Why You Keep Sabotaging Your Finances (And How to Stop) with Catherine Belford

Ever felt like you’re bad with money or constantly wondering why you can’t seem to get ahead even when you’re working hard? This episode of Get Rich is for you. Host Molly Benjamin chats with Catherine, financial planner, money coach, and human design practitioner, about why we fall into money self-sabotage patterns (like doom scrolling and overspending) and how to finally break free.

You’ll learn:

• How childhood money stories shape your financial habits
  
• The most common ways women self-sabotage with money (and how to spot them)
  
• Practical tools to stop impulse spending (including the “urge journal”)
  
• How to set up a simple bank account structure that actually works
  
• Why money mindset is just as important as money management
  
• What to do if your partner isn’t on the same financial page
  
  

Catherine shares inspiring real-life client transformations from paying off tax debt, to rebuilding after divorce, to finally finding financial freedom.

If you’ve struggled with overspending, want to feel more confident with cashflow, or are ready to align your money with your values, this conversation will give you the tools and motivation to take action today.

This episode is brought to you by InvestorKit, Australia’s #1 Buyers Agency for 2023 and 2024. They specialise in helping investors find high-growth properties utilising industry leading AI and data driven research process across Australia. 70%+ of the properties they purchase are off-market and they have consistently outperformed national average capital growth rates by over 49%. Whether you’re looking to build your property portfolio or secure your first investment. Check them out here.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Welcome & intro
00:20 – Catherine’s work: planner → money coach → human design
00:49 – Human design + money
01:24 – Most common client issues
02:15 – Self-sabotage: looking to the past
02:57 – Urge journal to stop doom-scroll spending
04:22 – Seeing where the money goes
05:32 – One account problem; need for structure
06:30 – Money is emotional; worthiness & earnings
07:18 – Starting a business: know the numbers
08:23 – Profit First & tax set-asides (25–30%)
10:42 – Cashflow setup: bills vs everyday + purpose pots
12:54 – Client transformations: from stressed to free
17:11 – Super paid into the wrong fund: check it
18:59 – Reframing “I’m a spender” / “I’m bad with money”
20:12 – The 5-second pause: “How will this improve my life?”
22:31 – Mindset shifts take time; journaling & mantras
23:07 – Gratitude ritual
24:25 – Identify patterns; subscriptions first
27:35 – When your partner isn’t on board
29:48 – Aligning as a couple without merging everything
31:55 – Money stories, trauma & couples coaching
32:59 – Who Catherine helps
33:46 – How to contact Catherine
34:03 – Wrap-up

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Profit First - Mike Michalowicz - percentage-based cashflow method for small business

CONNECT WITH CATHERINE BELFORD 

Website: https://www.joyfulmoney.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinebelford/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoyfulMoney/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyfulmoneycoach/

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• Catherine integrates human design into her financial coaching.
• Clients often struggle with self-sabotage in their financial behaviors.
• Money is deeply emotional and affects decision-making.
• Creating a structured cash flow is essential for financial success.
• Transformative client stories illustrate the impact of coaching.
• Recognizing self-sabotage is the first step to overcoming it.
• Building a positive money mindset takes time and effort.
• Practical exercises can help improve financial awareness.
• Navigating financial conversations in relationships is crucial.
• Catherine works with clients ready to invest in their financial future.

SOUND BITES

"I now work with clients on their money behaviors."
"It's not an overnight fix. It takes time."
"They're ready to invest in themselves."

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: Welcome to Get Rich, the podcast that helps you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. Hey, I'm Molly Benjamin. I'm the founder of Ladies Finance Club, one of Australia's largest financial education platforms for women. But before I started helping thousands of women take control with their money, I was a hot financial mess when it came to my own finances and not the fun kind of hot, more like crying in a supermarket, wondering where all my money went kind of hot.

[00:00:29] But here's the thing, if I can go from financial mess to owning a share portfolio, investing in property, and building wealth. Then you can too. My mission is simple to make women rich because when we have financial freedom, we have choices, confidence, and control over our future. Every week on Get Rich, I sit down with some of the best experts in the industry to break down how we can all start investing, growing our money, and creating long-term financial security without the jargon, boring bits or overwhelm.

