More Money Podcast - 265 Practicing Mindfulness to Get Clarity with Your Money - Meaghan Smith, Money Mindset and Life Coach

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to episode 265 of the More Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse, and welcome back to the show. Did I just say something bizarro? You're like, wait, I thought this show was called the More Money Podcast. Well, so, so, so, so. Some big changes happened. You would actually probably already notice them if you're on your app or on the website or anything like that. I recently made a little tweak to the show, specifically the show's name. So should I? Yeah, I'll go into why I did that, why it's now called the More Money Podcast. Well, number one, I was actually hoping to change the name of the show. I've had it for a long time. And quite honestly, it doesn't really relate to anything that I'm doing or my brand is.

Starting point is 00:00:52 So to give you some backstory in case you're new to the show, I started a personal finance blog in 2011. So going back a while. And it was called Mo Money Mo Houses. It was a play on words, the song, you know, Mo Money Mo Problems with my last name, Morehouse. And I had that for a number of years, maybe four years, and then I rebranded it to just my name, Jessica Morehouse. But at the time, I did start my podcast while I still had that blog. So when I originally had this podcast, and if you listen to some of the early episodes, it is called the Mo Money Mo Houses podcast. And then I shortened it to the Mo Money podcast. And then it's been the Mo Money podcast ever since. I just thought it was kind of a fun play on words, really. Well, the other day, I never do this, but I was looking

Starting point is 00:01:42 at some of the reviews on my podcast on Apple. Never do this because damn people are mean, but hey, it is what it is. You can't be everyone's cup of tea. But I was just looking at a few and I looked at one and it basically said that the name is offensive and inappropriate and I should check my white privilege and all that kind of stuff. And I took a step back because I'm like, whoa, what? Like that is so not what I want anyone to ever think about me or this show. I think I've been pretty transparent with my support of Black Lives Matter and trying to make this show as diverse as possible. And, you know, uplifting people of color, you know, BIPOC people. That is totally what me. But I also understand, I am like the whitest girl around. I get it. So I do have privilege and I need to

Starting point is 00:02:35 really think about, wow, what does that comment mean or that review mean? Maybe I should really take a step back and think about these things. And so I did. I did a poll on Instagram being like, hey, guys, what do you think? I mean, it never once crossed my mind that I was being offensive or crossing a line. And well, even though most people said, no, I don't think it's offensive, there were people that said they were offended. And I kind of feel like if even one person is offended, then you should really take a look in the mirror and be like, is this what we want to do? Do we want to offend anyone? I don't want to offend anyone. And so I, you know, it all happened very quickly. Quite honestly, I, you know, saw the

Starting point is 00:03:14 review, you know, did a little poll on Instagram, took a shower, because that's where I think my best thoughts and then came out and like, all right, I'm changing the name. And luckily I was very easy to change the name. I just changed it to more money. I know lots of people wanted me to change it to like M-O-O-R, like my last name, more money, which I love and I get it and I appreciate the feedback. However, as someone who has lived with the last name, Morehouse, M-O-O-R-H-O-U-S-E. No one knows how to spell it. So I just knew that would be just a big pain in my butt. So I didn't want to do that. So now it is called the More Money Podcast. So it can be maybe a better reflection of me, my values, and what I represent. So welcome to the More Money Podcast moving forward.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Now on to this episode. First, I am going to just tease though, a lot of things are going on. So you definitely want to listen to the full episode and listen to the end. I have a lot of important, exciting things to share with you. So make sure to do that. But very excited to share this particular episode with you. I feel like we all need it. I especially need it. I felt like I obviously recorded it, but then I had to edit it and listen to the whole thing again. And honestly, I really liked it. I really love my next guest, Megan Smith. I've been following her on Instagram for a little while.

Starting point is 00:04:31 I actually didn't know she was Australian because sometimes on Instagram, you don't see people. Maybe you're watching their video, but you don't actually listen to their audio. And then I turned on the audio. I'm like, oh my God, she's Australian. How interesting. And I don't think I've actually had a guest from Australia on the show ever. Or if I have, it's been years and years and years.

Starting point is 00:04:51 But I find her so inspiring. And she has a podcast herself called Money Mindful, the Money Mindful podcast. And she also has a really cool book club. But she has a very interesting background that I thought would be interesting to kind of share on the show. She's a money mindset and life coach. And I know on the show, we talk a lot about the practical side of things because sometimes people are like, I just want to know the practical side of things. How do I do this? You know, the how-to. But I think sometimes we also need to really dive a bit deeper and talk about the why, our habits, our mindset. Because without that,

Starting point is 00:05:26 you're never going to do the how. So that is why I've got the wonderful Megan Smith on the show. Just a little background about Megan. She specializes in helping women get out of their own way so they can live an extraordinary life on purpose. She believes that we are all capable of so much more than we think, which I totally agree. Reaching those elusive dream goals is totally available to every woman now. And through her private one-on-one coaching, she teaches the exact tools women need to move from reacting to what life throws at them to being an active participant in their own lives and intentionally creating exactly what they want. And so we kind of talk a little bit about how we can all actually achieve this. And I really like it. You're going to love this episode. But before I get to that

Starting point is 00:06:10 interview with Megan, here's just a few words about this podcast's episode sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by TurboTax Canada. I know most people aren't like me and spend the first week of the new year getting their tax stuff in order just for fun. Yes, I know I'm weird. But the fact is, it's tax season once again, and that means you need to decide how you're going to follow your taxes this year. As I tell almost everyone who asks me, if you want a practically seamless way to get your taxes done, tax software is the way to go. And TurboTax has really upped their game this year because no matter your tax situation, they can help. You've got super simple taxes? Awesome. You can file with TurboTax for free. Want a tax expert to assist you and review your return before you file it? No problem. Check out their assist and review option. Or want to just hand all your documents

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Starting point is 00:07:45 Welcome to the show, Megan. I'm so excited to have you here. You're my first Australian guest, which is shocking. And so I have so many questions, but what drew me to you was just what you do. You talk about money and mindset, which has been, I think, a bigger conversation in the personal finance world for so long, especially during the pandemic where mental health is becoming a bigger part of things. So I'm so excited to have you on the show. Jessica, I am delighted to be here. When you invited me to come on the show, I was like, for sure. I am totally down with that.

