Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. This episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel. Great show today.

Rachel Simon: Hi Lee, can you believe it’s our last show of 2024? Flew by this year, flew by and we have got a great one to wrap up the year. I’m really happy to welcome our guest, Amy Getz, who is a financial advisor with IRC Wealth. And I love what we’re going to talk about today, because tis the season for gift giving and financial woes, right, Amy?

Amy Getz: Oh my gosh. And then everyone rolling into January saying, I’m going to do it differently this year. I’m going to be so organized and I’m going to have a budget. And, you know, it’s everyone’s ducking and weaving from their financial professional in December. But January is when everyone’s like, let’s discuss. But I say let’s get a jump start on it now and set yourself up for success in 25.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about you, what you do? I know you’ve got, you know, lots of things that you’re passionate about. So tell us about you.

Amy Getz: Oh, yes. Well, thank you so much for having me. I’m delighted to be here. My belief is that wealthy women change the world. Wealthy people change the world. And I say that by way of rising tides raise all ships. And so when we are elevating our mindset around money, then we are able to be in a space of giving from an overflow. Right? We can’t give from an empty cup. And really, we shouldn’t give from a full cup. We should give from an overflow. So I love to talk about money mindset, elevating, elevating people’s ideas and beliefs and ability to earn and grow their money. And I am a financial advisor. I was a CPA by trade, so numbers are my jam and I just have found that in my learning about money and finances, that my passion is making sure that people feel educated because I want people to feel like a partner in their money story. It is a team sport in my opinion, right? Whether that’s with a business partner, a romantic partner in a relationship at your office. And I think it’s important to have the conversations.

Rachel Simon: Why do you think or what do you see as the some of the top challenges people have when it comes to their, you know, financial literacy?

Amy Getz: Well, I think first of all, people don’t look at their numbers. And I think that sounds like a kind of a low hanging fruit as it relates to the answer. But oftentimes people just don’t know the data. And it’s like the monster under the bed, right? You think there’s one under there. And then when you turn the lights on and look, it’s really not there. So my first line of defense is always and asking people to really just pause. And I don’t even say stop and go forward. I say go back a few months, take a look at your numbers, what’s coming in, what’s going out. And oftentimes people, you know, we’re living our life. It’s busy kids, families, jobs, all the things. And if we just pause long enough and it doesn’t need to be anything fancy, you don’t need QuickBooks. You don’t even need an Excel. You just need a notebook. And you just need to write down what’s coming in, what’s coming out, so that you can see when you get to the end of the month. Is there more, or am I in the hole and really starting to be able to reevaluate? What what should I do going forward?

Rachel Simon: But there’s a lot of emotion tied to that.

Amy Getz: So much emotion. But I think, too, we assign an emotional value to money and it’s really a neutral resource. So it’s the emotions that get in the way. And when I talk to clients, I think, you know, everyone thinks the numbers are the hard part. And I’m like, actually, the numbers are really the easy part. It’s the emotions associated with the numbers, the fear, the grief, the relationships, the money stories we grew up with. Oftentimes, those stories are ones that we’ve adopted from people important in our life, and we haven’t slowed down enough to challenge them to decide if they truly are our money stories, or ones that we’ve just sort of inherited by generation. So I think it is an emotional topic. I think it’s awesome to have a financial professional or a team of financial professionals who can kind of take the charge out of it. It’s just data. It doesn’t define who you are, what you have in your bank account or in your investment accounts. Today is not a definition of who you are, it’s just a state of reality. I always like to remind people the windshield is way bigger than the rear view mirror for a reason. We’re just looking forward, and wherever you are today doesn’t mean that you can’t change and elevate that mindset. I never, ever think it’s too late. So yes, there are a lot of money issues around emotional, but I think if we kind of just shine a light on them, then we can realize that it’s just data. It’s not who we are.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, kind of releasing the guilt and shame. That’s that a lot of people I think associate with.

