Hello, Martinis and Your Money listeners! Whether you just found the show or were a longtime listener, I wanted to hop on here and share what's been happening in my life since I stopped recording new episodes at the end of 2024. As many of you know, in 2013, I founded the company Financial Gym and ran the company through good days and bad days until March 15th, 2025. On that date, I had the unthinkable happen to me, at least what was unthinkable to me. I had a mental health breakdown that led to me being taken from my home, pantsless, and in handcuffs. Yep, you heard that right. This type A overachiever had something unthinkable happen, and this was never a scenario that I had on my life bingo card. But yet, there I was, and that was the hand I was dealt. After three days in the institution, I knew I needed a break from work, so I put in for a mental health leave until May 1st. Immediately while I was on leave, the investors of the company decided to sell Financial Gym to a wealth management company run by two men.    For those of you who don't know me, I left Merrill Lynch in 2013 to create something different, and now all of my 12 years of life focused on serving the underserved and bringing change in their lives was erased, and I was being asked to move backward in time. It was a gut punch to say the least, but it was also an answer to prayers I had been praying, and that was the opportunity to take Financial Gym and financial wellness in a different direction.   It gave me the freedom to leave and start Collective Wellness Revival, a truly one-of-a-kind wellness company that I think we all need in our lives. I spent the last 12 years of my life in the most intimate way possible, diving deep into people's money habits and behaviors, and while I was doing that, I kept noticing the interconnectedness of financial wellness with the other areas of wellness, predominantly your physical and your mental wellness. There were many times where I almost felt it was wrong to offer people financial wellness, while also not offering them mental and physical wellness.    Well, three days in a mental institution actually also reminded me there's a fourth area of wellness, and that is your spiritual or soul level wellness, the area deep down inside most of us that we never get to attack because we're like hamsters on a wheel just trying to get through the surface level areas of life. But we are all beautiful and connected souls here for a reason but life “lifes” us, all of us really hard. And especially the last few months and our souls get lost in the process. I've realized that I've been on my own soul discovery journey for the past 17 years. And in the past five months, since I left my Gym journey, I've been given the gift to truly learn, know, and understand the soul behind Shannon. I knew I wanted to create a company like this for years, and I'm grateful for three powerhouse women stepping in and stepping up to help me launch the first stage of this company, which is a one-of-a-kind, one-on-one coaching program.   For one monthly fee, you can work on any area of wellness you choose. Every wellness journey is unique, and now you can explore all areas of your wellness: mind, body, money, and soul under one tent. And coaching is just the beginning. Our big goal is to grow a collective of like-minded women and our allies to support and encourage each other through these crazy and chaotic times we live in. This is the perfect time for everyone to work on the most epic project of our lives. And that's us. I think of the revival as the perfect place to work on Project YOU. Who are YOU? Why are YOU here? What do YOU want to do in life? Most of us are living who we think we are. Daughters, sisters, mothers, partners, co-workers, bosses, CEOs. But none of us, none of us are really these roles. They're just roles we get to play in this life. They're not really who we are. If you want to explore YOU deeper and work with me as a coach,

For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode554-The-End

After 10 years of podcasting and 554 episodes, we’re coming down to the final episodes of Martinis and Your Money. These final three episodes before Happy Hour will be a chat between me and you. When I was thinking about how I wanted to end this podcast, all I could think was, “I have to make it epic for my fans and listeners,” who have supported me for almost a decade. I have shared so much with you over these past 10 years, but I’ve also held some things back.    My intent with these final three conversations with you is to answer all of the questions, spill all of the tea, and share all of the lessons I’ve learned not only over the past 10 years but also over the past 46 years I’ve been on this earth.    I am splitting the final three episodes before Happy Hour into three categories: my personal experiences, my work and professional experiences, and my blogging and podcasting experiences. You can listen to all three, one or none.    I know that many of you have come here for years for money-related advice and guidance, and I will have that in these final episodes, but I’ll also have more. My intent in sharing all of this with you is in the hopes that my journey and the lessons I’ve learned can help you or someone you know who has been on a journey. I have faced a great deal of challenges over my life, and I would face all of them again if I knew that my story could help just one person. For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode553-podcasting-blogging-friends

