For Episode 107 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast, Rennie is joined by Penelope Jane Smith. Penelope is the premier financial freedom coach for women entrepreneurs and the go-to expert for some of the biggest names in the conscious business industry. She is an acclaimed international speaker and certified trainer with over 20 years of teaching experience, and the author of the Little Book of Prosperity.
For Episode 107 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast, Rennie is joined by Penelope Jane Smith. Penelope is the premier financial freedom coach for women entrepreneurs and the go-to expert for some of the biggest names in the conscious business industry. She is an acclaimed international speaker and certified trainer with over 20 years of teaching experience, and the author of the Little Book of Prosperity.
Through her signature programs, like Financial Freedom 101, Penelope has helped thousands of entrepreneurs from all over the world to create more ease, peace, and freedom around money.
In this episode, Rennie and Penelope cover:
02:19 The inherent gender bias in the financial planning industry and why Penelope is particularly passionate about working with women entrepreneurs.
04:05 Penelope’s big philanthropy project/legacy project is creating a non-profit called the Global Prosperity Endowment Fund using the golden goose model.
06:12 The story of what Penelope considers her biggest failure - when she lost it all - and what her biggest insight was.
07:57 Typical clients and what they are experiencing when they come to work with Penelope.
10:31 How Penelope works with clients to get their goose laying more golden eggs and one client who realized she was already in a position to retire and didn’t know it!
12:52 The Financial Freedom Formula eBook, which you can get at financialfreedomgift.com
13:45 Penelope shares with us how somebody become financially free in five years or less.
‘I think even if you're working with a financial advisor, you want to have a basic understanding of your strategy, because at the end of the day, you are the steward of your money.’ – Penelope Jane Smith
Get the Financial Freedom Formula eBook for free at financialfreedomgift.com
To learn more about Penelope visit https://realprosperityinc.com/about/
If you'd like to know how books, movies, and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is visit wealthonanyincome.com/tedx. You'll hear Rennie's TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice® and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money.
AND if you'd like to see how you can increase your wealth and donate to the causes that touch your heart. Please check out our affordable program ‘Wealth with Purpose’.
Rennie’s Books and Programs
https://wealthonanyincome.com/books/
Wealth with Purpose:
https://wealthonanyincome.com/wealthwithpurpose
Rennie’s 9 Days to Financial Freedom program:
https://wealthonanyincome.com/programs
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Rennie Gabriel 00:09
Hi folks, welcome to Episode 107 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration around your business and your money. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to understand the numbers from your business, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 to 10 seconds, what determines how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®, and how to run your business without being in your business. And last week, we had Danny Iny, the author of Effortless, and one of the masters in the online space, who's a partner in several of the household brands, like Coaches Console, Story Coach, and others. Today we have as our guest, Penelope Jane Smith. Penelope is the premier financial freedom coach for women entrepreneurs, and the go to expert for some of the biggest names in the consciousness business industry. She's an acclaimed international speaker, and certified trainer with over 20 years of teaching experience, and the author of The Little Book of Prosperity. Through her signature programs like Financial Freedom 101, she's helped thousands of entrepreneurs from all over the world to create more ease, peace, and freedom around money. Penelope, welcome to the wealth on any income podcast.
Penelope Jane Smith 01:46
Yay. Thank you, Rennie, super excited to be here to talk about money with you.
Rennie Gabriel 01:50
Yeah, I love talking about money. One of the things that's not in your bio, that I really want to let you know that I respect is your willingness to be authentic and real, and be willing to talk about the warts, like how you lost I think it was $6 million from your real estate business.
Penelope Jane Smith 02:10
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 02:11
Well, let's talk about why you do what you do. Why are you working with women entrepreneurs?
Penelope Jane Smith 02:19
Sure, absolutely. So the thing about the financial planning industry is that there is an inherent gender bias, which this is the case in a lot of industries.
Rennie Gabriel 02:27
Yes.
