EPISODE OVERVIEW:

What if the biggest obstacle between you and financial confidence isn’t your income or investment strategy, but the money story you’ve been carrying since childhood? In this powerful conversation, Betty sits down with financial therapist Wendy Wright to explore the emotional side of money and how women, in particular, experience wealth. Wendy explains how financial therapy works at the intersection of money and emotions, why up to 90% of financial decisions are emotionally driven, and how early experiences shape the beliefs we carry into adulthood. From feeling “bad with money” to avoiding bank accounts altogether, this episode sheds light on the hidden narratives that quietly drive financial behavior.

Together, they unpack common money beliefs, including perfectionism, scarcity, guilt around earning more, and shame around not knowing “enough.” Wendy introduces the concept of a “money story”, looking back at your life through the lens of money to uncover the moments that shaped your financial identity. She shares how women often struggle with deservingness, over-giving, wealth transfer dynamics, and the emotional weight that comes with accumulating or receiving money. Most importantly, she offers a compassionate framework for rewriting those stories by asking a powerful question: What story do you want your money to tell going forward?

This episode is both grounding and empowering. Wendy offers practical first steps: from adding thoughts and feelings to everyday transactions to trying on new financial behaviors without judgment. She emphasizes compassion, curiosity, and flexibility over rigidity and shame. If you’ve ever felt anxious, preoccupied, avoidant, or stuck in your financial life, this conversation will help you see that change is possible. Money isn’t just math, it’s identity, history, and possibility. And with awareness and support, you can build a relationship with money that feels calm, connected, and aligned with the life you truly want.

TIME STAMPS: 

[1:38] Definition of Financial Therapy

• Emotional toll of money
• Creating safe spaces to talk about money

[13:32] Common Money Beliefs

• “I’m bad with money” mindset
• How early experiences shape beliefs

[20:43] Creating New Money Stories

• Envisioning your future
• Building flexible money plans

[33:49] How Money Affects Opportunity

• Expanding wealth capacity
• Guilt, shame, and earning more

[41:51] Family Dynamics

• Giving and receiving wealth
• Navigating wealth transfer conversations

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The concept of financial therapy: Discover how emotions quietly drive financial decisions and when deeper support can be a game-changer
• Your childhood wrote your money story: Recognize how childhood experiences influence adult financial habits
• Compassion over criticism: Learn why shame and self-judgment keep you stuck, and how curiosity creates change
• Wealth looks different for everyone: Define what financial sufficiency and opportunity mean for you
• Talking about money changes everything: Healthy communication around money, especially within families, can transform financial confidence

GUEST INFO: 

Wendy Wright, Financial Therapist and Money Coach 

• Website https://wendywrightfinancialtherapy.com
• LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-wright-lmft-financial-therapist-money-coach-70943723/
• Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/financialtherapysolutions
• Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/wendywrightfinancialtherapy/
• Your Money Story blog

RESOURCES:

• Join Betty in a free consultation call for your financial goals
• Subscribe to the Betty’s Smart Friends YouTube Channel
• Follow us on Instagram
• Visit my website for more info
• Follow us on LinkedIn

Betty Wang is an investment adviser representative of BW Financial LLC, a registered investment adviser registered in the State of Colorado. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The views and opinions expressed are as of the date of publication and are subject to change. The content is for informational or educational purposes only, and is not intended as individualized investment advice. This information should not be relied upon as the sole factor in an investment-making decision. You are encouraged to consult with a financial professional to address your specific needs and circumstances.

TRANSCRIPTION: 

Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze

Betty Wang 00:00:02 What if the biggest thing standing between you and the wealth that you want isn’t your budget, your income, or even the markets, but the money story you’ve been carrying around with you your whole entire life? Welcome back to Betty’s Smart Friends, where we have real conversations about money, work, life, and all the fun in between. Today we’re diving into how women experience wealth and how understanding our money stories might just shift everything. I’m Betty Wang, host of Betty Smart Friends. I’m a certified financial planner who helps women feel more confident and less alone when it comes to important money decisions in their life. Please join me in welcoming Wendy Wright, a leading financial therapist and money mentor. Wendy brings a rare blend of expertise as a licensed therapist, money coach, and business owner. She combines psychological insight with the financial know how. Her pioneering work in financial therapy has transformed countless lives by helping people understand the emotional side of money. Today, Wendy is here to guide us through women’s money stories past, present and future, and how becoming aware of these stories can help us expand our capacity for wealth, ease and confidence.

Betty Wang 00:01:22 Wendy, we’re so glad you’re here. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Wendy Wright 00:01:26 Oh, yeah. Betty, I’m excited to be here. I love talking about this, and I. I think we’ll bring some things to your audience that may help them improve and enhance their relationship with money.

Betty Wang 00:01:38 Yeah. Well, I mean, for listeners who may not be who’ve never heard of financial therapy and can you share what financial therapy is and maybe a little bit of how you came to find a way to this work?

Wendy Wright 00:01:51 Yeah, absolutely. I would imagine, probably when I speak on this, often, like 90% of the audience has never heard of financial therapy before. And so I was thinking we could have your listeners raise their hand, but then some of them might be driving so, you know, or doing other things. So don’t worry about raising your hand. But, but yeah, really, it’s, you know, kind of acknowledging this is a new phrase, financial therapy, a new field.

Wendy Wright 00:02:20 And, I think a pretty cool one. Like, I love it. I really kind of, stumbled my way into it. So I’ll share a little bit of that story, but, first I’ll define it a little bit. So, if it is, let’s let me offer first, like, there’s research now that supports that upwards of 90% of our financial decisions are emotionally based. So it’s really powerful for people who are now nodding their heads going, oh yeah, that’s, you know, that’s me. Whether it be where to invest or what to buy at target. There are emotions involved, not just data points. So recognizing that this emerging field came together for this blend, often we call it the intersection of money and emotions. And it is so powerful and still so new that I hope people just hurry up and find me or a financial therapist and begin to talk and talk through their money stuff, because it’s incredibly healing. I can see it. Session after session, meeting after meeting. Just the even just in the body language of my clients there.

Wendy Wright 00:03:35 Their shoulders drop. in a good way. Like not not in a defeated way. Like in a relaxed, like. Oh my gosh. And, so often, like, what they have thought was, you know, how they thought they were broken. Turns out to be, just some things they haven’t really recognized or named emotionally. So it’s super powerful and, allows that ability to have the safe place to talk about money, which is not everybody has a safe place to talk about money. So that’s really powerful, too. so that’s sort of the definition of it when we’re working with it in sessions. in a financial therapy session, I talk about money every time we meet. So it is, what I tend to think of for my clients. It’s very courageous because often they’ll say, oh, I’m dreading this, you know, or, you know, because we dive right in. It’s like kind of the one of the main questions I’ll start with is, what have you noticed this week in your money, thoughts and feelings? So boom, we’re in it.