[00:01:02] Because when women get rich, we don't just change our lives. We change the world. So if you're ready to start making some Smart Money moves, hit that subscribe button and let's get Rich together.

[00:01:18] Welcome back to Get Rich, the podcast that helps you do just that. Get rich and stay rich. I'm your host, Molly Benjamin. Now, if you've ever caught yourself doom scrolling and buying stuff, you don't need only to feel guilty the moment it arrives. This episode is for you. I'm chatting with Catherine from Joyful Money, a Financial Planner turned Money Coach, about why we self-sabotage with money, how to break those patterns in simple tools like the Urge Journal that can help you stop spending on autopilot, and finally feel in control.

[00:01:51] Now remember, if you are enjoying these episodes, please hit that subscribe button now. Let's dive in. Alright, welcome to the show, Catherine. Thanks Molly. Thanks for having me. I did a quick introduction before, but I guess to introduce the audience to you, can you tell us a little bit about what you do?

[00:02:09] Because I know you have kind of two sides to your business.

[00:02:12] Catherine: I do. Yes. So originally I started my business as a financial planner, and then I looked into money coaching. So I now work with clients on their money behaviors and helping them shift their money dynamics. Mm-hmm. And recently, I've now incorporated human design into my work as well.

[00:02:31] So there's three aspects of how I work with

[00:02:35] Molly: clients. Amazing. And for people who are like human design, are you designing humans? What is that? So

[00:02:43] Catherine: human design is based around where, when we were born and where all the planets were actually aligned. So it's very fascinating, very interesting. And when you link it to money coaching, it just tends to take us to a whole new level around who we are.

[00:03:00] I love it. I love all that stuff.

[00:03:02] Molly: And I guess when people are coming to you, what's like the most common reasons you see that they're, or like the most common things they're coming to you for? Maybe if we start with like most popular. The most popular one. Yeah,

[00:03:16] Catherine: look, the most common, I guess, reason people come to me is because they can't get ahead in life.

[00:03:23] They're consistently falling behind. They just don't feel like they're, I guess, achieving the goals that they wanna achieve as well. So they're wanting help Esther, well, how do I get ahead? How do I get my finances in order? Also, why can't I get ahead? Yeah. Like I keep, you know, self-sabotaging myself as well.

[00:03:43] Molly: Oh yeah. So I'm so interested to jump into the self-sabotaging because I guess what does it mean in like everyday life? So when these people are saying like, I can't get ahead, or I'm not where I wanna be. Yeah. How, how would you start that process of working out? What is it that's happening to them?

[00:04:03] Catherine: Mm. So if I go into the money coaching realm and I think about self-sabotage where I've.

[00:04:10] Often looking at their past, so what's happened in their past? How did they grow up with money? Did they have a lot of money growing up or did they grow up without a lot of money as well? So what we do is look at identifying, well, what are the patterns and behaviors that are showing up for them? So for instance, a client I've recently been working with, she's a widow.

[00:04:32] In her early fifties, and what we identified is this pattern for her where she would scroll, which I think we all online, scroll doom scrolling. Yep, yep, exactly. And then she would just purchase unnecessarily, continually. And so she was in this pattern, and then those. Things would arrive and she'd actually put them in the cupboard because then the guilt, the shame came in.

[00:04:58] So one of the exercises that I've given her recently is a urge journal. So every time she's scrolling and she wants to purchase, she actually has to pause, sit with the feelings, write it down in the urge journal, there's questions she has to write, and then. Work out whether or not this is actually something she wants to purchase.

[00:05:19] And since she's been doing that, she actually hasn't been purchasing unnecessarily.

[00:05:25] Molly: Yeah, it's so interesting identifying that behavior. I had a conversation with a client as well, and it was actually boredom. She was doom scrolling because of boredom and then purchasing things and again. Then there was that.

[00:05:38] Huge amount of guilt. 'cause she was like, well, why did I buy that? And there was no enjoyment to actually enjoy the things there. But I love that urge list. Have you got any other examples that you can share? Oh my goodness. I've got so many. I know. You would have so many.

