One Wealth Perspectives

The team at One Wealth has accumulated quite a few full and half marathon runners as of late. Whether there is a correlation between finance and endurance running, I don’t know. I do know, however, that both take having a particular goal in mind and a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other persistence to make it across the finish line. I get such joy in sharing in the excitement of my teammates who have successfully completed the 26.2 or the 13.1, yet I can empathize with those who are facing challenges in their training, too.

Oh, that familiar feeling of dread returning to your inbox after a week of being out of office. How do you avoid the inevitable feeling of drowning in a pool of emails when you return? Is it easier to just check your inbox while on vacation, or can you completely disconnect and say “Check ya later!” to work?

Over the holidays, my dad gave me a stack of wooden blocks wrapped in a bow. They looked like the pieces of wooden railroad tracks my brother and I would piece together as children. Some blocks had poems written on them. Others had small photos of me at various ages. Me on my first day of kindergarten. Me covered in chicken pox. Me dressed as a dalmatian for Halloween.

April is recognized as financial literacy month which, according to the department of higher education, reminds us to focus on learning as well as establishing and maintaining healthy financial habits. Over the years I’ve moderated many discussions on how parents could foster a productive financial conversation with their children, but until recently, I’ve been challenged to come up with a succinct way to do so. In a more recent conversation, one of our dear clients summed up my point by saying, ”Oh you mean the three S’s?” With a bewildered look, I said “Excuse me?” They said,” You know, the three S’s: Spend, Save and Share.” BAM! Thanks to them, I can now lead conversations using these three basic principles and for youngsters, I don’t think the conversation needs to be more complicated. For every $1 one receives, consider breaking it into three pieces and start to formulate one’s financial values (or habits). Clearly saving is what is most focused on, and spending is sometimes frowned upon. But why not spend some of one’s money, and consider at an early age sharing it as well.

Traveling with my family to Europe this winter break was truly a transformative experience. Days were filled with excitement and intrigue, and the experience left a marked impression on me. This experience forced me to slow down, take everything in, and appreciate and truly immerse myself in the experience. We spent a lot of time planning and researching, and we wanted to fit in as much as we could in the time we had. Having a plan set up allowed me to fully embrace the experience. It also leaves room to manage those little unexpected life situations that tend to come up no matter how prepared you are. Sometimes those moments can become valuable life lessons.

You never know where life is going to take you. During undergrad at San Francisco State University, I lived with a cousin who had recently graduated from the same school. One day, she invited me to an alumni dinner and although I was not fully convinced of the importance of going given it was so far outside of my normal activities, I hesitantly agreed.

I have always wanted to run a marathon. Doing so had been on my “to-do” list for a while, but I kept waiting for the perfect time to sign up (whatever that meant anyway). Last August, I decided 2023 would be the year to finally do it! And let me tell you, that perfect time or set of circumstances I kept waiting for, never came. But I am getting there – with a training plan. Most times you just need to start today, where you are, and that’s okay. Following a training plan has not been easy. You have to wake up every day and make certain choices that align with your end goal and the journey to get there. It takes discipline.

As we continue Women’s History Month and, after reading my colleagues’ thoughtful and empowering articles, I began to think about its origin and the meaning it holds to me. A quick google search and I learned that women’s history was first nationally recognized as a week-long celebration in 1980. Another year that comes to mind is 1920, the year that the 19th Amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote.

As a parent to a toddler, my world is filled with chaos. As most parents would probably agree, the toddler stage is an interesting one. One minute could be great and the next, you’re on the verge of a mental breakdown over something as small as a tortilla. Yes, my son had an epic meltdown because his tortilla folded in half and tore. With the uncertainty of the day to day that comes with parenting a toddler, one thing that is certain is my goal to start saving for his education.

Welcome to Women’s History Month — the women of One Wealth Advisors are taking over! As I dive deeper into the financial industry, having had no prior financial background or education in the field, I find myself reflecting on the elements that contribute to why there are not more women in finance. We know girls and boys like math at similar rates in elementary school, and that for girls their interest wanes by middle school. By college, my sociology classes were mostly made up of my female classmates, and my economics classes leaned more heavily male. I pursued a sociology degree for multiple reasons, but I also can’t help but notice how comfortable I was speaking in those classes compared to my economics classes. I wonder what my experience would have been like had the gender make-up of those classes been reversed, or if I had been taught from a young age by society to believe I could excel in math.