Money Considerations as You Think About Your Future

[00:00:00] Kat Stickler I was very selfish with money. Investing in something and (like you said) taking a risk—I’ve never done that with money. And I think that was like the first time I really did. It surprised me how much closer I felt to him after. And it’s like a different form of intimacy.  

[00:00:20] Jennifer Borget Welcome to a very special episode of A Better Way to Money. We’re recording today’s episode live from New York City, and I’m thrilled to be joined today by Kat Stickler, who’s likely graced your Instagram or TikTok feed. She’s amassed over 10 million followers because of hilarious, relatable content. Having purchased her own home, navigating life as a single mom and entrepreneur and entering a new relationship, Kat has a lot to look forward to in the years ahead.  

Today, she’s going to share how she’s been planning for the future with the topic of money front and center. And we also have Matt Stucky joining the conversation. Matt is a financial analyst with Northwestern Mutual. He’ll help uncover blind spots and opportunities that Kat and people in a similar situation may be overlooking. Let’s jump into the interview.  

Hello. Thank you for being here. So excited for this live episode of A Better Way to Money. We’ve got amazing guests with us today, Kat Stickler and Matt Stucky. Now, before we dig in to what’s ahead, because I know you’ve got a lot of exciting things coming, I want to first go back to your childhood and hear a little bit about what it was like growing up. What were conversations about money like growing up?  

[00:01:38] Kat Stickler I love and respect my parents, but we didn’t really talk about money ever at all. I never really saw them talk about money. It was, like, taboo, like we just never did it. It was never brought up, ever. Not once.  

[00:01:54] Jennifer Borget Not once. So you were, like, winging it when you grew up. You’re like, “All right, let’s figure this out.”  

[00:02:00] Kat Stickler Yeah.  

[00:02:00] Jennifer Borget Okay.  

[00:02:01] Kat Stickler So fun.  

[00:02:03] Jennifer Borget Okay, so you regularly talk about growing up with a strong Latina mother who was a big influence on you. How did her perspective ... they weren’t talking about money with you. So how did that affect you growing up and your relationship with money?  

[00:02:18] Kat Stickler I feel like with kids, you don’t really need to talk with them about certain things. You can show them through example. And they absorb it like a sponge. My mother was very frugal—like, “You respect money, you treat it right, you save things. You don’t take it for granted.” She really respected it. And I just saw that and have tried to emulate that, even not intentionally, but I just do.  

[00:02:40] Jennifer Borget Save things. What do you mean? Like, what kinds of things did you save?  

[00:02:43] Kat Stickler Everything!  

[00:02:44] Jennifer Borget It wasn’t talking about saving money, but ...  

[00:02:47] Kat Stickler Like, if your jeans didn’t fit, you would make them into shorts. And if you finished a thing of butter, you would save your container to use it as a Tupperware.  

[00:03:01] Jennifer Borget Cereal. I used it for cereal.  

[00:03:02] Kat Stickler Cereal. Like when I would have lunch. It’s cool, just different butters!  

[00:03:08] Jennifer Borget Do you remember the first piece of advice she gave you about money?  

[00:03:11] Kat Stickler The first piece of advice. She did tell me to not rely on a man because she had to rely on my dad. And she just said that felt very disempowering for me and kind of limited some of my choices. So, I was like, okay. I think that was the first lesson: Like, it means more than a paycheck. And it has an effect on the rest of your life and your choices.  

[00:03:42] Jennifer Borget Yeah. Not having to rely on someone. And “I don’t want to leave you out here.”  

Okay, so, when it comes to parenting, we’re going to talk a little bit more about that in a little bit. But how would you say that conversations about money early on, like maybe what our parents taught us, how does that affect people and their relationship with money?  

[00:04:02] Matt Stucky You know, thinking through that topic, it can be very different depending on who is the parent and, like I was saying, how your parents treated you. The way I think about it is it’s like any other habit that you try and teach your kids. The kids are playing in their room, or they’re playing in the basement or something like that with the toys. And what do you try and teach them to do? You try and teach “pick up your toys after you’re done.” You just remind them. Remind them. It eventually becomes a habit.  