[00:05:56] Well, maybe when instead of doom scrolling, maybe when someone just was really struggling to stop spending.

[00:06:02] Catherine: Yeah. Yeah. So the biggest thing is actually sitting down and working through your spending as well. Mm-hmm. And identifying where is my money actually going. I've had a woman I've worked with for the last several months, she came to me thinking that, oh, well I need to.

[00:06:18] Upscale my home and I need to do this and I need to do that. When it all came down to it, it's like, actually, you don't need to do all these things. What she needed was to feel so much more value within herself and actually create a structure that worked for her, especially ran her spending. Yeah. To make sure her money was actually going to the areas that were really important to her.

[00:06:40] Often I think. We just tap and go, tap and go. We don't hold cash, so we don't really understand where our money's going. We have internet banking, but also a lot of people put their head in the sand, so they're often reluctant to look at their internet banking as well. Yeah. So they go into the

[00:06:59] Molly: cycle. So, and when it's all invisible, it's so easy to spend.

[00:07:03] I always say this to people, like, it's so easy to spend, like it's actually way harder to not spend than spend. Totally.

[00:07:12] Catherine: Totally. I mean, and especially if we only have one bank account, like a lot of people come to me and I say, tell me about your bank banking structure. And they're like, oh yeah, I've got one bank account and I've got a savings account, and that's it.

[00:07:26] And I'm like, okay, right. We need to do an overhaul over your finances because this isn't working. And I can tell you nearly. Probably 80% of my clients I do cashflow with because they don't have a great structure in place. I would love

[00:07:41] Molly: to come back to cashflow and talk about what do you think is the perfect sru?

[00:07:46] Well, not the perfect, but what's a good structure. But before we do that, how often do you find, and obviously you spend all day talking to women and men about money mindset, and you're a um, planner as well. How often is it linked to how we feel about ourselves? That as reflected in our finances, if that makes sense.

[00:08:08] Catherine: Yeah, a hundred percent. It's money's emotional. Yeah. How we make our decisions on our money is based on how we feel. Yeah. So if we are feeling really unworthy. Then, you know, a lot of women will put their head in the sand. They won't ask for pay rises, for instance. Yes, they won't go for jobs because they don't fit all the criteria if they're self-employed.

[00:08:34] I often have women come to me. I had a conversation today with an existing client who's starting a new business, and I said, we actually need to sit down and work out what you need to be earning. Yeah. So what sort of revenue? What are your expenses? What's your personal expenses so we can make sure you can actually afford.

[00:08:50] To, to do this and make it work for you as

[00:08:54] Molly: well. That is such an important exercise that gets missed so many times because I think when we start businesses, we're so excited. We're like, we've got this great idea. We don't want anyone else to do it. We wanna just go for it. But actually, have we sat down and worked out?

[00:09:08] How much do we need to live and how much are we hoping to make? And just actually look at the nitty gritty numbers, which so many of us hate doing.

[00:09:18] Catherine: Definitely. And it's really key because you know, yes, I know business doesn't make money. Often the first year we're not gonna make money, and even a couple of years.

[00:09:28] But you know, we still need to know, well, what are our expenses? Like, what do I need to be working towards? What sort of revenue do I need to bring in? And also take into account things like tax

[00:09:39] Molly: Yeah,

[00:09:39] Catherine: superannuation, because you're not getting paid super. So you need to think about those things. And then what are the true costs of running the business as well?

[00:09:48] And

[00:09:48] Molly: if that really overwhelms someone, but they wanna start a business. Yeah. What are some like things they can do? Probably like sit down with a, sit down with a coach, a money coach, and actually go through it a well, very well worthwhile activity. Look, there's a great book, prophet

[00:10:06] Catherine: First, I don't know if you've ever.

[00:10:08] Read it. Yes, I know it. I haven't actually read it, but I know it. Okay. When I first started my business, that's how I ran my business. Okay. Under the Profit First method. Yeah. And that's percentage based. And it really gave me a good grounding on my business. I've used it with clients many times as well, especially when they're starting a business.

[00:10:26] Yeah. Because one of. Biggest issues that comes to mind now is so many people come to me with tax debt.

[00:10:33] Molly: Yes. You can't spend everything you earn. You gotta put that away for the tax man. It's not your money.

[00:10:40] Catherine: That's right. Yeah. But it's very common. Business owners get themselves in the hole because they don't have a good structure, they don't have a good understanding of their cash flow.

[00:10:48] So it's really key that they look at this and go, what should I be putting aside? And often that can be like, I generally say on average, 25 to 30% is a general rule.

[00:10:59] Molly: Yeah. And I've spoken to some incredibly successful business women. So smart, and they have really struggled with this and they've all been in tax debt and it's just like this can happen to anyone.

[00:11:12] So I think that's such a great rule of thumb, just 30% boom into a separate business account where you can't touch it, where you can't put your little. Greasy MITs on it. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Just a hot tip on profit first. I actually watched some great YouTube summaries 'cause I was like, am I really gonna read a book?

[00:11:33] I'd love to, I probably don't have the time, but there's some great YouTube summaries as well. So it's a really, I think that's a great starting point. If you're feeling overwhelmed by, um, reading another book with the cash flow and you say. And when someone's like, okay, I'm trying to save, invest, put away for the future, put away from holidays, pay myself all from the one account, I'm like, oh my God.

[00:11:54] Ah, so I know, um, at Ladies Finance Club, we love using the Glen James spending planner, but how do you work with clients to actually work out cashflow and how many bank accounts they should

[00:12:06] Catherine: have set up? My rule of thumb is, you know, you need a Bills account. Separate your bills. Yeah. Your non-discretionary spending away from your everyday spending.

[00:12:15] Mm-hmm. So you need a minimum of at least two accounts from an everyday spending and a bills account. And then it's for what's important to you. So many people travel's important. Mm-hmm. So they wanna put aside money for travel. It's, yeah. Okay. Well, what does that look like? It might be ad hoc expenses like some clients I've created in even health accounts.

[00:12:35] Yeah, 'cause health is really important to them. So they're like, yep, I wanna make sure I've got money set aside for my health so that if anything happens that, or I can, you know, it might be for skincare that they really love or, uh, yes, I found

[00:12:49] Molly: that as well. Our ladies like to have self-care accounts because then they're putting money away.

[00:12:54] And it stops that guilt as well of getting my nails done every now and then getting my hair done. 'cause hair for women is such an expense.

[00:13:01] Catherine: Yeah, totally. So it's really, I'm very big on, well what do you value? What's important to you? And I think that's really key whenever you are, I guess, reframing your finances.

[00:13:11] From a cashflow perspective, we've got our discretionary and our non-discretionary spending. And with that non-discretionary, uh, sorry, with the discretionary, what are. The key areas that you wanna put your money towards. And I love the phrase that I, every dollar counts. Yeah. So, and you know, giving every dollar a purpose.

[00:13:31] Yeah. So then it's directed to what's important in your life.

[00:13:36] Molly: Yeah. And it's so important that you respect all those dollars as well, because they're dollars that you've gone out and earned. So you wanna make sure you're putting them to work, um, and giving them a job. And I guess, could you share maybe like.

[00:13:50] Two or three of the biggest transformations you've seen with clients and how they started, what the problem was and what like, and how the transformation happened. And I know I've really put you on the spot there being like gimme three of your transformation. So if you do need a bit of time to think about it, you're very welcome to take a few minutes.

[00:14:13] Catherine: Yeah. All good. Look, one client I have been working with for the last several months. We did the money coaching and the financial planning together. And that has been transformational for her. And I mean to the fact that she, we caught up the other day and she's lost several kilos. Yeah, because she's, I gave her like a, some health information to look at around supporting her health.

[00:14:40] Yeah. Uh, we created a cash flow system because she was one of those people that had money, came in money. Went out of the, basically the one bank account. Ah, so we got her to restructure her finances through a, a mortgage broker. Yeah. So then she could create such a good cash flow to support her. She used to work on a spreadsheet, so she'd go, I look at my spreadsheet.

