Women's Money Wisdom
Balancing careers, caregiving, and personal well-being is no small feat—especially for women who often carry the weight of multiple roles. From supporting aging parents to raising children and managing demanding careers, financial planning can easily take a back seat. But your financial future deserves attention, and we’re here to help you take charge.
Welcome to Women's Money Wisdom, the podcast designed to empower women with the knowledge and confidence to build financial security and achieve their dreams. Hosted by Melissa Joy, CFP®, founder of Pearl Planning, each weekly episode offers practical financial insights, expert guidance, and real conversations about money.
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Women's Money Wisdom
Episode 179: Top 5 Financial Planning Take-aways from the Barbie Movie
Melissa Joy, CFP ® shares financial planning insights from a surprisingly unusual source - the Barbie movie! We unpack this unlikely catalyst for financial wisdom, revealing five significant takeaways. From understanding the ripple effects of consumerism to the crucial conversation around equal pay, we're breaking down barriers and bringing you a fresh perspective on money matters. A special mention for all the Kens out there - listen in for an essential lesson on individuality and planning your finances! Let's redefine the narrative and explore how you can make financial decisions based on your personal dreams, not societal expectations. Women, don't underestimate your economic power.
Resources:
- Learn more about Melissa Joy, CFP. ® and Pearl Planning .
- Read Blog, Why the New Little Women Offers Great Financial Lessons for Your Daughters.
- Listen to Episode 172: Financial Lessons from Taylor Swift Era’s Tour.
- Watch our Summer Economic Update and Investment Outlook Webinar Replay.
Links are being provided for information purposes only. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Pearl Planning cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Pearl Planning makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. Pearl Planning financial advisors do not render advice on tax matters. You should discuss any tax matters with the appropriate professional.
The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...
Welcome to the 52 Pearls Weekly Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and founder of Pearl Planning.
Speaker 2:And I'm Melissa Friedenberg, financial advisor with Pearl Planning.
Speaker 1:Pearl Planning is a financial planning and investment management company located in Dexter and Gross Point, Michigan. We work with clients all around the country.
Speaker 2:The purpose of our podcast is to explore specific financial topics and provide advice you can use in your everyday life.
Speaker 1:Hi to our podcast heaps. It's Melissa Joy here and I am sitting on my porch enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon reflecting on the week. I'm so pleased for the podcast and all of the episodes and the work that Melissa Friedenberg has done, as well as our many guests. Before we get into the topic, and I just wanted to reflect on how fast the summer is going by, if you're like me, I just dropped my son off at marching band camp. He's going to be a freshman this year and I know I've started to say time slowed down when it comes to the summer. But I'd encourage you to offset some of that fleeting moment and feelings of scarcity to just have some appreciation and gratitude for all of the great things you have been able to accomplish this summer. I know I've been working hard, playing hard, fitting a lot in, and there's just reasons to be grateful. So a moment for personal reflection. And one of my favorite things in the past couple of weeks was going to the Barbie movie with my 10 year old and it just was such a great movie. I thought it turned a lot of ideas on its head and, of course, as a slightly geeky financial planner, I had thoughts when it came to the movie and how it applies to our financial life. So if you just have a little bit of a Barbie movie hangover where it stuck around with you after you left the theater, this episode is for you. If you haven't watched the movie yet, there are a couple of spoilers, so I think it would totally be fine to listen in. But you might want to pause if you plan to buy your tickets in the next week or two and then listen after. Greta Gerwig, who wrote the movie and directed, just kind of speaks to me in financial planning terms. I remember I wrote a blog when little women came out and we'll make sure to link in the show notes to that blog. But I think that she gets off of the two dimensional script of movies and really makes you think and of course it's coming from an explicitly personally female perspective. So that applies to me and I think it applies to most of our listeners as well. So here are my top five financial planner takeaways from the Barbie movie. Number one is just an appreciation for this economy, the feminine influence on our current economy.
Speaker 1:This year I think we entered the year Many people expected a recession. It was negativity, inflation being persistent. There was just a lot of pessimism. But when you look at this year, you've got the Barbie movie, which has already made over half a billion 500 million globally just a week after it was released, and then it's probably on track to make more than a billion as a movie. They spent a ton of money marketing it and that paid off at big risk, big reward, but this is part of trends that we can see all over the place. Other examples include, of course, the Taylor Swift tour and please, if you haven't listened to Melissa Freidenberg's episode on Taylor Swift tickets, I wish. Just having lunch with a friend and she talked about how that is just her favorite episode of this year, so we'll make sure to link to that in show notes. But the Taylor Swift tour is estimated to rake in more than a billion dollars and when things like this happen for example, the Barbie movie or the Taylor Swift tour there's ripple effects that go into the economy that are positive vibes. You have the hotel rooms, you have the expenditures on the clothing. This consumerism is economically good. The US consumer is a big portion of the economy right now, as the government is decreasing in terms of their kind of propping up the US economy.
Speaker 1:I am also a huge soccer fan. I grew up playing soccer and it's my first love. When it comes to sports, and the Women's World Cup too, is you know, there's more demand for women's uniforms than there is availability. We have record numbers of viewers watching the first games. We haven't even got to the knockout stages just yet, and so this is another big trend where decision makers and business are underestimating the influence that women can have and their participation. And of course there's hard one lessons about equal pay, support for women athletes and those stories are different in every country, but three great big news examples of women in business, whether it's the movies, the concerts or sports, where there's just more and more relevance for women. Women have been underestimated over time and I think our economy will start to reflect us as being equal participants in the economy. So remembering that she economy is number one.
