Why I Closed a 14-Year Investment Account to Bet on Myself Again

Yes, we can have professionals support us, and that doesn't mean outsourcing our intuition. That doesn't mean outsourcing our power. That doesn't mean outsourcing our knowing. Welcome back to another episode of the Yes And Podcast. I am your host, serial entrepreneur, retired stuntwoman, retired therapist, mother to 4 amazing children, and I am building a life I have built a life and I am enjoying that life that I don't feel like I need a vacation from. I have 9 companies, 4 kids, and on average I am working about 4 to 6 hours a week. And I don't say that as a flex. I say that because that is my version of yes and is yes, I have companies and I don't have to work 40 hours a week. And this podcast is all about you creating whatever your version of a yes and life that you desire. So this episode we are gonna dive into something that is probably on a lot of people's minds, which is money and wealth. And I'm gonna share with you not only a really big decision that I made in our financial health as a family, but I'm also gonna share with you how I think about making investments and how I think about making investments in containers or companies or even in our long-term investments. And so buckle up because this episode of the Yes And podcast is here to not only rock your world, but transform the way that you think about your own wealth, your own knowing, and what is enough. Here we go. I'm about to tell you one of the craziest things. That I have ever done. And it's not that crazy. Like, it's gonna sound crazy. And after 21 years in business, I made the decision that I was like, it would be crazy not to. So there's, there's two things. Let me, let me warm up to this. And it's not gonna be a super long episode, but let me warm up to this because I'm sharing with you about basically shutting down. An entire investment account that I had been growing year over year for the past 14 years. And that's not where this started though. So let me go back a little bit. Two weeks ago, Natalie Ellis, who I have been in her CEO Mama Mastermind, I was a founding member and I've been in it for several years, announced that she was doing an AI mastermind. And I messaged her and I said, hey, like, who's gonna be in the mastermind? What kind of stuff are we gonna be learning? And I learned just one other person that was going to be in the mastermind. And she was really honest with me and she said, Bunny, based on what you're doing in your other companies and how you're already using AI, I think the things that we are going to be learning, keyword, learning in this mastermind are going to be a little bit like rudimentary beginner compared to what you already know mastermind. And I appreciated that. I appreciated her telling me the content, the core content that we're going to be learning is probably not for you. And I also appreciated the conversations that I had with myself that said, Bunny Young, you are already in 4 or 5 other masterminds this year. I'm in Cody Sanchez's mastermind. I am in James Wedmore's Higher Mastermind. I'm in like the— there's a— Sunira did a mastermind that was basically for only female founders that had reached a million-dollar-plus net worth. I'm in a peer-led mastermind. And like, I have all of these different groups because I probably have invested $100K at this point just this year in my personal and professional growth and in groups. Because each of these masterminds has this in-person retreat element, and I am not the person that shows up for the monthly calls. There's very few of the masterminds that I'm a part of that I show up for the monthly calls, but I do show up to these elements, these retreats, these connections. Like, I connected with one person this year from Sanera's mastermind that is in Australia, and that made it completely worth the investment there. And that's typically how it works for me, is, you know, in James Wedmore's mastermind, I don't go to the weekly calls. There, there's like 15 of them that you could go to on a weekly basis, but I go to the in-person retreats, uh, in April, and in— I think the other one's in August. And then there's an event in December that I'll most likely go to if they have it. And so I'm sharing all this with you to just kind of help you understand how I think about making these investments and that I'm not making the investment to squeeze every single part out of this mastermind. I'm making the investment because there's elements that I want from each and every one of them. And I'm really clear on the intention. The intention is not, you know, because Natalie Ellis is who Natalie Ellis is, like, it's worth it for me to join this mastermind. I'm in it for the people that are in the mastermind, and I'm in it for the containers and the different aspects of the container and kind of the riverbanks that hold that energy. And so after she said that, I was like, oh cool, thanks. Like, you know, miss you, would love to catch up, all this kind of stuff. And then it kind of stuck with me for a little bit to be like, there are other AI masterminds that I can join. And actually they're probably a less amount of the investment than what her mastermind is. And it still just stuck with me. And the, the elements, the AI, the software that she's gonna be using, the workflows that she's gonna be teaching, it's not a technology that I'm using, it's not a technology that I'm unfamiliar with. And so I just started to kind of like think about it and think about— this is also how I think about masterminds. It's not what it can do for me, it's what I can learn that then I can bring to my clients and my groups, mainly Defy. And hers is around content and around copy. And these are things that I'm really good at speaking, and I'm really good at coaching, and I'm really good in the flow. I suck Sometimes, not all the time, but it's sitting in front of my computer with that blank Word document with the cursor blinking and allowing that flow to happen in a Word format. I, it's like when people ask me, what do you do? My answer is usually, I don't know what to tell you or what to call it, but let me show you and it'll be magic. And I'm infamous for doing this on airplanes when somebody, I'm sitting next to somebody in first class and they're like, You know, what