Looking Back at 2021 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 the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics. And if you can believe it this is the last Friday of the YEAR! The last Friday of 2021! In our final happy hour of the year, the ladies and I reflect on our highs and lows of the year, the goals we set for 2021 and set goals for 2022. This is the 6th year we are doing this episode and we have a special guest joining us. And now here’s my friends to reflect on 2021.
What are we drinking?
Melanie from The Mental Health and Wealth Show - Chai Tea
Kassandra from kassandradasent.com - Old Fashioned Cream Soda
Joy, Head of Trainer Academy at The Gym - New Belgium Future Hop IPA
Shannon - Gin and Tonic
Special Guest: Tonya Stumphauzer - tonya-stumphauzer.com
Podcast Notes
REFLECTING ON HIGHS & LOWS IN 2021
Melanie: For the first year in a while, Melanie feels mostly stable with no immediate highs or lows coming to mind, but in an amazing way. There’s a beauty to stability. The high of the year: moving in with her boyfriend. The low: feeling burnt out. This year was a lesson in learning that making money is great, but not if it leaves you with no time for the rest of life.
Tonya: Also had a fairly steady year, but saw business growth in 2021! She finally purchased a camera that she loves. It has led to an increase of quality in her work and she had the opportunity to shoot a professional beach volleyball tournament in Chicago. The low: visiting her family against her intuition not to as the situation is complicated. In 2021, Tonya’s word was ‘equanimity.’ She was able to raise her rates, pay off credit card debt early on, and wants to be more ambitious next year.
Kassandra prefers to start with the low and end on a high note. This year, her mom passed away. Grief hits you at the most inopportune times and there is a lot of hurt. The high: coming back to music after a decade of not being fully in it. This was also her and her husband’s highest income year, after months of her husband’s industry being stalled due to covid. She’s been able to purchase dream items from her list. She’s also been taking a lot of much needed time to herself and saying no to more.
Joy: The highs: there’s been a lot of personal growth. This year was about making time to take care of herself, foster a local community, and grow her houseplant collection. Letting go of perfectionism was another focus in 2021. She’s maintained a morning routine and simplified her life in many ways. The lows: there have been a lot of resignations from the team this year. In addition to that, the business is pivoting and while it is exciting, there is grief with the chapters that are closing.
Shannon also likes to end on a high note. The low: The Gym was in a precarious situation. If last year The Gym was on life support, this year it was in the ICU. The great resignation has been a challenge as a manager, business owner, and family member.
Some of the secret sauce of The Gym was the physical community, which was lost abruptly. In April of this year, there was optimism there would be grand openings in September, but all of the variants made that impossible. The realization is this chapter has to come to a close and they’re looking into dissolving all physical locations. It was an incredibly tough decision and there is a lot of grief around the loss. But there are so many exciting things happening at The Gym and a lot to look forward to.
In Shannon’s personal life, she achieved the goal of falling in love. Vinnie, her boyfriend, is such a special person. Will is doing well and back to school five days a week.
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2022
Melanie wants to lean into health and wellness completely. This specifically looks like being completely sober in 2022 and introducing running into her fitness routine. Running hasn’t been enjoyable in the past, but she knows it can be great for physical and mental health and wants to get into it this year. She also wants to make a six figure salary and book three speaking engagements. 2022 is about shifting from ‘survival mode’ into ‘thrival mode.’
Tonya’s word of 2022 is essentialism, inspired by the book, Essentialism by Greg McKeown. There are four pillars in this book: health, finances, work, and relationships and she’s set specific goals in each of those categories. She’s also planning to hone in on what matters most and let the other shit go. She also wants to put time and work into her website.
Kassandra wants to own more of her own time, which means a downshift from the corporate world. Less meetings, more living and enjoying the fruits of her labor. While she’s great at making money, she’s not great at spending it. She wants to come into a season of appreciation for the hard work her family has done and where it has gotten them. Kassandra wants to reintroduce regular weight training into her physical wellness routine because of the way it makes her feel. Her word of the year is interconnected
Joy’s word for 2022 is expansion. She is a creature of comfort. She’s spent a lot of time in her cocoon and is ready to be courageous and take a step out. She’s close to finishing her yoga teaching certification and wants to make that official this year. She wants to put herself out there more and own this aspect of her life by getting over imposter syndrome and doing the work. She also wants to simplify her finances and honor the set budget and transition closer to a vegan lifestyle.
For 2022, Shannon’s biggest goal for The Gym is finding one or more long term partners. She wants to continue the goal of reaching one million people and there are projects in the works to make that happen even more quickly.
Personally Shannon wants to continue being in love with Vinne because he is truly a gift from the universe. Will will be headed to college in 2 ½ years and she wants to spend as much time being present with him while he is still home with her as possible.
My biggest takeaway is the importance of setting goals no matter what life has in store for you. Life is about progress not perfection and goal setting doesn’t always have to lead to goal accomplishment for it to make sense.
2021 was another challenging one for all of us as we continued to battle through a global pandemic. My hat is off to all of you for continuing to put up the good fight and fingers crossed we have some different and brighter days ahead of us in 2022.
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me at Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
This pandemic has impacted all of us in a number of ways and if your finances were something that stressed you out in 2021, I hope that you’ll break the cycle in 2022 and start fresh with the Financial Gym. We’ve literally seen it all and we’ve fixed it all. So I hope you’ll leave your financial stresses in the past like 2021 and head over to or send friends financialgym.com to get signed up today.
Mentioned in the Episode:
Essentialism by Greg McKeown - book mentioned by Tonya