Meghan Houle (00:01.649)
Reed, welcome to the Paycheck with Purpose podcast. How are you my friend? How is your day going? What's going on?
Jen Reid (00:08.01)
Oh my gosh, it's so great. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Meghan Houle (00:14.045)
Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to be here. And I am so obsessed with this topic that we're going to discuss because I feel like since I've spoken with you and everybody listening in, Jen will go into her background and all the things, but we're talking all things, money and budgets and finance. And I was dreaming the other day, Jen, dreaming, right? For the mini sleep that I get like four hours a night.
Do you have ever seen the meme where the guy's like holding up signs and it's like the dude with a sign and he's in New York City and he's like Like I don't know you don't need that last espresso martini before you go home or he'll be like nobody cares about your gym workout Have you ever seen the dude with no sign? I'm gonna send it to you if not, but I had this I had this Envision getting ready to talk to you and maybe we can do it in a social post that I was gonna like hold up a sign because
Jen Reid (01:02.13)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (01:11.777)
I know when you and I first spoke, I was laughing about not knowing what like budgets were back in the day and you know, like, oh, what's that money? Like I'm broke all the time. But I was going to hold up a sign that says a budget is not a candy bar. They sell in CVS. Like a budget is a real thing. So we hauled the unit back in the day. Payday, they do sell at CVS, but that's got like a bunch of like nuts and like.
Jen Reid (01:35.862)
That one I like better.
Meghan Houle (01:40.193)
But no, it's so great to have you on. I can't wait to dive into all things finance and your backgrounds and all of your amazing pivots. So to get started, tell us a little bit about where you're at now. Give us a quick rundown, like bio, what are you up to? And then we can like dive into all the juicy career moves.
Jen Reid (01:59.01)
For sure. Yeah. Well, first and foremost, I love talking about all things money. So money mindset, budgeting, investing, building wealth, starting businesses, anything career pivots. But I run a boutique financial planning. So we're concierge service style. Um, we do everything from financial planning to management organization. And it really is super high touch because it's getting people comfortable with.
having fun conversations around money and not having that anxiety driven one meeting a year with your financial advisor who's gonna talk crazy financial jargon to you that you don't even understand you walk away feeling even more anxious around money. So it's really kind of pivoting this whole world of the financial industry and as a whole being scary and unknown to something that feels super easy.
Meghan Houle (02:42.481)
Thanks for watching!
Jen Reid (02:54.442)
and super fun. So I work with clients one-on-one, helping them manage everything a little bit. So anybody that's just getting started or even just busy professionals who just don't have the time to do it, helping them find the time and space to start prioritizing it because it really is something that it's so important. Money touches everything. We can't get away from it. And we weren't really taught about it. Like high school, college.
Meghan Houle (03:22.363)
now.
Jen Reid (03:23.018)
I mean, I don't know about you, but I never had a course on how to have good conversations around money.
Meghan Houle (03:29.457)
No, I feel like we talked about this. I had a home ec, like home economics. I'm dating myself. You're like, oh, I'm ec. But I remember being taught how to write a check, like how to physically like, oh, yeah. So we learned how to write out a check. And then I was like the check babies. Remember when we used to pay for stuff with checks? Or did you ever pay with anything with checks? Ha, ha, ha.
Jen Reid (03:37.282)
Ha ha!
Jen Reid (03:44.686)
I don't even remember that.
Jen Reid (03:54.198)
with checks. I do have a checkbook, but it was like, it's been slowly phased out that it's like, I think it's... wait, Benmol wasn't a thing?
Meghan Houle (04:01.186)
It's like obsolete. I know anyone listening that they're like what girl get with it. No No, can you imagine can you imagine I know like we're talking like what I graduated in 97 so yes, I'm old I'm old AF but
None of this, none of this tech was around. And then the money conversations, absolutely not happening still to this day. And I think also too, when you come from a corporate setting environment, you're not trained or approved to like talk about money and your salary and all those things like within your work partners, like it's like a huge HR thing. So it's like, who do you go to? And then you feel a bunch of shame around it if you're like, oh shoot, like I'm.
not where I want to be in my 401k, or I haven't even started it. So I think to have someone who's very approachable and will make you feel safe and comfortable, like Judgment Free Zone, that's amazing. Where did this whole love for financials, budgets, planning money, where did it get started? Was it something early on you're like, yep, I'm doing this? Or what was that pivot with purpose for you?
Jen Reid (05:11.854)
Oh my goodness, it was a big one. It was $80,000 in debt and getting married in the middle of having real big conversations around some venues that we were going to have to put some money on and living paycheck to paycheck. And I was in a job, it was a marketing job and I kind of hated it. It was like, I went in the morning crying and I left at the afternoon, like having anxiety going back and I was like, I need a career pivot anyways.
And while I was there, I just started diving into like, okay, how, like, I'm so stuck to this paycheck. How am I going to get out? And I actually started to get really good at the money side and it made sense. And I was like, all right, the career pivot might just be finance and like figuring out how to make my money work for me and save a little bit more. And it just fit right. And I started, I mean, in the
period of like leaving my job and starting full-time in the financial world. I was able to nanny part-time to kind of cover some hours and make, make the financial move work and kind of took off from there.
Meghan Houle (06:25.461)
Yeah. So what did you have to do to leave marketing to get into what you're doing today? Was there more schooling or courses or did you already have that like in your background?