I don’t think money’s really any different. The way that it sinks in just takes a lot of repetition. You know, things like saving, investing. I mean, I can teach my four-year-old about investing.  

[00:04:45] Jennifer Borget Why not?  

[00:04:46] Matt Stucky Figure that you maybe should be ahead in the game—just the whole idea of “if I save a dollar, that means I can spend it down the road on something that I really want.” That takes a little while to sink in. And you do get a lot of really cute moments along the way. I told my dad, “You know, my car is getting older. I’m going to save some money and eventually get a car.” Or “Well, I got this llama bank here, and I would love for you to use it,” you know, that kind of thing. I love the effort.  

[00:05:12] Jennifer Borget I love that. So, with what our parents taught us, maybe by example, like Kat was saying, you know, maybe it’s not always sitting down and having these conversations, but maybe how the relationship with it and the mindset can kind of sink in later on.  

[00:05:27] Matt Stucky Absolutely.  

[00:05:28] Jennifer Borget So, Kat, now as a mom yourself, I imagine your thoughts on money have evolved a lot through the years. I know when I had my kids, my perspective on money changed a lot. So, has that changed for you since becoming a mom?  

[00:05:43] Kat Stickler Yeah, 100 percent. Very selfish before. Obviously, I just had to worry about myself. And then all of a sudden, every financial decision I made, it would impact someone I loved more than life itself. I definitely thought about everything, like babies are expensive. In case you guys didn’t know.  

[00:06:03] Jennifer Borget In case you didn’t know. Newsflash.  

[00:06:04] Kat Stickler I was very selfish with money. Obviously, it’s just me; I should be.  

[00:06:09] Jennifer Borget Should you?  

[00:06:10] Kat Stickler Maybe. But then again you can be more aware. 

[00:06:13] Jennifer Borget You can be. You can be. Right? Before you have other people that you’re thinking about. Yeah, I know, the moment that it dawned on me: “All right, I’m raising these kids, and I’m not just saving for their immediate things, like diapers and food and clothes that they have to wear, but trying to plan for their future, like braces or college. And maybe if they’re going to get some kind of inheritance down the line if they’re lucky.” So, I realized I needed a plan.  

Do you have any kind of plans in place? I know your daughter’s four. Tell us more about what you have in place for her success in the future.  

[00:06:55] Kat Stickler I did a will, so if anything happens to me, it’s all good. She’s good. Like I said, everything. Like, literally down to the month. And I don’t know, that felt very adult.  

[00:07:08] Jennifer Borget Peak adulting right there. 

[00:07:10] Kat Stickler Peak adulting.  

[00:07:11] Jennifer Borget No one wants to think about that, really.  

[00:07:12] Kat Stickler And then I have, like, a different fund for her for health care, college school, clothes.  

[00:07:21] Jennifer Borget Clothes. She gets a clothes fund. 

[00:07:25] Kat Stickler Toys. It’s all in one.   

[00:07:28] Jennifer Borget I’m picturing this all separate.  

[00:07:30] Kat Stickler Yeah, that’s good, right, to have a good toy fund.  

[00:07:33] Matt Stucky I was going to ask you—do you miss being a little selfish with money now that you have the daughter?  

[00:07:40] Kat Stickler Yeah. You sure, too, Matt?  

[00:07:42] Jennifer Borget What’s one piece of advice you’d give me about money?  

[00:07:48] Kat Stickler To respect it and to appreciate it and to work hard for it, but not expect it. Like, just to feel that joy. When you’ve really worked hard for something, and that’s yours, just really take pride in working for what you get. And that would be mine, which I try to show with myself.  

[00:08:08] Jennifer Borget That’s good. Matt, what do you think new parents should be thinking about? Like, from a new parent’s perspective, she’s got clothing, toys, funds, college, all the things. What’s important? What should new parents be thinking about?  

