Welcome to the Four Sisters Legacy Podcast. I'm your host, Christian David, money life coach. I'm so glad you're here because we're talking about something that affects every single one of us—money, especially how money is something that we need to learn.
And this is so funny because I recorded this whole episode, and it was never recording. I had paused the recording for a reason, and then I never turned it back on. So let's do it again, shall we?
Okay, so let me start with a quick story about myself. When I got my first job years ago, I was still a teenager. That was a long time ago. I had no idea what a 401(k) was. I was handed some paperwork, and I didn’t have any explanation about what to do with it. Nobody told me anything about how to maximize it or even what it meant for my future.
So years later, when I switched jobs, I was in a tough financial situation. I ended up cashing out the 401(k), and I paid penalties. Of course, I remember the financial advisor telling me about the penalties, and I was like, "Sure, I need it." But he never really asked, "Why do you need to cash it out? What's going on?" None of that. It was like that wasn’t his business.
So I paid the penalties, I lost money, and I didn’t really understand what I was giving up. I really had no idea, to be honest with you. All I could think about was the financial situation I was in and how I needed to solve it. And this was the money that I needed. So here we go.
But looking back, I realized it wasn’t because I didn’t care about my future. See, I carried that burden for a long time—that I didn’t care about my future. And that made me feel really... Anyway, we’ll talk a little bit more about that.
But it wasn’t because I didn’t care. It was because no one really taught me how to care about my money. And here’s the thing—I’m not alone. I’m not the only one who has gone through this, who has done this, who is going through it, right? There’s a whole slew of women out here dealing with these questions.
Even if it’s not a 401(k) question, it’s a money question. That knowledge would have been super useful to have. The truth is that we’re not born knowing how to manage money. Unlike walking or talking, it’s not instinctual. It's a skill we have to learn, and that's okay.
So my ambitious goal is to create a movement in which we all agree that money must be learned. It's not innate, and therefore we need to do what it takes to learn it—just like any other skill we need to improve our lives.
So today, we're going to explore how learning about money can change everything.
Why Do We Need to Learn About Money?
Let's start with this: We're not taught about money in school. We learn math. We learn history. We even learn how to dissect a frog. But no one sits us down to talk about budgeting, saving, investing, or what a 401(k) actually means or what it does for us.
Now, think about this. A toddler does not need to be taught how to walk. It's in their DNA. But managing money? That's a different story. That's not in your DNA. That's not in my DNA. That’s not something we’re born with, right? We’re not born knowing how to manage money. And because of that, we make mistakes.
And those mistakes can affect us for years. Let me tell you something. Cashing out my 401(k) set me back financially and emotionally for years because I carried that burden with me, thinking I was irresponsible with my money. Because, obviously, later, I realized what the form of money was, right?
And then the burden, the guilt—I carried that for years. So there was some emotional trauma there. I felt embarrassed. I felt ashamed. And making that choice made me feel irresponsible. So I carried that with me for a long time. I really did.
Now, I’m not here to blame the educational system. No, no, no, that’s not what we’re doing today. And I’m not here to complain about what’s missing in our society. Again, that’s not what we’re doing today.
The fact is that the lack of financial education set me back for years, which generated financial and emotional trauma. But you know what I’ve learned since then?
First, it wasn’t my fault. I simply didn’t have the knowledge I needed to make a better decision.
Second, I didn’t have the knowledge necessary to make a wise financial decision at the moment. I didn’t have what it took to make a good decision. I just didn’t have it.
And that's the point. Money isn’t about being smart or lucky. It’s about learning the skills and tools to make confident decisions.
And that’s why we’re here today in our signature program, Sapphire Design. One of our pillars is making confident financial decisions. It is so important to us that our clients, the women, the amazing people we work with, can know themselves well enough, have enough knowledge, enough self-trust to make decisions, and then not have mind drama about it later on.
Turning Mistakes Into Lessons
When it comes to money, mistakes can feel super heavy. Embarrassment, guilt, and shame can follow us around like a dark cloud. I know that was definitely my situation.
And here’s the danger. If we only see these mistakes as proof of a bad version of ourselves, we’ll stay stuck. We’ll keep reliving the shame, and that’s when it becomes really hard to move forward. But what if we reframed those mistakes? What if we saw them as what they really are—lessons?
Every mistake has something to teach us, and when we learn from them, we get stronger. Now, when it comes to my 401(k), it wasn’t until years later that I realized that cashing it out probably wasn’t the best choice. It wasn’t right away, of course. I wasn’t sure at first, but the heaviness and shame didn’t settle in until years later when I truly understood what it meant.
And as a recovering perfectionist, that was a big challenge for me to face—to see that I made a mistake. Perfectionists don’t want to make mistakes. We want to be perfect.
So take this from me. Reframing that moment of cashing out my 401(k) into a lesson was very important to me.
Money Is a Skill
Managing money is a skill, just like cooking and driving.
Think about the first time you learned how to drive. Someone had to teach you, right? You didn’t just get behind the wheel and know how to parallel park.
So it’s the same with money. You don’t have to figure it out alone. Whether it’s a coach, a mentor, a book, or a course, support makes all the difference.
And here’s the good news. You can start small. Pick one thing, focus on that one thing.
Before we wrap up, I want you to think about one area of your finances that you would like to improve. Write it down. Then, decide on one resource or action to start learning about that topic. The key is to take that first step.
Now remember, you don’t have to do it perfectly. Progress beats perfection every single time.
At Green Wealth Legacy, we are committed to helping women learn about money, grow in confidence, and transform their financial futures.
Thank you for being here today. You got this!