Amy Getz: Or where they should be. There’s we’re always shitting on ourselves. Well, I should be here. I should be there. And if you think about it, there’s not much financial education that’s in the school systems, unless you’re in a career or in a degree program that highlights financial education. There’s so many people that are geniuses in what they do, but yet they don’t have sort of the basic scope of how to run a business, how to take care of their own personal finances. So everyone’s in good company when they feel like it is something that is outside of them and they don’t understand it.

Rachel Simon: So you’re saying when I learned how to write a check in the fourth grade, that wasn’t a sufficient financial.

Amy Getz: Literacy was a little more a little more to it. And I do wish that there was some required programing for either our high schoolers or even just when we’re doing the, you know, basic math, reading, writing history, like putting in a personal finance option in those basic programing because it is something that is feels elusive to people, feels elevated, like they don’t understand. And it’s I mean, really it is an important piece of your I always say your relationship with money outside of your family is the longest relationship of your life. Like as soon as you start to understand and you’re, you know, early elementary years, things cost, you can have things or you can’t like that’s when your money relationship starts. So if that’s one of our longest relationships, why aren’t we prioritizing it more in just the educational system and outside of it?

Rachel Simon: Good point.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a little bit about some of the fundamentals when it comes to building financial wealth? Um, I was blessed at a young age that I learned the importance of compounding. Like that was a game changer for me. And it kind of reset my mindset and then multiple revenue streams. Most wealthy people have multiple revenue streams. They don’t rely on just their job and their income from their job. But when you. When I learned those things that affected my behavior moving forward. So can you share maybe some of your core fundamentals that everybody should know?

Amy Getz: Oh my gosh, I love this question. And honestly, I say the key to becoming a millionaire is automating your savings. When I what I mean by that is if you actually pay yourself first and why, I want you to know your numbers. What’s coming in versus what’s going out is because I want you to know what’s going to be either left or where you need to find some space. And when you pay yourself first, like you’re paying another bill, you are automatically building your wealth. And that then brings up the point of compound interest. When I was younger, I started at $25 $50 a month, just starting to invest so it doesn’t have to be a large volume. I think people oftentimes think, well, if I don’t have 500, a thousand or, you know, exponentially larger, then it won’t matter. And I say start small, make it automatic so that when your paycheck comes in, you have certain amounts going out to, um, an emergency fund, to your retirement accounts, to brokerage accounts. And then understanding the power of compounding interest, to your point is such an amazing gift. It is time wants to give you money. And when we talk about the stock market, I always say it’s never about timing the market.

Amy Getz: It’s time in the market. And when you are able to buy and hold or have a professional that’s helping you make the decisions, you’re not meant to be in and out. What you’re doing is allowing your money to grow and the rates of interest compound, and then those grow. So it’s it’s like a we call it like a hockey stick. Right. Like it’s kind of small. And then all of a sudden it turns and your money is earning money on itself. I always heard growing up, money doesn’t grow on trees. And I have really shifted that belief to say, well, yes, it does, and my trees are my investment accounts. But to your point about passive income streams, right? Like, you need to be, you know, investing in your retirement accounts if they’re available to you at work. Outside of that, you can be investing in your accounts. Otherwise you can be looking at real estate, looking at other passive incomes. And I think you’re right, like having those other streams of income coming in is what’s going to elevate your your wealth and move it on a faster pace.

Rachel Simon: I have this memory from in my early 20s, my first job where I made nothing and had, you know, had to work multiple other jobs just to supplement my, um, my income. But my colleagues being like, what do you mean you’re not? You don’t you’re not using your retirement account. And I was like, but I need every penny. They’re like, you need to open it now, immediately. I was like, okay. Yeah, I had no idea.