Jen Reid (06:35.014)
Um, so I have a business marketing HR background, so I kind of understood a little bit of like benefits and 401ks and things like that, but they never really, again, who understands what a 401k is, right? Like sounds more like a 5k race you're going to run, right? Than an investment vehicle. So yeah, so in the process of leaving that job, I was taking courses.
Meghan Houle (06:39.854)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (07:02.218)
I started getting my investment licenses and went in, you know, started looking at the financial planning certifications, all those things that kind of go along with getting hired in the financial industry. And yeah, that made it a little bit easier. I started interviewing with some big firms and kind of found the one that worked for me at the time. And glad it's in my background and my experience, but it's something where I learned a lot.
Meghan Houle (07:23.79)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (07:30.742)
of things I don't want to do with clients. And that was kind of the pivot to just branching off and starting my own business.
Meghan Houle (07:38.765)
I love that. And I think that's so powerful to mention as it comes up a lot on this podcast of that moment where you knew that A, it was time to go, and then B, being able to see transferable skills within your background, or maybe some of your superpowers that you weren't leveraging in a certain role, but that were pulling you more towards another situation. And let's face it, I think in that first, sometimes really big pivot,
we aren't always maybe landing in that like dream yes job, but that gets us closer, right to that end game where maybe you feel like you're in that now. So what did that pivot look like getting into like a big corporation? And then yeah, what was that moment where you're like, okay, I'm done. I'm done with like the big financials are working with someone else like it's time for me to go on my own.
Jen Reid (08:32.094)
Yeah, so a lot of the financial world is commission based or they want to work with people who already have a lot of assets to manage. And for me, that was kind of the missing piece that I felt kind of held me back when I went to go try and find someone to help me with my finances. I was like, I'm in debt. I have no money. I don't come for money. My parents aren't wealthy enough to like to go work under their financial advisor or get advice from them. And there was this gap of like,
Who do you go to for help and support in the interim where you're still trying to build wealth and get ahead? And I remember talking to one of the financial advisors just in the company, I was like, will you help me with my stuff? And he just said, go set up a Roth IRA and I'll talk to you in a couple of years. And I was like, ugh. Like if that's what you're saying to people, right? Like why wouldn't you want like...
Meghan Houle (09:24.621)
I feel like not the answer. Yeah. Mm.
Jen Reid (09:29.282)
Help me build the skills help me build habits. I really don't feel good around this debt But I don't know if I should be paying it all off at once I don't even really understand the interest rates around stuff like that and it just was like this moment of it Okay, this doesn't exist. I need to create it
Meghan Houle (09:47.337)
Ooh, like a white space moment. So what years were that and how long were you working in the big firm and then when did you go and go off on your own and what did that look like? Yeah.
Jen Reid (09:57.898)
Yeah, so I worked for some big firms and some small RIAs for about three and a half years. Learned, again, learned a lot. I'm so grateful for that period and then branched off in 2019, basically right before COVID hit and have been doing this for four years now on my own. And it's been the best decision I ever made. And I've got to work with and meet some incredible people.
Meghan Houle (10:17.367)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (10:23.97)
who probably wouldn't have been accepted or taken on as a client from some of these firms that I was with in the past.
Meghan Houle (10:31.133)
Yeah, because like you said, you need sort of a financial threshold, right, to be considered with some of the big firms anyway. Yeah. So what is the biggest pain point when clients come to you or you find clients? What is a resounding message of like, Jen, help me? Like, what are we all struggling with in general? Yes.
Jen Reid (10:36.066)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (11:01.07)
not having the confidence to talk about money as a free and fun thing. It's stressful. And I get this kind of resistance a little bit. Like I get a client on a call, we set up their first meeting, they're ready to go. And then sometimes it's like, oh, I'm gonna push it back a week, or I'm not ready, or I'm not prepared. And it is this feeling of like, you have to have your stuff together before you make that first step.
Meghan Houle (11:08.04)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm.
Meghan Houle (11:26.347)
Nice.
Jen Reid (11:28.118)
And it's like, no, I want you to come in messy. I want you to come in as you are. And we'll figure it out because you trying to do it on your own has got you where you are right now. Let me help you.
Meghan Houle (11:41.641)
Yeah. And isn't that like the theme of, I don't know, the past three years of rise of entrepreneurship of people saying like, oh, you know, I want to do this or I want to invest in this or I want to start my business, but or it's got to look like this or it's got to be perfect. And it's like, no, just start. And in the messy action is where I would say the better results come from and nothing is ever going to be perfect. And it's never going to be a good time. And I feel like when it comes to your money and finances, especially
Jen Reid (11:56.743)
Mm-mm.
Meghan Houle (12:10.017)
I mean, I'm sure do you work with a lot of people that are just really struggling with debt. And I remember the days I was living paycheck to paycheck and like, oh my god, how am I paying rent? Like, my grandmother would send me $10 every week. And sometimes like that was like my lunch money. Crazy back in the day where I'm like, how much ramen is safe to eat sodium wise in my body. It was like Googling. But it's so much anxiety. So would you say like that?
Jen Reid (12:29.762)
N-
Meghan Houle (12:36.505)
the debt piece? Like what are the top three things people come to you like beyond trying to talk confidence? Is it like debt and then savings or like what are those top things?
Jen Reid (12:46.826)
Yeah, I think spending habits is like the number one of like, they feel like they make great money, but they get to the end of the like, this is my rush of people being like, I'm at the end of the year, and I don't know where any of my money went. Or, you know, I right. So it's like, or they want they want to budget. And that's the dirty word in the financial world. But it's really this like,
Meghan Houle (12:52.347)
Hmm
Meghan Houle (13:02.494)
same.
