Episode #50: You and Your Money with Jenn Uhen
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Michelle Fox: Welcome to Nourish. I am Michelle Fox culinary nutritionist health coach, and your host for this podcast. I teach a busy professionals, how to get more nutrition in their bodies. And how to have more fun in their home kitchens. If you struggle with consistency. Or sometimes forget to make your needs a priority.
You, my friend are in the right place. Join me each week for inspiration to increase your energy. Strengthen your mindset, manage your hormonal woes and so much more. You have a lot on your plate, but that does not mean your nutrition should suffer. You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
So let's dig in.
We have two of my [00:01:00] favorite topics to chat about today. Number one, if you've been with me for any amount of time, you know. The number one value in this company is community. So we are highlighting community like we never have before in today's podcast episode. And then number two, my second favorite topic is money, specifically women and money.
And so you can only imagine how happy my heart feels right now to have Jenn Uhen with us today. Jenn Uhen with the Pledgettes, and so we're gonna jump into that in a moment. But I want to read her bio to you so that you have just a little bit of background why I'm like so excited this morning. So as a mentor and advocate, the Pettes founder, Jenn Uhen heard from many women that they will start investing someday, or that growing up they were taught to [00:02:00] save their money.
Jenn also saw that women who weren't confident and clear with their financial goals had these right time, right place conversations. Jenn had a number of those conversations and saw the impact it made in her life. Jenn built the Pledgettes to democratize access to financial literacy, build a supportive space for women.
It's actually how we met. We'll, we'll probably touch on that in a little bit. Yeah. A supportive space for women to evolve their relationship with money and create connections. so no woman is going after her personal financial goals alone. Mm. Jen and her husband have clear financial goals.
Same with me and my husband. Yes. So I guess we'll talk about that too. I'm loving this bio, which include a diverse portfolio of investment property, retirement accounts, and businesses. Yes, that's businesses plural. All [00:03:00] while living a minimalist. Of course, comfortable lifestyle, including traveling the country in an Airstream.
Okay. Just as bio alone, I have so many questions. Ah, Jen, welcome to the show. Thank
Jenn Uhen: you so much for having me, Michelle. community and money are my favorite topics too. And so this is gonna be a great conversation. I'm here for
Michelle Fox: it. Hmm. Yay. Well, before we jump into the Juicy Gems, I would like to invite you to play what I like to call a rapid fire game.
Are you in? I'm in. Woo. Sweet. Let's start with this one last meal on earth.
Jenn Uhen: Oh my gosh. I would make my husband cook it. I don't know exactly what it would be. It would involve carrots for sure. And then my husband can build a meal around that. But he, he went to culinary school. He's a very messy cook. So also the bonus [00:04:00] of him cooking this last meal on Earth is I wouldn't have to do any of the cleaning because we'd just leave it.
It's fine. It's
Michelle Fox: fine. That is really funny. So you're, you're not quite particular then with the, the last meal. Sounds like maybe you don't have the attachment with. Food that maybe a lot of us have.
Jenn Uhen: I'm, I'm working on it./ I'm working on changing my mindset around food to be that food is the fuel that supports my body into moving and living and enjoying life.
And it's funny because money and food are very connected for people and I feel very confident about my relationship with money. I do not feel confident about my relationship with food, and it's something I am actively working towards. right now we're in the middle of a move and. I think just how we [00:05:00] grow up.
Modeling's very important. Like whenever my mom was stressed, she would drink a diet Coke, so like any move or cleaning the house or whatever, she would just drink a Diet Coke. So I do that with Dr. Pepper and just like, I know my body doesn't need it right now, but just the modeling of like if I'm stressed, caffeinated soda is the answer.
Caffeinated, very sugary soda is the answer. And so yeah, I think we're all practicing, we're all working on it. Finances, my relationship with finances comes to me with a lot more ease than my relationship with food. But my husband's turning 40 next month and body's changing, and my body has certainly been changing too.
And so now we are in a moment, we are in a, a good chapter in our life where we're prioritizing. Nutrition and how it fuels our body.
Michelle Fox: Oh, you are in the right place, and thank you for being so open and [00:06:00] transparent with that. I, I sincerely appreciate you. Yeah. Now let's see if you and I, because I just a little bit I know about you, I already know you and I could talk literally all day because, uh, we have found so many points in common so far, but.
This is gonna be our rapid fire section.
