With Linda Lingo, a financial life coach and Certified Public Accountant, is an authority on women building wealth. Boasting a successful 35-year career in corporate America and a decade as a Financial Advisor, Linda brings practical experience, radical knowledge, and a profound understanding of the most effective ways to manage money for the modern-day woman.

Women work with Linda to discover the secrets of mastering their finances, cultivating wealth, and leaving a more significant impact on the world. Linda’s mission is to equip women with intelligent strategies for a successful, stress-free approach to money. Through a blend of inspiration and education, Linda navigates women toward clarity and confidence in their finances, enabling them to live the life they desire.

Armed with an MBA in Finance, Linda has served as a Corporate Controller in a Fortune 500 company and as a CPA with Ernst & Young CPAs. Her commitment lies in empowering women through education to attain financial freedom, marking a transformative journey towards a more prosperous and empowered future.

Join our conversation as Linda Lingo empowers women in building wealth through savvy financial strategies, encompassing financial planning, insurance, and effective money management. Linda addresses the unique challenges in women’s financial planning, discussing gender roles’ impact on retirement planning. She advocates prioritizing saving, automating bill payments, and forming a supportive team for entrepreneurial endeavors. Tune in for insights on retirement accounts and tax savings tailored especially for women entrepreneurs.

>Subscribe to Guts, Grit & Great Business on Apple Podcasts

Takeaways & quotes you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• The role of gender in retirement planning.
• How important is it to educate young girls and boys about money and finances?
• Scarcity and fear mindset vs abundance and gratitude mindset.
• What is the best retirement account for self-employed individuals, employers, and high-earning entrepreneurs?
• The importance of disability insurance for entrepreneurs and business owners.

“Save first, pay your bill second, and whatever’s left, have fun with it…”

-Linda Lingo

Check out these highlights:

• 07:52 At what point did Linda end up switching to the path of supporting women?
• 10:40 How do men and women differ in terms of their money mindset?
• 22:38 Where do people go wrong when it comes to money?
• 37:06 How does Linda work with her clients?
• 44:02 Linda’s final thoughts and action steps for the listeners.

How to get in touch with Linda on Social Media:

You can also contact Linda by visiting her website here.

Special gift to the listeners: Take a FREE Money Quiz at https://lindalingo.com/ and download “9 Savvy Wealth-Building Steps for Financial Freedom”.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below:

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®…

Linda Lingo  00:04

One thing I work with women on is save first, pay your bill second, and whatever’s leftover could be $2 $5 $1,000 depending on your income, have fun with it, you know, but save first, once again, make it a habit, then you don’t have to think about it, then it’s not a concern. Set up your bills on automatic bill pay. Make it easy, make it simple. This doesn’t have to be hard.

GGGB Intro  00:35

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:03

Hello, welcome. I’m The Legal Website Warrior®, and attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving online information entrepreneurs throughout the US and the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®. I’m super excited for our conversation today. I have a new guest and a new friend who has a mutual connection. We have a mutual connection in common actually, which is how we got connected in the first place. And I love what Linda is up to and you will too. Stick around you’re going to learn a lot. And this is for many of us a very, very important conversation because it involves money. For those of you that don’t know, Linda, we have Linda Lingo with us today, and Linda is an authority on women building wealth. Her successful 35 year career in corporate America and her 10 years as a Financial Advisor have given her practical experience, radical knowledge and a deep understanding of the best ways to manage money for the modern day woman.  Women work with Linda to discover how to become a master at their finances, build their wealth and make an even bigger impact in the world. Linda’s mission is to empower women with smart strategies for a successful, stress-free approach to money. Through inspiration and education, Linda guides women into clarity and confidence in their finances so they can live the life they desire.  Linda has her MBA in Finance and has served as a Corporate Controller in a Fortune 500 company and CPA with Ernst & Young CPAs.  Linda empowers women through education to achieve financial freedom. Now, if you’re a man and you’re like, oh, okay, I’m going to opt out of this conversation, don’t. You’ll learn some things and you have women in your life who may need this conversation or who may be you share one tidbit of information about Linda’s journey or Linda’s experience or how she supports her clients. You can help change the financial reality for somebody in your life. So, Linda, so great to be connected. Welcome to the show. I’m really looking forward to what we’re gonna share with our listeners today.