[00:08:23] Matt Stucky Well, I think parents immediately feel the expense side of raising kids—that’s diapers, food, all the things that you mentioned. But, you know, there are some other bigger-ticket items that probably need to be planned for. And I think our advisors do a really good job of walking parents through a lot of things that they don’t think about. You mentioned how you set up a will, and you have the timeline for how this stuff works. That’s what our advisors are really good at doing: taking you down a path and saying, ”You know, there are new risks that are now in the equation of being a parent.” Things like, well, what if something happens to me? What if I can’t work anymore? How does that impact my child’s financial life? I don’t want something happening to me to impact their life from a financial perspective and lead to a really difficult situation. How do we protect against that risk? And then from there, how do we leverage our circumstances today to secure futures for our children down the road? Through 529 plans, through inheritance, through helping them out along the way, what’s important to us? At least just going through the thought exercise, I think, is a really important part of financial planning. Because, you know, you might find out you have different priorities than your spouse. These are things that you can start to talk about and find a good solution just by having these kinds of conversations.  

[00:09:52] Jennifer Borget Is there a good age to have these conversations? Like you find out you’re expecting—do you make a will? Or if you didn’t do that right away, are you in trouble?  

[00:10:05] Matt Stucky Well, you know, we all kind of come to hopefully the same destination eventually. The sooner the better. There’s a time value of money, so the sooner you, as an example, start paying for college, the easier it’s going to be per year. You know, that’s the best way to explain it. And the more complex your financial situation becomes as you get older, the more difficult it is to probably change it a little bit. It just takes more work. So the earlier the better in almost all circumstances.  

But, you know, I think the ongoing conversation you have with your advisor is a way to make sure you always kind of catch new wrinkles that come into the equation because everybody’s financial life is changing year to year.  

[00:10:48] Jennifer Borget Thank you. That’s good. There’s hope for some of us who haven’t, maybe, started to see.  

All right. Let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about business. Now, I know your current role. You’re both an entrepreneur or doing social media influencing, and you’re also part owner of Stur Drinks. When did you really know that you could take your content from, you know, “this is a fun hobby” to “hey, this is a legit job.”  

[00:11:20] Kat Stickler My parents asked me that, too. I didn’t know. I just had a really strong leap of faith. I was trying to convince my parents. I’m like, “Guys, I promise, I’ll be fine.” When you start influencing, they send you free shoes—and they’re like, “That’s not going to pay the bills.” I’m like, “I know. Just give me a couple of months and I’ll figure it out.” Because this was super new, also, four years ago. It wasn’t very common the moment when I actually decided.  

[00:11:51] Jennifer Borget You decided “This is going to be my full-time thing now. Even though I’m just getting paid in shoes.”  

[00:11:57] Kat Stickler Exactly.  

[00:11:58] Jennifer Borget Yeah, I’ll take it. Okay. You got the shoes? Okay. But then was there a moment where you’re like, “Hey, this is lucrative, I can make some money with this”? Or maybe you knew that before, so that’s why you decided to pursue it?  

[00:12:13] Kat Stickler Yeah, they would have commission links, and you make 15 percent. But it’s also building the brand first before you do that. You have to be reputable before you can have someone trust you. So, it was kind of this exchange of trust, this dance with my audience, and they kind of saw me go through different things, which I was open about and which elevated that trust, which also has changed marketing a lot. Like now, I don’t work with a brand anymore because when you’re at first, you take whatever you can get. And thankfully, I don’t do that anymore. So, I have to love the brand. Back it up like with Stur. Like I chose that brand, and it represents me. Any brand you choose is also an extension of who you are. And if they screw over your audience, then they lose trust in you.  

[00:12:57] Jennifer Borget But did that change your approach then to planning for your future? When you were like, “Okay, this, my social media is my thing now,” did that change your plan for how you plan for the future?  

[00:13:09] Kat Stickler I made more than I thought. I remember when a brand I like threw in a number, and they accepted my offer. I didn’t think they would. And I think it just made everything here so much bigger, like dream bigger, which was cool to learn also.  