Jenn Uhen: So that was not a rapid fire answer as I was like, I was just thinking, I'm like, that was the worst rapid fire. I should have just said carrot's done. No,
Michelle Fox: and I, you don't get, you don't get to have all the blame. I take responsibility too, because I'm like, oh, I'm leaning in.
I, I wanna hear more about this. Okay, let's see you and I together. Let's see if we can do this because, okay, we got this are, business woman plus. When I say inbox zero or inbox 10,000, who are you?
Jenn Uhen: I am generally inbox 300 ish, but there have been moments in my life. [00:07:00] Um, one of my managing partners gave me this advice after I finished a huge project that we had been working on for six months at one of my jobs.
the next day I had. I don't, 700 unread emails, and he said, delete them all and send an email to your clients and team and just say Something happened to my computer. It totally malfunctioned. I lost all my emails. If you're waiting for me to respond to something, please just forward me that email. I would greatly appreciate it, and I might have gotten five emails.
From that, and it was it, like my whole body just like lifted. I didn't feel the weight of 700 unread emails and spending my weekend just reading emails about something that just happened over the weekend or over that week. And it was, one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received.
Michelle Fox: That is [00:08:00] brilliant.
Thank you for sharing that with us. Yes. Alright, last but not least, would you be willing to share one of your favorite childhood memories in the kitchen?
Jenn Uhen: There's two things that my mom does really well in the kitchen. One of 'em is pumpkin bread. Which was always reserved for the fall.
Um, but now that she has grandkids, she makes it whenever they ask year round. But I think, like, it doesn't,/ it doesn't become fall until I have a piece of my mom's pumpkin bread. It can't be any pumpkin bread. It has to be my mom's. and then I guess the other would be, making cookies around Christmas time, so the shaped cookies and decorating.
And she always. Included me and allowed me to make a mess on the kitchen table. And it was just, it was a day of being with my mom in, in a very low stakes, fun, [00:09:00] calm way. We didn't have to like rush to get dinner on the table or like, it was just we, that was the plan for the day. We were gonna make cookies all day.
We were gonna be in the kitchen all day, and I
Michelle Fox: loved that. That is really special. And are you an only child or were there other siblings involved? No, there's,
Jenn Uhen: I am one of five. but I think it was, I. don't think any of my other siblings had that much interest in the kitchen. And there's, there's three of us are 15 months apart and 15 months apart, and then there's a 12 year gap between me and my younger siblings.
And so I do, I remember it just being my mom and me for most of it. I feel like my older brother and sister would like come in and pop in for a bit, but. The memories are just me and my mom.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. Aw, that's really special. That actually has a soft space in my heart, especially as I am a mom and I have two 16 year olds.
Well, I have a 16 year old daughter, and then my husband also [00:10:00] has a 16 year old daughter, and he has a 13 year old son. And just last week at the time of this recording, I had a meltdown because I'm like, Steve. That's my husband's name, Steve. We only have like maybe another summer and a half with these kiddos.
Like we need to make solid plans right now. And in typical Steve form, he like five minutes later had a 10 points, you know, spreadsheet. Like, well, we can do this then and we can do this. And then he checked out all the camping it's like, and all that to say. Yes. Hearing your memory with your mom, I'm like, okay.
Yeah. See, I am on track. I, I want to make these memories so that when my daughter is your age, she's gonna be telling some podcaster. Yeah. I remember when I, you know, had quality time with my mother, I,
Jenn Uhen: I would, don't put pressure on yourself that there's like this deadline where you're never gonna make memories with your kids anymore after they turn 18 because you asked about when I was a [00:11:00] child, but I would say some of.
Like I always make time whenever I visit my mom with, 'cause now all my siblings are married. There's grandkids running around. There's a lot of people. But I always find time to play a board game with my mom. 'cause this is something like we've always done. And so I was visiting for my little sister's baby shower in May.
And there was just chaos everywhere and, and we were at my parents' lake house and they were trying to get everybody to go on the boat and my mom was like cleaning up the kitchen. And I'm like, let's just like play a game of Bananagrams and not go on the boat. And that was probably like one of my highlights of the weekend.
It was just like finding those times, like one-on-one connection is very important to me, probably from growing up in a big family. And so I always have to make sure. That I make that time with my mom 'cause it's something she values too, is just this one-on-one [00:12:00] time and yeah, so we, we really do a lot of board games.
We send our WORDLE score to each other every day.