Amy Getz: Just starting small. Like even, you know, for my people in the corporate world, even just I encourage all because I always talk to clients, children as well, their adult children. And my goal is always to say at least to the company match, like, put it in there. And I love 401 for that reason. Because you get an employee match, it never hits your checkbook. There’s the dollar cost averaging in over the time in the market. Um, and it is just a simple way to, again, automate your savings where you don’t have to think about it because there’s something about the magic of your checkbook where like, if you don’t pay yourself first, you get to the end of the month and, well, you know what? You’ve spent it on other fun things, right? And I think double down on things that bring you joy and that you find fun. But you can do that and prioritize savings. So it’s I’m never one that’s like, oh, save and, you know, don’t have fun. I think there’s a variety of ways to do both. And again, that’s coming with the mindset of it doesn’t have to be this huge sum of money to be an effective resource.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Now any advice for the entrepreneur, the person that doesn’t have kind of a steady flow of income where they’re, you know, it ebbs and flows.

Amy Getz: Yeah. What I always say, because I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and what I always tell them, and I’m going to sound like a broken record. But when you come back to understanding what you need on a monthly basis and you really have a handle, you know, whether that’s I need 5000 a month to live, I need 10,000 a month to live on those months when you have a 12 or a $15,000 month, you’re still pulling, you know, whatever it is, your baseline is into your account and you have a little extra. So on the months when you pull an $8,000 a month and your expenses are ten, you have a little bit of overflow to account for that. Also, with my entrepreneurs, I always like to remind them everyone wants to grow a business and sell their business. The reality is that doesn’t always happen. You know, as linear as that sounds. So business owners love to reinvest back into their business. But I also like to remind them there’s plenty of programs as well where they could have a solo 401 K their, their employee and their employer. Like, again, we need to be prioritizing your financial future. Paying yourself now so that your future self is going to thank you. And entrepreneurs also have a variety of ways to do that, even if they don’t have a corporate 401 K available to them.

Rachel Simon: Yeah for sure. Well, that’s something I think Lee and I are both probably pretty familiar with as entrepreneurs, right? I’d love to circle back to something you said when you introduced yourself specifically about women. So what is what is it related to women and financial literacy that is unique?

Amy Getz: You know, I think often times women can abdicate that role to other people in their life. And it’s really important for me to empower women as it relates to their finances. Also, the study show this isn’t a anti men. It’s not pro, it’s just pro women, right? But studies show that women when they give don’t actually have to have a personal tie. So I think it’s important to when you think about wealthy women changing the world, they’re giving to causes that are near and dear to them, but they’re also giving to causes outside of them. And I think it’s important women, um, you know, there’s still a wage gap. And while we are making great strides, I want women to believe that, you know, they too can have the same mindset shifts, the same support, and recognize that they don’t have to take a back seat in any way to their finances. And also, when I say team sport, I mean that like if one person is paying the bills, that’s great, but there still needs to be a meeting of the minds in a relationship. In a business relationship, like making it a priority and not saying, oh, someone else handles that, but really kind of being in a personal, more active role in their finances. And oftentimes it goes back to education. So the more I can educate women about their money, about their mindset, it helps to bring it more to the forefront.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, it’s so interesting because again, it goes back to sort of the stories that we tell ourselves Selves. And, you know, if we think about, like, those generational stories, you know, grandparents who grew up in the depression, who kind of relay that mindset to my parents generation and move on down the line. Right. So, yeah, I mean, a lot to unpack there.

Amy Getz: I think our kids are living in a different world than even we grew up, and the opportunities are more available there. The conversations are more the Stem programs. Are there things where we’re we’re pushing women to greater heights, which I think is fantastic. Um, but yeah, I think it is a lot of the generational beliefs that we’re still working through. And you don’t talk about money. Oh, gosh. Of course. And, you know, when people say, oh, well, we didn’t talk about money in our home, you know, as it relates to that, I’m like, but did they talk about other people’s money? Because that’s telling too, right? Your belief systems around how they talked about other people’s money, even if they didn’t want to talk about their own. So I think it’s interesting that you say that, right? And the more we talk about it, the less of a charge it has. Right. Like, we don’t need to tell people what you earn, but you need to be talking by way of education and programs available. And what are you doing to save and what are you doing to create passive income streams and just having an advocate, you know, on your side, someone to bounce ideas off of. Even just women, you know, collectively in groups together, being open to talking about it. And that’s what I love to bring to the table. Like, let’s get a bunch of women in a room and let’s talk about their money mindset. Let’s talk about what they’re doing, what their questions are, what their limiting beliefs are, what they feel like they’ve heard, sort of that myth versus truth. I love to reframe all of those ideas.

Rachel Simon: I imagine those conversations start off with a lot of people feeling very uncomfortable.

Amy Getz: Absolutely. And, you know, and sometimes it’s very tender, too. Like, you can, you know, unexpectedly, people will talk to me and they start to cry and they’re like, I don’t know why I’m crying. I’m like, it’s just something releasing, right? It’s sort of a letting go of things that you’ve held held to be true. And now we’re kind of upending that and shifting that belief. And it’s okay. Right? It’s just that release. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: It’s so funny because I, my husband and I will kind of reflect back on like when our kids were both in daycare and we’re like, how the heck did we pay for that? And we like, we just figured you just figured it out. We figured it out at that phase in our lives, right? And I think it’s hard to remember what the day to day experience was at that point.

Amy Getz: Oh, I like to remind my kids, too. We even had this conversation over Thanksgiving, and it was like, you know, we kept the heat at 64 when you guys were born. I was zipping you into, you know, fleece, you know, things like it was just a whole different time frame. But, you know, it was important to me based on my own childhood and my own beliefs, like financial stability. So I prioritize saving. And, you know, I have a lot of fun now. Travel is my love language. That’s what I like to do. But for decades, what I was doing was building my wealth, building a base like using the power of compounding interest. Automating my savings because I wanted to get to a place where I felt like I could pour from my overflow. Right. It’s important for me to give back. It’s also important for me to live my own best life. That’s a vibration and energy that I’m putting out into the world, and I want people to be drawn to that and want to also do that for themselves. So yeah, things are a lot different than they were a few decades ago. And to your point, we did. We figured it out. And people are resilient. This young generation, they’re amazing. They’re clever. I had a call yesterday with a client’s son and he’s not going the traditional route. He’s working in a trade, but he and I worked on a budget together at his request. It made me so happy. Like, it brings me joy when I can talk to people in this sort of, I don’t know, a Gen Z, right? Because I’m like, if I can talk to you now, you don’t have money necessarily to invest, but you can start an emergency fund, you can start looking at your numbers. And I’m like, that is going to change their life. That is going to change the trajectory of their beliefs around money and their financial space. And so I love to have conversations with the younger generation and help them understand, like, okay, what are your next steps? What would be an order of operations to start to shift?

Rachel Simon: Yeah, absolutely.

Amy Getz: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: Now, you’ve mentioned a few times the importance of a team. Can you talk about who are the members of the team and what does that look like from your client’s perspective on a, on a monthly, quarterly, annually basis? Like when you get together like, what are those conversations look like and who quarterbacks that team?

Amy Getz: Yeah I love that question. So I want to say the quarterback is obviously always going to be the client. But who should be on their team is if they are in partnership, whether that’s business or personal with anyone. That’s like, obviously your team. I love it when people have a financial advisor or a CPA or someone doing their taxes depending on where they are. And I think it’s great when people I always say play well in the sandbox, like I want to be able to talk to your CPA or your bookkeeper and help keep the lines of communication open. Make sure that we’re doing maximizing the savings. A lot of times when people are preparing taxes, they’re in a space where it’s just crazy busy. And tax planning can’t happen in tax season. They’re there. They’re too occupied. So if we can have conversations outside of that time period, we can strategize about ways to save money. When it comes to entrepreneurs, it’s anyone on their business team. It’s obviously a bookkeeper. It’s a tax planning professional. Occasionally it’s an attorney. Um, definitely an insurance professional. You want to make sure that you have appropriate coverages and appropriate deductibles. You want to make sure you have an estate plan in place, succession planning in business. So I think it’s all of those those folks in kind of a team effort. And you don’t need to talk to them all. Every month we reach out to our clients every six months. So kind of we call it the winter and the summer. We actively invite every client of our firm to come in and have a conversation.

