#37 - The Female Financial Blueprint: Insights from a Statistical Unicorn with Maria Castillo Dominguez

In this compelling episode, I sit down with the incredible Maria Castillo Dominguez, a "statistical unicorn" who has mastered navigating finances, particularly as a woman. We dive deep into breaking free from childhood money beliefs, the vital role of communication in financial partnerships, and how you can achieve not just wealth, but true financial peace and joy. 

Key Highlights:

1. Heal Your Money Story: Uncover how childhood beliefs shape your finances.
2. Partner Up on Money: Master crucial money talks for shared financial success.
3. Break "Good Girl" Habits: Confidently earn, save, and invest on your own terms.
4. Find Financial Peace: Connect emotional healing with financial clarity and joy.
5. Be a Money Unicorn: Defy norms and build the life you truly desire.

If you're a woman looking to confidently claim your financial future, understand the emotional nuances of money, and shatter old limitations, this conversation is your guide.

Maria Castillo Dominguez, CFP® is the founder of Valoria Wealth Management, a boutique, women-led financial planning firm helping high-income women and couples design lives of purpose, clarity, and freedom. With over a decade of experience and deep tax expertise, Maria specializes in equity compensation, lifestyle planning, and helping clients take bold steps—whether it’s a career break, business launch, or early retirement. Based in South Florida and serving clients nationwide, she’s on a mission to make financial planning empowering, personal, and judgment-free.

Maria's Links:

Her website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Links:

Psychology of Money

Smart Women Finish Rich

Always and Never About Money Episode Links:
Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@MoneyMasteryWithChelsea
Socials: https://linktr.ee/the_money_whisper
Money Mastery Website: www.moneymastery.work
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlwaysandNeverMoney/

Transcript

Welcome to Always and Never About the Money. Are you ready to embark on a journey that will forever change the way you perceive money? Well, get ready because we're about to dive deep into the fascinating world of finances and human behavior. I'm your host, Chelsea Williams and Money Whisperer. I'm here to help you realize what your money story is telling you and how you can change it.

But hold on tight because this is not the dull black and white talk about money. We're gonna splash all the color into this typical nap inducing conversation. On Always and Never About the Money, we're gonna explore the intricate relationship between money and our daily lives. From the impact history has left on us and how we still manage it, how your habits shape your money, and what beliefs are driving your habits, choices, and relationships, to the deeper values and emotions we've come to attach to it. We're going to unravel it all through insightful conversation and personal anecdotes.

We'll bring you the expert insights, real life stories, and meaningful thought provoking ideas that will inspire you, educate you, and initiate some serious perspective change when it comes to your money. Remember, money is just a tool. Together, we'll untangle the web of emotions, beliefs, and values we've come to attach to it and find a new perspective on how it can enhance our lives. So whether you're looking for motivation, practical advice or a good laugh, Always and Never About the Money's got you covered. Thank you for joining us in this transformative journey.

Get ready to challenge your beliefs and embark on a financial exploration like no other. Without further ado, let's kick off the episode of always and never about the money. Today's guest is someone who brings both heart and strategy to the world of professional finance. Maria Castillo Dominguez is a certified financial planner, a global citizen originally from Spain, and a passionate advocate for women's financial empowerment. And with over a decade of experience across operations, compliance, and personal finance, and a mission rooted in helping professional women design lives of flexibility and freedom, Maria is redefining what wealth means for women in business, Whether she's guiding clients through complex financial strategies or volunteering at dog shelters in her free time, Maria leads with integrity, curiosity, and a deeply personal connection to her work.

And her presence in the financial planning industry is both exceptional and inspiring. She is a true trailblazer in a field where women and Hispanic professionals are significantly underrepresented. In fact, as of 2024, women constitute only about 23.9% of CFPs, certified financial planners, in The United States. And according to the CFP board's professional demographics, Hispanic CFP professionals represent approximately 2.9% of the total CFP population. So as a Hispanic woman and a CFP professional, Maria, you belong to a small group that comprises less than 1% of all CFP certificates.

