Kris Safarova  00:45

Welcome to the Strategy Skills podcast. I’m your host, Kris Safarova. And our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a free download we prepared for you, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/overallapproach. You can also get McKinsey and BCG-winning resume, which is a resume that got offers from both of those firms. And you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf. And you can also get a copy of a book we co-authored with some of our clients, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift. And the book is called Nine Leaders in Action, and it went to number one bestseller on Amazon. So today, we have with us Elizabeth Husserl, and she’s the first female principal and co-founder of comprehensive boutique wealth planning firm, Peak 360 Wealth Management. Elizabeth, welcome.

Elizabeth Husserl  01:46

Thank you for having me. It’s so good to be here.

Kris Safarova  01:49

So wealth management is very important topic, and many people don’t know enough about it. So I’m very excited to have you today with us, to share with us some of the things we should know.

Elizabeth Husserl  01:58

Yeah, no, it’s a very important topic, and it encompasses a lot.

Kris Safarova  02:03

Definitely. So for our listeners, who are generally relatively senior people within major organizations, and they have families, they have responsibilities, what are some of the things that you have noticed people often don’t realize about wealth management that they should know.

Elizabeth Husserl  02:20

So thank you. Kris. I mean, I want to say one of the biggest misnomers or issues that I see in wealth management and just general financial planning is that we confuse wealth with money, and what that ends up doing is that it puts us kind of on this endless, relentless cycle of wanting more and more money and yet not feeling wealthier. And so when I use the terminology wealth management, I’m using it more broadly to really manage a lot of different other aspects that bring a sense of wealth to our lives, not just financial stability. Even though financial stability is really important, and that is very much what I do for a living, we create financial plan strategies, investment strategies, etc, and it’s really important to have a plan there. But usually when I’m working with clients in executive levels, or they’ve, you know, they’ve been in their career for a while, that isn’t the issue so much like, yes, we can always navigate more risk, and especially when there’s volatility in the market, that doesn’t tend to be the long term issue. It’s more like knowing when is enough, right? How much have I worked to get enough? And how do I, more importantly, experience wealth alongside accumulating it? So I think that’s the big distinction I would make. Is to start to separate what money is and what it’s not, and see money and wealth as different things.

Kris Safarova  03:39

So let’s go a little bit deeper. So you said that people confuse wealth and money. How can we not confuse it?

Elizabeth Husserl  03:44

Because they’re different things. So money is a tool and a technology, right? We use it to measure value of goods and services that we consume and produce, to store value as an exchange for credit. It is a tool and it’s a technology, and much like any other tool in technology, it’s can be used to create good in the world and in your life, and also can you be used to create harm, right? But it’s a tool. Wealth is a state of being, and that is widely different, right? Wealth is an experience where your resources are adding to a sense of fulfillment and meaning in your life, right? And sometimes you add more money, and it doesn’t necessarily make you feel any happier. In fact, sometimes we take promotions, new roles, etc, and we just add a lot more to our plate. And we can be making more money, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re experiencing any more fulfillment, contentment, happiness, creativity, etc, you name it. And so there are very different things, and we can confuse having more and more money as a path towards success, and a lot of people get there and they don’t feel any happier.

Kris Safarova  04:54

So what do we got?

Elizabeth Husserl  04:57

That’s a great question. You know? I. We have to just pause for a second and kind of normalize part of the conversation. We are wired to we are wired to seek, right? And there’s a great book called The scarcity brain, so we’re not crazy when we feel the desire for more in cravings. That is actually how we stay alive, right? So we’re wired to seek calories, and that’s why we eat food. We’re wired to look for shelter, into resources, and so that is just part of our DNA and how we’re structured to on one hand, we haven’t necessarily gone wrong, but we haven’t done a software update to recognize that perhaps we already have a lot of the things we need to survive. We’re not in the same situation as a lot of our ancestors and a lot of the people that we came from, right? And so it’s almost like I wish Kris that I could have a little Software Update button on people how we have on our phone to be like, let me bring my experience of wealth much more to the contemporary moment and revisit the reality of scarcity existing. So for example, I wrote this. I wrote my book The Power of enough, partly because I was raised between two working professionals, my dad, my dad was a doctor, really, you know, well practiced physician, and my mom was a therapist. She had a private practice, so we had plenty right upper middle class. We had what we needed, but there was still an experience of scarcity in the household. And so I had to ask myself, why are we still feeling that way when we have what we need? And so that’s what’s marked my path as I’ve gone into finance and economics and financial management, with psychology interwoven into it, is understanding how we can stop and start to experience and embody wealth alongside accumulating.

Kris Safarova  06:40

So how do we remove this sense of scarcity that we feel?

