that we can kind of keep bringing that back into how remembering that can help you move forward today. Because those things, you know, you can, I’m not a big believer in forgiving and forgetting. Forgiving, yes. But forgetting, no. Usually, it’s helpful to not forget so that you can use it to move forward.

[00:33:37] Elizabeth: Yeah. Well, I suspect that you had mentioned it before about asking questions like, if you’ve been outside of these financial discussions. Even the basic questions, you feel shame about asking, like what’s the difference between an IRA and a Roth IRA, or a 401k, or like all of those very basic questions that we think that we should know, but we really don’t. Or at least we don’t have a full grasp on it where we could explain it to someone else.

[00:34:15] Marie: Right. And there’s so much lingo in every single industry that I think one thing that helped me being a, be a better advisor is actually coming into the industry from another industry. Because I already had a pet peeve with again, the economic talking heads using, let’s just use BIPs basis points.

[00:34:36] Marie: Okay, they’re talking percentages. Why in the heck don’t we just say percentages? Let’s use English when we’re speaking to each other. And so, I have intentionally tried from the beginning to avoid trying to talk over people’s heads. And always welcoming questions that, if I’m saying something that’s not making sense, please push back and ask me. But that’s very common.

[00:34:56] Marie: I mean, think about medical, think about your health care appointments, and all the jargon and terminology that gets used there and acronyms that you get tired of asking after a while because they’re talking over your head. way too often. And we have to stop and push back.

[00:35:11] Elizabeth: Yeah. And as women, we don’t want other people to be frustrated. So, if I’m talking to a doctor, since you just said medical, like stopping your doctor every few seconds and being like, I don’t know that term. I don’t know that term. Like imagine, being that doctor who’s used to people not questioning him or her and having to stop and explain, that would be frustrating. But it’s not your fault as the consumer or as the patient, right?

[00:35:42] Marie: Absolutely. You know, all of this is partially why the comfort level with money was really my goal from the beginning when I started Mind Money Motion. And so, everybody gets better at things in different ways. Some of us read, some of us prefer a video, some of us prefer a workshop, some of us prefer some kind of a hands on activity. And so, that’s from a resource standpoint how I’ve tried to design my business.

[00:36:09] Marie: If you go to my website, mindmoneymotion.com, I have resources in all of those areas. Podcasts, videos, workshops, books, digital checklists, blogs. So, however you learn best, you can dive into the area and the mode of learning that most speaks to you. And I’ve tried to nutshell things from the standpoint of, what life stage are you in?

[00:36:36] Marie: So, we evolved to different degrees of complexity and different needs, whether we’re single, just getting married, just starting a family, looking at retirement, we’re empty nesters, or we’re helping elderly parents or realizing, ‘gosh, I’m not too far away from that myself.’ I should start thinking about ‘when I’m gone,’ kind of thing.

[00:36:56] Marie: Basically, I’ve tried to say, Well, what do I need to do in all those areas? Well, here’s a checklist to get you started. Kind of about before you’re married and after you’re married. Before you’re retired and after you’re married. Before loss in your life and after loss in life. And they’re all fillable PDFs so that you can either print it, or you can literally do it and save it online.

[00:37:17] Marie: So, lots of resources that I’m hoping women can find something. And remember, it’s how do you eat the elephant. One bite at a time. So, start with one thing and hopefully that leads you to another thing. And you’re so much further ahead than before. So, don’t worry about progress. Any progress is progress and will help you with your comfort level.

[00:37:37] Elizabeth: Well, yeah. And your checklists are great. In fact, I sent the After Loss Checklist to my client that I was just talking about. So, yeah, so super valuable. Oh, I feel like we could talk for hours. So, Marie, tell everyone where they can find you, where they can interact with you. And if they want to hire you, are you controlled by state, or can anyone hire you?

[00:38:03] Marie: Yeah. So, I have two businesses. So, let’s start with the one I’m here for today, which is Mind, Money Motion, that’s the name of the website. Just remember, it’s in alphabetical order, Mind Money Motion. That was the way I thought when I designed the business name. And you will find there, I think the quickest way for women to get started in this effort is to subscribe to my newsletter. Because you just go to the contact section and there’s a subscribe option in there.

[00:38:31] Marie: I will send you one email a month, and it gives you all the newest, updated, did I write a new blog? Is there a free workshop coming up? Did I write a new book? Is there a new checklist? Is there a new video you can watch? And it gives you a little bit of education at the same time. And you can always unsubscribe.

[00:38:51] Marie: To me, that’s the best starting point. But once you’re at my website, then certainly there are a variety of resources. So, the resources area is going to talk to you about those, I call them money bundles. What life stage is going to tell you which money bundle do you need? Are you getting married? Are you almost an empty nester? Are you retiring soon? Are you looking at the last half of your life and thinking about being gone or having parents that are getting to that point and want to be helping with them?

[00:39:20] Marie: So, there’s a lot of pick and choose options there. My other business, even in the Mind Money Motion business, I always offer a 20 minute complimentary consult. You can sign up for that. And then, my other business, ‘Focus Point Planning’ is where I work with folks individually. And it’s usually much more involved. It’s not just becoming more aware of and getting financially organized, like Mind Money Motion is. With Focus Point Planning, it’s truly all areas of financial planning.

[00:39:48] Marie: So, you can look at some of my resources there. I have a one hour complimentary financial wellness consults that’s available. You have to provide some information for that conversation. So, it’s kind of wherever you’re at, and what you need at this moment that will really dictate where you need to go, which website and or where on each website.

[00:40:09] Elizabeth: Amazing. Well, thank you for being here today. I really appreciate it.

[00:40:14] Marie: My pleasure. Absolutely. Thank you, Elizabeth.

[00:40:18] Elizabeth: Wow! What an incredible conversation today that I had with Marie. I hope you’re walking away with a fresh perspective on how interconnected our health and wealth truly are. And how taking control in one area can carry over into the other.

[00:40:35] Elizabeth: To recap, we explored the connection between your health habits and financial behaviors. We also talked about how your childhood beliefs about money and food might be influencing you today. And how to rewrite those stories for your future. We also talked about practical steps to feel more confident and in control of both your financial and physical well-being.

[00:41:00] Elizabeth: Now, if you found this episode helpful, I have a favor to ask. Think about a friend or family member who might also benefit from hearing this. Maybe she’s been struggling to get her health back on track, or perhaps she’s worried about how her current habits might affect her future. Sharing this episode could be the nudge that she needs to start making positive changes.

[00:41:23] Elizabeth: And if you’re feeling inspired to take the first step towards reclaiming your health, so it doesn’t hold you back from the things that you love to do. Whether it’s travel, adventure, or simply enjoying time with your family. Let’s connect.

[00:41:36] Elizabeth: Coaching can provide the support, guidance, and tools that you need to create lasting change. Head on over to elizabethsherman.com/call to learn more about how I can help you create a healthier, more vibrant future. Because you deserve to live midlife on your terms.

[00:41:56] Elizabeth: Thank you so much for tuning in today. Remember, you have the power to create a life filled with energy, freedom, and joy. And I’m here to help. Until next time, take care of yourself, and I’ll see you back here on Total Health in Midlife. Bye for now.

Thank you for joining us on today’s episode. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of health advice out there and are looking for something straightforward, our ‘8 Basic Habits that Healthy People Do’ guide and checklist is just what you need. It breaks down essential habits into simple, actionable steps that you already know how to do. By following these habits, you’ll set yourself on a path to better health, surpassing most people you know.

To get your free copy, just click the link in the show notes. It’s an easy start, but it could make all the difference in your health journey. Grab your guide today and take the first step towards a healthier you.