So for me and Timmy, your success underscores your resilience resilience and your dedication to an industry where diversity is still evolving. In my book, you are a statistical unicorn, and that's why I am thrilled and honored to have you on our show. And my burning question for you that I have to ask you is, what is the story behind how you have done such amazing things, and what did you have to overcome to get to where you are today? Oh, Chelsea, that is a loaded question, right? It's a lot.

So, yes, I was, born and raised in another country, right, a very different culture. We didn't talk about money, right? I wasn't a I was raised in a very humble family, So all what I heard was a lot of, we don't have, you know, we cannot have that, we cannot have that. So I came to The US when I was in my mid twenties. I did not know any English.

I knew a little bit of English. I thought I knew more than what I really knew. Yeah. And, I landed in New York with $400 left in my pocket. So and ready for an adventure.

Right? Like, I was supposed to be here for one year, here I am fifteen years later. Right? So it has been an adventure for sure. I have always been very interested in finance, but I did not know much about personal financial planning until I came to The US.

I started growing in my career in The US, and then I started learning. Right? It was just like through things falling in my face and understanding, oh, oh, oh, these these things are here, and I started getting very interested in it, right? Very interested in how impactful having good understanding of money and managing your money the right way can have in your life. It's very impactful.

We want to think that money is not important, but it is. Money is what allows you to do things. Money is what allows you to live a certain life. Money is what allows you to retire, to have flexibility, to have freedom. It does.

So we wanna think it's not, but it really is important. And through that, you know, through that liking, understanding, seeing the impact, I started getting my licenses, I started growing in the companies that I work for, I got my certified financial planner designation, and as you said Chelsea, it was, I don't want to say was difficult. It was obviously a road that I took that it was a long road, like I had to get a lot of education, I had to you have if you don't know what a CFP does, it's it's a lot to get the certification and you have to have at least three years of experience and you have to go through all this course with and you have to have a bachelor's degree. So it's not a an easy take, right? But I was fortunate enough that my employers along the way were, supporting me, both male and female.

So I did like, I heard all the financial advisers, female, not feeling so supported. I was lucky that I I felt supported, in my role. And I'm different, right? Like, I'm Hispanic, I have an accent, you see my name and you know that I'm Hispanic, and when I go to conferences and when I go to certain places, I am a unicorn, and there are other financial advisors that are Hispanic and that are women and we know each other, right? We we get each other right away, right?

Like, oh, one like me, it's not that typical, right? But you see the difference when you go to to conference, when you go to to either just do some continuing education that is in person, you see that you are different. For me it's an honor to be different, to be honest, because it is it is an honor to say, Hey, you know, like I I'm making it here and doing it here and representation matters and and I'm there, and to be both Hispanic but also women. Women have been so disregarded in the financial services industry for so long, you know, and we are overdue to have good representation and women that can, help other women without judgment, understanding how they feel, how understanding how they think. I love that.

And, like, where did this drive come from, do you think? Like, in your own words, when you look back at your story and the way that you grew up and then coming to America when you were twenty Twenty five. 25 and and doing all of these things and grasping onto all this information, where where did that drive come from for you? Chelsea, it's a good question, and I have not spoken about this in a long time. But for me, it was actually growing up, seeing my mom struggling, and it can sound cheesy, but it's the truth.

Like, I grew up with very big amount of lack of opportunities, a lot of lack of opportunities because we didn't have. And my mom did her best, but she just didn't know what she didn't know. So she made a lot of mistakes along the way. She just had very little to to work with, you know, she still works today, you know, in a much better situation, but she struggled a lot to raise three kids on head on with not a fancy job and a fancy paycheck, right? So seeing my mom is struggling, making bad financial decisions that had an impact in us, in the things that we could do, the the opportunities we have had in when we were growing up, etcetera, that put a little bit of obsession on me on, like, I don't wanna do this.

