Ep.10 How to Prosper in Times of Financial Setback with Jody Moore

Hey, everybody, this is Madeline from Strasbourg coaching, and you are listening to the money is not your problem podcast. I use what I love most, my LDS faith, the common sense of Dave Ramsey's baby steps, and Brooke steals life coaching tools to help you identify and manage the real issues behind your financial problems.

Now, we've got another guest today who is an expert in another area.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Hello. Hello. Jodi again.

Hi, Madeline. Good morning. How are you?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Good. I do love your shirt.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I. Let me just briefly introduce you so to anybody, whether you're listening here live or on the. Well, I guess it's going to be different if you're listening to this on the replay. If you're listening live, I'll tell you in just a minute how the logistics are going to work. But let me just. First of all, thank you so much, Madeline, for. For taking the time bringing your expertise to us here.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Madeline.

I'll just read your bio, then you can add anything you want. Okay. Madeline Strasberg, she has a master's degree in education and. And fpu. Is that financial?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Financial Peace University. Yes.

University.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah.

Which is Dave Ramsey's.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

Right. Certified Ramsey financial coach and certified life coach at the life coach school with Brook Estillo. And then it says here that you have 18 experience. 18 years of experience teaching math and personal finance at high.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

And you're a Brazilian who doesn't like soccer or samba.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: No, I'm a. More of a rock and roll hair. Metal hair band.

Yeah. I love it. Okay. But we do love cheese bread. Of course.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

And brigadeira. What's that?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: It's like chocolate truffles. I have a picture here.

Oh, that looks amazing. There's the cheese bread. I know that cheese bread from when I worked at Rhodesia Griddle. Yes.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So I know I had to bring that up because I didn't know that, and I love that about it.

Oh, it's so good. Okay, so the way this is going to work, Madeline's going to teach us. I will pull up your. Your PowerPoint, Madeline. I've got it ready to go here. She's going to teach us a bunch of information. Now, I want to just preface this. She's going to be talking to us about how to thrive during financial setback times, which is very relevant right now as we're in a recession and everybody's feeling nervous. Madeline is a coach, so she understands the thought work piece, which is what I love about what you do, Madeline. She's also going to be giving us some tips and suggestions and things that we can try that go in more of the action line of the model, which is really useful. I want to keep in mind everybody that it's useful to learn in the action line, but don't be careful about your head trying to go to scarcity. I feel like with money, especially, as soon as we start learning some, I know you're going to teach us some strategies and things like that that the brain wants to go, oh, I think we should be worried about this. And what Madeline's going to teach is really useful information, and you can stay in abundance and implement it. So I just want to preface with that. And then logistics wise, Q and A box. Just like always, feel free to put questions in the Q and A box. I will keep an eye on it. I will interrupt Madeline on occasion, and she'll pause for questions. So please feel free to type questions in there anytime. Madeline, somebody wants to know, what is the sign behind you?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Say, invest in yourself.

Invest in yourself. Brilliant. I love it so much. Okay.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: It doesn't look too good. So because of the life. All right.

Anything you want to add or do you want me to just put your slides on and get rolling?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: No, just make sure that everybody, anytime during the presentation, you have a question, just post it out there, and I'm going to have a couple of questions for you. So your participation during the workshop is going to be more helpful even if you don't cover everything. I will offer you the. The resources I have if we don't get you. And how much time do we have, Jodi? An hour.

We have an hour.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah. Okay. All right. Hello, everybody. Good morning. And I'm excited to be here with Jodi. Um, we're going to talk about how to prosper during financial setback times. And you might be thinking that it's not even possible. Right. So let's first go to the next slide and see what does the word prosper mean? So if you want, write it on the Q and A. What does prosper mean? What does mean? What does the word prosper mean? What does the verb mean? Right. We're very familiar with the first definition. Right. Let's see. Keep growing. All right, what else we got there? Anybody else? When someone says prosper, what do you think? What is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Somebody says to feel secure. Can you see these in the Q A or no?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: I can. Oh, you can.

Okay, good. Okay.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: All right. Usually we think success. Usually we think more related to money. Right. We always think that prosper means someone's Gonna get rich or someone's gonna have lots of something. Right. So there are other two definitions that were not very famous, which are the second and the third one. Right. So flourish, fill, physically, grow strong and healthy and make successful. So although the steps I'm going to give you today will help you achieve all those three things, if you put in place, we're going to focus on the second and the third one. And I'm sorry if you came to this workshop thinking that I was going to teach you some kind of hack for you to. To get extra money or get rid of your debt without having to do anything, or if you have to sell, I don't know, I was going to give you some inside trade. I'm sorry, Jody. We might lose some people. Now that's what I'm going to give us.

A stock market secrets.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah, I don't have that for you. I'm so sorry. But it's always good to know that we can prosper. We just need to expand our understanding. What does the word prosper mean? So we're going to really focus on the first and the second definition. All right, so here we go. Let's go to the next one.