Linda Lingo  03:27

Absolutely. Me too. Thanks. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:29

Yeah, so I would love to know a little bit. I mean, I know we got the very quick version of your background. Tell me why money, why financial stuff? Where did that come from for you? 

Linda Lingo  03:43

Oh gosh, you’re taking me back a long ways. Honestly, I was brought up on a farm in rural America. And I was always taught that you work hard for your money, you save before you spend, and that you don’t need to make more than what you actually need. So those are three of my money stories that I was raised with. So moving forward, I knew I needed to… I wanted to go to college. I was the first one in my family to go to college. I love learning. I’m a lifelong learner. And so when I went to college, I actually wanted to be an attorney. That was my goal was to be a judge. I wanted to be a judge who could help write the wrongs if you will of this society. But I marry I met a man and he was gonna go to law school and we’re very competitive and we decided two attorneys would be too much. And so my second love was business. I’ve always loved business and numbers came very easy to me and so I took that path and got my degree in business went on and got my MBA and my CPA. And that was the start of it. And it’s been great. It’s served me well. And I’ve enjoyed my various careers having to do with money, finance, math,

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:18

That’s amazing. We have like, almost reverse backgrounds. Business was my first love. I was always interested in business, and then ended up switching kind of at the end of my business education to law, just felt like out of the blue, but it was because I was required to take business law, right? And then another class where I ended up writing a paper on legal ethics, but I never once thought about becoming an attorney. And I also love your bit about you know, we can’t have two attorneys in the family. Because when people ask me, so are you married to an attorney? I’m like, hell no. I mean, I love a lot of attorneys. I have amazing colleagues and friends. But yes, the idea of having two, I just thought no, no, better not. Anyways, that is funny. Well, I love the switch into business, business and law to me are so closely connected, right? It’s all that I do now. Right? So I actually got to work out of both of my loves. But nice. Yes. When you switched into your business, education and your business career, did it feel like the right fit to you?

Linda Lingo  06:32

It did, because I am very social. And so actually, people are like a CPA, you don’t seem like a CPA, because they like just sit in the corner and work on spreadsheets all day. And so it was interesting, because I did taxes. And I did audits, but consulting was really what I enjoyed. So that’s very much interactive. And then after being a Corporate Controller, I actually went on to be a financial advisor. And I really enjoyed that. Because to me, that brought both worlds together really well, it was bringing my skills, my interpersonal skills, and then you know, of course, all the finance background that I had too, so that was a perfect marriage for my career.

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:13

Right. I love that. And I love the social side as well, because I think it’s fun to kind of bust the norms and an industry, right, especially when people have a perceived impression of like, this happens all the time to me, like, Oh, you’re not actually what I expected when I thought an attorney helping me with my business legal stuff, and I just get a kick out of this. I love it. Because it’s like, you know, there really is no one profile for any of us in our industries, right? And I think it’s really important to remember that. At what point did you end up switching to this path of supporting women?

Linda Lingo  07:52

So as a financial advisor, and talk about, busting the stereotypes, so there when I was a financial advisor, there was less than 10%. All the other financial advisors were women. And unfortunately, it’s still pretty low. I think it’s like 12%. Now. So that was, I feel like I’ve been breaking the ceiling, every step I’ve gone. But anyway, to answer your question, as a financial advisor, I loved working with couples, with women, but what I found was women wanted more education, more information before they were ready to make a financial decision. And they were often afraid or embarrassed or intimidated, and didn’t ask questions, especially when they were in a couple situation. So many times the husband would take the lead, which is I would say normal, typical. And the woman can just sit back and listen, but not always be engaged. And so observing this after, working with many households, I just decided that it was time for me to pivot from being a financial adviser, leaving the investing part to the financial advisors, and pivoting to being a what I call a financial life coach. And it really, in another life or another career, I think I would have been a wonderful college professor. I love educating. And finding education and communication are my two strength. And so I love educating women and really helping them to understand not only the dollars and cents of money, which is where so many financial advisors jump to, but also understanding the emotional side of money and that’s something that very few people talk about. And it’s really where I start the conversation. And so being a holistic coach in that sense, really helps ground women, how they’re working with their money. So it was realizing that when one where education that that helped me pivot to being a coach.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:20

Got it. Well, and it’s, I mean, I have a whole string of questions that sparks, but I want to get to the piece around kind of this difference in mindset between men and women about how they even approach money. What do you attribute that to? 