I don't wanna live that way either. I don't wanna make the same mistakes that she made, you know? So that was what gave me gave me the passion of start getting very interested in, like, I need to do better. I need to do better than than what she has done, you know, and she did her best, obviously, you know, not blaming her at all. She just didn't know better.

Of course. So that gave me the the courage to to what I do today, which is also helping other women. You know? I like we I like seeing women succeed, and I like seeing women taking control of their money. I just love seeing that.

I love that. I love that. I listen to what I call pipe people's money stories. And as you know, because we've talked multiple times before, we both agree on this, a lot of what we believe around money comes from our childhood. And in my experience, there's more or less two ways that you can respond to your childhood that leads you to how you're showing up today.

And those two ways are you can either adopt the truth and beliefs that were given to you, or you can reject them and strive for different. Do you kind of see that same thing? Yes. Same thing. And even when I speak sometime with friends or even clients, I hear sometimes the women that I'm I'm bad with money.

I'm not with with money. That mindset, you know, because that's what they, you know, when they were a kid, that's the way it was. And it's the sin of the parents. Sometimes it passed to the kids. Right?

They they don't teach you good habits. Sometimes you carry them, and it's hard to get out of the habits. And then you get in that money mindset. Right? Like, I'm bad with money.

I hear that a lot. And sometimes when I looked, I'm like, you're not bad with money. You just don't understand yet. You're learning. So I tell them, like, switch that mindset.

Don't say I'm bad with money. Say I'm learning to master my finances. It makes a difference. You know? Yes.

Your words your words and how you use them matter so much. And for the women listening that know that they have kind of adopted that mindset, I think one thing that you said that's incredibly valuable to them is our parents are only doing the best that they can with what they have. People are not taught about money. It is not a requirement in schools yet except for two or three states last time I checked. And so I think one of the important things for looking back on your childhood and realizing maybe you took on some beliefs around money that aren't serving you today is giving your parents grace.

They were absolutely doing the best that they could with what they have. What would you say to those women around how to recognize what they have carried with them that maybe they need to let go? Oh, that's a very good question. I think it's probably thinking about the way or recognize the way that you think about money. What I mentioned earlier about, you know, how do you envision money?

For some people, it's stressful. For some people, it's scary. For some people, it's whatever that is because it was translated to you. Right? Sometimes it's maybe because you saw parents struggling or sometimes it's because you saw parents managing their money the wrong way.

Whatever the situation is, it it translates to you. So it's it's all about recognizing the parent and and is when it transferred to you and you're going through life through the same pattern, you just don't realize. It's in your subconscious. Right? So you just don't realize.

So it's all about realizing. So it's about sit sit down and and write it down. Like, how how do you how do you think about money? You know, is it scary and and why? When you think about how you manage your money, are you being critical?

Because most people tend to be very critical, especially women. We tend to be very self critical with ourself and beat ourselves up because we made a mad money decision. I'm a financial planner and I have made bad decisions. We all do with money, you know. So it's all about being, you know, more conscious about the way that you think about money and then make small changes.

Like, you know, talk to you to yourself a little bit better. Learn something new every day. Learn even if it's something small, pick up a good financial book and learn something good every day so it's just that understanding better and you start changing a little bit the way that you see it. Oh, I love that piece of advice you gave. Write it down.

Bring awareness around what it is you believe around money so that you can begin the process because it is a process, and you deserve grace. And even professionals like us, I consider myself a student always of finance because things are constantly changing. So give yourself grace, recognize that it's a journey, it takes time, and all we need is one brick at a time to start stacking that financial education for ourselves. And so being in your position and doing what you do and working with women in particular, what are some unique challenges that women face when it comes to both building and sustaining wealth? Yeah.

I love this question because we are different. Right? We we think different. We act different, and that's the way it is. And when I'm saying this is I don't I don't want to stereotype, but I wanna honor the differences that makes a difference.