Okay. Okay.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: It's the question, what are some of the financial setbacks you're facing right now? So on the Q and A, but for me, what do you think is a financial setback that you are going through right now or if you faced in the past that you can think of that made a big difference for you? Okay, let's see. All right. I'm a six year old grandma who has never had a full time job. I rely on my husband's income and now I'm worried about retirement. I feel like I'm being punished for being a stay home mom. What advice do you have for me? So we're going to come back to this one and we can talk about that. Hopefully by the end of the workshop, you might be able to have some ideas of your own, because that's what we're here. We're here for you to create your own plan.

Right?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Okay, so let's see what else I got. We got changing jobs. Yes, that's a financial setback. Not having money for retirement, like she brought it up, that is a big setback. Not believing I can make the money I want. That's the scarcity mindset that you already talked about. Not enough income to cover expense. So you have too much month at the end of the paycheck. Right. You slide back into unplanned debt. That really has to do with our mindset. And we'll talk about that. Just bought a business and now I have to make sure I pay it back. So debt, right? Trying to spend less than the income. So spending wisely or reduce income, increase expenses. That's true. Less income. Paycheck doesn't cover the bills. A debt loop. My consulting practice is struggling. So business issues, hurricane repairs are uncovered by insurance. You see those insurance companies are there to make a profit, right? So it's very, very frustrating that we get something and we think we're going to have the best service. And sometimes we don't get that. Right? I'm a single mom and the only one contributing to the household, and this recession is making me nervous. I have very little retirement savings at 52. I'm single with an okay job, but groceries getting more and more expensive. I can't even afford eggs anymore. Yeah, it's time for us to start raising chickens, huh?

None of us can afford eggs anymore.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: I know this is crazy. So. So those are really situations that can cause a lot stress, right? Because the way we think about it and because of times that we have to do what we are, where we are right now in our lives, right?

And I want to just. Sorry, can I interrupt you for a second? I want to just have everybody consider that as we type these things in, I always want you to keep in mind the difference between facts and thoughts, right? Like, my consulting practice is struggling. Is that a fact or a thought? It's not wrong to have these thoughts, right? But we talk about these things as though they're facts. It's really important that you know that they're thoughts. My consulting practice is struggling make it facty because that gives you leverage to get yourself into more abundance. And I just. I just want to be clear. Like, these are all thoughts, right?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: And it's. It's how we consider them, right? So that's. That's the thing. All those things that you get that you guys gave us, we consider them. We can consider them adverse or challenging the way we think about them. That was exactly perfect that Jody just brought that up because. So then if we think that those things are challenging and verse. How can we possibly prosper during the fight? The times that we're facing, right? That we're going through these things that we think they are so adverse to us. So this question even seems contradictory. How can we prosper? Right? But since you are part of Be bold, we're going to use the model a lot. We're going to model what we're going to do today, my little plan for you, my simple plan for you is going to be based on the model.

Now.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So the goal for this workshop on the next slide is learn how to see opportunities during the financial setbacks, what we consider them to be setbacks. And then we're going to define a three step plan that you can follow to feel better and prosper during those adverse financial times. Maybe you might be thinking that you're never going to get to that point where you can think differently, but if we do a little bit at a time, we build that confidence that we can do one little thing at a time and that's going to help you. And then when next time we have another situation that you consider that you could consider as a financial setback, you're set up to not think that way. All right?

