2019 Year End Review with the Happy Hour Ladies
Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host a happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics.Today is not only the last Friday of the month, it’s actually the last Friday of the year. Every year for the past four years, the Happy Hour Ladies and I share our year in review, and we discuss the highs and lows of the year that’s about to end and then share our goals for the upcoming year. I love recording happy hours, but these year end episodes are always my favorite.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from Dear Debt and Lola Retreat — Peppermint MartiniTonya from Budget and the Beach and Tonya-Stumphauzer.com — Cabernet from Trader Joe’sLiz, Mrs. Frugalwoods, from Frugalwoods.com — Unknown brand of Red WineShannon — Gin and TonicPumpkin Pie Martini: Absolut Vanilla, Smirnoff Kissed Caramel, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Pumpkin Spice Liquor, Vermont Maple Syrup, with a graham cracker rim
Podcast Notes
Highs and Lows of 2019
Liz: Highs include really enjoying her family. The girls are getting older and it is delightful seeing them grow. Liz has been able to spend time alone with her husband and work on strengthening their relationship. They have been married for 11 years and they were able to take a short vacation this summer and over Thanksgiving, because their girls are a little older. Liz has been putting more time and energy into Frugalwoods, which makes her happy, and she went to a conference in New York City in May. Liz acknowledged the extent of her post-partum depression and continued to take her prescription for Zoloft. The prescription has changed her life in every way for the better. She lived with anxiety and depression her whole life and thought everyone felt the way she did. It was hard to identify that what she was feeling was not normal. She has no plan to go off the medication. They made maple syrup, Liz did a lot more canning and preserving on her own, and she learned to make a fire in the wood stove on her own. She knows how to start their generator and she is proud of the advancements she has made. A low would be her physical health. When she is happy, she eats, and she needs to exercise. She would like to lose some weight.
Melanie: Highs include discovering boxing. She took a six-week challenge in January and has been boxing five to six times a week ever since. It has been a great way to relieve mental health stress and physical health stress. She has made great strides in therapy this year and her mental health is great. She found the best balance she could in her life. The low was doing two Lola Retreats. As she moved toward the second one, she started feeling very overwhelmed. She joined dating apps in the second half of the year and met some characters.
Tonya: The number one high was moving back to L.A. from Boise in March. Other highs include getting back into beach volleyball, training a lot, and having a great summer. She lost about eight pounds since starting her previous full-time job. Tonya is doing work related to volleyball and she loves it. Lows include losing her cat, Pepe, and finger surgery with the $6,000 bill. Another low is that her income has been terrible this year and she doesn’t know what to do going forward. She loves the path she is on, but she can’t keep it up financially. She has savings and lives with a roommate right now.
Shannon: Highs include raising more money for the Gym. She raised another $5.5 million to date. In total, she has raised $7.3 million. From August 2018 to August 2019, it was non-stop fundraising. She has had over 500 conversations with people about money for the Financial Gym. They have plans in place to open up three new Gyms: D.C. in January 2020, L.A. in February or March, and Brooklyn at the same time. The Gym now has 56 full-time employees, over 40 part-time employees, and close to 3,000 clients. The podcast hit one million downloads this month. Lows include not raising enough money. Also, last week, Shannon fell on the street in New York City and broke her nose. She hit face first on the concrete. The fall made her stop and take time off.
2019 Goal Review & 2020 Goals
Melanie:
2019: Goals included being emotionally independent and not relying on others for her happiness and worth, relying on herself, and re-evaluating her expectations of other people. She wanted to continue to build Lola Retreat and hold three dinners and brunches, continue to write, and get a second book deal. Melanie wanted to become more mindful and present. She wanted to continue to do her spinning class two to three times a week and get physically stronger.
2020: Continue boxing, because it makes her happy and she can feel her increased strength. Become fluent in Spanish. She is spending a month in Mexico City starting in January to test it out. It will be a month of intense work and growth. She just let go of her anchor client, because she is making a huge pivot. Melanie is getting away from freelancing all the time and moving more toward solopreneurship. She is going to be launching MentalHealthandWealth.com, and there will be a podcast called the Mental Health and Wealth Show. Her goal is to get the website off the ground and launch the show and have it be well reviewed and impacting people’s lives. Melanie would like to do three brunches, settle the 2021 schedule for Lola Retreat, and she would like to do more public speaking and get paid for it.
Liz
2019: Enjoy her children more, be present, and see the humor in it. She wanted to carve out time for Frugalwoods and accept that she cannot do all that she wants to do. Liz wanted to get into better shape and lose the baby weight. She wanted to buy clothing that fits, because she hadn’t in four years. She wanted to do something about her hair, because she felt it was too long.
2020: Liz did a lot of simplifying this year and she would like to continue the focus on simplification, and she would like to carve out the time for exercise. Liz would like to continue being strategic with how she uses her time and be cognizant of what she is giving up when she chooses to do something.
Tonya:
2019: She wanted to find work she enjoys, is meaningful, and that pays well, whether that meant working at home, full-time, part-time, in Boise or L.A. “Pays well” to her means $100,000. She wanted to focus on mastering her mind and figure out what she could do every single day to get 1% better, including being more self-compassionate.
2020: Tonya would like to continue to do work she loves and be able to make a living. She feels like she gained a lot of physical strength and she wants to continue to build on that. She would love to work on her mental health, but she cannot afford to go to therapy. She created a 50 by 50 list of little things she wants to do and accomplish. Some are little and some are big. She wants to do all 50 next year. She would like to have 2,000 Instagram followers. Follower her @tonyastumphauzer. She wants to be happy, have fun, and be in L.A.
Shannon:
2019: She needed to raise about $10 million to $15 million. If she raised the money in April/May, her goal was to open at least four Gyms. If she raised the money after June, she wanted to open two Gyms. She was focused on developing more as a leader and getting an executive coach. She is always working on her relationship with her son, Will, while balancing working full-time.
2020: Shannon is talking to people about potential partnerships and would like to set a big goal of 20 Gyms in 2020, including potential pop-up Gyms. They are opening at least three new Gyms. She would like to raise another $10 million to $15 million for the Gym, and continue to work on leadership skills and being a great mom for her son. She wants to take more time off and take time for herself.
It isn’t unusual for the same goal to be set from one quarter to another or one year to the next. It is not just a box to be checked off and it is not a failure if you do not meet your goals. It is a failure if you drop the goals. The timing of your goals is not always in your hands, but it is so important to set them.
Cheers to 2020! Happy New Year!
TAKEAWAY: My biggest takeaway is the importance of goal setting. You may not accomplish the goals in the timeframe you would like, but continually pushing yourself will lead you to the goals eventually.If financial health is something that has continued to allude you, don’t go another year, or decade, without committing to yours. Start working with my team at the Financial Gym and make 2020 the year that youmanifest your financial goals. Remember that Martinis and Your Money Listeners get 15% off Financial Gym services. My financial trainers have seen it all, so no matter where you’re starting, we have the tools and resources to get you where you want to go. Within one year, 90 percent of our clients achieve their financial goals, and I hope you’ll be one of them. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com.If you have any topics you would like for us to talk about during happy hour, please feel free to email me at shannon@fingyms.com or tweet to me at blonde_finance or join the private martinis and your money Facebook group and let us know. Until next time, take care!!