Linda Lingo  10:38

Well, it starts with our money mindset. So the way we’re brought up. I shared three of my money mindsets that I was brought up with. And typically the typical household is, the boy is encouraged to take risks, and to go for what he wants. A girl ,on the other, is more instructed to be safe, secure, yes, cautious. And just from those early, even nonverbal, but definitely verbal conversations, that’s ingrained in our in our brain. And so we have neural pathways, their little like roadways running through this brain of ours. And the more we hear that message, the deeper the road gets. And so women often are brought up with a sense of scarcity, and fear around money, because they weren’t taught how to take risks, it was more, oh, I have to save. I can’t take that risk. Whereas like I said, boys are often you know, take the risk, go for it, those kinds of messages so at a very early age.

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:56

Well, and, yeah, it seems like such a great example of how much bigger the conversation is than just money, right? Opposed to all of these cultural norms and other things that feed into how we relate to and deal with our money. What else? And I know one of the things that you really focus on with women is retirement planning specifically. Is there a difference in the way that men and women typically even if they’re involved in the conversation and doing their retirement planning, is there a difference between how that goes for people?

Linda Lingo  12:32

Absolutely. Absolutely, women typically have the children. And our typical household looks like having the baby if she wants to stay home, she’s usually the one that stays home for a short period of time or a longer period of time. And I’m not judging, I’m just stating, these are the facts. And the longer she’s out of the workforce, she’s not earning, she’s not contributing to her Social Security, and she’s not contributing to say her 401K, 457B, whatever type of retirement account she has available. So those are all missed dollars, that would go towards her retirement. A man on the other, you know, on the flip side, is he typically doesn’t stay home very long for family time. Or if he does, it doesn’t impact his income, his contributions to his retirement and to his social security as much as it does for the wife. So that and then you put on top of that pay inequality. And fortunately, women are still at 80 cents to $1. White women, it gets worse for color and Latino. So if you layer that on it and significant. And then on top of all that, is women, daughters are typically the caregiver for their parents. So age 50 is kind of where that starts coming into play. And so then, if the daughter steps out of the workforce to take care of her parents, once again, she’s missing out on income, on savings for her retirement and social security contributions. So that’s kind of the big picture. And that is how the gender roles kind of play out. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  12:57

Yeah, well, it explains a lot. And it explains also, I mean, in part, I think also a lot of services around financial planning around even the money conversation are tailored towards men, right? So it’s so great when we have women serving women in that space, but it just really feels like an uphill battle. Where do you start with women especially those that maybe find themselves midway through their career or through this, even kind of the life journey that you’re talking about about being a caregiver on both ends, right? Because women are much more likely to step into that than men are. And it is, let’s be clear, it is a huge financial sacrifice.

Linda Lingo  15:20

It is. It is, unfortunately.

Heather Pearce Campbell  15:23

So how do we do things the right way? Even if we’re catching ourselves midstream, right, because I think a lot of women feel like they’ve got to play catch up, or somehow do things differently. How do you have that conversation with women?

Linda Lingo  15:38

Well, first of all, what I see happening is women going through a life transition is kind of the wake up call, if you will, so it could be they’re empty nesters for the first time or they’re doing a career change, or they’re going through a divorce or they just lost a spouse. That is kind of when money becomes a priority for them, if you will. And once they make it a priority, we sit down and we take a look at where are you and what have you saved in when do you want to retire? What kind of retirement do you want to have? Because so many times, I mean, I was in the same situation, yeah, we put our heart and soul into being a wife, a mother, whatever career hat we’re wearing, you know?