One of the things, you know, when I'm planning for clients and even planning for myself, some of the differences that most women need to think about is, number one, we live longer. And and that's a fact. Right? In on average, women live seven years longer than men. That means that most women, at the end, they end with the money.

In a couple, the money ends with the women. Yet, I mean, in it's changing, right? Like, women are more are getting more educated now, but in many women that are retiring now, they are scared because they don't understand, right, that how money works. So we live longer, yet numbers and data show that we retire with a little bit less too. So it's a, you know, it's a little bit of a bad game there.

We tend to earn less during our careers and we take more careers breaks too. So we are the caring in the family. Right? Your pet your dad or your mom may get sick and you need to care for them. You may you may want to enjoy motherhood and take a few years off to enjoy motherhood.

So we tend to take not all of us, but many women take career breaks, and that means you're not contributing to social security, that means you're not contributing to your four zero one ks, so that translates to saving less. Right? So it's a little bit of like you need to plan in a different manner. Women needs a different planning and we tend to see finance in a different way. Men tend to be a little bit more, numbers driven.

Women need to be more caring towards money. Yeah. And I I think that's really important, and hopefully kind of a call out to the women listening to this podcast who are maybe married and considering, you know, if your husband is managing all the finances and all of the planning, statistically speaking, he is going to pass on before you do. And are you prepared? Are you equipping yourself with the knowledge that you need to take that over and to manage it, so that it sustains you for the rest of the time that that you are here?

And so for those women in particular, if they are not involved in the conversation, which we know so many women are not involved, in the conversation specifically that are inside of a marriage, what are a couple simple steps for them to start inserting themselves into the conversation? Talk with each other. You know, when people are not used to talk about money, sometimes it's uncomfortable at the beginning. You know? But it's just talk about what is important to you, how the budget is managed at home.

I work with couples. I work with women and couples. And many times in in when when the couple comes, they have not talked about money before, about, I don't understand where the money is going. Where are we spending the money? So talk about it.

It's an important talk. You can do it once a month. Sit in the table with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, whatever your preference is, and talk about where the money is going. Review it. You know?

Where is the money going? Where are we spending the money? Where do we want to spend the money? That's the other one. Right?

Like, sometimes it's a little bit compromising each side. Right? Like, well, for me, I care more about this. For me, I care more about that. So compromise and see where you guys can align.

It is powerful, and I see it over and over again for couples that can align and can discuss money, how much they thrive financially. And I've been saying it for years. If you can and you don't have to agree on everything. My husband and I don't agree on absolutely everything, right, in the when when it comes to money. But if you can come to a an agreement, and sometimes it's compromising in one side, sometimes it's compromising a little bit in the other side, But if you can talk, feel confident about the money that you guys are making, that you guys are spending, and have that talk, people I see it over and over, they those couples thrive financially, and it's so good for their relationship too.

Outside of the money, it's good for the relationship too. I appreciate that for so many reasons. Number one, it always kind of surprises me, I guess, is the phrase that I'm gonna use. How many people in a marriage don't have money conversations. Yeah.

And and number two, how the people that do have those money conversations thrive so much, just like you said. I'm curious in your opinion, why do you think people in marriages aren't having these conversations? Like, what's stopping them from having them? Where are the fears? I well, I think it's just uncomfortability, and you have something you have never done before.

Right? Like, in many households, you grow up without talking your parents don't talk about money with you, you know, and then you go to school, nobody teaches you about money. Right? And then you grow up and it's a conversation you just don't have. So I think that a lot of people, they are uncomfortable talking about money and in many cases, some people feel shame because they have gotten in credit card debt or they have too much of a student loan debt or they they they are overspending it and they don't understand where their money is going.

So people feel a little bit shamed sometimes. So you have a mix of shame and unknown and uncomfortability, so people shut down and don't talk about it. Right? That's so true. And what I want our listeners to hear today is, you know, me and Marie are in the money world.

