October 27, 2025 • 41 mins
After divorce, a shrinking income, and a dream job that didn’t add up, Linda Grizely hit a wall. All because she couldn’t check one box: “bachelor’s degree.” What came next was bold: eleven classes across four schools, a dual major at 49, and a complete mindset shift about worth, work, and money.
Today, Linda is a Motivational Speaker, Financial Educator, and Realist with a Heart who helps women who feel behind, financially or emotionally, reconnect with their self-worth and start making money decisions that truly reflect who they are and what they want.
We talk about the money scripts we inherit without realizing it how growing up lower middle class, teen motherhood, and “survival budgeting” shaped Linda’s early beliefs. A leadership mastermind cracked open those patterns and inspired her “lid” story: a metaphor for the self-imposed limits that keep so many of us under-earning and under-saving.
Linda shares practical ways to bring calm and clarity to your finances:
- How to build a liquid emergency fund that actually works
- Why 3–6 months of expenses is your safety net, not a cage
- The “Me Money” method that gives guilt-free permission to spend intentionally
- The real reason couples argue about money—and how to stop
We also explore money personalities, spender, saver, avoider, risk taker, security seeker and how to design systems that align with your real behaviour, not some spreadsheet ideal.
But beyond the tactics, this episode is about reclaiming your value. Linda shares the exact moment she stopped accepting less and started asking for more, and how the right credentials can open doors to opportunity and confidence. Her coaching now empowers women to build financial literacy and self-trust without shame, jargon, or judgment.
Let's enjoy her story!
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Ordinary people, extraordinary experiences - Real voices, real moments - Human connection through stories - Live true storytelling podcast - Confessions - First person emotional narratives - Unscripted Life Stories.
Thank you for listening - Hasta Pronto!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniela SM (00:00):
Hi, I'm Daniela.
Let's talk about what happenswhen you change your money
story.
I'm the flea that's alwaystelling everybody, hey, we can
get out of the jar.
In this journey, I realizedthat I had been undervaluing
myself and accepting a lot lessin pay.
I learned a lot about my ownmoney mindset and my own money
personality and my own stories Iwas telling myself.
(00:22):
My guest is Linda Griseli, amotivational speaker and
financial educator who helpswomen feel confident and make
money decisions that reflect whothey are.
Let's enjoy her story.
Welcome Linda to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Oh, thanks so much for havingme.
I am excited that you have astory to share.
Why do you want to share yourstory?
Linda Grizely (00:43):
I have been sharing my story and want to
share it because I want to helppeople that are in situations
that I once was get to the nextstep in life or the next level
in life, whatever you want tocall it, with knowing that other
people have been there and havegotten through it.
Daniela SM (01:00):
Yes, and I appreciate that.
I think that's why we need toshare stories so people can
learn from other people, youknow, not going through the
situations that you wentthrough.
So when does your story start?
Linda Grizely (01:11):
Well, I like to kind of give a background a
little bit.
So I grew up like lower middleclass in the United States.
You know, I wasn't hurting foranything.
I wasn't super poor, but I knewthat I had less than the than
the people that I were myfriends, right?
And then as I got older, then Imet people who had less than
me, right?
So there was all thesedifferent layers in there.
(01:32):
And the reason I talk aboutthat and bring that as part of
the story is because a lot of mystory has to do with money,
which is what I do now.
I teach about money, but a lotof it has to do with money and
like the scripts that I was toldand the things that I was led
to believe about myself.
I became a mom as a teenager.
So I was a single mom as ateen, figure things out on my
(01:52):
own, and was good with money asfar as like budgeting and living
within my means.
You know, I knew what I couldand couldn't afford.
I think I did a pretty good jobraising my daughter and giving
her the things that she wantedat the same time.
And then later I got marriedand had more kids, and then I
got divorced after being marriedfor half of my life.
(02:13):
At that point, I was a singlemom again, and I had two kids
still at home.
My daughter had was older andhadn't moved on.
Again, was like restarting andrebuilding.
And I think that that's reallywhere my story starts is
actually post-divorce becausethat's when I really started to
do in personal growth and likeinternal works.
(02:36):
What happened was I had owned abusiness when I was married,
and I had to sell it when I gotdivorced because it was a new
business that it wasn't makingenough profit for me to be able
to live off of.
So I had to sell it.
And it was like a baby to me.
It was like the best, the bestjob I ever had.
It was the best thing I hadever done because I was helping
and empowering so many women tolike just have more confidence
(02:58):
and everything.
It was a fitness center.
I got this other job that Ithought was going to be my dream
job.
And it was like, this is what Iwant to do.
This serves everything that Iwant I want to be.
I loved the job itself, butthere were some people there
that were making my life verydifficult.
And also I wasn't, and theystill wasn't making enough money
(03:19):
to make ends meet.
Living as a single parent, Ibought a home in the same school
district so my kids didn't haveto change schools, and it was
very limited as to what I couldafford on my own.
I could have gotten somethingless, but they would have had to
change schools, and I didn'twant to do that to them.
So I'm realizing that I'm goingbackwards, right?
I'm I'm really like spendingmore than I'm bringing in.
(03:43):
There's not a lot of placesthat I can cut back at this
point.
I started thinking about likewhat am I going to do next?
So I started applying atdifferent jobs, but I wasn't I
wasn't able to network, which Ihad always gotten my jobs before
through networking.
So I was like applying online.
And this is back in like what2015, 2016.
(04:04):
So I'm applying online, and Ican't check a box that says I
have a bachelor's degree becauseI don't.
I only have an associate'sdegree.
So I can't check this box, soI'm not getting any interviews.
And I can't go out and talk topeople in network because
there's already people at mycurrent job making it difficult
for me.
And if they find out then I'mlooking for another job, like
(04:24):
I'll they'll just boot me outthe door and then I'll be really
in trouble.
So I'm trying to find a job andnot having any luck.
And someone that I knew verywell in the current job that I
had, I had confided in that Iwas looking.
And he said, I have a positionthat I think you'd be great for.
You'd be working for me ifthat's okay.
(04:45):
And I said, Yeah, I'd love towork for you.
And he said, Okay, let me putyou in touch with the recruiter
at the hospital, because it wasout of hospital.
And so he put me in touch withthe recruiter, and I talked to
the recruiter, and she was like,You don't have any experience
in the healthcare field, and youdon't have a degree.
She's like, I can't even talkto you.
I can't even give you aninterview.
And so even though the personthat would be my boss was
(05:07):
saying, Hey, I recommend thisperson.
I would love for her to workwith me, I still couldn't get my
foot in the door.
And I was like, wow, this is awake-up call for me, trying to
find a real job at post-divorcewith only an associate's degree.
What I did was I took out ahome equity loan, I cashed in a
small retirement fund, and Ijust quit my job and I went to
(05:30):
school.
So I took 11 classes at fourdifferent schools in my very
first semester.
The other thing is, is Iactually got married that same
month, that January of 2017,when I started school.
I got married and I wasbasically like, I love you.
Don't talk to me for threemonths because I got all these
classes I got to take.
Like I was on a mission to getmy bachelor's degree by the end
(05:53):
of the year.
And I was finishing up acertificate that I had already
started that I wanted tocomplete.
And I ended up with graduatingby the end of the year with a
dual major.
So I majored, I had two majors.
That was the beginning of likemy like really personal growth
drive.
Daniela SM (06:09):
Linda, I have to ask, why four different schools?
Linda Grizely (06:12):
So you can only take a they won't let you take
um very many credit hours, likemore than a full load at a
certain school.
So you can only take so many atmy main school.
So then I was also takingclasses at another school where
I was finishing up a certificateI had already started.
And then I took classes at acommunity college that I knew
would transfer in to the schoolwhere I was taking the full load
(06:35):
at.
And then I also took one courseonline at a different school
that also would transfer in.
So I had the four differentschools with 11 classes.
Daniela SM (06:45):
Was there enough time in the day for these and to
study and the projects and allthese?
Linda Grizely (06:51):
Yeah, it was crazy.
I'm telling you, it was crazy.
But you know, it's uh I wasdriven.
I had motivation.
I had it was like, I gotta getthis done.
I have to get back to work.
I just put myself in debt and Ihave no income coming in to
live, like so that I could Icould live while I did that.
What was the degree, the twomajors that you were doing?
So I finished up thecertificate in nonprofit
(07:13):
management, got my degree inmarketing and human resources
management.
Daniela SM (07:18):
You were always very good at budgeting, no matter
what.
You were always very consciousand you were very clear.
That's pretty good because noteverybody had that knowledge
that you already were comingsince you were younger.
Right.
The thing I was missing thoughis that I was never saving.
Yes, but you really didn't haveenough, or like I have to say,
yes, I did have enough and Icould have saved earlier, but I
(07:40):
thought that I didn't haveenough.
Is that possible?
Even if it was ten dollars amonth or a week.
Right, exactly.
Yes.
So that's the uh the mindsetthat is very difficult for
people to get into it.
Linda Grizely (07:50):
It was during the time when I was getting my
degree, or right after I hadgraduated, when I was trying to
figure out what I was doingnext.
I went to a mastermind groupthat was uh talking about the
John Maxwell's book, The Laws ofLeadership.
And it was a friend thatinvited me, and I'd never been
to anything like that before.
I was like, oh sure, I'll go.
Like I'm learning I'mnetworking, I'm talking to
people, I'm like just looking toget myself out there and figure
(08:10):
out like what's next for me.
They started talking about umthe different laws of
leadership.
And one of them is the law ofthe lid.
And the law of the lid is abouthow everybody has their own
leadership capacity and there'sa lid on it.
You can only lead to the levelof your lid, and then you can
develop yourself to make yourlid higher, right?
(08:33):
It's kind of that idea.
The person that was teaching itgave this analogy of these
fleas in a jar.
And you know, the story of thefleas in the jar is if you fleas
can jump really high, but ifyou put them in a jar, they'll
jump out of the jar.
But if you put a lid on thejar, they'll jump and they'll
hit the lid and then they'lljust stay in the jar.
Then you take the lid off andthey still only jump as high as
the lid and they never get outof the jar.
So it's supposed to be a lessonabout your own limiting beliefs
(08:57):
and your own story that you'retelling yourself about, hey, I
can't get out of the jar.
But what I heard was somethingcompletely different.