Jen Reid (13:15.378)
ability to spend, that it's your freedom go ahead, right, is your budget. And that's where they want to budget, but they have such resistance against it, or they started and they failed, they start and they try something new, or they try an app and nothing seems to work with that. So that's usually one of the big ones. It's just nice to have a partner in it with you that that's holding you accountable saying, Hey, this is how much we spent this month.
Meghan Houle (13:28.838)
Hmm.
Jen Reid (13:41.406)
If you can't pay off your credit card, like we need to focus in on that next month. Or we are working on a little bit more of that credit card, debt management, student loans, because it's starting to get in this world of instant gratification where we don't say no, or we don't wait and debt builds up quickly, or we go buy the car that we want that maybe we can't afford, just because the sales guy says we can.
Meghan Houle (13:42.638)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (13:46.425)
Mm.
Jen Reid (14:09.642)
And then I think the last is really just feeling super excited around investing and making it feel attainable and achievable and not so scary. And I think that's one of the coolest things when I can have a client drive and we go into Fidelity and they're setting up their accounts and I'm teaching them what investments are and what to look for and how to think about it as they set up their portfolios. That's so, so exciting.
Meghan Houle (14:10.558)
Uh huh.
Meghan Houle (14:20.789)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (14:30.581)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (14:40.069)
Right. Yeah, because anyone listening right now, if you're driving, don't do this. But like, raise your hand if you want to work for the rest of your life. We'll wait.
Jen Reid (14:48.99)
you can do that while you're driving because most people will keep their hands on the wheel.
Meghan Houle (14:54.485)
Well, raise your hand if you want to work forever. And it is this crazy thing where I really didn't get behind the savings piece of it. Working for some big companies back in the day. I mean, again, like sometimes, I think early on that 401k wasn't necessarily offered, potentially, or maybe at 21. I wasn't like, Oh, yeah, let me put 3% of my paycheck, like no way, you know, I was making like $30,000 a year. Oh, yeah, like just getting by. Again, 2001 things have changed.
Jen Reid (15:09.995)
Hmm.
Meghan Houle (15:23.161)
But for someone who, to start off maybe first, for someone who's sitting in massive debt right now, schools, loans, everything, what is the best first step, besides maybe reaching out to you on Instagram, what is the best first step someone can do to really sit down and be like, how do I get out of this? What should we be doing for ourselves to kick it off? Yeah.
Jen Reid (15:49.294)
Okay, so I'm gonna break it up into two parts because I think they're both really important. I think first and foremost, you have to be positive about it. Like shift the feeling and the emotions in your body to feel like I am working on this, I'm going to get out of this, this is not forever. Change the conversations you're having around debt. Debt was a resource to help you get where you needed to go in that moment.
Meghan Houle (15:51.153)
Mm-hmm. Yes! Do it.
Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (16:18.686)
It's something that propelled you forward to where you're at now. And now you're gonna take the steps to do it. Get rid of it, never get it in it again, whatever that is. The practical and tactical side of that is, put it down on paper. Like list out the balances, understand the interest rates, figure out what you need to pay down first and the minimum payments. And at the very least, just like make those minimum payments.
Meghan Houle (16:25.617)
Thank you.
Meghan Houle (16:32.913)
Mm.
Meghan Houle (16:46.125)
Yeah, don't mess with your credit, right? Like, I feel like that's the big, big thing these days, too. Because that's still like a real thing. You know, proof for loans, cars, like everything. And you're right, in the world of instant everything, it's very easy to go out, even nights out, dinners, paying for friends, you know, just like all adds up. And then you're like, what did I do?
Jen Reid (16:51.49)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (17:13.305)
And again, it goes back to shame and it gets really, you get in really negative place. So I love that of like flipping into a positive, like this is not forever, we can get out of it. There's resources and do what you can now and get yourself back on track. And in terms of someone who's in that space and then also like, oh Jen, how can I save? Talk to me about some ways maybe people aren't seeing savings vehicles that they're like missing out on or tapping into or just simple strategies for someone.
Like just stop going to Starbucks every day. I don't know. I'm sorry Starbucks, but like what is our, what are some best practices to put some money away for a rainy day?
Jen Reid (17:46.879)
Yeah!
Jen Reid (17:54.638)
So there is definitely so much money slipping through the cracks. Go through your financial statement and just do a quick audit of what's coming in and going out of your accounts because how many times have you signed up for an Apple subscription or quickly signed up for a course or something that you thought you were going to do and then it's three years later and you've been having this money drip through your account.
Meghan Houle (18:22.772)
Uh huh.
Jen Reid (18:22.818)
thousands of dollars I found with clients of like, oh, I forgot that I signed up for Audible two years ago. And now people aren't looking at their statements because there's a fear of logging into the bank account, seeing those transactions go through or not wanting to set aside time to just look at it. That's a real thing, which again, shift the mindset around it. It's exciting, it's fun to go in there and.
Meghan Houle (18:25.87)
Yeah, yeah.
Meghan Houle (18:50.233)
Right?
Jen Reid (18:50.898)
and look at it and that's where you save money. The other piece of the savings piece that I see a lot of people missing out on is they're letting their money, if you do have a good amount of money, it's just sitting in your checking or savings account and really understanding what you need in liquid cash. Most people don't need anything in their bank savings account, the one that's just getting 0.004%.
Meghan Houle (18:54.702)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (19:16.913)
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Jen Reid (19:20.078)
There's so many high yield savings accounts out there that are offering four and a half to 5%. It's still there. There's no restrictions on taking that money out. It's super liquid. Just put it in that account and you can make easy money off of those savings accounts. But there's kind of that, right, yeah. I mean, I have a client who's making $4,000 a year just having his money set in a savings account right now.
Meghan Houle (19:21.178)
Hmm.
Meghan Houle (19:28.42)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (19:33.839)
Hmm.
Meghan Houle (19:39.157)
Yeah, your money makes you money, right? Yeah.
Jen Reid (19:50.11)
um it and it was taking it from his checking account which was like i like it there i can see it feels good like yeah but it's not doing anything for you so let's just move in over to this account
Meghan Houle (20:05.237)
Yeah, simple moves. I feel like I'm kind of the same way. So we need to revisit this offline. There's a lot of other things we need to revisit. But sometimes, right, there's comfort in seeing it. But then it's like if something else can do more for you to make you a little more money and then use that to be able to do more things. Like.
It's there people, it's not going away. I mean, Fidelity has an app. There's all these apps everywhere that you can look and access, even though it's not just like under your bank account. But I totally get it, I'm like that too. So yeah. Well, talk to me about your program. So when someone comes to work with you, like what is your business called? Like...
Jen Reid (20:32.204)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (20:36.459)
I know.
Meghan Houle (20:49.001)
What do you offer at different tiers at all levels? Yeah, tell us a little bit more about your business just in total.
Jen Reid (20:55.622)
Yeah, so my business has been majorly focused on like the organizational financial planning investment education piece that's one-on-one with clients. A lot of that is the accountability of just having a space to do things and get through the homework to-do list that we can procrastinate on very often. So yeah, it's giving that space to start organizing things, create better systems, open up the right accounts.
start investing, feeling really good about that. The other cool piece of my business that I just opened up a little bit more is I got certified as a NLP, EFT and hypnotherapy coach. So I'm incorporating that a lot into more of the mindset shift just around money. And people who have bad spending habits, they've been built over 25, 35, 45 years.
and they don't know how to switch that off. So really diving into more of like the subconscious beliefs, limiting beliefs around money, those programs that we kind of set up for ourselves and don't even acknowledge a lot of the times. So being able to offer more around that piece too has been really encouraging I think for clients just to know that they are working on the practical and tactical things, but.
they're working on the emotional piece of it too, which is 80% of anything in life, right? Is getting through the subconscious. Ha!
Meghan Houle (22:29.001)
Oh, yeah. Money is so emotional. Yes. Well, like, what is that like line? Is it is it Friday, like messy with my money is like best with my emotions. It is. And I also think there's so much like deep rooted. If you have it, trauma, childhood trauma, maybe the way you grew up or the way that your parents treated money and that's like passed down. And then you're right, like these spending habits where
Jen Reid (22:38.985)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (22:56.193)
I mean, I just remember getting my paychecks and they like barely lasted a week. You know, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go to Express or then, you know, I'm gonna do this and like a night out with like a bunch of drinks. And then you're like, oh, cool. And I mean, you get on this vicious cycle and that takes a lot of time and strategic habit shifting to like really get into a better place of appreciating money and also, you know, getting out of scarcity mode.
putting a better energy behind it, like you said. So I love that you incorporate all of that, because I've done some EFT training like that too. And I really feel like you get a lot of blocks out of individuals, because you can say you wanna save and do all these things, but wholeheartedly in your soul. If you're not feeling it, if you're not in alignment, I'm sure you probably get those people that just tell you what you wanna hear, and then you go and you follow up, and you're like, wait, did we?
Do we miss something like in the homework? Like what's going on? So I just feel like you have to be in the right head space and it doesn't have to be again, perfect. But I think you have to be ready to be receiving, right? Of that change. Do you find a lot, I mean, I'm sure you do intake calls and maybe there's people that probably aren't best to work with you too, right? Like how do you kind of navigate your client base? Yeah.
Jen Reid (24:16.754)
Yeah, I do discovery calls with clients and just make sure they're in the good in the right headspace in order to start working with me because it is I am a high touch service. I want to be meeting with you. I want to see where you're at. I don't just want to tell you what to do and then wait six or 12 months to check in with you. I want to have that relationship with you. So when you decide to do a career pivot or want to talk about moving or things like that, like we have so many points of
of conversations going on already that making that decision is like, oh, yep, easy, let's go. Like that is so important to me. And I do, I think there are people that just want sometimes a quick fix or they want somebody to set the account up for them. And you know, that's not, I will help. I do an hourly planning fee too, if that's really what you want. Because I do think that's
Meghan Houle (24:56.441)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (25:12.209)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (25:14.058)
supportive sometimes for the right person, but the clients that I'm looking for really want that personal financial manager who knows what's going on in their life, who they can text and call when things are coming up or when they want to buy a new car, or if they're thinking about having a kid, they can tell me a couple months in advance of like, hey, what would that look like? And how would that reflect in my finances?
Meghan Houle (25:28.208)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (25:40.029)
Yeah. I love that. Well, four years in almost, right? Or four years plus, like, how are you feeling about everything that you're doing? Like, what are some of your most favorite things now about one of your own business and being able to serve individuals at this level, shifting out of corporate, pivoting with purpose? Yeah.