Elizabeth Husserl  06:45

I think part of it is getting super clear. What’s the scarcity truly up, right? Is it really scarcity of money that you’re missing, or are there other areas in your life where you are feeling poverty, and that is real, right? And so one of the ways that I use this work with clients when I’m doing financial planning or wealth management, is that we will do a financial a wealth map, right? And so it’s based on Maslow’s work on human needs, his the human needs of basic survival, but also self actualization. There was another economist from Chile, Manfred Max Neef, who took it one step further. And so what I tell people is that there are 12 basic human needs that we all have. And so let’s just toss aside the idea that we’re needy. It’s like, No, we have 12 human human needs that is universal. The way we satisfy our needs is unique and personal, and that’s where strategy really comes in. And we can use money, or not money other resources to satisfy these needs, and that’s the really important piece. Is when we lift the head out and we say, Okay, our financial stability is one piece of the pie, and having money allows me to bring that resource towards satisfying the need for purpose and connection and belonging and touch and safety and physical health. We can certainly use money to enhance our experience of that. But what happens is that if we just use money, one, we continue to create a dependency on money to feel fulfilled, right? And then two, we start to use money as the end game when it’s not the end game is actually feeling a sense of broader wealth and fulfillment in these other areas of our lives.

Kris Safarova  08:22

So how can we start feeling throughout the sense of fulfillment?

Elizabeth Husserl  08:27

So it’s a couple things, right? I think it’s understanding that the way to quiet the scarcity brain is to really invoke your body, right? Like your body. And I’ll give you a very concrete example. We know what it feels like to eat a nourishing meal, right? You’re like, oh, that hit the spot. And we know what it feels like to eat the right amount versus to overeat. When you start to get uncomfortable, right? You’re like, oh, that doesn’t feel good. We also know what it’s like to eat empty calories and be like, I was so rushing in my day I don’t even remember what I ate. So it’s the same thing. Our body gives us constant cues of what feels good and what feels nourishing. So the same thing, if we start to one, recognize what are the areas in our lives that potentially are not so fulfilled. And so I have clients actually take a very simple money map and or a wealth map, excuse me, and they’ll fill it out, and they’ll show me areas where they feel really satisfied in areas where they feel lack. And if we start to bring awareness to those areas, and be like, what are the strategies that I can bring to bring a little bit more awareness that area? And then Kris, when we take the time to really pause and digest that strategy and that moment of meaning and those different needs, so you digest so you pay attention to it. Step two, you digest it. Step three, you allow viscerally your body to know that you’re experiencing a moment enough and that starts to compound a different type of wealth portfolio, very similar to how we compound interest in our investment portfolio.

Kris Safarova  10:01

So you mentioned we digested. Can you explain this a little?

Elizabeth Husserl  10:05

Yeah, I mean, it’s almost as simple like I like to keep things complex, complex ideas simple, literally, just close your eyes and consume and so, for example, I really enjoy meaningful conversations. So when we finish this conversation, Kris, before I go into my email and start my to do’s and my client meetings, I will take two minutes close my eyes and literally swallow what was meaningful and impactful of our exchange today. Right? We are having an economic act of exchange. I will take time to close my eyes, literally swallow, watch that go down into every cell in my body, let it feel the nourishment it needs. I mean, you can do the same when you’re drinking water. You’re like, oh, did I let my whole body drink that in? And then I opened my eyes, and I engage with my day from a different place, a place of feeling fulfilled versus a place of feeling lack. Because, oh my gosh, scarcity of time, right? I have so much I need to do, and so we can start to train our bodies to experience fulfillment. That is how we embody wealth, and that’s how we then can turn to our relationship to money from a different place.

Kris Safarova  11:10

Very interesting. So you mentioned that you want to experience the moment enough? Do you mean that by digesting it, you can get the point where you feel that was enough for the sake of my life, and I can move on.

Elizabeth Husserl  11:25

And I would say a lot of creative people who are entrepreneurs, or at the level that you’re that we’re speaking to today, they know what this feels like more from that perspective, creative flow, right? When you’re in the middle of a work project and time stops, right? That is what I’m talking about that is a moment of enough, right where, viscerally, after the project is done, the output is there. It’s the presentation has happened. You feel satisfied because you accomplished something. It could have been hard, it could have been inspiring, but notice, it’s that satisfaction that is a metrics of success. And in our culture, we don’t take time to a recognize that as a metrics of success, nor do we take time to integrate that. And if we were to do more of that, we would get to the state like I live from a place that I love my life. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that I can stop working today, right? But I love my life and I can feel the wealth in my life, because I’ve taken the time to integrate, recognize and create strategies to emphasize those things that bring me a sense of fulfillment.

Kris Safarova  12:29

So this will be something that is missing for people who seem to have everything, but then they feel I’m happy.

Elizabeth Husserl  12:35

Exactly. Or just like, you know, when you’re trying to gift to someone who has everything you’re like, What do you give to someone who has everything you know, and so you start to think of them, is there a place in in in their life that you see them potentially struggling, right? Are they wanting more connection? Are they wanting a sense of purpose? How do you gift to emphasize those things, right? My father turned 79 tomorrow, and she doesn’t need anything. So we came together and we gave him a tribute video, and that is going to fill his cup of connection and meaning, to see how he’s created a sense of purpose in those people he’s touched, right and so we just become a little bit more creative in how we share resources, which is an economic act.

