A Healthy Money Mindset with Lindsay Bryan-Podvin
For my final season, I’m focused on delivering the best of the best. The best of what I’ve learned over the past 9 years of podcasting, guests, topics, and more. This month, I’m focused on the foundation and fundamentals of money and our relationship with it.
Joining me today Lindsay Bryan-Podvin a financial therapist and author of the book The Financial Anxiety Solution. Lindsay returns to the show to share more about how people can establish a healthy money mindset around finances as well as tools that can help people who struggle with the anxiety they feel around their financial situation. This is a must listen conversation for everyone.
What are we drinking?
Lindsay - GT’s Trilogy Kombucha
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Why is Financial Therapy Important?
Lindsay is a Financial Therapist with a background in clinical social work. Staring out, she quickly learned on the job her clients were really struggling with money, but it was never discussed in therapy school. She needed better resources to share with clients who were struggling.
On top of being unable to help clients with their feelings around finance, she was struggling financially. She comes from financial privilege and, even without debt, was still living paycheck to paycheck, working for non-profits and in research, not making very much. She felt embarrassed for ‘wasting’ the privilege and didn’t know where to get help.
There is help for folks who are really struggling, like credit counselors. Then, on the other end, there are financial planners who traditionally only work with already wealthy people. Everyone in the middle of that spectrum, which is most people, are left to figure it out on their own.
She knew she wanted to help people with these money issues, but did not want to go back to school for financial planning. She got additional training in financial trauma and therapy. She began practicing in 2018 and working on her own in 2020.
For every person who comes in to work with her, there are hundreds of others who have questions, so her main focus is to democratize education and validate that money is emotional.
Taboo Around Money & Normalizing Financial Struggles
Even after ten years of The Financial Gym and nine years of the podcast, money is still one of the ultimate taboo topics. Talking about it makes a lot of people uncomfortable.
We may feel like everyone else has it together, but the stats don’t lie, the majority of Americans are not financially healthy.
We don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives, we can only make assumptions based on what we see. But it’s not easy to actually see financial health. People's struggles with money are often hidden.
A majority of people have complicated and challenging storylines with their finances. Most of the financial things happening in people’s lives are rarely just a financial decision on their own. They are the result of an emotional trigger.
Money Mindset and Financial Literacy
Getting financially healthy requires a positive healthy mindset around money. What you believe about money shapes what you believe you can do with money.
People assume more knowledge will help them feel better about money, but we have to look at our beliefs in tandem with the basics of financial literacy.
We can put ourselves into a negative spiral about money because we feel like we’re bad people. But money is a tool not a measure of your worth as a human.
Embracing Financial Positivity
The first step to becoming financially healthy is to step on the financial scale and figure out exactly where you are right now. This can be the scariest part for clients, especially if they’ve never done it before.
It’s a common experience to want to avoid looking at your finances. Avoidance is quickly reinforced in our body as the bad feeling temporarily goes away.
Don’t be scared of what you will find. Our brains want to go to the worst case scenario, but oftentimes, it’s not even that bad. Even if it is messy, you can get to fixing it.
Right now, you’re exactly where you are supposed to be. It’s where you go from here now that really counts. Everything we do financially is fixable, it’s just a matter of how much work needs to be done to fix it. Your financial situation can and will change.
Give yourself grace. This journey is a lifelong one, with many ups and downs. It’s all about doing the best you can and being kind to yourself along the way.
Start with small steps and work on the foundations. The more involved you are with your money, the more positive it will become. Even if it is uncomfortable at first, keep going.
Anxiety doesn’t allow us to get into problem solving, it keeps us stuck in the worst scenario possible. It’s important to face this stuff head on.
Wherever you are now, embrace financial openness. Your numbers can change and it all starts with a healthy financial mindset.
Resources Mentioned:
Shannon’s Financially Naked Episode - July 2018
Financial Anxiety as a Business Owner with Lindsay - September 2021
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is the importance of establishing a healthy relationship with money. It’s a relationship we’ll need to have our entire adult lives and the sooner we embrace it instead of avoiding it, the better our financial situation will get.
Random Three Questions
What is your money superpower?
What is something you’re currently binging?
If you were going to write another book, what would it be about?
Connect with Lindsay
Website: www.mindmoneybalance.com
Instagram: @mindmoneybalance
Podcast: Mind Money Balance
Book: The Financial Anxiety Solution
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me at Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Face, and let me know what you want to hear.
A recent Financial Health Network study revealed that only 31% of Americans were financially healthy. Only 23% of women and only 15% of black people were. Financial health is a crisis in the US but it doesn’t need to stay that way. At the Financial Gym, we’ve spent the last 10 years working one-on-one with our members to help them achieve their financial health goals.
With a 90% success rate and with memberships starting as low as $35 a month, Financial Gym is not only the inflation-proof source for financial wellness for anyone but also a trusted and capable partner for your financial wellness journey. Head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com and schedule a warm up call today. As a reminder, our warm up call team is staffed with amazing and current Financial Gym clients that can answer any of your questions about our program without any pressure to join. The call is free, so you have nothing to lose.