Wendy Wright 00:04:44 and that really allows also it gives them a safety of like, yes, we’re going to talk about it. I don’t have to wonder if we’re going to talk about it. I know we’re going to talk about it.

Betty Wang 00:04:53 Well, it normalizes it. Yeah. We’ve been taught so much by society that this is not okay for us to talk about out loud.

Wendy Wright 00:05:01 Yes, exactly, exactly. and then also, or. Okay, so let me I’ll shift a little bit into, how I found it. Yeah. That’s a little kind of an interesting story, too. I’ve been a therapist for over 20 years, so licensed marriage and family therapy is sort of the the letters behind my name and things like that. And in that, I had worked, but before that, I had been a mortgage banker, a business owner, a realtor, worked in other kind of businesses, things like that. And then as I got my therapy degree and running a therapy practice as a business. So there’s also that, you know, and then, but then I was when I became a single mom because I know you’ve we’ve talked you’ve talked about that, I think with some of your other guests, like the impact of becoming a single mom, so I thought I’d lay that out there too.

Wendy Wright 00:05:56 Like that was an impact here. became a single mom and got a full time job because I became suddenly the sole provider for two teenage boys, so. Ta da! So I went to, the eating disorder field. And knowing and believing that that was a pretty safe, niche specialty to have. Eating disorders weren’t born anywhere. So I was working in all different levels of care. And as I got into high levels of care, which by that levels of care, what I’m describing is where people are there for either all day or 24 over seven. the patients are there. I began to notice some very interesting, we’ll say things. I began to notice a lot of boxes were being delivered. I began to notice a lot of gift giving was going on. I also began to notice a lot of, some of my other patients would constantly talk about how they didn’t have enough money. And then I would find out from their family members that, oh, well, she has tens of thousands of dollars in the bank and I.

Wendy Wright 00:06:59 So I was putting all these little money behaviors, together and looking at this and began to talk to some of my clients patients about it and begin to notice this real intersection of money and emotions and decision making. What I also began to notice was a very distinct parallel from the eating disorder. And by that I kind of packaged food, body and exercise behaviors shifting into the realm of money. And by that I say I’m spending, earning, saving, gifting, all that pocket of decision making. there was like this real parallel in the language they would use. So this is very oversimplified. So if, if this will make sense, but somebody maybe they use their eating disorder to, manage their fear of rejection or fear of failure. And so now they’re in treatment. They’re trying to not use their eating disorder. They began to perhaps make a purchase. And I literally would have a client. We’d sat down, we looked at what she was buying, and she said, yeah, I want to get this shirt, because then I think I’ll fit in, or then I think I’ll look thin, which when we’re working with eating disorders, eating disorders are not about food or looking thin.

Wendy Wright 00:08:14 So there’s that. so that means okay, what is that what does that mean for you? What means I’ll be accepted or I won’t be a failure or all those kind of words, like verbatim, the same words were coming out. So I literally began to Google. has anyone else noticed this intersection of money and emotions? And this was about ten years ago. The Financial Therapy Association, of which I’m a member, was beginning to be formed. People were just beginning to coin the phrase, and it just connected for me, totally connected for me. And I think because I had the business background and I had a, I have a very real comfort with numbers and talking about numbers. This niche of a specialty of therapy really connected for me, and felt easy and comfortable where a lot of therapists would say they do not want to talk about money. In fact, they will send their clients to me when it comes time to talk about money because they’re not comfortable with it. And and I’m not trashing them.

Wendy Wright 00:09:13 They have told me this. So, you know, it’s like a thing.

Betty Wang 00:09:16 So people normally have, a traditional mental health therapist and then you are sort of an additional support or focus area. Is that a fair way to just say that that’s how you work or sometimes maybe.

Wendy Wright 00:09:33 Sometimes sometimes, yeah, sometimes they’ll be doing the other work and we’ll add this in often they will have had therapy in the past, but felt like there’s just something about money that’s not not working, not coming together here. And then they’ll reach out to me, because in a lot of ways, it’s kind of the, it’s both like super foundational to mental health issues, but also kind of the last frontier because people haven’t thought about, oh, I’m going to actually talk about money 100%.

Betty Wang 00:10:09 I mean, I would imagine, you know, with eating disorders and food, you can’t avoid food. And the same with money, right? There’s still behaviors that you can’t avoid money and be an adult in this world. Right.

Betty Wang 00:10:24 So, I think yeah, folks just don’t even think about some of these ingrained patterns that has always seemed so normal that it could be kind of detrimental to, to their mental health and their pocketbook. Right. Yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:10:41 Well, right. Yeah. Because their, their pocketbook, their bank balance, their, income, all of these things are impacted when they are not really aware of what’s going on in their money, thoughts and feelings.

Betty Wang 00:10:54 And out of curiosity, do women or do folks come to you? because their money situation is so bad? Or do they have they picked up on these, like something’s not quite right? Or do you think there’s just more literature or information out there about how there’s the connection between these two things? How are folks, you know coming to you?

Wendy Wright 00:11:19 Well, I know this is probably a horrible answer, but I’m going to say all of the above. Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:11:22 No it’s not. It’s you know, it’s. Yeah. Because it is a new it is a new, frontier.

Betty Wang 00:11:31 Right. And it’s not something that folks think about very much. Or if they do it, maybe they’ve hit a real, block in their lives.

Wendy Wright 00:11:45 Yeah. And sometimes that block is that they haven’t opened their bank account in.

Betty Wang 00:11:50 Or you.

Wendy Wright 00:11:51 Know.

Betty Wang 00:11:51 So yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:11:52 So it’s not necessarily things are bad. It’s just they really don’t know. Or maybe, maybe things feel really bad. sometimes things feel bad, but they are actually okay because of the, that, that sort of belief that they’re bad with money. And, that leads them to thinking, oh, then my money situation must be bad. So there’s a lot of different ways in which, people will reach out. What will prompt someone to reach out to me? sometimes it’s maybe, I got a new job. I’m making more money. So now I would like to look at this so that I can handle this work with this money in a different way. or maybe they have, often it’ll. I do. One thing I often hear is I make really good money.