What I heard was I'm the fleathat's always telling everybody,
hey, we can get out of the jar.
And everybody else is alwayssaying, No, you can't get back
in the jar.
And it was like mind-blowingfor me because all of a sudden I
(09:21):
realized that there was so muchmore to personal growth than
just getting a degree andputting certificates on my
resume, that I really needed todo internal work to learn more
about myself and more aboutother people and how we all
react to each other and in theworkplace and why things are the
(09:43):
way they are.
And so that's when I starteddiving into the books, like John
Maxwell's books, The Think andGrow Rich, The Classics, right?
The tipping point, um, good togreat, like all these different
like books that are all aboutpersonal growth or even business
growth.
And they became my mentors, thementors that I never had
(10:03):
growing up.
Like I never had people thatwere like, hey, this is how you
do it.
Hey, this is what you shouldthink about.
Didn't have that.
So they were my mentors, andthat's where I just I really
just became like a personalgrowth junkie and just started
trying to get ahead.
I hired a coach for a littlebit.
I started my career infinancial services.
As I started my career infinancial services, is when I
(10:23):
started to see, becauseremember, now I'm thinking more
about how people interact withthings, and I'm seeing the
internal blocks that people havewith their money through
financial planning when I'mtalking to clients and they're
like, well, my dad always toldme this, or my sister did that,
or my neighbor said blah, blah,blah.
And I'm like, you're not yourdad, you're not your sister,
you're not your neighbor.
You're you're none of thosepeople.
Your situation is completelynew, unique to you.
(10:46):
And yeah, that's something youcan consider and think about,
but here's why it may or may notmake sense to you.
And even though you could gothrough all the things and say,
yeah, that's not a good idea,they'd still be like, Yeah, I'm
still gonna do it anyway,because that's something told
them.
I'd just be like, wow, it'smind-blowing.
So I got into the thinkingabout like the money mindset and
stuff.
And then I started learningmore about that, and I learned a
ton about myself when I starteddiving into that.
Daniela SM (11:08):
Linda, so you obviously you're self-taught and
driven, and you really like tolearn and like a sponge, take
all this, and you were alwayslike that.
Linda Grizely (11:17):
I don't know if I was always like that or not.
Yeah, I always was interestedin learning.
I didn't read books.
I don't even know what book Iread before before I went to
that John Maxwell mastermindbook.
I have no idea what the lastbook I read was before that.
As a matter of fact, in the jobinterview to the job that I had
to leave, one of the questionsthey asked me is what was the
last book you read?
(11:37):
And I was like, I don't readbooks.
And then here I am, post, andI'm like just like, oh my gosh,
like there's this whole otherworld out there that I didn't
know existed.
So you never really decided towork on HR.
So what I wanted to do in HRwas combine the HR and marketing
concept, and I wanted to workin like company culture and
(11:58):
branding.
So I wanted this combination ofmarketing and HR where it's
like, hey, here's our companyculture, here's our company
brand, you know, this is what wedo to the outside for like
people coming in, like toattract candidates, but then
also on the inside to make surethat we were living up to what
we promised.
And so that was the type ofthing I was looking for, but it
(12:21):
just never came to fruition.
Daniela SM (12:22):
And and the second part that you wanted to do is
actually the difficult part withcompanies that they live up to
the culture that they promise.
Linda Grizely (12:30):
Exactly.
That's what I wanted to do.
But it didn't happen.
But I'm very happy where I'm atnow because I ended up in
financial services, which wasn'twhere I was going.
I eventually got my master'sdegree in financial services
too, but it's not like I wasplanning on going there, but it
made sense.
Daniela SM (12:44):
And then your kids at this time, they were older
enough that even though theywere with you, they they really
didn't need your presencebecause you were so busy with
all these.
Linda Grizely (12:53):
Yeah, they were teenagers, so they were they
were high school age, so and sohow how was your marriage after
the studies?
Daniela SM (12:59):
Like now you could have time for that?
Linda Grizely (13:02):
It's funny because my husband's kind of a
workaholic too, so it really wasfine.
He's uh he's a fireman, so hewould work, you know, an odd
shift, but then he worked asmuch overtime as he possibly
could.
He also had second jobs that hedid, like other places he would
work, so he was gone a lot too.
And it worked out.
Daniela SM (13:20):
Interesting.
So you you started to read allthese books, if I understand
clearly, and then you decided,okay, well, I want to go into
the financial world, and you gota job in in there.
Yeah.
Linda Grizely (13:31):
So how that happened was again, I was
stacking my resume because I waslooking, I was so at the same
time I was looking for the jobin HR slash marketing, I was
also looking in nonprofits.
So I was actually looking downtwo separate, completely
separate lanes.
Like I said, I wanted to have areally big impact.
So I figured company culturewas kind of like a big impact,
and then working for anon-for-profit is another way to
(13:52):
have a big impact.
I was going down both of thosepaths and interviewing for jobs.
Some of these job interviewstook like six months.
Like they were like, we'regonna have you meet with this
team and we're gonna have youmeet with these board members,
and now we're gonna have youmeet with this, and we're gonna
have you do a presentation.
It was like on and on and onforever.
But anyway, so during thattime, I signed up for a
designation called the CharteredAdvisor in Philanthropy that
(14:16):
was to serve the nonprofitworld, right?
It's about legacy giving andand planning for people with
large amounts of money.
I signed up for that, and it'sthrough the American College of
Financial Services.
That when I put that on myLinkedIn is when I started
getting the reach out from thefinancial services people.
So they started calling me,like the usual ones, like, hey,
(14:36):
have you ever, you know, haveyou ever thought about financial
services?
Like, you know, trying to and Istarted having conver I was
like, I'll have conversationswith people, you just never know
what's gonna happen.
As I had these conversations, Iwas like, you know what, this
does make sense, especially as Iwas taking the courses, because
the courses blend plannedgiving with financial planning
and tax planning, right?
So it's like all inclusive.
(14:57):
So that kind of like overlappedall of these things.
And so I was like, this canmake sense because I can really
help people through financialplanning.
And if they decide to becharitable, um, you know, that's
even better.
You know, I can help them planthat.
So I actually had a local uhcompany that does financial
(15:18):
advising and planning hadreached out to me, somebody that
knew me um through the localchamber of commerce had reached
out to me like a year and a halfbefore to ask me when I had
gone back to school, like, hey,I know you know you left your
job and you're going to school,but we need someone to do some
marketing for us.
Would you be interested indoing some marketing for us
part-time?
Because they knew me, they knewwhat I could do, you know, and
(15:38):
I was like, no, I'm I'm gettingmy degree and I'm just really
focused and I don't want to bedistracted by a shiny object of
like a couple extra bucks comingin because I'm really wanting
to just get this degree done,right?
And of course I was takingeleven classes at four different
schools, so there's no way Icould have done a part-time job
too.
But it was just that firstsemester that I did that.
I mean, it did carry a fullload the rest of the time too.
(15:59):
But so anyway, so I went backto the guy and I was like, Hey,
do you still need a marketingperson?
And they're like he's like,Yeah, actually we do.
And I said, Well, I I'd love tochat.
And so I sat down with them andI said, here's the deal.
I can do marketing for you, andI also want to become an
advisor, so a financial advisor.
So can this be a win-win?
(16:20):
Can I work for you and domarketing, but can you like you
know support me in getting mylicenses and becoming a
financial advisor?
And they said yes.
So that was a, you know, agreat match, and that was how I
got started.
Very clever you are.
Daniela SM (16:39):
Do you think that you needed the degree anyway?
Linda Grizely (16:42):
I did need the degree, and then I went and got
my master's degree in financialservices.
So I wouldn't have needed thedegree, the bachelor's degree to
work for them and to getstarted.
I wouldn't have needed that.
But I needed it to get mymaster's degree, and I needed it
to get my certified financialplanner designation because that
you have that's one of therequirements is that you have a
bachelor's degree.
Daniela SM (17:01):
You will still advise anyone that a bachelor's
degree is necessary?
No, not anyone.
Linda Grizely (17:08):
I mean, it's it's very unique to each
person's path.
There's lots of paths that youcan go that don't require a
degree.
I would just say it's unique toeach person.
But I also want to say thatwhen I got my bachelor's degree,
I was 49 years old.
Just because you choose a pathnow and you don't think that you
need one or don't want one,that doesn't mean you can't go
back later and get one.
Um my three children, none ofthem have a bachelor's degree
(17:31):
yet.
One of them is well on the wayto one, and the others are
probably not going to, but maybewe'll decide later in life to
get one.
That's okay because the careersthat they've chosen right now
don't require one.
Daniela SM (17:44):
It's true.
Everybody can have their ownpath when it needs to happen.
Yeah.
Do you think that uh from allthe things you learned through
the financial world, would yousay that your knowledge on
budgeting was something missing?
Linda Grizely (17:57):
Well, I learned a lot about investing and saving
and how compounding interestworks so that you can save up
for retirement later someday.
Learned uh obviously a tonabout that.
But the biggest thing that Ilearned, I learned a lot about
my own money mindset and my ownmoney personality and my own
stories I was telling myself.
I realized that at some pointin this journey, I realized that
(18:19):
I had been undervaluing myselfand accepting a lot less in pay
than I deserved.
And so at some point I realizedthat and was able to ask for
more and move to differentplaces where I could make more
money once I realized what I wasreally worth.
Like all this mindset stuffthat went along with it.
The main thing that I'mteaching now about budgeting,
(18:40):
it's called, I call it the memoney method.
So it's me money, it's puttingyourself as a line item on your
budget.
Because when I did financialplanning, the first thing you do
when clients come in is you yougather all their documents to
figure out how much money theyhave, and then you talk about
cash flow, which is your budget.
It's what's coming in andwhat's going out.
That's what cash flow is,right?
(19:01):
So we look at their cash flowand we list all the things
they're spending money on.
So you list, you know,utilities and houses and cars
and this and that and whatyou're saving here and what
you're saving there.
And then maybe we'll say, like,what do you spend on vacation?
What do you spend going out toeat?
And so you list all thesethings, but never is there was
there a line item that says,this is the money for me.
(19:22):
This is what I spend to get mynails done.
This is what I spend to go outto dinner with a girlfriend.
This is what I spend to go on agirls' trip or a golf trip with
the guys, like if you're a guy,not me.
There was never anything thatsaid, like, this is my bucket of
money for just me.
And that's where me money camein because I actually found it
(19:46):
accidentally when I put myhusband on a budget.
And this is all about mindsetaround money and your money
personality and how givingyourself this own bucket of
money helps you to understandwhat your money personality is,
how you interact with money, andgives you intention to your
spending, which makes you lookat money completely different
overall, no matter what yourmoney personality is.
Daniela SM (20:08):
But me money wouldn't be also entertainment,
going out, is that's kind of thesame, no?
Linda Grizely (20:13):
It is, but so it depends on if you're single or
if you're a couple, right?
So if you're a couple, thenhaving your own money for
yourself allows you to notanswer to the other person and
not answer to yourself also.
Like if you're the saver likeme, who would never spend money
on my not never, but who had ahard time and felt guilty
spending money on myself.
It gave me permission to spendthat money on myself.
(20:35):
And for my husband, who was thespender, he just made better
choices.
He was just like, Yeah, I don'tneed that.
I'd rather spend that moneysomewhere else.
So he was just like, is mymoney worthy of this?
Just made him have betterchoices, which then in
hindsight, like you could tell,like he just had better idea of
like the effect, he was thinkingmore about the effect of money
overall.
Daniela SM (20:56):
Yeah.
For me, I learned that I haveto have a lot of envelopes, so I
open a lot of savings accounts.
Yeah.
So sometimes the people at thebank say, Why are you having so
many savings accounts?
And I was like, You leave me,let me be.
This is these are like myenvelopes.
I have an envelope for me andone for Dave, car insurance,
taxes, you know, and every weekI put money there.
(21:16):
That gave me so much peace whenthe car insurance was due, and
I didn't have to worry thatwhere am I gonna get the money?
Well, oh, here, I've beensaving it for a year, and here
it is.
Or the car needs maintenance.
My husband was stressed.
I'm like, no, that's okay, wehave the money.
You know, I I know it doesn'twork for everyone because I have
a friend who's very good atmoney, and he just have
(21:38):
everything in one bucket and heknows.
For me, it's like I need tohave it individually.
They really help me.
Linda Grizely (21:43):
Yeah, and and that's part of knowing your m
like your money personality andhow you interact with money, and
that's uh a common strategy,but it can be way too
complicated for some people.
Some people like theorganization and like the idea
that it's already the money'salready there, it's already set
aside, and you can just be like,yep, that's where it's coming
from.
I know exactly what'shappening.
And other people want it alljust in one place and they can
(22:06):
keep it in their head, or maybethey're they don't want to pay
attention to it.
But so there's different moneypersonalities and there's
different things that work fordifferent people.
Like you said, if you alreadyhave that account set up for you
and for Dave, like that's yourmeme money if it's just for you
and you can spend money in therewhenever you want, right?
So you've already done it.
You've already done your mememoney.
Daniela SM (22:26):
Yes, yes, I I I do have my meme money.
Linda Grizely (22:29):
Yeah, so that's great.
Tell me more about that becausewhat was life like before the
me money buckets and what was itlike after?
Daniela SM (22:37):
Well, for me, uh I was stressed all the time.
You know, we were living inLondon, England, came to
Vancouver, and I came herefirst.
So I opened the bank accountsand everything.
So somehow I took charge,knowing absolutely nothing.
The only thing that I knew isthat we don't spend too much and
we never had debts.
And having debts will stress meso much.
We always pay the credit cardon time, but every time I had to
(22:59):
pay the bills, I was alwaysstressed.
We had the money, but I didn'thave a an a good structure.
So having this really helpedfor a big peace of mind.
So we we really had enough.
Uh, we we never spent more thanwhat what we could.
Uh the emotional part of themoney connection, though that
(23:21):
wasn't really very well.
So I needed to learn that.
And I think I manage now, Ithink I have it.
Yeah, I think is the hardestthing to get rid of.
Yeah, definitely.
Linda Grizely (23:31):
But you also you don't want to necessarily get
rid of it because it's part ofyou, it's part of who you are.
You just want to understand itso that you can recognize it
when it's happening.
Am I emotional spending?
Am I what am I doing right now?
And and then once you start torecognize it, then you just you
don't necessarily changeyourself, you just know what
you're what you're doing, andthen you can make a different
decision.
Daniela SM (23:52):
And I wonder how we learned that because I know you
you said, you know, I know youwe hear from our parents.
I don't remember hearing toomuch, but I remember if my dad
gave me $10 and he made me workfor it, like I have to polish
his shoes or wash the car orsomething.
I wouldn't know spend it.
I would not I would go toschool with the $10 and I will
have the $10 all the time.
(24:13):
I don't know if if you youreally learned that or how how
is it that some people are bigspenders?
So I I wonder how how welearned that.
It's a lot of different things.
Linda Grizely (24:22):
That's the money personalities that I talk about
too, is like the spender, thesaver, the avoider, the risk
taker, and the security seeker.
So that's all, and that'sthere's probably blends of those
two, but those are the fivethat identify.
But the idea is that you learnthem through your stories
growing up.
So for instance, you said whenyou would do jobs and you'd get
the 10 bucks, you'd still havethe 10 bucks.
(24:43):
But see, the way I grew up, Iwas like, if I needed money, I
did jobs and I got money, andthen I spent the money.
I didn't save the money.
But my parents were also livingpaycheck to paycheck.
So I knew that they weren'tnecessarily saving money and
they were just spending whatevermoney they got.
So I was mirroring what myparents were doing because I
(25:05):
didn't know any better and Iwasn't really taught any better.
So I don't know if what moneystories you have that made you
be a saver, like maybe yourparents were savers, maybe
something else happened thatthat made you like have that
story.
Daniela SM (25:18):
Well, I don't remember, I mean, I remember
having the $10, but I don'tremember having more than $10,
you know?
So maybe in at what at somepoint I did spend it because it
wasn't like I was collectingthem.
So I don't know what happenedto the money.
Linda Grizely (25:33):
And I know that you also uh wrote a book.
I have a chapter in a book.
Lessons from Thought Leaders isa is a book that I wrote a
chapter in.
It's a piece of my story.
And there's I'm like no howmany other authors, a whole
bunch of authors in that bookthat all wrote a chapter about
their story.
They're stories of resilienceand personal growth and just
overcoming obstacles and justregular people have succeeded in
(25:55):
life, you know, want to sharetheir story to let other people
know that that they can do ittoo.
That's wonderful.
You know, and I'm still I'mstill learning things every
single day about myself andabout other people, right?
Like I just uncovered part ofmy own money story about a month
ago when I was having aconversation with somebody and I
was like, oh my gosh, I neverreally thought about that
before.
That's exactly why I have thisentrepreneurial spirit and why I
(26:18):
want to do things the way Iwant to do them, as far as like
make how I want to make moneyand and you know, my drive and
all that.
I'm like, it totally makessense.
Once you open up like your mindto learning about mindset and
personal growth and like whatmakes people tick, it's just so
interesting.
Daniela SM (26:38):
Can you elaborate more about this entrepreneurial
mindset?
Oh, sure.
Sure.
Yeah.
Linda Grizely (26:43):
So it goes back to talking about how I made
money as a child.
So so most of my friends weregiven an allowance.
They had specific chores theyneeded to do, and then they got
their allowance at the end ofthe week, right?
There was a private chart onthe wall that said, Joe does
this one day and and Jill doesit another day, you know, like
it was all mapped out.
Not my house.
My house was just like, youwant money, figure out what you
(27:06):
want to do, and then tell mewhat you think it's worth.
And then there was likenegotiation, you know, I want to
mow the lawn, I think it'sworth three dollars, you know,
and they'd be like, no, it'sonly worth $2.
I'll be like, okay, $250, youknow, and then they give me
$250, I would mow the lawn for$250, and then I go to the store
and buy whatever it was Iwanted to buy.
That's just the entrepreneurialmindset.
I have no problem like goingout and like doing work,
(27:29):
creating things and creatingwhat I want to do to get paid,
rather than somebody telling mewhat I'm gonna do, when I'm
gonna do it, and then giving mea paycheck.
I look back to that and I'mlike, wow, that really is.
That was totally anentrepreneurial lesson, even
though that's not what it wasmeant to be, that's not at all
what it was meant to be.
And then I also could see how Ionly worked to do jobs when I
(27:51):
wanted something and I wanted tospend the money.
I didn't work to do jobs to sto save.
Daniela SM (27:56):
Yeah, because why?
We're young, what do we need tosave for, right?
Yeah.
Then you have this guilt-freespending, and then you you want
to buy a laptop or you want tobuy a TV or something.
And I always get confusedbecause I'm thinking, well, it
is you you need those things,maybe, you know?
So is that me money or is thatsavings here and there?
It seems confusing.
Linda Grizely (28:16):
As far as investing goes, you always want
to have an emergency fund that'sliquid cash.
And that can hopefully it's ina high yield savings account,
right?
But you don't even want it tiedup in a CD, but not investments
either, because if you have anemergency, you don't want to
have to pull it out it if it'sdown, right?
I mean you don't want to and ifit's l if it's high, then you
have tax consequences, right?
(28:38):
Because you have the gains thatyou've made on that investment.
So emergency funds should bekept liquid and you should have
about three to six months ofyour expenses in there.
That's the general rule infinancial planning.
Investing after that would bethe idea.
Or you can do start savingtowards the emergency fund and
start investing at the same timealso, depending on how you're
(28:59):
saving.
Daniela SM (29:00):
But the emergency fund, it seems to me like I get
a flood, my water tank breaks,or something like that, more
than oh, I want a new laptop orI just want to buy a new TV.
Truth.
Linda Grizely (29:12):
Yeah.
The emergency fund is reallymore for you have storm damage
on your house or you got in acar accident, or you know,
you're in the hospital, you gotsick, or that's really what the
emergency fund is for.
But it can be like mydishwasher went out.
And if you have three to sixmonths in there and you decide
you want to spend it on a newlaptop or a new TV, that's fine.
Then just replenish, just startreplenishing that.
(29:34):
But the me money itself issupposed to be specifically for
you as a person.
So it's supposed to be so thatyou have those mini sabbaticals
so that you can spend the moneyon yourself and not feel guilty
about that.
Or if you are a spender, thenit helps you just make better
choices about the money thatyou're spending on yourself.
It also can level the playingfield, like it did for me in my
(29:54):
marriage, which is also anunexpected thing, where we each
had our amounts of B money thatwas.
The same amount.
Like he was the one who wouldwho was going on fishing trips
and golf trips and doing allthese things.
And I was always like, andwe're a blended marriage, so we
got married later in life.
But so that also plays into it.
But then I was the one who waslike, oh, I can't afford to go
on a girls' trip.
But really I could.
I just had like the the worryof because we should be saving.
(30:19):
And like he's spending so much,like I can't do that because I
need to be the one that saves.
But now that the money is thesame, like if I decide I want to
go and I have the money savedin my little me money bucket, I
can do it.
And I don't have to answer toanyone, including myself.
And with me, it was myselfbecause my husband was never
asking me to answer to him.
And I never asked him to answerto me either.
(30:40):
But by putting him on thebudget, I just wanted him to be
more mindful and understand whathe was spending because he was
like, I'm not spending that muchmoney.
I'm like, yeah, you are.
Like, here.
You're gonna monitor it andyou're gonna see.
And he does see it now.
And it wasn't about controllingor restricting.
It was just meant to be like,hey, you just need to understand
it.
It worked, but it worked waybetter than I even thought it
(31:03):
would, because it worked for himbetter than I thought it would.
And it worked for me, and itworked for us as a couple
because it leveled that out.
Daniela SM (31:10):
And then with the me bucket, would you add like if
you want to do your nails, ifyou want to buy clothes?
Is that me bucket?
Linda Grizely (31:18):
Yeah, so it's gonna be unique to each person
and each couple to decide whatit is that they want to include
in that.
Oh, okay.
But I like to think of it asgenerally speaking, if it's
something that benefits onlyyou, then it comes from your me
money.
So if if we take myfingernails, for example, I get
my fingernails done, and thatcomes from my me money because
he doesn't care if myfingernails are done.
(31:40):
But if I had a partner who waslike, oh no, I love, I love that
you have nice fingernails, andI really want you to have nice
fingernails, and that'simportant to me, then maybe
that's not your me money.
Maybe that's your us money thatit comes from, you know, comes
from your joint money.
You know, it's just it's gonnabe so unique.
Like we decided that haircutsthank you for bringing that up
(32:00):
from our our joint money.
They don't have to come out ofour me money.
But I'm not coloring my hair,I'm not spending a lot on there.
But even so, I think that hairitself is like hair maintenance
is important.
Much more important than nails,right?
Let's be real.
So I think hair could go eitherway, depending on the
relationship with the otherperson that you're talking
(32:22):
about.
Like you could think of thingslike clothes.
Like sometimes you have to buyclothes for work.
And maybe that's not comingfrom your meme money, but any
like fun clothes or like, youknow, whatever might come from
your meme money.
It's gonna be so unique becausesome people might be like,
Nope, all of your clothes on allof my clothes are going in my
meme money.
So my husband and I had aconversation about the cable
(32:44):
bill because he watches TV waymore than I do.
And our cable bill is likehuge.
And we don't even do anystreaming, right?
And I'm like, we could just cutthe cable bill and do a couple
channels streaming and we'd befine.
But he's not fine because hewants this, that, and the other.
And I said, Well, maybe thatbill should come out of your me
money then.
(33:04):
And he's like, Oh no, that'snot coming out of my me money.
So we had a conversation aboutit because I'm like, I'm not
benefiting from it, like he'sbenefiting from it.
But right now, it is what itis, and and we're leaving it
where it is.
But at some point, if it reallycame down to it, I could say,
No, I don't even want the cableanymore.
Like, either we cut it or itgoes on your me money.
(33:24):
That sounds very likeaggressive, and I probably
wouldn't say it that way, butyou know, like just generally
speaking, it could come down tothat, right?
Yes, yes, yes.
Because if it's something thatonly he's benefiting from it,
then then he should pay for itout of his stuff.
Daniela SM (33:39):
And you agree that these conversations should be
done in a relationship earlybefore you get married, that you
should know how you are as aspender.
At least have the conversationhow we're gonna save.
Absolutely.
Linda Grizely (33:49):
It's not to say that there's no wrong money
personality.
Just because my husband's aspender doesn't make him a bad
person.
He's not overspending, he's notliving outside of our means,
he's just making it harder forus to save for retirement.
But he also likes to spendmoney on other people.
So it's not like he's justspending it on himself.
But yeah, having thoseconversations in advance is
(34:10):
super important andunderstanding how people react
with money is a lot of youngergenerations are keeping their
money separate, but that iscreating a whole nother set of
problems because if they're notmaking the same amounts of
money, it can leave one partnerfeeling like they're living a
completely different life thanthe other partner because
they're making less.
And so they see their otherpartner that's making more.
(34:33):
And yeah, a lot of times theone that's making more might be
like, well, I'll pay themortgage and you pay the utility
the lesser bill or whatever.
It just creates this whole likeyou and me instead of us.
So it makes things complicated.
So I talk to a lot of peopleabout money stuff, and I have
this one younger couple who Ijust talk to the wife, I don't
talk to the husband.
So she said that they havetheir money separate.
(34:55):
The grocery money is supposedto come from their joint money.
But when she goes groceryshopping and she makes meals,
she buys some things that aremaybe a brand name or a little
extra or whatever.
And he says that he he wouldn'tbuy that and that so she should
pay for that because hewouldn't buy it.
But yet he's eating the foodthat she's making.
And I'm like, okay, there's areally big disconnect here.
(35:17):
Like, this is not this is not ahealthy money relationship,
right?
And this is gonna be you'reyoung and you're newly married,
and this is gonna be a bigissue.
It's just gonna keep gettingbigger and bigger if you don't
address it now and figure outhow to make this work.
Daniela SM (35:33):
I know that you have your book and collaboration,
you you have courses.
What else do you do withpeople?
Linda Grizely (35:39):
So I do uh I've I have courses and a community,
and those are just launching.
I also do um coaching, soone-to-one coaching and group
coaching.
It's money coaching or financecoaching, but it's also all
about personal growth andmindset, all combined in.
So it's not just like I justlook at your money or I just
(35:59):
look at your mindset.
It's like we talk about allthings so that you can like grow
as a whole person financiallyand in life.
Daniela SM (36:06):
Yes, that's interesting.
And do you see that do you havea lot of clients because people
are really interested, or isthis still like a taboo that
people don't want to talk about?
Linda Grizely (36:14):
It is a taboo that people don't want to talk
about, but that's kind of thepoint to it, is that my main
focus is on women who feel likethey're behind and feel like
they should know more becausethey never learned and they were
never taught.
You know, they're midlife andthey're they're like, I don't
know what to do with my money.
You know, I don't know if I'msaving enough.
I don't know what I should bedoing or should it be doing.
(36:35):
They just feel and they don'tknow where to start.
And maybe they don't haveenough money to go directly to a
financial advisor.
Or maybe they feel like thatthey're they don't trust a
financial advisor becausethey're not they think they're
just gonna try to sell themsomething, which does happen.
To be that trusted partner inhelping them understand finances
and learn about them and helpthem with them is is where I
start.
Daniela SM (36:55):
So you are a financial advisor, but you know,
necessarily do you want peopleto give you the money to invest?
So I am not currently acting asa financial advisor.
Linda Grizely (37:03):
I'm a financial coach.
Uh, I have clourses that willteach you how to do your own
financial planning and your ownand and just financial
foundations and and all thingspersonal finance.
Daniela SM (37:14):
And so and when you deal with women, how how is your
success rate?
Do you see that uh you reallycan easily m change people's
mind, or it really takes a longtime?
I mean, I I'm sure noteverybody's the same, but the
majority if you use apercentage.
Linda Grizely (37:30):
Aaron Powell Depends on the person.
Like they have to be open totransformation, right?
They have to be open to theidea of that.
And some people think they are,but they aren't.
And some people think theyaren't, but they are.
So it's just again, there'sthat psychology.
And it's not about changingthem.
It's about helping themunderstand who they are.
(37:51):
So one of the things that I sayis when when you work with me,
you show up as your fullauthentic self.
Daniela SM (37:57):
Okay.
Linda Grizely (37:58):
You're not trying to be someone that you're
not.
That's the only way that youlearn about who you are.
Daniela SM (38:02):
And and I'm curious that you also say that being
good with money and being clearwith money.
What's the difference?
Linda Grizely (38:08):
I mean, I was always good with money.
Like we talked about how I Ilived within my means, I didn't
have debt.
Always was good with money, butI wasn't clear with money in
the sense that I didn'tunderstand how I needed to save,
which maybe some people wouldsay that's not being good with
money, but I wasn't bad withmoney.
And I didn't um also understandmy own worth.
(38:28):
Like I wasn't clear about howhow much I was worth and how how
money r interacts with us inour world.
Like money is with us everysing every second of every day.
It's with us when we'resleeping because we're heating
our homes, cooling our homes,powering our phones, whatever
we're doing.
Money is always there.
It never leaves.
It's like our breath.
Daniela SM (38:49):
To be clear, you do have to read something, take
courses.
You have to understand it.
You have to think about it.
I think old generations,including the new ones, although
I I have tried to make my kidsknow to be clear with money, but
it is not taught in school.
I think it should be taught atan early age.
Emotional intelligence,financial advice, you know, like
(39:12):
all these should be basicthings that everybody should
graduate from elementary or highschool, knowing already how it
works.
And I don't know how it's nothappening.
I just don't understand.
Linda Grizely (39:24):
It's it's amazing because, like I said,
it's with us every second ofevery day.
How how can we not teach it inschools?
Daniela SM (39:30):
And have you done this with your kids?
Were you able to to help thembe clear with money?
Well, we're still working onthat.
Linda Grizely (39:37):
Remember, I didn't I didn't have this
revelation until much later inlife.
So they were already adults bythe time I figured things out.
Daniela SM (39:44):
Yes.
But they're they're doingpretty good.
Linda, anything else that wehaven't touched?
I mean, I'm sure that your lifeis uh too long to explain in
one hour, but is there anythingelse that that I'm missing?
Linda Grizely (39:54):
We hit all the main points, you know, just the
idea that you're never too youngor too old, right?
I did things when I was youngand I then I did things when I
was old, and and you know, I'mstill I'm still growing and
learning every day.
Keep going.
Daniela SM (40:07):
Yes, I think that's true.
Uh it's never too late.
You want to do it, you shoulddo it.
It's great.
I I'm glad that that you camehere to to tell us about that
and and to explain that yes, Iknow that women sometimes are
don't want to, you know, theylet they get married and then
they leave the responsibility ofthe finance to their husband
who says that they know more.
You know, something happened,you can get divorced, or you can
(40:29):
be a widow, or and then you'relost and you don't know what to
do.
So I hope that people come toyou and we'll put all the notes
for your courses and theinformation on your website so
that people can learn and reachout when they need your help.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate you having me on theshow.
Yes, thank you.
Linda's story reminds us thatfinancial freedom isn't just
(40:50):
about numbers.
Or maybe that we have enough.
If this conversation spoke toyou, please leave a comment and
share it with someone who mightneed a gentle reminder that it
is never too late to rewriteyour money story and find out
(41:11):
their finances.
Join me next time for anotherstory conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
Hi, I'm Daniela.
Let's talk about what happenswhen you change your money
story.
I'm the flea that's alwaystelling everybody, hey, we can
get out of the jar.
In this journey, I realizedthat I had been undervaluing
myself and accepting a lot lessin pay.
I learned a lot about my ownmoney mindset and my own money
personality and my own stories Iwas telling myself.
(00:22):
My guest is Linda Griseli, amotivational speaker and
financial educator who helpswomen feel confident and make
money decisions that reflect whothey are.
Let's enjoy her story.
Welcome Linda to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Oh, thanks so much for havingme.
I am excited that you have astory to share.
Why do you want to share yourstory?
Linda Grizely (00:43):
I have been sharing my story and want to
share it because I want to helppeople that are in situations
that I once was get to the nextstep in life or the next level
in life, whatever you want tocall it, with knowing that other
people have been there and havegotten through it.
Daniela SM (01:00):
Yes, and I appreciate that.
I think that's why we need toshare stories so people can
learn from other people, youknow, not going through the
situations that you wentthrough.
So when does your story start?
Linda Grizely (01:11):
Well, I like to kind of give a background a
little bit.
So I grew up like lower middleclass in the United States.
You know, I wasn't hurting foranything.
I wasn't super poor, but I knewthat I had less than the than
the people that I were myfriends, right?
And then as I got older, then Imet people who had less than
me, right?
So there was all thesedifferent layers in there.
(01:32):
And the reason I talk aboutthat and bring that as part of
the story is because a lot of mystory has to do with money,
which is what I do now.
I teach about money, but a lotof it has to do with money and
like the scripts that I was toldand the things that I was led
to believe about myself.
I became a mom as a teenager.
So I was a single mom as ateen, figure things out on my
(01:52):
own, and was good with money asfar as like budgeting and living
within my means.
You know, I knew what I couldand couldn't afford.
I think I did a pretty good jobraising my daughter and giving
her the things that she wantedat the same time.
And then later I got marriedand had more kids, and then I
got divorced after being marriedfor half of my life.
(02:13):
At that point, I was a singlemom again, and I had two kids
still at home.
My daughter had was older andhadn't moved on.
Again, was like restarting andrebuilding.
And I think that that's reallywhere my story starts is
actually post-divorce becausethat's when I really started to
do in personal growth and likeinternal works.
(02:36):
What happened was I had owned abusiness when I was married,
and I had to sell it when I gotdivorced because it was a new
business that it wasn't makingenough profit for me to be able
to live off of.
So I had to sell it.
And it was like a baby to me.
It was like the best, the bestjob I ever had.
It was the best thing I hadever done because I was helping
and empowering so many women tolike just have more confidence
(02:58):
and everything.
It was a fitness center.
I got this other job that Ithought was going to be my dream
job.
And it was like, this is what Iwant to do.
This serves everything that Iwant I want to be.
I loved the job itself, butthere were some people there
that were making my life verydifficult.
And also I wasn't, and theystill wasn't making enough money
(03:19):
to make ends meet.
Living as a single parent, Ibought a home in the same school
district so my kids didn't haveto change schools, and it was
very limited as to what I couldafford on my own.
I could have gotten somethingless, but they would have had to
change schools, and I didn'twant to do that to them.
So I'm realizing that I'm goingbackwards, right?
I'm I'm really like spendingmore than I'm bringing in.
(03:43):
There's not a lot of placesthat I can cut back at this
point.
I started thinking about likewhat am I going to do next?
So I started applying atdifferent jobs, but I wasn't I
wasn't able to network, which Ihad always gotten my jobs before
through networking.
So I was like applying online.
And this is back in like what2015, 2016.
(04:04):
So I'm applying online, and Ican't check a box that says I
have a bachelor's degree becauseI don't.
I only have an associate'sdegree.
So I can't check this box, soI'm not getting any interviews.
And I can't go out and talk topeople in network because
there's already people at mycurrent job making it difficult
for me.
And if they find out then I'mlooking for another job, like
(04:24):
I'll they'll just boot me outthe door and then I'll be really
in trouble.
So I'm trying to find a job andnot having any luck.
And someone that I knew verywell in the current job that I
had, I had confided in that Iwas looking.
And he said, I have a positionthat I think you'd be great for.
You'd be working for me ifthat's okay.
(04:45):
And I said, Yeah, I'd love towork for you.
And he said, Okay, let me putyou in touch with the recruiter
at the hospital, because it wasout of hospital.
And so he put me in touch withthe recruiter, and I talked to
the recruiter, and she was like,You don't have any experience
in the healthcare field, and youdon't have a degree.
She's like, I can't even talkto you.
I can't even give you aninterview.
And so even though the personthat would be my boss was
(05:07):
saying, Hey, I recommend thisperson.
I would love for her to workwith me, I still couldn't get my
foot in the door.
And I was like, wow, this is awake-up call for me, trying to
find a real job at post-divorcewith only an associate's degree.
What I did was I took out ahome equity loan, I cashed in a
small retirement fund, and Ijust quit my job and I went to
(05:30):
school.
So I took 11 classes at fourdifferent schools in my very
first semester.
The other thing is, is Iactually got married that same
month, that January of 2017,when I started school.
I got married and I wasbasically like, I love you.
Don't talk to me for threemonths because I got all these
classes I got to take.
Like I was on a mission to getmy bachelor's degree by the end
(05:53):
of the year.
And I was finishing up acertificate that I had already
started that I wanted tocomplete.
And I ended up with graduatingby the end of the year with a
dual major.
So I majored, I had two majors.
That was the beginning of likemy like really personal growth
drive.
Daniela SM (06:09):
Linda, I have to ask, why four different schools?
Linda Grizely (06:12):
So you can only take a they won't let you take
um very many credit hours, likemore than a full load at a
certain school.
So you can only take so many atmy main school.
So then I was also takingclasses at another school where
I was finishing up a certificateI had already started.
And then I took classes at acommunity college that I knew
would transfer in to the schoolwhere I was taking the full load
(06:35):
at.
And then I also took one courseonline at a different school
that also would transfer in.
So I had the four differentschools with 11 classes.
Daniela SM (06:45):
Was there enough time in the day for these and to
study and the projects and allthese?
Linda Grizely (06:51):
Yeah, it was crazy.
I'm telling you, it was crazy.
But you know, it's uh I wasdriven.
I had motivation.
I had it was like, I gotta getthis done.
I have to get back to work.
I just put myself in debt and Ihave no income coming in to
live, like so that I could Icould live while I did that.
What was the degree, the twomajors that you were doing?
So I finished up thecertificate in nonprofit
(07:13):
management, got my degree inmarketing and human resources
management.
Daniela SM (07:18):
You were always very good at budgeting, no matter
what.
You were always very consciousand you were very clear.
That's pretty good because noteverybody had that knowledge
that you already were comingsince you were younger.
Right.
The thing I was missing thoughis that I was never saving.
Yes, but you really didn't haveenough, or like I have to say,
yes, I did have enough and Icould have saved earlier, but I
(07:40):
thought that I didn't haveenough.
Is that possible?
Even if it was ten dollars amonth or a week.
Right, exactly.
Yes.
So that's the uh the mindsetthat is very difficult for
people to get into it.
Linda Grizely (07:50):
It was during the time when I was getting my
degree, or right after I hadgraduated, when I was trying to
figure out what I was doingnext.
I went to a mastermind groupthat was uh talking about the
John Maxwell's book, The Laws ofLeadership.
And it was a friend thatinvited me, and I'd never been
to anything like that before.
I was like, oh sure, I'll go.
Like I'm learning I'mnetworking, I'm talking to
people, I'm like just looking toget myself out there and figure
(08:10):
out like what's next for me.
They started talking about umthe different laws of
leadership.
And one of them is the law ofthe lid.
And the law of the lid is abouthow everybody has their own
leadership capacity and there'sa lid on it.
You can only lead to the levelof your lid, and then you can
develop yourself to make yourlid higher, right?
(08:33):
It's kind of that idea.
The person that was teaching itgave this analogy of these
fleas in a jar.
And you know, the story of thefleas in the jar is if you fleas
can jump really high, but ifyou put them in a jar, they'll
jump out of the jar.
But if you put a lid on thejar, they'll jump and they'll
hit the lid and then they'lljust stay in the jar.
Then you take the lid off andthey still only jump as high as
the lid and they never get outof the jar.
So it's supposed to be a lessonabout your own limiting beliefs
(08:57):
and your own story that you'retelling yourself about, hey, I
can't get out of the jar.
But what I heard was somethingcompletely different.
What I heard was I'm the fleathat's always telling everybody,
hey, we can get out of the jar.
And everybody else is alwayssaying, No, you can't get back
in the jar.
And it was like mind-blowingfor me because all of a sudden I
(09:21):
realized that there was so muchmore to personal growth than
just getting a degree andputting certificates on my
resume, that I really needed todo internal work to learn more
about myself and more aboutother people and how we all
react to each other and in theworkplace and why things are the
(09:43):
way they are.
And so that's when I starteddiving into the books, like John
Maxwell's books, The Think andGrow Rich, The Classics, right?
The tipping point, um, good togreat, like all these different
like books that are all aboutpersonal growth or even business
growth.
And they became my mentors, thementors that I never had
(10:03):
growing up.
Like I never had people thatwere like, hey, this is how you
do it.
Hey, this is what you shouldthink about.
Didn't have that.
So they were my mentors, andthat's where I just I really
just became like a personalgrowth junkie and just started
trying to get ahead.
I hired a coach for a littlebit.
I started my career infinancial services.
As I started my career infinancial services, is when I
(10:23):
started to see, becauseremember, now I'm thinking more
about how people interact withthings, and I'm seeing the
internal blocks that people havewith their money through
financial planning when I'mtalking to clients and they're
like, well, my dad always toldme this, or my sister did that,
or my neighbor said blah, blah,blah.
And I'm like, you're not yourdad, you're not your sister,
you're not your neighbor.
You're you're none of thosepeople.
Your situation is completelynew, unique to you.
(10:46):
And yeah, that's something youcan consider and think about,
but here's why it may or may notmake sense to you.
And even though you could gothrough all the things and say,
yeah, that's not a good idea,they'd still be like, Yeah, I'm
still gonna do it anyway,because that's something told
them.
I'd just be like, wow, it'smind-blowing.
So I got into the thinkingabout like the money mindset and
stuff.
And then I started learningmore about that, and I learned a
ton about myself when I starteddiving into that.
Daniela SM (11:08):
Linda, so you obviously you're self-taught and
driven, and you really like tolearn and like a sponge, take
all this, and you were alwayslike that.
Linda Grizely (11:17):
I don't know if I was always like that or not.
Yeah, I always was interestedin learning.
I didn't read books.
I don't even know what book Iread before before I went to
that John Maxwell mastermindbook.
I have no idea what the lastbook I read was before that.
As a matter of fact, in the jobinterview to the job that I had
to leave, one of the questionsthey asked me is what was the
last book you read?
(11:37):
And I was like, I don't readbooks.
And then here I am, post, andI'm like just like, oh my gosh,
like there's this whole otherworld out there that I didn't
know existed.
So you never really decided towork on HR.
So what I wanted to do in HRwas combine the HR and marketing
concept, and I wanted to workin like company culture and
(11:58):
branding.
So I wanted this combination ofmarketing and HR where it's
like, hey, here's our companyculture, here's our company
brand, you know, this is what wedo to the outside for like
people coming in, like toattract candidates, but then
also on the inside to make surethat we were living up to what
we promised.
And so that was the type ofthing I was looking for, but it
(12:21):
just never came to fruition.
Daniela SM (12:22):
And and the second part that you wanted to do is
actually the difficult part withcompanies that they live up to
the culture that they promise.
Linda Grizely (12:30):
Exactly.
That's what I wanted to do.
But it didn't happen.
But I'm very happy where I'm atnow because I ended up in
financial services, which wasn'twhere I was going.
I eventually got my master'sdegree in financial services
too, but it's not like I wasplanning on going there, but it
made sense.
Daniela SM (12:44):
And then your kids at this time, they were older
enough that even though theywere with you, they they really
didn't need your presencebecause you were so busy with
all these.
Linda Grizely (12:53):
Yeah, they were teenagers, so they were they
were high school age, so and sohow how was your marriage after
the studies?
Daniela SM (12:59):
Like now you could have time for that?
Linda Grizely (13:02):
It's funny because my husband's kind of a
workaholic too, so it really wasfine.
He's uh he's a fireman, so hewould work, you know, an odd
shift, but then he worked asmuch overtime as he possibly
could.
He also had second jobs that hedid, like other places he would
work, so he was gone a lot too.
And it worked out.
Daniela SM (13:20):
Interesting.
So you you started to read allthese books, if I understand
clearly, and then you decided,okay, well, I want to go into
the financial world, and you gota job in in there.
Yeah.
Linda Grizely (13:31):
So how that happened was again, I was
stacking my resume because I waslooking, I was so at the same
time I was looking for the jobin HR slash marketing, I was
also looking in nonprofits.
So I was actually looking downtwo separate, completely
separate lanes.
Like I said, I wanted to have areally big impact.
So I figured company culturewas kind of like a big impact,
and then working for anon-for-profit is another way to
(13:52):
have a big impact.
I was going down both of thosepaths and interviewing for jobs.
Some of these job interviewstook like six months.
Like they were like, we'regonna have you meet with this
team and we're gonna have youmeet with these board members,
and now we're gonna have youmeet with this, and we're gonna
have you do a presentation.
It was like on and on and onforever.
But anyway, so during thattime, I signed up for a
designation called the CharteredAdvisor in Philanthropy that
(14:16):
was to serve the nonprofitworld, right?
It's about legacy giving andand planning for people with
large amounts of money.
I signed up for that, and it'sthrough the American College of
Financial Services.
That when I put that on myLinkedIn is when I started
getting the reach out from thefinancial services people.
So they started calling me,like the usual ones, like, hey,
(14:36):
have you ever, you know, haveyou ever thought about financial
services?
Like, you know, trying to and Istarted having conver I was
like, I'll have conversationswith people, you just never know
what's gonna happen.
As I had these conversations, Iwas like, you know what, this
does make sense, especially as Iwas taking the courses, because
the courses blend plannedgiving with financial planning
and tax planning, right?
So it's like all inclusive.
(14:57):
So that kind of like overlappedall of these things.
And so I was like, this canmake sense because I can really
help people through financialplanning.
And if they decide to becharitable, um, you know, that's
even better.
You know, I can help them planthat.
So I actually had a local uhcompany that does financial
(15:18):
advising and planning hadreached out to me, somebody that
knew me um through the localchamber of commerce had reached
out to me like a year and a halfbefore to ask me when I had
gone back to school, like, hey,I know you know you left your
job and you're going to school,but we need someone to do some
marketing for us.
Would you be interested indoing some marketing for us
part-time?
Because they knew me, they knewwhat I could do, you know, and
(15:38):
I was like, no, I'm I'm gettingmy degree and I'm just really
focused and I don't want to bedistracted by a shiny object of
like a couple extra bucks comingin because I'm really wanting
to just get this degree done,right?
And of course I was takingeleven classes at four different
schools, so there's no way Icould have done a part-time job
too.
But it was just that firstsemester that I did that.
I mean, it did carry a fullload the rest of the time too.
(15:59):
But so anyway, so I went backto the guy and I was like, Hey,
do you still need a marketingperson?
And they're like he's like,Yeah, actually we do.
And I said, Well, I I'd love tochat.
And so I sat down with them andI said, here's the deal.
I can do marketing for you, andI also want to become an
advisor, so a financial advisor.
So can this be a win-win?
(16:20):
Can I work for you and domarketing, but can you like you
know support me in getting mylicenses and becoming a
financial advisor?
And they said yes.
So that was a, you know, agreat match, and that was how I
got started.
Very clever you are.
Daniela SM (16:39):
Do you think that you needed the degree anyway?
Linda Grizely (16:42):
I did need the degree, and then I went and got
my master's degree in financialservices.
So I wouldn't have needed thedegree, the bachelor's degree to
work for them and to getstarted.
I wouldn't have needed that.
But I needed it to get mymaster's degree, and I needed it
to get my certified financialplanner designation because that
you have that's one of therequirements is that you have a
bachelor's degree.
Daniela SM (17:01):
You will still advise anyone that a bachelor's
degree is necessary?
No, not anyone.
Linda Grizely (17:08):
I mean, it's it's very unique to each
person's path.
There's lots of paths that youcan go that don't require a
degree.
I would just say it's unique toeach person.
But I also want to say thatwhen I got my bachelor's degree,
I was 49 years old.
Just because you choose a pathnow and you don't think that you
need one or don't want one,that doesn't mean you can't go
back later and get one.
Um my three children, none ofthem have a bachelor's degree
(17:31):
yet.
One of them is well on the wayto one, and the others are
probably not going to, but maybewe'll decide later in life to
get one.
That's okay because the careersthat they've chosen right now
don't require one.
Daniela SM (17:44):
It's true.
Everybody can have their ownpath when it needs to happen.
Yeah.
Do you think that uh from allthe things you learned through
the financial world, would yousay that your knowledge on
budgeting was something missing?
Linda Grizely (17:57):
Well, I learned a lot about investing and saving
and how compounding interestworks so that you can save up
for retirement later someday.
Learned uh obviously a tonabout that.
But the biggest thing that Ilearned, I learned a lot about
my own money mindset and my ownmoney personality and my own
stories I was telling myself.
I realized that at some pointin this journey, I realized that
(18:19):
I had been undervaluing myselfand accepting a lot less in pay
than I deserved.
And so at some point I realizedthat and was able to ask for
more and move to differentplaces where I could make more
money once I realized what I wasreally worth.
Like all this mindset stuffthat went along with it.
The main thing that I'mteaching now about budgeting,
(18:40):
it's called, I call it the memoney method.
So it's me money, it's puttingyourself as a line item on your
budget.
Because when I did financialplanning, the first thing you do
when clients come in is you yougather all their documents to
figure out how much money theyhave, and then you talk about
cash flow, which is your budget.
It's what's coming in andwhat's going out.
That's what cash flow is,right?
(19:01):
So we look at their cash flowand we list all the things
they're spending money on.
So you list, you know,utilities and houses and cars
and this and that and whatyou're saving here and what
you're saving there.
And then maybe we'll say, like,what do you spend on vacation?
What do you spend going out toeat?
And so you list all thesethings, but never is there was
there a line item that says,this is the money for me.
(19:22):
This is what I spend to get mynails done.
This is what I spend to go outto dinner with a girlfriend.
This is what I spend to go on agirls' trip or a golf trip with
the guys, like if you're a guy,not me.
There was never anything thatsaid, like, this is my bucket of
money for just me.
And that's where me money camein because I actually found it
(19:46):
accidentally when I put myhusband on a budget.
And this is all about mindsetaround money and your money
personality and how givingyourself this own bucket of
money helps you to understandwhat your money personality is,
how you interact with money, andgives you intention to your
spending, which makes you lookat money completely different
overall, no matter what yourmoney personality is.
Daniela SM (20:08):
But me money wouldn't be also entertainment,
going out, is that's kind of thesame, no?
Linda Grizely (20:13):
It is, but so it depends on if you're single or
if you're a couple, right?
So if you're a couple, thenhaving your own money for
yourself allows you to notanswer to the other person and
not answer to yourself also.
Like if you're the saver likeme, who would never spend money
on my not never, but who had ahard time and felt guilty
spending money on myself.
It gave me permission to spendthat money on myself.
(20:35):
And for my husband, who was thespender, he just made better
choices.
He was just like, Yeah, I don'tneed that.
I'd rather spend that moneysomewhere else.
So he was just like, is mymoney worthy of this?
Just made him have betterchoices, which then in
hindsight, like you could tell,like he just had better idea of
like the effect, he was thinkingmore about the effect of money
overall.
Daniela SM (20:56):
Yeah.
For me, I learned that I haveto have a lot of envelopes, so I
open a lot of savings accounts.
Yeah.
So sometimes the people at thebank say, Why are you having so
many savings accounts?
And I was like, You leave me,let me be.
This is these are like myenvelopes.
I have an envelope for me andone for Dave, car insurance,
taxes, you know, and every weekI put money there.
(21:16):
That gave me so much peace whenthe car insurance was due, and
I didn't have to worry thatwhere am I gonna get the money?
Well, oh, here, I've beensaving it for a year, and here
it is.
Or the car needs maintenance.
My husband was stressed.
I'm like, no, that's okay, wehave the money.
You know, I I know it doesn'twork for everyone because I have
a friend who's very good atmoney, and he just have
(21:38):
everything in one bucket and heknows.
For me, it's like I need tohave it individually.
They really help me.
Linda Grizely (21:43):
Yeah, and and that's part of knowing your m
like your money personality andhow you interact with money, and
that's uh a common strategy,but it can be way too
complicated for some people.
Some people like theorganization and like the idea
that it's already the money'salready there, it's already set
aside, and you can just be like,yep, that's where it's coming
from.
I know exactly what'shappening.
And other people want it alljust in one place and they can
(22:06):
keep it in their head, or maybethey're they don't want to pay
attention to it.
But so there's different moneypersonalities and there's
different things that work fordifferent people.
Like you said, if you alreadyhave that account set up for you
and for Dave, like that's yourmeme money if it's just for you
and you can spend money in therewhenever you want, right?
So you've already done it.
You've already done your mememoney.
Daniela SM (22:26):
Yes, yes, I I I do have my meme money.
Linda Grizely (22:29):
Yeah, so that's great.
Tell me more about that becausewhat was life like before the
me money buckets and what was itlike after?
Daniela SM (22:37):
Well, for me, uh I was stressed all the time.
You know, we were living inLondon, England, came to
Vancouver, and I came herefirst.
So I opened the bank accountsand everything.
So somehow I took charge,knowing absolutely nothing.
The only thing that I knew isthat we don't spend too much and
we never had debts.
And having debts will stress meso much.
We always pay the credit cardon time, but every time I had to
(22:59):
pay the bills, I was alwaysstressed.
We had the money, but I didn'thave a an a good structure.
So having this really helpedfor a big peace of mind.
So we we really had enough.
Uh, we we never spent more thanwhat what we could.
Uh the emotional part of themoney connection, though that
(23:21):
wasn't really very well.
So I needed to learn that.
And I think I manage now, Ithink I have it.
Yeah, I think is the hardestthing to get rid of.
Yeah, definitely.
Linda Grizely (23:31):
But you also you don't want to necessarily get
rid of it because it's part ofyou, it's part of who you are.
You just want to understand itso that you can recognize it
when it's happening.
Am I emotional spending?
Am I what am I doing right now?
And and then once you start torecognize it, then you just you
don't necessarily changeyourself, you just know what
you're what you're doing, andthen you can make a different
decision.
Daniela SM (23:52):
And I wonder how we learned that because I know you
you said, you know, I know youwe hear from our parents.
I don't remember hearing toomuch, but I remember if my dad
gave me $10 and he made me workfor it, like I have to polish
his shoes or wash the car orsomething.
I wouldn't know spend it.
I would not I would go toschool with the $10 and I will
have the $10 all the time.
(24:13):
I don't know if if you youreally learned that or how how
is it that some people are bigspenders?
So I I wonder how how welearned that.
It's a lot of different things.
Linda Grizely (24:22):
That's the money personalities that I talk about
too, is like the spender, thesaver, the avoider, the risk
taker, and the security seeker.
So that's all, and that'sthere's probably blends of those
two, but those are the fivethat identify.
But the idea is that you learnthem through your stories
growing up.
So for instance, you said whenyou would do jobs and you'd get
the 10 bucks, you'd still havethe 10 bucks.
(24:43):
But see, the way I grew up, Iwas like, if I needed money, I
did jobs and I got money, andthen I spent the money.
I didn't save the money.
But my parents were also livingpaycheck to paycheck.
So I knew that they weren'tnecessarily saving money and
they were just spending whatevermoney they got.
So I was mirroring what myparents were doing because I
(25:05):
didn't know any better and Iwasn't really taught any better.
So I don't know if what moneystories you have that made you
be a saver, like maybe yourparents were savers, maybe
something else happened thatthat made you like have that
story.
Daniela SM (25:18):
Well, I don't remember, I mean, I remember
having the $10, but I don'tremember having more than $10,
you know?
So maybe in at what at somepoint I did spend it because it
wasn't like I was collectingthem.
So I don't know what happenedto the money.
Linda Grizely (25:33):
And I know that you also uh wrote a book.
I have a chapter in a book.
Lessons from Thought Leaders isa is a book that I wrote a
chapter in.
It's a piece of my story.
And there's I'm like no howmany other authors, a whole
bunch of authors in that bookthat all wrote a chapter about
their story.
They're stories of resilienceand personal growth and just
overcoming obstacles and justregular people have succeeded in
(25:55):
life, you know, want to sharetheir story to let other people
know that that they can do ittoo.
That's wonderful.
You know, and I'm still I'mstill learning things every
single day about myself andabout other people, right?
Like I just uncovered part ofmy own money story about a month
ago when I was having aconversation with somebody and I
was like, oh my gosh, I neverreally thought about that
before.
That's exactly why I have thisentrepreneurial spirit and why I
(26:18):
want to do things the way Iwant to do them, as far as like
make how I want to make moneyand and you know, my drive and
all that.
I'm like, it totally makessense.
Once you open up like your mindto learning about mindset and
personal growth and like whatmakes people tick, it's just so
interesting.
Daniela SM (26:38):
Can you elaborate more about this entrepreneurial
mindset?
Oh, sure.
Sure.
Yeah.
Linda Grizely (26:43):
So it goes back to talking about how I made
money as a child.
So so most of my friends weregiven an allowance.
They had specific chores theyneeded to do, and then they got
their allowance at the end ofthe week, right?
There was a private chart onthe wall that said, Joe does
this one day and and Jill doesit another day, you know, like
it was all mapped out.
Not my house.
My house was just like, youwant money, figure out what you
(27:06):
want to do, and then tell mewhat you think it's worth.
And then there was likenegotiation, you know, I want to
mow the lawn, I think it'sworth three dollars, you know,
and they'd be like, no, it'sonly worth $2.
I'll be like, okay, $250, youknow, and then they give me
$250, I would mow the lawn for$250, and then I go to the store
and buy whatever it was Iwanted to buy.
That's just the entrepreneurialmindset.
I have no problem like goingout and like doing work,
(27:29):
creating things and creatingwhat I want to do to get paid,
rather than somebody telling mewhat I'm gonna do, when I'm
gonna do it, and then giving mea paycheck.
I look back to that and I'mlike, wow, that really is.
That was totally anentrepreneurial lesson, even
though that's not what it wasmeant to be, that's not at all
what it was meant to be.
And then I also could see how Ionly worked to do jobs when I
(27:51):
wanted something and I wanted tospend the money.
I didn't work to do jobs to sto save.
Daniela SM (27:56):
Yeah, because why?
We're young, what do we need tosave for, right?
Yeah.
Then you have this guilt-freespending, and then you you want
to buy a laptop or you want tobuy a TV or something.
And I always get confusedbecause I'm thinking, well, it
is you you need those things,maybe, you know?
So is that me money or is thatsavings here and there?
It seems confusing.
Linda Grizely (28:16):
As far as investing goes, you always want
to have an emergency fund that'sliquid cash.
And that can hopefully it's ina high yield savings account,
right?
But you don't even want it tiedup in a CD, but not investments
either, because if you have anemergency, you don't want to
have to pull it out it if it'sdown, right?
I mean you don't want to and ifit's l if it's high, then you
have tax consequences, right?
(28:38):
Because you have the gains thatyou've made on that investment.
So emergency funds should bekept liquid and you should have
about three to six months ofyour expenses in there.
That's the general rule infinancial planning.
Investing after that would bethe idea.
Or you can do start savingtowards the emergency fund and
start investing at the same timealso, depending on how you're
(28:59):
saving.
Daniela SM (29:00):
But the emergency fund, it seems to me like I get
a flood, my water tank breaks,or something like that, more
than oh, I want a new laptop orI just want to buy a new TV.
Truth.
Linda Grizely (29:12):
Yeah.
The emergency fund is reallymore for you have storm damage
on your house or you got in acar accident, or you know,
you're in the hospital, you gotsick, or that's really what the
emergency fund is for.
But it can be like mydishwasher went out.
And if you have three to sixmonths in there and you decide
you want to spend it on a newlaptop or a new TV, that's fine.
Then just replenish, just startreplenishing that.
(29:34):
But the me money itself issupposed to be specifically for
you as a person.
So it's supposed to be so thatyou have those mini sabbaticals
so that you can spend the moneyon yourself and not feel guilty
about that.
Or if you are a spender, thenit helps you just make better
choices about the money thatyou're spending on yourself.
It also can level the playingfield, like it did for me in my
(29:54):
marriage, which is also anunexpected thing, where we each
had our amounts of B money thatwas.
The same amount.
Like he was the one who wouldwho was going on fishing trips
and golf trips and doing allthese things.
And I was always like, andwe're a blended marriage, so we
got married later in life.
But so that also plays into it.
But then I was the one who waslike, oh, I can't afford to go
on a girls' trip.
But really I could.
I just had like the the worryof because we should be saving.
(30:19):
And like he's spending so much,like I can't do that because I
need to be the one that saves.
But now that the money is thesame, like if I decide I want to
go and I have the money savedin my little me money bucket, I
can do it.
And I don't have to answer toanyone, including myself.
And with me, it was myselfbecause my husband was never
asking me to answer to him.
And I never asked him to answerto me either.
(30:40):
But by putting him on thebudget, I just wanted him to be
more mindful and understand whathe was spending because he was
like, I'm not spending that muchmoney.