[00:13:28] Jennifer Borget Yeah, that makes sense. So, you mentioned Stur. It’s the all-natural liquid water enhancer.  

[00:13:36] Kat Stickler Yeah, right.   

[00:13:40] Jennifer Borget What made you want to invest with that company? Because you said you don’t just want to jump in with any brand. What made you want to not only work with them but actually invest in the company?  

[00:13:49] Kat Stickler I think I wanted to have something that was mine. I’m also health forward. And my daughter needs help drinking water. I need help drinking water. I wanted to own something that was mine and work for something that was mine. When you work with a brand and you don’t like the people you’re working with, you can’t do it—you can’t work with them; you’re just like, that company’s mean. So, when you have a brand that works with you, it’s so important with creative freedom. And I invested in that company because I believed in it.  

[00:14:19] Jennifer Borget That’s exciting. Okay. So, Matt, now she’s part business owner. What should business owners be thinking about when they’re planning for their future and getting off the ground?  

[00:14:30] Matt Stucky Yeah. You know, I think business owners are really interesting to work with because no business owner is the same and there’s a life cycle to it that brings unique challenges and unique opportunities. So early on, a business owner is doing everything that they can just to get the business off the ground. They are the CFO, they’re the HR department, they’re marketing. They’re basically doing a million tasks just to keep the business an ongoing concern. And hopefully they’re successful in that.  

You’ve been extremely successful in such a short period of time, and now it’s starting to change a little bit. And then you think, “Okay, how do I grow this? What staff do I need to add? And if I do that, what do I need to do from a planning perspective for them? Do I need to add 401(k) plan? Do we need to add health insurance plan?” And then eventually, from your own personal side, “When do I start to take some chips off the table?”  

You know, wealth, large amounts of wealth in the United States and in free enterprise kinds of economic systems are built by concentrating a lot of risk. It’s risky for the reason that not every time it pays off, but it’s managed and preserved and passed down by managing it and by diversifying it. And that’s when you start to have this conversation with business owners: How do we diversify away from this big, concentrated asset on your balance sheet, which has created all this wealth for you and your family? How do we preserve that in a way that it makes sense from a tax perspective that you’re comfortable with? And that mindset shift can be really difficult for some business owners because they’re used to making the decisions. They’re used to having control over the business and the outcomes, and usually they’ve been successful in that, so their process is to double down again on that. They don’t understand that sometimes it’s okay to have parts of a portfolio that aren’t performing as well as maybe their core kind of concentrated business. But that’s how we diversify away that concentration risk—we put it all together in a portfolio that is resilient in a variety of economic scenarios or tax outcomes, if that makes sense.  

[00:16:47] Jennifer Borget One thing that you said that kind of stuck out to me was when to know when to step away, I think, and not handle all of it yourself. You know, you’re trying to be in charge. You’re trying to be the boss. You’re trying to run this. You’re trying to run everything. And then you’re talking about diversifying portfolios and everything.   

[00:17:08] Matt Stucky Yeah. You know, the notion is just to keep whatever profits that the business is generating and plug it back in. Grow as quickly as possible. When does that mindset change to take some of that profit and put it into other types of investments that you know are going to protect you if the business doesn’t do as well as it’s doing today? That point of recognition happens at a different time point for each business owner, depending on the industry that they’re in and the personality itself.  

[00:17:42] Jennifer Borget Kat, where do you feel like you are on your journey with that, and where do you see yourself 10 years from now, maybe with your business?  

[00:17:51] Kat Stickler I don’t know. Because if you told me two years ago I’d be here, I’d be like, “What? Really?” I couldn’t even conceptualize it. I think just continuously be good to people, be grateful, keep working hard, and it’ll present itself to me because I really don’t know what happens next. I don’t know.  

[00:18:12] Jennifer Borget So it’s not really like a written plan that you have, but it’s more of a feeling.  

[00:18:20] Kat Stickler I think I feel like it’s a vibe. You know. 

[00:18:21] Jennifer Borget Okay.  