[00:15:02] But it was always in, you know. Okay. What's happened in the last month? It wasn't forward planning. It was looking backwards. The forecast. Yeah. And so now, you know, she goes, I feel so free. Mm. And I'm like, I love that. Like it was such a great meeting to see how far she's come. Yeah. And for her to feel such freedom.

[00:15:23] And you know, even little things like even though she didn't have huge cash surplus, we've, you know, looked at her superannuation and let's put money, let's start building that up. And you know, she's now talking about renovating her kitchen because she's found her. Passion again for cooking. Yeah. And so she's now cooking, which means she's not spending as much going out, and so her world has changed because of all that work we've done and working on herself.

[00:15:54] Her money behaviors, understanding and identifying her patterns as well has been intrinsic for her to make these shifts as well. So it's also often we think we need. Something else, or we need to be, say she thought she might change careers, but now she's like, oh, actually. No, I'm actually quite happy with where I am.

[00:16:16] Wow. In, I feel like we're always chasing, I see this with a lot of people. Chase, chase, chase, chase, chase. Without that contentment in life.

[00:16:26] Molly: Yeah. Wow. So you've just transformed her life. And I love that you say, you know, she's got this sense of freedom now because even with conversations I'll, I'll have with people, like it starts off so tense.

[00:16:38] Their body language is tense, their facial expression is tense. They look like they have tears in that eye, and then by the end they've got some kind of structure, some kind of plan. Even if it's like, okay, well I need to check this. You know, I need to set up my bank accounts properly. I need to do this. I need to go speak to a financial advisor.

[00:16:55] I need to speak to a mortgage broker. But then they've got the next steps, and it's amazing to see the transformation that can happen in such a short period of time. When someone decides they wanna take that action, but I find like they have to wanna change. They have to wanna make that change. Otherwise, it's really hard.

[00:17:13] They can learn everything about investing, everything about budget, but unless it's really coming from within.

[00:17:19] Catherine: Mm. Oh, totally. I've just been working with another client and she came to me, she bought a property last year, her first property, 30 5-year-old, and she said to me, I just don't have any goals.

[00:17:33] Mm-hmm. And so that was really interesting. 'cause often we talk so much about having goals. Where are we going? What are we achieving? And so we just mapped out a plan for her to make sure her money is going to the right places. 'cause she did have, I guess, sort of bigger long-term things that she wants to do later in life.

[00:17:52] Molly: Yeah.

[00:17:53] Catherine: But it was, well, what do I do now to support me later as well? Yeah. So that's been really great to set her up and, you know, start investing regularly and just get her finances in order. I've loved working with her as well, and she's actionable. Like I love clients that you go, can you do this? And she's just like, yep, bang, done.

[00:18:14] And Oh yeah, I've done that too. And I'm like, and we found out that her employer wasn't paying her super into the correct super. So it was like, oh my goodness. Like, you know, things like that. That's huge. You don't even know. And she had no idea until I'm investigated or going, hang on. Why is your super going over here at when your super's here?

[00:18:34] Like it was really interesting. So I think that's a real key. That was a real eye opener to go make sure you understand where your money's going. Where's my super getting paid into? Yeah, we need to make sure that we're on top of these things. Yeah, no, a hundred

[00:18:50] Molly: percent. And again, like it can feel overwhelming at the start when you are learning, you know, oh, do I refinance?

[00:18:57] What does that even mean? Like, what should my super fund be invested in? Balanced or high growth or conservative like these terms can all feel quite scary, but like once you educate yourself and educating yourself can take very little time. Like, you know it, and you can make the, you can get the right advice and make the right decisions.

[00:19:14] And I love what you said about, you know, this girl, she was like, I don't really have any goals because goals give us such purpose in life. And I'm a huge goal. Get up. Like my phone is my vision board. Like I'm all about like, what am I working on next? But I will have the conversation with women and I'll be like, so what is the goal?

[00:19:33] And they're like, yeah, I don't really have any. And then we'll talk more and more. And then they're like. Well, I definitely wanna travel overseas at some point. Oh, and I definitely wanna renovate the house at some point, and I would love to take a year sabbatical. They do have these goals, but they've just thought they're not even possible.