Starting point is 00:08:19 That is so fun. And I love the fact that you're in Canada and I'm in Australia and we can connect and talk and share all the goodness with everyone, whoever hears it anywhere where they are. That is the beauty of technology. I know. So it's so cool. It's so cool that we get to do this. And I think you're actually in a different day. Like we're Thursday. Are you Friday right now? Yeah, I am talking to you from the future. You're talking to me from the future. That's so great. So let's first dive in a little bit about you and your background. So you are a money mindset and life coach for women. And I think a lot of people are like, oh, those are

Starting point is 00:08:55 kind of two different things. Can you kind of explain how this came to be? Yeah, absolutely. So first and foremost, I'm a life coach and that's my day job. That's what I do. I work with women and I can explain a little bit the life coaching, what that is, if you'd like. But also I have, I love money. I'm really keenly interested in all things money. I grew, not grew up. I feel like that sounds like, oh, this is like something that I've done since I was a little kid, but I invest and I've always been good at managing my money. And that's something that I'm interested in. And so I have a podcast about money. I too have a podcast and a book club. And so it's something that I,

Starting point is 00:09:48 yeah, I just like talking about it, but people who work with me, I think they come to me because they find me through the podcast or through different areas and they want to, they're interested in money too, because they want a better result in their life with money, right? But then when we delve a little bit deeper, it's actually we just, we want to be happy. You know, we want to have a good life. Like that's why we want more money, right? You know, we want to feel safe. We want to feel secure. And that's where the life coaching comes in because that's what I actually help women create. It's not the money that does that. It's how we think about it and our life. And it's so much more than that. So yeah. What do you want me to tell you? Ask me anything. Yeah. Well, let's kind of dive a little

Starting point is 00:10:38 bit deeper into the life coaching because I feel like I've heard the term a lot and I feel like maybe there's different definitions depending on who you talk to. Do you want to kind of share what does it mean to you? What do you actually provide as a life coach? Yeah, sure. Great question. So I think of a life coach as a personal trainer for your actual life, right? And you don't have to be messed up to have a life coach, right? You look at professional athletes and they're at the top of their game and they have a coach to help them be better at what they do, right? And so essentially that's what a life coach does. They help you have a really amazing life and not better as in your life is terrible now

Starting point is 00:11:28 and you need to make it better. But it's, we, we have people out there like a therapist or psychologists who are there if there's something wrong with us, like I'm using air quotes. You know, it's like if we have, you know, depression or something, we go see a therapist or, but when we just, when we want to get our shit together with our life, right? Who do we go and see? You can go and see a life coach. That is what a life coach is for because so often it's, there's nothing wrong with us, right? But we just can't get over, like we can't get out of our own way. We can't work out why we keep overspending or we can't work out why we, like we're a smart, intelligent woman. And it's like, if I'm so smart, how come I can't lose those, that last five kilos?

Starting point is 00:12:26 Or if I'm so smart, how come I can't earn more money in my job? Or why can't I find someone to have a relationship with, right? And that is what a life coach helps you do. They help in what I do with life coaching, right? So I am a general life coach. So of course, I have a special interest in money and people come to me because they have goals about things that they want to do with business and the like. But yeah, it's about getting the results that you want in your life and having someone to help you do that. Now, it doesn't mean you can't do it on your own, right? Like Michael Jordan, for instance, what a legend. You know, it doesn't, if he didn't have a coach, it doesn't mean that he can't play basketball, right? But having a coach

Starting point is 00:13:20 is, in this analogy, like a life coach is someone who can point out hey did you realize that you keep telling yourself that you're terrible with money and the person's like no what did I say that and it's like yeah you keep saying that and and when you say that, it's like you feel whatever emotion, like you feel bad about yourself, you feel negative emotion. And then when you think that thought, you don't pay any attention to your money. You don't look at your bank accounts or you don't treat your money well when you get your money or or you ignore your money, or you avoid money because it makes you feel bad. And then guess what the result is that you create in your life? You're terrible with money, right? That's what a life coach does. They just point that stuff out to you and help you develop awareness about what you're already creating in your life. But then, and this is the cool bit, we help you create what you actually want to create

Starting point is 00:14:27 intentionally. Yeah. Okay. So, so it sounds like, cause yeah, I completely agree when you see like a counselor or a therapist, usually that is about, you know, you have depression or anxiety or, you know, is for a specific need, but there's lots of people that just need, they're like, how do I find a sense of direction in my life? Or how can I overcome some of these obstacles? But it sounds like a life coach also provides or helps you build your own kind of roadmap. Like, I think that the missing thing, this is what I see with a lot of people, especially when it comes to money is like, I know what's lacking in my life, or maybe I need help kind of identifying that, but I don't know actually what to do. Like, what are the steps?