[00:18:22] Kat Stickler I’m just kidding.  

[00:18:25] Matt Stucky You know, your business is also really unique because your business is you and your interaction with everyday life and communicating that to the people who follow you.  

[00:18:35] Kat Stickler Yes.  

[00:18:37] Matt Stucky How do you sell that one day? I don’t know. But, you know, that’s a unique situation. It’s new in this economy, but it’s going to be more common, I’m sure, over time.  

[00:18:46] Kat Stickler Right. It’s so unique because when I got divorced, this was considered an asset—like is the TikTok account an asset? But then would it be? If the TikTok account was left to me, it would keep growing. But if it wasn’t, it would stop growing. So then it’s like, how do you even ... I remember the judge was like, “What? I don’t know.”  

[00:19:09] Jennifer Borget I think, why is this an asset?  

[00:19:11] Kat Stickler So yeah, I think it’s a whole new terrain that we’re all kind of learning together.  

[00:19:16] Jennifer Borget Together. Okay, we’re talking a lot about plans for the future. And I know there’s a new man in your life.  

[00:19:24] Kat Stickler Yeah. There is.  

[00:19:28] Jennifer Borget So we all want to know, have you had the talk?  

[00:19:31] Kat Stickler We had the financial talk. We have had that.  

[00:19:35] Jennifer Borget You’ve had the financial talk.  

[00:19:37] Kat Stickler We had the talk.  

[00:19:38] Jennifer Borget When did you first have that conversation? How far along in the relationship? Were you scared?  

[00:19:48] Kat Stickler Yeah, I was scared. I’ve actually never really spoken finances with any of my past partners, so it was very new terrain. We had that after we kind of realized we wanted to be in each other’s lives, a little longer than a few months. We’re like, “Okay, we really care for and love each other. It’s time.”  

[00:20:08] Jennifer Borget Well, you did it. How did that go? Going into that conversation, were there any things that you were telling yourself “All right, this is going to be a deal breaker”?  

[00:20:22] Kat Stickler I know love makes you crazy. I think having aligned values and goals was really important. And there were really no red flags.   

[00:20:30] Jennifer Borget But did anything surprise you about that conversation?  

[00:20:33] Kat Stickler Yes, it surprised me how much closer I felt to him after. And I know it’s a different form of intimacy, like money makes you crazy. And so to be able to divulge that really personal, intimate information about yourself and then hear it from your partner is a really important next step. I felt very connected.  

[00:20:52] Jennifer Borget So you hadn’t done that before. So, Matt, for people starting out a new relationship, is this something that people should do? Like, are there any red flags? How do you sit down?  

[00:21:04] Matt Stucky Yeah, I think there are some red flags to look out for. You know, everybody’s different. Sometimes one person’s a spender, the other person’s the saver. But being open about it whenever the time is right to have that conversation is really important because if you look at sources of stress for people, the money is a huge, huge one. For it to work out longer term, we’ve got to agree on the broad strokes of how this is going to work. We don’t have to nail things down to the dollar, but at least being on the same page loosely is where I found my own personal success and just openness and communication about things.  

I would also say that usually you’re not going to always agree about everything, and how you go through navigating those waters when you disagree is also important. So, don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong if you don’t agree about every kind of thing and “We’re going to save this amount, or we’re going to defer money to do this; we’re not going to say yes to this kind of vacation. We’re going to say yes to that.” Disagreements are going to happen. But the broad strokes, the outline, the overall financial plan, that’s where we’ve got to agree.  

[00:22:20] Jennifer Borget So it’s not like you have to be “All right, time for a credit check. Credit score.” Maybe not.  

[00:22:26] Kat Stickler I know that about my boyfriend and my own credit score.  

[00:22:31] Jennifer Borget So maybe. Are you and Jason planning your financial future together? Is that something you’re chatting around?  