Wendy Wright 00:12:43 I don’t know where it goes. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Like, what’s what’s happening here? Because I feel like I make good money. or perhaps they’re in a relationship, and there’s a common phrase like, we get along with everything, but we fight all the time about money. and one of the things that we’ll begin to do, because one of the, one of my principles is take the money word out of the sentence. So then I’ll ask him, what are you fighting about? If you don’t use the money words. And it’s often really, really hard for them to understand, you know, kind of go under it because it feels like, oh, no, no, no, it’s the money. but once we begin to unpack that and go under it, they begin to see the deeper issues and can then the healing can happen once we see the deeper issues, whether it’s how you communicate with your partner or how you communicate with yourself.

Betty Wang 00:13:30 Yeah. I mean, all of those are important.

Betty Wang 00:13:32 I think what you brought up is women do often come to me and say, I’m not good with money. And it’s this message that I always ask, where? Where did you get that idea? I mean, what What are. I mean I’m. That’s common. I’m not good with math is very common.

Wendy Wright 00:13:53 Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:13:54 Some of the boys like what do you hear. Like what do you hear when they’re coming in. Is that. I mean to me it seems very normal because I hear that all the time with, with newer clients. Yeah. And it sounds like for you too, but I mean, where is this coming from or what other common stories do you hear women coming to you with?

Wendy Wright 00:14:17 Yeah. That belief that I’m not good with money is really powerful. sometimes what we will unpack in that is, I do think there’s a kind of a common belief that you have to be good with spreadsheets to be good with money, and that is not true. and in fact, people who are really good with spreadsheets sometimes aren’t that, like, aren’t living a satisfying money life, even though they’ve tracked it to the penny, you know, all the time.

Wendy Wright 00:14:44 So I, I like to break up the good, bad language. Like, so that’s one of the things we’ll do. One of my principles is there’s not really good and bad with money. So what we do is to go under that is begin to say, okay, what what do you do that sort of equals bad with money. I’m using air quotes for people who may be listening. And what what do other people do that equal being good with money. And so that may be like, oh well, they pay for our dinner every time we go out. That means they’re good with money. So then we begin to look at that because that is that doesn’t actually mean they’re good with money. You know, it just means that they paid for, you know? But if I’m working with that client.

Betty Wang 00:15:27 That’s what I.

Wendy Wright 00:15:28 Say.

Betty Wang 00:15:28 To be careful. We don’t know what’s under the hood.

Wendy Wright 00:15:32 Exactly, exactly. But when we feel like we’re bad with money, then everything someone else does is a judgment tool for you.

Wendy Wright 00:15:41 It’s like, oh, I couldn’t pay for the dinner. I’m bad with money. Oh, they went on vacation. I’m bad with money. Oh, they have a financial planner. I’m bad with money or whatever it is that, it just becomes evidence instead of really recognizing that. So what I like to do is shift clients to language of I would like more of or I would like less of in my money life. So maybe that’s I would like to open my bank account more often. I’d like to log into it more. Not perfectly or anything, you know, kind of things like that. so that’s a common one. Another common one is the, the belief that I was the quote unquote I was never taught about money. No one talked to me about money. No one taught me how to do this.

Betty Wang 00:16:26 So it did you just it they weren’t with words.

Wendy Wright 00:16:29 Exactly, exactly. So I’ll take them back into. And this is part of the money story you mentioned too. Like, if we go back into their life story through that money lens and begin to see things such as a common one is because most everybody went to school, and most of the time at school, different kids were wearing different clothes.

Wendy Wright 00:16:50 And that’s where kids first become aware of sort of money and economy. different birthday parties, different things like that. So we come back into looking at their story through the lens of what they picked up, exactly what what was implied, what they heard and saw, and then what they began to decide about money. And then that helps them begin to see, oh, okay. This is where I was learning that.

Betty Wang 00:17:18 Could you talk a little bit more about money stories, like what does that exactly mean to somebody who has no idea? Yeah, I mean, we talk a little bit about financial therapy, but it’s also really digging into our money, our own personal money stories. But for somebody who’s not even familiar with that term, how would you explain that.

Wendy Wright 00:17:40 Yeah I’m glad you asked. Like, what is a funny story? Because you’re right. We’re beginning to drop that phrase around more and more. I’m speaking on it more and more, so people are beginning to become accustomed to it.

Wendy Wright 00:17:51 But to define it, I will say we’re going to look back at your life story through the lens of money. And so perhaps we look back at their eighth birthday, but with the lens of money. And that’s where they got a $2 bill or $5. And then what did they do with it? And they don’t remember what they did with it. That’s a story. They remember exactly where they put it in their room, and then their siblings stole it. That’s a story. Or maybe they remember exactly where they put it in their room and their mom stole it. And that’s a story. And each of those, then I’m just using that as an example. But each of those moments lead to some beliefs and behaviors such as, oh, it’s never I’m no good with money. I didn’t remember what I did with that $5. You know, from that birthday present. I’m no good with money. Belief starts. Behaviors start. Or money is not safe. Or I don’t have a safe place.

Wendy Wright 00:18:50 I’m not. It’s not safe for me to hold money. If the money was stolen, or people in my life are going to take money from me. All of these things lead to behaviors often that are very disconnected for people they don’t know why. Perhaps they, don’t put money in savings, and they haven’t really pulled the thread all the way back to see some of these foundational moments that begin to develop some beliefs about themselves and money and how to how to do money, so to speak. And that’s what we mean when we talk about telling the money story. We go back, we look through that lens. And it’s not always money. Like it’s not always a literal $5 bill. It might be like, you know, we were saying to it might be like, oh, they have different shoes than me, or they got a car. What does that mean? How does that happen? Like, it’s all the different things that show some sort of resource allocation.

Betty Wang 00:19:48 And you know, how do we how do we bring that forward to our present life.

Betty Wang 00:19:54 Like, how do we help ourselves, you know. And on the flip side, these are going to be too many questions. Sorry. Okay. But I mean, on the flip side, I definitely have clients who are savers. And it’s I think it’s speaking to those, the folks who track everything to the penny. Where there’s also that side of the coin where when they, they think they’re good at money because they save every penny, but they also don’t enjoy their money. It’s there, as a security blanket, almost, or as proof that they are successful. Right. Their bank account, tells them their four one is in their investments. How do we bring some of this awareness to the present moment? How does that. How does that help us?

Wendy Wright 00:20:43 Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think of it as, when we begin to look forward, I’ll ask the question, what story do you want your money to tell? So we looked back to see what story developed and how that impacted behaviors and where you are today.