Heather Pearce Campbell  16:20

And not only heart and soul, but every waking minute, I think part of what you’re talking about is like some women and I think for many of us, this is true. And at times in my life, this has been true. I literally don’t have even the mental energy that it takes to think about money, finances, my money situation, like when we were on the pathway to having kids was a really tumultuous path. Physically, it was extraordinarily difficult. I had multiple, more than two near death experiences. Gosh, I know, it’s like three or four there, they blend together. But I had seven years, seven pregnancies, lots of physical trauma, right? Multiple times where I ended up in the hospital, could have died without medical care, right? So bad stuff. And I knew we were going to do financially, whatever it took to get our kiddos here, well, physically and financially, whatever it took. And we did and I did not have the capacity to think about money, to look at my finances. It was just kind of pure survival mode. Right? So absolutely, that’s a reality. And I think it’s the reality for a lot of women at certain phases.

Linda Lingo  17:37

Exactly. And that’s why it’s so easy to abdicate to our spouse, to our financial advisor. And it’s just like, they’ll take care of it. I don’t have the emotional bandwidth right now, to deal with one more thing. And honestly, I would say that’s why it’s critical to educate our girls and boys at a young age on money and finances. I would love to see more of it at the high school level, even junior high. So they understand what not just a checking and a savings account is, but what a credit card is, how to handle it that it actually has to be paid. And how compounding value of money is so important. I had my children later in life, because I was a career girl and I look having a career. So my daughter’s 24. And I started her on a Roth IRA a couple years ago. And I showed her I said if you just put in $100 a month, if you continue to do that, and we just do an S&P 500 index, nothing fancy, you will have at least $250,000 by the time you’re 65. That’s doing nothing else, nothing else. And so it’s educating our kids. And that’s the other thing, what habits, once we get them into a habit, then they don’t think about it. And that’s the other thing is just putting it on automatic that you automatically contribute to your retirement account wherever you’re at, whatever you can. That way you don’t have to think about it. It’s just automatic, you know, just like the bill pay, well put it into savings. And that’s the other thing. It’s getting in the habit of not spending more than you make. There’s a lot of different ways to budget. I’m not going to go off on that too much. But I will tell you, I don’t like a traditional budget, and I don’t like the word budget. It makes my skin crawl. And so I work with my clients on an intentional money spending and saving plan. But one thing I work with women on is save first, pay your bill second, and whatever’s leftover could be $2, $5, $1,000 depending on your income, have fun with it. But save first once again, make it a habit, then you don’t have to think about it, then it’s not a concern. Set up your bills on automatic bill pay. Make it easy, make it simple. This doesn’t have to be hard.

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:16

I love that we need more of that messaging because I think so many influences from the outside world make it feel harder than it should be. Right?

Linda Lingo  20:24

Yeah, that’d be super stressful. And it’s like, oh, my gosh, am I doing this right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:28

All right, let’s pause for a moment and hear from today’s sponsor. Are you an entrepreneur who is on track to make a million or more in revenue this year in your business? If so, your business is likely facing a host of legal issues that are right for support. And if you are like so many of my clients at this level, you are likely tired of taking unnecessary risks and a DIY approach to legal support in your business. You’re ready to tackle the mess of legal documents, six legal gaps that you have. You want to take care of your IP, your clients, your business, and avoid unnecessary conflict and risk in the process. If this is you, and beyond just being an entrepreneur, you are a catalyst and are committed to your mission and your impact in the world. I invite you to get in touch. You could be a fit for my catalyst club, a small business legal support program that I designed for my high level clients. Just like you, you can find out more at legalwebsitewarrior.com. Just click on the Work with Me tab to learn more about the catalyst club and other ways that I support my clients, a fabulous group of world changing entrepreneurs, I might add, you’ve done the initial legwork in your business. And now you want to soar. And you know that you can only go as high and as far as your legal foundation lets you go. So get in touch today, hop over to legalwebsitewarrior.com, click on the Work with Me tab. And if you have any questions, get in touch through the Contact link on my site, I look forward to connecting it would be a joy to support you on your path.

