Special Edition: Secret Money Tips, Part I—How to Develop a Money Mindset

investing financial empowerment one oh one. Now we're bringing that advice to every young woman through this series. Today, we're talking to Marsha Barnes, founder and CEO of the Finance Bar members club, which helps individuals start their journey to financial wellness. Welcome, Marsha. It's so great to have you on the show. Thank you so much for having me ken. So, Marsha, tell us a little bit about your personal journey. How

did your experience growing up affect your relationship with money? Oh, that's such a great question and a story I love to tell. So, I grew up in a two parent household. My parents divorced around the age of twelve, and my brother and I went to live with my mom, and once we transitioned over to her just being a single parent, I honestly felt as if our living conditions were not as nice as they once were, or at least that's

how I felt. And quite honestly, my mom just did not have the financial resources to mirror the lifestyle that we had when she was with my dad when I was living with two parents, and that honestly made me feel sad. It made me feel sad for her, and it also made me feel sad for my brother and I. So what I'll say is that some of the things that I wanted, you know, when I was younger, and I wasn't able to get those same things transitioned over

to when I was an adult. So I'm not sure how many individuals remember this, but when I was younger, Barbie cars existed. They were like little cars as you could get in and you could drive them around, and that was something that my mom really couldn't afford to get for me. So as I got older, I wanted a luxury vehicle. Like when I first received my first job and I started to trail the corporate ladder, I wanted luxury things. I wanted a luxury luxury vehicle, designer clothes.

Because for whatever reason, Kim money gave me the sense of power, and it also made me feel as if I had a level of freedom of having options. So that was kind of my journey and my introduction to money as I was younger than as I got older. I love the way you talk about this emotional relationship with money and how a person's emotions can in fact control their finances and even affect their finances. How do you get these emotions under control and how do you

make sure that they're working for you? Yeah, I would say that first one is understanding that our emotions around money, or our thoughts around money is often triggered around how we were brought or raise up to think about money. One of the key ways that you really gain control of those emotions is to begin to think about how you feel about money, what emotions does it evoke for you, opposed to considering what does that look like for somebody

else in my family or my friend's circle. Money is personal, finance is extremely personal, so it's really important that you begin to develop your own thoughts around money. That's really how you get control of the emotions around it. I think That's really interesting because so much of what we are brought up on we sort of internalize, and maybe we don't necessarily realize that we're sort of internalizing other people's values, for example, or parents, or maybe other people

that we kind of grow up with. You know, we probably need to take a step back and ask if our values are kind of aligned with those and do we want to have the kind of same relationship with money that they do. Yeah. Another thing you talk about which I love is having a money mindset. So I guess the question is what is a money mindset and why is it so important to think about that and shape that mindset when you're young. Yeah. So a money

mindset is our thoughts and beliefs about money. It controls the way that we act, behave, and often even spend money. And the reason why it's really important to develop a money mindset when you are young, although the chances are very likely that it will change as you age, is because you want to develop your own, your very own identity with money. When we're young, they are oftentimes many

distractions that come our way. So if Marcia, you know, young Marsha was someone that really want to save money and plan for her future, but then them also distracted by some of the things that my friends do, and that helps me, you know, navigate towards spending money that I really don't want to spend. Then that's the path that I will take. So it's very important that you identify when you are very young so you can develop your very own identity. It's really interesting because, honestly, it's

just so true. There's just so much coming at us all time. When you're younger and when you're not so young, there's just so much coming at us, and we really need to control or at least try to take control of our own mind and kind of know what thoughts you're letting in and what you want to sort of reject. Yes, that seems to me like an incredibly valuable lesson which I know I wish I had had when I was

much younger. So now that we want to develop this money mindset and get control of our emotions and understand our emotions and our relationship to money more, how do we do this? You talk about four specific steps that you suggest young women can apply right now to develop their own money mindset. Can you walk us through those four steps? Yeah? Absolutely, So. The first one, Kim I would say, is to gain an understanding around why you

think about money the way that you do. What were some of the things that you were taught and even if you hadn't been taught any thing, what are some of the things that you hear about money that now may have you believing that that's how you feel about money. An example of that, oftentimes, when we're younger, or at least I heard that wanting to have money or desiring more money is greed or money is only used to

pay bills. Well that's not the case. Money is a financial resource to provide for our needs and many of the things that we want in life. So number one would be gay understanding why you think about money the way that you do. Number two is to write down what you truly value. When we think about value, consider is it time with friends and family? Is it you want to be your own boss on entrepreneur or to own a business when you grow up? Do you feel

more financially confident when you have money saved? So write down what your values are. Again, I want to that this may change as you age, however, it's very important to identify that now. Number three would be work on creating really good financial habits very early on. What does that look like? One could be putting back money, some level of money, no matter how young you are. As you start to earn put money away. You can also consider giving to charities or organizations that you really enjoy

their mission or you really believe in their mission. If you have expenses to pay, get in the habit of paying your bills on time. It's very important to develop these very good financial habits when you're young because you'll only get better at this as you age. And then number four CAM would be to embrace the journey. As you age, your income could increase, it could decrease, you could have financial roadblocks, financial mess perhaps that may happen

over your lifetime. But it's really important to stand in financial gratitude because every financial lesson just helps you to gain more financial confidence and more financial awareness as you aid. So that's what I would say would be the top four ways to develop a really great money mindset. While those are really practical and super helpful, you know, I think this question of how you value money or how you see money is really sort of fundamental. Like you said,

is it just to pay the bills? Or is it a tool. I think these are all really interesting questions. I know for myself. You know, I think when I was much younger, I looked at money it's just something that sort of paid the bills. And as you said, that aspiring to too much money might have seemed a little greedy, maybe not the best values. But if you see money as a tool towards accomplishing goals that you

want to achieve, that's that's really freeing, frankly. And you know, whether that goal is to help other people in the world, to help your family, just to be responsibly taking care of yourself. I mean that mindset can really change your relationship with money and you can have a much more positive relationship. So I really love that. And then it doesn't seem so scary or difficult, frankly, you're kind of motivated to make it happen. So I think these four

steps are really important and I really appreciate them. So I really appreciate you being with us. And I know that the young women listening are going to learn a lot. And I wish that i'd heard all this when I was sixteen years old. I'm still learning, so thank you for this. You're welcome, Kim. Thanks so much for having me,

so let me recap some of what we learned here today. First, it's so powerful to recognize that we all have an emotional relationship with money and that if we control our emotions, we can control our finances. Second, there are so many myths and misconceptions about money, and one of the biggest is that we have to react to money the same way that our parents or our friends do. Sometimes it's

important to chart your own path. Third, know what you value that is truly value that will help you wisely determine where to spend your time and money to achieve your goals. Talking to Marcia was truly delightful. Join me next week for more money tips for young women on our next episode of Seneca's Conversations, Secret Money Tips in partnership with Secret Deodorant. Thank you for listening, and please

share today's podcast episode with others in your life. This is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and co founder of Seneca Women. Seneca's Conversations is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,