Thriving Financially with Hilary Hendershott – Money Made Easy

When Hilary was in her 20’s, she was definitely not thriving financially. She was advising multi million dollar clients by day and coming home to a stack of bills she wouldn’t open because she couldn’t pay them.She was a massive overspender. Hilary was earning 6 figures and spending 6 and a half. She realized she had to repair her relationship with money and wealth.This was a very emotional time for Hilary. Looking at the numbers and realizing how in debt she was made her feel like a piece of crap. She was lucky enough to go to a great school and smart enough to graduate with honors.Hilary was determined to figure out how she got so deep in debt. She started reading everything she could on the psychology of money.Her mother was a budgeter and saver and Hilary was ashamed with the amount of money she could spend on birthday presents for friends. Hilary wanted a pair of Nikes like the other girls on her basketball team but had to get her shoes from Payless.Hilary felt like there was never enough money for the things she wanted in life. That became her money operating system. It’s a very common money operating system. And there are many others also.Through the divorce of her parents and her father not wanting to pay her mother, Hilary came to realize that money  is power. So operating with the thoughts ‘there’s never enough money’ and ‘money is power’, Hilary would spend and buy to try to show she was successful, even though she had no money in her bank account.Luckily, she was able to unravel those behaviors and make a change in her own life. This made Hilary want to teach her framework to others, especially women. Also by doing this, her business took off.So many entrepreneurs limit money in their life with their thoughts. Even though Hilary has a very traditional background as far as her training, until she changed her mindset, she would spend money as soon as it was in her back account.For Hilary to make a change, she started doing the opposite of what she had been doing. Where she had hidden her money troubles before, she became super transparent about them. And she also, just wouldn’t do things where she would be spending money. It was super tight and painful for several years.After Hilary had her condo foreclosed, she turned in her leased BMW and paid off her negotiated credit card debt, she then began rebuilding. She didn’t buy a coffee for 2 years. After she fixed the problem, she has now built up enough wealth to be financially independent. And that’s definitely thriving financially. In addition to the traditional financial advising, Hilary has Ignite Investing for people who are just getting started in investing. This program makes financial advice accessible. She also has a coaching program, that teaches exactly what she did to get out of debt and build wealth.Hilary shares her 7 Steps To Wealth with us. 1 – Decide. Involve your mindset and how you see your future.2 – Speak. Look at all your scripts about money. Journal. Write down all the things you think and say about money.3 – Plan. Most people don’t have a plan. She teaches a multiple account system, not budgeting.4 – Earn. Raise the ceiling.5 – Ask. She has a No Challenge. Make so many big requests, your goal is 100 no’s. If you get to 100 no’s, you’ll have so many yeses, you’ll have a different life. People are afraid to ask.6 – Invest. Compound your wealth.7 – Protect. Protect your wealth with wise decisions and your identity from theft.A lot of people, especially women, have this idea that money is a zero sum game, Hilary tells us. Just enough is enough. She wants us to know there is an abundance of money, you can be rich and everyone else can too.Hilary works with a lot of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s and doesn’t know many that work past 70. You need a stash of money to support your…

1. Thriving Financially with Hilary Hendershott 48:18
2. Money Practices and Money Maps with Bari Tessler 33:54
3. The Art Of Money with Bari Tessler 52:32
4. Get Good With Money with Tiffany 'The Budgetnista' Aliche 46:13
5. Think Like A Breadwinner with Jennifer Barrett 42:47

On today’s episode of the Money Made Easy Podcast we have Elizabeth of @elizabethsaves on Instagram, to talk about how to pay down debt. Her and her husband paid off $227,000 in a couple of years.

After buying a house, things started to spiral for them pretty quickly, Elizabeth explains. Little purchases here and there, started adding up.

When Elizabeth went to make a final payment for their honeymoon, she wasn’t sure if she would have enough credit to pay off the thousand dollars still owed. This was the first wake up call.

Shortly after they were married, Elizabeth’s father died unexpectedly. He had been a big money role model for her and his death motivated her to live a life that reflected their values.

All of these moments, led to the realization that they weren’t living in a way that reflected the people they wanted to be. This led to them taking control of what they wanted their future to look like.

Elizabeth’s husband came home and mentioned that he had heard about a debt snowball payoff method and that led her to start learning more. She quickly went deep in researching all about money and became motivated to pay down debt.

Elizabeth loves a plan. If she can write it down then she is good about putting her head down and accomplishing it. 

When Elizabeth and her husband sold their house they made $30,000 in the 3 years they had owned it. This helped them finish paying off his student loan debts. 

Then with Elizabeth’s new job in New York City, they live without rent or utility expenses so that is what has definitely helped them pay off the rest of their debt.

Elizabeth became very frugal and shares some of the extreme ways she saved money. She had a big friend group that socialized a lot and not wanting to miss out on this, she would eat before going or even pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cheese stick and eat in the car and then just order a beverage at dinner.

Elizabeth says, “I’m a big believer that your budget should let you say yes, more than it makes you have to say no.” A lot of the time people don’t start budgeting because they think it’s going to be restrictive and change the way they live their life.

You have to negotiate what’s important to you. Elizabeth would take the money that she would have spent and pay it towards a debt. 

We also talk about how there needs to be more discussions about money. Also, about how shame and guilt can be a part of paying down debt and talking about it makes it the shame and guilt go away.

We also talked about pay transparency and investing are also so important. More discussion about all of these topics opens up the conversation and takes the fear out of learning.

Elizabeth also encourages calling a financial advisor and interviewing them and asking them your questions. Do not be afraid to ask and even look on Instagram for knowledge – it’s available everywhere.

Now the goals they’re working on are investing and maxing out their retirement accounts. They would also eventually like to save up enough money for a down payment on a place in the city.

One of the things they tried early on was gazelle intent. You cut all expenses you deem unnecessary. They decided that intensity just wasn’t for them. They wanted to not just pay down debt, they wanted to establish long term financial habits.

Elizabeth thinks it’s important to listen to the experts and then figure out what works for you. She believes you should DIY your own approach to what you want to accomplish.

It’s important to have a balance and find what works for you longterm. Creating good sustainable habits early on is helpful and important.

It’s easier to align your budget to what’s authentic for you. It’s important to be authentic in your values. 

Working at the Juillard School, she tries having conversations with the students about having multiple streams of income. She recognizes the challenge that comes with going to school in New York.

If marketing does it’s job, we want all the things. I’ll start this when I have that is a way to postpone trying things or spending on things. However, it’s important to find a way to just start.

For someone in debt, Elizabeth recommends just starting. You don’t have to have all the information before starting. Whether you do the debt snowball or debt avalanche doesn’t matter.

Elizabeth thinks it’s important to know your why. Their why was they wanted to live in alignment with their values. You might need to start with what are your values. 

Money can be uncomfortable. As a result, questions about values can be uncomfortable. Most importantly, owning the discomfort and sitting with those questions is an important part of growth.

We love Elizabeth’s definition for success –  “I know I’m successful when the things I’m doing align with my purpose and I’m living boldly, confidently, authentically in a way that represents what it is I value.” 

She also added that it’s important to not be afraid to fail. If you’re afraid to fail you never start. You’re going to fail with money and it’s okay. It’s just a moment, not the story.

The three words she thinks of when she thinks about money are alignment, sustainable, and transparency. If you listened to this whole episode with Elizabeth, you know she lives these words.

Find her on Instagram at –

www.instagram.com/elizabethsaves 

And her website is –

www.elizabethscottfrancis.com