End the financial fear spiral 🌀

When she was 30, Mariah Hay was financially at Ground Zero, facing down graduate school debt and divorce.

"Here I am getting divorced and walking away from everything, and I had zero money. And it was terrifying, because I had always been a saver, even though I didn't really know much about what my savings was or what it was doing," Hay said.

As she built her career in tech, she got curious – how could she make her money work for her? In our recent Financial Freedom webinar, Hay shared what she has learned about taking control of your finances.

"It allows you to make informed, data-driven decisions about your own life, rather than operating from a fear place like, 'Gosh, I hope by the time I'm 65 I have enough money to quit working,'" she said.

After a decade, though, Hay reached the point where her personal investments can cover her monthly expenses. She was financially secure enough to walk away from the burnout-inducing grind of tech to pursue what mattered to her, from building a startup to taking a monthlong ski trip with her partner.

In this webinar, Hay shares what she learned about investing and encourages anyone to try taking control of their financial life, offering this advice:

• Curiosity over Shame: Hay started learning more about financial management by necessity: "When it comes to building skills or knowledge around anything, it's a lifelong pursuit. Learning is a lifelong pursuit. And so get curious," Hay said.
• Facts Kill Fear: Anxiety lives in the "unknown." When you crunch the numbers and see the actual facts of your cash flow, you move from a place of panic to a place of power.
• Own Your Approach: "The finance industry likes to tell you that they have to do it for you, and the average person isn't smart enough to do it," Hay said. "You're smart enough to do it. And you can manage your own investments in a couple hours of effort a year."

Your Guide to the Recording

Ready to dive in? Here are the three pillars we cover in the webinar to help you run your life with the clarity of a small business owner:

1. Understand Your Cash Flow (17 minutes in)

What you’ll get: A look at Hay's real-life "no-frills" spreadsheet.
Learn how to separate your "must-haves" (housing, taxes) from your "discretionary" spending (Netflix, surprise parties). Knowing what "lockdown mode" would look like means you know exactly what you need to survive if money stops coming in.

2. Understand Investing Fundamentals (27 minutes in)

What you’ll get: A beginner-friendly guide to "Level 2 Savings."
You'll learn the difference between a money market account (your emergency fund) and low-cost index funds or ETFs. It’s about moving from just saving to building wealth.

3. Understand Your Runway (45 minutes in)

What you’ll get: The ultimate metric for peace of mind.
How long can you live without a paycheck before accruing debt? Hear how knowing this number prevented a product manager's fear spiral over losing her job and stopped her before she upended her life to rent out her house.

Ultimately, Hay said, financial clarity opens the door to new possibilities.

"The more you can make your money work for you, the more flexibility you have," she said. "I know a lot of people talk about side hustles to make extra money. Think of this as a side hustle. Your money can be doing the hustling for you."

Happy navigating,
Bridget