We see this, hear this all day, every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturday and Sunday. And so what we know that you need to hear is that you are not alone. Mhmm. You are not the only person. This is so common, and we are giving you permission to let that shame and goat guilt go because I don't know about you, Maria, but I do not believe that there is any money story that is unfixable.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And there is no money story that is perfect either. Nobody has made perfect decisions financially all day long all along. So yeah.

Yes. Absolutely. And so I know one of the questions I have, makes me think about when I was married to my son's father, It's so funny because throughout our relationship, I'll be on this page, he'll be on that page, and then we'll just switch. And we have we had a really good partnership in marriage. We still co parent very well.

I value him as a friend and as the father of my son and mentor to my daughter. We have a great relationship. But when we were married, he was very focused on investing for retirement more than I was. And now it's funny because five years later, he's more focused on living on the here and now, and he'll focus on that once our son is a little bit older. And so my question to you is, how do we go about balancing investing in the here and now and the experiences and simultaneously investing into the future?

Yeah. That's a very good question, and that is one of my focus. I like people to because you tend to to work with financial advisers and sometimes everybody think about retirement. That's the goal. But if retirement is fifteen, twenty, ten years from now, what happened with those years?

How do you, you know, and how do you enjoy yourself too? So I think setting up, priorities being true to yourself too. What are things that are important to you? And I hear all type of things and, you know, because I I do what I do. Many of my friends wanna talk to me about money.

Right? So I hear a little bit of everything. I hear from, I just wanna go to yoga at 9AM. That I don't care about anything else. I just wanna go to yoga at 9AM.

And some of my friends are like, you know what? I really nice things, so I wanna have my wavy tongue, and I don't wanna feel guilty about it, you know, or shame about it because I'm spending all this money in a purse. You shouldn't feel guilty or shame about your priorities, whatever that is. At the end of the day, that's your life. That's why you care about it, and that's why you that's how you decided to enjoy it.

Right? So I think that setting being true to yourself, setting up your priorities of what you want today without disregarding what is gonna happen tomorrow. You cannot just go on a huge shopping spree every month, right, without setting anything for the future either. So it's all about finding the balance. Setting up your your straight goals, like, what is it that I want today?

I wanna enjoy and buy myself a Louis Vuitton every year, and I wanna go on a nice vacation, and then I wanna make sure that I retire by 62. And then so set up straight all of your goals and then you align your financials with it. And sometimes it takes some compromise. Sometimes it's, okay, well, this year instead of spending 10,000 in a trip, I need to spend 7,000, whatever that is, you know? So sometimes it takes a little bit of alignment and a little bit of compromise here and there, but once you set up straight your what are your priorities, what is it what you want and be true to yourself, you can align your finances to enjoy your money today and still be able to save for the future.

I love that goal and priority aligned spending, and also acknowledging that there is compromise in that too. I know that to most people, budget is like this super icky, repelling word, and trust me, I get it. But one of the things that I like to put out there is a perspective shift around a budget. What a budget is is its boundaries. Its boundaries and what it's protecting is your future self.

So as long as you're doing what Maria is saying here, where it is, here's what I have to work with, and here's what I'm going to spend shamelessly while investing in my future over here. Even if there is compromise from year to year, you still have boundaries that you still need to honor because it's in to benefit your future self. So I really appreciate that. And I like calling it a spending plan. Sounds better in my mind.

Spending plan. And for me, it's like it's boundaries that it is necessary in every in your relationships, in everything boundaries, but also is you are in control of telling your money what should be doing. Right? It's telling your money where to go. Yes.

Yeah. That's I mean, that's another great way to put it. This is you taking control of your money and you tell your money, not your bank giving you an alert that you have an account and the negative telling you how to react. Thank you. It it truly is taking control.