Wendy Wright 00:21:03 So then we want to look forward and say, okay, what story do you want it to tell? This often stops people because there is a there’s a lot of energy. Tell me if this will make sense to you, Betty. there’s a lot of energy looking back. Like, a lot of tracking is backwards. Yeah, a lot of it is about what you did or didn’t do. And that is actually not helpful when, so when we really begin to look forward and actually ask the question, what story do you want your money to tell? first it stops people there like, I, I don’t know, I’ve thought about that, you know, and or I know, I just don’t want to run out of money or whatever, but they haven’t done the numbers, you know, there’s like this energy around it. So being being able to look at how you built your current patterns helps you begin to see how you want to build your going. You know, the patterns going forward. So building a whether you call it, I use the word money plan or money map quite a bit, to help or a money sketch.

Wendy Wright 00:22:08 I like all of those kind of words because they, we’re talking about looking forward and we’re talking about also looking forward with flexibility because one of my principles is, we don’t want to just build a plan. We want to recognize that a plan is only as good as the adjustment process. And that’s when people get really stuck. Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:22:28 Nowadays, people don’t realize how important that is because things are going to change.

Wendy Wright 00:22:34 Absolutely.

Betty Wang 00:22:35 It’s frustrating. It’s annoying. We can only plan for so much right now.

Wendy Wright 00:22:40 I know, and it’s. And it’s hard and it’s scary. And if there’s, like, perfectionism or shame or any of these kind of things, then, even kind of building a plan, it feels very uncertain. Or it needs to be highly rigid. That and so, a lot of times I’ll find people out the way I’ll talk about it because it’s true. If you go back to the eating disorder world, those behaviors tend to be either highly rigid or highly chaotic. And so money is the same.

Wendy Wright 00:23:11 We tend to gravitate toward one way or the other. Or maybe we’ll slip from often. We’ll, you know, flip from highly chaotic. And then maybe it’s I’m not going to spend any money this month and neither neither of those work, but they feel good in the moment, you know. So, being able to look at that and understand kind of where you’re coming from and why? Why either of those ways is appealing to you. Can really help you as you begin to build up, to look forward.

Betty Wang 00:23:42 And how does how can a woman know that? Hey, maybe I need a little of this digging a little deeper. you know, I think this through line of parallels of eating disorders and money speaks more clearly to women because we all know somebody who we’ve loved, who has been affected by eating disorders. And it’s I think it’s helpful to explain it in that sense. how that also translates to money. How can women get eating disorders? They feel like, eventually the person who’s suffering says it’s time, or other people notice that there’s there’s a problem.

Betty Wang 00:24:31 Money is a little harder to to sort of self-diagnose. What signs or should we all be looking for that? Hey, this this. I might need a little bit of support here.

Wendy Wright 00:24:45 Yeah, yeah. Not only I might need some support, but this could get better because I think a lot of people feel really stuck. Like, this is my money life and this is the way it’s going to be, and it’s awful. And, how could it possibly get better? Because I’ve already failed.

Betty Wang 00:25:01 At.

Wendy Wright 00:25:01 Every budget? Yeah. so recognizing that, there are some ways that I encourage people to think about this. First of all, if someone’s listening to us talk and we’re, you know, we’re a little bit into this discussion and they’ve maybe they’ve already been nodding their head a lot and they’re just like, oh my gosh, that’s me. You know, if you’re really connecting to how I’m talking about the role emotions playing in money behaviors, then yes, You’re already somebody. I would say reach out and let’s talk, because just by the act of beginning to talk about it can begin to take the pressure off and begin to make a shift.

Wendy Wright 00:25:43 so let’s talk about maybe even some more specific things that I would say. I often will ask the question. what percentage of your thoughts are given over to something about money, whether it be income spending, dating, investing, what you’re going to buy, how much you’re going to pay for something like any kind of money thought. What percentage of your thoughts are given over to it? In other words, we’re looking for how preoccupied are you with this? Or are you experiencing intrusive, repetitive thoughts? You know, are you over and over and over again writing down? I because I used to do this, writing down all the bills over and over, you know, every few days, writing them all down again, saying, am I going to have enough money? Am I going to have enough money and not thinking there’s any other way? You know, so there’s ways in which we’re looking for how much of your life is given over to some sort of thought. And often the answers I will get are, you know, at least 80% or higher.

Wendy Wright 00:26:48 It’s like you lose sleep. You dream about it. You think about it all the time. even when you’re shopping, you’re looking. Maybe you’re always looking for a bargain and that makes you feel better or something. You know, there’s like, something in that, too. So, there’s lots of different behaviors that will show up. So if we look at how much of your thoughts are given over to it, that is helpful, but you’re exactly right. this is a parallel. I have a like, I think 6 or 7 parallels between the, the food and money world that I do when I do the talk, I call it the intersection of money and milkshakes, because.

Multiple Speakers 00:27:24 Both of those things are scary.

Betty Wang 00:27:25 Yes yes, yes. No.

Multiple Speakers 00:27:27 I mean, that makes sense.

Betty Wang 00:27:28 Yeah. No, it is really interesting how, you know, it’s they’re kind of they’re very similar.

Wendy Wright 00:27:35 Yeah. There’s some interesting parallels here. but you’re right. One really key thing is neither these can be cold turkey while you work on.

Multiple Speakers 00:27:43 Right. You know, you know, it’s not like you can avoid it forever. Right.

Wendy Wright 00:27:47 These are right. Yeah. And because so it’s helpful to recognize like. And even if you’re avoiding money avoiding money is being preoccupied with it because usually you’re thinking it. You’re still thinking about it. You’re like, oh, I don’t want to. Look, I don’t want to know, you know, kind of thing. So, because the question you’re asking is, is it sort of like depleting my satisfaction with life, or is my money life bringing more satisfaction? And I really key in on words like sufficiency or satisfied? Not anything that feels like we don’t need perfection. We don’t need, you know, sort of anything that feels like pie in the sky or anything like that. We just want to like what feels good, what feels good. And if it’s not feeling good, I just, you know, reach out. Because once we begin to talk about it, it can feel better.

Betty Wang 00:28:45 And what about women who say, I don’t know what feels good, right? How do you get to that point? Right.

Betty Wang 00:28:51 Because there’s so many women that’s I don’t know, I’ve always money’s always been on my brain. no matter how much I make, no matter how much I save, it’s it’s there. And I kind of thought it was normal and that it it’s just what we do. But I think what financial therapy and this behavioral financial world is, we’re learning is that there’s more of a balance than maybe we thought before. How do you coach your clients to find what’s a good place for them. Because I know it’s going to be different for everybody, right?

Wendy Wright 00:29:29 Yeah, it is. It really is. one of the things I start with and anyone that you know, that’s watching or listening to this can start with this is to begin to add some thoughts and feelings to their money. they can start with transactions. And by just starting by adding thoughts and feelings, that usually adds some awareness. And then awareness can lead to change. And then so kind of looking at that, it would be something it could be as simple as, I put gas in the car and I had no thoughts and feelings.

Wendy Wright 00:30:04 You know, it was very neutral or I put gas in the car. And I loved that. I filled my tank up in one spot, because I still remember back in the day when I could only do $2 at a time.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:13 So I still remember that. Yeah, I.

Wendy Wright 00:30:16 Did.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:16 I did, yeah, but.

Betty Wang 00:30:17 I had change and I would say, okay, I have $1.50. That’s all I.

Multiple Speakers 00:30:21 Get. Yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:30:24 yeah. So every transaction has the possibility of some thoughts and some feelings. And so, what that’s doing that also is pausing. That’s a big part of the change process is to pause. A lot of our money life is very I use words like disconnected or unconscious, and we’re moving to having it be more connected and conscious. And when we do that, and notice, I’m not saying bad to good, you know, we’re not looking at that. We’re looking at. Okay, what what do you want here? What do you want it to be? Then we we can begin to, Sometimes I’ll say if we’re going to do something different with money, if I’m coaching someone on doing something different, I will kind of say, let’s try it on, just like you would try on a t shirt in the store, and you might try on that t shirt and be like, oh, this is this is scratchy.

Wendy Wright 00:31:13 I don’t like it. I’m not going to wear it. So put it back or this fabric is so soft I love this. I’m going to buy, you know, three of them because it’s the softest thing ever. we all know this.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:23 We’ve all been talked about in shopping.

Betty Wang 00:31:25 We understand what you’re talking about.

Multiple Speakers 00:31:26 Yes, but the same.

Wendy Wright 00:31:28 Thing with new money behaviors. So say, maybe someone wants to begin to say put money in savings. I say, okay, well, let’s put $10 in there and then let’s talk about how it felt. And then we put ten more dollars and then we see how it felt like. And it’s, you know, it’s, very, very helpful to have that. one of my other principles is to approach all of this with compassion, curiosity and zero judgment. And that’s what we do if we try something new. We also don’t judge it because it doesn’t matter if it worked or not. And that’s where this is really different. The coaching that I offer from a financial therapy standpoint is very different sometimes than just filling this.

Wendy Wright 00:32:10 Fill in the blanks and go your way, you know. So we’re really looking at it and then we’re pausing and we’re seeing okay what happened when you did it and how did it feel. So yeah, it is it is really powerful because sometimes I’d say often, my clients are going places they’ve never been before. And they say that. They’ll say that after we’ve begun to work together, they’ll say, I didn’t think this was possible, but I’m really noticing my money. Thoughts are changing. I didn’t think this was possible. We haven’t had a fight about money in two weeks. And we talked about money, you know, and all these different things. And so there’s a lot of ways in which I have tools in my toolbox to bring in, and we talk about them, but we also want to see does this work for you? Because if it doesn’t work for you, for that person, it we don’t have to use it. There’s lots of other ways to do it.

Betty Wang 00:33:04 And that’s what I tell clients all the time.

Betty Wang 00:33:06 Right, is there’s no one right answer. If someone’s telling you that there is, it’s it’s just not true, right? They’re trying to sell you something. There’s so many different avenues.

Multiple Speakers 00:33:16 Right? Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:33:17 Because women get. So they just want to know the steps. And, you know, a lot of my clients are very Type-A and they just tell me what to do. And unfortunately, it’s, you know, it’s what you’re saying. We have to try these things on. And sometimes we take the bits and pieces that make sense. and you’ve talked a little bit about understanding our money stories and how that can, you know, help attract or increase our capacity for wealth in more opportunities. Can you explain or talk a little bit more about how that works?

Wendy Wright 00:33:49 Yeah, yeah. it’s a great question too, Betty. Like, how can telling our money story, how can doing this financial therapy work actually make a difference in our wealth? and wealth is a big topic. It’s a big word.

Wendy Wright 00:34:03 It’s one of those words that has a lot of meaning to a lot of different people. When I’m talking about it, I’m typically talking about some sort of resource base and that, but it’s really important for the clients to put their own words to it. So let’s say we’re building a resource base. Then we want to begin. And I can say, what story do you want that to tell? If they open a savings account, for instance, if this is a new behavior for them and we open a savings account, we, we want to work, first of all, to name the savings account according to its job or the investment account, whatever we’re doing. And fortunately, most banks in the accounts will let you go in and do some edits. And so the savings account may be called, at first safety and security. Okay. But then we want to go further. I want to say safety and security. I want x number of dollars in here. And what happens when we do it that way is every time they log in to their bank account, they see the plan right there in the names of the accounts.

Wendy Wright 00:35:08 And it makes a huge difference, because they don’t have to remember everything and they don’t have to like, think where, where is this go and what is this happening with this. So we may start with safety and security. So then let’s say we’ve built up some safety and security and we want to go to the next thing. We’re building an investment account or we have a, you know, 401 K, which really, you know, in the history of our timeline, the whole idea and the concept and the phrasing, 401 K is relatively new. It’s only a couple of generations old. And so it’s okay not to understand how it.

Multiple Speakers 00:35:42 Works.

Wendy Wright 00:35:43 But often, women that I work with feel like they should quote unquote, you know, already know these things. And so sometimes we’ll define it and then we’ll talk about, okay, what do you want this for? It’s often when there’s a lot of money, insecurity and, lack of belief in themselves. They might be afraid to call it something like retirement because they don’t think they can retire or deserve to retire or something like that.

Wendy Wright 00:36:10 So that’s fine. We’ll come up with a word. and often you may I don’t know if you’re using this phrase with your clients, but a lot of times I’ll use the phrase work optional life So that like, okay, well, does this feel better? Or, maybe they call the account, I want to have enough money so that I won’t have to work. All of that can be the name of the account. It doesn’t matter. So that they can begin to do that then. So we kind of worked with the words. Then we work with the numbers. And this is great because it’s usually very telling. So then I’ll say okay, what if they’re I’m just going to throw some numbers out there. What if there’s $10,000 in that account? And I’m like, oh, that would be great. I’m like, okay, well, whose money is that? What’s its job? And we talk about that and I’ll say, well, what if there’s 50,000? And what if there’s 100,000? And they’ll get to a number like, well, that’s impossible, I’ll never have that number.