Kris Safarova  13:16

So for someone who is feeling unhappy in their life right now, and they need to fix a lot of things in terms of being able to actually digest and see what is good. What would be your recommendation for them?

Elizabeth Husserl  13:28

Yeah, I mean, again, I would start with with the simple act. Well, I would say two things, Kris. I would say one, start a 30 day satiation challenge that for the next 30 days, at the end of the night, you don’t write down what your gratitude, what you’re grateful for. Sometimes that’s hard, especially if you’re going through a hard time, but you take a moment you’re like, what if anything made me feel satisfied in my day? Maybe I woke up early and I took myself for a walk. Maybe I went on a on a limb and I had a conversation that was challenging to me. It doesn’t matter, but at the end of every day, start to write three things that satisfied you. Don’t edit it, don’t analyze it, until your 30 days are over. Then turn back and say, Huh? What’s the pattern? What do I do in my life that actually does bring me a sense of meaning? If at the end of the day you’re like, I have nothing to write, then start your next day being like, what are three things I could do today that would satisfy me, that would not require $1 spent, and you just kind of give yourself that challenge to explore your engagement with the world. Because here’s, here’s the most interesting thing, right? Is that the symbol of the material world is often money, but we’re so obsessed with money that we forget to step in and interact with the material world, which means, how do we create? What’s our work? What’s my engagement, what’s my relationships? So that’s the encouragement is, is this path of being human right has a much broader why beneath it, than just accumulating money, and it will be unique to you, but take the time to find out what that is.

Kris Safarova  15:01

Was there any financial belief you used to have in the past that now you completely disagree with?

Elizabeth Husserl  15:07

Yes, I would say, too. Come to mind the belief that money is evil, right? And then the belief that money doesn’t show up for people who are kind of culturally creative and aligned with a different world view. And I would say today, I know money is neutral, right? Money is very neutral, and is a creative energy and force that is, it is a resource to be used by anyone who leans into it and engages with it. And if there’s something that I don’t agree with in the world, a lot of times, it’s because humans have set up structures that create imbalances in power and resources, etc. And so it’s more like, how do I participate in changing those structures? So I think that’s a big one. You know, people have a love hate relationship, often with money. And in reality, money is neutral. You have to kind of start to lean into, what do you love about the financial system, and what do you hate about it and and if you hate about it, step in and make some change.

Kris Safarova  16:04

That is very important thing to think about. And if anyone can hear noise on my side, this is because I’m in the hotel. Some of you guys know I got misplaced by LA Fire, so currently still live in the hotel, and it’s very hard to control. Some noise may occur, yeah. So next thing I wanted to talk about is financial DNA. What would you like to share on that?

Elizabeth Husserl  16:27

Financial DNA is a lot of the patterns and habits and stories that we inherit, or excuse me, that we inherit from our families and our lineage, right? And so, for example, big part of my financial DNA was my grandfather was a World War Two survivor, an Austrian Jew who had to leave Austrian ended up in Latin America and South America, and re imagined his life, but did so in a way that he was always very tense and always afraid of the next World War. And so that sense of scarcity and fear of survival is what got passed on through my dad’s side of the family. My mom’s side of the family is from Colombia. She’s Latin American, and it was more like, you don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring. Let’s spend it all. And so I’ve had to kind of navigate these different patterns, behaviors, role models. And so the more we start to turn towards them and understand, okay, what serves me in my financial DNA. I want to keep that or what are something that could trigger me easily, right? I get triggered by wastefulness. I know that comes through my grandfather’s lineage, then I can better understand when that happens, and being more awareness of my emotions around it, and not have that impact my present and future decision making, and that’s the key piece. The more we understand our financial DNA, the more we have agency to do things differently and redefine our financial behaviors.

Kris Safarova  17:59

So if someone listening to us right now, and they’re realizing, you know what, I also have a DNA that is not conducive to a good life. How could they start rewiring their mind?

