Ep. #135 | Taking Charge of Your Relationship With Your Money with Paula Wilimek
I really feel like my husband and I have become financial ninjas in the last 5 – 7 years. My finances now bring me joy instead of stress. I’ve really flipped my story throughout my financial journey. That’s why I wanted to have this conversation- I want all of you to get rid of the stress and shame that so many people feel when it comes to their finances.
So I invited Paula Wilimek to join me for this episode. She is an incredible woman on a mission to help other women change their energy, their story, and their relationship with money. Paula takes a holistic approach to financial management, that includes managing your mental relationship with money.
This is definitely only the start of many episodes about our money and our relationships with it. I want us all to get to a point where we manage our finances to give ourselves the power to meet our goals.
Here are the main topics of my amazing conversation with Paula:
- Paula felt her work at a big financial corporation was disconnected from what her clients needed
- It’s much easier to just keep doing what you’re familiar with when it comes to finances
- There’s a lot of shame and guilt tied into whether you understand how to manage finances, which means that people often don’t ask for help
- Not feeling confident about managing finances causes stress for lots of people, and that stress spills over into other aspects of their lives
- What we learned from our families and friends about finances often doesn’t work for us
- Women are now bringing in more money than they used to- earning sometimes isn’t the problem, it’s knowing what to do with those earnings that’s stressful
- Who to trust is also a big question: a financial advisor at your bank may try to sell you into programs that benefit the bank
- Paula’s program starts by asking people about their money story, which means who taught them and what they learned growing up
- The next step in Paula’s program is to examine what’s happening to you financially now, especially what patterns there are in your financial situation
- Then Paula guides program participants to create an action plan just for them, including how to snap themselves out of mental downward spirals
- It’s important to work mental health practices into your financial routines, like having a regular gratitude practice
- Financial planning and recommendations must be personalized
- Paula recommends starting with making sure you have some cash
- Then if you have debt, look into aggressively paying that off, which can have a psychologically positive snowball effect
- Next, consider working on a “power fund”- enough to cover several months of expenses so that you have more control over your life
- Tracking every expense is hard work but very eye-opening
- “Budgeting” is such a loaded, triggering word- do the things that make you happy, but know what those things cost
- Don’t wait for retirement or financial planning until it’s a necessity- plan for success early
- Some government financial assistance plans exist, but finding them and navigating them is difficult
- The future of retirement income is uncertain- you cannot automatically depend on pensions for retirement anymore
- Consider how your financial timeline affects your credit- wait to pay off credit cards until you’ve been billed, so you get that history of regularly paying off your debt
Hoping this episode supports you on the path of knowing, accepting, and loving who you truly are. Wishing more simplicity and ease in all that you do!
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I ease my time working on my finances by working some me-time into my financial routine:
- I do a face mask. I put a little peer cleanser on from Skin Essence, then follow up with an oil serum. Just be careful you don’t forget it’s there! Half the time I forget because it’s so comfortable, then remember when I go to sip on my smoothie. Save 15% off of your order at skinessence.ca when you use the code JENNPIKE15.
- I make something delicious. I’m really into apple turmeric mulled cider lately. It’s a Garden of Life recipe that you can find right here. Bonus: this smoothie helps with mobility and general pain, like joint pain or soreness after a workout.
- I make up something delicious. I also recently made up my own smoothie recipe using Sunwarrior’s clean greens and protein along with some frozen pineapple and cauliflower- don’t knock it until you try it! It’s really satiating for me and keeps my body steady when I’m taxing my body, whether it’s physically with a workout or mentally and emotionally with my finances. Save 10% off of your order at sunwarrior.comif you’re a US resident when you use the code simplicity (all lower case).
- I come to the work well-rested. If on Thursday night I’m not feeling really rested and calm, I’ll use some Valericalm calm from Saint Francis Herb Farm to help me rest. It’s a combination of herbs and botanicals that doesn’t knock you out, it soothers your mind and body. I wake up on Friday feeling non-anxious and non-groggy, which is really essential for me to work with my finances. Save 15% off your order at stfrancisherbfarm.com when you use the code JENNPIKE15.
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Quotes:
PW: “They couldn’t see themselves in those recommendations”
PW: “We have the tools to help people, but we’re not helping them get there”
PW: “There’s so much shame and guilt associated with financial ‘should’s”
PW: “With money, we don’t ask for help”
PW: “You can’t possibly know that because you’ve never, literally never had any real financial literacy in your lives. We don’t learn it at school”
PW: “Women don’t have power because they’re not the one making the money”
JP: “There’s more money coming into the household and instead of it being something that is actually helping them, it can become something that is now a different kind of elephant in the room”
JP: “I think for a lot of women, it’s not not understanding how to earn money”
JP: “Money is an emotionally charged topic”
PW: “Your family of origin is the biggest teacher of your money story or your subconscious beliefs of home money”
PW: “One of the first things I remember learning about money as a small child was that money was dirty”
PW: “You see a pattern with money, how it comes in and out of your life”
PW: “Your money story is going to be a lifelong thing- identifying and changing and evolving and growing”
PW: “One of the biggest game-changers that I also suggest in my workshop is to have a regular gratitude practice”
PW: “If you’re not invested in those goals, there’s a 99% chance you’re not going to follow my recommendations”
PW: “Every client is very individual, which is really exciting for someone like me because this is what I love to do. It’s to help people dream and to be like, we can achieve this.”
JP: “I have a money date every Friday with myself”
PW: “‘Budgeting’ is similar for me to ‘dieting’- so loaded a word”
PW: “I don’t like to label a particular financial behavior as being wrong”
PW: “People wait to do this planning until it’s sort of a necessity”
JP: “I want to start the conversation, no matter how uncomfortable it is”
PW: “I invite all of you to like drop the guilt and shame about finances”
PW: “When women really give themselves permission, they are on fire, they are unstoppable
JP: “When we’re talking about money, ladies, this is about you recognizing and feeling that you deserve this, that this is possible”
Additional Information About Jenn:
Jenn studied and graduated with honors in Human Anatomy and Physiology with such a passion that it propelled her to continue her education over many years. Jenn is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Medical Exercise Specialist, Registered Yoga Instructor and Faculty of the Toronto Yoga Conference, Pre & Post Natal Yoga Expert, STOTT Pilates trained instructor, Twist Sport Conditioning Coach, Spin Instructor Crossfit Level 1 Coaching, among other certifications she got along the way. She is also a guest Holistic Expert for Breakfast Television, Global, CHCH, Rogers Tv and writes columns for STRONG Fitness Magazine, iRun magazine, Savvy Mom and contributes to Inside Fitness Magazine, The Toronto Star and Sun. She is also a proud educator and ambassador to Genuine Health, Nature’s Emporium, and Juice Plus.
Jenn is a proud mama to two beautiful souls and her best teachers of life. She resides on Lake Simcoe in Keswick with her husband and two children.