And I love this, I love your number one point here because I know people like, oh, great, you're going to tell me to think positive about not having enough money to cover my bills. That's not what we're seeing here, you guys. We're not saying think positive about a challenging financial situation. What Madeline's saying, like, especially with number one here, there are opportunities all around all of us to make more money or to, to excel in whatever way you want to. We don't see those, we don't notice them, we don't think of them, we don't come up with them, we don't have the conversations, we don't look Google the right things. We don't see them when we're in scarcity. So this is about also changing your result line and changing your next circumstance line. But the way you're thinking about it is the way to do that. So I just want to be clear on that.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: That's why since you guys are in this wonderful, incredible program, Be Bold. I was part of the Bold for many years and that has changed everything for me because once I started using the model, then we are able to really separate what is the fact and what is the thought, right? So I create. I came across the model perfect. I came across the model in life coaching after I've done all the practical steps that, that I learned following the Dave Rams program. So he has the baby steps. I was on baby step number three, which was I had just finished paying off all of our debt and I had over $300,000 in debt. That was just, I thought it was crushing me. I had this thought, right? So the plan I'm going to share with you today is Going to help you make that transition from one thought to moving on, right? So we finally had paid every single debt. But I still, I still had to my thoughts of struggling with my job, with my husband's spending habits not making enough money, the elections, the Brazilian economy, because I live here in the United States. But then I still have family over there. And the housing market collapsed back in 2006. It took my peace and increased my health problems. I had so many migraines. I suffer migraines all the time, and they were just unbearable. I would come back from work and I would go straight to bed and hoping my kids would fend for themselves because I was miserable, right? That's because it was all in my head and all that stress inside of me, the way I was thinking about the situations were making me actually sick. So that's when I joined Be Bold and I dedicated time to truly learn how to separate the circumstance and the thoughts. And then I decided to see things in a different way. It made all the difference for me. And forever I'll be grateful to Jodi and the life coach school. Like everybody, I'm exposed to the media and what they say about the economy, the cost of the pump, the cost of the grocery store, and the expert and not so expert opinions and predictions for the country and for the world. But because I have taken those steps that I'm going to teach you back then in 2006, today, on several financial setback times in my life back then, I am trained to find the opportunities and prosperity. So think about, grow strong and make successful during times like this. I am not stressed right now. I understand different things. I see them happening. I see the cost of the grocery store. I see all those things happening. But I'm like, hey, if I'm good in cash right now, if I have my emergency fund and if I have an extra cash, I can buy more stocks on my mutual funds, right? I can see different things. We're looking to buy a new house, and I'm not stressed about anything. I was like, okay, we got a down payment, we're out of debt, we have an emergency fund. Let's go find my house, right? So I am not stressing to the point that I cannot take actions in other parts of my life because I'm listening to all these things and I have a plan that already put in place that made me feel peace. I'm doing things. Okay, didn't work out this time. Okay, let's move on to the next and find another solution, right? But when we're stuck in that loop that you hear and they. It's the echo chamber. You hear more about the recession, more about the increase of prices and inflation. You keep hearing more and it just. You stay in the loop of that negative thought and you don't see the opportunity, you don't see the way out. So let's look at the first step. I'm going to offer you the first step. The first step is a step back. So you're going to take a step back. So you're going to separate yourself from. Basically you're separating the thought from the circumstance, right? You're going to take a step back and you're going to detach from the emotion of the situation. I was going to use this detached term that Jocko willing. We love Jocko over here. And Jocko use it all the time. So I'm like, I'm not going to steal from Jocko. But anyway, that is.

Choco would want you to steal it. Madeline.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: I know, right? I met him. He's awesome.

Yeah, he is awesome.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So detaching means is take yourself away from the situation. So take a step back, right? So if you have a situation right now, let's say you are going through a divorce right now. So then your husband's going to leave. You're the only one that provides. You're going to go from two income to one income or never having to work. And now you have to work, right? This seems really overwhelming when you think, I'm never going to be able to do anything or I don't know how to work, I don't know what to do. Take a step back and let's look at the facts. So I'm going to use an example. Last month I went to Brazil to visit my family and they had an election last year which I did not agree with the person who won. So I start having all these fears. And. And when we do the model, we pick one thought and we work with that because it's the process that's very important and it's going to create that emotion. But we all know that the circumstances, they create several types of thoughts that create different feelings. And each one of those feelings is going to let us to, I don't know, maybe act in different ways, right? So when I heard about the Brazilian election, I thought that was a fraudulent election. That made me outraged. Then he is going to destroy the country. That made me so angry and my family is going to suffer. Then I had fear for my family and then there's nothing we can do. I Felt hopeless. So all these things, they're not helpful. They're not going to help me deal with that situation that I have right now. So even if any of these thoughts were true, right. Once I decided to take a step back and detach from the emotion, I can decide. I was able to decide with more clarity, what are the next steps. So, okay, and one thing that's important that we never do much is to see what we have been doing that was helpful, that we, that was actually useful, that we did it, right? So even I thought, okay, there's nothing I can do, okay? So I direct to my brain, okay, what did I do that was that I could do? So I voted, right? I prayed for the country. I participated indirectly, I participated in manifest. So my brother went to manifest in different protests. So we participated on those, right? And we asked for the intervention. They want the intervention from the military, so they, they did that. So those are the things that I.

Was able to do.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Could I do anything?

Sorry, so you're saying you directed your thoughts down to like, what could I do?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Well, at first I direct my brain to find the evidence of the things I did.

That you did do. Okay, yeah, that I did do.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So I was able to vote, I was able to participate as much as I could, right. I followed the news as much as is it true, Right. So I kept myself informed, let's put.

It that way, Right?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah. So then I heard both sides and I'm like, I look at the evidence, how was the last time he was president, you know, those different things. And then I decided, okay, now this is the situation, what am I going to do now? So without the emotion of anger, fear, frustration, outrage, I stepped back. I was like, okay, what can we do now? What do I know now? Well, I know that he's a president, so what am I going to do? So if I had the thought that I don't trust him around money, so then what I do, that's the next, the next step would be conserve and reserve. So these relates to the actions will take based on our assessment of the situation. So let's say someone's getting divorced. You're going to have to look at the divorce decree and see what it says there, right? So based on that information, then you can decide how much money you have to, to bring as an income to support your life and all that. Is there child support involved is not. Right. So you have to look at the facts. Again, we're looking at the facts, right? So here's some of the actions that I Can take right now. Okay. With the economy and the political situation in Brazil, I can continue to participate in efforts to make elections less fraudulent or prevent those efforts. I have a plan. I have investments in Brazil. I have a plan for my investment. So I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do this with my investments, and I'm gonna do it quickly because I don't know how the situation changed over there. And ultimately, and that's so important that we have our faith. And if you guys believe in God, most of us that aren't, be bold. Usually we're Christians, so we believe in God. And so I have to trust that God knows and loves his children. His children in Brazil, he watches over them. And I'll have the strength and that I'm able to have the strength and endure that and even prosper during times of uncertainty. So you have to rely a little bit on your faith as well.