After 10 years of podcasting and 554 episodes, we’re coming down to the final episodes of Martinis and Your Money. These final episodes before Happy Hour will be a chat between me and you. When I was thinking about how I wanted to end this podcast, all I could think was, “I have to make it epic for my fans and listeners,” who have supported me for almost a decade. I have shared so much with you over these past 10 years, but I’ve also held some things back.     My intent with these final three conversations with you is to answer all of the questions, spill all of the tea, and share all of the lessons I’ve learned not only over the past 10 years but also over the past 46 years I’ve been on this earth.     I am splitting the final three episodes before Happy Hour into three categories: my personal experiences, my work and professional experiences, and my blogging and podcasting experiences. You can listen to all three, one or none.     I know that many of you have come here for years for money-related advice and guidance, and I will have that in these final episodes, but I’ll also have more. My intent in sharing all of this with you is in the hopes that my journey and the lessons I’ve learned can help you or someone you know who has been on a journey. I have faced a great deal of challenges over my life, and I would face all of them again if I knew that my story could help just one person. For more information, visit the show notes:  https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode552-FinGym-friends

We are officially in the second to last month of the podcast. So, I decided my final topic would be around side hustling and entrepreneurship, which, you can imagine, are subjects near and dear to my heart. The Financial Gym has taken me on an 11-year entrepreneurial journey, and it would have started as a side hustle if I was allowed to coach people on the side from my day job as a financial advisor. In August of 2013, I made the wild decision to jump full force into an entrepreneurial journey without testing it via a side hustle. While I’m thankful for the journey, I would advise everyone else to start with the side hustle before it becomes the full hustle.  So this month I’m going to share with you stories from side hustle through full entrepreneurship and everywhere in between. Joining me today is Cadence Dubus, who combined her love of dancing and her need to make money into a career in fitness that started from instructor to multi-gym owner to virtual business owner. Like me, Cadence didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur, but she’s become an amazing one in her own right. I am inspired by Cadence’s strength and tenacity, and I hope you are too. For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode549

We are officially in the second to last month of the podcast and it’s my final month of guest interviews. So, I decided my final topic guest interviews would be around side hustling and entrepreneurship, which you can imagine are subjects near and dear to my heart. The Financial Gym has taken me on an 11-year entrepreneurial journey, and it would have started as a side hustle if I was allowed to coach people on the side from my day job as a financial advisor. In August of 2013, I made the wild decision jump full force into an entrepreneurial journey without testing it via side hustle, and while I’m thankful for the journey, I would advise everyone else to start with the side hustle before it becomes the full hustle.  So this month I’m going to share with you stories from side hustle through full entrepreneurship and everywhere in between. Joining me today is long time podcast listener and long time Financial Gym client, Amanda, who has recently launched an HR-based side hustle called Now What HR. She joins me to share her journey to side hustling and why she decided to start one now, especially when it was never a destination on her financial roadmap. And now here’s Amanda.    For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode548

We are officially in the second to last month of the podcast and it’s actually my final month of guest interviews. So I decided my final topic guest interviews would be around side hustling and entrepreneurship, which you can imagine are subjects near and dear to my heart. The Financial Gym has taken me on an 11-year entrepreneurial journey and it would have started as a side hustle if I was allowed to coach people on the side from my day job as a financial advisor. In August of 2013, I made the wild decision jump full force into an entrepreneurial journey without testing it via side hustle, and while I’m thankful for the journey, I would advise everyone else to start with the side hustle before it becomes the full hustle. So this month I’m going to share with you stories from side hustle through full entrepreneurship and everywhere in between. Joining me today is Gala Aranaga, a lifelong creative who allowed her creative energy to lead her to various side hustles from composing music to buying a theater. Gala joins me today to talk about her journey, about why the word hustle gets a bad rap and why you should never be afraid to try anything once.  For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode547

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. This month, I’ve talked about a number of topics with my Financial Gym teammates, and we’re talking about them during happy hour. You’ll hear our thoughts on buying vs. renting, the financial challenges we’ve had as pet owners, and our biggest learning lessons from investing our own money. As usual, this is a great conversation and there will only be two more Happy Hours after this one.   For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode546

This month I’ve got a mixed bag of topics to talk to you about and I’m tagging in my amazing training team at Financial Gym to help me Gymsplain some of these topics and also give perspective on what they see on a daily basis from clients. I just discussed home buying decisions and when to buy or rent and then next logical financial topic to me was thinking about who or what would you have in your home and that’s pets. I have said this many times throughout the years but at Financial Gym, we have more clients who have goals of having fur babies rather than human babies and the large majority of our clients are already fur parents and from a trainer perspective, we see the financial challenges being a fur parent presents. Joining me today is Sara Belhouari, Financial Gym trainer and also fur parent to discuss how she helps her client’s budget for and plan for their fur babies but also the challenges she has had in her journey. And now here’s Sara.   For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode544  