Elizabeth Husserl  18:10

Yeah, so I would say first they have to just tell the story, right? So I love for people to write out their money story, and because oftentimes what I find Kris is that in their money story, there are things that are good habits, to your point, but there’s also things that actually do create good habits, and we don’t recognize and realize that, because we’re often reacting to where we come from. And so first is the awareness, and then the second is a lot of times, then clients will feel grief because they weren’t taught something different, or they’re they didn’t get the the right footing or the right resources, or the the privilege and abilities to engage in a certain way that potentially, some of their peers are. So you have to feel the grief, you have to feel the anger, because, if not, it’s going to channel some of your behaviors. And then the third piece, you know, and I talk about in this book, is I do have people sit down and have a conversation with money. It’s a therapeutic exercise where you and money sit down and redefine what you want this relationship to be. And a lot of times I tell people, our relationship to our relationship to money is like a like a arranged marriage, right? Is that we may not have chosen it so consciously, but all of us are in one so you do have to take the time to understand your relational style, because likely your relationship style is coming up in your relationship to money for good or for bad. So for example, I tend to be someone who kind of anxious attachment I can hold on too tight. So when I sat down and had my first conversation with money, and I’m like, money, where are you? You’re not showing up enough in my life, right? I was starting my business money’s like, whoa, back off. You’re smothering me. And I was like, You know what? I haven’t told that before. I know that’s what I do. Yeah, and I sat down and had a conversation with money, and mine’s like, Hey, you have a ton of questions of what it’s like to become an entrepreneur and start your business. Write those questions down. Let’s continue to have conversation, and let’s figure out who in your life can actually be a really important mentoring guide so that you can figure this out. Don’t blame me for not showing up. Let’s get clear on what you need help with.

Kris Safarova  20:23

Elizabeth, and can you explain? How can someone properly do this exercise?

Elizabeth Husserl  20:27

Yeah, of course. And so it’s a gestalt chair exercise, which is a therapeutic chair exercise, or the empty chair exercise. Step one, choose an object that represents money to you. It can be your wallet, cash, a credit card, a checkbook, whatever represents money. Step two, you put two chairs or two meditation cushions, so you kind of put them a couple feet apart. You are on one chair, money is in the other chair. Step three, put a timer on your phone, maybe four minutes, right? Put the timer on the phone, let the timer go, and then for four minutes, you get to express whatever’s on your chest with money. I’m gonna encourage you not to tell your story. Of like, oh, well, this is what happened. No, tell your feelings. Are you angry at it? Are you overwhelmed? Do you love it? Do you want to know its secrets? Like, what’s the feeling that you have with money? Let yourself rant for four minutes when the timer goes off, trust that the first round of what needed to be said got said. Then step four switch chairs, you hold your money object on your lap. Now it’s money responding back to you. Money gets four minutes as well. Let money respond. This is often the most interesting part of the conversation. Timer goes off, switch one more time you get two minutes. Then money gets two minutes. Money does get the last word in this conversation, and then you let the timer go and just take a step back and don’t try to digest totally. Was there. See if you can kind of feel into what was the emotion? What was the feeling? Who did money remind you of? Often it reminds us of someone, and that is a very interesting thread to track as you start to UN piece the interference that we have with money. Because I’ll say one last thing, it’s kind of like the law of physics of electromagnetic induction. Whenever money comes into the conversation, we feel a charge, rather excited or secretly enamored, or we want more, or we push it away, like there’s a there’s an energetic charge. So the more you start to understand what that energetic charge is in your relationship to money and when it walks in the room for you, the more you’ll be able to work with it. Clear up the interference, get super clear what money is and what it’s not, give it a role, and then start to turn towards really building wealth in your life as a state of well being.

Kris Safarova  22:43

I remember when I have done a similar exercise, it was without the object, so without the cart or something like that, but it included another chair. What I was really surprised to uncover is some kind of negative feelings towards it, which I didn’t thought I had. Yeah, what were some of the surprises for you.

Elizabeth Husserl  23:00

I mean, for me, I didn’t realize how angry I was, right? I was so angry at it, and I think I was angry at it because I hadn’t been taught certain things, right, even though I had resources growing up and I didn’t feel financial stability lack I wasn’t taught things in terms of becoming entrepreneur. I’m also first generation, so I wasn’t taught how to sometimes belong to this culture in the US, right? And I was angry at what I hadn’t received. But it was confusing, because I had received money. Does that make sense? And so I think when you start to recognize, oh, what was I really angry at? And let me get super clear in my language and in my strategy to start to address that. So that was surprising to me. You know, I’ve seen people literally push money objects away because they reject it because money. You’ve been used to create so much hurt in my family, right? You’ve been used to manipulate people. I’ve had people pull money super tight and be like, money, I want so much more of you. And you’re like, Okay, interesting. Tell me more. And so it just gives you that interesting initial emotion, negative, positive, neutral. Like, it just gives you such great like, it’s a golden nugget to work with.

Kris Safarova  24:16

What was the most surprising for you when you did that exercise?

Elizabeth Husserl  24:20

That the way I treated money was very similar to how I just treated people in relationship. And so I think what was so surprising Kris was like, Oh, that’s my relational style. I need to take responsibility for that. I can’t scapegoat money right from my way of potentially showing up anxious in new situations or relationships. That’s mine, and so I think it really helped me be like I’m wasting too much energy in trying to hoard and grasp and be angry at this neutral energy. In fact, I need to take responsibility. Me in mapping out the life I want to create. So financial agency came out of that conversation, and I wasn’t expecting that.

Kris Safarova  25:07

When you worked with clients, have you observed some common harmful myths or beliefs about money? Yeah. How do you guide them to unlearn it?