do you do? I'm like, well, I have a captive audience, so let me show you. I've created so many multi-five-figure clients on an airplane. And so I said yes. I said I was going to join the mastermind. I'm like, I understand what you cautioned me, you know, I understand the whole point of that. Like, also, she knows me, she knows where I'm at in business. And so to not have to, like, to take that relationship deeper and to have her pour into me and have her be in a container that I'm already known and already trusted, not having to start over, that's worth something as well. I'd rather go deeper into a container I already know and that a container that has worked for me than to continue just like new and next and all of this kind of stuff. Dig one 100-foot well versus digging 100 1-foot wells. That is not the craziest part about this though. Before we go any further, I just want you to know, if you're listening to this and you are like, absolutely, I want to learn more about this mindset and more about not just money, but also energy and time and all the things that I can do to align my life and my work, entrepreneurship and my energy, strategy and intuition, I have something that I want you to go right now, as soon as you're done listening to this podcast, or if you can do it while you're listening to this podcast, even better, bonus points for that, is to go to abetterplaceconsulting.com/worklifealignmentchallenge, W-L-A-C, abetterplaceconsulting.com/wlac, and you will be able to get our Work-Life Alignment Challenge Day 1. It is over an hour of deliciousness, and I want you to know that on Day 2 we go into time, and Day day 3, we go into money. And you can get that entire week— you're talking hours of content— at a very discounted rate because you're a part of this podcast community. And so that is there. It is a celebration for you being a part of this community. And so just go to that link, click on it, it'll walk you through the steps, and DM me the word align. You're gonna get day 1 for free. That is my gift to you. And you're gonna want to keep going afterwards. And so just know that we have something special for you. You're going to be able to do it. The link is below. It is a 5-day transformative immersive experience. You're not even going to know that you're not there live. We do this once a year and it is just our most popular event, and I just want to gift that to you. You're just going to be able to feel what it's like to be able to take this information that I'm sharing with you on this podcast and go even deeper. So Enjoy. The craziest thing about this that I'm sharing with you comes from the investment standpoint. So I have a money date the 10th and the 26th where I go through all of our accounts and I mean, I credit cards, mortgages because we have multiple properties and investment properties. I go through the interest rates, I go through our companies, the 9 different companies' finances, and just look over everything. It does not take me that long because now I have a system for it. And one of the things that I was looking at is our money that we have in our operating expenses and in our savings is at— in a high-yield savings account and what that interest was gaining. And then I was looking at our investment accounts, and I have one investment account that I have had, like I shared, for about 14 years. And when I started, this was a financial advisor that I knew and I had a network with, and I've put about $200 a week into this account over the last decade. And so you can do the math on that. And I'm sitting here looking at this investment account and looking at its performance, and I had shared with somebody else on a mastermind call, um, actually it was on a podcast, about how I I looked at that investment account, because since then I have taken over my own investments, and I've kept that account as our smallest investment account, to be clear and to be transparent on that. But because every single year at the end of the year, I get this beautiful report that tells me how that account has performed and the number on that account, and I have beat it every single year since the first year that I took over our investments. So basically, instead of putting more money into that investment account, I started two secondary investment accounts. And this is— none of this is financial advice, but I'm going to be super transparent in it. One is in Stash and one is in Fidelity. I'm not going to give you the amounts or the breakdowns or anything like that, but what I started to do was put a little bit of money into a Stash account and just see how, how my choices performed versus this professional financial advisor. And then when I got a little bit more confident, then I opened the Fidelity account, and I decided, you know, at 80% of our investments, I was going to do 20% for them. And now it's probably like 95-5%. And so with that 5%, I was looking at what it had done, and the growth of the account was pretty consistent, but it was growing because of the deposits. And so, for example, there was one month where, you know, $200 a week, I put in $800, and the account account's growth was $734. Now, you know what, there's going to be months where that happens. It's not every single month is going to be a home run, right? You've got to look at the, the long-term results. But at this point, I have a decade, over a decade worth of long-term results. I'm thinking to myself, you, you have what is the equivalent to like 5 to 7 years of somebody's salary sitting in this account, watching it underperform, just so you can know and prove to yourself that you're investment strategies are working, and at what point does that make sense? And this came from looking at the finances, and then I started to think about the mastermind and my investment with the mastermind. And I'm like, you invest— this mastermind's $15K. You invest $15,000 in this mastermind, and you know you're going to 10x that, that result, right? Even if you got 10% back on that mastermind, that is still outperforming what this investment account is doing. Why do you have the investment account? And so I drafted up an email and I, my first email said to stop the $200 a week transfers. I was going to put that towards another account. And then I deleted that. And then I said, we're going to take