Penelope Jane Smith 02:28
And so in, like, for example, seatbelts are safety tested on the average person, but the average person is the average man. And so more women die or are injured by seatbelts than men, because there's that inherent gender bias. And the same thing is true in the financial planning industry. Most financial planners and advisors are men, usually over 50. And so the typical financial planning models don't take into account women's longer lifespans, the differences in our career paths, our goals. And so what ends up happening is that statistically, women need, you know, we end up with less money at retirement, but it has to last us longer. So that's why I feel particularly passionate about supporting women. And then entrepreneurs specifically, because, you know, when your income goes up and down, and you don't have like a steady paycheck every single month, like an employee, well, the financial planning and the investing gets more complicated. Like, how do you plan your cash flow with an irregular income? How do you strike a balance between investing in your business and outside of your business? And so that's why I'm so passionate about working with women entrepreneurs, specifically, even though you know, I happily work with people of all gender identities. That's why that's the focus, yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 03:46
Thank you. And I try and lead by example, in terms of the philanthropy and my programs are designed to raise philanthropists. I donate 100% of the profits from the work I do to charity because I can. You're doing something very special and unique in that area. Tell me about what you're doing in the philanthropy area.
Penelope Jane Smith 04:05
So my big philanthropy project, slash, legacy project, is I'm creating a nonprofit called the Global Prosperity Endowment Fund. And I want to set it up the same way I support people with creating financial freedom. So one of the approaches we take is like the golden goose approach, like the goose that laid the golden eggs. So if you're creating your own golden goose, you want to be able to live off the golden eggs and not kill the goose, right? That's how I want to set up the fund. So that the money that I put into the fund or if anybody else chooses to donate, that's fine. For me, if I'm the only person that ever donates, that's okay. Like again, this is, it's like the golden goose that I'm creating for the world so the world can continue to receive the golden eggs. So I am leaving it in "goose" form. Instead of just donating and then the money just gets spent, the donations get invested and then the income from those investments goes to support the projects that the non-profit is doing. And right now we're very focused on making micro-loans to women entrepreneurs in third world countries. And third, what that's a weird term. I should say, you know, Africa, Asia, South America are the countries that I'm mostly focused in, which are places that I've been, and the dollar can go a really long way. So that's what we're doing specifically with that. And it's very exciting because it's something that can continue to live on long after I'm gone and continue to support my mission of elevating the prosperity of the planet.
Rennie Gabriel 05:30
Yeah, thank you, Penelope. And it's so funny, you use the example of the goose and the golden eggs, because I often talk about how we have been indoctrinated to believe it's better to be poor than to be wealthy. And I use the Jack and the Beanstalk example where he steals the goose and cuts it open to get at the eggs. So . . .
Penelope Jane Smith 05:58
Yeah, you don't want to do that.
Rennie Gabriel 05:59
Yeah, I had mentioned losing your your business early on. What would you say was your biggest failure, personal or business, but more importantly, what was your biggest insight from that?
Penelope Jane Smith 06:12
Yeah, well, I had taken $10,000 of my own money and in four years, turned that into over 6 million in real estate. And then I lost it all. I was forced to declare bankruptcy. I lost my beautiful home to foreclosure. It was very, very stressful and upsetting. And so that was my biggest failure. And, I mean, I continue to harvest lessons and insights from that experience. It's made me a much better mentor, teacher, investor, a much more compassionate human being. And I would say, like, really specifically, one of the biggest insights I got was the importance of managing cashflow. Because if I had known, if I'd had a system to manage cashflow, even though my income was changing, and even though I didn't have enough money to pay for everything at the time, I might have been able to keep my house. And I definitely would have been able to keep the lights on. You know, I had this point where the electricity got turned off, I couldn't afford to get it turned back on, everything in the fridge went bad. I lived in fear that I was going to come home and find the locks changed, and my pets trapped inside. I didn't have to go through that, like I might not have had the money to pay everybody, but I definitely could have paid the electric bill if I just had a clear plan. And so that's why I really, that's something that like at my Financial Freedom 101 event, we talk about. Like if you don't have enough to cover everything, if you're ever in that situation, what do you do? You're always going to be in a much better place if you're working a plan than if you're just in reaction mode, like I was at the time.