Wendy Wright 00:37:05 So as you know, and I know that means they’re not going to get to that number because they already said it was impossible. So, like, what if it was possible? What’s its job? And then the flipping it over to that line where we begin to do some math. what does it mean to have money that pays you money? And a lot of times that’s just it’s just a, a sort of a money function that they don’t really understand how it works. And so in a financial therapy money coaching setting, it’s safe enough that they’ll ask the questions or they’ll say, yeah, I don’t know how I don’t know what that means. That kind of thing. So we begin to open that up and we we talk about it and explain it. Then they start to get a vision. But a lot of it is looking at the numbers and getting, and talking about each number at each threshold with, pausing with those thoughts and feelings, because often there’s sort of an invisible ceiling that they don’t know.

Wendy Wright 00:38:06 And they have, but they’re avoiding it and they don’t realize they’re avoiding it. Does that make sense?

Betty Wang 00:38:11 Yeah. It does. That makes a lot of sense. And that comes you know, that brings up another question. I often have clients who say, I never expected to have this much money or to make this much money. And it brings. I don’t know if that’s common for for men as well, but it’s I hear it a lot from my clients. And, you know, let’s talk about how that’s like how that is, sort of a mindset thing that we need to work through. Or, I mean, do you come across those sorts of behaviors or those feelings? and maybe that I don’t deserve this, right. And I have to remind my clients, you work really hard for that money.

Multiple Speakers 00:38:57 Right?

Betty Wang 00:38:58 And you’re getting rewarded with it financially. But it’s I think there’s a disconnect on how they how they feel about it.

Wendy Wright 00:39:06 Yeah, yeah. You’re bringing us some really good points to you, buddy.

Wendy Wright 00:39:10 one is, kind of talking through just the relationship to the income. A lot of times there are women might be making an income that’s higher than they ever dreamed that they could. And because of that, they have such a hard time accepting that they’re actually making it, and then they don’t know what to do with it. So they maybe they avoid looking at it, or they stash it all away and still live on $5 a day or whatever, you know. Like there’s.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:41 Just different giving away.

Wendy Wright 00:39:43 Or they give it away. Yes. Oh gosh, that’s a whole nother. That’s a big.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:50 Topic. I mean, it’s right.

Betty Wang 00:39:52 It’s it’s all the behaviors you’re talking about, right? It’s it’s.

Multiple Speakers 00:39:56 A.

Wendy Wright 00:39:56 Little bit about that too, because we’re giving it away when we really begin to look underneath that, there is often what is happening as an energy of pushing it away. And it looks good on that. You know, the surface. You look generous. I’m using air quotes again.

Wendy Wright 00:40:13 and there’s nothing wrong with generous. You know, the we’re not judging. We’re looking at what’s underneath it. And often. Yeah, if it’s pushing it away because you don’t know what to do with it. And that’s worth a conversation. It’s worth looking at that. So and we and then we also have okay then what to do when the resources accumulate. And what’s the point of that. And perhaps what’s it what is it. Maybe they have struggled with their relationship with fun and relaxation and enjoyment. Maybe that’s a big part for them. Maybe there is such deep, deep scarcity that they feel like there’s never enough and they don’t really know how to calculate because the fear is so great, it gets in the way of doing the math around what is enough. And so it’s helpful sometimes to sit down with someone that they trust, or in a financial therapy session, or with someone like you that can sit down and say, let’s run the numbers. This is how we look at will there be enough? Because you can answer that question.

Wendy Wright 00:41:10 So, looking at those things is really powerful and looking at, perhaps they feel, often there’s like this guilt, shame kind of shame guilt thing that happens to that, that if they’re not comfortable with their income amount they over give at work and they then they tend to over give everywhere because, oh my gosh, I shouldn’t have this. I need to make up for it. So we want to look at that too. and then the other one that this really brings up as well, that’s a big deal right now. And I’ve been speaking on as well. Is this the wealth transfer dynamic? Yes. And really.

Multiple Speakers 00:41:51 Looking at.

Wendy Wright 00:41:52 That, this is real. money is moving through typically family channels and there are so many emotions attached to this and deserving.

Betty Wang 00:42:05 They didn’t earn it.

Multiple Speakers 00:42:07 yeah. Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:42:08 Yeah. Some guilt.

Wendy Wright 00:42:10 Yeah. And so I specialize in wealth transfer communication and helping people talk about. It’s one of my specialties helping people talk about what it’s like to receive, or maybe what it’s like to give.

Wendy Wright 00:42:25 Because sometimes the givers, I won’t say. Sometimes I’m going to say often the givers haven’t talked to anyone about the money that they’re giving because money’s not talked about. Sometimes the givers haven’t even really talked to themselves about why they’re giving money. And, I’ve had beautiful, work with clients who are on the giving side and helping put words to what they’re trying to communicate, because a lot of it’s being communicated without words. And that’s really beautiful. And then clients that are on the receiving side and what, what story that’s going to tell for them and shifting that emotional ownership of the money, the resources is huge. Also very, very emotional. So yeah, I talk a lot more about that. But that’s a big too.

Betty Wang 00:43:12 Yeah. I mean, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a big topic. And it is not a lot of families don’t talk about it.

Multiple Speakers 00:43:22 Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:43:23 Or how they, how they wouldn’t like their money to be used for the next generation.

Multiple Speakers 00:43:30 Yeah. Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:43:32 For, for people who don’t really, you know, have that sense of what does it mean to feel good about wealth or earning wealth.

Betty Wang 00:43:41 Like how do you give them sort of a, I guess, a goal? Maybe a goal is not the right word, but, you know, a guiding star, something, something that says, okay, you’re going in the right direction, right? Right. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but, how do you help them find someplace that feels good to them?

Wendy Wright 00:44:05 Yeah. Yeah. well, first, one of the big things that I’m doing is helping them talk about it. Because once if something is like not talked about at all, and then we begin to put words to it, that in and of itself can bring up a lot of healing and really help visioning. And then, I’ll go back to sort of the triangle enclosed idea. Like when we begin to try on stuff, we begin to think about if they’re like, oh, well, I really want, I want to give this money away. I want to enjoy this money, you know, like, what kind of what do we want to do with this? We’re kind of buckets or, you know, little pockets or whatever metaphor works for them.

Wendy Wright 00:44:46 because often they haven’t really spent time visioning what it could look like. and there and so we try to unpack that and open it up a little bit and try stuff on. And I think one of the things also that’s really important, that I help people with is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. There’s a lot of perfectionism that runs underneath money, emotions and decision making and fear.

