Martinis and Your Money Podcast

Career Switches with Erika and Genar

The theme this month on the podcast is careers! We're covering everything from switching to leveling up in your career, salary negotiations, and everything in between. This is a huge conversation topic with our clients at Financial Gym because so many factors are at play when making decisions around our career choices. Spoiler alert: it's not all about money.  Joining me today are Erika and Genar, two Trainers at Financial Gym who recently made a career switch to become Financial Gym employees. They joined today to share the factors that led to their personal decisions, how they help clients assess whether or not it's time to make a career shift, and the best ways to do it.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode485

Travel Tales with The Happy Hour Crew

Happy Hour is the last Friday of the month on the show, where some fantastic friends join me for cheap drinks and casual money conversations. This time, we have a special guest joining us: Debbie, a loyal podcast listener, and new Certified Financial Trainer.  Since I dedicated the month of June to travel on this podcast, you guessed it, we're talking about all things travel during this Happy Hour! We'll share some of our frugal hacks, biggest wins, and epic fails with you. Cheers to a fun chat with friends and discovering the highs and lows of exploring the world!  Debbie has been a long-time personal finance nerd. When she discovered podcasts, she sought out personal finance shows. That's how she found Martinis and Your Money back when it first started. She recently completed the CFT program and works part-time at The Financial Gym as a Certified Trainer.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode484-HHCrew-talks-travel

Travel Surprises and Tales with Chelsea and Todd

We are officially in summertime, so I wanted to share frugal travel hack ideas this month. Travel is the number one goal of clients of the Financial Gym, and it has been for the past 10 years. As most of us know, travel can be an expensive goal. I love the opportunity to help my clients achieve their goals, like travel, frugally, so we still have cash for our other life goals.  We have already talked about camping, travel hacking, and AirBNB’ing. Now we’re going to talk about when travel plans go awry. Joining me today are my longtime clients and friends, Todd and Chelsea. I’ve worked with many clients over the last 10 years, and Todd and Chelsea’s story has to be one of my top 5 client journeys of all time. They joined today to talk about the epic 8-month sabbatical we planned together, how it all fell apart, and how something even greater stemmed from it.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode483-epic-travel

Airbnb Hosting with Phoebe

We are officially in summertime, so I wanted to share frugal travel hack ideas this month. Travel is the number one goal of clients of the Financial Gym, and it has been for the past 10 years.  As most of us know, travel can be an expensive goal. I love the opportunity to help my clients achieve their goals, like travel, frugally, so we still have cash for the other life goals we have. We have already talked about camping and travel hacking, so now we’re diving into Airbnb.  This episode is a twofer, where I want to remind you of the frugal joys of utilizing Airbnb for your travel needs and thinking about Airbnb as a side hustle. Joining me today is Phoebe, a long-time podcast listener and Financial Gym client who turned a crappy rental situation into an Airbnb gold  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode482-hosting-airbnb

Credit Card Travel Hacking with Austin Riffe

We are officially in summertime, so I wanted to share frugal travel hack ideas this month. Travel is the number one goal of clients of the Financial Gym, and it has been for the past 10 years. As most of us know, travel can be an expensive goal. I love the opportunity to help my clients achieve their goals, like travel, frugally, so that we still have cash for all of the other life goals we have. Last week we talked about camping, and this week we're talking about travel hacking or utilizing credit card rewards to make your travel dreams more affordable. Joining me today is podcast listener and founder of the company Travel AsF, Austin Riffe, to talk about how he got into travel hacking and how he's saving people thousands of dollars and tens of thousands of points by being more intentional with their travel spending.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode481-travel-hacking

Can Camping Be Frugal? With Kylie Lipinski

Since we are all officially in the summertime, I wanted to share frugal travel ideas for June. Travel is the number one goal of clients of the Financial Gym, and it has been for the past ten years. However, as most of us know, travel can be an expensive goal, so I always love the opportunity to help my clients achieve their goals, like travel, frugally so that we still have cash left over for all of the other life goals we have. Kicking off June is my teammate and long-time podcast listener, Kylie Lipinski, to share her tips and tricks for frugal camping. I’ve never really seen myself as the camping sort, but I’ve witnessed my clients experience the joys of it, especially in their bank accounts. Kylie joins me today to share how she converted to a camping fan and how you can do it too. Full disclosure: I’m ready to join the camping club after this episode, and I hope you are too. For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode480-camping

Spending on Food with the Happy Hour Crew

Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics.  Since the beginning of this podcast, which now dates back over 8 years, we always had a set group of people who joined me for Happy Hour. Starting in 2023, we’re going to test out a rotating one or two seats for Happy Hour. This decision has come because of a few reasons, first of all, the monthly commitment required to co-host the happy hour is difficult for people to make when they have other businesses and interests as these seats are voluntary and there is no financial payment provided for the happy hour guests. Secondly, I’ve heard for years many of you wanting to join a happy hour and share your thoughts and honestly, I’d love to hear them because I have shared drinks with many of you in person and would love to also do it virtually and finally, this is a great way for us to amplify many of the voices in this community and discuss topics that you’re passionate about.  Joining us for this month’s happy hour is podcast listener, guest and Financial Gym client, Kat. Since I dedicated the month of May to food on this podcast, you guessed it, we’re talking about all things food during this happy hour.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode479-happy-hour-crew-talks-food-spending

Making Healthy Food Choices with Kate O’Driscoll

Food costs are typically the second highest monthly expense people have after where they live. It's a topic we're frequently talking about with our clients at Financial Gym. How we consume food impacts not only our physical and financial health but also our mental health, so I'm dedicating the month of May to food conversations on the podcast.  Joining me today is Kate O'Driscoll, a health coach who focuses on meeting clients holistically where they are and helping them find healthier relationships with food to improve their financial, physical, and mental health.  As a special note, Kate is a former teacher of mine. She is one of those teachers in your life who makes you believe you are someone special who has something special to offer this world. If it wasn't for her, I would have never developed my love for the theater and acting. Acting was the activity that helped the insecure, quiet nerd become the confident, strong woman she is today.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode478-healthy-choices

Blondery Update with Auzerais Bellamy

I love all things food and am dedicating the month of May to food conversations on the podcast. I’m a fan of Food Network, and I view chefs the way people view artists or rock stars. Cooking is an art form, and I’m constantly impressed by the people out there raising the game and the bar for food standards.  When I think about amazing and game-changing chefs, I can’t help but think of Financial Gym scholarship winner Auzerais Bellamy. I connected with Auzerais in 2020, and she was previously on the show to share her experience of working in fine dining as a woman of color.  She founded her company, Blondery, to change the face of baking, and she joins me today to share an update on what she’s been up to since we last connected. She has some significant updates you’ll want to hear.  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode477-blondery-update

How do I Meal Prep on a Budget? With Elia Wolberger

Food costs are typically the second highest monthly expense people have after where they live, and it's a topic we're frequently talking about with our clients at Financial Gym. So this month's podcast theme is dedicated to food!  Joining me today is Elia Wolberger, personal chef, Meal Prep Expert, and founder of the Feed Your Sister website, to talk about the importance of meal prepping for your physical, mental, and financial health. We talk about how meal prepping changed our lives and how you  For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode471-feed-your-sister