Jen Reid (25:59.306)
Yeah, I think it's being able to design new programs. So having a digital course, offering a group coaching program, those are things that are not usually normally allowed in the financial service industry just because there's so many regulations around investments and what you're able to say, what you're not able to say. So branching out on my own and kind of taking a step.
outside of that financial industry space, I've been able to be so much more creative with how I can serve people, which has been so fun.
Meghan Houle (26:38.337)
Yeah, yeah, because you don't really have to. I mean, you deal with regulations, but it's not like compliance, right? You're not asking people for permission or can I do this? Like all the things that you're creating are coming up through needs that you're seeing or continuing to like white space in the market, which I think is so cool. It's so cool what you do because again, I just feel like it's either these like huge banks.
right, you're going to like your go to bank and sometimes those people aren't always like educated to help people at like a certain level. Or they're just like, oh, just do this and then you don't even know what they're doing with your money. Like I feel like I got signed up with the savings account that I like couldn't like transfer money like X amount of times and I kept getting penalized and then I'd like the bank charges and I was like, wait, what? Like you need to reverse these like fees because it's like 30 bucks here, there. Those bank overdrafts like those get you girl.
No. So, yeah.
Jen Reid (27:33.395)
Yeah, and those guys that you walk in will make commissions off of how many accounts they're setting up. So you walk in there and next thing you know you have four accounts that are nothing that you needed.
Meghan Houle (27:37.846)
Oh, right, yeah.
Meghan Houle (27:42.765)
like all these things. I know I never trusted it. That's why and again, I'm married to a man in finance. But I don't know. I think it's I think it's definitely some deep rooted childhood things where he's always like, you're so secretive with your money. And I feel like it wasn't until I know. And then I don't know ladies out there, we should just always have our own money to
Right? Like, do you, I just, I'm not a fan of joint bank accounts. Like somebody can come at me on Instagram, but like, we can you can have maybe one but I just I always have my own account. And I don't know what do you feel about that? Yeah.
Jen Reid (28:20.682)
I think whether you are going to have a joint account or have separate accounts, I don't care either way, but I think you need to be the CFO of your own money and understand where things are going. I do see a lot of women who married someone in finance or they're like, yeah, my husband takes care of the money. And...
Meghan Houle (28:31.369)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jen Reid (28:43.138)
You have to know, you have to know what's going on with your money or if they're taking it out and investing, I want you to know what's going on there. It's just, you have to do that because what happens when, you know, everything comes to fruition, you need to know where that money is. Like it's really important or what debt is where and how things are getting paid. Those are all so important and need to have conversations around them. But I think you
You bring up such a good point, I think that most people haven't really dug deep into is their childhood story around money. And it's, it's intense, but it's so worth looking at, and thinking about how your parents handle money or what scarcity or abundance mindset they have instilled in you. And if that's something that's still affecting how you look at and handle money as well.
Meghan Houle (29:38.165)
Yeah. And anyone who's been listening in for a while, I mean, there's definitely a little bit of like woo-woo in my soul for sure, with a mix of like optimism and positivity, but I'm also gonna like shoot you straight. I don't know, we call me a tornado Virgo cause I'm just like not a real Virgo. I'm like a fake Virgo, cause I'm like not really organized person, but I am definitely type A in like other ways.
But I feel like for these conversations, it's really, yes, it's taking that childhood trauma, but then also not becoming a victim of it, because you can really rewrite your own story. And for me, yeah, I think that perfectionism and people-pleasing growing up of overspending to impress like...
Jen Reid (30:24.449)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (30:30.661)
friends also or like living out of your means to like keep up with the Joneses. You know, I just, we don't need to, we don't need to do that. But I think that is a trip down memory lane to really say like, where is this coming from for me? And, and again, it goes back to your mindset and your shifts and then like all the incredible things you do with people, um, to help them kind of kick that and then move forward and then get excited about it, get excited about savings.
and paying things off. Oh my God, I remember when I paid off my car loan. Ha ha ha. And way back in the day, and now I have a lease and like don't even at me there. But I remember the bank calling me, it was like, did you win the lottery? I was like, no. It's like a thousand dollars. I'm just like, I've been saving.
But that's a big deal, right? Paying off these things. And so many stories too of people that can make those extra incomes, whether you have a side gig or a side hustle, of putting away, like what do you think is a reasonable savings habit for someone listening in that we can just start doing today? Is it like putting...
I don't know, like $5 away every day or like what are some like easy tips that you give people right away besides like going in and canceling all your subscriptions because yes, and I will tell you gym memberships also bite you in the ass as well. If you forget about the gym membership from like, plan a fitness you said even though it's 10 bucks a month, that adds up. That adds up, you know, so give me some tips like what can I do to like start thinking about saving
Jen Reid (31:52.199)
I do.
Meghan Houle (32:08.505)
a little bit better today. Yeah.
Jen Reid (32:11.086)
I would say no matter what, 10% savings. Because we're gonna have some people who are like, maybe you're just starting out making the $30,000. Maybe you're high up in your career and you're now making half a million dollars. 10%, it's like non-negotiable in my book. You can do that no matter what. If you wanna take a piece of that 10% and put it towards some retirement savings, great. If you wanna put it towards...
Meghan Houle (32:16.657)
Mmm. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (32:22.8)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (32:27.193)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (32:38.082)
just general emergency fund or paying off debt. Great, 10%, such a small piece of your income. Set it up.
Meghan Houle (32:42.584)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (32:46.467)
So is that a year, like 10% a year, like every paycheck, like every time something's coming out, it's like 10%.
