Yahoo Finance

Welcome to Warrior Money, the show devoted to supporting our brother and sister veterans in business. I'm Patrick Murphy and

I'm Dan Coons.

Today's episode is a seasoned finance professional and nonprofit leader and founder of Freckled Strawberry. She's dedicated to empowering financial independence through literacy and opportunity. She's also committed to supporting veterans and military families. Please welcome the Warrior Money, Carly Meyer Bentley.

Thanks for letting me be here with you. Of course, excited to be here.

Hey, we start every show, as you know, with bluff, bottom line out front.The wellness industry, it's $480 billion a year, and it's tied to your physical, your mental, and your physical health. Why do you think that's important and why do you think that's the case?

Wellness is an extension of everything that comes from a person. It manifests itself from your mental health. If you're not mentally or physically healthy, all the other successes that come.That are tied into money are affected. So mental wellness, health, wellness expresses itself through money.

Yeah, no doubt. So, and especially today when you look at if both folks get like a $500 medical bill, they have to put it onto their, you know, their credit card and run up the debt. They can't even afford to pay it.

That's right. That's right.

Yeah. All right, so obviously Dan and I are Army veterans, so we're kind of sometimes partisan on Army versus Navy, but your grandfather is also an Army veteran, uh, earned the Purple Heart, was in a battle.The bulge was a Golden Gloves boxer. Can you tell us his story and then how he impacted your life?

Yes, I, I think from a young age, he taught us to keep a stiff upper lip and never let them see you cry was the mantra. He set up a boxing ring in our family room and I would learn how to box my cousins, male, female, didn't matter. If you could fight, you're allowed in the ring, uh, up until puberty and then I think he kind of stopped that, butUm, you know, Grandpa was an orphan. Um, his parents died before he can even remember. He had two siblings and was put in an orphanage as a kid, so the army was something that really he turned to and, and grew through, ended up having 8 children, married, um, but in the Battle of the Bulge, he didn't talk too much about it, but what he did do is he, he got shot in both legs and one leg, uh, they did have to amputate.And so he didn't let that stop him. There, we didn't even really notice that he wasn't able to work, but you know, we learned a lot from your proximal and distal influences, the things that shape you as you grow up and how they express themselves in your own life, and then how you pass these, these qualities, these characteristics on to your family, and then your kids.And then their kids. So I would say Grandpa taught me to be a fighter and to never quit. And so I take that in every opportunity. Yeah,

one of the most important topics that we talk about is for transitioning service members, how do you go from service and serving others to go and go and find your purpose? And it sounds like you finding your purpose and helping with financial literary and financial independence, financial empowerment.Can you talk a little bit about how your family, your family's influence impacted where and how you found your purpose?

Yes, absolutely. So as a young kid, my dad's an entrepreneur, first generation really. His parents were agriculture. They they had a farm and as a young girl, 5 years old, I would literally bootstrap next to my dad and go with him to work sometimes andUm, my job was to deliver permits, and he then turned in a residential construction company into a commercial construction company and built all the Wendy's and Olive Gardens across Chicagoland. And that was my example, and it didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl, if you could do the job, you showed up and there it is again.And so with Dad, I would work with him and have still been on his board of directors. I was the money honey in the family, so strategy around money about business. What he did is parlayed that construction company into keeping the trucks busy year round and did snowplow removal in Chicagoland, which is also great business, and then put a landscapescape contract and everything that he built too.So I learned that if you have a business, you can leverage the opportunities and just because you've made the business doesn't mean you stop there. You expand and look to see what, where else you could leverage this opportunity into the future. So that was, that was 5 years old.

Yeah, that's awesome. We often talk about things.As it relates to like, why, why we did things, where do those influences come from? Right now there's a lot of noise in the news. There's a lot of stuff going on everywhere. If I were trying to find out what to do with financial literacy, financial independence, where where does somebody start? Where in your perspective, where does somebodystart?