Michelle Fox: Thank you for sharing that with me. That actually does give me a, a sense of peace and calm. Yeah. And so with that, I have to add, because I do sincerely see you and I growing a friendship at this point. And So in the spirit of love and friendship, I will say you and I are the worst at rapid fire.
How about
Jenn Uhen: that? We're the worst. I was just, I'm like, okay, we've just spent quite a bit of time on rapid fire, but let's dig into some community
Michelle Fox: and money now. Okay. Yes, please. I am loving this conversation more than you know, and I will say yes. Also in the spirit of community, you and I met through Barbara Brooks, whom, we've both done work with second act women that she has founded.
Which I absolutely love [00:13:00] the work she's doing and I'll, I'll link her information in the show notes and that leads me into your story. 'cause as I mentioned, just so our audience knows, you and I are newer friends and so I know a little bit about the Pettes, but for those of us who have not heard of the pledges, will you fill us in?
Like what is your founding story? and what is your mission?
Jenn Uhen: Yes. So you shared a little bit in the upfront, but the Pledgettes came to be, I grew up in a family that openly talked about money. This is just like praising my parents on this episode.
But they are great. They did a great job talking about money and they really did teach me that. Money and your relationship with money is all about making choices. And that oftentimes you have multiple good choices in front of you. So don't set yourself up to be like best and worst choices and nothing in the middle.
and so in, in a lot of what my parents modeled and the conversations that they included us [00:14:00] in and the choices that they included us in, I was very open about talking about money and. Then quickly realized probably in college that that was not the norm to talk about money, growing up. And then I met my husband and I was building well through advocating for raises and promotions and kind of being on this career path.
I invested in real estate a year after graduating college and rented out the second bedroom. So I was house hacking before that was a term. And I was just doing what I should, investing in my 4 0 1 k and living below my means and, and the sh all the shoulds. and I didn't know why, but it worked out.
Any goal that you have, money will help you achieve it, so I'm glad that I did that. And then I met my husband and he built wealth through owning and operating businesses. And so I got to learn about his experience and, It's fascinating. Like we've had so many conversations about [00:15:00] how he grew up and like at age 10 he was balancing his parents' checkbooks and it like, I just thought that was like such a cool thing because why not?
Like why not teach our kids these things? And so yeah. That's amazing. It was. It's amazing. But then this whole idea of owning and operating business is to build wealth was something new. My parents had side hustles before side hustles were a thing, so like we kind of all had side hustles. We all have side hustles now, which blows my mind and I really love, but yeah, I think learning from my husband, I'm like, well, this is a totally different experience and it's not better or worse.
It's just different. And I. So in 2016, my husband and I set a financial independence goal. We wanted to go live in an Airstream forever, which we did in 2017. It was awesome. now we part-time, we don't full-time travel anymore, but it, it, it, it has become this relationship where like I'm constantly pitching him mostly real estate ideas.
He's constantly pitching me mostly business ideas. [00:16:00] And I love the way that we talk about money, but we are, we created this financial independence goal in 2016, and my family didn't totally get it, didn't totally understand the operating a business full-time. They didn't understand,the little wins that we were getting.
And, Nor did my friends. And so I didn't have like a lot of people to celebrate. I didn't have mentorship, I didn't have a lot of the knowledge that I needed. We just were sort of like figuring this out by watching YouTube videos and following people on social media. Not a great way to build financial literacy, but it was a way,but I think the one important thing we did was what watching videos and reading articles and reading books allowed us to do was we really looked at multiple perspectives and multiple ideas.
So, because I didn't have a community, I felt very isolated in this goal. It was just me and my partner. And so I started to talk to more women about money, and I would get one of two reactions. The first, like you, [00:17:00] yes, I wanna talk about money. I'll talk about money. I think we should all talk about money more.
And the second would be women would physically recoil and walk away from me. And that's stressful. That's taboo. It's rude
Michelle Fox: to talk about, oh
Jenn Uhen: gosh, no. And I knew that the both reactions would build a very fulfilling and diverse community. Yes. People with different experiences and different ideas and, and I wanted to, I very intentional when I, when anybody asks me like, People create their own barriers.
So a lot of times people are like, oh, well I, I'm not ready for that. Everybody's further along than me. I'm like, how do you know? Like you've never asked. It's like you just have to show up and, and the thing is that it's not one path and somebody's at. Mile 10 and somebody's at mile one. We're all on these different [00:18:00] paths.