[00:19:48] Why bother? So once you can start, put planning around it and then you know, how do we then make these goals happen with the money you have? It's so exciting for them and it brings back that life as well.

[00:20:01] Catherine: Oh, definitely. And I think that self-sabotage can come up when we feel like something's too hard.

[00:20:07] Yeah. So then we are like, okay, well I'm not, why bother saving for a home? Yeah. I'm never gonna get in the market. Yeah. Like that is a common thing I hear. And it's like, that's not true. Yeah. Actually you can, it's, and I'm a spender. It's like, well, what's a spender? Let's reframe a conversation with ourself and start talking positively, not negatively.

[00:20:30] Molly: Yeah, and I hear, I'll get women coming and saying, I'm just really bad with money, and I'm like, okay, let's talk about that. Have you ever missed your rent or mortgage payments? Oh God, no. Okay. Do you pay your bills on time All the time. Oh, absolutely. I'm like, well, you're not bad with money at all. This is just something you're telling yourself.

[00:20:48] You are actually incredible with money, and now we just need to make sure we've got a plan behind that.

[00:20:54] Catherine: A hundred

[00:20:54] Molly: percent. So I guess, how does someone recognize that they're self-sabotaging themselves? And then how do you begin to break that cycle? Like what are the very first steps? And I know that's such a hard question.

[00:21:07] Catherine: I think self-sabotage can show up in so many ways in life. But I, one thing I would say is to think about. The way you spend money, are you spending money in the way that's truly of value to you? Like is it going towards the things that are actually really important to you? Yeah. Or are you just tap and go, tap and go, not paying attention where your money's going?

[00:21:33] And to me, I, I feel like it's, it's quite a simple thing to do is just to pause, think about. Do I need this? Is this a good item to spend money on or a service to spend money on? Is this worthwhile and what does it mean? And I'll often, I have a saying to a client this morning, I said, when you go to buy that item, think about how is this going to improve my life?

[00:21:56] Yeah. And I think that's a great question to ask ourself. How is this going to improve my life,

[00:22:03] Molly: especially when walking into Chemist Warehouse, Kmart. Audi, almost really places where it's so easy to overspend because you go in for one thing and you come out with everything else. But I love that, how is this gonna add value to my life?

[00:22:19] And I feel like as well, like when you are not spending in the way that aligns with you, you know, like you are like, I'm making bad choices. Not bad. Yeah. I could be making better choices here.

[00:22:33] Catherine: Yeah, definitely. And it's also. I think sometimes people feel like it's like going to the gym. The more we go to the gym, you know, I'm going three times a week now.

[00:22:44] Yeah. So the more I do it, the more it's becomes a regular, it's an action I'm doing. Three days a week, the more we action these things, it's like, okay, it becomes repetitive. Yeah. And so we start to take note. Yeah.

[00:22:58] Molly: Wow. This is like, yeah. Financial advice, mindset, life coaching. Gosh, it's all so connected, isn't it?

[00:23:07] Gosh, definitely. And so how long do you think it takes to shift your mindset? Like to truly shift it?

[00:23:15] Catherine: I always say to clients, this is not an overnight fix. It's not like putting the light switch on and off. It takes time and people can do things like journaling. You know what works for you. You know, you might like to journal each night or, yeah.

[00:23:30] I don't know about you, but have you seen all those stickers people can put on their mirrors like, I am amazing, I'm courageous, you know? What are the things that help you to. Value yourself more and Yeah, to, I guess, focus on improving yourself.

[00:23:47] Molly: Mm. Yeah. No, I love that. And my partner and I in bed, I've started making him do this, which to be fair, he's gotten on board with, which is lovely, but like, especially when we haven't had like the best day or it's been like a bit of a challenging day and we all have those challenging days, I'll be like, okay, before we go to sleep, three things we're grateful for, let's go.

[00:24:06] And then you fall asleep, but you. And sometimes you have to think a little, like, I know we live in like this incredible country, but sometimes after a, you know, a tricky day and we all have them, you gotta be like, okay, what? What am I grateful for? Like to even just switch your mindset and reflect on those things.