That is where I saw the biggest gap, and I appreciate you asking that question.It's what is your relationship with money? Your relationship with money, if you look, take a step back and look, money is an inanimate object. It has no power. It's kind of like a basketball or a volleyball. It, it doesn't do anything. It's the talent of the individual on the object that makes the money sing or do the magic. So when I was working in finance in multiple disciplines andcommercial lending, private banking, aircraft lending, all this really cool stuff. What I noticed is that men and women alike in certain conversations, you would see them retreat. They would physically and, and, and verbally retreat into the conversation. I thought, what is that about? There, there, there, there's something going on where people are feeling insecure about this this topic.Uh, women specifically being just late to the game and not not just not being in the game as long, and I would watch them retreat and I would say, what is your relationship with money? Is it, are you besties? Are you frenemies? Is it a rando hookup and some yeah. Do you even know? Yeah, and, and I thought, well, there it is. That is the opportunity. They don't understand how toUse the tool or the ball or the object, what is the money game? So I thought, you know, you can, you can manage money, you could be a financial advisor, but if, if your client doesn't understand the basic fundamentals of tools or how those tools work, how effective can they be and how successful can they be on their own.So financial independence means I don't not need you. I, it's that I can make the decisions for myself from an educated place and from an informed place, not because Dad, Brad or Chad told me that I could do it this way, but that I'm making the decisions for myself from an empowered place. Yeah,

andit sounds like your father empowered you at an early age to do that. You mentioned Olive Garden Wendy's, by the way, Dave Thomas to start Wendy's as a as a veteran.Uh, and then Ove Garden, I was a waiter. I was number one add-ons at the Olive Garden in, in Pennsylvania. So, um, so I love the breadsticks. I still go back. So, um, but when we talk about empowering and, and tools, you know, that ethic that you grew up with that your, your grandfather taught you about, you know, chin up, um, you know, we have this, as you know, an ethic that we leave no one behind. You're the president of the Gardenzia Foundation.Uh, tell us about that role is and what they do and why that's important to you. Yeah,

the foundation itself, you know, there's two primary responsibilities in my mind as someone who gives volunteer service and uses the intellectual property that I've accumulated in my lifetime to help people that can't help themselves andyou know, chairing that organization, I'm responsible to make sure that every penny that comes in goes towards helping those people. And if it doesn't, then we need to make sure that that it does. I feel very strongly about that responsibility and also that the the real estate that we have that, that houses the people that are getting the treatment for substance use disorder, um,is comfortable and clean and good and mental health is part of that. Mental health being, you know, drug abuse and the substance use disorder is a problem and it's affecting a lot of people. So, I take that position in in chairing that organization very seriously.and making sure everyone has the treatment that they need and every tool that's available to get them well.

We talked a little bit about it, but let's just back up a couple seconds. So what, what is the Ganzia Foundation in the first place? I know you get this drug and alcohol, but like what's, what's the purpose and where is it at? And most, and the next step is like drug and alcohol and mental health is a significant issue within the veteran community.So I'd love to both hear what Goddenz is and what they, what they try to do and what communities they serve, but also how financial health can impact your mental health as well and how that transitions.

Yeah, so I was approached a few years ago by a colleague of mine. Goddenzia started in 1974 and it was really a treatment place where there was abstinence. There was, you know, no drugs, no alcohol. When you come in those doors, we're helping people get clean and sober. Over time, drugs and alcohol, the different pharmaceutical type.Drugs have changed and so just going cold turkey doesn't work. And we've, we, we can see that in science, we see people are unable to sustain sobriety without medically assisted treatments. So we need to bring the tools forward. So in this, uh, I have a family member who suffers terribly from this and who was an all-star football quarterback, starting quarterback, uh, that, you know, hurt his knee and got quickly hooked on the pain medication that turned into an alcohol problem.So for me it's a personal story, but then I see it in so many other places and venues where everybody is affected in some way by substance use. So I have poured my life into this and knowing that I have the ability to understand financial, to understand and read financials, understand money and how money can be a tool, uh, and that I'm an extension or I literally the money is acting on what I'm telling it to do.So as as the tax dollars come in and we're all responsible in our communities to make sure people are not on the streets ill, and that if they do need to seek treatment, whether it's court mandated or not, that they're not only now harming themselves but could potentially harm other people, the responsibility to that. So what happens is when people eventually start getting sober and they get clean and they come forward, we want to make them.You know, a a constructive part of community that they can then give back and help the next person so that no one is left behind. Um, and so understanding how money works and the basic principles is where I start with everybody, and then depending on the complexity and, and watching people exponentially grow and up level by by staying sober and healthy.It just feeds on itself and the confidence we're