It's not a ladder, it's just interconnected paths. So the experiences that you had as a child, I can learn from the experiences I had a child you can learn from. We can all learn from sharing each other's experiences. And it's not that once better or worse. So the pledges came to be 'cause it. I needed the community.
I wanted friends, I wanted financial friends, I wanted mentorship. I wanted to learn more about personal finance and wealth building. And so we are community first. We have a community membership. We bring in outside speakers to share their favorite money topics. So we work with financial therapists talking about money mindset, certified financial planners, talking about expense ratios and 4 0 1 k matches and, and.
We work on like both the emotional relationship and the fiscal relationship with money and the community's awesome. We also have small accountability groups. I've just started doing one-on-one sessions with people. So, but at its core community first, like our [00:19:00] community is what makes my heart sing.
And, and it's so beautiful to get to celebrate women on their financial journeys, whether they've been with us for four years now or just joined us today. Hmm.
Michelle Fox: So powerful. There's so much that you just said I wanna dig into. but before I do that, I wonder if you'll indulge me just coach to coach. I know that when I am meeting with people in real life, whether it's friends or somebody I just met in a networking group, and they find out I am a nutritionist, I feel like they immediately get self-conscious like, well, I only had, you know, 500 calories today or I didn't have any sugar.
Like people seem to get very defensive around me sometimes and I'm like, I am not here to judge you. Like I promise, like I'm here showing up human to human connection. And so I'm curious with you, do people start to get maybe a little defensive? You kind of mentioned like 50% of women are this way, 50% of women are maybe a little bit more closed off, but do you notice those closed off women get a [00:20:00] little like defensive with you around money at all?
Yeah, I think
Jenn Uhen: it's. Like both nutrition and, and finances it in. It creates this strong reaction for people. So I love it when people are really proud of what they've done and they just start like word vomiting, every good thing that they've ever done in their financial journey. And I'm here for, I love when somebody just like dms me or emails me or finds me and tells me like something that they've done because I'm here to celebrate it.
Mm-hmm. And then equally, I think both food and finance, there's a lot of blame and shame around it. And there doesn't need to be, like I told you, I drink Dr. Pepper. I drink a lot of Dr. Pepper more than I should, but I, food really determines what we should do. Like this is, these are our bodies, this is our life, this is our financial journey, like, We need to take the should and the judgment out of it.
[00:21:00] And what I want to know is, where are you at now and where do you wanna go? And that's, that's what coaches help you do. But if you don't wanna change, that's fine. You don't have to. Yes, you not changing doesn't change my financial journey or my nutrition journey. Like it's, I'm here for you. And I used to tell people like, I'm here when you're ready.
And then a member of the pledges is like, no, tell them they're ready. They're ready for this. Like, don't tell 'em to wait. Like everybody is ready. To do more, to step up as a c e O of your money to step up as a c e O of your life. Like if you're just gonna let time go and just do status quo, don't be surprised a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, if you're in the same place, there's nothing wrong with it, don't feel blame, guilt, shame around being in the same place if you didn't pause and say, I wanna [00:22:00] do something different.
Michelle Fox: And to your friend's point, I sincerely believe that the teacher shows up when you're ready. And so if this woman comes on your pathway or vice versa, that you're showing up on this woman's pathway, that means something in her spirit is saying, yes, I am ready to look at my money. Yes, I am ready to move forward.
So I love that you're able to stand and, and hold space for For women and their wealth. Yeah. Oh. I love that. Hmm. So I wanna go back to two things that you said. One, you mentioned the word house hacking, and as I mentioned, we have two 16 year old girls, and so Steve and I are absolutely planning to house hack with whatever college they decide to go to.
We're looking at the city's real estate already to do that for those two. But for my friends who may not know what house hacking means, will you
Jenn Uhen: break that down? Yes. So house hacking is essentially renting part of your home. So I owned a two bedroom condo. I rented out the second [00:23:00] bedroom. It reduced my cost,/ both I was earning rent to help pay my mortgage, shared utility cost.
And I think just from like a, a sustainability perspective, like having empty spaces when. We need places to live. Just doesn't seem like, I mean, how many home offices do we need? Like let's, or sew or craft rooms or just empty space? so house hacking is essentially reducing your overall expenses by renting out
Michelle Fox: of your home.
Nicely explained. Thank you. Uhhuh. Also, you mentioned that you and your hubby have a lot of side hustles. Do you want to highlight any of those or do you wanna just focus on pledges?