Yeah, I love that. I want to add too, that I feel like in this step, because we want to participate, we want to have a plan. And I know for me, anyway, a lot of times it's like. But I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't even know what obstacles are going to come, right? So if it's like, I'm facing retirement, I don't have the money, or like you said, there's been an election, I'm not happy with the results. What I find to be useful is to shorten my lens length a little bit.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

Because our brains want to figure out the whole plan. Like, how am I going to survive in five years? What am I going to do if this president makes these decisions that I don't like that. That, you know, cause my family to suffer? But all of that, none of that's even happening right now. Like, really, what do I need to figure out today? What's going on today? Do I have a means to put food on the table today? And if not, how am I going to get food on the table today? And there's going to be times to lengthen that plan, but if you don't know, then all you have to do is shorten it. Is it today? Is it this week? Is it this month? Like, what's as far out as you can see some useful action that you could take? Focus on that and take steps forward.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: I love that you brought that up. When Frozen 2 came out, you gave a Monday magic email. Oh, yeah, Anna. And yes, the next right thing. I love that. That is my favorite from the whole movie. What to do the very next thing.

Just the next thing that's.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah, just the next thing that you have to do. Focus there. I love this to bring the, the focus over here. Instead of looking the whole plan or the whole country or the whole economy, right. Or the.

For people that want to grow their businesses or whatever, like what is the next step you need to take? Just take that. Because we don't know the road ahead. Most of us, we can't always see very far ahead because we're going to.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Create that road because based on how we think we're going to create that. So here are some practical ideas because, you know, I'm a money person, so it's always a good day to talk about money. So I'll give you some practical ideas. Okay? So if you feel that you're in a situation that, that maybe it's right now you're feeling uncertain and you don't have money for retirement, you see the prices going up and all that now, or if you're anticipating something's coming up on the horizon, so you hear people being laid off in other places and your husband, or you don't have a job that is too safe right now or too secure, or you heard rumors that things are going to happen to quiet down your, your brain, you do the next right thing. You do a plan, you create certain things that will be conserving and reserving. So what does that mean? Well, you conserve what you have and you reserve. You build your reserves. So it could be spiritual reserves, emotional reserves, and in this case, we're talking about money reserves as well. So get your bills all cut up, okay. And then create a super tight budget. If you think that money is not going to be available, you have to, you know, create a super tight budget. Eliminate things that you don't have to do right now. So if you're thinking, I would like to remodel the kitchen, wait a few months until things feel for you. And when you look at evidence that things are a little more stable with your income, don't do anything that you don't have to do right now on, during a situation where you're, you think it's a financial setback. So get your bills all cut up and create a super tight budget. Two, don't pay extra on any debt until you feel you're back to a more stable situation. So if you're playing, going through a plan like the Dave Ramsey plan where we pay off the debt first, notice that the first step is always have that $100,000 emergency fund a started emergency fund. Once you have debt, you put your bills in order and then you have that first thousand, then you have a little bit. So if you get a flat tire or if you get something that is truly an emergency, you have a little bit of cash there, safe for you. Okay? Then don't pay anything extra on debts. Just pay the minimum and just for a season, just for now, just pay, just keep everything current. Then pile much, as much cash, cash as you can. All right? So keep your bills in order and put as much money in savings as you can. Because cash is going to be your friend in a time when cash is going to be important. So if you lose a job and if you have cash, then you know that you can have a little bit there to cover the four walls, right? The utilities, your house payment and food and modest clothing. Not modest and not showing things, but like not buying address for prom right now or anything like that. Right? But with something simple, right? Go through DI and go find big findings. Okay. Use a coupon at di. I love that. Stop on any unnecessary spending we talk about. Don't plan for any major projects, renovations or vacations or you know, you just tied up the below the belt and just be really tight whatever you do. Okay? And then if you can, sell anything that you're not using. So a lot of us have a lot of stuff. And if you have any crazy expensive loans or like a car, for example, sell it and buy it yourself a beater with cash. That way you don't have the extra expense. In a month it might be upside down. Well, if you're upside down, then that's the only thing, I guess I, I agree that you should get a loan, pay that off, have a smaller loan and then continue to pay it off. Okay? But don't do anything major right now in a financial setback time. And then do not sell or take money from retirement investment. Because what happens is when it's time for you to do the tax return, you're going to have to pay taxes on money. That's retirement. So leave it there and don't add anything extra to the investments right now. Just leave everything be. Just wait the most tight you can. Well remember that things are constantly changing. So nothing is good, nothing good or nothing bad lasts forever in this life. But with faith, hope and intentionality, you may possibly come to a place where you consider the possibility that you're capable of going through difficult things, that you're deciding to see the opportunities and setting yourself up to take advantage of better times. If you do this right now, when another crisis come, what you think is a crisis, you're better set up to face it with more, you know, be able to see more opportunities.