Yeah, okay. All right. I like that.
Jen Reid (32:56.682)
I mean, it'll equal out if you do it. If you're making $100,000 a year, $10,000 a year, it's the same percentage amount if you're breaking it down. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (33:00.065)
Yeah. Okay. Gotta cut it.
OK. All right, so that's step one. Step two, in terms of the debt, going through statements, really sitting down, getting real with what you're spending on, where do you feel like the biggest piece of the budget P&L line you cut out for somebody? I feel like going out a lot.
is like really I mean, I feel like the pandemic showed us I think I saved a lot of money. You know, and I also lost on money, we won't get into that. But not going into eating every day and like cooking at home and then starting to like make that fun. What's what's a line item that we should look at our own personal PNL is to be like, just cut back a little bit. Yeah.
Jen Reid (33:56.419)
So just like seeing multiple people's budgets in general, food and going out is always one of those top line items. The other one that gets people is the auto and transportation, what they're spending on their car pay. Yeah. It just, it adds up so quickly. Like honestly, I don't even care about the lattes half the time. Those—
Meghan Houle (34:03.481)
I know.
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (34:11.269)
Oh god, Ubers. Oh, yes. Yup.
Jen Reid (34:21.618)
those barely make a dent in most people's budget.
Meghan Houle (34:24.741)
We need joy in our life, okay? So let me have my coffee. No, that is so, that is so true. Yeah, yeah.
Jen Reid (34:29.87)
Go enjoy a big th-
And yeah, it's those convenience things of Uber, DoorDash, eating out, it just quickly adds up. And there are sometimes I think, okay, if your priorities are aligned, and you can really make that a category where you know you're going to spend that much, and you're doing other things like maybe your rent or your mortgage isn't as high as the average person, maybe it's in a lower percentage rate of your take home pay, then sure, going out and eating is okay.
is fine. But if you're on a high percentage rate in your mortgage and your rent is 50% of your take home and then food and dining is 25% and you keep like you just keep living this high lifestyle it's just this lifestyle inflation that takes over and then you can't seem to get ahead. So being really aware around what you value, what your goals are, what your priorities are.
Meghan Houle (35:16.793)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (35:30.681)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (35:30.922)
I mean, that's a major part of the financial planning process. And that's where I can chime in sometimes and say, Hey, you told me your priorities were health and wellness, and I see we're spending a lot of money on door dash right now. Is that sweet green or?
Meghan Houle (35:35.521)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (35:45.741)
Right. Or like chicken nuggets. I know it's so crazy and it's so easy now. And I checked myself the other day too and know we love DoorDash. We love our delivery services. But being a little lazy and you know, you could sit and work at your computer all day and you're like, shoot, I didn't get lunch. I didn't do this. And you want the convenience. And thankfully, I have a Whole Foods very close nearby or just grabbing something.
But yeah, I went to go on DoorDash and then it just like, all of a sudden it's like $70. I'm like, whoa, no, I'm a table for one, like no. But you wanna give them a good tip, but then it's all the extra fees. And I went and then I'm like, Megan, just get your butt over to Whole Foods. And that was like 20 bucks. And I'm like, oh, and then I had food for the next day. So again, it's all those mind shifts and I don't feel like we should take the joy out of our lives, but I just think if there are people that are listening and struggling.
Jen Reid (36:28.568)
You know.
Meghan Houle (36:40.801)
really feeling like, oh, why can't I get ahead? You have to do a reality check too. And just maybe say, oh, do I need that right now or not? And then, yeah. And then make it happen and then call Jen. So for some of your programs that you have coming up, when you group coach people, like what does that look like? And do you have that coming in into this new year or like how do you work with people, you know, on like a larger format if you do, yeah.
Jen Reid (37:09.706)
Yeah, so group coaching happens usually every six months and we have like limited spots available because I do want it to still be a small community of people. But it's really, it's really set up to be more office hours. So you get this community of people that you feel safe and don't feel the guilt or the shame or the embarrassment to talk about your money or what you're struggling with. And
Meghan Houle (37:21.839)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (37:39.366)
On my end, I'm usually kind of setting up some idea or structure of some topic we want, maybe want to talk about, but sometimes it just, it's easier to let them lead and say, hey, we're really struggling with what we should do with taxes this year, or we paid too much in taxes, or we want to contribute more to our 401k. Like those conversations being more organic and natural sometimes are a little more fun.
Meghan Houle (38:05.953)
Mm-hmm. Do you talk about like income? I mean, do people get like a little wonky about saying like, oh, I make this much a year or is that open or do they have to sign like confidential waivers? I don't know. I feel like I feel like what we make, especially for us women. And I was talking about this in earlier podcasts with my friend Kate who runs Luminary in New York City and helps women across all career and like finance and all things education wise. Like we never really talked about like how many friends you know?
How much do you know they make? Like, we just don't talk about it, right? And I think there's a lot of shame behind saying like, oh, I make X amount or whatnot, because sometimes people feel like it's not enough or it's too much, or do you get into like the income piece in those group things to make people, you know, feel comfortable talking about that? Or I don't know, what do you see about the conversations around income? Yeah, yeah.