Betty Wang 00:45:14 Making mistakes.

Wendy Wright 00:45:15 Yeah, right. And that’s one big thing about money is, it is going to always frustrate perfectionism because it’s never done. Money is always in motion. And that’s why we come back to that idea of a sketch or a plan or a vision and begin to put things together and, and dream and have some ideas. And maybe we start with next month and next year and in ten years. And so we kind of build on things like that too, because they’re just not sure. They’re not sure how. Maybe they’re not sure. Maybe they haven’t really understood, what is the required minimum distribution.

Wendy Wright 00:45:54 Like what does that mean. And then, oh, if I get that money, then what happens to the rest? So maybe it’s just explaining the money that we’ll do. Or maybe it’s okay if you give this to this, this place or if you decide to go on this trip? Like, what do you want it to look like and feel like? Like, each of those things can really help them come into a vision of what they want. But we, Absolutely. It’s all very, in pencil so that there’s lots of ways to make adjustments. They don’t feel like they’re locked in to anything either.

Multiple Speakers 00:46:28 Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:46:29 And how do you see, you know, what I do as a financial advisor and what you do, how do you see them working together or, what’s the intersection there? Right. I think.

Multiple Speakers 00:46:41 Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:46:41 Folks might be confused. You know, we’ve talked about the delineation between maybe a traditional therapist and what you do, but there’s also, you know, there’s overlap between what I do and what you do.

Multiple Speakers 00:46:54 Yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:46:54 Yeah. You know a lot of times the way I would describe it is the that we actually go together really nicely. because while we might be Oh, wow. Okay, I’m going to cut right there because I’ve turned my Siri on now I just turned her back off.

Betty Wang 00:47:13 So you turned it off.

Wendy Wright 00:47:15 I pushed a button and Siri came on.

Multiple Speakers 00:47:17 Oh, I didn’t even hear her. Okay, I can write for 18.

Betty Wang 00:47:21 Okay. 37. Okay.

Wendy Wright 00:47:24 all right, back to it. Okay. so now remind me your question before we get back to it.

Multiple Speakers 00:47:30 Oh, shoot.

Betty Wang 00:47:32 Is the financial planning and financial health, financial advising and financial therapy kind of work together?

Wendy Wright 00:47:40 Okay, yeah. So how financial therapy and financial planning, I think, go together really nicely when there is this understanding that, yes, there’s a lot of emotion in the room when you’re meeting with a client, just knowing there’s a lot of emotion in the room and acknowledging that it doesn’t mean that you have to then ask all the emotions and tend to them.

Wendy Wright 00:48:04 But I think it makes a huge difference when I’m talking with financial planners and they’re and they see this, they acknowledge it, they understand it. And that is really powerful because that energetically makes a difference for the client. And so when I’m working with people on, kind of going underneath the surface and looking at the story and looking at the behaviors and helping identify what they want their money to look like, then, then you’re able to take that work and build on it and actually show some of the mechanics of how that works, maybe some of the, vehicles, vessels of putting money in different places and how that works. And some of the projections, I think, you know, you’re able to do that as well, but you’re also able to, I think normalize for them in so many ways that money is, like said, never done, that it is a big topic. It can be scary and that you’re a safe place. That is what I encourage my clients to look for in a financial planner, because a lot of no big surprise, a lot of my clients have avoided reaching out to financial planners because they don’t know.

Wendy Wright 00:49:17 They don’t know what to ask. They don’t know what to, you know, what is even the point. And so when we begin to talk about that, then they start to get a vision for it and see how that’s going to work. Or if a financial planner is working with someone who then you begin to see, hey, I see a lot of anxiety here. Would you like to talk about that even more with Wendy? And then we can keep working on building this map or building this plan or like so there can be a lot of, back and forth support. What do you think about that?

Multiple Speakers 00:49:48 Is that those words like that?

Betty Wang 00:49:49 No, I mean, I think, you know, I think of clients where we build the plan, you know, again, building in flexibility, but there’s such a level of scarcity and fear that No matter what the numbers say, no matter if it says you are 100% like never going to live under a bridge and eat cat food no matter what you do, there’s still this level of fear that is not numbers based, right? And that’s obviously not.

Betty Wang 00:50:22 You know, it’s something we talk about on a not as deeply as you would. Right. And I certainly don’t have the, the mental health and education background that you have to, to even delve into that. But it is something that for me as a financial advisor, this is, I think, a natural offshoot. Right? Because there’s it’s so interrelated. Money equals emotions and people. And that’s how we make we base, like you said, 90% of our financial decisions, not just on the numbers. And I think that’s even when people hear it, they don’t quite, They’re not like, oh, it’s not not me, not me. Right. So it is having the permission to explore and also being okay with that. I think a lot of people are like, you know, I’ll figure it out. It’s a money should be practical, but it’s actually very emotional.

Wendy Wright 00:51:24 I know, I know, and it’s kind of like, that’s actually pretty frustrating because you think, oh, well, I filled in all the blanks and it should be easy.

Wendy Wright 00:51:33 And it, you know, it should be all these things. And then.

Multiple Speakers 00:51:36 Why do.

Wendy Wright 00:51:36 I keep doing.

Multiple Speakers 00:51:37 It.

Wendy Wright 00:51:38 Right? Why didn’t I feel better? Why do I keep doing the same thing I told myself I would never do again? And all this stuff and like, yeah, it’s pretty frustrating. And I think that’s a part of like the process is acknowledging that frustration and that, and that it’s it’s real. It’s absolutely real.

Betty Wang 00:51:55 And so for women listening to this, I mean, if they want to start thinking about rewriting their money story, while with intention and also while being self compassionate. Right. I mean, that’s something that all of us work so hard on because we’re very compassionate to others. But it’s really hard when we’re directing it towards ourselves. How can they start thinking about these things, or are there tools that they could can reach out to, you know, reaching out to you? But are there also other resources that you might say, okay, start here if you’re not quite ready to reach out.

Betty Wang 00:52:33 You know, sometimes it’s just baby steps.

Wendy Wright 00:52:35 All right. It’s yes. It’s often baby.