Elizabeth Husserl  25:18

Yeah. So one that just came to my when you ask that, for example, if I’m working with a client who came from a lot less material resource, and they’ve built a really financially successful life, right? They’ve had a great career, they’ve saved, they’ve invested, they’ve gotten good stock options, etc, what I noticed is that they don’t know how to stop accumulating, because they’re pushing away where they came from, right? They’re always afraid that that situation that they were raised in is just like, you know, a block around the corner or one stock market recession away. And so a lot of what I do with those clients is is twofold, is that I help them see what pertains to the world of money and what doesn’t. So I make sure in our financial plan, we’ve talked through contingency plans and risk mitigation and how they’re invested, so that we can go through the cycles of the market and it’ll feel literally terror when the market goes down, because the reality is that it’s gonna go up, up and down every day, right? And so I help them understand how to navigate the emotions around cycles, because they don’t like cycles. And then I also help them understand, what is that financial number of enough from supporting your lifestyle perspective, and then what are those other areas in your life that potentially are feeling the true scarcity because you have focused so much on accumulating money as a way to solve for the financial story you come from. So really helping them understand that wealth is not just about money.

Kris Safarova  26:53

And how can someone determine the number that is enough?

Elizabeth Husserl  26:56

You know? It’s, it’s a formula. It’s, it is a function, right? Enough is a function of how much do you spend, right? So you know, if you spend very little, how much you need to save to support that spend is a lot less than if you spend a lot more, you’re gonna have to save a lot more. So there’s no one formula, because everyone’s spending is different. Are you investing in cash versus investing in an asset that has growth? So there’s a lot of different variables that come together to explore, but I always tell people, you know, start with understanding what is that spending level that would support a life of fulfillment, right? And not a life of excess, like a like of unconscious excess, but of really fulfillment. And sometimes, you know, I wrote the book not actually putting in financial strategy in the more traditional sense, but more with the intention of having people look at their definitions of wealth, both externally and internally. Because then the more you start to see what really fulfills you, your spending habits naturally start to change towards what really brings satisfaction. And that doesn’t mean I’m not trying to invoke people stop spending, right? I’m all about spending on those things that matter most, but understand those things that matter most, and then you can work backwards into what your enough number is. You can find that enough number with with formulas that doesn’t solve for the feeling of enough. And I think that’s the piece around embodying wealth as you go is that financial freedom is twofold. It’s having enough money saved that you can choose more. How do you work when you work with who you work with, but equally, it’s knowing who you are without a penny to your name.

Kris Safarova  28:50

So how can someone know who they are without the penny to their name?

Elizabeth Husserl  28:53

Sometimes I say, Kris, have a, have a a money sabbatical day like, wake up and say, I’m not going to spend a dime today and just see where life takes me, right? And it’s, you know, you can have these creative games with yourself to be like, how do I go through the holidays and not buy gifts but still give? Right? Maybe I write letters to everyone I love, right? How do I show up for a friend? Maybe not necessarily treating them out to dinner, but giving them a phone call, like it’s, you know, you can start to know who you are when we do the practice right of saying, Okay, I’m gonna take a sabbatical from money for a day. And it’s like, hey, money, we’re super tight, we’re super close. But guess what? You go have a break and I’m gonna have a break. It’s almost like, you know, I’m married, there’s days or there’s weekends, I’m like, I tell my husband, you go do your thing. I go do my thing, because I need to know who I am in a relationship to myself, not just in relationship to who you are, like to our marriage. And so I think it’s that same concept.

Kris Safarova  29:54

So coming back to someone who is feeling, they’re constantly feeling, in some way financially stuck, and. They also feel constant worry about security, yeah. If we take it deeper, how can they find financial peace?

Elizabeth Husserl  30:08

Yeah, so I would say, through a lens of inquiry and curiosity, right? It’s really important, if you’re feeling financially insecure, to write the list of questions. Start with the questions, not trying to find the answers right away. What’s the list of questions of everything that I don’t know, that I’m feeling insecure? Write it out. That’s a great exercise. Then from those questions, maybe choose the top one that if this one were solved, that would bring the next level of stability in this slice of the pie. So start with one, because a lot of times what happens is that we don’t have clarity on the questions, but we feel the overwhelm. And that’s what makes us feel stuck right analysis paralysis is that I feel the overwhelm. So start with the list of questions equally important. So right, start there, because if you don’t write those down there in the back of your mind, then do the wealth map exercises on my website, and then see what are some of those other areas that are more fulfilled? What’s working in those areas? What strategies are you naturally doing? Can you bring some of those strategies back to the slice of the pie around financial stability? Is the is there a possibility, an opportunity, to see something new. And I think whenever we start to feel nuanced or something new novelty, we start to slowly feel unstuck.

Kris Safarova  31:29

In your work with tech companies and working with high achievers, very successful people. Have you noticed they have different relationships with money? Any patterns that you noticed that people could adapt?