out 75% of the funds. And then I deleted that. And then I just said, it's time to close this account. And how I feel saying that to you and how I feel sending that email is like, I, I have been all in on myself for the last— I will say I started A Better Place in 2004, 2014. Okay, so that company is about to be 12 years old, and I still had a side hustle, I still had a J-O-B, and my companies really took off when I went all in, when I stopped diluting my energy and I stopped having one foot in and one foot out. I'm not telling you to quit your J-O-B, And that's the only way to go all in. But you know, energetically what all in feels like. And I am at a point in my life now where the companies are incredible and I'm so blessed and I have the systems to support them. Now I'm in this season of making my money work harder than I do. And that, that was my mantra is my money works harder than I do. And I'm at a season and at a space in level in my life where my job is to pour back in this energy into my community and into my family so that my family and my clients can have whatever version of this life that it is for them. And my wish and my prayer and my dream is that the money that my companies currently make can go back out into the community through philanthropic ventures, through investments, through investing in other women-owned companies, through other ventures. We just donated money to build a well in Africa last year. And so that's what I, what I want to do. And I really want to enjoy this life. And even though this account year over year was underperforming, I was letting it go as proof that I was doing okay. And kind of as like a backup for the one year that I didn't outperform it. That may or may not ever happen. However, what it's costing me having this money underperform and not going all in energetically, and that ended today. It ended today. And as I had a little bit of trepidation sending that email because I've had this relationship, like I said, for 14+ years. And so I'm like, oh man, what are they gonna think? And all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, no, what am I gonna think? This is no longer the season of me doing things to make other people happy. This is the season of I'm gonna be the villain in some people's stories. And if me being the hero in my story makes me the villain in others, that is their own story. That's not mine. My story is I get to be the hero. I don't have to save my family. I don't have to save myself. I am— it's not a Greek tragedy that is the story that I'm living in. It's the story where I'm going all in on my life and on myself. And I am a huge fan of having professionals support you. And I think that the financial industry, that having somebody that understands, that can work on a wealth strategy with you is different than having somebody that you only hear from once a year and that, you know, is not actively invested in you and just getting the dividends from the money that you have worked for and that you are investing in your future. And so I'd rather invest that money in myself or in another female founder or as an angel investor somewhere else, because the energetic dividends on that and the financial dividends on that are just exponentially more. And so I wanted to share that with you because this isn't something that I have talked a whole lot about as far as my investment strategy. And again, this is not financial advice. I am not telling you where to put your money. I am sharing with you my evolution and my experience into this wealth mindset where I've gotten really clear and I've taken the action, the messy action. I have made the money and lost the money and made the money and lost the money. And this is the third time I would say where I've gotten to a point that I can retire. And Now it's like, what do I want to do with that? Is I want to continue working and getting better and better and more honest with myself about where my energy can still be fine-tuned. It's not about investing the money as much as it is in trusting myself and in this chapter and in this journey to say, I am enough. Not this is enough, not this is enough money, this is enough time, this is enough energy. I am enough, and because I am enough, then I can make decisions from there. And so this really was a representation of that with saying, nope, we can close the account. Like, I trust myself fully. Not I trust myself enough. I trust myself fully. Slow that down, pause for a second, say that out loud with me. I trust myself fully. Take a deep breath. And as you do that, there is something that is already coming to mind that maybe gives you a little bit of those flutterbees in your tummy. As you say, I trust myself fully, there is an action, there is a decision, there is an email that you have not sent yet that you are going to send right after you're done listening to this podcast because I trust myself fully. You trust yourself fully. And when you do that, you not only make the world a better place, Yes, but your energy shifts, the decisions, the thoughts, the behaviors come from that identity. Yes, we can have professionals support us, and that doesn't mean outsourcing our intuition. That doesn't mean outsourcing our power. That doesn't mean outsourcing our knowing. Yes, we can be wealthy and still want more. Yes. You can receive all the abundance and trust yourself fully. Yes, and in all the ways. I'm sending you so much love. Thank you for dropping in and listening to this episode of the Yes, And Podcast. I would love, I would love for you to go to Instagram or go to your social and tag me @thebunnyyoung on Instagram. Any of the other socials that you need are going to be in the show notes. And say, because I trust myself fully, and then tell me what decision you're making. I want to hear from you. So wherever you have listened to this, if you took us in the shower, if you took us on a walk, wherever you listen to the Yes And Podcast, wherever you're binging, if it's in your car, I am there with you. I am sending you so much energy because yes, you are such an incredible badass and you are making this world a better place. And all of the other things that you desire are here for you, and I am in full support of that. I am Bunny Young, your host of the SAN Podcast, and I will see you on the next episode.