Jenn Uhen: It was interesting. I, when I left full-time work in 2017, I was doing some career coaching [00:24:00] just by request. I, was doing consulting work and we were traveling in the Airstream,/ and, it sort of kept evolving into like 2019, I would say.
Like I have a lot of side hustles that add up to a whole hell of a lot of hustle, but that, I think it's like that hustle word that I'm trying to let go of. So it, it, it has become where we're. Working on multiple revenue streams. So we have, five rental properties and we have owned a restaurant for four years, which we're we sold in 2021.
And well, I know we're gonna own a restaurant again in the future. we both do consulting, I property manage our, our places and then the pledges. So, Yeah, but I'm not, I'm not looking to, I'm not looking to work full time, but I'm looking to be very intentional with how I spend my [00:25:00] time, money, and energy.
And that's currently how I'm spending my time, money, and energy, and I really enjoy it.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. And speaking of intentional, When I read your bio and you shared your time in the Airstream, I wanna lean into that story, like how did the idea come about and how long were you all living in an Airstream?
Jenn Uhen: So in 2016 we were renting a two bedroom, two bath place, and. Started watching a bunch of tiny house shows and we're like, that's all we need. Just a tiny house. Tiny houses are really tricky to build, to get permitted, to find the right land. there's a lot of barriers to it and it sort of led us into this idea of RVing and neither of us had wanted an RV prior to this, but we sort of stumbled in and just exploring like different.[00:26:00]
Ultimately different financial goals. 'cause I believe that every goal is a financial goal. So what are people doing that is non-traditional? I think we, my husband and I have both done things that are unexpected or non-traditional. I, I took a sabbatical, before and lived in Peru for six months and just, I think looking at stuff that like.
Where people ask like, or, or people always say like, oh, I wish I could do that. And I'm like, you can, like anyone can live in a trailer. Like you can do this if you get intentional on it and make it happen. And so, I still agree. Yeah. So we started watching these tiny house shows. It evolved to an Airstream.
It was lovely. We lived full-time in an Airstream for over a year. We lived in a trailer in for two winters. in Denver. We found a local off-season spot for the winter. and we tried to get [00:27:00] in our Airstream as much as possible. So, we just came back from a three week trip. We've got another three week trip planned in October.
So, yeah, it's, it's possible. Don't, don't let anyone tell you that it's a silly goal or it's not possible because then you're just going to do what you should all like, and maybe that's the, the theme of this podcast is like, just take the word should out of anything. Like it's not a good word.
Michelle Fox: Yes. And I'll also add.
Things are seasonal. So like perhaps if somebody's listening and myself included, like saying I couldn't possibly do an Airstream right now, it's like, well, that is true for the choices I'm making right now. However, my kiddos, they're growing up fast. And so when I have the time, like Steve and I absolutely have our plans of renting a, well, I say rent.
We'll see if we buy one. But the idea is, living in a [00:28:00] Sprinter van for a summer and just traveling cross country like that has been a dream forever. And I have no doubt we'll make that dream happen, but it's just not gonna happen probably in the next year or two. And I'm okay with that 'cause, you know, it just gives me more time to dream and, and make more plans.
Jenn Uhen: We can always do a version of it. Yes. So before we bought our Airstream, we rented a trailer to just be like, do we like this? Do we like hanging out in campgrounds or doing this? And the answer was yes. And what I loved too about what you said about seasons is, in the pledges community, a couple years ago, one of our members wrote a blog around going./
From freelance back to a full-time job and how she quit her business and how there was a lot of like judgment around like, oh, you failed as a business owner, right? And it was like, no, like I was a business owner for that season. This season is full-time job. Me. And like, never say never, you know, just be [00:29:00] open to seasons and chapters and, another one of our members, Just started a new job last month and she read that blog and like that gave her the confidence to feel good about accepting a full-time job.
And not that she was failing as a business owner or a freelancer or a solopreneur, but that she was making a choice for her life and for her goals. And I think that's so beautiful. So I love that like you're gonna have this nomadic sprinter van chapter in your future. I, I can't wait to see the pictures.
I'm excited
Michelle Fox: for you. Thank you for affirming that. I, I receive it. And so as you talk about your members and your membership, I love that you have the option for the paid membership, which I imagine brings some benefits, but that you also have a free plan for those that don't feel like they are ready yet. With that said, just checking out your website. It is so [00:30:00] beautiful. So my friends who are listening of course, will put the link in the show notes, but if you go to the pledges.com, the thing that popped out to me is towards the middle of the page, it says, community is power, accountability is power, and knowledge is power.
