Martinis and Your Money Podcast

Once a month, I’m going to have a guest on who’s going to get financially naked with you and the first one up is my Marketing Manager, Caitlin Lyttle. Caitlin joins me to share her career background, why she wanted to work at the Financial gym, and exactly what her financial picture looks like. At the Financial Gym, we call the first meeting you have with a trainer the “financially naked session.” In this meeting, you share everything about yourself financially so the trainer knows where you’re starting and so that he or she can make the plan for how you can get where you want to go. Above all other meetings, this one scares clients the most because they are afraid or ashamed of their financial situation. For more information, visit the show notes at http://financially-blonde.com/getting-naked-with-caitlin-lyttle

At the my company, the Financial Gym, we like to call the financial plan you get from us the starter plan. It really is an initial roadmap plotting out how you can achieve your goals. Some clients get the road map and put everything into place and follow it to a tee. Some clients get the roadmap and think it’s impossible and never even do the work. And then some clients get the roadmap and life throws them a series of detours and the road trip changes. The plan is a guideline but it’s never really set in stone. Some plans we work on are easy to put together because the clients’ financial lives are easily aligned with their goals, and then some plans, like today’s guests, are not easy to put together because the roadmap is filled with uncertainty. When my trainers have to deliver those types of plans, they’re actually not overly concerned, because after years of doing this, we know that anything is possible if our clients put their minds to it. We actually LOVE it when our clients accomplish what seems impossible at the beginning and this is the case with Laniece and Jo. They are two Financial Gym clients working with my trainer Joy, and they join me today to share why they wanted to fix their financial lives and how they went about accomplishing what seemed like impossible goals from Joy. For more information, visit the show notes at http://financially-blonde.com/achieving-the-impossible-with-laniece-and-jo

I know it’s literally one of the last weeks of summer, but this week my Happy Hour friends and I are talking about vacations: The importance of vacations How we like to take our vacations How we pay for vacations What we like to do on vacation For more information, visit the show notes at http://financially-blonde.com/vacations-with-the-happy-hour-ladies/ 

The path to financial fitness is a series of small changes that ultimately leads to big results. For others, their path starts with a big, scary, life changing choice that ultimately leads to big results. Today, I’m talking to Financial Gym client, Chante, who along with her husband Mike was faced with one of those scary, life changing choices. She’s going to share the financial missteps that led to this choice and how she’s working through it with not only Mike’s support but her two young boys.   Notes for this show as well as links to my guest's sites can be found on my blog, http://financially-blonde.com. Also, if you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me to shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me @Blonde_Finance or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let us know.    Until next time, take care!!

journalist, and now published author, Paulette Perhach, shares her honest and sometimes cringe-worthy journey from writing the viral fuck-off fund post to having no fuck-off fund at all. She shares why she wanted to write a book for writers that’s not just about how to make money writing. It’s a great conversation with lots of learning lessons. For more information, visit the show notes at http://financially-blonde.com/accepting-your-financial-reality-with-paulette-perhach/

One of the things I love about having a podcast is that it gives me a great excuse to catch up with friends, with just a few people eavesdropping along the way. Today I’m talking to my friend and Gen X Spirit Animal, Jess Garbarino, Founder of Every Single Dollar, about her journey from home foreclosure to buying a home again without any credit. Her story is an inspiration to anyone who thought home ownership would never be in the cards. Notes for this show as well as links to my guest's sites can be found on my blog, http://financially-blonde.com. Also, if you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me to shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me @Blonde_Finance or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let us know.  Until next time, take care!!

Hello Martinis and Your Money Listeners!! We are officially on the summer schedule here at Martinis and Your Money which means that at least one Friday a month I’ll be replaying some of my favorite shows while I take some time to catch my breath on the podcast recordings and focus on raising money for the Financial Gym. Today I’m replaying a show that aired a little over a year ago about crafting a job you love with Kate Gremillion from Mavenly & Co and the Women Work and Worth Podcast. For me a great podcast episode is one that I’m still thinking about a year later and this is one of those to me. There is a lot of information out there glorifying the entrepreneurial lifestyle and journey and I think too many people think about this path before they really consider being what Kate calls an intrepreneur. If you’re wondering where your career path lies, I hope you’re considering intrepreneurship as one of your alternatives. And now here’s Kate again.

Today we’re talking about moving and the financial and emotional implications that come with that decision. As many of you heard, I recently sold my home to move and downsize into something more affordable in my budget, well my Happy Hour friends have also handled some big moves or have them in the near future and we’re sharing all about it.   Notes for this show as well as links to my guest's sites can be found on my blog, http://financially-blonde.com. Also, if you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me to shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me @Blonde_Finance or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let us know.    Until next time, take care!!

This time last year I was actively looking for investors for the Financial Gym. As part of the process a number of people asked us what the experience was like, so I decided to record a happy hour with three financial gym clients to ask them about their experience and their thoughts on the gym. Fast forward to today, 1 year later, and we check in on the status of Jen, Kelly and Maria. Where are their finances now? Listen to find out.   Notes for this show as well as links to my guest's sites can be found on my blog, http://financially-blonde.com. Also, if you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me to shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me @Blonde_Finance or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let us know.    Until next time, take care!!

Despite the fact that I’m divorced, I’m actually very optimistic about relationships and their long-term potential. As I have shared on this show, money and a lack of transparency around it was certainly an issue in my marriage, and that’s why I was really excited to talk to Lisa Zeiderman, a family law attorney and partner at Miller, Zeiderman and Whitakker, about ways that people can divorce-proof their relationships. After dozens of years seeing all of the ways that people can financially handicap their relationships through various divorce negotiations, Lisa shares some great insights on how you can let money enhance your marriage and not lead to the downfall.   Notes for this show as well as links to my guest's sites can be found on my blog, http://financially-blonde.com. Also, if you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me to shannon@finblonde.com or tweet to me @Blonde_Finance or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group and let us know.    Until next time, take care!!