[00:24:22] Like I'm like, God, we have a lot to be grateful for in this country. I love that exercise and I found doing that really helps my mindset as well, especially if I can always connect one to money, which is like. I was able to go to the shops and buy groceries. Like how fortunate am I that I'm in this position where I can do that.

[00:24:41] I don't have to check my bank account. I've got money there. I can go buy my groceries. What are some other, so you've got the journaling, the mantras, which I love. What are some other kind of exercises or practical like rituals people can build into their lives if they're trying to change the way they feel with money?

[00:25:00] If you

[00:25:00] Catherine: look at identifying our patterns and behaviors, I know that's very broad, but yeah. Thinking about, well, okay, what's my earliest money? Memory? Yeah. And how has that shaped me? And what do I hold onto? So for instance, if I grew up with no money mm-hmm. It's like, well, I'm never gonna have money, so I'm going to continue in that mindset and I'm gonna continue in that flow.

[00:25:25] Yeah. Money's energy, money flows in and out of our life. Whereas if we go reframe it and go, actually I am amazing with money. I am creating a life that I truly want. Yeah. Okay. We'll start talking through that. Create a, a money, like a little spending plan for yourself. You know, like you talked about the Glen James, you know?

[00:25:47] Yeah. Coaching cash flow. It's just breaking it down to, yeah. Simplicity and not getting overwhelmed. Like just go through your accounts, you know, like subscriptions. What don't I need? That could be your first exercise. I'm just gonna go through my subscriptions and work out what do I need, what don't I, and just get rid of the ones I don't.

[00:26:08] And you'd be amazed at just that one little exercise, what you would save.

[00:26:12] Molly: Yeah, and I love that. Just break it down so you don't have to, you know, build RA day. You can go, okay, this week I'm just looking at subscriptions next week, what are my bills? What bills do I pay every month? Like, what are my fixed expenses?

[00:26:27] Okay, I've got my phone bill. Well, I know how much that is. That's 70 bucks a month, and Ive. Got, okay, I've got water, or I've got electricity, or I've got my wifi. Just make a list of them. If you're feeling so overwhelmed looking at your accounts, just write, start with what you know or estimate and then you can go check it.

[00:26:45] But I love that as well. 'cause I think like sitting in front of a spreadsheet can feel really overwhelming. So just being like, what are my subscriptions one week? What are my bills the next week? How much do I think I spend on groceries? Woolies. I dunno, Audi, Coles, Harris Farm, whatever it is. So that's a really nice way to break it down.

[00:27:04] I love that exercise. And this question actually came from our community and it was just around, well, what if you are like, okay, you are on this money journey, you're excited, you are learning, you are educating yourself, you're coming up with a spending plan. But your other half just isn't showing interest, isn't on board risk averse.

[00:27:28] What happens in those situations? Like how can you bring them on the journey with you if they're feeling like they haven't done the work that you've been doing?

[00:27:38] Catherine: Mm. That's so hard. And it's so hard in a relationship because money can cause so much conflict. Yeah. And especially when one person is trying to move forward in life, and I've actually worked, I'm working with one woman at the moment going through a divorce, and that basically is because she wanted to move forward in life fi, especially financially, and he didn't want to.

[00:28:02] Mm. So. Obviously, I'm not saying, you know, you need to separate, but it's just no good guys, just leave it now. That's right. So it's all over. But it, it's actually, I guess one of the things to talk about is alignment of what you both wanna achieve. So your partner might have a different view of money and often I find it's because of their money.

[00:28:28] Like their money passed. Yeah. That they're reluctant to say combine finances, for instance. Yeah. And I'm not saying that you should always combine finances, but it's working out well. How do we align our money to the things that are really important to us? Each couple are always gonna have different things that are important to us.

[00:28:47] So what do we value? What are we working towards? And then how do we align our money to work for us to support us moving forward? And so I'm actually doing this with a client at the moment because her partner, they've just had a baby. He doesn't wanna combine finances. So we are trying to work out, I know after having a child, but how do they work together to.

[00:29:14] Be more aligned around where their money is going. So it's really key to sit down and talk through. And some people do like money dates. They might sit down every week or, and also too, it could be the fear of the partner of, say, wanting to not let go of say, control. Yeah. Of their money or feeling like, you know.

