Today is the last Friday of the month and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics. Since the beginning of this podcast, which now dates back over 8 years, we always had a set group of people who joined me for Happy Hour. 

Starting this month and for 2023, we’re going to test out a rotating seat for Happy Hour. This decision has come because of a few reasons, first of all, the monthly commitment required to co-host the happy hour is difficult for people to make when they have other businesses and interests as these seats are voluntary and there is no financial upside for the happy hour guests. Secondly, I’ve heard for years many of you wanting to join a happy hour and share your thoughts and honestly, I’d love to hear them because I have shared drinks with many of you in person and would love to also do it virtually and finally, this is a great way for us to amplify many of the voices in this community and discuss topics that you’re passionate about. 

Joining us for this month’s happy hour is long time listener and one time guest, Colin. He joins us as we discuss what financial season we feel like we’re starting the new year in and what we plan to accomplish in 2023. And now here’s my friends, Colin included. 

For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode457

At the Financial Gym, we have a Diversity, Equity Inclusion and Belonging team that works on various initiatives for the Gym and in 2022, they launched the Exercising Empathy Series where they focused on presenting one speaker a month to educate the team on various subject matters that could impact our clients. I personally attended these sessions that were held during our weekly professional development time and found each one incredibly helpful and informative and I’m excited to share some of those speakers with you on this podcast. 

Joining me today is Joanne Sullivan, Director of Student Financial Services, at Saint Thomas Aquinas College to talk about student loans. Now, I have done numerous podcast episodes about student loans over the years, but none quite like this one. This episode is really focused on helping families and students know what they’re signing up for when they sign their student loan packages, the tough conversations families should have and how the school you’re looking to attend can help you with the process. 

For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode456

I spent the good part of the Fall of 2022 traveling across the country and hosting meet up events with Financial Gym clients and friends and I know a number of you listeners found your way to many of those events as well. It was the first time we had hosted in-person events in almost 3 years and while it took up a lot of my time and kept me away from home for most of the Fall, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Over 9 years ago now, I had the idea for the Financial Gym as a physical location where people could create a community around the most taboo topic out there, money. And when we had gyms open, it was beautiful to watch that dream come to life. In early 2022, we needed to close our physical Financial Gym locations, but this Road Trip proved that even though the addresses changed, the unbelievable spirit of the gym was present at every stop. 

Joining me today is Financial Gym Community Engagement Manager, Chandra Savage, to talk about putting this Road Trip together, lessons learned from the road and how we’re carrying the community forward into 2023. 

For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode455

Hello, Martinis and Your Money Listeners. Today is a special episode. I had a calendar of all episodes planned and ready to go in December, but then I had a client meeting right before the holiday break, and it inspired me to record a different episode, a solo episode. I wanted to record this because there are a number of things I want to share with you, mainly because it’s the New Year. I want to talk to you listeners the way I talk to my clients. 

For more information, visit the show notes https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode454