100 | 100th Episode Celebration🎉: Answering Your Questions About Money

Got a question? Send me a text.

In this special 100th episode, I am celebrating YOU, me and our incredible journey together!  Thank you for being part of this journey. I’m beyond grateful for each and every one of you who has supported the podcast, shared your feedback, and sent in your amazing questions. 🙏💖

When I first started this podcast, my goal was simple: to share my voice and knowledge with the world, uncensored and authentic. What I quickly realized, though, was that money was a topic that resonated deeply with so many of you. Some of my most downloaded episodes have been about money, and that’s when I realized it was time to focus all my energy on this topic. 

As I connected with listeners and clients, I saw firsthand the struggles, fears, and confusion surrounding finances. It became clear that money was the key to helping women create the life they truly desired. 

That's when I felt a deep calling to shift the podcast’s direction. Instead of covering a broad range of topics, I decided to niche down and focus exclusively on empowering women to take control of their money, build confidence, and create financial freedom. That's how Your Money, Your Rules was born—a podcast dedicated to helping women take charge of their financial futures. 

I’m excited for what we’re going to create together over the next 100 episodes. Thank you for being here and sharing your time with me—I truly value you. 

Erin

Want to learn more? Here are your next steps:

Step 1: Join my FREE Facebook Community.

Connect, share, and learn how to master your money with other women just like you.

➡️ Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941450038160915

Step 2: Grab your FREE Human Design chart

Curious what your Human Design chart reveals about how you're uniquely designed to make aligned financial decisions?

➡️ Get your chart here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/receive-your-human-design-chart

Step 3: Ready to transform your relationship with money and build true financial confidence?

Let’s create a strategy that feels aligned, intentional, and empowering—just for you.

➡️ Schedule your 1-hour Money Mastery Call here: https://generatealifewelllived.com/11-support

Money doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Let's create a strategy that feels nurturing and custom to you.

From my soul to yours,

Erin

Episode Transcript

Erin Gray (00:00):
Our feelings are an inside job right.
It's our responsibility togenerate that, you know.
That is one of the reasons whyI named my company Generate a
Life Well-Lived because wegenerate everything from within
first Our health, our wealth,love, all of it.
Do you wanna create a system tostop avoiding your money?
Maybe you're feeling guilt andshame when it comes to finances.

(00:21):
Welcome to your Money, yourRules.
I'm Erin, a former certifiedfinancial planner and CFO, and
yet I used to avoid my money andhad fear, no matter how much we
had.
I can't wait to teach you how Iovercame my money avoidance and
started consistently managingmy finances in a really simple
way.
It's time to get comfortablewith money.

(00:42):
I know the fear that you'refeeling right now because, like
me and so many of my otherclients, they have been exactly
where you have been worryingabout whether you're truly
making the right decisions withyour money.
Maybe you're feeling anxiousabout whether you're saving
enough, investing wisely, oreven if you're even doing the
right things at all.
The pressure can feeloverwhelming, like a constant

(01:04):
weight you're carrying.
You may wonder if you'requalified to even manage your
finances or if you're even onthe right path.
I want you to know you are notalone in these fears.
Every woman that I have everhelped who has overcome her
financial overwhelm has felt theexact same way that you do
right now.
Every success story it beginswith someone saying I'm going to

(01:25):
take control, I'm going tochoose differently.
And even though the fear feelsreal in your body, the truth is
you can still take charge ofyour money and make empowered
decisions.
If you're ready to stop lettingfear hold you back, if you're
ready to break free from feelingstuck or unsure about your
financial future, then today isthe day to make that change.

(01:48):
I'm here to help you do it.
I'll walk beside you, guidingyou every step of the way.
Together, we'll work throughthe fear, break down the
emotional barriers and help youcreate a plan that makes sense
and feels good for you, so youcan finally feel calm and
confident with your money.
If you're ready to take chargeof your money and make the

(02:09):
changes you've been longing for,I want you to say yes For once.
Say yes to you.
Let's work together andovercome that fear.
You can head over to my website, generatealifewelllivedcom to
schedule your one-hour sessionand let's get started.
Hello, my friends.
Episode 100.
Can we just celebrate?

(02:29):
Celebrate you celebrate me,celebrate all the growth that
we've had.
I don't think we celebrateenough.
That's something, that's askill set that I've really
worked through, worked on, Ishould say, over the last couple
of years is to just celebrateeverything, to look at how far
I've come versus how far I needto go.
So I just want to say, ifyou've been around for a while,

(02:53):
thank you for and I might cryand I'm going to let that be
there but just thank you fortuning in every week.
I show up for myself, I show upfor you because I truly believe
that more women need to.
You know, I don't want to sayneed to, but changing the way
that we view money, changing ourrelationship with money, I

(03:13):
think we can change the world,and so I'm just so grateful for
each of you that have tuned inevery week.
For those of you that are newhere, welcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
So I thought what would be funis.
I asked in my email list andalso in my Facebook community
money mindset tips for women inbusiness.
I asked what are some questionsthat you have?

(03:35):
And so I have a couple ofquestions that I'm going to go
over.
So I'm just going to dive intothe questions that you guys have
submitted, okay.
So Carmen asked what is 5D andwhat does that mean in terms of
money?
So, if you've heard me, there'sI think there's one or two
episodes that I have around whatI call the 3D and the 5D of

(03:56):
money.
And so 5D refers literally tolike the fifth dimension, right.
It's a concept commonly used inspiritual and metaphysical
circles and it's a way ofunderstanding more conscious and
intuitive, expansive way ofbeing right.
So if you think about, it'swhat you can't see, it's

(04:18):
sensations, it's feelings.
So, in terms of money, 5d to memeans how I use, it, means more
about the energetics, how Ifeel right when I'm interacting
with my money, versus the actualphysical, tangible actions that
I'm taking right.
So it could represent, dependingon where you are right, a shift

(04:42):
from fear-based, scarcitydriven thinking, which is a lot
of times more often linked tothat 3d or lower dimensional
thinking, to one of abundance,flow, trust in the universe.
So it's something that when Isay the 5d, you can't.

(05:02):
You can't see it, but energy isalways moving around us, right.
So in the context of money,people see money not as
something to hoard or to control, but as something that, because
in the 5D energy flows right,energy is always flowing, is

(05:29):
always flowing, circulating.
So in the context of money, 5dpeople see money not as
something to hoard or to control, but as energy right that flows
, circulates and supports ourhighest good.
You know, in a 5D mindset youembrace abundance and recognize
that you align with financialease and freedom through trust

(05:50):
and flow, rather that fear andcontrol.
So I would ask when I talk aboutyou know, I put my coaching hat
on and I'm like okay, so let metalk about like, let's actually
talk about the 5D.
When we're talking about, let'ssay, we're looking at your
books or we're looking at yourpersonal finances and we're
actually doing the tasks of likegetting clear on where you are

(06:13):
factually with money, then the5D would be and how do, how do
you feel when you see thesenumbers?
That's the 5D.
Thanks, carmen, for asking thatquestion and clearing that up.
Okay, michelle asked how do Istop being clingy with money?

(06:35):
So let's I'll define mydefinition of clingy.
I think being clingy with moneyoften means being overly
attached or fearful about losingit.
So this could show up as eitherexcessive saving, maybe
refusing to spend, or spendingvery minimally, or constantly
worrying about the future, right, this comes back to.
It's rooted a lot of times inscarcity thinking and a lack of

(06:58):
trust in the flow of life, theflow of money and in our
abilities to create more.
So how do you get out of beingclingy is always celebrate where
you are right.
You notice that you are actingclingy and I don't want to say
being clingy, because being isis our identity, right?

(07:21):
You're just acting clingy withmoney.
So celebrate and notice whereyou are acting clingy with money
, right.
Where does it show up?
Where are your triggers?
When does this arise?
What are you doing?
And being really clear on whatcreates the action of feeling

(07:42):
clingy, and then start workingon shifting.
You know your mindset, somaticpractices, right?
Do you want to practicebreathing when you notice
yourself feeling clingy?
Do you want to do some EFTtapping?
Do you want to do some breathwork to move some of that energy
?
Every time I think that we arein some type of scarcity mindset

(08:06):
, it's coming up to be released.
That's energy there that hasbeen suppressed and repressed
and we want to move through that.
So start focusing on sufficiencyand reminding yourself that
money is a tool, right.
It's not a source of security,because if it was a source of
security, everybody that hasmoney all of them would feel

(08:29):
secure.
And we know that that's nottrue, because if you talk to
some people that have money,they don't feel secure.
There is nothing ever outsideof us that will ever create the
feeling within us, and I knowthat we have been taught, at
least in society, that that istrue, right, oh, if you buy this

(08:51):
, you know, face stuff, it'sgoing to make you look X, y, z.
If you, you know, drive thiscar, it'll make you feel.
But it doesn't, because ourfeelings are an inside job.
Right, it's our responsibilityto generate that, you know.
That is one of the reasons whyI named my company generate a
life well-lived because wegenerate everything from within

(09:12):
first, our health, our wealth,love, all of it, and so really
starting to notice oh, where amI thinking that something is
outside of me?
So, training your nervous system.
You know that it's okay toexperience joy and fun and ease.

(09:34):
I think that is a big one formyself and clients is do we have
the capacity to have thingswith ease?
We've been taught by a lot ofour parents that we have to
struggle and we have to workhard and society does this too
right, like even the businessworld.
It's like hustle to make youryou know business work.
It's like, why aren't wetalking about this with ease?

(09:54):
I think a lot of times if Iwere to ask a question like, do
you feel successful or do youfeel wealthy?
Most of the times people mightsay yes, but then if I were to
add on the word with ease, thenthat might change.
So, really starting to trainyour nervous system to have ease

(10:15):
and joy and love easily, youknow easy, easily.
So start slow, I always say, andstart small.
You know what is something thatyou want that you aren't
allowing yourself to have, andso what is that dollar amount?

(10:35):
You know, I wouldn't say, ifyou're not used to spending any
money on yourself, then go takeyourself on a 10 day vacation,
like that's too far of a jumpfor your nervous system.
But what is something that youcould start doing on a
consistent basis and spendingmoney on yourself and noticing
what comes up for you.
And the next step is, you know,letting go of fear, which I

(10:56):
think the way to let go of fearis you actually have to take
action, taking small,intentional steps to release the
fear around spending or saving.
Start spending on things youlove that add value to your life
.
If you're notorious for notspending money on yourself, then
maybe you need to start withlike I don't know monthly
pedicure or massage.

(11:16):
Or just notice the resistanceto when I say those things and
maybe you know a pedicure and amassage isn't your thing.
But what is that you enjoydoing that you're not currently
doing because you might feelshame or guilt.
And they always say you know, inorder to practice generosity,

(11:36):
give money away right In smallways to shift your energy.
Because when someone trulyfeels abundant, they just give
because they know more is coming.
So it can be something assimple as donating to different
charities that you care abouttipping really well.
Like that's always fun, I loveto tip well.
And then I love to think aboutlike how is this server going to
get to use that money?
Like that's so fun.

(11:57):
It's signaling to the universethat you are abundant, right,
that you have more than enough.
More is on its way.
Okay, chrissy asked how do werelease fear around money?
And I know that this might seemsimilar to the previous
question that Michelle askedabout being clingy with money,

(12:18):
but I wanted to put this in herebecause I think our brains are
really sneaky around, how theypresent themselves, right, fear,
clinginess, controlling that,ultimately, like at the base of
it, really, yes, there's, wehave lots of emotions, but
really I always ask myself am Imoving from a place of fear or

(12:39):
love?
One is expansive, one is very,you know, contracting and
limiting.
So, like I mentioned in theprevious answer, just
acknowledge the fear.
Fear around money is common andit can stem from a lot of times
, from our past experiencesgrowing up, what our parents
talked about money, culturalconditioning, even our personal

(13:02):
insecurities.
So it's important toacknowledge that the fear is
there versus trying to push itaway.
Like I think sometimes werecognize that we're in fear and
then we're so quick to just belike I want to get out of it,
but that's still resistance.
So allowing it, doing innerchild work and talking about
like, what do you need?
What do you need in this moment?
And allowing that sensation inyour body to come up and out.

(13:26):
What does that little girlinside of you need in the moment
?
Does she need a hug?
Does she need just like a touchon the face to let her know
that you're going to be okay andthat you're here for her.
You know, many of us weren'tgiven the opportunity to talk
about our fears when we werelittle.
We were told to keep going orit's not that bad Right, and so
we just repressed it andsuppressed it.

(13:48):
So our fear shows us what needsto be seen and I think that
this is a perfect time, like Imentioned just, to do some inner
child healing work.
I don't necessarily like theword healing as if, like, at
some point we're going to be alldone.
I just think that we just keephaving, you know, new levels.
You know you've heard the termlike new levels, same devil.

(14:10):
So it's just what do you needin that moment?
What?
What is asking to be seen, tobe heard, to be felt and then
releasing the fear is reframingright your beliefs, examining
your beliefs about money Arethey based on past traumas?
Maybe some scarcity?
Replacing those negativebeliefs with empowering ones,

(14:32):
like we truly have to rewire ourneural pathways, talking about
telling yourself there's alwaysenough, finding evidence, how is
you know there's always enoughsunshine, there's always enough
leaves, there's always enoughtrees, there's always enough
oxygen?
There's like, really start tothink, to look at where is there
always enough leaves, there'salways enough trees, there's
always enough oxygen, there'slike really start to look at

(14:53):
where is there always enough.
I think also to practicinggratitude, and I don't think
that this is like gaslightingyourself, like how practice
gratitude when you're feelingreally in scarcity?
Think first you always need tofeel what you're feeling and
then get in the habit ofpracticing gratitude for the

(15:15):
money that you have.
Right, money loves to beappreciated, it loves to support
you.
I think it has both masculineand feminine qualities, right?
The masculine part is it lovesto support you and the feminine
is like it loves to beappreciated and paid attention
to.
So how can you do both of thoseso it can continue to support

(15:36):
you?
How has it always supported youall of your life?
How has it always supported you?
How does it want to be aroundyou?
Like really starting to getcurious and asking your brain
and finding the evidence forthat and then, obviously, taking
action.
What are those small steps thatyou're going to start doing to
take action, even when you'refeeling that fear?
You know fear isn't necessarilystop, it's move forward, have

(16:02):
courage and come out on theother side.
Having grown, having learned alesson, I think a lot of times
we think fear is bad or thatmeans we need to stop.
Yeah, fear like oh my gosh, I'mgoing to get out of the road
because I see this persondriving crazy yeah, that's
helpful.
Fear of oh, I don't want toinvest in myself or my business

(16:23):
because I'm afraid not helpful.
So thank you, chrissy, forasking that question.
Okay, the last one is Lindsayasked feeling overwhelmed with a
budget.
Where do I start?
And I know I sound like abroken record, but it's always
starting small.
I think I was just having thisconversation with a client

(16:44):
yesterday.
We we think everything has tobe perfect, we think everything
needs to be just so before weget started, but it actually
stops us from getting startedbecause nothing is ever going to
be perfect and when we live inthat fantasy world, it's just.
It's just a way to keep usexactly where we are.
So how can you get startedright now?

(17:05):
Right, break down some of theseoverwhelming tasks into
manageable chunks.
This is also something that Ido with my clients.
It's like really getting clearand it's a lot of fun when
you're doing work, you know, onyour money with somebody else,
so it doesn't feel so heavy.
So if that's something thatyou're wanting to do.
I'll provide the link in theshow notes and we can really

(17:26):
work through.
You know, in an hour, get someclarity around your financial
position and next steps.
So focus on one thing at a time,rather than trying to overhaul
everything at once.
Here's another way that ourbrain tries to trick us or tries
to stop us.
Right, you start seeing all ofthese different things and then
you just think, oh, my goodness,I have to do all of this stuff.

(17:49):
And I feel so overwhelmedversus, okay, I'm just gonna see
, I'm gonna pull up my creditcard statement, I'm gonna see
everything that we spent ourmoney on over the last month.
Like, just start there, juststart tracking your spending.
Simple spreadsheets, you know, Idon't even think we need to get
into if it's, if, if you'reusing a spreadsheet currently

(18:12):
and it's when I say working,like, okay, I don't really want
to do a software program, thenjust use the Excel spreadsheet.
You can download your creditcard statement into an Excel
spreadsheet and then you canitemize based on categories.
So don't worry about budgetingyet.
Just gather the data, justnotice the sensations you're
feeling in your body, likethere's so much goodness and

(18:34):
awareness, and just noticing howyou're feeling as you're doing
this exercise, and then the nextstep would just be, you know,
starting a basic budget.
Start by categorizing yourexpenses right.
What are the needs versus want,or what I call fixed expenses
versus discretionary expenses?
You could do like a 50, 30, 20,like 50% would be fixed
expenses, 30 would bediscretionary.

(18:57):
So fixed is like things thataren't going to change your
mortgage, your car payment.
Discretionary is going to befood or shopping or personal
care, and then the 20% would besavings and investments.
Now, depending on yourpercentages, if you're off, it's
okay, right, we can, we canchange it, we can allocate it,

(19:18):
and then we can work up to thatand just decide on.
You know where are you spendingyour money and is it an
alignment with your values?
You know, a exercise I alwayshave for clients are like what
are your top three values?
Because if you're not spendingin alignment with your values,
that might be where some of theemotions you know spending in
alignment with your values, thatmight be where some of the
emotions you know the guilt iscoming from.

(19:39):
And also really getting clear.
When you know, right, how do wego somewhere, we plug the
location into the GPS.
So if you don't know what yourvalues are or you haven't really
sat down to think about that,then how you spend your money,
how you invest your money, mightbe a little cloudy because you
aren't clear on your values sooften.

(20:01):
You know, we associate budgetswith restriction, and I really
like to look at budgets as a waythat it supports my lifestyle
and keeps me on track tospending what is in alignment
for us.
And then, once you've done that, just review and adjust
regularly, right?
There've been times maybe ayear or two ago we valued

(20:21):
certain things.
We don't value them as muchanymore, so we've just shifted
the way that we spend our money.
It's totally fine.
You can always make a newdecision.
So your budget isn't set instone, right.
Regularly check in with it,adjust it as your needs change
and then celebrate how faryou've come.
Right.
Who is the woman that sits downand looks at her money on a
consistent basis?

(20:41):
And what does consistent meanto you?
Does it mean weekly?
Does it mean daily?
Does it mean monthly, like whatis that number for you?
But who is the woman that takescare of her money?
Who is the woman that loves tobe with her money?
So thank you, lindsay, forsubmitting that question, and I
just want to say that everybodystarts somewhere and we don't

(21:03):
have to compare ourselves tosomeone else.
We just need to start comparingourselves to how far we've come
right.
What's the?
Are you 1% better than you werelast week?
Are you intentionally workingon your money beliefs and how
you feel with money in yourrelationship with money?
Then applaud yourself and giveyourself an attagirl for doing

(21:25):
this work.
This isn't easy work andappreciate yourself and give
yourself so much love for doingit.
Okay, that's what I've got foryou.
I just want to say thank you,thank you.
Thank you so much for making100 episodes possible for tuning

(21:45):
in weekly.
Also, for those of you thatsubmitted your questions, I'm
excited for where the nexthundred episodes are going to go
and I'm also so proud of myselffor completing the a hundred
episodes.
If you're looking for acommunity of women who are in
the same boat as you are inregards to transforming their
relationship with money and youreally want to connect, learn

(22:08):
from others and also get somequestions answered, I would love
to have you inside my Facebookcommunity money mindset tips for
women in business.
You can click on the link inthe show notes or go to just
Facebook groups and Google.
Not Google, but search in theFacebook.
Money mindset tips for women inbusiness.
Okay, I'll see you in the nextepisode.

(22:29):
Did you learn something today?
Do you know another femaleentrepreneur who might be
avoiding her money?
Will you send this episode overto her for me and, if you have
it in you, please leave me areview for this podcast.
It helps the show grow and Ilove hearing from you.
See you next week.