This month, I've got a mixed bag of topics, and I'm tagging in my amazing training team at Financial Gym to help me Gymsplain some of them and also give perspective on what they see on a daily basis from clients. In these first two episodes of this month, I'm talking about home ownership. I always say that it's expensive to get into a home, and it's expensive to get out of a home. Given how expensive it is these days, it's a decision not to be taken lightly, and honestly, it's a decision that is becoming less and less important for many of the clients we see.   Joining me today is Financial Gym Trainer Jill Wagner, who is also a licensed real estate agent and mortgage broker, to talk about what mortgage brokers do, why and when you would want to utilize a mortgage broker, and common mistakes and misconceptions when people are buying homes, especially first time home buyers.  For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode543

Hello Martinis and Your Money Listeners! We’ve got four months to go until the end of this podcast and I couldn’t be more excited about all of the new episodes coming your way. It’s July and because of the July Fourth holiday I always think about Financial Independence this month. For the past 15 years of my life, I have coached dozens of individuals to and through Financial Independence and the biggest factor I see between people who are close to achieving it or have already achieved it is a belief or manifestation in something big. And when I say something big, I want to clarify that “big” is a relative term and it’s different for every single one of my clients, but if you are someone living in a scarcity mindset, you will have a difficult time getting to FI and you may be your biggest roadblock to getting there. This month, I am going to share with you three people’s stories that will blow your minds. All of them started probably similar to wherever you are now and within 5-10 years they have achieved some massive goals and yes you heard me right 5-10 years. FI is not a goal to be achieved overnight, but it’s a goal that with enough mindset and manifestation can be accomplished sooner than later. Doesn’t it make sense to work really hard for 5-10 years to have the next 20+ of freedom for yourself? I think so. Joining me today is Malyia McNaughton founder of Made by Malyia. Malyia has been on the show twice before, so if you want more of her backstory, I recommend you listen to those previous episodes, but spoiler alert she has built a successful jewelry brand with no real experience and bootstrapped much of her journey. I have been a fan of Malyia’s since I saw her progression hoops on display in Financial Gym’s headquarters almost 5 years ago now. Malyia joins me to share her story of not only survival but how she’s thriving despite all of the naysayers and challenges that have come her way.  For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode540

It’s July, and because of the July Fourth holiday, I always think about Financial Independence. For the past 15 years of my life, I have coached dozens of individuals to and through Financial Independence, and the biggest factor I see between people who are close to achieving it or have already achieved it is a belief or manifestation in something big. When I say something big, I want to clarify that “big” is a relative term. It’s different for every single one of my clients, but if you are someone living in a scarcity mindset, you will have a difficult time getting to FI, and you may be your biggest roadblock to getting there.   This month, I am going to share three people’s stories with you that will blow your minds. All of them started probably similar to wherever you are now, and within 5-10 years, they have achieved some massive goals, and yes, you heard me right, 5-10 years. FI is not a goal to be achieved overnight, but it’s a goal that, with enough mindset and manifestation, can be accomplished sooner than later. Doesn’t it make sense to work really hard for 5-10 years to have the next 20+ of freedom for yourself? I think so. Joining me today is long-time Financial Gym client Sam Mellone, founder of CoCo Marketing. Sam joins me to discuss her journey from making less than $40,000 a year to the 6-figure business she has built in less than 5 years. For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode539

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. This month, I've focused on risk management, which means thinking about financial products like insurance or trust and estate management. These are pretty much the subjects of financial planning that no one likes to talk about because they involve planning for potentially bad things happening.   After fifteen years of financial planning, the one lesson I have learned is that bad things happen all the time (typically when we're not expecting them), and the best way to weather the storm, so to speak, is planning in advance for it. My friends joined me to talk about how planning for the worst not only helped them financially but also helped them feel confident and secure during those tough times.        For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode537

This month I’m talking about Risk Management on the podcast, also known as the area of financial planning that no one wants to talk about and today’s subject is certainly the subject I find clients the least interested in and that is Trust and Estate Planning or planning for a death. Planning for death is certainly not something any of us would get excited about but as a financial planner for almost 15 years, I can tell you that I’ve seen clients experience it and I’ve seen clients suffer from not being prepared for it. There is nothing worse than losing a loved one, but the only thing I can imagine worse than that is also not having a plan for when they pass, it creates a tremendous amount of stress and burden on those they’ve left behind. Today’s episode is unfortunately going to have to be a replayed episode but the content is still what I would recommend. Full disclosure, I was hoping to get Lillie back on to record another episode but she just had her first baby and having been in her seat 18 years ago as the working mom of a newborn baby, I know that the last thing she has time for is a podcast recording with me, but I want to continue to shine a light on the work Lillie does and has done and hopefully you’ll want to work with her and her team so she can start saving for her child’s college savings. Anyway, joining me for this replayed episode is Lillie Nkenchor, President of Lillie Nkenchor PC and she discusses why she became a trust and estate attorney and why you don’t have to be wealthy to think about trust and estate planning.  For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode536