Being Financially Brave ft. Alexis Howard CEO of 'Financially Brave'

[00:00:00] Kriti: Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to WhyFI Matter$. It's been a hot minute since I've been in my recording studio, aka the extra closet, but it feels so great to get back to talking to all the wonderful guests on the show and creating hopefully meaningful and educational episodes. I want to start off 2022 with an episode, focusing on how we can get through this year having a healthier relationship with our money. I'm super excited to speak with Alexis Howard, who's the founder of, Financially Brave. And before we jump into the actual interview, I wonder what it means to be financially brave. And I asked this question to a few people in my life, teachers, family members, and friends, and I wanted to share their own definitions because as you're soon going to hear being financially brave means something special and unique for each individually.

My friend from school, who's very, very interested in pursuing a career in finance, defined, being financially brave, as "straying away from the herd mentality. For example, investing in a company that doesn't have as much hype as other companies". And I totally agree with this statement. The fact that this is coming from a teenager is even more amazing because us teens, we often get caught up in the trends. And I think that people who do stay true to themselves in anything really are truly the ones who are being brave.

And this actually echoed what my advisor said. And she said that being financially brave is constantly remembering what is important to me or to herself in such a capitalist capitalistic society, we really need to go back and ask ourselves, what do I need? What do I want? And period, like, I totally agree with her.

And one of the other teachers at my school who is actually really, really into investing said that investing is a way of being financially brave, and making big big, big financial decisions always, always takes courage. And it's almost as if he heard my interview with Alexis because hint: we talk a lot about investing and how it's a way to build wealth. He also, said he recently bought a house and how much courage it really takes and making those big or tough financial decisions.

My other friend also kind of mirrored what he said, and she likes to invest in she's a teen investor and she believes that the only way to gain financial freedom is to have the confidence to invest. And I totally agree with her because investing is inherently, it will have risks and overcoming these risks is something that I would define as being brave.

A family friend said that building wealth is continuous learning and discovery, bold decisions and making tough choices. And I think that's just beautifully put and learning often requires us to be brave by being vulnerable, saying 'yes' I don't know, but I'm excited to learn more and, you know, not putting up some sort of front and it was pretty cool to hear everyone's own personal definitions.

And I'm excited to hear Alexis's definition of what being financially brave is and why she even started this. And, you know, she's made a whole company out of. As a personal finance expert, helping people around the world achieve financial independence through self-discipline and, educational resources. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Hi, Alexis. Thank you so much for coming on, WhyFI Matter$ today. I'm super excited to get to know you a little more and also get to understand what your platform financially brave is all about and share the space with another person who is very, very interested in personal finance, so I'm super excited to learn from you and thank you so much for coming on the show today.

[00:04:23] Alexis: Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to have this conversation.

[00:04:27] Kriti: Can you tell us a little bit more about, you know, your life as a teenager and where you a money conscious?

[00:04:34] Alexis: I grew up in Los Angeles, California, and as you know, as a teenager, as a child and a teenager, we, myself and my brothers, we grew up in a home where money pretty much tight all the time. And so I didn't have much education about money and my relationship to money at that time from just childhood to adolescence was really that money was scarce. And that, you know, my parents had to work really hard to make sure that they were able to provide for us. And they were, you know, we, we had a roof over our head and we were always, you know,food and lights were on and, and whatnot, but it just wasn't something where money was like in abundance to us in our household.

And so for me, at least growing up in that sort of environment. You would think that it would breed the desire to want to learn more about becoming wealthy? And of course I would. I think there's, I think most people want to be wealthy. Right. But I just didn't have like an interest in actually like getting into that, you know, it just, wasn't something that I really focused on when I had money.

Oftentimes, spend it on getting a cute outfit for school or buying a gadget or something like that. But I just didn't really have any sort of idea of like what healthy financial management was. And I think that was partially because we didn't have money in the household to really healthily manage. It was just, we used it to pay bills.

And so, yeah, so I didn't really get into it until I had to move away for college. At 17, I moved to San Francisco, um, to go to school and for anyone who's listening and who's not familiar with the baby. Very expensive, extremely expensive to live out

[00:06:10] Kriti: the most expensive area of the U

[00:06:13] Alexis: S or I believe so. I think, I think we just beat New York last.

I last I read if not, we're in second place for sure. But it's up there. Yeah. It's very expensive to live out here. And so, you know, when you're really young and my parents definitely weren't able, they, they did what they could and they got me to school and whatnot. But once I graduated, when it came to actually knowing.

How to manage money and how to survive in such an expensive city. I really had, I was on my own for that. My parents weren't going to be subsidizing my rent or food expenses or anything like that. They just weren't in the position to do that. And so I think it was really at that point where I started to think, okay, I need to really sit back and really understand money because one, I want to be able to enjoy my time here in San Francisco.

But two, I also want to be in a place where, when I have kids, when I have a child who is off in college, he or she is often college. I mean, maybe they're in New York city or maybe they're in Miami, or I don't know, they're in a large city that I would be in a situation as a parent to be able to comfortably help them out.

And so. That was like the starting point. And from there sort of like working in fields that were tied to money. So like it wasn't real estate for a little bit. And then I got into wealth management. I was doing a lot of reading outside of that, just that mixture of, of everything. And then learning how to manage my own money was what really started my journey.

[00:07:36] Kriti: I think like your story is definitely relevant to like the whole, one of the reasons why I started this podcast, because when I go to college, it's not just about like getting the grades and everything, but like, how are you managing your life out? And that includes, how are you getting nutrition? How are you washing your clothes, getting supplies and the whole financial aspect of just day to day living is something that when you're on your own, like you're not going to have your parents there for you all the time.

And it's important to have these personal finance skills with you, regardless of. You know, if you go to college, if you don't go to college, just when you are on your own, these are, it's like a tool toolbox. And if you don't have this in your arsenal, then it's going to be difficult for you. Yeah,

[00:08:30] Alexis: absolutely. I couldn't agree more.

[00:08:32] Kriti: Did you do anything, a little entrepreneurial as a teen because like you started financially brave and I considered this like, as something very, very entrepreneurial, and obviously you started it out of. This growing interest in a specific area, but did you have these tendencies to take something that was a challenge and then try to do something out of it?

[00:08:56] Alexis: Definitely say that from as early as I truly can remember, I've always had like a very entrepreneurial mindset. So I think. That spirit has always been inside of me in terms of actually executing on a project as a teenager, and like actually creating something. I don't recall doing anything like that, but you know, when I was a teenager, my mindset was really wanting to go to medical school for a really long time.

That was my thing was to become a doctor and to have my own practice. You know what I have my own. As a doctor and be able to offer services to men and women. And so again, the mindset was always there. The ambition was always there, but I didn't really execute on any projects where I was like making money or taking on a challenge and trying to like sell a service or a product.

I think just the whole. Idea not having a boss and like being able to do stuff on your own terms. Yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. I like very, very attractive. So you said you went into after college, you went into real estate. And so why, why, why this sector, like you said, it was because it was related to money, but what happened to your whole dream of being a doctor?

Yeah, that's an interesting story. And then I don't really talk about much and I probably should just because it was a pretty big, that was a pretty big turning point for me in adulthood. Because from as young, young, as I can remember, I also wanted to be a doctor. So at five, six years old, I was really close with a family friend who was an obstetrician.

And I had a really good relationship with her. Yeah. And she.

[00:10:34] Kriti: I have one of the things, one of the many things I want to be as gynecologist just,

[00:10:38] Alexis: yeah. Yeah. She had gone to UC Berkeley and UCLA, and she was just very brilliant and, and yeah, I wanted to follow in her footsteps for the longest. And I think when you go to college, it's, it's so crazy that at 17 years old, you're expected to know like what you want to do for life.

And I just kind of repeat that I was going to be a doctor and, you know, you get to school and you start taking for me, science is just not. It's not my strong suit. Like, you know, it's just not, and I had to really come to terms with that after my second year. And you start getting into like more advanced classes for science, it just wasn't something I was enjoying.

And then it comes to this, like this internal identity crisis that you're going through. Yeah. Conflict is a really good word. Yeah. Where you're like, this is what I thought I was supposed to be doing. But if I don't do this, like I want to do, or do I continue doing this and make my grandparents happy, but.

You know, is it really about money and just trying to figure out like what my next move was. And so real estate was just, it was on accident. You're still, still discovering yourself at like 18, 19 years old. My first job was, I think I was 19 when I was in real estate, it was property management. And so I liked being in a space where I was around a lot of wealthy people and I liked being able to have that sort of like inspiration, but in terms of.

Guidance as to like what I wanted to do. I just wasn't there yet. So that was by random. But after I took the first real estate drop, I went to a second one where I was, my title was an operations project manager, which really meant that I was like just helping oversee a lot of the properties. And let me tell you I was miserable.

Job itself was okay. But. The environment was extremely toxic. I have never been in such an unhealthy unpleasant environment with supervisors, and that was such a big turning point. And I think really shifted me that's is like the starting point of the breeding grounds for financially brave because I'm in this situation.

Right. And. I don't really have clarity on what I want to do with life, but I'm right now, I know that I'm in a situation where I'm just so miserable. I hate going to work, coming to work shaking and with sweating palms, because I know I'm going to be screamed at or, you know, style out and it was really bad.

And so. I didn't have the funds to leave though. I wasn't saving, I wasn't investing at the time. And again, I'm living in San Francisco. It's a really expensive city. And so I'm in this like really vulnerable place. And I'm like, if I quit, I would only have, I think I had maybe a couple of hundred dollars in my savings account.

I wouldn't have been enough to even cover rent for the month. And. I didn't know what my next step would be in life, but I knew that I could just never, ever, ever, ever, ever allow myself to be in a situation like that where I had to one, not, I couldn't leave a place that like was actually really bad for my mental health or to just not have that much control over my money.

And so. That's when I really started to like, on my own, just do a lot of like reading and research. And then I got into one more real estate firm was there for a year, had a little bit more guidance, but now I have this like big interest in personal finance, right. Because I was just in this really toxic situation.

So now I'm like starting to manage my own money and I'm realizing. Transitioned from the second real estate firm to the third real estate firm. I went from having, you know, two, $300 in my savings savings account to now having $25,000 in my savings account. Right. And so it wasn't that I had a huge salary increase.

It wasn't that I had won the lotto. It was just that I had a better relationship with money and knew how to budget. I knew the importance of budgeting and I was able to save. So. Quick and that right there is how financially brave came to be a thing. Cause I'm like, wait a second. I was able to do this on a salary, like on average of like a $65,000 annual salary, which is nothing.

It's nothing. Yeah. But to be able to do that and to save so much money. Anyone can do this, you know, if they have the skillset, if they have the framework like this, anything is possible, right? Yeah.

[00:14:47] Kriti: So I want to talk more about financially brave, and I really love the name because I've never come across any.

Thing related to personal finance with the word brave in it. I really liked that. And can you tell us what does it actually mean to be financially brave?

[00:15:06] Alexis: Yeah. I wanted to start the business and I didn't want to get in my own way. And I knew that I would like wait for a year to think of the perfect name before getting started.

And so I was like, I have to come up with something and I took about 12, 12 to 24 hours. I gave myself to just really come up with something that resonated and I thought, you know, financially brave. Why brave, because when it comes to changing your financial situation, you really have to change a lot of your.

Habits, your identity is oftentimes associated with that. And yeah, and that's not easy. It's not easy to have, you know, I talked to my clients a lot of times and you have to have tough conversations with family members. Maybe your family members are expecting that you're helping them pay their bills, or maybe, you know, you are, you just have family members who are encouraging.

Your friends are encouraging you to just go out all the time or whatever. They're not helping your financial habits. And you have to have conversations with them. Maybe you're living in a place that you know, is just really. Out of your budget. And so you have to consider moving into a place that maybe isn't your budget, and maybe it's not as nice when, so all of these decisions that you have to make bigger, small requires courage.

It requires you having to really face yourself in the mirror. And, and you know, I'm from the school of thought that your money is largely associated with, with your mindset and your behavior. And so learning how to be brave is such an important part of being successful with your money and your finances.

No.

[00:16:30] Kriti: Yeah, it's kind of funny because my mom just had this very similar conversation with me when it comes to like my habits, like when it comes to studying or, you know, giving myself certain time to get something done certain time for relaxation and my habits and my processes when it comes to approaching a test or a big work day, and also incorporate time for my yourself and for your.

Mental health and physical health and everything. And it's like funny because she's had those conversations with me like 10 times, and I'm still not able to like, change my habits that much and take that step because maybe I think it's, cause I'm just so used to it. And also I'm kind of scared to what if I do change?

You know, I'm losing this thing that is like a constant, like what are my habits? You know? So yeah. I really like how you relate your spending habits and your saving habits and how you can improve.

[00:17:34] Alexis: Absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's psych psychology is such a huge part of this experience. Yeah. And people really.

You made it, and they really want to focus on becoming an expert at understanding the market. When in reality, it doesn't matter how much, you know, if you don't have like the internal skillset to really execute on, on your knowledge, are you

[00:17:56] Kriti: removing this stigma surrounding like money? And we have these certain ways, we think about money as like a society, especially like American society.

It's always a scarcity. It's never enough. You're always having to achieve this standard American dream. This reminds me, I'm sorry, I'm going off on a little tangent, but last year I read the great Gatsby for school. And one of my essays about the book was like the American dream. Shouldn't be prescriptive.

It's it's different for everyone. Like you don't need the white picket fence house. You don't need a hundred thousand dollars in your bank account to. Have achieved the American dream. I think we can all have dreams as Americans. It's not going to be like one single one. And I think that relates to what you were saying.

How, how are you kind of making everyone have their own journey with money and removing these stigmas and taboos surrounding the topic?

[00:18:59] Alexis: Yeah. And it's a difficult thing because it's so deeply ingrained in society. You know, how we think about money and how we feel about material stuff, material goods, and materialism.

All of this is just deeply ingrained in. And all of us and, you know, one thing I I've made a couple of posts on is how the American dream can turn into the American nightmare. You know, you're so busy, caught up trying to keep up with an image where a lot of people, it's just not sustainable. You know, if you have money, like, like bill gates and Oprah, and maybe you don't have to be a billionaire, but you know, you're, you're a multimillionaire then.

Yeah. Having a white picket fence in the few cars and having a really good home and all these things like that can be sustainable for people. For the majority of America for a large part of population, it's just not sustainable. But if you graduate from college and you think, well, this is what I need to achieve.

I need to have this house with this white picket fence. I need to have, um, a really nice car. I need to make sure that I'm dressed in head to toe in, in designer or, you know, really expensive clothes. You're just chasing something that is not sustainable for your future wealth and your future, the future health of your finances.

And so how I try to target that as one is. Trying to bring that into perspective, which is difficult because again, you, when you have a way of thinking, that's been deeply ingrained in you. And again, all of us, right. It's hard to kind of go against that, but it's just it's perspective and giving that sort of perspective, I think helps education, of course helps people sometimes are just doing things because they're moving in autopilot and it's just all they've ever known.

And so just having that conversation. Actually like how we're having a conversation or doing it through, you know, social media content or whatnot, that, that has helped a lot. I also really try to talk about how we should, as a society, move toward our happiness, being associated with things that aren't necessarily tied to.

Two things that cost a lot of money. And what I mean by that is when I was on my journey to saving rapidly a huge part of me being able to do that was just, I mean, I had to cut down on a lot of expenses. And so some of the things that I was doing on a consistent basis, like going out to eat and like maybe socializing with friends and grabbing some drinks or something like that, you know, that was costing a lot of money and.

I was able to still access what the craziest part about this journey of saving so quickly was that I was still able to access a lot of happiness and MySpace of not spending because I found happiness in going for long, walks my dog at the park and being able to sit down and just read a book, or I wanted to hang out with friends, bring them over to the house.

We would have a game night or something like that, where people were still able to enjoy company. We're still able to be, you know, laughing and yeah. And we have a potluck of food, so we're still able to celebrate, but it's not costing. It's not expensive. And so it's really trying to show people like that extra, like that product bag or the Yeezy's or the new iPhone.

Like I'm not against anyone having something that's nice, but you know, first off it shouldn't be your source of happiness. And to like, you can, you can access happiness or you can try. Try to get to that point by learning how to cleanse out, you're going to look a financial diet and taking out all of the junk and just focusing on things that truly make you happy or trying to discover what makes you happy.

[00:22:25] Kriti: So you have two programs that caught my eye. So the first one was a program on building wealth through the stock market. So I want to talk more about this program. It seems really interesting. So first, what is your definition of what.

[00:22:43] Alexis: All those, essentially, when you have significantly more assets than liabilities.

And I think kind of to your point earlier where certain terms of have to be prescriptive, prescriptive, what may feel. Like abundance to me may not feel like abundance to you, you know? And so we might have our own levels of what we feel financially comfortable with when it comes to saying I'm wealthy.

But I think that all that. Do you having the financial freedom to do live life on your terms, but it's because you have the assets behind you to help you do that, you know, and you have money aside in investments. Maybe you're also in real estate. Maybe you have a business, but these assets by and large can support.

[00:23:28] Kriti: How does a person's race, your gender affect their wealth? I did an episode last summer, like on the racial wealth gap and, and obviously there's a gender wealth gap and I've looked more into the pay gap, but not the wealth gap necessarily. But if you are minority, your wealth building capability is affected because of what you look like.

Right. And I want to talk a little bit more about this. So what are your thoughts?

[00:23:57] Alexis: Yeah. I mean, race and gender plays a role in, in society, not just with money, but pretty much any sort of social dynamic. And so it's something that is there. It's not something that we can ignore and it's important to have the conversation and the dialogue, because I think that's one how you can bring awareness, but then two, how you can come up with a solution.

Part of the reason people who are from marginalized have marginalized identities, you know, part of the reason of the gap. Is education and awareness. If like, for me, for instance, if I grew up in a household where my family's on investing, my family doesn't have a financial advisor and my family. Um, doesn't talk about money.

I was just fortunate enough to get into that space. But if, if I hadn't moved to San Francisco and I hadn't been in the situation that I was in, I likely would have developed the same sort of mindset and behaviors that my family had. And this is natural. It's not, it's not. Yeah. You're like learning

[00:24:57] Kriti: vicariously through your parents.

And a similar thing happened with my mom cause she came she's from India and she came from her family in it back in India. It's there, there, there were never wealthy at all. Like they, I think they lived a very similar. Kind of lifestyle, like pay the bills, send my children to school, pay a bill, send my children to school and try to get my children outside of India.

That was their whole mindset. And my mom's mindset was to get to the U S so she, her parents never really, you know, like invested, they were serial entrepreneurs. So they would do small businesses here and there, but nothing never like had a job. Her whole concept of money was. Affected by her parent or, and I think we have to understand this because we definitely take on things that our parents or whoever we live with.

So like she's here in the U S and she, she doesn't invest. Like she doesn't actively invest. And I was like, well, why don't you get into it? And it's just hard for her to kind of. Change this whole mentality, but she wants me to change. Like, she's she understand why it's important now? And now she, she wants me to invest.

So I think it's interesting how that kind of plays out.

[00:26:17] Alexis: Yeah, it really is. And you know, a lot of people talk about the wealth gap and especially the racial wealth gap. And oftentimes when we're talking about. Generation when we're talking about finances in generational, we usually say, oh, well, wealth can be generational and generational wealth, which is great, but, but poverty is generational too.

Right. And so you have to, yeah. And so when we're talking about addressing the wealth gap, we also have to be talking about the issues that are continuing to perpetuate poverty because in order to close that you have to be able to. To address the issues that are happening there as well. And so I think people have to do think about that.

You know, wealth is generational, but, but poverty.

[00:27:00] Kriti: Yeah, for sure. I know, I know another way that you can invest to build your wealth is through obviously the stock market, but also through crypto. So I just wanted to hear your thoughts on

[00:27:15] Alexis: yes. Crypto crypto is the crypto is the thing right now. Yeah.

There's many ways that people are building wealth and the traditional ways. Are oftentimes getting into stocks and, you know, having a portfolio of stocks and bonds, having, you know, a retirement accounts, mutual funds, individual accounts, and getting into real estate, building a business, I would say those are like the really common ways that you'll find someone's connected to that some way somehow when they're building wealth, when it comes to crypto, It's just very new.

It's extremely volatile. And so I'm by no means, am I like crypto experts? I do want to be very clear on that. If you are going to invest in it, it's just not something that I would encourage people to put all of their savings or all of their retirement, or, you know, all of their, all of their investments towards something like that.

Because there, there is a lot of volatility that's associated. Investing like that. And it's, there's still a lot of uncertainty. And so you just have to be mindful and make sure that you're managing your risks.

[00:28:13] Kriti: How do you think traditional ways of investing are going to be shaped in the future?

[00:28:20] Alexis: I personally believe that that we're going to be moving to more digital assets.

And you know, when we're exchanging money that that's happening, not on a cash basis, there's still a lot of question marks who would have predicted COVID right. Like we don't, we don't know what's to come. And so you just want to make sure that when you, when you're investing in, you're making financial decisions, that you're keeping that in mind.

I think people are

[00:28:42] Kriti: going to have to become financially brave and. Maybe change the way they're investing a bit and make the switch to fit the times kind of. So that's really exciting. Um, and you'll also have another program which is you're saving a limiting eliminating debt program. So I like, I liked what you said on your website.

You said like something along the term to like, regardless of someone's a person income. You can achieve minimal debt. Can you elaborate on this plan and what you exactly?

[00:29:18] Alexis: Yeah. So one thing that people sometimes do when they're in their wealth building journey and everyone is, has different starting points.

As, you know, as you know, But one common thing is people are jumping into investing a little bit prematurely. And what I mean by that is they haven't taken care of some savings and debt issues that they have. And so the savings in that course is really meant to be the foundation that it's teaching you the strategies to save as quickly as possible to get really good at it, really tight with your budget.

And then once you're able to do that, manage your debt in a way that is effective so that you can comfortably invest in the stock market because you can have debt and also invest in many people do that, but you have to make sure it makes sense. And so we do, we talk about debt management, which will involve credit cards and, you know, commonly car loans or student debt.

And, you know, one thing I really encourage my audience to look for. Clients to look for is that you understand how much your debt is costing you. And oftentimes your debt is so high that it wouldn't make sense for you to be investing in the stock market because your debt is costing you more than you would probably get in the stock market.

Right? Where student loans, I mean, it varies people have different rates, but oftentimes. Many times I should say, you can, you can have the student debt. It's not, not that high and you can invest in the stock market and do both. So everyone has like, everyone has a different tolerance level, but it's really about just kind of getting clear on what your rates are.

And if it makes sense for you, given the rates that you have in debt to also invest in. Hmm, that's

[00:30:58] Kriti: smart. Like I never really, it might be because investing is like so cool, but like saving is like, why do I have to save this? You know? But that's the first step. Those are the baby steps.

[00:31:12] Alexis: Yeah, because the thing is, is once you get started, like investing is of course set up for you to build a lot of wealth, meaning you're putting money into an account and over time, The idea behind it is that it's going to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow.

What you don't want to happen is that your money is growing and it's doing amazing. And then Corona virus part three hit part 10. You know, we're like, it's never ending, right? So part 10 is around, but part 10 is really bad. And so now you've lost your job. Like now you have no income coming in, but you have car notes that you have to pay.

You have rent that you have to pay. You don't want to have to dip into your investments that are probably also now down as well, because the market is down. You don't want to have to dip into that, to pay for the car note and the, all of those other things you want to dip into your cash, your savings account.

And so people don't think like that sometimes when they're getting started, but you put yourself in a bad situation, because if you had all this growth, you might have to go tap into that growth to pay for some expenses. And so you want to make sure you're doing things in order. You're not jumping over.

[00:32:11] Kriti: Exactly trappings of why is financial literacy more important than ever?

[00:32:19] Alexis: I think life is becoming more and more expensive. I think that in general money doesn't buy happiness, but. A certain level of security does buy happiness and you need to have a roof over your head. Peace of mind, peace of mind is the perfect way to say it.

Yeah, it's the perfect way to say it. And when you're able to know that you can comfortably provide for yourself and you know, your immediate family and. Needs that your immediate family or yourself may have, like knowing that you have that taken care of financially just truly gives you, like you said, a peace of mind and you live a lot.

Your life is a lot less stressful when you do have your finances aligned. And it doesn't mean that your goal has to be becoming a millionaire, but you definitely want to be at a level where. You're stable and you feel comfortable. And so being literate, understanding the power of where each of your dollars are going, understanding the impact of not investing.

All of these things are really going to help you live a better life. And I, I truly think that it'll impact your, your, your physical health as well. You know, when you're less stressed and you're more. You can quit a job if it, if you hate it,

[00:33:27] Kriti: whatever. Right. Exactly. So what is your advice for your 17 year old self?

And it can be in terms of literally

[00:33:35] Alexis: anything. And I would have encouraged myself to not be so hard on myself. You know, I think that there was. Gotten a lot better now, especially with owning a business and having to run that. And just like so much growth is required internally when you're doing that. And so what I learned in my, where I'm at now is just like you grow through challenge and in hardship and adversity and.

You're also not perfect. Like I know people say that, but like really like, just relax, you know, if you mess up, if you feel embarrassed because you said something wrong or like you misrepresented yourself, whatever the case may be like, no, one's thinking that hard about it. And I would just really encourage, I was in my shell a lot at that 17.

I was, I was very quiet in class. I didn't really raise my hand. I was always in the back of it. Like I was just, I was very introverted in social settings and a part of it was because there was just so much pressure that I felt to have to show up as someone. Else or show up as the perfect Alexis where I've really had let that go.

And you know what people think about me, people think about me and it is what it is. And so I think it's because of that, like your, your life feels so much at ease when you're, when you're living life, just accepting who you are and not needing validation from anyone. And I would really encourage 17 year old Alexis to lean into that more.

[00:34:51] Kriti: I love that advice. Thank you so much, Alexis, for coming on the podcast today, it was super fun to talk to you. And I really, I really loved our conversation, men, how we went. Like even deeper, like the actual psychology and you know, how we think about money and the different factors that affect a person's relationship with money.

So thank you so much for this conversation. And thanks for coming on the podcast.

[00:35:18] Alexis: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:35:20] Kriti: So that's the end of the interview and it was so much fun to speak to Alexis, and I hope you all learned a thing or two to help reframe your mindset surrounding money in 2022. What are some of the financial decisions that you're going to have to make that require you to be brave? Or how can you be brave by changing some of your financial habits for the better also make sure to interact with wifi matters on our social media, especially via our Instagram and Twitter accounts. Thank you so much for listening and I can't wait to talk to you next time.

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