So can you talk just a little bit about how your membership
Jenn Uhen: is run? I can't, but I wanna go back to the word power because I think we're we're taught a lot of messages, and you can probably come up with some too, about rich people are greedy. Money is the root of all evil. Even what I learned from one of our pledge events the other month is that every rich Disney character is evil.
Michelle Fox: Oh my goodness. I did not notice that. Oh, wait, can you gimme an example just so that my brain doesn't like try to loop on this one? Let's, let me think. Who's, is it like [00:31:00] the, the witch that gave the apple, is she wealthy? Sure.
Jenn Uhen: Okay. It's like, you know, or in like the little mermaid, like Ursula has all the power and everything at her disposals and she would have way more money than.
Ariel, the princess, like how does princesses not have money? But anyway, yeah, there that, there is, we're just modeled that like rich people are greedy. But what I believe about money is that at its core level, I'm making choices. So every dollar I have, I make a choice. I can save it, spend it, invest it, donate it.
Hopefully I don't lose it. But I'm making an intentional choice. And as you build wealth, you get freedom. And flexibility. So I can take a sabbatical, I can go back to school, like whatever you, you're giving these more choices. But at its highest level, money is power. And I think again, like we're taught that power is evil and it's not.
And I want more values [00:32:00] driven women to have more wealth. And because I want them to have more power, I want them to shape our future communities. And so the Pledgettes is, A place for you to evolve your relationship with money and build wealth. But I really want it. I really want women to know that every money move you have, that you make has a ripple effect in your communities, with your family, with your friends, with your wider communities, with every way that you identify, every intersectionality that you have, every money move you make is not just for you.
It has this beautiful ripple effect. So it is powerful. Like whether you choose to shop at Amazon or a locally owned business, that choice is powerful and is going to have a ripple effect. You know, whether you choose to be a business owner or have a full-time job like you are modeling for, the future generation that's coming back up for us, you are becoming in a position of power where you can sponsor [00:33:00] people.
That are just like you and mentor people in a professional capacity that you get to make the choice on giving people raises and promotions. So everything you do is powerful and it has this ripple effect and. This is not an empowerment community. And empowerment means that I have power and I'm giving it to you.
You already have the power girl. Like just stand in your power and make choices from a position of power. Because community is power. Knowledge is power. Accountability is power. Like there is money is power in the best way. Hmm.
Michelle Fox: Preach. That is so beautiful. Woo. I feel like I've just come to a Sunday sermon.
Nicely done. Jenn Uhen. I'll be here all week. So I imagine there's so much crossover between my community and your community, and so where would my community come find you if they wanna plug in?
Jenn Uhen: [00:34:00] Please join us at the pledges.com/keep it going. I'll have a special deal for you to join the Pledgettes. Your first three months will be free, so you get to come in, meet some financial friends, watch some.
We have over a hundred webinars on demand, so any money topic, we've talked about it. We're gonna talk about it again, we're getting different perspectives and ideas on. For you so that you can make intentional choices, you can get that goal clarity, and you can confidently take action to build wealth because I, I need that ripple effect.
I need your ripple effect. So please come join us, thepledgettes.com keep it going. And I wanna
Michelle Fox: highlight Women's Equality Day is coming up and you have a few events happening. Will you share that with us as
Jenn Uhen: So August 26th is Women's Equality Day. Check out all the details at thepledgettes.com.
It is our anniversary. We're turning four. I can't believe it. The beauty of turning four is that we get to see like, [00:35:00] What some of our members have done in four years and what some of our members do on day one. It's really great. It's a time to celebrate. Women's Equality Day is the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted white women the right to vote back in 1920.
Um, And it's a day to celebrate the progress that we've made. But we are creating a more perfect union, and there's still a lot that we need to do for, wealth inequality. Wealth inequality by gender, by race, by generation, by sexual orientation. There are a number of wealth gaps, that are out there and we're working towards them.
And, and you have an important role in working towards that. Again, that little drop of water produces a pretty big ripple. And, so we need you.
Michelle Fox: Yes. Well, congratulations with your success. And I just wanna say a big old thank you for raising your hand and standing [00:36:00] for women and our wealth. I, I so appreciate the work that you're doing, and I know the community is so much better for it.
So thank you.
