Reaching stability in turbulent times with Cassandra Stahl
The following interview is a transcript excerpt from The Heallist Podcast episode. Listen to the full audio version below and subscribe to get notified of new episodes.
In this episode, Yuli is joined by Cassandra Stahl, a seasoned Financial Advisor from Northwestern Mutual's Legacy Wealth Planning Group, where she guides individuals and small business owners to dream courageously and live with purpose. She does it by helping them align their values with their actions. She creates a safe, fun atmosphere where her clients can open up and talk about where they want their money to take them, why they want to go there, and then stay by their side to help navigate the course.
Join us as Cassandra delves into the complexities of financial planning during economic uncertainty, with a focus on holistic practitioners. Discover the crucial role of a financial advisor and gain valuable insights into the selection criteria for finding the right professional to guide you through turbulent times.
Explore the world of wealth redistribution and its impact on female entrepreneurship with Cassandra's expertise. Learn how to cultivate a wealth mindset that goes beyond financial metrics, fostering a holistic approach to well-being.
Financial planning during economic uncertainty
Yuli Ziv: Let's dive into the stability topic. It's so important to stay grounded and stable. I know it's hard in times with so many emotions and much going on. How can the idea of financial stability ground us? What can people do tactically on a daily basis to feel stability?
Cassandra Stahl: Remember, no storm lasts forever. Stormy skies somewhere, there’s sun somewhere else. If we can all have an understanding that no situation is forever, in fact, history and economics follow a cycle, we can take some comfort when we maybe catch a cold or something, you're uncomfortable for a few days, and then are likely to get better.
Right now, the economy has a cold. By the way, this happens every 10 to 12 years and that we have these recessionary economics. That is to be expected. I think if we can plan for it and allow it to feel less random and more cyclical, we can really wrap our arms around it and just have it as part of our daily planning. The number one thing that we can do to arm ourselves energetically in these times is to have a financial plan and open up that candid conversation with somebody that is in a role similar to mine, to make sure that you have an ongoing plan that addresses the fact that it's not sunny forever, and it doesn't storm forever.
Yuli Ziv: I love that idea of hope. I also like to think about those times as opportunity times. Because when everyone retracts, this is an opportunity for you to open up to new possibilities and build from a place of openness when others might be more in a survival mode or in a fearful place. This is where you can come in and show your courage and create great mission-based businesses.
Cassandra Stahl: The silver lining of the pandemic is that the tide has come out. Those with less intentional business models may not have survived the storm. It permits room for people that are pure of heart, having cited the strong intention, mission, and vision. The way is almost clear for us.
Yuli Ziv: How do we approach taking advantage of those times? How do you advise your clients? Where do you start? And what does that planning process include?
Cassandra Stahl: The planning process is like writing a vision statement. Many of the women that I'm working with are incredibly vision-oriented, but they've left money and wealth out of the vision because in some ways, it might feel like it sucks energy instead of one that can augment the beautiful energy they bring to their life, business, and the people in organizations that they love.
A lot of what I'm doing is sitting down with them and seeking to understand in the next 3, 5, 10, 15, beyond 15 years, what things could look like if they were to dream and think in an uninhibited fashion. What they imagined it to look like, and what they would like to see for their personal wealth, business, families, and the people in the organizations they love. It's opening the door to allow that manifestation to truly begin.
As I open the door, I permit and hold space for that conversation. It might feel like this enormous grandiose vision, and it probably is. But you begin to journey with this single set. Let's figure out the long game, where you'd like to end up. Let's bring it back to today. What's happening in your life? What can you expect to turn in the next six months? Let us deal with today now, and figure out those small, repeatable actions that you can take. Is it saving enough to have a cash cushion for yourself and your business, if that's relevant to you, so you can feel the space of having that cash reserve and go forth with that comfort and competence, knowing, "Hey, I can take some big swings. And if they don't pan out for three months, it's okay because I have my cash reserve set aside."
Sometimes it's better things like maybe opening a retirement account through your business to help with taxes or to help save for your retirement. What you need is somebody who is an expert in the area to guide that and truly respect, understand, and support your vision forward. If you can find that marriage in financial planning, there's very little, if anything, you can't accomplish.
The important role of a financial advisor and selection criteria
Yuli Ziv: Many of us use guides for our well-being, but thinking about getting a guide for financial planning to bring stability into our lives is essential. It's another area where we need to be guided. and having a financial advisor can make a significant difference. We may carry blocks around money that stops us from thinking that we are a worthy of a financial advisor.
Cassandra Stahl: In reality, if you have something that you're looking to do in life, you're worthy of a financial advisor. What is very inspiring to me is the shift I've seen from the traditional old white dude in a blue or gray suit to levels of diversity culturally, and the inclusion of female advisors. It is night and day, even if we're just looking at the last 10 years. I am so inspired, thinking about what the future will look like. Having an advisor that looks, talks, acts, and maybe has similar values to you is crucial.
What we know is that beautiful things begin to happen when we can think abundant. Many healers are able to think in terms of abundance for their business because they are the subject matter expert, but you need a partner to guide and walk alongside you in the financial realm. The relationship you have with your financial advisor should permit more room within yourself to go forward and pursue the things that are most important to you and have an even greater impact on the world and the communities that you serve.
The task here is to find an advisor that you're speaking the same language with that you don't need to explain to them why your shamanic training was important because you shouldn't have to. If you have to, then you might be sitting across the table from the wrong person. There are a lot of really interesting progressive people entering the financial advising world.
Yuli Ziv: You break so many big stereotypes around the profile of a financial advisor, and the qualities and what we should be looking for.
Cassandra Stahl: The people I'm working with are interesting, bringing something to the world that is desperately needed. The person engaging in these conversations needs to feel that your work is vital. I encourage everybody to find an advisor you can relate to on the level of the soul. Everyone has the same stock market to deal with, regardless of the size of their assets. It's a matter of whether the person advocating for you is focused on transactions or planning.
The person oriented around transactions might say, "You just started your business and owe a bunch of money in taxes. Open up a SEP IRA, and we're going to put this in so that you owe less taxes next year." While somebody on the planning side should go through the vision of your business and personal vision, aligning it with a retirement account and explaining what that means. It's two very different conversations.
Most people here would probably want somebody in the planning realm. You're worthy of interviewing financial advisors. Not only are you worthy of access to them, but you’re also worthy of interviewing.Top of Form
Financial planning and investing for small business owners
Cassandra Stahl: I've got three business partners. Two of them would have been the elder statesman in the, one of them is a gentleman about my age who also looks good in a blue suit. It's not to say that no man can do this adequately, as many are quite special and elite in this planning space. Again, it's that soulful connection we need, irrespective of the person. To speak specifically to financial planning, masculine versus female energy coming to the table.
Women tend to be phenomenal savers, generally speaking better than their male counterparts. Men tend to be better investors. Generally speaking, women, especially female business owners taking on a risk by becoming business owners, they'll have more of an aversion to jumping in with two feet regarding investing. They feel like they don't have knowledge on this topic. It isn't their fault. It's not anybody's fault. This isn't taught.
Yet people come to this with a bias, almost a guilt, that they should have known how to do this. Give yourself the same grace. You shouldn't know it out of the box. Somebody needs to guide you through this and talk you through this. This is very specific to a person, a business, a mission, or a vision.
More women are dying for that edification. They're muscling it out. My message to them: It doesn't have to be so hard. Let's look at this together. Your money can work for you.
Wealth redistribution and female entrepreneurship
Cassandra Stahl: Two-thirds of wealth in the country will be in the hands of women by the end of the decade. There is an enormous wealth transfer happening, and for the first time in history, women will hold more of the wealth in the country than our male counterparts. It is time for these powerful women, spiritually-powerful women to reach out and get that education.
Wealth redistribution is driven by the aging baby boomer generation passing away. Many men statistically live shorter lives, and women, often married, inherit the funds. Traditionally, the money would be passed down from the father to the wife and then to the children. However, female entrepreneurship, the fastest-growing sector, challenges this tradition. Women are inheriting wealth while building their own.
It's such a beautiful opportunity for education and for empowerment, because when money is passed, money gets to have a new story and a new soul. Every dollar is nothing more than a vote. We get to vote for the people, businesses, and things that that dollar supports. There's enough really strong spiritual guides out there that are going to do some pretty cool things with this money.
Yuli Ziv: Where do you see the future wealth going and what are some of the areas that you see that's going to be in charge of the wealth. What are your predictions that they're going to do with it?
Cassandra Stahl: I am inspired by the mentorship happening across different demographics. There's an emphasis on helping those behind you instead of stepping on them. Expect more well-rounded businesses and environmentally and socially conscious investments.
While the pandemic did so many things that appear to be negative, there is a gift in the fact that people have become more mindful. They've realized that there's a different way that they can live their lives, and run their businesses, and participate in their family structures and communities.
Creating a wealth mindset
Yuli Ziv: I love how you describe wealth. A lot of people still have a hard time wrapping their head around the idea that they're wealthy. I didn't know what wealth was. I find myself to be very appreciative of the wealthy lifestyle most Americans have. But at the same time, people don’t consider themselves wealthy, even those with a house and an average life—how wealthy we are considered compared to other parts of the world. Can you talk about this idea of wealth and who is wealthy and who is not?
Cassandra Stahl: It's very interesting because I can think of people with eight-figure balance sheets that I've met with or clients that would not consider themselves wealthy or financially stable. Then I can also recall a client that continued to give everything she had away for a very long time and considered herself wealthy with just about a $0 balance sheet. What's happening here?
I would divorce the idea that wealth equals X dollars and marry the idea that wealth is a mindset. If you're able to think and act abundantly, you are a wealthy person because it's not necessarily about where you are today, but where you're on the path to.
If you look at a new business owner, you can act and feel wealthy even if that chapter hasn't been written for you yet. The more you can think of and meditate on your vision and put your feet and mind into the future, the quicker it comes to you.
Wealth is truly a spiritual game, and there is absolutely no correlation to happiness or feeling wealthy and balance sheet. People aren't truly looking for wealth; they're looking for what they think wealth will make them feel. You don't need to wait to have any kind of balance sheet, revenue in your business, or something in the bank to feel that way. Bring that feeling forth for yourself, and the rest will come. The more uninhibited you can be in thinking of that vision, the faster it flows to you.