Amy Getz: And I’ve actually been tracking the data for several years now. And the folks that prioritize the financial planning meetings with us, it’s just 30 minutes of their time, actually have more success. And it’s because they’re coming in and they’re holding themselves accountable, if you will, to the steps that we’ve laid out and oftentimes say financial planning is pretty unsexy business, it’s actually very quiet, right? It’s paying down your mortgage, investing in your 401 K, putting a little bit away in savings, making sure you’re up to date on your taxes, those sorts of things. It’s a rather quiet life. And then at some point, you’re going to get to a place where you’re looking back and realize, whoa, right, I’ve actually paid my debt way down. I’ve accumulated some assets. So I think your bookkeeper, you know, that’s going to be on a monthly basis, your financial professional, at least every six months, your tax preparer, you want to have a tax planning meeting and make sure that you have your books ready to go when it comes to tax time, and attorney is as needed, but you definitely want to make sure you have an estate plan. And I suggest an insurance review every year. Um, because certain companies have better years and worse years. And, you know, it’s just one of those things where it can start to get very expensive and you need to shop that around. So does that help answer your question?

Rachel Simon: Yeah. Great. Love it. Um, I mean, I think we’ve covered so much here and it’s a great again, like I said at the intro, it’s such a good time of year to have this conversation because again, people are it’s the time to be generous and be buying gifts for loved ones this time of year. And, you know, a lot of people have holiday travels planned. So what is your as we’re kind of concluding some tips that you can share as far as this time of year ending the year strong and kind of getting prepared for 2025 so that we’re not just saying I’m going to be better this year.

Amy Getz: Oh, right. We’re all going to be better this year. Um, I would say really taking a look at what your last year kind of a year in review. And I would say that by way of calendar. Right. What kind of trips did you take? What were your holidays looking like? And when you can kind of have that bit of reflection, you can plan better for the future. So I don’t like to use the word budget. That makes people kind of squirmy. I like to use the idea of a cash spending plan. So when you can look at a bit of the historical data, that gives you a good measure for what you can expect going forward, and I think it’s always a great idea to plan for things ahead of time, right? And perhaps even be able to set aside, you know, an emergency fund is there. I love that I’d love for people to have a fully funded emergency fund, but I like for people to as well to have, you know, what’s that travel fund that you want. What’s that holiday fund? Some people in their financial planning. Gifting is their love language, right? And we want to make sure that that is available to them. Again, it’s what brings you joy is what you should be spending your money on.

Amy Getz: And when I have people do a review of their numbers, a lot of times they’re spending on things that are a matter of convenience but actually don’t bring joy. So I’m like, you know, take a look at that, prioritize what makes you happy, what you love, and maybe take, um, take some opportunity to cut back on the places, you know. And the number one thing people say is, oh, that eat out too much and then they feel guilty about it from a health perspective. Right. So prioritizing things like that, I also would say, um, enjoy the holidays. Don’t let it stress you out. Like, and you know, and enjoy it. It doesn’t mean spending. And I think oftentimes we equate, you know, fun with spending. But you know it’s a time to it’s the winter. It’s quiet. It’s cool. It’s a time to enjoy family. It’s a time to enjoy the holidays. It’s a time to, you know, share what you have with others. So I think I wouldn’t have it be on the forefront of your mind if possible. And I know that’s not possible for some people. And when I say to that, I honor and recognize that money conversations can be stressful.

Amy Getz: But when you put it out on paper, it takes a bit of the charge out of it. So enjoying the holidays? Looking back on your 24 Year in review to kind of get an idea for what you can expect for 25 and what you’d like to add more of, maybe what you’d like to take a little bit, you know, not take as much with you into it. And the number one thing I can say to you about that is if it’s all possible, pay your credit cards off. Um, people. And I even had a conversation yesterday with this young person. He had a couple of credit cards and I’m like, let’s log on together and figure out your interest rate. Well, it’s 30%. It takes a really long time to get ahead of a 30% interest rate loan if you’re not paying more. So if you can, you know, pay attention, you know, to what you’re spending, look at where you’re spending is and prioritize paying off those credit cards after the first of the year. And, you know, taking a taking a pause so you have that opportunity to accumulate a little more to pay it off. But yeah.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, those are a slippery slope. They are a.

Amy Getz: Slippery slope indeed. And he asked me about well, what do you think about a 0%? I’m like, that’s great. But when you don’t close the other one then you suddenly have two cards available to you. If you do it again, it’s three cards. So really kind of shutting down those old cards and not worrying that it’s going to be a point or two hit on your credit report. It’s more important not to have the access. Right. So yes. Yeah, we could go down a whole oh.

Rachel Simon: That’s a whole.

Amy Getz: Other nother.

Rachel Simon: Conversation that I have. Yeah, exactly. Well Amy, thank you so much. So such great. Uh, so much to think about. And again, it’s such a timely, uh, perfect time to have this conversation.

Lee Kantor: Now, Amy, can you share, like, who is your ideal client? Like, is it a celebrities and athletes? Is it women executives or entrepreneurs? Like, what’s your sweet spot in terms of ideal client?

Amy Getz: So from a business we work with entrepreneurs private wealth clients. My my heart and my passion tends to be for women in transition. And what I mean by that is women who are typically midlife most of the time in a professional space, sometimes pivoting to entrepreneurial. But they’ve had a transition, whether that’s a divorce, a bereavement, a job change, a sale of a home, an empty nest, sometime when they are in a space that maybe needs to be held a little tenderly. And I find that I really enjoy being their advocate and being on their team. So that’s how I would answer that question.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website or best way to connect?

Amy Getz: I love that it’s IRC wealth.com I am available on there. Um, you know, I’m not a it’s Amy at IRC Wealth.com a very, you know, clever email, but we would delight in having conversations and I want to offer the clarity that we, you know, I’m happy to give someone an hour of my time for a financial plan. It’s important to me that people feel educated, and so I would delight in any person that would like a financial plan. There is no obligation, there is no pressure. It is of service to me to be able to do that. And I feel like I’m in a beautiful place in my life and in my career, where I get to say yes to anyone that would like to have a financial plan, because it’s important for me to, as I say, put my money where my mouth is and I want education out there. So if anyone would like to have a financial plan or understand their numbers a little better, conversations and even people are like, I’m not sure what my question is. I have a, um, an intuitive way of getting that out of them, right? Sometimes it’s just starting the conversation and I can sort of follow down a path. And so, yeah, a delight to talk to anyone.

Lee Kantor: Now, Rachel, before we wrap this the end of 2020, for any LinkedIn tip you want to share that somebody should be doing before the year ends, well.

Rachel Simon: There’s lots of stuff happening on the platform. Um, sadly, my beloved audio events is kind of going the way of the dinosaur at the end of the year, which makes me sad. I think it’s best just to keep an eye out for what is happening in 2025. I think there’s going to be a real focus on video. And so if you’re comfortable making, you know, creating little videos, you don’t have to be super, um, you know, you don’t have to be a professional. You can just film it on your phone, but they’re going to be pushing more and more video through the video feed. So that’s something to keep an eye out for the year to come.

Amy Getz: And would you agree? Short and sweet. It’s kind of. Oh yeah, the way to go there.

Rachel Simon: Don’t go more than 60s, right?

Amy Getz: Yes. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: Well, Amy, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you. Thank you.

Amy Getz: So much. I appreciate the both of you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.