Rennie Gabriel 07:40
That is so perfect. And and it's funny too, because I've lived through similar experiences. And they're very hard, but they teach so much. Now, would you say they're typical feelings that your clients or prospects experience that you often encounter?
Penelope Jane Smith 07:57
Well, I work with a lot of women entrepreneurs, like I said, and often by the time they work with me, they're in their 50s and up. You know, sometimes even 70s, 80s. People come younger, but it's kind of like when someone's in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, it's like retirement feels kind of far off, and you know, not that urgent. And then somehow, around 50, people are like, 'Oh, I should really pay attention to this. I mean, not for everybody, but there seems to be like a curve there, if that makes sense. So around 50, my clients are starting to get concerned about if they'll have enough money for the future, because they're starting to get a sense of like, 'Wow, I might not want to work forever, or I might not be able to work forever' - even though most of the people I work with love what they do. And it's not like they want to stop working and go sit on a beach somewhere. Like they're passionate about the message they have to share with the world. But they're also like aware of the changes in their bodies and their energy levels, you know, like that. So I would say they feel some concern, maybe even worry about their financial future. And when it comes to managing and investing money wisely, a lot of them feel confused or overwhelmed, because, I think partially because Wall Street makes it sound really confusing. They want us all to think that investing is super complicated. So we should just hand all our money over to a financial advisor. And I don't have anything against financial advisors, but a lot of times that's not the way to go. And I think even if you're working with a financial advisor, you want to have a basic understanding of your strategy, because at the end of the day, you are the steward of your money. Right? So independent financial education, even when you're getting support is going to be critical.
Rennie Gabriel 09:44
You're absolutely right. And it's funny too, when you talk about that magic age, because you and I, I believe have discussed this in various situations where we've spoken to each other but, you know, I was broke at age 50 after my second divorce and a business failure. And I looked forward to say, 'I've got 15 years to get my act together, or I'm really going to be in trouble'. And that's, I think, for a lot of people, when they hit that age. I's not too late. I mean, eight years later, I didn't have to work for a living. But I was just hoping to, you know, eat tuna instead of cat food at 65.
Penelope Jane Smith 10:23
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 10:24
Well, let me ask you this, too. Is there a particular case study that kind of illustrates the things that we've been talking about?
Penelope Jane Smith 10:31
Well, my, what I'm working with people on typically is like, how do we become financially free in five years or less? Because like I said, a lot of the people I work with are 50, and up, and sometimes, you know, in their 60s, 70s, 80s. And so, dollar cost averaging into the market for 40 years like that, is, you know, that's not necessarily the best fit for them, right? So this isn't about like, get rich quick, but it's about being really smart with your money. And then also being creative about what other passive income streams might you be able to create from scratch with your your time, energy, connections, resources, creativity like that, to fill in beyond the golden eggs that you're getting from your investments. That's kind of the approach I take with people. And some people just moving their assets around, like getting their goose laying more golden eggs, that'll do it. And for some people, we need to fill in some other passive income streams. So for example, one of my clients, she had a career as a nurse, and she was also an artist, and wanted to really ramp up her coaching business on the side. And she had some assets, but she didn't like really understand her investment strategy or have one really, but she had put money aside into her retirement plan and stuff. And she wanted to be able to retire someday. She was hoping to do it in the next five years, but she didn't have a clear plan. And so we really looked at what she was doing, helped her get clear on a plan, helped her figure out an investment strategy that was going to work for her behavioral style and personality and actually get her money working harder for her. And then she saw 'Oh, I can actually become financially free right now.' And so she put in her notice, left her nursing career, continued to do her art, and then got to ramp up her passion projects, like adding a fashion line, and doing more with her coaching business. You know, so that was an extra five years of freedom in that case.