That's so good. Madeline. I want to just say I, I'm sure we can all relate to having struggles financially from time to time, if not frequently. I had many, many experiences of financial struggle in the past before I had my own business. And I, I can tell you that these things, if you're like me, my brain wants to go to self pity, make me the victim. Like poor me, I can't do anything fun. I can't. I have to really tighten up my budget. I can't eat out. I have to like, that's what my brain does. Wants to start feeling sorry for me, which makes all of this a lot harder and more painful. But the alternative, which I, when I found coaching and learned all of this work, I was still really struggling financially. But I shifted my mindset to be, instead of making myself the victim, I made myself the hero. And I just started having fun with it. I was like, you know what? I bet I could live off of way less than most people. I bet like there's so many creative ways. I remember like, not like I used to drive through the car wash and then I realized I can't be spending like 10 bucks or whatever it is every time to go wash my car. And so but I didn't want to go home and get the hose out. So when I would get gas, I would use the window washer thing to like just kind of clean my car up. And I just sort of like had to make a game out of it so that I could get out of self pity and feeling bad for myself and into a more empowered like I'm, I've got this. So that's why all of these strategies are, are not new. Like most of this isn't rocket science, right?

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

But like just a reminder of it and then choosing to do it because like I was, I was like, I can, I'm Jody Moore. And by the way, I was nobody then. Nobody knew who I was.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah, you're Jody Moore now because of what you did then.

Yeah. I just decided to believe in myself and build myself up and have fun with it. And so keep that in mind.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes. And something really important that I did when I started applying this three step plan for me, when I had the most amount of debt, the 300 plus thousand dollars in debt, I decided to start looking for ways to get out of debt. Right. So I Grew up in a family where we were very blessed financially. My dad owned a factory that made steering wheels for cars. So we were pretty good. But we were tight. We had a tight budget. But they never talked to me about money teaching me how to do money. So I struggled with money since I turned 18. Had my own bank account. I had overdraw in Brazil. There's a thing that's attached to your bank account that you spend as a limit that you have. So then I was overdraw all the time on that limit, the Chex Basia. So it was awful because I did not learn how to do those. So once I decided, no, I'm not living this way anymore. There is a possible way for me to get out of debt. Then I start. I separate myself from the number $300,000 in debt. I will never be debt free. That was like the poor me, just like you said, the Vic. I'm never going to be that free.

It's impossible.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah, it is possible. So what happened? I took a step back. I said no, I'm going to find a solution. And I didn't have money to invest in a course or anything. So I found the free stuff. And as you start looking for your brain looks and finds for the evidence. So I chose. I believe I could find a way and that God would help me find it. So trusting in my faith and moving forward, so doing both. Right. Then I went to work. Because that thought that I knew I could find a way and God would help me. Then that thought fueled my motivation to do it. So I went to work. That was reserve and conserve. We start like we tied up our budget. We stopped going out to eat as often. We stopped going to visit different place. I didn't go to Brazil for a couple years to visit my family. I worked summer school was painful, but I worked summer school to have the extra cash to throw towards our dad. We. We were renting a place. We bought a place that was like a mobile home. But our house payment was much less. So then we were able to put more money towards the debt. Right. I found free resources. I started talking to people. I check out books from the library. I kept paying my tithing that was always top of the line. And then I found a deal to take Financial Peace University. And then we moved to that manufacturer home. And lovely I love lovingly. I convinced my husband to take FPU with me so we could be on the same. On the same page. I also kind of convinced him to sell a project that he was never going to work. On it. I put that. That. Little did I know that that was worth anything because I post that so cheap that people are offering me drugs and they're coming the next day to get like, I don't want to play. I don't want your drugs. I just want to work extra cash. So we sold things that, that technically were valuable or whatever, but we've had a different plan in mind. We wanted to set ourselves up to not have to face those. When Covid hit. I apologize if sounds bad, but it was great for me. I work from home teaching, and my husband ended up coming home too. We had savings, so we were not struggling. We didn't lose our jobs. So we're grateful for God, for that blessing. I was able to start, you know, planning what I was going to do next. I was able to, to have, you know, I'm going to do the life coach school. How am I going to get that money to pay for the life coach school? To get to become a life coach and a financial coach, I had to pay for the Dave Ramsey certification, right? So I use those times for that. And that kind of leads us into the last step, which. The last step would be prepare. We're going to prepare. We're going to use this time to prepare. So once you know the information, you see the situation where you, you separate the circumstance and the thought what is causing you, and then you decide, okay, what is the next step? What am I going to do next with the practical ways we conserve and reserve, then you're going to prepare. So if you know that your job right now is going to end and you going to have to get a different job. So what kind of qualifications, what kind of classes can you take that could help you get the next, the next job? Right? What are some of the classes that you have to. That you can watch online and learn those skills? You can. And there's the, on the slide over there, you see all the different ways that you can prepare for this. So take a class, get certification, create the habit of using a budget and building savings. So if you've never done that before, you can do little by little because, I don't know, maybe you're at home because you got laid off so you can practice that you have a little bit more time in your hands. Last year we talked about the Old Testament and how Daniel had been taken captive and he, he was there with, with his friends and they wanted to feed them, you know, the different things that the, the king want them to eat. And he decided to follow the Law of Moses and that he did not eat the meat, he ate a kosher diet. That was the Moses law. And then he was preparing, he prayed, and he kept himself strong in the faith and his knowledge. And he was bright. He was strong. And then when the king decided that he want, he had those dreams and he needed someone to come and tell him what the dream was and decipher what the. The dream meant. And people, his, his people couldn't decide for him because they're like, well, tell us a dream and we'll tell what it is, right? But because he expect them to tell what that dream was as well, then he was going to kill everybody. And Daniel was ready because during that time of financial difficulty that he was facing that difficult challenge that he had, he was preparing. So when it was time to get everybody killed, he stepped up and said, I can tell what is the dream and I can decipher what it is with the strength of the Lord. And because he had himself, he kept himself true to what he believed was the faith that he was following. So really important to prepare, okay, so you're gonna see God's, God's blessings everywhere, God's power in your life if you decided to just take a step back, you know, analyze the situation, separate what it creates and you. Creating you the chaos. And then you use that time to prepare as well. So let me.