I'm like, yeah, you are.
Like, here.
You're gonna monitor it andyou're gonna see.
And he does see it now.
And it wasn't about controllingor restricting.
It was just meant to be like,hey, you just need to understand
it.
It worked, but it worked waybetter than I even thought it
(31:03):
would, because it worked for himbetter than I thought it would.
And it worked for me, and itworked for us as a couple
because it leveled that out.
Daniela SM (31:10):
And then with the me bucket, would you add like if
you want to do your nails, ifyou want to buy clothes?
Is that me bucket?
Linda Grizely (31:18):
Yeah, so it's gonna be unique to each person
and each couple to decide whatit is that they want to include
in that.
Oh, okay.
But I like to think of it asgenerally speaking, if it's
something that benefits onlyyou, then it comes from your me
money.
So if if we take myfingernails, for example, I get
my fingernails done, and thatcomes from my me money because
he doesn't care if myfingernails are done.
(31:40):
But if I had a partner who waslike, oh no, I love, I love that
you have nice fingernails, andI really want you to have nice
fingernails, and that'simportant to me, then maybe
that's not your me money.
Maybe that's your us money thatit comes from, you know, comes
from your joint money.
You know, it's just it's gonnabe so unique.
Like we decided that haircutsthank you for bringing that up
(32:00):
from our our joint money.
They don't have to come out ofour me money.
But I'm not coloring my hair,I'm not spending a lot on there.
But even so, I think that hairitself is like hair maintenance
is important.
Much more important than nails,right?
Let's be real.
So I think hair could go eitherway, depending on the
relationship with the otherperson that you're talking
(32:22):
about.
Like you could think of thingslike clothes.
Like sometimes you have to buyclothes for work.
And maybe that's not comingfrom your meme money, but any
like fun clothes or like, youknow, whatever might come from
your meme money.
It's gonna be so unique becausesome people might be like,
Nope, all of your clothes on allof my clothes are going in my
meme money.
So my husband and I had aconversation about the cable
(32:44):
bill because he watches TV waymore than I do.
And our cable bill is likehuge.
And we don't even do anystreaming, right?
And I'm like, we could just cutthe cable bill and do a couple
channels streaming and we'd befine.
But he's not fine because hewants this, that, and the other.
And I said, Well, maybe thatbill should come out of your me
money then.
(33:04):
And he's like, Oh no, that'snot coming out of my me money.
So we had a conversation aboutit because I'm like, I'm not
benefiting from it, like he'sbenefiting from it.
But right now, it is what itis, and and we're leaving it
where it is.
But at some point, if it reallycame down to it, I could say,
No, I don't even want the cableanymore.
Like, either we cut it or itgoes on your me money.
(33:24):
That sounds very likeaggressive, and I probably
wouldn't say it that way, butyou know, like just generally
speaking, it could come down tothat, right?
Yes, yes, yes.
Because if it's something thatonly he's benefiting from it,
then then he should pay for itout of his stuff.
Daniela SM (33:39):
And you agree that these conversations should be
done in a relationship earlybefore you get married, that you
should know how you are as aspender.
At least have the conversationhow we're gonna save.
Absolutely.
Linda Grizely (33:49):
It's not to say that there's no wrong money
personality.
Just because my husband's aspender doesn't make him a bad
person.
He's not overspending, he's notliving outside of our means,
he's just making it harder forus to save for retirement.
But he also likes to spendmoney on other people.
So it's not like he's justspending it on himself.
But yeah, having thoseconversations in advance is
(34:10):
super important andunderstanding how people react
with money is a lot of youngergenerations are keeping their
money separate, but that iscreating a whole nother set of
problems because if they're notmaking the same amounts of
money, it can leave one partnerfeeling like they're living a
completely different life thanthe other partner because
they're making less.
And so they see their otherpartner that's making more.
(34:33):
And yeah, a lot of times theone that's making more might be
like, well, I'll pay themortgage and you pay the utility
the lesser bill or whatever.
It just creates this whole likeyou and me instead of us.
So it makes things complicated.
So I talk to a lot of peopleabout money stuff, and I have
this one younger couple who Ijust talk to the wife, I don't
talk to the husband.
So she said that they havetheir money separate.
(34:55):
The grocery money is supposedto come from their joint money.
But when she goes groceryshopping and she makes meals,
she buys some things that aremaybe a brand name or a little
extra or whatever.
And he says that he he wouldn'tbuy that and that so she should
pay for that because hewouldn't buy it.
But yet he's eating the foodthat she's making.
And I'm like, okay, there's areally big disconnect here.
(35:17):
Like, this is not this is not ahealthy money relationship,
right?
And this is gonna be you'reyoung and you're newly married,
and this is gonna be a bigissue.
It's just gonna keep gettingbigger and bigger if you don't
address it now and figure outhow to make this work.
Daniela SM (35:33):
I know that you have your book and collaboration,
you you have courses.
What else do you do withpeople?
Linda Grizely (35:39):
So I do uh I've I have courses and a community,
and those are just launching.
I also do um coaching, soone-to-one coaching and group
coaching.
It's money coaching or financecoaching, but it's also all
about personal growth andmindset, all combined in.
So it's not just like I justlook at your money or I just
(35:59):
look at your mindset.
It's like we talk about allthings so that you can like grow
as a whole person financiallyand in life.
Daniela SM (36:06):
Yes, that's interesting.
And do you see that do you havea lot of clients because people
are really interested, or isthis still like a taboo that
people don't want to talk about?
Linda Grizely (36:14):
It is a taboo that people don't want to talk
about, but that's kind of thepoint to it, is that my main
focus is on women who feel likethey're behind and feel like
they should know more becausethey never learned and they were
never taught.
You know, they're midlife andthey're they're like, I don't
know what to do with my money.
You know, I don't know if I'msaving enough.
I don't know what I should bedoing or should it be doing.
(36:35):
They just feel and they don'tknow where to start.
And maybe they don't haveenough money to go directly to a
financial advisor.
Or maybe they feel like thatthey're they don't trust a
financial advisor becausethey're not they think they're
just gonna try to sell themsomething, which does happen.
To be that trusted partner inhelping them understand finances
and learn about them and helpthem with them is is where I
start.
Daniela SM (36:55):
So you are a financial advisor, but you know,
necessarily do you want peopleto give you the money to invest?
So I am not currently acting asa financial advisor.
Linda Grizely (37:03):
I'm a financial coach.
Uh, I have clourses that willteach you how to do your own
financial planning and your ownand and just financial
foundations and and all thingspersonal finance.
Daniela SM (37:14):
And so and when you deal with women, how how is your
success rate?
Do you see that uh you reallycan easily m change people's
mind, or it really takes a longtime?
I mean, I I'm sure noteverybody's the same, but the
majority if you use apercentage.
Linda Grizely (37:30):
Aaron Powell Depends on the person.
Like they have to be open totransformation, right?
They have to be open to theidea of that.
And some people think they are,but they aren't.
And some people think theyaren't, but they are.
So it's just again, there'sthat psychology.
And it's not about changingthem.
It's about helping themunderstand who they are.
(37:51):
So one of the things that I sayis when when you work with me,
you show up as your fullauthentic self.
Daniela SM (37:57):
Okay.
Linda Grizely (37:58):
You're not trying to be someone that you're
not.
That's the only way that youlearn about who you are.
Daniela SM (38:02):
And and I'm curious that you also say that being
good with money and being clearwith money.
What's the difference?
Linda Grizely (38:08):
I mean, I was always good with money.
Like we talked about how I Ilived within my means, I didn't
have debt.
Always was good with money, butI wasn't clear with money in
the sense that I didn'tunderstand how I needed to save,
which maybe some people wouldsay that's not being good with
money, but I wasn't bad withmoney.
And I didn't um also understandmy own worth.
(38:28):
Like I wasn't clear about howhow much I was worth and how how
money r interacts with us inour world.
Like money is with us everysing every second of every day.
It's with us when we'resleeping because we're heating
our homes, cooling our homes,powering our phones, whatever
we're doing.
Money is always there.
It never leaves.
It's like our breath.
Daniela SM (38:49):
To be clear, you do have to read something, take
courses.
You have to understand it.
You have to think about it.
I think old generations,including the new ones, although
I I have tried to make my kidsknow to be clear with money, but
it is not taught in school.
I think it should be taught atan early age.
Emotional intelligence,financial advice, you know, like
(39:12):
all these should be basicthings that everybody should
graduate from elementary or highschool, knowing already how it
works.
And I don't know how it's nothappening.
I just don't understand.
Linda Grizely (39:24):
It's it's amazing because, like I said,
it's with us every second ofevery day.
How how can we not teach it inschools?
Daniela SM (39:30):
And have you done this with your kids?
Were you able to to help thembe clear with money?
Well, we're still working onthat.
Linda Grizely (39:37):
Remember, I didn't I didn't have this
revelation until much later inlife.
So they were already adults bythe time I figured things out.
Daniela SM (39:44):
Yes.
But they're they're doingpretty good.
Linda, anything else that wehaven't touched?
I mean, I'm sure that your lifeis uh too long to explain in
one hour, but is there anythingelse that that I'm missing?
Linda Grizely (39:54):
We hit all the main points, you know, just the
idea that you're never too youngor too old, right?
I did things when I was youngand I then I did things when I
was old, and and you know, I'mstill I'm still growing and
learning every day.
Keep going.
Daniela SM (40:07):
Yes, I think that's true.
Uh it's never too late.
You want to do it, you shoulddo it.
It's great.
I I'm glad that that you camehere to to tell us about that
and and to explain that yes, Iknow that women sometimes are
don't want to, you know, theylet they get married and then
they leave the responsibility ofthe finance to their husband
who says that they know more.
You know, something happened,you can get divorced, or you can
(40:29):
be a widow, or and then you'relost and you don't know what to
do.
So I hope that people come toyou and we'll put all the notes
for your courses and theinformation on your website so
that people can learn and reachout when they need your help.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate you having me on theshow.
Yes, thank you.
Linda's story reminds us thatfinancial freedom isn't just
(40:50):
about numbers.
Or maybe that we have enough.
If this conversation spoke toyou, please leave a comment and
share it with someone who mightneed a gentle reminder that it
is never too late to rewriteyour money story and find out
(41:11):
their finances.
Join me next time for anotherstory conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
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