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:11

What else do you notice people getting wrong? A lot that could be simplified when it comes to money. Right? So I’m hearing you say save first, I think that’s a big one. A lot of people are out there paying bills first, probably second budgeting for fun, or even budgeting and then saving if there’s anything left out. Right.

Linda Lingo  22:33

Exactly. And, I put this my personal take, I think we’re in such a consumerism, society. You know, I always say, why do we buy toys to impress neighbors that we don’t like? And that’s our income creep, if you will, it’s easy, oh, I got a raise, oh, good. Now I can buy this toy, or I can do this or that. And it’s like, Oh, I gotta raise up my contribution to my retirement account first. And then do what you want to do with the rest, but don’t do it to impress people. And that’s one reason when I’m coaching women and couples, I actually, we go through an exercise called the Values Exercise. Because it need to know what your values are in life, so that you know what your relationship to money is. So that you know, if you’re in the dating scene, so you know what values you want this other person to have, if you’re looking for a business partner, you want a business partner whose values align with yours. So when you know what your values are, you can then set your financial goals in alignment with those values, and then you’ll follow through. And one of those is how, you know saving for retirement, what kind of retirement do you want to have? You know, and it doesn’t have to be extravagant, it can be, I want a simple cottage, it doesn’t have to be on the beach, I’d like to be water, you know, or in a small town, you know, whatever it is, and it can change. But once you can kind of visualize what you’re saving for. You can picture what it’s going to look like, it makes it a lot easier. I think it’s difficult for young people to save because it’s that immediate gratification. You know, it’s like, oh my gosh, I’m not going to be retired for 40 years. What the heck am I saving for? It’s like, yeah, but if you don’t start saving, you know, it’s going to come before you know it. Let me tell you the years fly by.

Linda Lingo  22:57

Right, don’t we know it? Yeah, well, and I think also this point around clarity, being clear on what you’re working towards. It’s so much easier to work towards something than to just like, follow rules for the sake of following them, you know, right? Because everybody knows they should see first everybody knows a few of these basics. Yeah. But I think the clarity is really important around where is the money going? What does it do for you in your life? And I think this is the conversation around values, right? Is it family time? Is it prioritizing travel? Is it putting aside money to donate every year? What is that? Right? 

Linda Lingo  25:27

Yeah, exactly. So one thing that I think makes it a little easier, I don’t know about you, but I’m old fashioned. I have a vision board. And what I put pictures of who I’m saving on right in front of me, it’s like, oh, yeah, that’s why I really wanted to, like, right now I have a picture of a woman meditating on the Mediterranean. And it’s like, that’s when my daughter I love to travel, that’s one of my places, another one is Africa. So I’ve got these African scenes. But, you know, it can be your saving for your child’s college. So a picture of your kid, baby, you know, with a diploma, it could be your saving for your first home. So picture the house that you really would like to get into a company. You’re saving for a car, your first car doesn’t have to be brand new, you know, picture the car. So when you can visual, I’m a visual person. So it helps me when I have pictures and and brings it closer to home and, and makes it more real. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  26:33

Really? I think it makes it more real. And I think it sounds like it helps make it more fun. And I think the money thing can feel not very fun to a lot.