Speaker 1:But then I want to move to number two and talk about the guys in the movie, and of course Ken is. We now know just Ken. His identity is only there when Barbie's in the room and his you know kind of outcomes are totally dependent on Barbie Kind of a role reversal from what historically has been stereotypical for women, being arm candy for men. But I thought about this Ken and his you know, his need to have an identity. That was important in and of himself and to explore who he is in a more three dimensional way really felt to me like an important lesson for financial planning.
Speaker 1:So often one person in a financial planning engagement if you're in a partnership or couple is the dominant, you know, kind of participant. I think in our financial planning profession too, there's more and more emphasis on niching, which is being very specific about the type of people that you work with, and it's often linked to your profession, which can be a challenge, because then if you say, I only want to work with people who are foot doctors and they're financial plans, well, what about their spouse or partner, who may not be fitting in with that niche? And so I think that can be overcome in the individual engagement. But it's really important to make sure that when you have a financial planning engagement, if you're a couple, both of your voices are heard. We've also had episodes over time talking about how you need to be a participant in your financial life. Even if one of you is kind of the key doer, you both need to be informed and again this fits back in with this like two dimensional just can. I'm just here for Barbie. I really want you to think about both in your professional engagements and financial planning, you know, kind of equally being heard, equally being planned for, as well as just in your partnerships having equal kind of contributions and information so that you are well apprised of what is going on in your financial life. So don't be just Ken. It's okay to really have your needs and your life and lifestyle kind of acknowledged in your financial planning engagement and in your financial life.
Speaker 1:There's a becoming famous speech from America for era in this movie. It's amazing. It talks about the challenges of being a woman, especially a mom, in our modern society and why that's so difficult, and I encourage all of you to listen to the full soliloquy or wait for it in the movie. I listened to it with tears in my eyes. It starts out it is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful and so smart and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong. I just think this is probably applies to all of us, not just women. But it talks to how personally you feel as you go through life and to me financial planning is also so human, so personal. In the best financial planning engagements you can really tell your financial planner how you're feeling, how you feel vulnerable, where you feel weaknesses, not just where you are feeling great. So showing your insecurity or vulnerability and I'll be frank with you, so many of all of us have an imposter syndrome when it comes to money just feeling like you can never figure it out. And that speech really spoke to me about the human element of life in general and how we all kind of gloss over what's really going on behind the scenes with a social media perfect kind of image, just a reminder to make sure that you are honoring your vulnerable, human self when it comes to your financial decisions and when you're seeking help professionally in that world. That human speech, that vulnerability in a great financial planning engagement you should be able to talk about these challenges.
Speaker 1:Number four I have to talk about it. Just had a realtor friend who posted that she could find your dream house or your mojo-dojo casa house. If you saw the movie you know your real estate is such a big part of your life and your financial life and certainly it was a big storyline in the movie when the dream house turned into the mojo-dojo casa house and then back. And real estate is always coming up in money conversations. Think Society tells us a certain thing about you kind of need a dream house to be happy and certainly for some people that's a really important part of their lives and I've always appreciated the real estate I've been able to have and purchase over life. But there's some points in your life too where you might want to give up the dream house. You might want to rent for a little bit. It might be right for you and I have had a couple situations in the past few weeks where clients that I work with we're being told by peers, by friends hey, you're throwing your money away renting or if you don't buy rental house to get some passive income, you're missing out and I just want to encourage people on this topic.
Speaker 1:First of all, your you know your dream house might not be a house. It might be a different goal. It might be living abroad, in retirement or a later work life and being a consultant. It may you may be in a transition and we work with recently divorced people where they don't know where they want to live in two or three years. And if you don't plan to own something in real estate for five plus years, it's really hard to make the economics work, even in an appreciated market. So I just wanted to acknowledge how, societally in the US, just like when we were growing up, either we or friends had the Barbie dream house and that was so cool. You know, we really emulate that kind of culture and sentiment as adult. But not everybody's dream house is the same. And don't make your whole financial life dependent on kind of perfection when it comes to this. Don't let other people tell you what you need when it comes to real estate. And then five, I don't want to give away the end, but I do want to say that it's totally okay to change your plan If you thought you were building towards something and it doesn't fit with you and your life to make big changes, make big adjustments, make the money work so that you can pursue your passions or dreams.
Speaker 1:I always encourage people to reflect and make sure that they're. What they're doing now is a fit and you may not need to be able to change on a dime, but do be introspective about what makes you feel satisfied content. It might not always be more. Sometimes simplicity is more and sometimes change is necessary, and if you're kind of struggling to figure out how to make changes, your financial planner can be a really important person to help you see what is possible and what could fit with you and your life. They can also be a bridge between you and a partner to acknowledge both of your kind of inner financial needs, et cetera.
Speaker 1:So I hope if you watch the Barbie movie, you were similarly inspired. I'd love to hear, if you listened, what your reflections and what your kind of Barbie lessons were, and I just appreciate you letting me reflect on what I found to stick with me as a financial planner in the summer of Barbie. So enjoy the rest of the summer. We are celebrating our fifth anniversary this year, so just much appreciation for all of our listeners, clients and friends of Pearl Planning and as we move into that next year, I can't wait to see what's around the corner.
Speaker 1:You can access our first two seasons of this podcast on our website at wwwpearlplancom or on Spotify, if you're interested in learning more about Pearl Planning, feel free to sign up for our newsletter, also found on our website.