So if you're listening and budget is a icky word to you, me and Maria are here to tell you there are perspective shifts, and they are there to serve you, not give you the x. So and on that topic around, you know, there there's definitely a lot of feeling and emotion around money and what we know, what we don't know, how to use it, how to manage it, and how much to invest now and in the future. Can you talk about how women often approach money emotionally or relationally and kind of how that affects planning a little more? Yeah. I think I mentioned it a little bit earlier.

Women tend to be a little bit more caring when it when they think about money. And don't get me wrong, they obviously we care too about making money. Right? We wanna make money. We wanna want money to work for us, etcetera.

But when you think about it, when women think about it, they think more about caring. Am I gonna be okay? Are my kids gonna be okay? Am I gonna be able to retire by the time I wanna retire? And women are very charitable, inclined.

Am I gonna can I afford to give to charities I care about? It may be about, animals, you know, maybe whatever that is, women tend to be, and it's data proven that women are more give more to charities. So we tend to be a little bit more caring about our money. There is more women investing in ESG, sustainable funds, right? Like, in companies that have some type of social problems or they are green, etcetera, more women invest in ESG, right?

So we tend to be a little bit more okay. If I may share, I don't know, Chelsea, if you have seen this, the CFP board, I think it was a few months ago, issued, a study about women and wealth. It was a study. They interviewed a lot of women and they came with this study. I loved it.

I thought it was it was a great study. It shows that women are taking more control of their finances. It talked about the great wealth transfer. But one of the things that stood out for me was, and I read it, is the woman's top financial priorities. And they say, number one, a comfortable retirement, meaning am I gonna be okay?

Building emergency savings, meaning am I gonna be okay? And caregiving for loved ones. So none of them were saying, Oh, I wanna make tons of money. They were more saying, like, I want half enough to be okay and for my people around me being okay. I I love that.

I'll have to go and check out that report because I have not heard of that. So thank you so much for sharing that. And, you know, to me, what I also hear is that there's a balance between, generosity and am I going to be okay? And so do you do you ever notice or see that because we are so generous and because we're so worried about other people that we have a hard time setting boundaries around the two, am I gonna be okay? Sometimes.

Yes. You see that. Sometimes it's about prioritizing, for example, kids' school, right, versus their own retirement. Right? Like, things like that, yes.

Sometimes I see. Like, what about can I I I wanna make sure that my kids don't end up with a bunch of debt when they get they got out of school? I just I I lived through that. I don't want that that to happen to them. So I see sometimes, like, yeah, women tend to prioritize, like, my kids, am I gonna be okay?

My estate plan. Right? Like, they they when they come to me sometimes and do do not have a estate plan, it's constantly in their mind. Right? Like, I wanna make sure that if something happens to me, my kids are gonna be okay.

You know? What is gonna happen to my assets? What is gonna happen if I no longer hear in their minors? Who is gonna care for them? Etcetera.

So, yeah, they do prioritize a lot what especially their kids. Right? A mother, the most precious things are their kids. Right? So they tend to prioritize that a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. And I I think that's right in every way. There's a show on Netflix. I think it's called My Rich Life or How to Live a Rich Life with Ramit.

And in a couple of the episodes, and I listened to some of his YouTube stuff too, it's not uncommon that he works with parents who are, I'm just gonna say it, overspending on their kids to the detriment of their financial presence and their financial future. And so I I think it's something that's important to bring up because, look, we love our kids, and we will sacrifice everything for them. But, but I think at the, at the heart of it really is, and what I see in, you know, situations where this plays out is that your kids want you more than anything, not five different sports necessarily. And so I think it's, it's something that's good to bring attention to because we are coming from a great place, investing financially in our kids and their activities and all of the things. But it kind of goes back to that balance of what are the boundaries today, and what are the investments for tomorrow.

Yeah. And one thing I wanna mention too is think to, not that I I I don't love loans, etcetera etcetera. I want everybody to be debt free. But worst case scenario, you can always get a loan for even you can get the loan for your kid, nobody's gonna loan you money for retirement. Either you have it or you don't have it.