Starting point is 00:15:07 Like, can you help me? And that's kind of what you kind of provide. It's like, okay, let's actually figure out kind of like unpack everything and then define what your goal is. And then lay out the groundwork, like step one, step two, step three. And I guess you probably also provide some accountability, I assume as well. Yeah, but it's working together. You know, like it's never, my clients would never disappoint me or my clients never have to do something because I tell them they have to do it. It's like, it's your life, right? So also, I guess being more self-accountable is kind of the thing you teach them as well.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Yeah, absolutely. Like empowering yourself, but having, just having help to see your own blind spots because all of us, Jessica, including myself, like, I mean, I have a coach, I'm not immune to it. You know, things that I want to create in my life. I, I have my coach to help me because it's like, what am I not seeing? And that's what a coach helps you do. And then it's also like, um, have so often sometimes, um, we, we just, we need someone in our corner, you know, and we need someone also to help us have our own back as well and be in our own corner. Cause we don't even see that we're

Starting point is 00:16:26 working against ourselves. Yeah. I mean, it's, yeah, it's difficult to do that on your own. And I think a lot of people think, oh, that's why you have friends and family, but it's like, it's maybe they're not providing what you need, you know, depending on who your friends and family are. But yeah, I think it's think it totally makes sense to have someone in your corner to kind of get you to that next step because a lot of us are in our own ways. So let's kind of talk a little bit about that. I'm sure you kind of encounter this a lot with your different clients, but what are some common things that you see? And let's kind of talk specifically about money that people are just, they want to be at a certain place, either earning more money or have less

Starting point is 00:17:05 debt, but they're not making any progress. And usually it's because they're not doing something. What are kind of some examples you can kind of provide about some clients that have, you know, had some struggles? I'm sure some listeners can definitely identify with some of these. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm talking, I'm going to talk in very general terms because obviously I won't tell you all the details of my clients. But for example, just that what you just said then, it's like obviously it's because something that you're not doing. And this is a common mistake that people make.

Starting point is 00:17:38 It's like we think that our circumstances and what we do is what creates our results. And in a sense, that is true. Your actions do create your results, right? But there's a couple of steps before that. And this is what people miss. And I'm working with a client at the moment who wanted to clear some debt and she also wanted to make money in her business. And there were two things that were getting in the way. One is, first of all, she couldn't see that she was actually making money and she wasn't taking responsibility for the money that she was making. And this is all to do, Jessica, and honestly, if your listeners take one thing away from this today, this is what it is. Your thoughts create the results that you get in your life. And I don't mean this in a woo-woo, like I'm going to sit here

Starting point is 00:18:46 on a rock and manifest like $100,000 or whatever. No, there's a missing link here. Okay. And I'll tease it out as we go through the show so you can understand. In her mind, my client thought, I can't make money in business. I can't make money in business. I don't make money in business. It's really hard for me to make money in business. And these were the thoughts that she was saying, right? But so this is what she was actually creating. This is the filter that she was seeing her life through.

Starting point is 00:19:21 And what was really fascinating is when we started teasing it out and talking about it and poking holes in what she was saying, is that she started to tell me all these scenarios in where she had made money, but she couldn't even see it. She wasn't acknowledging it. Like it wasn't, she, it was, she wasn't acknowledging it. She wasn't taking responsibility. She wasn't seeing. And so therefore she was trying to create more money, but in her mind, she was thinking, I can't do it. And so it was so hard for her. And then when she even did make money, it was sort of like, she couldn't even acknowledge it, but it was like, oh yeah, but that was only like a little bit of of fun I see that a lot with people being like making excuses you're like yeah but that doesn't count you're like why doesn't it count right yeah yeah yeah exactly and

Starting point is 00:20:15 but she didn't even realize that she was saying that right she kept saying I am not I'm not really good with money and yeah no I don't make a lot of money in business. And she felt terrible. And so taking action in her business was something that felt she was avoiding it because she didn't want to. And so what does she do? She creates that she doesn't make much money in her business. And we've only been working together, oh, not even a few months. And she had a significant amount of debt that she wanted to pay back. She's paid it back. And she didn't really, yeah, because suddenly she was like, yeah,

Starting point is 00:21:02 I invoiced that client and I did this and I did that because the piece for her is she didn't, she, because she was sitting in this belief, like I don't make money, she wasn't actually taking any action. She thought she was doing a lot of things, but she was just sort of thinking about like what she could do or watching a video like a training video or something like that like taking all this passive action and it's we think that we're doing a lot and that we're um but we're actually not and when when she realized this like when she had the awareness of this it was she changed she switched. And so she started taking all this

Starting point is 00:21:47 action towards making money in her business. And guess what? She made money in her business. And I mean, that sounds so, like, I think this is the piece, and I told you before we started, I wanted to talk to you about bridging the gap between financial literacy and mindset, because I think that there is a perceived disconnect, right? Like they're two different things. There's a personal finance world where we budget and we learn about money and we invest, we buy shares, we save up and buy a house or have an investment property, those kind of things. And then there's like the woo. Then there's those people who manifest and those manifesting people

Starting point is 00:22:37 actually manifest money, right? It can't work, yeah. Yeah, but so many people can't connect that and And it's like, it's like there's two different camps, like there's two different things. And what I want to tell you is they're totally interlaced. And I want to give you a few examples of this, right? You made a comment on one of my Instagram posts recently where I told did I? Where I told this story. I'll tell this story to your audience. So as you know, I'm in Australia.

Starting point is 00:23:11 We have a lot of poisonous snakes, spiders, all sorts of things here. One thing that we have in the area that I live in is funnel web spiders. Now, funnel web spiders can be deadly if they bite you but it's unlikely because you know modern treatment and all that's no problem. Anyway recently I went out at night and I just happened to look up and there was a funnel web spider right above our back door and we have a lot of spiders in Australia. So most of the time, I don't even take any notice because it's like no big deal. They're not going to hurt you or whatever. But I happen to know funnel web spiders are a big deal if you get bitten and I've got little kids.

Starting point is 00:23:57 So I was like, okay, let's get rid of the funnel web spider. And so after I saw that spider the next day, I decided, you know what, I'm just going to do a bit of a check around the house. And Jessica, I found so many funnel web spiders. I went into our shed and there was a funnel web spider in every corner of the shed. There were funnel web spiders all around the sides of the house. So I mean, that sounds dramatic, but maybe I found about eight. Okay. That sounds like my worst nightmare. But here's the thing. The spiders were there the whole time.

Starting point is 00:24:43 I just wasn't looking for them. Okay. And I want to make the connection with you about money now about this, right? So stay with me. There is a point to this story. The way our brains work is that we have so much stimulus coming to us all the time, like all around us from what we see, what people say, and we can't possibly process it all. It's overwhelming. And so what our brain does is it filters the information for you that it deems to be important. And some of that is just to do with survival, right? Like if there's a tiger there, it's probably going to deem that to be important and bring that to your attention, right? But how we think, our brain is like, oh, okay, we're supposed to look for spiders now and see

Starting point is 00:25:39 if there's any spiders. All right, now we're filtering. If we see spiders, we're going to bring that to our attention. It's like that thing, Jessica, have you ever bought a car and suddenly you've noticed everybody drives that same car? Oh yeah. It's like, I'm not sure. I don't think you have kids, but you know, when I first became pregnant, suddenly there were pregnant women everywhere. I was like, what is this? Every woman is pregnant. Well, once my sister got pregnant, I started noticing that for sure. I'm like, wow. Or I noticed everyone was having kids and I never noticed. And I'm like, they didn't all of a sudden just start having kids. Everybody I know. I think it's just, I just started noticing it.

Starting point is 00:26:15 Yeah. Right. Your brain starts filtering for what you're telling to look for. It's not good. It's not bad. Your brain doesn't care. It's just like, all right. So we were, that's something that's important now. So the spiders were there, but I didn't see it. And how this relates is, you know, I told, I, I talked about this situation where when we moved, we moved 12 months ago and I just had this idea, you know what? I just want to generate the money for the move. I don't want to use the money we've already got. I just had this idea, you know what? I just want to generate the money for the move. I don't want to use the money we've already got. I just want to generate the money. And I started to think about all the different ways I could make money. And then I realized, you know what? I used to work as a photographer. I have all this camera gear that I never use anymore. It's just sitting in my cupboard. Why don't I sell that camera gear? So I did. I sold the camera gear. I made quite a few thousand dollars. And then I was like,

Starting point is 00:27:10 what else could I sell? And I just started selling all this stuff and made enough money pretty much to cover the move. We were moving interstate. So it was more costly than usual. Here's the thing. Again, that camera gear was there the whole time. I could have sold it at any time, but my brain, I wasn't attuned to it. I wasn't looking for it. I wasn't looking for ways to make money. And this is what I mean about the gap between those manifesting people. I'm saying it like that. I'm being facetious. I don't like, whatever. I have no judgment on any part, you know, or it's so you, you can block yourself from money-making opportunities just because you're, you're not looking for it. It's the same

Starting point is 00:28:02 way, Jessica, and I'm sure people who are listening think this. There's certain aspects around finance, for instance, where your thoughts about it is, this is difficult, or this is too complicated, or this is too hard. And if you view, for example, investing in shares, let's say, as something that's complicated, that is how you will perceive it. You will filter for that. And I know this sounds so simple and this is why, like, sometimes it's so simple we don't even, we just miss the point. It's like investing in shares is simple. It's so simple, right? I mean, that's what I think. I think it is like the most simplest thing.

Starting point is 00:28:52 In Australia, we have this thing called BPAY. I don't know if you have that there. And it's like a bill paying service and you can literally just transfer money. And that's how I invest in shares. I just transfer money into my share account and it just builds. And it is like that easy. But I think that it's easy, right? And so I see it as easy. And I, whereas I've spoken to people who they want to know, like, how do you invest? What do you do? And it's like the how, and they're seeing it through this idea that oh my gosh it's something so scary i'm gonna lose all my money um it's so complex i need like some professional expert to tell me how to do it and can you see the difference there it's like

Starting point is 00:29:39 that's what they're attracting it's like their mind is literally like seeing all the difficult things. And for sure, they're going to discover something to do with options or some crazy trading thing. Yeah, of course. It can be complicated, but it doesn't have to be. And it isn't. And I completely know what you're saying because, I mean, that was a part of personal finance that I used to be very ashamed of. I'm like, oh, I don't know enough about this. It's so hard. It's so complicated. And then I challenged myself.

Starting point is 00:30:11 I'm like, well, I mean, if you continue thinking like that, then it's going to continue to be like that. So you've got to do something. And so I studied. And now I do think it's actually quite simple. It can be complicated if you want to make it complicated. But most of it is really simple. But yeah, like you said, the way to make a change is obviously the action,

Starting point is 00:30:31 but sometimes it seems so impossible to make that action, even if the action is sell your camera gear or do a balance transfer on your credit card so you can pay less interest. That's a simple action, but it sounds complicated and hard. And unless your mind is ready, then it just seems so impossible. But yeah, I really like that analogy you gave about the spiders. That's 100%. When I work with my financial counseling clients, nothing's really changed in their financial

Starting point is 00:31:02 lives from the first session we worked together to a year later to see where they're at. Nothing's actually like, they're still making the same amount of income. They're still, maybe they're, you know, spending differently,

Starting point is 00:31:11 but, but everything's pretty much the same. It's really just their mindset and then slowly tweaking their actions to get a different result. And I think a lot of people think that something big has to change. Like I have to earn a lot more money or whatever. It's like, it doesn't have to be like a big dramatic thing, actually. It's about kind of those small things. And like you said, being aware. And I think a lot of us are just running

Starting point is 00:31:36 on autopilot and we just aren't, we don't see it. We just don't see it. 100%. And you brought up that topic of shame. I think this is worth talking about because I think a lot of your listeners will relate to this so there's lots of times we we can find ourselves in debt okay so debt from consumer debt I'm talking about here let's say so you have credit card debt because you seem to just overspend right And then when you overspend and you have this negative amount, what happens for a lot of people is then we feel the shame, there's something wrong with us. And then guess what you do? You go out and you spend more money because you don't want to feel shamed. And so you're like, I'm just going to buy myself this thing because I'm going to feel better. I'm going to, I'll tease this out a bit. So when, if, okay, two things here, one is Jessica,

Starting point is 00:32:33 and this is what I think a lot of people don't realize. We're motivated by how we think we're going to feel. We will do things based on whether we, if we think we're going to feel good, we will engage in an activity. And if we think we are not going to feel good good we will engage in an activity and if we think we um are not going to feel good we will avoid it and it's um there's this thing called a motivational triad it's like seek pleasure avoid pain and exert minimum effort right this is what keeps us alive and i'll explain it just briefly it's like seek pleasure you know have sex eat the berries um stay warm like all these things keep us alive um eat food you know that keeps us alive avoid pain right don't make sure you um people please everybody likes you because you don't want to like be ousted from the group because in the past I could have like literally meant death, right? And our brain is just trying

Starting point is 00:33:34 to keep us alive, right? But it's almost like our brain hasn't caught up with the modern world. And so because we're not going to die now if we get ousted from the group, or we can just go to the supermarket and buy more food, right? But we're in this mindset of, yeah, seek pleasure. But now seeking pleasure, it's like this instant gratification and we have a bad day at work. We come home and it's either, you know, buy a bottle of wine on the way home from work because we don't want to feel stressed. So we have something that is going to dull or numb that feeling of stress,

Starting point is 00:34:16 say the bottle of wine, or we feel bad about ourselves or our body or whatever, especially women. I mean, this is like something that, so it's, what do we do? We go out and we buy a new outfit or, yeah, listen, there's nothing wrong with going out and buying a new outfit. I'm not saying that. There's nothing wrong with spending money. But sometimes what happens is we don't think about why we're spending the money. We're not spending the money because we actually need a new about why we're spending the money. We're not spending the money because we actually need a new dress. We're spending the money because we don't feel

Starting point is 00:34:50 good. It's like we feel like we lack confidence or we're feeling bad about ourselves. It's like, okay, if I go out and buy that new dress, I'm going to feel better. I'm going to feel good. But then we rack up money on our credit card and then it's like we feel bad. And so what do we do? Then we go spend more money, buy chocolate or buy another dress, make ourselves feel good. And it's like this ongoing cycle. But if you're not onto yourself, if you don't realize that, you do it without even realizing that you're the one creating it. And it feels powerless for so many people. Like it's out of my control.

Starting point is 00:35:28 Like how did I get into debt? Why am I overspending? And so many people think there's something wrong with them. It's like, no, there's nothing wrong with you. Congratulations, you're a human, right? You're just, you're trying to make yourself feel better in a way that you know how, but it's when you don't have that awareness, it's so easy for people to beat themselves up about it.

Starting point is 00:35:52 When it's actually like when we create space around it to see what's happening, it's not that there's anything wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you because you want to feel good. But let's show you that the reason why you have debt is not because you can't control your money. It's because you're wanting to feel good about yourself or you have thoughts that, like, this is so deep, Jessica, like we could delve, and it's different for everyone. You know, like for some people, it's they want want to be accepted so they buy things so they can look like the people around them or um yeah they feel bad about themselves so they go out and buy things to make themselves feel good it's this thing about not enough you know I'm not enough if I just have this and and then you feel bad because then you don't have enough because you

Starting point is 00:36:45 spend all the money and then you feel even worse. And so it kind of sounds like the really important factor here, and I think this is so important, is self-awareness. And I feel like this is something that I've had to learn. And I think that's another important thing. It's like, this is a learned skill. Most of us don't have this automatically. We have to learn that whenever we want to buy something or get the idea to buy something, we need to check ourselves to be like, why do I want to? And then have a little mental checklist of like, is this a need? Is this a want? What am I feeling right now?

Starting point is 00:37:17 What do I think that when I buy this, it will make me feel? And is that feeling accurate? Or is that, you know know just falling back into old habits there's like a lot of mental conversations you should have with yourself before you go out and spend money so you can't because i agree there's nothing wrong with spending money spending money is what i mean that's what money is meant for we're supposed to spend it at some point in time but it's about being i guess know, intentional with that money and really knowing like, cause you want to feel good after a purchase. The worst thing is feeling bad

Starting point is 00:37:49 right after a purchase. I hate that feeling. It just feels icky and just like, oh, and it's, it can kind of spiral. So you want to feel good about those choices. Yeah. And also the missing piece there for so many people is that it's not the money or the things that make us feel good. We think it's the money or the things. That's why we want to have more money because the truth is, and I'm so sorry to break this to you, we think that if we have more money, that suddenly our life is going to be amazing and that there's going to be rainbows and daisies everywhere and we're never going to have any problems. And the truth of the matter is, even when you make more money, well, it's going

Starting point is 00:38:27 to be a lot harder for you to make more money if you have thoughts about money that you don't realize that you have that are limiting you, right? But then even if you do make more money, you carry those thoughts with you, you take yourself yourself with you and what I mean by that is like I'm working with someone who's very very wealthy um like in that in that sphere right and we have been working so much on um shame because yeah, there's a big difference between like this person doesn't need to worry about buying the discounted cheese at the supermarket or something, right? Like, of course, like all her basic needs are met and everything like that. But she still has the same pain that you and I have, Jessica. She's not like this new, this different immune

Starting point is 00:39:26 human. And also she's struggling with guilt of having money and shame of having money, right? And it's, but that's never changed. Like she's always felt like that. And then she's just taken it with her. So what I'm saying is like the problems that you have now at the level of income you have now, you will have those same problems when you get more money. If you think that it's the money that's going to solve those problems. I'm not talking about if you're living below the poverty line. All right. Like, yeah, money will help you for sure. But yeah, there's so many examples out there of like the ultra wealthy and you find out they're actually very unhappy or, you know, like money isn't the solution. I mean, I know lots of people that have

Starting point is 00:40:14 money and they're miserable and it's because money isn't the, the beyond end all, it's not the solution. It's a tool. Um, but we need to work on ourselves in order for at any kind of income level to find out, okay, what does kind of meet our needs and bring us joy and happiness? Because for me, I feel like there's definitely a point in my career where it felt like, this was maybe several years ago, it felt like lots of people were just making a ton of money. And it was all about like, oh, yeah, know, five figures every month. And I started feeling bad because I did not earn that much, of course. And as my income has grown, I've realized, I'm like, you know what? Making more money doesn't, I don't feel happier now than I did a couple of years ago when I earned less.

Starting point is 00:40:59 I just felt that way because I was comparing myself to others. And so it was, it had nothing to do with the actual money. Because who cares? At the end of the day, as long as you're, like you said, your needs are met, and they were, it's like, what am I going to do with an extra couple thousand dollars? Like, nothing really. Like, I don't, you know, I'd buy something, then what? You know?

Starting point is 00:41:18 Like, it's, I think, yeah, what's the messaging for this episode really is, you need to do, you do need to unpack some things things because money isn't, you know, it can help, but it's not the solution. We need to find out what the problem is and get a little deeper. Well, money is neutral, Jessica. And this is what so many people don't realize. Money isn't good. Money isn't bad. Money isn't evil.

Starting point is 00:41:43 Money isn't amazing in the sense that money is like paper, literally. I mean, plastic here in Australia, it's plastic, our notes. I don't know what it is in Canada. Yeah, we got, yeah, it's plastic. Yeah. And it's just, it's, it's all our thoughts about it. And here's, here's's the piece. If you want to change your financial circumstances, you've got to be willing to be wrong about money and you've got to be willing to think differently. Because if you want a different result than you have right now, you have to think differently to get that result. Because if we keep thinking the same, we're creating the same result for ourselves. And that's it. Like, it's really that simple.

Starting point is 00:42:36 And just like, coming back to that theme of the camps of financial literacy and personal finance. Like I'm totally pro financial literacy all the way, right? And because it's educating yourself. But here's the thing. Again, if you think you're bad with money, if you have the, I keep saying if you think you're bad with money, I mean, people have lots of different thoughts around money, right? Like rich people are assholes or whatever. Why would you want to be one of them if that's what you think, right? Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:43:15 For some people, it's even just that hurdle. Like you won't even get educated about money. If you think it's something that is bad or that's not available to you or that's complex or hard, you won't take that action because your thoughts don't support you to do that. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I feel like a lot of people listening, myself included, is like, I would love to listen to your podcast to kind of dive more deeper into this topic. And obviously, you're also a coach and you work with people one-on-one. Do you want to share a little bit more info about where people can find you and your podcast? And if someone wants to work with you? Yeah. Yeah. That'd be great. So I have a podcast. It's called the money. It's called money mindful. And I release that every week and I talk all about money and I have guests on and, but we talk about

Starting point is 00:44:07 so much more than money, like all the other things that influence how much money you have. And this is what I've sort of talked about on this show today. Like there's so many other factors and I, I give it to you all. Like I throw it all at you. Like look at money from every different angle, like, because there'll be one episode that just cracks it open for someone, you know, like they resonate with, with that. Because I'm totally about women making more money. I'm totally about women being comfortable with having money, right? Like that's not a bad thing. Let's all have lots of money. Let's be, because also just, this is a side thing let's all have lots of money let's be because also just this is a side thing I know I'm getting distracted but this is one thing that I've noticed that this whole thing

Starting point is 00:44:52 about being bad with money or whatever we and when I say we I'm talking about you and me but also just women in general we are not middle-class white men okay Okay. When we have money, we do things differently with it, you know, and we're able to create our own paradigm for how we want to make money, have money, spend money, show up with money. And this is something I'm incredibly passionate about because I have two girls, Jessica, and I am really about modeling good money thoughts and behavior. So my girls just grow up feeling like having money is totally fine. It's not a thing. It's like there's nothing, you know, and it's not like we have to to desire and need it because we don't have enough. It's just like, yeah, money's just part of my life because that's what we do. We create value, we make money and it's a beautiful thing. And then

Starting point is 00:45:55 we also give so much. It's like a cycle, you know? And okay. Anyway, I'll stop now. I'm so passionate about this. Otherwise I'll talk about it. I know. And it, anyway, I'll stop now. I'm so passionate about this. I know, and it's coming out. And that's why I'm like, I'm so glad I had you on the show. Yeah, I mean, there's just like so many moments in this episode that I was like, whoa, yes. And maybe it helps that I also had my therapist appointment like right before this. And I'm like, this is hitting so many things for me. Yes. And I can attest to it that I, as a person have changed so much and same with my mindset that, you know, when I started my blog nine years ago, it was just like, Oh, let's, you know, do this just for fun as a hobby. I've evolved so much. And so is my mindset. And really the key is being open to change, like you said, and being okay with the fact that some things that you thought

Starting point is 00:46:45 were true or right, maybe not. And that's okay. Evolution is a good thing. Growth is really, really important. And so I know lots of people are going to love to learn more about you. Love this episode just as much as I did. Where can people find more information about you if they want to connect? Okay. So they can go to my website, Money Mindful. I'll just give you that website because it's easy to remember and it's my podcast. And yeah, you can, the only way to work with me is to sign up with a consult. So it's a chance for us to have a chat. We get to know each other and work out if we're a slam dunk, because people want to know that you've got that connection when you work. It's so intimate, you know, when you're working with

Starting point is 00:47:28 someone one-on-one, you want to be sure that you've got that connection. And so, yeah, I work with women and I work with them on everything. We change your life. It's like you might have something to come and a specific goal you want to work on, you know, like you want to start a business or you want to make a particular amount of money in your business or you've got ideas about how you want to feel, like, you know, you want to be more confident, you want to show up in the world in a way that, yeah, is different. That's what I help women do. And ultimately, Jessica, it's really about helping women create a really deep relationship with themselves. So what they say

Starting point is 00:48:14 they want to do and what they say they will do, they actually will do it and create it because it's so amazing what you can achieve when you're coming from a place of like not this needy, graspy, there's something wrong with me. I need more money. I need a better job. I need to lose 10 kilos or whatever because, you know, I'm fat or something. It's like, no, you don't need to lose 10 kilos because you're fat. You, you want to lose 10 kilos because you love your body and you want to take care of it. And it's like, so yeah, it's such an amazing place to live your life from. And that's what I help women do, like have an extraordinary life. And I just want to finish by saying this, this week I went to the beach with my kids for the day. I got up in the morning, I went for a walk.

Starting point is 00:49:11 I worked for a couple of hours, like sent client emails like that. Then we went to the beach the whole day. We picked up shells. We swam. We climbed around rocks. I got to swim some laps. My partner got to swim some laps. Then we came home. My kids settled in watching a movie with my partner. And then I got on the computer and was having client calls in the evening. And I was just like, holy shit, this is my life. And I created this with my mind because I had help from a coach. I wanted to create a life that worked for me where I could be with my family and have a really strong connection with my children and make money in a way that works for me. And that kind of

Starting point is 00:50:03 sounds like this crazy, amazing life where you just think, is that really possible? And it's not like I don't work some days, like just here, but it's so many people don't give that to themselves because they don't even realize it's possible, right? Walking around and I have to work 80 hours a week to make more money and got to do this and and that's what I mean by just opening yourself up to the fact that maybe you're wrong about the way things are your thoughts about money maybe you could create something different and that's what I help women do I help them get out of their own way so they can create an extraordinary life so come and work with me and just because I'm in Australia, that doesn't mean

Starting point is 00:50:45 I have clients around the world because we connect on Zoom. As long as that, you know, it works out with the schedule. That's amazing. And of course, follow you on Instagram because that's how I first discovered you. And I find your posts very exciting and inspiring. So it's a great place to also connect with you as well. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show, Megan. It's been an absolute pleasure. You are welcome. It's been my pleasure. It's so fun. All right. That was episode 265 with the wonderful Megan Smith. You can find her on her website, Megan J. Smith. And so that's spelled because I know some people spell Megan differently, M-E-A-G-H-A-N-J, smith.com.au. And of course, I will link to her and her social media handles and everything like that in the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com. You can also find her on Instagram because that's where I like

Starting point is 00:51:37 to follow her as well at Money Mindful Podcast. And she also has a Facebook group of the same name, Money Mindful Podcast. So as I mentioned, the show notes, if you want to find out information about any past episode, for instance, more information about the guests, I always include their website links, their social links. It's easy to find them there. And just like a little bit more info about what we talked about. You can find all of that at jessicamorehouse.com slash podcast. But also, if you just go jessicamorehouse.com slash podcast. But also, if you just go jessicamorehouse.com slash whatever the number of that episode is, you will be directed right to the show notes of that episode. So I've got a lot of exciting, like wild and crazy exciting things to share with you. So

Starting point is 00:52:16 do not go away. Just have a few words I want to share about this episode's sponsor first. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by TurboTax Canada. Oddly enough, the most popular videos I have on my YouTube channel right now are about taxes. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that so many Canadians received income through benefit programs this year, like the CERB. Or they've started a side hustle or became self-employed because of the pandemic. And wow, is there a lot of confusion about what to do about all of this when filing your tax return? Luckily, it doesn't have to be complicated, especially when you have a qualified tax expert with an average of 10 years of experience to do all the heavy lifting for you. You see, if you want some one-on-one help to get your taxes done and done correctly, TurboTax Live Full Service might be exactly what you need. What you get is a tax

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Starting point is 00:53:30 correspondence with the CRA on your behalf. To learn more and to start your return today, and to get 20% off any TurboTax assist and review or full service product, visit jessicamorehouse.com slash TurboTax or check out the link in the show notes for this episode. Once again, to save 20% off with any TurboTax assistant review or full service product, visit jessicamorehouse.com slash TurboTax. Okay, what's the big news? What if I've been literally, like honestly, I'm not even joking when I say this, and this isn't to get pity or anything, but I've been staying up till like two in the morning every single night for a few weeks, finishing up something that I'm so excited to finally launch today and reveal to you my investing course.

Starting point is 00:54:14 So a little background, if you're like, what the hell are you talking about? So I previously had an online course called the Investing Foundations for Canadians. I closed the doors on that and I had that course for, I think, almost two years. But I closed the doors on that course in December because I wanted to revamp it. Quite honestly, I pretty much redid the whole thing. And now it is finally available for people to enroll like yourself. And so if you were on my email list, or if you listened to last week's podcast episode, then you were able to register in advance for, well, not register, actually, you can apply in advance. And that's the only way you could find out about this course. And so I already have contacted pretty much everyone who applied that were approved to have a call with me so you can learn more about the course. But now it is available

Starting point is 00:55:01 to anyone. You can find the links on my website, on my social media to learn more about my new course called Wealth Building Blueprint for Canadians. So this is a course specifically for Canadians. It is about investing. And specifically because this is why I do the application process. And let me explain why. It is because I think a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about building wealth and investing. And this course is not for everybody. This course is specifically tailored for people who want to get rich slowly and basically be a passive investor like myself. This is a strategy that works. I mean, there's a lot of data that shows that if you are just kind of a boring investor and invest in index products like index mutual funds or index ETFs, you will be able to achieve your financial

Starting point is 00:55:50 goals. You will be able to maybe even retire early. Because honestly, I'm not even joking. Most of the people I've had on my show who have retired early, who've reached fire, they're just index investors. They're not stock pickers. So that is what it's really focused on. So you can understand the foundations of investing and actually understand it in real language, not make it super intimidating because there is a lot of jargon out there. And then also understand how to build your own investment plan and then how to actually start investing either using a robo-advisor or being a self-directed investor, building and managing your own portfolio. I show you how to do all of that in my course.

Starting point is 00:56:31 So if you're interested to learn more, go to jessicamorehouse.com slash shop. There will be a link right there on that page where you can learn a bit more and sign up for a, well, apply, and then hopefully have a call with me if you are a good fit. And now that the course is finally done, I feel like maybe I can get back to real life, normal life a little bit, maybe, which is just like finding new amazing guests for this podcast, making more videos for my YouTube channel, finally, maybe taking a weekend off because I haven't in like four weeks. But yeah, I'm excited for this course. It's really been, if I think about it, the course that exists now was the course I originally wanted

Starting point is 00:57:11 to make. It's been years in the making. So I'm really, really excited and proud of it. And I think it'll be great. If you want to sign up, sign up. I'm excited to chat with you and share more about it. I think it'll be fun. Okay. One other thing I want to remind you about, since I have had several guests on the show already who have had, you know, are authors of books that they're promoting, I'm giving away those books. So if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash contests, you will be able to find out all of the book giveaways that I'm doing. So just go to jessicamorehouse.com slash contest to do that. Also, as a reminder, how to kind of stay in the loop with me and all the exciting things going on is to get onto my

Starting point is 00:57:51 email list. Because again, sometimes I won't be able to share things on the podcast because sometimes I record these in advance. So if you want to find out like what are some virtual events I'm doing, I've done two recently. They're done now. I'm sorry. So hopefully you found out about those and were able to join. But if you get on my email list, you'll be able to find out more about those because I know I'm going to be doing a lot more exciting things, more webinars. I'm going to be hosting some more webinars on my own. So if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash subscribe, you can do that. Also a reminder that I have a free resource library on my website where you can do some free downloads. I mean, I got worksheets, I've got checklists, I've got some

Starting point is 00:58:29 great stuff, some free budget spreadsheets. If you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash resources, you can find all of that information right there. And lastly, before I let you go, make sure to follow me on the gram. Do people call it? No one calls it the gram anymore. I don't think even people call it. What's it? What would they call it? IG? I don't know. I don't know what it's cool to call Instagram anymore. So I'm just going to call it Instagram, but follow me on Instagram. I'm doing not only posting more, but I'm doing frequent AMAs and polls and stuff. So I recently did one, which was very fascinating though. I did get some unfollows. So I think people didn't quite like it, but I just basically asked, hey, I wanted to gather some information that I'm eventually going to do something with to find out what are

Starting point is 00:59:10 your net worths. You don't have to give me the specific numbers, but you can give me kind of a range. Because I think it's interesting to find out how much people do, based on your age, how much do you have? It's just good to kind of get a gauge. It's not anything about, oh, you're doing worse or better than other people. It's just, it's important to, I think, talk about other people's numbers so we can just have that information. But, you know, I've done lots of AMAs too, where you can just ask me whatever you want about personal finance or investing and I answer them. So make sure to follow me on Instagram at Jessica I. Morehouse. Of course, too, since I have updated the show name for the podcast to

Starting point is 00:59:46 the More Money Podcast, I've also changed the handles for those. So what are they? Let me just triple check. I probably have to change them on my website because I don't know if I've checked them. But for Twitter, it's fairly easy. At More Money Pod is where you can find that. And then Instagram, it is just at moremoneypodcast. Easy peasy. But if you just follow me at Jessica I. Morehouse, you'll be able to find those links very easily. Okay. Well, that is it for me. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back here next Wednesday with a fresh new episode of the show. Can't wait to share it with you. So have a good rest of your week. Stay safe, stay warm. And yeah, I'll check you later on next Wednesday. All right. See you later.

Starting point is 01:00:37 This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.

More Money Podcast - 265 Practicing Mindfulness to Get Clarity with Your Money - Meaghan Smith, Money Mindset and Life Coach

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