Three things we dive into in this episode:
Why money is an emotionally supercharged resource.
Finding balance in your finances and learning how to make your money and money mindset work for you.
Learning how to create financial systems that work for you.
📘Resources
Release restrictive dieting, break free from body shame, & create habits that help you live fully! Sign up for Caitie’s nutrition coaching program and community, Whole, Full, and Alive, and get a FREE 20 Minute Discovery Call!
You can also join Meera’s two-week program, Investing Unlocked, where you can learn investment basics — minus the jargon and artificial complexity!
Book a free 15-minute money consultation with Meera here!
📌Episode Highlights
[03:46] Who Is Meera Meyer?
Meera is a certified financial planner and the founder of Life.Money.Balance.
She aims to remove the negative connotation of money and help people feel empowered around their finances.
Meera: “Having [a] female — [a] woman of color — as a financial planning resource helps other females feel more comfortable talking about their money, helping them figure out their goals.” - Click Here To Tweet This
[09:03] Overcoming Challenges
Meera felt out of place in college and her first job.
She was surrounded by people — mostly males — who were in the finance field “just to make a lot of money.”
Meera shares getting 'connectedness' in a StrengthsFinder analysis and feeling like she did not belong in her job.
Eventually, she decided to use her ‘difference’ to her advantage.
She saw an opportunity to help people looking for financial advice because not everyone resonates with a traditional advisor.
[15:38] Meera’s Top Financial Advices
Nobody can predict the future of their investment.
There is no simple formula to figure out whether your investments are going to be successful or not.
Finances do not have to be complicated.
You can be financially successful by simply creating and sticking to systems.
[18:31] Creating Financial Systems
Setting up financial systems requires upfront work.
Take out as much thinking as possible. Automate your bills.
Schedule periodic checks on your investments.
Consider your cash flow in creating your budget plan.
Be aware of the stories and anxieties you have about money.
[20:16] Building a Money Mindset
Setting a financial structure begins with your money mindset.
Money mindset is affected by your stories around money growing up — how your parents respond to financial situations and what you often hear about money as a child.
The media's portrayal of money also affects how people perceive money. People often hold back from earning more or raising rates to avoid looking money-hungry.
Learn more about Meera’s money mindset programs here.
[23:41] Money as Emotionally Supercharged
Money, just like food, is emotionally supercharged.
Know your values and be sure your spending and purchases align with them.
Exploring your money story can also be powerful.
Once you know your values and story, you can easily see if you are in alignment and take action.
[26:34] Knowing Your Money Story
Meera shares she used to be excessively frugal until she realized this prevented her from enjoying her life.
Let go of the negative stories around money and be intentionally confident that you are spending in service of yourself.
Caitie: “I think that when you are in alignment, when you know what you want, and when you know what helps further you along the path you want to take, it's a lot easier to spend money in that way than if you're unsure.” - Click Here To Tweet This
Understand that money is emotional; cultivating a sense of financial wellness will come from understanding yourself deeply.
[30:06] Money and Eating Habits
Your money habits are very much like your eating habits.
Knowing the formula and executing it are different things.
Money, like diet, is not one size fits all. There are so many factors at play.
[35:23] Finding Your Balance
It is possible to acknowledge the reality of finance and honor your personal values.
Be grounded, authentic, and comfortable.
Understand that money is a resource.
Check on your money story.
For example, debt is not bad. It is using a resource and paying it back with interest.
[40:49] A Money Mindset Without Shame
Do not make people feel shame or judgment for their decisions.
Meera: “You were doing the best that you could based on what you knew, based on the resources and tools that you had. And now we're here and how all we need to think about is how we can move forward. How can we make different decisions in the future? What happened in the past?” - Click Here To Tweet This
The best thing to do when you make an out-of-alignment decision is to learn how you can move forward.
You will burn out if shame is your fuel. Shame is not a sustainable motivator.
Make your motivation values-oriented and authentic.
[43:02] Meera’s Morning and Evening Routines
Eating breakfast and getting herself ready are Meera’s morning non-negotiables.
Meera shares that she also does not look at her phone until an hour after waking up to avoid distraction.
She also follows a bedtime routine that involves body movement, brushing her teeth, flossing, and washing her face.
Meera believes her routines remind her she's worth care and attention.