Oh, God, let me just. I want to add on here, Madeline, to what you're saying that I love these tips because like you said, they're things, they're. They're not all directly related to money, right? Some of them are, some of them are not. But it is about getting yourself in a state of well, being, right? And being able to then, like we talked about at the beginning, notice the opportunities or receive the ideas or access that part of your brain. And whether you're spiritual and you believe that the spirit is guiding you or, or not, it's, it's. It can be explained in both ways. I think some of it is spiritual or heavy science, right? And some of it's just science. It's just the way our brains work, right? And so I noticed that, like, I do a lot of continued learning, and I know you do as well, Madeline, that you're constantly studying. We've talked about all the different people you like learning from, and I was like, I love that person. I love them too. And we love reading the books and listening to the podcasts and things. I was just traveling recently with my husband and some friends, and we get on the Plane. And you know, there's like the movies options which are like, there haven't been any new movies come out in a while, so it's like a bunch of old stuff and whatever. And. And then there's like a masterclass of Howard Schultz, who's the. The CEO at. At Starbucks.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

And I was like, oh, I want to watch that. I want to listen to that. And he's talking about leadership and entrepreneurship. And I'm not saying you have that it wrong to watch a movie or listen to music or whatever, but because I'm constantly feeding myself, it not even like, oh, I learned this great business thing from Howard Schultz that it's going to apply to my business. It just gets my brain thinking in terms of opportunities and it gets me creating like thinking of creative solutions that I could try out. It just triggers ideas.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah. And you create the pathways in the brain to. It's like a muscle. Right. You're developing the strengthening that muscle of looking for other, other ways to see the problem or opportunities.

Really. Yes, exactly. And when you allow yourself that, then it's amazing what ideas or people that you meet or, you know, like things do end up lining up. But you have to choose first to be in that abundant space. Yes. And. And create that in whatever way. Yeah.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Being open to those.

Yes.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right. Because if you're just too caught up in your thoughts and just thinking about the problem, you don't find the solution. Right, Right. Because you just keep finding more evidence of the problem. It's exactly right there. You just, you stay in the loop. We call it spinning. Right. Yeah.

I love to remind yourself my. My T is going to become my R. Yes. It's going to show up in my R in some way.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yep.

Like what do I want this thought to show up in my R line? If not, I better find something that's still believable to me.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

Like can focus on instead.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: And if you can choose to think something is a blessing from God or this is an insight I got from the spirit, or if it's coincidence, it's up to you.

Yeah, that's right.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: What is the upside of one or the other? Right.

Right.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So that's right. I like the evidence of seeing God too. So.

Yeah.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: And then not only financially, you can also look for like a time to take inventory of your life and define your goals and replace unhelpful habits. So, you know, it could be anything that you could do that. And taking care of your health, it will help you be more financially responsible because you're not tired. So you don't give in to your temptation to buy something that you then put it on your plan. So that makes a big difference too. So let's now go. Is there any questions?

Anyone have any questions for Madeline? Somebody wanted to know how much the emergency fund is supposed to be? $100,000.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: The, the emergency fund, it depends on the situation of your home. So in my home there is. My husband's retired, so he has a pension and I work. Right. So there's two incomes. Although I'm self employed because I'm a financial coach. Right. So then we should be more on the six months side of the spectrum, from three to six months of expenses. And we're not talking about keeping lifestyle, we're talking about just the basics. So your house payment or your rent, how much you need for gas to go to work and come back from work. Just basic things. Not going out to eat. Okay, we're eating home. Yeah, Eating at home, that's cheaper. And so you calculate that six months.