Jenn Uhen: Thank you, Michelle. I love the work that you're doing and I, I think it's, if there is something that comes with ease in your life, nutrition, finances, goal setting work, look at all the similarities to, to how you have found success and how you have found flow and ease in that place. And try to apply it to the places that aren't coming naturally to you or flowing because you're doing great in one area.
Which means you have the skills to be great in other areas. So find what works for you and, and start applying that. If community's the answer I built, it community's always the answer for me, which is why I'm doing personal finance in community. but if it's reading a book, listening to talking to friends, talking to family about it, finding a professional [00:37:00] mentor, whatever it is, Do that because you have found success in different ways in your life, and you can find success with money, with nutrition, with all the things that may not come to you with a such
Michelle Fox: hearing you say, that reminds me, A coach recently told me, she said, how you do.
One thing is how you do anything. And so that absolutely ties into what you're saying, like let's look at the the beautiful ways we're showing up in life and bring more of that energy into the other parts of our lives. Because this is a practice. You and I, before we hit the record button, we were talking about this life of ours.
It is a practice. I'm so grateful to that we're here doing this practice together in community.
Jenn Uhen: I love it. Yes, absolutely.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. Well, anything else you wanna add before we end? Well,
Jenn Uhen: I would love to know, I, I believe that money conversations are like peeling back the layer of the onion. We don't have to solve everything in one [00:38:00] conversation, so take your time with any money conversations that you have.
But I love starting healthy wealthy talks with some of my favorite questions. So can we end with some rapid fire where I ask you some money questions? Ooh,
Michelle Fox: I just got goosebumps. This is something new. No, no guest has ever asked me that before. And I will say yes, I am always willing to play. I like it.
Jenn Uhen: We'll try to be good at rapid fire, but we'll see where this goes. Deal. what is your first memory of money? Mm,
Michelle Fox: so that. Interestingly enough, I still, just as you asked that my stomach clenched a little bit. Mm-hmm. I'm still doing a little work around that. 'cause my first memory is my parents arguing.
My father in the dining room with this. Stack of bills, you know, this was in the seventies, so no computer at that time, no online bill pay. And so he is physically writing out the checks and each one, you know, very stressful. So we'd always know, do not [00:39:00] talk to dad when he is doing the bills. Yes.
Jenn Uhen: So I, I love that question.
'cause somebody has to introduce us to the concept of money. So it always involves somebody else and there's always an emotion tied to it. Mm. And that memory is still sticking with us, but we also have several good memories that we can work through on that. Do you use cash, credit, or debit most often?
Michelle Fox: I use credit for everything because I love getting the points and. For the most part, we pay off that credit at the end of every month. So we kind of use it as a debit card. Love it.
Jenn Uhen: Yeah. and then last question, would you rather have a million dollars today or 5,000 a month for life?
If I knew it
Michelle Fox: were guaranteed, and that might be pushing into some of my trust issues, but if I knew it was guaranteed, I would take the 5,000.
Jenn Uhen: I love that. And with all these questions, there's no right, there's no wrong, but this is ways that you can start having money, conversations with your [00:40:00] friends, with your partner, with your family, but just, and then you can end it here.
You can end the conversation here. And you don't have to say, mom and dad is your will in place. Did you do all your estate planning? Are we gonna, are you gonna leave us with a bunch of debt? Or, ah, the credit card bill came, why'd you buy this? What'd you do? We don't have to do that. This, this can We just had a mini money conversation. It was healthy, it was wealthy. Thank you
Michelle Fox: Michelle for that. Hmm, my pleasure. Thank you for asking me a question that, that felt amazing. Alright, well I'm so excited about growing our friendship offline and thank you for being here online with me and my community.
I appreciate you Jenn Uhen.
Jenn Uhen: Thank you Michelle. And thank you guys for listening. I hope to hear from you all soon.
Michelle Fox: Thanks so much for listening to Nourish. Have you been driving, doing laundry or walking around the neighborhood? Sweet. [00:41:00] I've got show notes for you. Hop on over to Michelle fox.com forward slash podcast. When you are ready. I will let you know that on the page, you will find resources to support what you just learned on today's show. And then of course you can grab some health supportive freebies as well.
If you enjoy this episode, I would be honored. If you would leave a review on whichever podcast platform you are listening on. It will help me with my mission to build healthier communities. One person at a time and it will help you because you will be part of that mission.
I'll be back next week and I encourage you to keep showing up for yourself and know that you and your health matter. Big love.