[46:19] Processing Prompt and Actionable Tools
Ask yourself, “What stories am I telling myself about money?”
Do not look at your phone until an hour after waking up. Take time to stretch and unwind at the end of the day.
List down your values to create a physical reminder.
Honor your values when making decisions — be it financial or something else entirely.
About Meera
Meera Meyer, CFP, is a registered investment advisor and president of Life.Money.Balance. She has been in the financing field for 12 years and has built expertise in budgeting and cash flow management, retirement savings, insurance, investments, estate planning, educational planning, and charitable giving.
She aims to empower women to reduce debt, create wealth, and take control of their finances.
Connect with Meera on her website or Instagram.
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Whole, Full, & Alive is a podcast exploring the art and science of falling in love with your life, with your story, and with who you truly are — underneath your titles, your resume, your relationship status, and your bank account.
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Transcript
Meera Meyer: People when they think about working with a financial planner or getting their financial life in order or even budgeting, it's like this is going to be work that I'm going to have to do and maintain, and that is not required in order to be financially successful. You can be financially successful simply by just creating systems and letting them run on the background of your life.
Like, my goal for all of my clients is not for them to be people who are constantly checking their budget and know where every penny is going and making sure everything's optimized. My goal is for my clients to not have to worry about money at all.
Caitie Corradino: Welcome to Whole, Full and Alive, a podcast exploring the art and science of falling in love with your life, with your story and with who you truly are underneath your titles, your resume, your relationship status, and your bank account. I'm Caitie Corradino, a registered dietician nutritionist, certified fitness and yoga instructor, eating disorder recovery coach, Reiki healer, and founder of Full Soul Nutrition, but underneath my titles and resume, a big fan of kitchen dance breaks, early mornings, all things chocolate truffles, world traveling and serendipity.
I'm here to share no bullshit stories and actionable tools to help you feel unshakably worthy. You have everything you need within you to feel whole, full and alive right here, right now. Let's get into it. Hey, welcome to episode five of Whole, Full and Alive. I am so excited to introduce you to today's guest. Her name is Meera Meyer. She is a certified financial planner and the founder of Life.Money.Balance. We are going to talk about money today.
I am keeping this intro short and sweet because I want to dive right into our conversation. But let me just say that this is something that I was really itching to talk about as early on as possible when I thought about what I want to talk about on this podcast because I feel like we don't obviously talk about money enough. It is a really important part of holistic health and wellness. We have to acknowledge our relationship with money.
We have to acknowledge the reality of financial wellness. We have to acknowledge that money is a resource that we use to move through the world, the way it works. I really, really am excited about Meera's perspective on financial planning and financial wellness. It is super well rounded. It is practical and also spiritual and about personal values, and I think you are really going to enjoy this episode with her especially if thinking about finances is something that you've maybe avoided or felt sticky around in the past.
I think you will really enjoy some of the nuggets that Meera is going to share today especially if finances are something that you've been feeling sticky about in the past. She will share some really tangible ways to start thinking about your finances in a more intuitive, stress-free values-oriented way, so let's get into it. Meera, thank you so much for being here today.
Meera: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited right now.
Caitie: I am so excited to be talking about money, because we don't talk about it enough, and I feel like we can't possibly talk about health and well-being and living a fulfilling life that feels good if we don't talk about money. It is a reality. It is a resource. It is a thing that we need to feel regulated, to feel whole, full and alive. I absolutely love the approach that you take to financial wellness.
It's such a nice balance of practicality, and also, I don't want to say like spirituality necessarily, because I feel like sometimes people think oh, it's like the law of attraction and like all this stuff, but it's what you talk about is somewhat spiritual and also, just like, practically spiritual. I don't know how to explain it.
Meera: Oh my gosh, I love that.
Caitie: Yeah, so I'm really excited for people to hear from you. Can you please tell us before we dive into all of that, who you are? Tell us what you do, about your company, and also, tell us who you are. What are a few words you use to describe yourself, your personality, your energy, what you value, all that?
Meera: Yes, of course. So, I am Meera Meyer, a certified financial planner. I have been working in the financial planning field since 2012. I started my own business in 2017 and my own investment management firm in 2020, and it's been really amazing. I love that aspect of my life. I think for so much of my life, I wanted to work in nonprofit, and I wanted to help people and I ended up in this financial career. I just love it so much.
I just love helping people. I feel like that's like a good description of who I am. Ever since I was a kid, I was one of those people who always like, at the store, I would like rearrange all the displays, so they were perfectly straight again if somebody messed them up. I just really like seeing things in order to helping people get things done. That's what I always imagined for myself, and I never really saw a career for myself in finance.
I studied economics, but in my head, finance was like one of those things that doesn't really do much for people. It kind of got, like some negative connotations to it. When I started my career, I realized that there are people out there that need help with their finances, and I could still help people with their money. When I started my firm, I realized I can help people with their money in a way that actually helps them feel empowered.
I could be a resource for them when maybe other people in the financial planning field don't necessarily align with who they see themselves as. So, having a female somebody who is a woman of color as a financial planning resource helps other females feel more comfortable talking about their money, helping them figure out their goals. So, I am a very positive person. If you don't know that about me, I would describe myself as very positive.
I am the type of person who never really gets stressed out when we're traveling, like we've missed flights, whatever. I'm always like, Oh, it's fine, like, we'll figure it out. Everything's gonna work out the way it's supposed to. Maybe it sometimes drives the people I’m with crazy, because I have this, like, overly optimistic attitude. But, it's funny, because that's really tempered with in financial planning.
You kind of plan for worst case scenarios, and so, I was even thinking about this yesterday, like, yeah, I have this super positive, optimistic attitude all the time. But, I also always make sure that I have a contingency plan for when things go wrong. I think that actually helps me be more positive, because I know that I'm planning for the worst, so everything's gonna be fine. Then, I'm also a mom. I have two kids.
My son is six years old, and my daughter is three. So of course, that's like a huge piece of my identity. I grew up with a mom who was a mom full time, 100% of the time. To me, I, of course, have the identity of being a mom, but that's not all I am. So, I really appreciate that I'm able to run my business, and have this side of me, that's this entrepreneur, this business owner, and I'm also able to be a mom and be there for my kids at the same time.
It just seems so magical to me, because I feel like in the past, women didn't have that opportunity. It's kind of an either or situation. So, I feel really lucky that that's what I get to do. I'm married, so I'm a partner and spouse to somebody else, and we support each other. My husband used to be an entrepreneur, and so we have lots of entrepreneurial conversations with each other. Yeah, I feel like that's who I am. That's me in a nutshell.
Caitie: Oh, my gosh, there's so much goodness in what you just said. There's so many things I want to respond to. So first of all, I love that your financial planning business because you are the face of it, which, as you mentioned, is so empowering for people to see. First of all, not only just like the face of the financial planning business rather than just these, like Times New Roman font financial planning logo, and then they have to like go into this stuffy office and like have their numbers crunched into a spreadsheet.
You're like this fun, energetic personality and face saying, hey, let me help you with your financial planning. So, you take that and you make it just more fun and injects this new energy into it, and you also are a woman and you also are a person of color. You also are a mom and I am obsessed. I love it, and like I just want to pull over and acknowledge that piece of the puzzle first.
Also loving that you could see from a young age that there were a lot of things about your personality that made you fit for this career. What is the challenge that you've overcome over the course of your life that kind of led you to where you are today in this place where you are clearly a very aligned to the live person?
Meera: Yeah, I love this question so much because when I started out, so I actually tried to get a minor in finance when I was in college, and I failed, did not get my finance minor. I remember showing up to those classes and feeling like I was just in the wrong place. I did not belong. It was a bunch of people, bunch of males, mostly I'll say, a bunch of white males, and they were in it because they wanted to make a lot of money, and that was it.
I just couldn't wrap my head around that. I didn't feel like I was part of the conversations that they were having, and that continued on to when I started working in financial planning firms. Granted when I started, I started working in financial planning in San Francisco in 2012, and the firm I work for was started by a female. She made sure that her employees were very diverse, and so, it wasn't like I was the only female there.
But, I also didn't see myself in any of the other people there. I am naturally just kind of like a chill laid back kind of goofy person. Like, I tend not to be super serious about things, and I would see everybody in the firm women, men, whatever, like very serious people who were pantsuits and who were very disciplined I will say. Like, I incorporate routines and rituals into my day, but like, forcing myself to do things that don't feel in alignment, that's not something that I do.