So if you have months, okay.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yeah, like a real estate agent who depends on commission or if it's only one person working, you stay towards the six months. Now, for the longest time I was a high school teacher. So then I had a stable job. My husband was a cop. So we had those two jobs are pretty stable. So we could stay on the three months. Right. So that way you can stay between the three and the six months of emergency fund. So another thing, it's important, it's for you. You have to decide what you can go with that. Right. So that's the important part is to decide can I survive for three months or six months if I don't get a job, If I don't, if nothing changed right now, if you're in your worst situation. Right.

Yeah.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Which you should be able to go find a part time job or something. But having that emergency fund, that makes a difference. All right, go ahead. Sorry.

Oh, let me give you one other question that there's different forms of this question coming up, but what if you and your spouse are not on the same page? Or there's some people saying, well, my husband's the one that works, I stay at home with the kids. He talks about it as being his money.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Well, I think this, we can rely mostly on life coaching.

I was gonna say this is more like marriage counseling.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Coaching. Because what you have to decide, it's what are you willing to do and what are the reasons you're doing what you're doing. If you like the reasons that you're doing then yes. Discuss some common grounds, but you're never going to convince the other person. You're not going to convince. I'm sorry, it's hard.

Yeah. And, and this, these are complicated, obviously in all different situations and they require communication. But I, I do find that, that if I'm having a situation with my husband, whether it's about money or anything else.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

There's always going to be some kind of conflict that comes up on occasion in a marriage. I give myself time to process the emotions and really think through how do I want to show up in this conversation with him? Because when I go to my husband because I'm frustrated or I'm in scarcity or I'm mad at him and I'm in blame, even though I try to say, I try not to say all that. Right. We're like, no, I don't say that to him. I'm very kind to him.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: He can feel it.

I promise. Like you have to work through it. And that's where again, like you said, coaching can come in really handy. We can coach you here and be bold. You can even just writing it in to ask a coach and getting your head straight before that conversation is going to make it an entirely different conversation.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

And so we got to be doing that work. But the truth is, if you're a stay at home mom and your spouse works, that is your money together, that is what, depending on where you live. But every state has laws and I'm guessing that even in other countries there are laws around like what would happen if we were to get a divorce.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

And so that there is equality there. And so your husband might be confused about that. He might think it's his money, but that, but he's confused about that. And you don't have to be confused about it. So when you're this somebody said my husband says that and then I feel no freedom. Well, you're not feeling freedom because of your own thoughts. So you could think, well, that's the way he thinks about it. But that's not even true in the end. And again, we can coach you on that. But I do think that it's probably like worth having conversations about and getting on the same page. Not completely on the same page, but like direction, level.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Going on the same direction. Yeah. If you have goals together, then you know, you might have different ways to get to the same goal that my different approaches. But it's always good to have. Where are we going as a family or as a. With our finances. Right. Yeah. And. And then you can point out to him and say, hey, if I would die, you would have to hire Mary Poppins. How much money are you willing to pay for Mary Poppins? That's how much that Right?

That's right.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: All right.

So good.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Okay, I have for you. You probably got it on. On the B boat on the Monday magic email. The worksheet I have for you. It's just a simplified way to. For you to do this little plan.

That we want me to pull up the example one.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes. Okay, so we have both there.

Oh, is it on here? I have it.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: I think it's just a little one. Yeah, I sent it to you, but.