Linda Lingo  26:44

Yeah, really heavy and stressful. And you know, when you’re when you’re talking about money, there’s actually two mindsets, if you will. There’s this what we call a scarcity and the fear mindset. And there’s the abundance and the gratitude mindset. And it’s really easy to get stuck in this fear and scarcity. I don’t have enough. Well, it’s fear based. And so it it’s easy to get in that cycle. Because and I’ve seen this a lot of times with women, they’re like, I’m no good with money. I can’t live with my paycheck, you know, and so they get paid, they go out and splurge. A credit card comes, they can’t pay it. Oh, see, I’m no good with money. Cycle continues, continues, it reinforces itself. So I work with them to get them from there over to one of abundance and gratitude. And gratitude is really key. You know, we can all do this, I have a gratitude journal, I write down at least three to five things every day that I’m thankful for. And when you’re in that thankful, grateful, and it can be small things. This morning, I had my pumpkin spice coffee. Like, I love this so much. I’m so grateful for pumpkin season to be here. But we work on getting into that abundance and gratitude cycle because it lifts you up. And once you can see that, oh, I can be good with my money. I can live with an attention on money and spending and saving plan. Oh, I can save before I go out and splurge. So I think that’s really important. The other thing, so I will differ from your typical financial coach here. And I swear, is that a lot? Only you can I say go buy the fucking latte, you know, it’s not going to make the difference. This is the other thing I talk to my clients about is let’s talk about the questions, the topics that are going to save you $50,000. Who gives a shit about $5? I’m sorry, but you know, if that’s what gives you joy, if going through the drive thru a couple times a week, lights you up, or if that’s where you can get out of the house and go meet friends and have your social interaction, do it. But you know, but let’s talk about your credit score. And if you have a good credit score, how that will save you 1000s of dollars in interest, instead of you know and not only that, but your mortgage rate. That’s where we’re really talking about okay, we can save some serious money here, huh?

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:36

That’s such an important point. I feel like people can really get lost in the weeds and that shift from looking at the we’ll just call it the wrong things with our money to really seeing where we can move the needle just feels more powerful, feels you know, even more doable, right? I think it feels hard to think of like giving up your coffee or I will say that as a mom of two kids that feels hard.

Linda Lingo  30:10

Like, exactly. But when we’re talking to entrepreneurs, and if it makes a difference between getting a loan at 10% versus 7%, that’s significant money. Yeah, absolutely. And it’s also working with entrepreneurs, because I have several clients who are, they get so caught up in their business, they’re good at their business, but they forget about paying themselves. And so that is really an important aspect. If you’re a business owner out there, make sure you’re paying yourself, even if it’s a little bit, same thing, make it a habit, make sure you have the right retirement account set up, whether it’s a SEP IRA or a solo 401K,. Make sure it’s the right thing for you. Because A, you’re saving for yourself, you’re paying yourself and B it can save you some important taxes too.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:09

Right, well, that’s it. I mean, that’s a huge one right there. And I remember when I finally got payroll in place for myself and talking with my CPA, and I was doing the shame game of like, Man, I should have done this so long ago, you know, the thing that we do, and my CPA was like, wait a second, stop it, she’s a woman, you know, and she works with a lot of entrepreneurial clients. And she was like, this is actually a big deal, like, celebrate. And so I love also that shift. And it’s a reminder, we have to surround ourselves with people who can help us see this clearly. And also celebrate the wins and shift more into that abundant mindset of like, look, I do have this, I am learning some things, I’m making progress, right? I’ve got my goals, and I’m I’m clicking them off the list. And that really, for most of us takes support.

Linda Lingo  32:03

Absolutely. It’s just like anything in life. I believe that when you can engage a mentor, a coach, a professional, I say it takes a team. Yeah, it takes a village, I think it takes a village to raise a family. I think it takes a team to support us as successful business owners as well.

Heather Pearce Campbell  32:23

Absolutely. And for the entrepreneurs listening, like the point that you just made about, you know, a SEP IRA, Roth IRA for a solo 401K, to give us a little glimpse of the difference of each of those, because I’m thinking there are people who are listening who were like, Okay, I’ve been an entrepreneur for some time, and I still don’t have this piece figured out, right? Or I need to lean into this a little harder.

Linda Lingo  32:49

If you’re self employed, probably the SEP IRA is where I would look first. And it changes every year, but you can put significant amounts in 54 or 5000 into a SEP IRA, you don’t have to fully fund it. But there are those opportunities.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:11

Is this pre tax or post tax dollars?

Linda Lingo  33:13

Pre tax. Yeah, so reduce your taxable income. So SEP IRA is definitely something to consider. If you have employees, a simple IRA, might be a better bet for you. So there are pluses and minuses, the simple IRA is for the employees, but you can’t contribute quite as much. So that’s kind of the drawback on that. And if you are a high earning entrepreneur, a solo 401K is wonderful. It’s flexible, you can do a lot more investment wise in a solo 401k. I’ve had clients who are making six figures plus, and they could do things like buy life insurance in their solo 401k. They could obviously invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, but they could do other investments as well. So that’s kind of a spectrum. But I would say start with a SEP IRA. And if you are an individual, definitely look at an IRA an individual retirement account. If you’re in a lower tax bracket, definitely consider a Roth which is after tax money. And if you’re younger, I encourage my younger clients to always put towards a Roth because you do pay the taxes upfront, but it grows tax free. The IRS doesn’t give us very many things but that and HSAs. Oh, that’s the other thing. I can’t leave without saying health savings accounts. It is a gift. The requirement is you have to be in a high deductible insurance plan. And if you’re self employed, you probably are. But if you have that high deductible insurance plan, then you can open an HSA (health savings account) and contribute to that. Depending on where you open it, some banks will, I know fidelity does, you can also invest. So that’s an opportunity. But let me tell you why HSAs are wonderful. Because when you retire, and so some of you out there are probably 30 somethings and going, Yeah, that’s another 30 years. But you will thank me when you retire, because you can use your HSA money for health expenses that Medicare Medigap doesn’t cover. And let me tell you, it doesn’t cover a lot. And it’s tax free. So in an HSA, you’re putting in pre tax money, so you don’t pay taxes on it, you can invest or putting it, you know, CD something, so it’s growing. And when you take it out for health expenses, it’s still tax free.

Heather Pearce Campbell  36:13

Is there a limit on the amount that you can put in there?

Linda Lingo  36:17

I don’t remember the exact amount? It’s like around 3500? A year.

Heather Pearce Campbell  36:22

Yeah, but tax free money? Yes, it does. And especially for those of us who end up having to pay quite a bit out of network or for you know, additional medical support. And I mean, I know that it happens to us every year, and we use our HSA. Yeah, absolutely. Those are awesome points. And I know that people are sitting back going, Okay, I need to probably revisit this list or have a conversation with somebody about this and figure out, what’s the right strategy for me, right? Because it probably looks different person to person. Where do you start with your clients? Tell us a little bit about the work that you do with your clients.

Linda Lingo  37:06

So I work with my clients, it’s all customized, so depending on where they are, but I have developed a four pillar approach to building wealth is what I call it. And so we start on the emotional side, we talk about a money mindset, work through that and make sure that they’re in a good space with their relationship to money, before we move into, so I call it the VIP program. So values is first we talk about their values, and then we work at the I, which is intentional money spending and saving plan. And just making sure you know, they might have a budget together, but we just take a look at it, make sure it’s congruent with where they are in alignment with their values and what they want to accomplish. And then we move into the second I, which is investing. And so I educate them as much or as little. But my goal is to make sure they understand enough so that they are not intimidated in having a conversation with their financial advisor. So it’s giving them education, so that they can ask questions and feel secure in making those choices. And then the P is protecting what they’ve worked so hard to grow and leaving a legacy. And that can be now or it can be later. So there’s a lot of ways to protect what we have. There’s charitable foundations, you can do different things with your IRA if you don’t need to take required minimum distributions. So quite few different options. And then we talk about insurance, that’s part of the protecting what you have is different insurance options. I don’t sell any products. So it’s just all education and getting them to a place where we develop their own roadmap. So that’s what it’s all about is this is where they’re at. This is their goal and working with me I work a minimum of three months with a client so that we can work through the different issues. Many times it takes six months. But but it’s working with them to develop a roadmap that really meets their needs and that they feel really confident about

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:29

Well, and I heard you on the P part of the protecting what you have and what you’re building and you know, talking about legacy., you answered one of the questions because you talked about insurance. I was thinking in my head does this overlap with estate planning and insurance? 

Linda Lingo  39:45

Sure, yeah, of course it does. So a lot of the entrepreneurs you know, disability and insurance I think is one thing that doesn’t get talked about enough. And I’m not here to sell insurance, but I will tell you that you can get some pretty decent disability protection, not as a standalone insurance policy but as a writer as a living benefit on a whole life or universal product.

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:19

Oh, nice. Yeah, well, and insurance is super important. It’s one of the things that I cover as well, even from the legal side when we talk about what it takes to protect a business, protect a business owner, right. So I get it. And yes, I have heard that more than once that disability insurance is often one of the things that people leave off the list. And yet, most of us are way more likely to become disabled than we are to actually pass at an early age. And so it’s something that we all should be looking at. Definitely. Linda, this money is a big conversation. I think there’s so many strategies, so much information available to people. I love what you’ve provided us here. I know, there are people that I’m sure have many more questions. I’d love to know where you show up online and where you’d like for people to connect with you?

Linda Lingo  41:13

Oh, thank you. So I am on Facebook is Linda Lingo Financial Coach. I am on LinkedIn is Linda Lingo Financial Coach. And my daughter put me on instagram as moneymamamentor.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:31

I love it. I love it.

Linda Lingo  41:32

I have YouTube to Linda Lingo and but my website is lindalingo.com. You know, very consistent literally.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:43

I love it.

Linda Lingo  41:44

That’s where I show up, you can always reach me, email me, linda@lindalingo.com. You know, so I’d love to connect in any one of those platforms that works for you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:58

Perfect. Well, and we will share those links. If you’re listening, we are going to share the link to Linda’s website as well as all of her social media channels over at the show notes page, which you can find at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast find Linda’s episode and we’ll have all the links there. Linda, I think you mentioned that you’ve got a resource for the audience as well, right? 

Linda Lingo  42:22

Yeah, yeah, of course. So I have a fun money quiz. Everybody wants to know, what is their money profile. And so if you go to lindalingo.com, on the homepage, right there in the front, it’s money quiz, go ahead and click on that you can take it, you’ll get your results. And then I have freebies too. So I always like to have one is nine steps to retire successfully. And there’s other free ones on there too. But that’s one of the ones that’s been most popular.

Heather Pearce Campbell  42:54

I love it. Okay, so we will also provide the link over to your free download. I think it’s the “9 savvy wealth building steps for financial freedom”. And then the money quiz is on our homepage, you guys. So we will share that as well. And we’ll point you to that money quiz in the show notes legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Linda, you know, it’s my personal belief. We can’t just we can’t talk enough about money, right? And we don’t, most of us don’t. I think it is a regular and ongoing conversation that we all need to be having. Because our money situation grows and evolves, our businesses and our lives grow and evolve. So I’m so grateful for you to come join us today and share. I know you’re just giving us little peeks into all of your insights and wisdom over the years, but I love what you do.

Linda Lingo  43:46

Thank you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  43:48

Any final thoughts? It could be an action step, takeaway like you know, if there’s one thing you gotta go do, go do this. What do you want to leave our listeners with today?

Linda Lingo  43:58

Oh, well, this is what’s coming to mind because I don’t want to leave you guys out. So I think it’s really important, especially if you’re a couples to have a money date. So I will challenge you, your listeners to have a money date at least once a month and make it fun. No judgement. You’re not there to criticize, you’re there to get on the same page. Start with where your values are, start with where your goals are, and then work together. Don’t nitpick on why did you charge this or you spent too much here none of that, ah, have a beer, a glass of wine, sit down, pinky swear that there’ll be no criticism of each other. And just have fun working towards your goals because money is the number one reason for divorce. And I would much rather to see you have fun and work towards your goals than end up into court.

Heather Pearce Campbell  45:01

I love that so much. I mean, you just made that sound fun. And I think there is a way to do this better. And most of us need those kinds of tips. So I love it. I think that’s the perfect end. For those of us in relationships who know how hard money can be and trying to bring two decision makers together with potentially different values. Yeah, it’s a it’s a big deal. Yes, I love that tip. Thank you so much, Linda. I really appreciate you joining us today.

Linda Lingo  45:32

Thank you, Heather. My pleasure. Have a great day.

GGGB Outro  45:35

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.