Rennie Gabriel 12:23
That's beautiful. I just, I'm chuckling at the idea that, well, I'm hoping to stop working in five years. And when she's working with you, and finding out what she's really got, and how she can deal with it, she can, she's financially free already.
Penelope Jane Smith 12:39
Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 12:39
That's a beautiful result. Now, I'm going to guess there are people who want to get a hold of you and know more about the work that you're doing. Is there some valuable resource you can direct people to that could support them?
Penelope Jane Smith 12:52
Sure, I'd say a great place to start is the Financial Freedom Formula eBook, which you can get for free at financialfreedomgift.com, financialfreedomgift.com. And that's a short read, it's a quick eBook, but it's going to walk you through what it'll take for you personally to become financially free. So figuring out your magic number, your golden goose, talking about different types of passive income, if your golden goose isn't laying as many golden eggs as you need it to. And that's going to help you create your plan to become financially free. I think that's a great next step.
Rennie Gabriel 13:25
I will put financialfreedomgift.com in the show notes so people can just click on it. And is there a question that I should have asked you, that would give some additional value to the our listeners, and obviously, if you're going to tell me the question, what would the answer be?
Penelope Jane Smith 13:45
Well, I mean, I would ask how does somebody become financially free in five years or less? Right? And the answer to that is we take a two prong approach, which I alluded to like on the firsthand, we want to take the golden goose approach and buy assets. So the first prong is buying assets. That's where you take some money, and you put it into something like real estate stocks, crypto, commodities, bonds, you know, precious metals, whatever it is. You put money into something that's either going to grow in value, or give you an income, you know, or a bit of both, to get your money working hard for you. So that's buying assets, growing your golden goose, getting your golden goose laying more golden eggs. And then if that's not enough to get you there, then the second prong is to- in addition to buying assets - create assets. And that's where you take your your time, energy, creativity, social capital, and you turn that into new passive income streams with little or no money down. So that might be something like royalties from a book or intellectual property. Like one of my clients created a pet health supplement. And there's another company that's doing the marketing and the manufacturing of it, and she makes $70,000 a month passive income for her intellectual property, basically, right?
Rennie Gabriel 15:02
Yeah, for most people that should be a comfortable living.
Penelope Jane Smith 15:05
Yeah. Totally. So there are things you can do to create new income streams is my point. And those are a couple examples.
Rennie Gabriel 15:12
Yeah and Penelope, one of the things I really admire is you don't have the typical buy stocks, bonds or mutual funds as the approach. But it's so much more broadly based, and that's what I believe in, and that's, I think, why you and I continue to stay connected.
Penelope Jane Smith 15:29
I think that's important because a lot of people they can only look at like one little section of the financial world. They're like, let me just look at your stocks, or let me just look at your business. Or let me just look at your real estate. But the thing is, we are holistic beings, right? And we have a holistic investment picture. And so to be able to sit at the table with somebody that can look at your business and your life goals and your stocks and your, you know, real estate and like, look at it all with you and help you create an integrated holistic plan, I think that's really powerful. And unfortunately, pretty rare.
Rennie Gabriel 16:00
Yes, I know because I've been in I was in the financial planning world for well over a quarter century and yes, it is rare. And Penelope, I want to thank you for being on my show.
Penelope Jane Smith 16:16
Thanks for having me. This is like my favorite thing to do. So super happy to be here and happy to come back anytime you want me.
Rennie Gabriel 16:23
Terrific. And to my listeners. Thank you for tuning in. Next week, we'll have Linda Kane, who supports the who's who of transformational leaders in running their in-person and online events. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform, and please rate, review, and subscribe. And if you'd like to know how books, movies and Society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 27-Page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice®, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or your money. And if you'd like to see how you can increase your wealth, and donate to the causes that touch your heart, please check out our affordable program, Wealth with Purpose, also on the wealthonanyincome.com website. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.