going to have to break in a second. We'll cut it to break, but the way you're starting to talk about and the way that I hear it, money isn't money. It's actually the tool that that the tool that is money creates the pathway to independence and pass the.empowerment that you're describing. So when we think about it as money, we're thinking about it as an isolated thing. If we see it as a broader tool, then that's that's where we find value

the tool toolbox. OK, we'll be right back with the money, honey, as we now know is your new nickname, uh, right back in just a second.Welcome back to Word of Money. We're joined by Carly Meyer Bentley, uh, otherwise known as the Money honey, which we just found out you and Maria. Uh, so you talked about, obviously mental health and money is a tool and that fiscal literacy and you've devoted that with freckled strawberry. Can you tell us about freckled strawberry and, and how that helps folks make sure

they're, so the freckled strawberry.Um, really focused on it at the end of 21 when I realized that women were not showing up to the conversation when essentially it was their money or not even logging on to their accounts and reading their statements. I was shocked and amazed by this statistic and this fact, so I thought, what is it about women that they're taking their time or they don't think it's their responsibility or they're deferring it?So I dove into researching what is women's relationship with career selection and money, what drives them? And what I found is that there are 3 primary influences that affect a woman's relationship with money, people's relationship with money, but specifically women because they came to the game late.The first one is our proximal influences. Those are your values and beliefs that are steeped in family life, traditions, the boxing ring and the family room, those, those things, and then distal influences our, our, our socioeconomic backgrounds, what camps we go to when we want to buy a bike, does our parents make us buy a bike or do they help us, you know, financially with it? Um, what are they teaching us? And then the, the final one is a person's own innate ability.So do they have the understanding or ability to have abstract thought? So when you put all these things together, one of those voices can be louder than the other. And so if you aren't equipped with a good sense of self and good values and beliefs, you can get them, but first you have to understand what your drivers are.

Yeah, so when we, when we were when we were talking before the show, you said like, when we often were asked this question, we're actually asked this question in every show, like, if I don't know anything about money, and I was late to the game and I didn't have the proximal relationship, like what are the three most basic things that somebody should do to orient themselves to like money? Like what, what do you, I don't know anything about it. I'm 22 years old, I'm a military spouse. Like what do youdo?

So I love this question, and I am about to disclose the North Star. This will be your compass if you're ever lost and you're ever in a money situation, you don't have my cell phone anymore. The website is down. What do I do? It is all about money in and money out. It's breathing like air into your lungs and air out of your lungs. How much money am I taking in?And how much am I putting out? We want to take in more than we're putting out. So Moms on a mission is one of the, uh, kinds of women that we help. I help trailblazers who are entrepreneurs. I help career divas, who are corporate women.And then I help moms on a mission who sometimes women are all three. I'm one of those people. So you talk about veteran households and you talk about what is it that I can do as a mom or as a wife to a spouse that is away or in service. Um, this is where you always start. It's how much do I cost? How does, how much does my family cost a year?Let's say it's $50,000 that our family of five costs, which is pretty low. That's a pretty, that's you're, you're not going to the movies too often. But if I know that I cost $50,000 and that includes everything, I believe in vacations, I believe in giving yourself the sports, the kids, the sports, the things that they need and want that help them grow, because that then takes itself into the next generation.So if I'm including all the things that make me healthy mentally, physically, what is that cost? And that should be my basis for my side hustles, my gigs, whatever I need to make extra, there should be that basis of what I cost, but then, OK, what do I want my life to look like? Then all that the next tools, the next set of tools come in.So cash flows, I call them cash flows to cash stash to investing, which means you

have to have access to your accounts. You have to know what your accounts are saying. It makes sense.

And how about making money work for you? How do you make, how do you advise folks to make your money work for

you? should be working for you. Yes, the tool, it's like horses in the stable. You don't want them in the stable. You want them out. You want them working.So after you know how much you cost, if it's $50,000 and you have an extra 500 to $600 a month, that money then should, this is assuming you're already putting it into your 401k if you're not pre-tax dollars. If you're not, that's the first place to put it. You're always going to need a rainy day fund that's in cash all the time.After you have that established 2 or 3 month reserve in your cash stash, liquid, then you go into your investment, which is your 401k or any kind of other retirement IRA. After that, that's where it can get interesting. That's where you start to up level. That's where I see people's faces light up because they learn the nuances. Once I got these.Things nailed, then I can learn more and up level my game just a little bit more.