[00:22:41] Kat Stickler I think if you want to be with someone long term, you do start having those discussions. And then when you talk about goals, similar goals, five-year plan, ten-year plans with money, situations like you were saying my own was like, you have to be agreeing on things. But also disagreeing is okay; it’s how you disagree. Because money is so touchy, obviously. My dad’s a divorce lawyer. My dad was actually my divorce lawyer. He says the number one reason for divorce 10 times out of 10 is always money, always money. It’s either disagreement about money or it’s this inequality that was established in the beginning. With money it’s a lot of taboo subjects, like people just don’t have those discussions, I guess.  

[00:23:26] Jennifer Borget That’s really important. Yeah, get it out of the way then. You talked about having some things in common. What are some of your shared priorities that you both have?  

[00:23:34] Kat Stickler When you’re dating someone, you don’t want to sound like, “If we have kids together, you just ask me this question.”  

[00:23:40] Jennifer Borget “You can blame it on me.”  

[00:23:41] Kat Stickler Yeah. If we have kids together, we have the same goals for those possible kids. Common goals with a retirement. Goals if we were to retire together. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. I’m really chill and low-key.  

[00:24:00] Jennifer Borget No pressure. No pressure.  

[00:24:01] Kat Stickler No pressure. Matt, what do you think?   

[00:24:03] Jennifer Borget Do you think she should have goals? [0.2s] 

[00:24:05] Kat Stickler  Yeah. If I did.  

[00:24:07] Jennifer Borget Hypothetically.  

[00:24:07] Kat Stickler Hypothetically. 

[00:24:08] Matt Stucky Yeah, I think going through a planning exercise would be a good idea. You talked about how these conversations are a way to deepen your relationship. Well, so is planning. You can say, “At this point, five years down the road, if we’re at this point in our financial lives, we have the opportunity to do X, Y and Z or, down the road, we want to be able to give our kids something really special or set them up for a lot of success, either through paying for their college or maybe help them out with a down payment or something like that. What do we need to do today to make that happen?” Those are really interesting conversations that I think deepen relationships a little bit.  

[00:24:51] Jennifer Borget All right. So you could probably characterize this time of your life as like a period of a lot of transitions and all of this and then some. What was the most unexpected thing you ran into financially?  

[00:25:06] Kat Stickler Probably my divorce. Again, another great tip for me there. I didn’t really realize that. It was just kind of like, “All right, it’s not working out. We just go our separate ways. You keep your stuff, I’ll keep mine. We’re good.” But, you know, they always say that the person you divorce isn’t the person you married.  

It’s also dealing with this new terrain of one; your whole blueprint for your life is changing. But also, the blueprint of this person you knew is also changing. Iit’s kind of balancing and understanding the weight and gravity of these decisions like deciding how much child support I was going to pay and deciding on settlements and alimony. And it just goes on and on, stuff you never thought. There’s this saying, the only person that wins in divorces are the lawyers, which I guess is kind of naive, but no one ever goes into something thinking it’ll happen.  

[00:25:58] Jennifer Borget Matt, what is a tip or a piece of advice that you’d leave our audience, our audience here or the people listening? If they’re starting to plan for their future or setting goals, what’s something you would give them for advice?  

[00:26:17] Matt Stucky It can seem really overwhelming.  

[00:26:19] Jennifer Borget Yeah. And like, no pressure.  

[00:26:20] Matt Stucky You get started, you know? But you’ve got to start somewhere. And it’s okay to ask for help. There’s a lot of not only goals that you want to achieve but also risks that you have to manage along the way. Yeah.  

I know a lot about investing. I know a lot about how to manage money. I still work with an advisor that keeps me on track, that asks me challenging questions that make sure that I’m protected if something were to impact me and my family. I would say don’t go at it alone. Work with somebody that can really help you feel comfortable. Feel confident because the world around us is volatile; markets are volatile. And what you want is a sense of peace that comes with having your financial life under control and, regardless of what happens with the stock market, what happens with the economy, feeling like your financial life is secure. It just allows you to live a life that’s more stress-free to enjoy the beauty of your loved ones around you. That’s to me the one piece of advice I would impart to the audience is, you know, get some help because there’s a lot of complexity out there. Our job is to make it less complex for you.  