[00:29:38] So if they see their partner as, say a spender, they don't wanna let go of. Their money, or if they're a spender, they're like, well, I don't want someone telling me what to do with my money as well. Yeah. So there is ways around it, but it is coming together and working through, okay, how do we set up a structure that works for us?

[00:30:00] Molly: Yeah. And I think as well, you just have to approach with such curiosity and people who can get so defensive so quickly when it comes to their monies. So it's just an open conversation. And I was speaking to one of our members the other day and her, she said, look, my partner really likes to see large amounts of money in a bank account, and that's what makes him feel safe.

[00:30:22] And I was like, okay, great. So how do we make this work? But also have our money organized. So we actually ended up, she's doing a net worth with her partner every month so they can see how much, actually on the spreadsheet, when they combine all their assets, how much they have. And that dollar figure is fulfilling his part of, I need to see the whole amount, but then it means she can kind of get on with the.

[00:30:48] I call her the CFO. She's the CFO of the relationship with the the spending and actually organizing the money. 'cause she doesn't want it all in one account 'cause it's just so hard to manage. So yeah, I think it's also exactly as you said, like working out. How are they approaching it? What's their money story Again, I was speaking to someone and their partner had a lot of money as a child and then.

[00:31:11] One of the parents lost it all. And so they wanna hold on really tightly to the money they have and just bank it in their bank account. In their bank account. And she's like, let's buy some property. Let's like grow this money. Let's invest it. And they're like, no. So again, it's like, okay, well then how do you work together to make sure you've got enough in the emergency fund?

[00:31:32] There's something to come up, but then there's enough to then grow that money as well. So you're both getting that. Yeah. You're both working towards, I don't know, what would you call it? Yeah. You're both feeling like you are being heard, listened to, and you'll feel secure.

[00:31:48] Catherine: Yeah. And that's common in the couples coaching?

[00:31:50] I do. Yeah. So when I do couples coaching. It is around understanding each other's past.

[00:31:56] Molly: Yeah.

[00:31:57] Catherine: Because then we both, we get to reflect on, okay, that's why my partner is like that. Okay, that makes sense. And then we get to start shifting those money dynamics so both can feel safe, secure in alignment. Also, uh, people have so much money, trauma.

[00:32:17] And it's crazy. Yeah. And it's like, okay, we need to work on this money, trauma. And I think money coaching, as much as I love the planning, the planning's, all the external work. Yeah. The money coaching is working internally. Yeah. What do I, internal dynamics, what do I need to transform? How do I transform?

[00:32:35] What do I need to shift? Yeah. And if we don't do that a plan, you can have the best plan. Yeah. But it can just fall on the wayside. Yeah, the coaching has to come

[00:32:44] Molly: first. Awesome. So Catherine, who are the main kinds of people you help? Who comes to you?

[00:32:51] Catherine: I get a lot of women come to me and lately a lot of women transitioning into single hood as well.

[00:32:59] Yeah. A lot of couples I work with as well, I'm not as, my youngest client's been 23. My oldest has been in their late sixties. So it's really people that are ready to transform. I think that's the biggest thing. They're ready to invest in themselves. They're ready to shift their money dynamics and move forward in life.

[00:33:20] Molly: And guys, Catherine's one of our awesome LFC ambassadors, so if someone is like, Catherine, I love what you're saying, I think I might need some coaching or some couples counseling or some financial planning. Where's the best way they can get in touch with you

[00:33:33] Catherine: through the LFC, obviously website, their ambassadors best, um, or through my website.

[00:33:41] It's Joyful money.com au. Uh, I'm on Instagram as the Joyful Money Coach as well. Mm-hmm. So yeah, happy to reach out and have

[00:33:49] Molly: a chat. Thank you so much for coming on this show, Catherine. And thank you also for doing what you do, just from hearing your stories today. You've transformed so many lives and so many more to come, so thank you.

[00:34:00] Oh, thanks Molly. Thanks for having me.

KEYWORDS

financial coaching, human design, self-sabotage, money mindset, emotional spending, cash flow, financial planning, client transformation, money awareness, relationship dynamics