Whatare some of those first up leveling steps that you see people go through? Yeah,

when they understand first, the first light bulb is, wow, my family costs $75,000 a year. I got to have that much money just to live the way I'm living. That is the first realization, and it's liberating.For them. They're like, Oh, that's not so bad. Like if I really want to go on that vacation, I just have to make $10,000 more for my family to go. That's right. So how are we going to make that $10,000 more? Then you, they're already contributing to the savings account. They've got that cash stash because that's what I call it. That's what people call it. It's not this, you know, weird instrument name that we hear.And then after that you're, you're then saving for long term and you don't see it. You set it up and you don't see it until you quarterly look at your statements. So all these things are being worked at the same exact time. Then they're like, wow, I kind of get this, Carly. I can actually read my statement. I know where the dashboard is. I know where my total return is at.Tell me what I need to do next. Then we start talking about stocks, bonds, nuances, alternate investing, maybe starting a business, maybe investing in a private company,

cool stuff. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. How about as far as when you look at some of the women that you look up to as role models,share that with them.

So women that I see as as role models are women that take charge and have their own independence, not that they don't need people, but they're operating from a place intrinsically, that they're driving their own decisions. I've got a slew of them, but in the world of finance, I love Becky Quick. I think she's great. She can have a great conversation with anybody.Um, there's some business owners locally that I really enjoy talking to because they're forward thinking all the time. So I would say that those are the qualities.

All right, well, before we let you go, we always do warrior Q and A.It's 2 or 3 rapid fire questions right after another. Just make sure that we're on the same page. My very, my very first and very favorite question is, what is a money issue that you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger? Oh

my gosh, I wish I would have like saving way back when. Why? Because then I would have more money to do more cool stuff.

And what is the number one mistake that you see people making?

Uh, not being aware of what they cost.That's a lack of awareness.

And then you've talked a lot about like, let's go make more money when we have to do this. That's the embodiment of an entrepreneur's mindset. What would you say to the people that are kind of stuck in the 3% raise territory?

Yeah, when they're working for someone else, try on your own t-shirt. Like it should say your name on it and see how different you might behave if it was your shirt and not somebody else's shirt. I love that.

I love that.

How about as far as you know, by the way, you're talking about t-shirts. Dan, I have a good friend, she's an entrepreneur. She was an Air Force veteran.Uh, as torch women wear, uh, a torch wear, so she was also an NFL cheerleader after serving in the Air Force, uh, Howie, Howie Hill, um.But when you look at the younger generation of women that are coming up, you know, you talked about Maria and you talked to other folks, but, and you do it with freckled strawberry, but what are some of those things, like some of those high points that they do that just makes your heart smile.

That's such a great question. I just hired an intern from Villanova and she is doing editing for our blogs, and she goes, Carly, this is so cool. I never even thought that I would be working on these spreadsheets and being able to talk about them.That she could, she could tell the story based on what the numbers were saying. So being watching her at the age of 20 years old, if I could have done that at 20, being able to articulate what the story of the numbers meant.

It's such a good point. Yeah, it's such a good point. Like when we try to demystify this stuff, if you just put yourself into a Financial Times or a financial statement and give yourself the opportunity to understand it and look at it, that sounds like a good way to get started. It

is. There's 3 things we always say.Check your accounts more often, read more financial news, and have more conversations about money.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's not, it's not something that you should, it's play company talks about money. It's, it's not uh it's something you should be shy about. And also, I love it, you get what you measure, right? So if you're looking at what your money is, I look at my accounts every day, uh, cause I just want to know what's coming in, what's coming out. So,Carly, thank you so much for joining us at Warrior Money. You're awesome. We appreciate you.

Thank you. We appreciate you too.

Listen, that's our show, so listen, subscribe, and review Warrior Money wherever you get your podcast or check us out on Yahoo Finance. I'm Patrick Murphy

and

I'm

Dan Kons. We'll see you again next week.

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.