Yeah, let me pull it up. Hold on just a second.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So the example is just pretty much what we did on the worksheet. You had the. The thought part and write several thoughts and several emotions that you're having in related to the circumstance. But remember, you're going to separate the circumstance to the thoughts. Right. And then you're going to decide what is the information that I. What did I do myself? That's really good. Great. So what did I do? What can I pat myself on the back? That I did. So the example I have there is someone getting a divorce. So if you are getting divorced, what did you do? Because we always are trying things. So I'm like, I took care of the kids. I drove them to school. I was responsible with this. I took care of the house. And you can write all these things. Like, I did do a lot of things to contribute to the success, but it didn't work out. So, okay, that's okay. I did what I could. Now what do we have to do next? Right. So, you know, don't. I didn't do anything. I did everything wrong. Those things are not going to produce the results that you want. So start thinking about the things that you did do. And then after that, you're going to have to do the steps where you reserve and conserve. What are some of the things that you're going to do right now? What information you have right now? So it's a divorce decree. So how much money is coming in for child support and those things that you have. Oh, I can cut my budget. I can okay this the next three months. I'm gonna go my hair natural color so I don't have to spend with that. Right. You can cut little things and then have a conversation with the kids. People don't talk about money with the kids. That's why we all grow up without being able to Talk about money and think that's a shame and that has so much value, how much money we have or we don't have that we're less valuable because of that. So that has to start in the home. You have to, to moderate, to model how to talk to, to the kids about money. And then step number three, decide if there's anything that you have to do right now to prepare. So maybe your emotional foundation is not right. So you can work, you know, doing, be bold doing the work and actually get 10 in the classes and listening to Jodi and participating in coaching. Or if you need a, a new job, then what kind of certification do I need? Or I have a license but it's expired, so then I have to get the license updated, so forth. So that's an example for you. And you have the one, the blank that you can do can do this on a regular piece of paper. Now what does it look like to be, to prosper? Well, I told him my example. I took care of those things in other financial setback times in my life. So now this one over here is not too stressful for me. I'm growing my business right now during this time. And I heard, you know, different things, different people talking about, you know, the experts. So have cash in hand. Don't spend what you don't have right now. Conserve energy. Talk to your husband, your partner and discuss what are the plans, what can we do together and accept that he might not do what you tell him what to do. People don't do what you tell them what to do unless they decided that they want to do it. So accept that. And if there's something that's crossing the line, that's a no no for you don't do and then resent them. Right. It's having them that manual for the other person. So please remember that you have control of how you act. And if it's a situation that you are, that you are just afraid of making the decision the right tough decision decision, get coached. Jody can help you get the strength so you can move forward and enjoy your life. Even if, if the storms are raging outside, if you have a solid foundation, you're going to be fine. So use this time to prepare. You think that Covid would have done that for us, but it didn't. Last Christmas was the most people spend the most money in the history of the world with purchases. If you look the two most searched things on Google right now are how to get out of credit card debt and what was the other one? Yeah, so how to get out of debt. And if you look at the amount of money that people spend on credit cards, last year is the low, the highest with spend and it's the lowest what people have in savings right now. So use this time to prepare yourself to set you up for your future self. Right. I do have a freebie for you guys if you want to learn more about finances and coaching. I combine the two. Just like Jodi said, it's more important. It's a home person. You develop several attributes to become good with money. So I call that person a chief financial mom. A chief financial mom is a person who knows about money and she knows how to be an emotional adulthood. She'll be able to take responsibility for who she is and for the results she has in her life. So if you want to learn more about how to become a chief financial mom and all the attributes that make you really good with money, well, sign up. It's a Strasbourg coaching forward slash bbclass for Be bold class. So Strasbourgcoaching.com forward/bbclass and you get a series of videos from me and we talk about all the different attributes. A person who is good, a mom who's good with money. A financial mom is right now.

That is awesome. Everyone make sure you grab that and sorry, I was going to add on to what you were saying back here. That or there was a question that came in about the worksheet. So if you don't have the worksheet that we just showed you and you want it, you can, like Madeline said, you can just do it on paper. But also it was attached to Monday Magic. So if you go to your email and find Monday Magic, it's there. If you still don't see it, email support jody moore.com and we'll send it over to you.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Or if you send me, if you sign up for my video series, once I send you an email, just send back to me and I'll send it.

To you and say, please send me the worksheet from the be bold class.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Yes.

And we can probably even post it with the replays to make sure everybody has it. But yeah. Madeline, thank you so much. That was so amazing.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Jodi, thank you so much for this opportunity. I hope my, my joy is to bring hope to people. I've been where many of you guys are with problems, with the money, with the practical, but it's really the mindset that's that the work that we do in people, that's what's going to set you guys up. The coaching and the self coaching and because right now I have a coach. But not every day. We don't have them every day. So yeah, your self coach is so important.

Well, and as we wrap up. So scarcity is something that is like an instinct wired within us.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

Like we're never going to get rid of it altogether. Our brains are designed to look out for, oh no, am I going to run out of what I need? That's like a survival mechanism. So. So that's both a good thing but also challenging because it's sort of like if you're trying to lose weight, you can't just stop eating. We always have to eat. Right. And so that, that scarcity thing is never going to go away, nor would we want it to. It actually serves us in certain ways. And so it becomes a real opportunity for personal growth to learn to manage it. And the other thing like you were saying was that's so such an interesting statistic with COVID or with last Christmas.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Right.

The overspending and the debt and everything. And spending money is a buffer for a lot of us. It's like buying something, ordering something online or whatever. Walking into Target gives us a little dopamine hit. And so that's the other thing I love about working on this is like what if I, what if I was just willing to feel negative emotion instead of purchasing something to get rid of it temporarily. And that all is really great personal development work to be doing.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: So yes, got to do that when you look at social media because we are always comparing and then usually the spend comes after you see someone else with something. Yeah, yeah. You think I deserve it, right? Yeah, you don't deserve the pain that comes afterwards.

Yeah. It's just so short lived and yeah. Okay.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Thank you, Madeline.

Thanks everybody for joining us today. We'll see you all next time.

[CFM COACH ASSISTANT AI ]: Thanks, Jody. Bye. Bye.

Bye.

I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. Remember to subscribe, rate and review and and if you're ready to invest in yourself, check out my website, StrasbergCoaching.com to schedule a consultation or try my membership group for free. I'll be back next week for another profitable episode of the Money Snyer Problem podcast Atebre Vio Brigada.