Elizabeth Husserl  31:42

Yeah, it’s interesting. That’s a great question. So in a lot of my work with tech, you know, tech money can happen in windfalls, right? A company goes IPO, there’s an exit, a big stock grant vests, and so it’s like these windfalls sometimes like this shot of vitality. People like, what do I do with this? Right? And so I think part of it is that I like to tell people to have a financial plan before those windfalls happen, so that you have clarity on where money gets to be channeled. And there’s still a small sliver that we do leave for, like, miscellaneous, right? Because you do want to celebrate it, and there is an exhale, but to have the plan before the windfall is step one, that’s really important. And then step two, if you’ve done the work and you’ve identified what that enough number is, and you’ve reached it, and sometimes tech people can get there pretty quickly, then to trust that even when markets go through patterns of recession and economic regression, that doesn’t mean you have to go back into the workforce, because I find that tech people are often very connected in communications, and so they’re like, oh my gosh, there’s all these layoffs happening. I should go look for a job. I can’t tell you how many people I had to coach in 2022 to be like, do you need to really go look for a job? Or do we need to go back to the financial plan, investment plan, and, you know, make tweaks to make sure that we’re supporting your passive income from your investments. But your job, your work, isn’t earning. To earn your work is in these other creative areas, you know, because a lot of them become their own entrepreneurs and start new things, but you don’t necessarily make money from that at the beginning. And so my job is to help them stay steady and continuing to take that creative risk. Because, funny enough, the world needs them to do that creative risk. The world doesn’t necessarily need them to go grab a job and earn more when they already have enough.

Kris Safarova  33:34

Is there a daily practice that you could recommend people do to become more intentional about their financial choices and just generally how they feel about life.

Elizabeth Husserl  33:44

I mean this, so the satiation practice is a really good one. That’s a daily end of the day. Practice, once you do the conversation with money. Practice, once it is something that you can also do daily. For about two years, I would sit down every morning with my cup of tea and have a 10 minute check in with money. And it was fascinating how sometimes I was struggling with the money decision and sitting down and talking to money, I saw things from a different angle. Sometimes I was just kind of checking and say hello. It starts to resemble our conversations with our partners. Sometimes they flow, sometimes they’re tense, but sticking with it creates this habit of like, okay, money, you, you and me. We’re in it for the long run. We can design our financial life, and you have valuable input to give me, so it really just starts to strengthen that sense of relationship. And what I tell people is that you just don’t do a conversation with money. Not everything’s solved, right? You don’t go to the gym one day and get really amazing muscles. It’d be too easy. There is no magic pill. It is about practice. So your practice can be sitting down and having a conversation with money, doing a satiation journal, maybe tracking what’s going in and what’s going out, like tracking your spending and your and your savings, like some type of daily practice. This for a period of time will bring a different level of awareness. I would say, don’t practice tracking the stock market every day, because we don’t have control there. Right? Practice something that you that can give you a sense of understanding who you are.

Kris Safarova  35:15

In your relationships with money, do you feel there are still areas where you still need to work on and whatever things you’re working on?

Elizabeth Husserl  35:22

100%. I mean, I think I mentioned it before. Waste is really hard for me, or mistakes, right? And so, for example, I get really upset at myself if I lose my air pods, or if I forget things, or you lose something on the airplane, you can’t go back. And it’s sometimes disproportional. I get emotional and angry at myself. I mean, we are each other’s worst inner critics, right? And it would really bother my family, because they’re like, Oh, you’re paying to be around right. Now, I’m so angry at myself, and it was my daughter, my teenage daughter, who’s like, Mom, we have a line item in our budget for everything, right? And I we all talk about and we track, and she’s like, Mom, can we just put a line item in our budget for mistakes? And I was like, what an interesting concept that we humans create mistakes, and that can be a line item, and it’s different than miscellaneous spending. It’s literally we make mistakes, and for a perfectionist, that was mind boggling. And we practice right that, you know, there is a line item. It’s capped, you know, if it’s a mistake that is too expensive, we have to kind of talk through it. But if I lose my air BOD, my air pods, I get to use it for the month, and vice versa. So it’s, you know, wastefulness mistakes. I think a lot of it has to do with our personalities. I’m a recovering perfectionist, and I have to be aware of that in my relationship to money.

Kris Safarova  36:46

This is brilliant. It depends on how children often bring up something that is so profound.

Elizabeth Husserl  36:51

Amazing. She’s like, let’s look at it from a different angle. I’m like, You’re so right.

Kris Safarova  36:56

So what is the biggest mistake people make that you have observed when trying to achieve financial freedom?

Elizabeth Husserl  37:02

I think we’re coming right back to where we started the conversation. The biggest mistake that people make is they confuse money and wealth to be the same thing, because that’s what keeps them stuck in this relentless cycle of searching for more. Let money be money. Money is an amazing resource. I love money. You can love money too, right? Get super clear on how you earn it, where it fits, how you invest it. Have a plan, but money cannot define you one, nor is it the state of wealth that we can all achieve. And that’s the biggest mistake I see.