Right? So prioritize a little bit. You don't have to prioritize one or the other. You can find a balance as to, hey. How can I get to one without damaging the other one tremendously?

Right? And at the end of the day, nobody's gonna loan you money for retirement, so make sure that you're protected there. I love that. I love that. And that that's another great point.

Like, we always have to know our options, and there are a lot of options out there. So, you know, back to what you said in the beginning, equip yourself with the knowledge, do the research, find people like you, ask the questions, because more often than not, there are more options than we thought. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for that.

And then shifting gears a little bit here, what advice would you give to a woman who feels like she's making pretty good money, but doesn't feel financially secure still? Yeah. I see this often, and I wanna say earning well or earning good money doesn't equal feeling secure. And sometimes people think, oh, if I will make all this money, it doesn't equal feeling secure. I have worked with couples that they were making tons of money.

They were still waking up at 4AM when they came to to me because they we just didn't know what's going on with their money. Right? So, you know, the questions of, am I gonna be able to retire? Am I gonna run out of money if I retire at this age? Am I saving enough?

Am I paying too much in taxes? That's another question that people ask. Am I paying, you know, more in taxes than I wish? Nobody likes to do that. Right?

Can I take a career break? Can I care for my kids for a few years without hurting my finances? Am I gonna be able to still retire at a certain age? Etcetera. It's all about start with the clarity of, okay, what are your goals?

Like, what we mentioned earlier, you know, what are your priorities? What are things that are a must? I must have this. This is a must for me. Or what is it something that I'm willing to you know, I'm I'm flexible with that one.

It's not that important. That will give you a solid foundation to start the plan. Right? To start asking yourself, okay. How much do I need now?

How much do I need in a in next year? How much do I need in five years from now? How much do I need to retire? Etcetera etcetera. So think about a financial plan as a road map, as a road trip somewhere.

Like, imagine that you wanna go to a to the mountains, right, and you have never been there. So if you do not have a GPS GPS. If you don't have a GPS, you may get there, but it's gonna be a difficult drive, right? You may get lost along the way, but think about your financial plan as it is my GPS, right? Like I have clear path the clear path that I'm taking to get me to my destination, right, without having to bump have bumps along the road.

And sometimes you will find that a road is closed or you, you know, you need to stop at a gas station, whatever that is, right? Because life happens. You may lose your job, You may change your priorities. You may burn out of work and need a little break, whatever that is. Right?

But it's all about setting your priorities and having a clear roadmap. I love that because what I'm hearing in what you just shared is even when you are making good money but you still feel this way, what's really happening is you're fearing the worst case scenario. You're fearing the not knowing. You're fearing that something could happen And so the only thing that we can do about this is to create a plan because a plan gives us peace of mind, direction, and next steps. And in tandem with that plan is recognizing that the plan can deviate.

In fact, it will more than likely with your analogy, you will more than likely have to change course on your way up the mountain, and that is okay. And it is easier for us to create a plan and expect that the plan changes a little bit, doesn't go exactly to plan. But then also knowing that when those changes happen, like we said before, there are always options. Always. And it is never as bad as it seems in the moment.

Yeah. I love that. Alright. So I have two specific questions for you to leave our listeners, feeling the inspiration in the call to action. The of which is, what would you say to the woman listening who's unsure where to begin?

Yeah. Get organized. Know what you have. Just get organized. Create a balance sheet of of all what you have.

Maybe it's real estate, crypto, IRA, four zero one k, savings account, another investment account. Whatever it is, make your balance sheet, know what you have, get organized. That's one of the things that you can do to to start getting clarity. Working your mindset, as I mentioned earlier, you know, do not I don't like when people say I'm bad with money. No.

Say that you are mastering your finances. You're learning, you know? So changing your mindset can actually make a big impact. Educate yourself. So read books, and I I will give you a couple of books.

Yes. Okay. Good. So, the psychology of money. If you are, like, having a little bit of a money mindset type of issue, the psychology of money is a good one to be a little bit more conscious about what you're doing and trying to change that, right?

Great. And Smart Women Finish Rich. I like this book too. So get get educated. Some of these books are a really good read.

It's not like big financial terms that you're not gonna understand, that it's gonna be very boring. It's actually very actionable items and very easy read for you to to understand financial topics and steps that you can take. So educate yourself. Beware of, you know, a lot of social media videos that you see with people giving a lot of guidance because some in many cases is not accurate too. So just be aware of those, right?

But find good education. Progress builds confidence, so don't think that you need to start with all of these items that you need to follow through, you know? Start little by little. So it can be from, okay, I'm gonna organize my finances. I'm gonna put in a in a paper or in a spreadsheet or whatever it is all what I have, you know.

That's how step number one, maybe you can do this this week. And next week, okay, maybe I'm gonna start looking at where my money is going. When my money went last month, you know, and then I'm gonna expand to the last three months, you know, to get a little a better picture. So don't think that you have to do everything at once because it can get very overwhelming. Step by step, take one little step every week, every month, every day, whatever your preference is.

And at certain point, you may find your situation complicated for taxes, for investments, for whatever that is, reach out to a good, a good professional that can help you out. Yes. Yes. Yes. And we will put both of those books in the show notes.

I think those are amazing books to start with. I was actually looking for my ver my copy of The Psychology of Money, but I just rearranged. So it's somewhere in a idea. Yes. It's somewhere in there.

But those are two amazing books. Thank you so much for that. And, we are also, of course, gonna have all of your contact links in the show notes. So if you need to reach out to a professional, you'll have very easy access to Maria. And then my final question for you, Maria, really stems from the fact that you are a statistical unicorn.

You are number one, a woman in a male dominated space, but you represent one of the smallest minorities in your space in this country. And I think it's important. And this podcast serves as a platform for women, just like you who are shattering glass ceilings, who are showing us it is possible, who are trailblazers paving the path for other women. And so what would you say to your Hispanic sisters who are struggling or, you know, feel defeated in terms of getting to where they know and want to be? It's a temporary situation.

You know, it's a temporary situation, and we all go, like, life is not perfect for everybody. Right? Like, it's not your life is not gonna be just a wall between roses all day long. So sometimes we go through patches. So it's a temporary situation.

Just think about what is your best next step. And even if you fail in the best next step because something happened, keep pushing, you know. You're gonna find a lot of different blogs around the road. Reach out to other people that are doing something similar to what you're doing. Sometimes people reach out to me, and I did early on too, and just, Hey, how did you do it?

What is your story? And get some guidance, you know, like, you know, try this, try that. Sometimes people can connect you with other people, you know? Hey, let me introduce you to this person that may have a good opportunity for you or can introduce you to another person. So don't be afraid to ask, to people that have worked the same work that you're working, right?

So don't don't be afraid to ask and think that this is a if you're going through a bad patch, it's a temporary situation. I came to this country fifteen years ago with $400 in my pocket and barely knowing the language, you know? Did I think that that's gonna be the rest of my life? No. Like, life passes, you keep pushing forward, and life gives you good things too.

I love it. You are such an inspiration. You are such proof that no matter what race you are, women have innate resilience and you have proven in your lifetime that if we tap into that and really lean into that and find our village and build our support and take it one step at a time, we can shatter glass ceilings and become statistical unicorns. No way. Yes.

If this episode hit home and you're realizing your personal money equation is off, whether that's how much you make, keep, spend to save or invest, then I want you to do yourself a favor right now. I'm creating a personal finance program designed to help you rebalance your entire money equation. It's built on a proven framework that gets you grounded in your money right now without shame, spreadsheets, or burnout. I'll help you move past the ick of budgeting and into a system of boundaries that protect your future financial freedom while still giving you freedom within your spending today. If that sounds like what you've been needing, go to our website and join the email list.

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Until next time, remember it is always and never about the money.