Jen Reid (38:56.282)
Yeah, it usually depends on like the question of whether I'll ask what they're open up the question to have them share what they're making. And I found very, very little resistance to people sharing their income if they're in a safe space where they don't feel like they're gonna. And it might just it might be because they're not worth co workers or
Meghan Houle (39:02.65)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (39:08.305)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (39:17.073)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jen Reid (39:23.594)
friends specifically that they feel a little bit safer like I'm never going to run into this person on the street like or you know we both are here for the reason to talk about money so they feel a little bit more confident talking about it but I find that once people understand that you're open and willing to share they're just as open and willing to share and I think it is that I don't I actually don't know what it is but whether it's we've been taught it growing up
Meghan Houle (39:24.325)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (39:35.382)
Okay.
Meghan Houle (39:45.017)
Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (39:52.554)
Like I know my parents were very secretive. Like the one time I remember asking my dad what he made, it was like, that is inappropriate. You don't ask people that question. And that was like done. I've never asked, you know, after that, it was like never asking anybody what their income was until I got into the financial world, I had to do it. What do we make?
Meghan Houle (39:59.737)
Mm-hmm.
Meghan Houle (40:09.005)
Yeah. Right. And now every day you're like, shoot me straight, sis. Right? We need to get to the nitty gritty. Right. What's your age? What's your weight? What's your income? All the scary things. And I, you can't ask that. No, I hear you. Again, it's all back to how we were brought up. Period. Uh, so.
Jen Reid (40:20.174)
Thanks for watching.
Oh
Jen Reid (40:31.774)
Yeah. I would rather tell you my weight than my income.
Meghan Houle (40:38.457)
talking about my age and people like yeah and I was like oh skincare so I'm not showing you my line item 26 step routine on skincare Jen you will start you start slapping me real hard. Any who's all is moving on. What are you so excited for? There's some things you can't put a price tag on girl. But what are you what are some of the things that you're so excited about looking into this new year 2024? Like what do you have up your sleeve?
Like you said, you're taking applications or applying, how can people apply to work with you? How do we work with Jen? And what are you excited about?
Jen Reid (41:17.146)
Yeah, so all of those things, maybe one on one, maybe group coaching for you. My 2024 kind of behind the scenes thing that I'm trying to sneak into a lot of corporations before year end and budgets close is having them put a financial wellness line item in there so that.
Maybe your company is paying for me to come in and talk with you one-on-one. Maybe they're setting up their own group coaching program so that there's just more access to this information and feeling like no matter where you are on your financial journey, you have somebody that you can create a space that you feel comfortable and start figuring out what are the next action items to start working on. Cause I think that's.
The hard part about Google, it's all on there, but it's like this analysis paralysis of so many people coming at you with different ideas and different advice and you can't customize it to figure out what you need to specifically do.
Meghan Houle (42:16.989)
Mm-hmm. And there's, and you know, there's different people that work better with one person than the other. It's just like, it's like coaching. You kind of find your person, your person that gets you and there's clients for everyone. So that's great. And I'm so excited and I hope that, you know, there's a lot of people that reach out from the podcast at least to like, do you do, do you do discovery calls? So you do, you'll do like a free like 15 or 20 minute. Yeah, that's really awesome. Well, tell me before, yeah.
Jen Reid (42:28.962)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (42:43.734)
Yeah, it's a 45 minute call. So there's space to just talk about working together. There's space to, if it doesn't feel like a good fit, I can at least get you started with some cool things. So don't hesitate to book time because interviewing financial advisors, I think is my number one thing of what you should be doing. Interviewing four to five advisors before you settle on one is like,
Meghan Houle (42:49.038)
Oh, wow.
Meghan Houle (43:01.561)
That's so Jenner.
Meghan Houle (43:06.927)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (43:12.479)
sweet spot to just feel out people that work right for you.
Meghan Houle (43:16.817)
OK, love that. So everyone put that on your goal sheet for the new year. Got it. And then just in terms of going back to the pivot with purpose, what would you say to somebody now beyond finance, if someone's sitting in a job and maybe you do work with people that are like, I hate my job, Jen. What do I do? How do you coach people to really pivot and find that next career move? And how would you?
or what advice would you give to somebody that's like really struggling in a job right now, wanting to make a meaningful change?
Jen Reid (43:52.546)
Yeah, I think I have this conversation a lot of the times with clients because we talk about retirement or, you know, what would you do if you didn't have to work for the paycheck or talking about things that really like just inspire you on a day to day basis? What do you get lost in? What do you do for hours and you lose track of time? Finding those things, I think, are really, really important to just start being aware of. I don't think we have.
enough hobbies and just general things that we love to do and get lost in. And I think that was something I was missing, especially early on in my corporate. I wasn't playing soccer. I wasn't going skiing. I didn't have like the arts and crafts table like kind of set up where I could go off and just kind of do watercolors or go do pottery or things that I used to love to do. And those were things that I picked up and it was like, all right.
Meghan Houle (44:44.123)
Yeah.
Jen Reid (44:47.786)
This gives me some passion and drive back into my life that now, I think it brings that purpose back and makes you start being more creative and have goals that feel exciting and achievable.
Meghan Houle (44:56.418)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (45:02.917)
Yeah, and happier and present. And then you're really able to show up and serve the people that invest in you. And I get it. Not everyone's into the big corporate pivot getting out. But I think it's a good reminder to it can't just all just be about work. So maybe another list point for the new year is, yeah, find a hobby. Find, find, or like,
regenerate something that you were super passionate about that maybe went to the wayside because you're too busy, we're too busy, we're all too busy now. Okay, blah, blah. Do things that fill up your soul too, people. Amen. Yes, Megan and Jen wisdom. So before I let you go, some fun questions. So yes, when you're not financial planning and helping people like crush it and save.
