Legacy Binders with Chelsea of Smart Money Mamas
For over 10 years now, I’ve been helping people plan for the life they want to live and frequently, part of my job involves planning for the life events that we hope never happen. It’s a very difficult but essential part of the planning process and at Financial Gym, we’re always looking for the best tools and resources to help our clients with this. Joining me on the show today is Chelsea, founder of Smart Money Mamas to talk about why she left a successful six-figure career at a hedge fund to help people develop a better relationship with money and to talk about how she created the Family Emergency Binder which is a resource at the Gym we love.
What are we drinking?
Chelsea - Raspberry Ginger Ale
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
After Chelsea graduated college, she worked on Wall Street as a research analyst. After her first child was born, she started to feel like her values and the work she was doing were disconnected. She knew she wanted to make a change, but it can be hard to walk away from a great salary. Setting an example for her children was an important factor in her decision to leave and pursue something different.
The week before her son’s first birthday, she decided to start a blog. Chelsea was part of a new mom’s Facebook group and became the go-to person for money questions there. She asked the group for money questions and the folks in the group quickly responded.
From those questions, Chelsea started writing, answering the questions and posting a few times a week. She started to feel a shift in mindset though the process of writing her blog. At this point, she couldn’t monetize it because of her job, but continued to write.
She wanted to help women build wealth with purpose through teaching kids personal finance, mindfulness, and estate planning.
When her second child was born, she decided to leave her job and start monetizing the blog, which she wasn’t able to do before because of work policies. Chelsea and her husband had been working towards financial independence, so they had a bit of cushion, but going from a six-figure salary to $0 caused anxiety, so she started freelance writing shortly after her second child was born.
They had an idea of what they wanted to do, but didn’t want to rush the process. It was important to find their community and get clear about the message. For about 8 months, Chelsea kept writing.
In 2018, they released their first product, The Family Emergency Binder, which went really well!
It started from reflecting on her own life. When Chelsea was working in corporate finance, her husband stayed at home with the kids. She was the CFO of their house, managing the money and finances. She realized if anything happened to her, she wanted to ensure her family was taken care of.
It started as a one-page, step-by-step guide for her husband because she knew while filing out her life insurance policy that if she were to pass away and her husband was given a huge check, it would add more stress to an already emotionally charged life event. It grew over time as they continued to add to it.
It included: how to get into the accounts, how bills are being paid, and everything else related to the family finances.
From there it was, ‘What do people need?”
WHAT DOES A LIFE YOU WANT TO LIVE LOOK LIKE
Our lives have gotten so busy, loud, and constant, it can be hard to figure out what our goals are.
It is easy to be distracted and influenced by all of the things going on, whether that is kids, family, friends, or social media.
When setting goals, it’s important to take the time and figure out what YOUR goals are. Not somebody else’s goals, not the goals society tells us we should have, but what YOU really want from life.
It’s about quieting the voices of others and finding confidence. What is the life you want to create?
Figuring that out can be tough though. Carving out that quiet time to sit and think about these things takes practice, but it is important.
When it comes to personal finance, the basics are simple. It’s math: addition, subtraction, spending less than you earn, etc. The real opportunity for work and growth is in the mindset. The relationship with money and your money values are key in building wealth and confidence. Once your relationship with money begins to change, the numbers start to shift.
People sometimes struggle with ‘summit syndrome’ - where they set a big goal, work their asses off, achieve the goal, but the feelings haven’t changed. People are chasing the wrong goals, goals that are not their own. It’s very common in the personal finance space, where it is all big goals all the time.
BUT HOW
Think about how you want to feel - not your ideal day - but how you want to feel in your everyday life. Some examples: inspired, sexy, charitable, secure or alive. This exercise can be challenging, and Smart Money Mamas developed a page with 150 different feeling words, because clients would struggle to think of feelings other than, ‘happy,’ ‘anxious,’ or ‘stressed. This takes time and practice!
Once you have your feeling words, start writing down things that make you feel that way. Once you have the list, take a look at it. How much time and budget is going towards those things that make you happy? How can you start making shifts?
Create some space in your budget and your life for these things. Once we prioritize, the other things fall into place. When it comes to money, fight or flight responses kick in because we need it to survive and have the basic necessities in life.
Don’t worry about other people’s journeys or get stuck in the comparison trap. You are doing great FOR YOU.
Chelsea talks about how there is no quick fix. She can’t fix people’s money, but she can work on the mindset. There is a huge connection between money and mental health.
Your journey is going to evolve with you over time.
MONEY IS EMOTIONAL
When people decide to start budgeting, one of the first areas they cut back is within the food category. It is usually one of the biggest line items in people’s spending, so a natural place to start. If you are a person who grew up with or struggled with food insecurity in the past, limiting the amount of food in your house can be a trigger and cause you to go the polar opposite, and overspend.
Financial health is an emotional journey and from Shannon’s experience, shame does not work. While it can be motivating for some, for most, shame is not the way to go.
It’s why communities like Smart Money Mamas and The Financial Gym operate the way they do, focusing on people rather than leaning into more AI, offering memberships rather than just classes alone.
There’s not a way to teach AI all of the emotional aspects of helping people with money.
A Certified Financial Trainer, coach, or community can support you through the hard spots in a way that can’t be done through AI. There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that works in personal finance. It is too emotional and personal.
You aren’t going to be winning every single day. It’s about controlling what you can and figuring out how to make the best decisions from there. There are always ways to work through it.
MORE ABOUT THE FAMILY EMERGENCY BINDER
The Family Emergency Binder isn’t just for folks who have kids. It’s called ‘Family Emergency Binder’ because every person, even if you live alone, is considered a family. This resource is great for everyone.
Whether it’s a minor emergency or worst-case scenario, all of the info your family needs is there, in one place, ready to go.
It walks you through the factors and facets of your life in a holistic way.
Planning for these types of scenarios can be scary, but it is important.
While estate planning is important, it doesn’t tell your family how to log onto the accounts, where the bills are paid from, and more personal info like your children’s routines. It’s a way to organize ALL of the information in one safe place. (Do not put a document with all of your sensitive info in the cloud!)
There’s an entire section for childcare. This way if your kids ever had to be raised by someone else, that person could provide some sense of normalcy for them.
This binder is an easy-to-follow way of ensuring your loved ones are taken care of. The process of thinking about these things can be scary, but doing so is an act of love.
Death is part of life. Think about how you want your family to manage during an incredibly stressful time. This binder is a roadmap for them.
A lot of people don’t want to do this important step of financial planning because it’s difficult to think about. Without a plan though, families can be left to make incredibly hard decisions, hoping they’re doing the best on behalf of their loved ones.
We think of this type of planning as only necessary for folks who are older, but that is simply not true. If you’re a young, single person, you might not need the whole binder right now. When you purchase the binder, there are options to leave out the sections about kids and daycare.
If you’re struggling to have a conversation with your parents about estate planning or finances, this binder is a great way to get the conversation started. You can tell them about your experience and invite them to set one up too. It is something we all should do, not an age-specific need.
Being prepared in the event of an emergency or death is the ultimate act of love for the people you care about most.
The Family Emergency Binder would be a great gift this holiday season and was featured on the Netflix Show Dead to Me.
Smart Money Mamas is doing a free three-day video training: Thriving Financial New Year. Check it out!
You can purchase your own Family Emergency Binder here!
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is that no matter how much we hate them, emergencies are bound to happen and prepping in advance makes life so much easier for all parties if there’s a plan in place. With just a few hours of planning focus, you can save countless hours of your loved one’s lives in what could be a very difficult time.
Random Three Questions
What do you do to take care of yourself?
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
This is your last meal on Earth, what is it gonna be?
Connect with Chelsea
Website: https://smartmoneymamas.com/
Email: chelsea@smartmoneymamas.com
Instagram: @smartmoneymamas
TikTok: @smartmoneymamas
Twitter: @smartmoneymamas
YouTube: http://youtube.com/smartmoneymamas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smartmoneymamas
If you have any topics you would like for me to cover on this podcast or you’d like to get in the financially naked hotseat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com or join the private Martinis and Your Money facebook group and let me know what you want to hear.
We are about to end another year and begin a new one. Do you have a good idea of where your financial roadmap is heading in 2022? Do you need a financial roadmap for 2022? I hope you’ll reach out to my team at Financial Gym to get started on one today. We have so many great and cost effective ways that you can work with us, plus, Martinis and Your Money listeners get 15% off of Financial Gym memberships. So if you’re ready to get started, head over to or send friends to financialgym.com to get signed up today.