[00:27:43] Jennifer Borget It’s like blind spots with finances that you can just not know about. And then talking to someone like you.  

[00:27:52] Kat Stickler I know you’re used to talking to people about this for a living. But when you’re talking about it with your wife, do you have to make it ...  

[00:28:05] Jennifer Borget Easier, like, make it more ... ?  

[00:28:07] Matt Stucky This is hard. My biggest pet peeve is how you discuss this stuff.  

[00:28:11] Kat Stickler I’m really glad we got to dive into this. 

[00:28:13] Matt Stucky Well, you know I sit on a trading floor at work, and it’s almost like a foreign language if you’re not in that world. I need to change that conversation and translate it at home. And I don’t always do the best job of that. My job probably needs to get better in that arena. But over time, we’ve done a good job of just saying, “Okay, you do a really good job with making sure of a doctor’s appointment, making sure the kids’ school stuff is working out along the plan. I’m responsible for the financial planning stuff because that’s what I like to do.” But we still meet with our advisors together and make sure that the all the blind spots are covered.  

[00:29:02] Jennifer Borget Are you struggling with that, Kat? Is that what you’re asking him? When you and Jason talk about it, is it like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”? 

[00:29:08] Kat Stickler Hypothetically, yeah. Hypothetically, he does talk about it, and he says all these like acronyms and big words. I remember when we first started dating, I was like, “Yeah, I totally agree with you.” And a couple of months in, he would say something else, and I’d be like, “I really don’t understand what you’re saying.” You don’t want to feel dumb when you ask questions. So that’s why having those conversations and just really making it a safe space is easier said than done because I feel like money is touchy for everybody in some form or capacity. So I think, yeah, I guess. Yeah. You’re not the only one.  

[00:29:45] Jennifer Borget Not the only one. You can feel like you have some solidarity there. Do you have any advice you want to leave people?  

[00:29:51] Kat Stickler I don’t know. I think my advice—I don’t want to sound like hippie dippy, but my advice is to really dream big and believe in yourself. Because what’s the point of everything you’re doing if you don’t? Then there’s no room for growth and there’s no room for aspirations or future goals. I think we really limit ourselves. And that’s my advice.  

[00:30:18] Jennifer Borget I like that. Believing in yourself. Dream big. But don’t put limits on yourself.  

[00:30:24] Kat Stickler Yeah. Be smart about your value.  

[00:30:26] Jennifer Borget Matt and Kat, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been great chatting. This has been a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoyed that, too.  

It was fantastic to be joined by Kat and Matt live here in New York City. What a great conversation. Here are some of my key takeaways from our chat.  

First, lead by example. Kat and Matt have seen the impact of leading by example with their own children. Kat saw that her mom respected money, and that continues to guide her decisions about money today. And she hopes that her daughter can gain that same respect.  

Next, have the financial talk. Kat is new in a relationship, and having an honest conversation early on made her feel closer to her partner and created a safe space where conversations about money can continue. Money can be a big stressor in relationships, so having conversations early on can help you navigate choppy financial waters down the line.  

And finally, it’s okay to ask for help. Don’t go at it alone. Feeling comfortable and confident can help bring a sense of peace and security so that you can enjoy the other parts of your life. Everyone has blind spots, and they can take a second set of eyes to help uncover them.  

For more information from Northwestern Mutual, including a downloadable vision board, head to Northwesternmutual.com/podcast.  

[00:31:47] Outro This is not intended as legal or tax advice. Financial representatives do not render tax advice. Consult with a tax professional for tax advice that is specific to your situation. All investments carry some level of risk, including loss of principal invested. No investment strategy can assure a profit and does not protect against loss and declining markets. Appearances are compensated. Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and and its subsidiaries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not all Northwestern mutual representatives are advisers. Only those representatives with advisor in their title or who otherwise disclose their status as an advisor of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company and NMWMC are credentialed as an NMWMC representative to provide advisory services.