What's your favorite thing to do in Boston, in the city? Because I know you're pretty local, but where do we find Jen when not doing all the work things? Mm-hmm.
Jen Reid (46:06.147)
I am a fitness junkie. So you can either find me working out or in the sauna, one or the other. I love both.
Meghan Houle (46:08.617)
See you.
Meghan Houle (46:15.085)
Yeah. And maybe this goes back. So is there one thing in your routine ritual daily that's like a non negotiable maybe beyond working out because that seems like it but what's a daily routine ritual that's just like a non negotiable for you every day.
Jen Reid (46:29.282)
Yeah, so I started taking Rye's mushroom coffee. I don't even know if it's considered coffee, but it's Rye's and it's like a mushroom supplement in the morning. So I will take that and I sit down and I journal and I am not a journaler by any means, but five minutes where you just kind of like brain dump anything that's been going on in life is so helpful to start off the morning.
Meghan Houle (46:35.123)
Oh
Meghan Houle (46:56.561)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I do a gratitude journal. I try to be consistent. Some days you're like not feeling it, but I agree in waking up and whether you got thoughts, something on your mind. It's also like very therapeutic. Are you a morning or a night person?
Jen Reid (47:11.494)
night person.
Meghan Houle (47:13.338)
You are? What? Really?
Jen Reid (47:14.838)
Oh my gosh, I am a night owl, yes, which is the opposite of what my husband is. So he's up at 4.30 in the morning and I can stay up until 2 a.m. So it's lovely.
Meghan Houle (47:26.905)
Really? Oh, I feel like I used to be like that. And that was a habit shift, especially when back in my days working in retail, especially around the holidays. I mean, I was up, I was I don't even know what I was. I was an owl. And like, what do they say? I don't know what are those birds that get up early, like pitch pitch. You're in between like a tire pigeon and a night owl. Because like you go to bed at midnight, then you're up at six, and you're opening and closing the store. So I didn't know what I was for like a very long time.
But I used to hate, I'm just like, I hate getting up in the morning, but I like force myself. Cause I feel like if I don't work out in the morning, I'm never gonna, I'm just not gonna do it. Cause it's so easy to get caught up. But do you work out at night? Are you one of those good like night worker outers? Cause I'm just trash at night. Yeah. Oh. Yeah.
Jen Reid (48:10.678)
know, I'm 6am in the morning I'm working out because if again, if I don't do it, I will get lost in life work. Chatting with friends, who knows? Yeah.
Meghan Houle (48:21.557)
Oh yeah, the email's coming through. Girl, so wait, do you stay up till two and then you're up at six? No, sometimes. Okay.
Jen Reid (48:28.706)
I don't stay up till two anymore. I'm usually around that like 10, 30, 11 o'clock, but I am more productive during the evening than I am in the morning. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (48:34.305)
Okay.
Meghan Houle (48:38.249)
Interesting. Oh my God, I love that. See, we always learn new nuggets. So one question before I let you go, what are you most proud of over these past few years that you were really able to accomplish and get through challenges? What's been really setting with you over these past four years that you're so proud of? I just feel like we know we don't celebrate ourselves enough in the busy woman syndrome that we all live in. But yeah, what would you say you're?
Jen Reid (49:02.606)
Oh my gosh, I wish there was more space to have celebrations around the small things because we forget it and then we jump to the next thing and we're not satisfied where we're at. I think one of the things, I blocked out a lot of the noise from a lot of these older financial advisors, planners who had been in the business for a long time and just kind of giving me their advice or what they were thinking or doing. And it was...
Meghan Houle (49:07.19)
I know. I know.
Jen Reid (49:33.206)
It was a real moment when I was like, I'm not listening to this anymore. I need to disrupt the industry. I'm gonna go out and do what I wanna do. I'm gonna work with who I wanna work. And I just kind of left and it was so liberating. And it was the best decision I made, but I could have listened to them and got stuck in the rut of where I was and just chugged through.
Meghan Houle (50:02.633)
Oh, god, hell yes to that. What a high note to leave on and good for you. And you should be freaking proud. You're doing it. You did it. You're still doing the thing. There's a lot more to come. So I am so grateful to know you and have you in my world. And I feel like there are some fun collaborations for us to do together around careers.
And Monnie, so stay tuned everyone for maybe some Megan and Jen collabs, because it all ties hand in hand for sure. So thank you so much for coming onto the podcast and what is the best way people can reach out to you, work with you? Do you have like one platform that you really love using? And we'll link everything in the show notes, but what's the best way for somebody to find you, engage with you?
Jen Reid (50:25.614)
Yes.
Jen Reid (50:51.286)
I'd say go Instagram. It's at finances with Jen. DM, like some photos, click on some information that maybe might help you out. It also links to my website, which gives you the scheduling calendar and you can just go from there. So it's the easy one stops shop. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (51:03.565)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (51:09.173)
Easy peasy. That's what we need. We need that. Easy peasy. Well, thank you so, so much, Jen. I just appreciate our connection. And I know what you do is so, so needed. So everyone, please go check out, even if you want some tips and tools, or book that very generous 45-minute call with Jen and just go through it. Why not? What you have to lose is more money. So take this first step in the new year.
start saving, get yourself on the right track, pay off some debt. Like let's have a great year Jen, so thank you again and we'll see you soon. Yeah, you're welcome. All right, let me, oh no, where's my mouse? You're like, this is never gonna end.
Jen Reid (51:43.478)
Yeah. Yeah, thank you.