Multiple Speakers 00:52:37 It’s often baby steps. Right? Yeah, yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:52:41 like, even if you go to. So if you go to my website, it’s Wendy Wright financial therapy.com. And, even there there’s the baby step of take it. You can take a quiz. First of all, it’s a money shadow quiz, which kind of helps begin to show like what is some of what is underneath the surface that might be getting in the way? And there’s free resources like I have, financial therapy journal that has the ability to get the first chapter for free. And that is all about taking a breath, compassionate curiosity and zero judgment and then building. I use intention and then movement or action so that we’re able to name where we want to go with the intention. And then what is that next action step? Maybe that is today I will log into my bank account for two minutes. Like whatever. It’s like, you know, breaking that down so that it’s the baby steps.

Wendy Wright 00:53:38 if they’re ready to begin talking about it, they can do a free discovery call with me. Most of most financial therapists. the Financial Therapy Association has about, 100, 150, working, you know, working financial therapists. And, most of us will start with a free call, you know, 20 minutes to check in and see if it feels like the right fit, because that’s really important.

Multiple Speakers 00:54:04 Energetic fit is huge.

Wendy Wright 00:54:07 Yeah. So having that ability to do that. but I think too, even beginning by by, maybe listening to a self-compassion meditation like different ways to soften your internal language because, I can I can easily say that bullying yourself about money never works. It might work in the short run, but it doesn’t actually work in the long run. So building in more self, more compassion can be really powerful. I love the work of Doctor Kristin Neff on self-compassion. If you’re familiar with that. But that’s a great resource and it’s just builds, building in that kind of like a muscle of self-compassion can make a difference.

Wendy Wright 00:54:52 and acknowledging it, maybe sharing with a trusted friend. Wow. I’m really struggling. Really struggling. I don’t understand what what’s going on with my money, but it doesn’t feel satisfying. so having beginning by having that conversation can be really powerful too.

Betty Wang 00:55:10 And so, you know, you’re taking on so many of these, you know, these different emotions. How do you maintain balance and peace in your own life? How do you maintain the self-compassion for yourself?

Multiple Speakers 00:55:25 Oh.

Wendy Wright 00:55:26 Yeah. Turn the tables on the bed.

Betty Wang 00:55:28 This is my closing question.

Multiple Speakers 00:55:30 I know, I know.

Wendy Wright 00:55:32 Totally appropriate.

Multiple Speakers 00:55:34 well, it’s true.

Betty Wang 00:55:35 Especially when you’re taking on, you know, so many of us women, we, lead with compassion and empathy, and we forget about ourselves. And so it’d be interesting. And I’m always looking for tips. How you do that for yourself?

Wendy Wright 00:55:49 Yeah. I actually I do listen to self-compassion meditation, so I actually do that. and I find that super helpful. Meditation is helpful in general.

Wendy Wright 00:56:01 and then also I get my own support. So I have someone I can talk to you about it, whether it be a counselor or a coach. I have people in my life where I get that support. and then also, you know, things like family time, friend time, nature. you know, living in Colorado, we have great access to, I believe, great access to nature. and each of those things kind of brings me back to a sort of a general tip for women. is that if you engage in something that impacts one of your five senses, you are usually going to interrupt intrusive, repetitive thought patterns. Like about money, for instance. So if you listen to a meditation, if you go outside and experience a different view or a different temperature, or if you have a conversation with someone and you’re engaging both, You know, all your a lot of senses are going on at those times. Those can be really helpful ways to begin to interrupt patterns that I have found over the past.

Wendy Wright 00:57:04 so I, I love I love the question because it’s super important. There have been times where I have not felt a lot of compassion for myself, and I have had to do my own work around that, for sure. And it makes a huge difference. It makes a huge difference. I have a very different approach to my own money now than I did 20 years ago. Where it’s soft, it’s compassionate, it’s flexible. I have, it’s something I have decreased anxiety and stress about through my own money work. And so those things, all of those things come together and I find them really helpful.

Betty Wang 00:57:42 Yeah. I think people will be our surprise when I’ve done the work to see how much the quality of their life, changes. Does that make sense? Because it’s a lot of stress and a lot of heaviness. Thinking about these things all the time.

Multiple Speakers 00:58:02 So what are the best ways?

Betty Wang 00:58:03 Oh, yeah.

Multiple Speakers 00:58:04 That’s true. I would say lastly, like, yeah.

Wendy Wright 00:58:06 Imagine a life where you didn’t stress about money, where.

Multiple Speakers 00:58:10 It felt calm and connected.

Wendy Wright 00:58:12 And clear like, and it’s possible just, you know, but sometimes if you don’t know what it looks like, you don’t know how to get there.

Multiple Speakers 00:58:19 Yeah. That’s true. Yeah.

Betty Wang 00:58:21 They need a guide. And what what are the best ways to find you? You mentioned your website. is that the best way to connect with you?

Wendy Wright 00:58:31 You know, I think it’s a great place to start. Wendy Wright, financial therapy.com. I also am, I do have social media. I’m on LinkedIn and, Instagram, Facebook. So there’s ways in which that can guide you. Or sometimes I try to put tips in there. getting on my email list is a really powerful tool as well, and it’s a good sort of way to dip your toe in. Yeah. because there’s a blend of both encouragement. Maybe notices if I’m doing a workshop, things like that, or tips I try to give like, hey, you could try this or, you know, do this or try this journal prompt maybe, or listen to this podcast where Betty and I talked about all this thing.

Wendy Wright 00:59:10 You know, these things too. So those are great ways to connect. And right on the website you’ll see the link to book a discovery call. If you’re ready for that, I invite you to give me a call.

Betty Wang 00:59:20 Yeah. I mean, I feel like a lot of women, this sort of stuck for a while first, right? They want to know what you’re about and what your message is. And it’s partly that fear of rejection. Right? They want to make sure that, okay, we are the right fit. We might this might work for us.

Multiple Speakers 00:59:36 yeah.

Betty Wang 00:59:37 So I really appreciate that approach. And, you know, Wendy, thank you so much for your time. This has been really eye opening. And I think for listeners who probably never thought about money this way, I think it’s going to be, really different in a really unique way of looking at things and hopefully opening their eyes to to what’s possible. And your work reminds us that money isn’t just numbers, it’s emotions, history, identity, possibility.

Betty Wang 01:00:08 It’s all these things. It’s, It’s when women understand the past, honor the present, and intentionally shape their future. Money stories. The entire experience of wealth can feel expansive, supportive, and aligned. I wrote that.

Multiple Speakers 01:00:22 So well, but.

Betty Wang 01:00:24 I really feel like it is something that, you know, what you do is so powerful and helpful to improve people’s lives. thank you, everybody, for joining us on today’s Betty Smart Friends. And until next time, stay curious, stay kind to yourself, and remember, you deserve a relationship with money that truly supports the life that you want. Thank you. Wendy.