Kris Safarova  37:40

If someone were to start their journey towards financial healing and feeling that they have enough and starting to become less poor in other areas of their life that they may be ignoring, what would be your single most important piece of advice?

Elizabeth Husserl  37:56

Oh my gosh, share it right. Like when you were describing that Kris was like, oh my like, wouldn’t the world be different if we talked about wealth and success with different metrics? I think we would all have a collective sight of relief, of like, Oh my gosh. There’s not this one external success metrics that I’m always measuring myself against. And ever, there’s always someone more successful than me. But if you started to feel fulfillment in these other areas of your life, and you share that, and you share about it as if it were your wealth portfolio. I think our collective language and psyche would start to change you.

Kris Safarova  38:31

Earlier mentioned investing in assets that support growth. I feel I have to ask you, what are some of the assets people should consider? And of course, it’s not financial advice. There is, yeah, have to make their own decisions, but based on your experience, what would you share?

Elizabeth Husserl  38:51

Yeah. And so you know that is, it is a complex question, because obviously, you know, there is no one size fits all, but I think it’s really about getting clear on what are the different asset classes and diversification that you can use right over time, we’ve seen that some asset classes, like large cap stocks, small and mid cap stock, have grown more than other asset classes like bonds and fixed income. Ideally, you have a combination of all of them, so that they can fluctuate differently. But if you’re more growth oriented, or you have a longer time horizon leaning towards those more growth oriented asset classes and not and so, for example, going back to my 14 year old daughter, we are opening a Roth IRA for her this year, and she will be growth oriented because she’s 14, she’s not going to touch the soul 60, but I get to teach her how to potentially choose an index fund of growth stocks. And so generally speaking, equities, or stocks, which is an ownership in the company, will give you more growth long term than fixed income or cash or commodities.

Kris Safarova  39:58

And then. Imagine in someone who’s working for a large organization and they want to start building up some kind of other source of income for themselves. What are your inputs on the real estate investments?

Elizabeth Husserl  40:10

Yeah, I think it depends what real estate market you’re in right on in California. And real estate in California is very expensive, and so when you start factoring in property tax and homeowners insurance, that’s really expensive right now with all the fires we have. I mean, you know, you’re in LA, you just have to put pen to paper and say, Is it a real estate investment for myself or primary residence? How does it compare to what’s coming in and what’s going out? From an income perspective, an expense perspective, is it rental property? Is it really going to make a profit if I’m considering all the expenses versus not, do I want it for appreciation or cash flow? So again, each situation is different, but it’s certainly an asset class, right? And so real estate is a way to complement to stocks, bonds, fixed income, etc.

Kris Safarova  40:57

I also wanted to ask you about your success habits. So to say anything that you do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis that really allows you to stay together, centered and your best self.

Elizabeth Husserl  41:10

Yeah. I would say a couple things. One, I start every day with a 10 minute guided meditation. I’m not I don’t have the discipline to just sit in quiet. So I know that 10 minute guided meditation before I go into email, before I do anything, and it just centers me, right? So that’s number one, and I can come back to it throughout the day. Two, I make time to really satiate moments of meaning, and that creates compounding wealth or memory dividends inside my body. I take time I know what are my different human needs, which ones I need to address, and those become my focus for the year. And so, you know, I’m not only myself, but I go through that practice with my family, and we’re in awareness with what are the different needs that we’re working on. And so that’s less of a daily practice, but once a month, we sit down and we meet with each other, in addition to kind of going through our budget, right, and looking through the numbers we do our wealth map and like, where, how well are we doing meeting those needs. But I think on a daily basis, it’s the the guided meditation I take. I like to take a break for lunch and walk at least once around the block with my husband, and kind of like feel some sunshine on my skin, but just kind of tracking, when is it that my I’m too in my mind and focusing on client work that I need to take a break and balance out my experience of the day, because not all and my day resentful, and that’s not good for anyone.

Kris Safarova  42:35

Of course. And can you tell us more about the guided meditation that you’re using?

Elizabeth Husserl  42:40

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s a ton of apps out there. There’s headspace, there’s calm. I personally am using one, the Channy app. It’s C, H, A, N, I, I mean, I kind of rotate through depending on which what’s my theme for the year. And I think just finding something that works for you. You know, my husband does quiet meditation, but again, I like to be listening, because it takes me somewhere and it holds me for a period of time. So I’m not tracking the clock. So there’s a lot of apps out there that you can use.

Kris Safarova  43:11

And what is your experience of doing meditation? I’m asking this question for someone who haven’t done meditation before.

Elizabeth Husserl  43:18

Yeah, that’s a great okay, that’s helpful. So for me, meditation gives me a it gives me a space to be more, to be with myself and not in doing right and so it’s a moment where I don’t have to be productive. I can just take a scan of what’s there for my day and be with without having to fix it, without having to change it, just noting how I started my day, what state, what emotions there, how am I feeling, and just breathe with it. And when I do that, it has less control on my decisions, less control on the way that I react to interact with other people. So it just kind of like, you know, it’s like, kind of taking a shower. It’s just like, let me just clean the slate for a second. Some days, I feel, you know, more put together than others, but it just gives me a moment to be with myself before I go and engage with everyone else.

Kris Safarova  44:17

Thank you. And have you noticed a difference in your experience as you progress through weeks and months and years of doing meditation.

Elizabeth Husserl  44:26

Yeah, yeah, I am much more adept at watching emotions rise and move through and that’s really important, like they still come, right? There’s the 92nd rule is that emotions will bubble up, but I don’t have to follow it to action, because that’s sometimes how I’ve caused pain or I’ve, you know, I see it with clients, they will have impulsive financial decisions because they’re following the emotional thread instead of just being able to be with the discomfort of fear, of insecurity, of etc, right? And so meditation has. Helped me build a muscle of being with the discomfort of life.

Kris Safarova  45:04

You mentioned 90 seconds rule. For those who don’t know, can you say a little more?

Elizabeth Husserl  45:11

Yeah, you know, the 90 second rule is that that’s kind of the length of the emotions creating the neural pathway connections in our system, right? So, and I think a more easy way to think about it is that we all know what a temper tantrum looks like in a kid, and they generally have an arc where they start, they accelerate, there’s a pinnacle, and then they pass right sometimes. I mean, it’d be nice if all of them were 90 seconds. They’re not all 90 seconds, but you can watch the flow of an emotional cycle in someone, and usually it moves through if we allow it to move through. I think as adults, we try to fix it, right, whereas kids just express it. And sometimes it would be good for us as adults to just kind of let ourselves express in a healthy way, because then it doesn’t stay inside of us, right? We either Express or we repress, and if you’re able to express. And then sometimes that could be writing in a journal, it could be screaming into a pillow. It could be just like telling someone what you’re feeling and just own it for a feeling you don’t have to actually act upon it.

Kris Safarova  46:15

This is very helpful, again, coming back to kids and how we can learn from them, my gosh, so much. And the last question for today, my favorite question to ask over the last few years, were there two, three aha moments, realizations that you feel comfortable sharing that really Yeah, the way you look at life or the way you look at business.

Elizabeth Husserl  46:35

Yeah, I would say the first one that popped into my head when you asked that question is, I will never forget it was probably about 15 years ago, the moment that I had an aha moment, that I that I just felt, I love my life, right? And it wasn’t because I’d gotten a job promotion, it wasn’t because I had made more money, it was just there was a moment where I was on the beach with my husband and my daughter, and I felt sun on my skin, and I was like, I love my life. I had worked really hard for my life, but I loved my life. And it doesn’t mean that I live from that place every day, but as I start to recognize that thread of what I love in my life, I can make my way back a lot faster, and that’s really important, because I know it’s possible to love my life, and it doesn’t necessarily mean adding or buying or experiencing, right? Because for the longest time, I tell my husband, I want to vacate. I need a vacation. Life is feeling too intense. He’s like, What are we running away from? And you’re like, you’re totally right. What am I running away from? And so I had to stop and be like, what is actually not feeling good in my life, that I need to adjust. And I got to that place that I love I love my life. And I would say the other thing that was really helpful for me in business is a yes and a no is better than a maybe. And what I mean by that is I had a great mentor who taught me to take the risk, to ask right, to raise my fees for new clients, to put my products and services out there. A yes and a no is better than a maybe, right? Yes is obviously a new customer, a new sale, etc. A no is they didn’t want it. But you know, and you keep moving, the maybes are the hard parts. You’re like, am I engaged or not engaged? And so it’s taught me to ask better questions and to keep asking until I get a yes or no, because then I keep moving.

Kris Safarova  48:22

Elizabeth, thank you so much for everything that you shared with us today. Where can our listeners learn more about you? Buy your book? Anything you want to share?

Elizabeth Husserl  48:32

Yeah, so you can buy the book. The Power of Enough: Finding Joy in Your Relationship with Money. Anywhere you buy books, you can find me at my website elizabethhusserl.com. There’s plenty of great free resources on my website, the wealth map that I was talking about. So you can go to the website download resources. It will also direct you to where you can buy books. I’m on Instagram @elizabethhusserl, but really I would go to, I would start with the website. There’s a lot of great stuff there.

Kris Safarova  49:00

Elizabeth, thank you again, so much for being here, for everything you said. Our guest today, again, has been Elizabeth Husserl. Check out her book, The Power of Enough. And our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a free download we prepared for you, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/overallapproach. You can also get McKinsey and BCG-winning resume, which is a resume that got offers from both of those firms, so you can see what it looks like and what you can adapt, what you can borrow and use on your own resume. And then the last gift is a copy of a book we co-authored with some of our amazing clients. It’s called Nine Leaders in Action, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift. Thank you everyone for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to connect with you all next time.