← Duologue with Leslie Heaney![[REVISIT] Girls Just Want To Have FUNDS - feat. Lacy Garcia — Duologue with Leslie Heaney cover](https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_episode/41276703/41276703-1745417348438-17f7feae5e63c.jpg)
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- [00:05]
Leslie
Today, I'm so thrilled to be speaking with Lacey Garcia, the founder and CEO of Willow. Willow is an award winning online platform that connects women, Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z consumers with their ideal financial advisor. And it works like a dating app. It provides sort of a free concierge matching service so you can find the financial advisor that best connects with you on a personal level. Lacey founded Willow after her own experience of going through a divorce as a young mom and really needing a financial advisor that could not only help her reach her financial goals, but also support her through this difficult life transition. So in this episode, Lacey and I talk about the importance of becoming financially literate, and we touch on a variety of other financial topics, from budgeting to having a rainy day fund to saving for college. And whether you want to learn more about financial planning or you're curious about how to find a good advisor, or you just want to be inspired by a woman who started a company in response to a great need that she saw. This is really a terrific episode. I learned a ton from Lacy and I know that you will too. So with that, here's Lacey Garcia. Lacey, I'm so happy to see you.
- [01:21]
Lacey Garcia
Leslie, it's wonderful to be here with you today. Thank you.
- [01:24]
Leslie
I mean, coming all the way down from Boston, very, very exc. And we both rode the rails, both took the train, and are both sitting here together in the podcast studio with Jess in the booth getting ready. I'm so excited by what you're doing. You are the CEO of Trust Willow, and I can give kind of an overview, description of what you're doing, but I think it'd be so much more accurate and interesting coming directly from you. So tell me, what is Trust Willow? How does it work? And then I want to hear kind of what your inspiration was in starting it.
- [01:58]
Lacey Garcia
Great. So, Leslie, thanks again for having me, and obviously delighted to talk about Willow or trustwillow.com, which is, you know, it's an honor that I am one of the founders and the CEO. We are a wealth tech platform that helps individuals with a focus around women and really the next generation, which I would say includes the two of us in this room and sort of anybody younger than us in helping them to find the best fit financial advisor for them. So someone who takes into account what they need from a financial perspective, but also cares about them as an individual. So we use a dating app approach to match individuals with that best fit financial advisor on one end. And so it's a free service for individuals who go to trustwillow.com and get matched. But on the other side of that, really, really importantly, we partner with financial advisors advisors. We train them on how to be uniquely qualified in serving women, in serving next gen investors. We take them through our training and our certification program and ensure that they are true fiduciaries, that they really care about their clients, that they understand kind of how to ask the right questions and really be there for them. And you know, that they're aligned with Willow's ethical standards of really focusing on supporting clients not just through their financial needs, but through their life and helping them to get that financial empowerment and freedom that everybody talks about but feels so unobtainable to so many of us.
- [03:33]
Leslie
Well, first of all, Lacy and I chatted earlier this week on the phone and when you mentioned sort of next gen or this kind of being something to help or be focused towards sort of younger people, and you included, you and me in this, you are included in that. I'm not so sure about if I fit in that demographic or not. But you know, I love how you're both providing women with access to two financial advisors, right? Giving them the opportunity to find the match and then at the same time really kind of taking those financial advisors and explaining to them what and how they should be really approaching that relationship. That kind of really, it's a real partnership between them and the women that they're advising because it is kind of a special. It is a special relationship. But I think many people think that having a financial advisor is something that is really just reserved for people in a certain economic bracket and that it's not something that's accessible to everyone. And I think that's one of the things that you have really worked hard to kind of debunk that kind of sentiment, that it's something that's not accessible to everyone, to make sure that anyone who wants to have. I think there was a threshold that you mentioned to me, like you could have $50 million or you could have maybe not $50, but maybe $50, and there's the right person for you to help you kind of think through your financial future.
- [05:02]
Lacey Garcia
Totally. Leslie. Our focus at Willow really is to support anyone who is in that mass affluent to the high net worth category. And what does that mean if you are really struggling with debt? There are so many amazing programs out there actually that are free programs that can support you in resources. So certainly feel free to reach out to me and I can help connect people to those. But, you know, anybody really in that massive flu and what does that mean, you know, you're probably sitting there and feeling like you don't have enough money to make your life happen? And you're, you know, might feel like you're living paycheck to paycheck, but at the same time you make a good salary, right? Or you have some money, but it just feels like you're, you're struggling to figure out how to, not only just to grow that, but to really get to a place where you feel more in control. Right? So that's such a critical area. And the answer is that if you're in that place, then a financial advisor can really be critically helpful to you. And I came to Willow and started this company based off of my experience of having been somebody who was an advisor in the ultra high net worth private family office space, but then myself as an individual and we'll kind of get into all that later. I fell into this, that other category that I just talked about, right, where, you know, it looks like very successful and you've got money or whatever, but, you know, you're trying to figure out how to, how to struggle to make things like private school education happen and all of that. And I had this experience where I felt like, how can I find the right advisor? A. I, I don't qualify for an advisor, but I really actually needed help. And we'll get into the more details of all the reasons why, you know, all these planning tools and things that you could be benefiting from. So, you know, there was a real disconnect though, across the industry, right, that there are all these women and it's not just women, but, you know, it is predominantly women that, you know, feel that they don't qualify. Right. Or they don't know enough and they don't want a deal. And the answer is if you're in that place, then there are really amazing advisors and firms that are out there that are actually ready to support you and want to support you and are going to help you not only feel more confident, but definitely help you to get to a much better financial place. So that's exactly who we're targeting. So, you know, the financial advisors are definitely not just for the very wealthy. In fact, I'd say that if you're in that place of thinking like you don't have enough to make it happen, you actually really should consider that needs.
- [07:33]
Leslie
To go to go to, you know, visit trustwillow.com yes. So you and I talked about this and I think many people listening can relate to this if they're married and or have kids. You know, there's a division of labor. You know, there's someone who takes out the garbage or doesn't take out the garbage, someone who likes to cook, someone who pays the household bills and someone who kind of manages the paycheck going into what other account or you're investing in the stock market or whatever you're doing. Not because. Not both people aren't capable of doing it just because somebody got assigned. You know, I'm. I have historically been in the garbage. I might share, but the more. But home bills, you know, having like put money in the account because I need to pay the these bills, but not part of any kind of a conversation about planning or knowing where we're headed or properly saving or anything like that, or understanding that part of the landscape. And I know being a retired matrimonial lawyer, my former life, and then having friends who've gone through divorces, where the biggest thing is your children, if you have them, that you're trying to sort out. But the second biggest thing is all of your finances. And you find more often than not that one spouse really doesn't know anything about what's happening. And if the wife or the woman in that partnership is not the one who is managing that money, they really have no idea what's going on or what's there or what they had or anything. And that's kind of a scary place to be, right? It's a very scary place to be. And you, I think, had a similar experience with that which can happen to any of us, myself included, because I'm, you know, on garbage detail and other things like that. So tell me about your experience and how that kind of, you know, led you and informed you to start this incredible company.
- [09:19]
Lacey Garcia
So Leslie, as I've shared with you, I did not really start my adult life and my now previous marriage expecting that. Fast forward 15 years, I think we are now that I would be the founder and CEO of a growing, you know, financial technology company definitely wasn't in the cards. I saw more like a suburban with more children than I have today. A few other things. So many women, particularly not that this doesn't happen for men, but so many women who have, you know, who are incredibly smart and have great educations, but we just weren't. We weren't taught to be in charge of our finances.
- [10:00]
Leslie
Right.
- [10:01]
Lacey Garcia
And obviously it's amazing that, you know, world has evolved a lot in many, many ways and. But at the same time there was just, you know, we weren't. We just weren't taught. Right. I mean, I know I, I sort of abdicated control of my finances in my marriage, and I, I didn't expect that. Then again, all of a sudden I found myself really becoming not only the main breadwinner, but the sole provider. And then, you know, really having to take control. And at the same time, I also had a career change where I went from being, you know, in education, the nonprofit sector, and then end up becoming a financial advisor sort of all at the same time. So. But I, I think what's really important is that, for starters, we need to get rid of the shame around this because the truth is, the majority of our peers. Right. Just that's. That was the case. Right. Unless you are. And I have some, you know, obviously there's tons of women and we know the stats around women who are not tons, maybe, but there's some, there's a growing number of amazing women who are running investment funds and who are truly savvy institutional investors. But when we look at, actually the majority of women overall, the vast majority of women in the United States feel that they don't even know where to start or that they're totally behind when it comes to their finances. And we're talking about hundreds of millions of women. So you are not alone if you feel that way. And that was, you know, I've felt that firsthand. I've worked now with hundreds of clients that's, we've touched, you know, thousands of clients through Willow, but firsthand, who have felt like they don't know even necessarily know where to start. Right. And then they're kind of embarrassed because here they are, you know, very successful in their career as a lawyer or as a doctor, as, you know, whatever, but they have not kind of taken control of their finances. And I wanted to share one other quick stat because I do have a good stat for you. I was just reading recently that this is put out, I think, by insured.com, that for the, you know, those caregivers, Right. So today, obviously, we used to always just say mothers. Right. But today, obviously, know some great stay at home dads. But if in 2024, if those mothers in quotation marks or the caregivers that stay home were to be paid for the work that they're doing that's contributing to the household, they would make $140,000 a year on average. So there is true value in that work. Right. But it's not value that's necessarily compensated financially. And there's a lot of implications around that that we can get into sort of later. But I just think that's a really important stat because, you know, if you're not the breadwinner per se, but you're homemaking and caregiving, there is still hugely, not only a contribution that pays out in so many other ways, but there is a real financial contribution that you're making as well.
- [12:49]
Leslie
Well, that's one of the things when women, I think are, and I guess men too, whoever the kind of in matrimonial law terms, you speak non moneyed spouse, you know, when you make that decision to stay home with children, for example, or to stay at work, that's one of the things you're weighing like, you know, does it make sense economically with how much I'm making to be paying someone else for childcare?
- [13:09]
Lacey Garcia
Right.
- [13:09]
Leslie
And because you're okay. So you found yourself in a situation where you were going through a divorce and you were taking control of your finances and was your first step to look to find a financial advisor. How did you kind of come out of that situation? Like a phoenix, by the way, Lacey. And that's a whole other thing, like the, you know, how inspiring you are having, you know, changed careers and, you know, all the wonderful things you're doing now. But was a financial advisor what kind of helped you feel like you had a roadmap kind of coming out of that or.
- [13:40]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah, so at the time I was also myself acting as a financial advisor. And so I will say my process to finding a financial advisor that I could really trust and connect to was definitely not a clean, direct or pretty process. Hence why we've created Willow.
- [14:01]
Leslie
So tell me all like the good, the bad and the ugly of your process, because that's obviously what led you to realizing that there's not just the need for women to have this kind of guidance, but also there's the need for the training piece. Right. For the financial advisors to know how to talk to women, what women need. I mean, men are from Mars. Not that all financial. You yourself were a financial advisor, but you didn't necessarily have that sensitivity.
- [14:25]
Lacey Garcia
But financial advisors historically have taken much more of a clinical approach to how they work with their clients. It's much more kind of quantitative, data driven. We are seeing over the last couple of years that the industry is really transforming and you might hear these terms like holistic goals based planning and integrating coaching into your practice and all that. So it's changing. But look, back when I was doing it, I actually didn't feel like I could find the right advisor and I was doing something different with my clients because I was integrating coaching. So I'm gonna talk about this coaching. Cause the first real positive experience I actually had for myself on a personal level with somebody who was helping me with my finances was actually with a coach.
- [15:08]
Leslie
Like a life coach or a financial coach.
- [15:10]
Lacey Garcia
A financial coach. And so one of the things we did at Willow initially was really create this whole concept of financial life coaching where we took financial coaching together with life coaching and blended them. Right. Because money is so emotional. And it is even more emotional if you're navigating something like a divorce or if you're, you know, you're recently widowed. You know, we can go through the list of things, but. But all these times where you actually really just need somebody who can like, help you to understand where you are even and what it is you want to achieve. And all those questions that you're ashamed or embarrassed or feel stupid even asking, or you don't even know now how to think through formulating them. So that is, first of all, I think, really critical. And that was missing for me. And there were some advisors out there that were doing it back then. But one of the things we're really doing at Willow is trying to make sure that more advisors are integrating that coaching into how they are working with their clients. Because I can speak from my firsthand experience like, that wasn't there. And I needed it to be there to feel like connected and be able to let my guard down and be able to feel like I was actually able to get the advice that I needed to feel confident and to feel secure.
- [16:21]
Leslie
So give me an example of so you. There's like kind of the traditional clinical approach. It's almost like the same things kind of happen in medicine, right? Medicine used to be sort of. And now they want to. It's more family centered care. They want to hear what is your husband saying, how you're feeling, all that kind of stuff, bringing in more kind of real life experience and voices to the conversation. So you'd go to meet with these kind of more traditional advisors and then this coaching piece, like, give me an example of how your coach helped you. Kind of, was there a certain question that you had or issue that you felt like they were particularly sensitive to or did they help you? Because I know this from my own experience with my past work and with friends who were going through big life changes like divorces particularly. It's kind of understanding also where you are, which is very difficult because it's not necessarily where you want it to be. But okay, this is the financial reality, how do I make the adjustments that I need to make, and then how do I plan for the future?
- [17:18]
Lacey Garcia
I feel like that more traditional approach kind of felt like a sales pitch, right? Or somebody's sitting there and telling you about, here's what I can do for your investment portfolio. And let me ask you a bunch of questions that you barely know how to answer, because I'm showing you how smart I am and, like, you know, how sophisticated we are. And you're sitting there feeling like, oh, my gosh, that's so true. I don't know what to do.
- [17:42]
Leslie
Somebody threw out, like, an IRA Roth ira. I'm like, can you give me some background?
- [17:46]
Lacey Garcia
It's like, what does that even mean? Right. I don't even know what that means. And versus sitting down with somebody who first starts by saying, asking about, how are you? You know, what is it you'd like to get out of this relationship? You know, what are your goals? What are you afraid of? Like, what keeps you up at night? Let's just. Let me start by understanding who you are, where you are today, where you want to get to. And then together, let's make sure that we can put together a plan that's going to help you achieve those goals and get you there.
- [18:27]
Leslie
Gosh, that's just. I mean, even you describing that. There's just so many people that I know that would, you know immediately, even myself, just to have a better understanding, frankly, like more financial literacy. It'd be worthwhile for people, even if they have another financial advisor or they have one within their family, to have their own, just to understand what the landscape is a little bit more.
- [18:49]
Lacey Garcia
No, completely. I mean, I think we were sort of chatting earlier, and there's this stat, which is quite a staggering stat, especially when you talk about women, right. That the latest research is that. I think this is from bank of America, but 94% of all women believe that they will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their life. And this is not the same research, but it's about 75% of all women who feel like they don't. They're not in control. They don't know what to do. Right. So the answer is, most of us could benefit. I think most of us, whether or not you're a woman or a man or whatever gender you may be, you know, we could benefit from this. But it's also, you know, especially if you are. Because I work with. I've worked over the years with a lot of women. I've worked With a lot of couples, with a lot of the family members, the children and frankly, you know, a lot of times you're in these big meetings or there's a relationship and more often than not it's the woman who's feeling like less comfortable and isn't speaking up and isn't asking her questions and I'll talk to her afterwards and she's like, I just don't even know where to start or I feel stupid or I should know this, this is like. And, and she's meanwhile, you know, got her PhD and she's certainly not stupid in any way, shape or form. It's just we need its own language. Totally. It's, it's, it's own. And I, and I say this to advisors all the time, that the only reason we know what any of this means is because it's our job.
- [20:14]
Leslie
Right.
- [20:15]
Lacey Garcia
Like the rest of the world. Yes, some people are more savvy and do it yourself, are really paying attention to the markets, but the majority of the folks today are really trying to get more. Actually when we talk about younger people, younger people are definitely ahead of us, which is exciting. Like younger people and younger women are taking much more control and with, you know, all of what's available now online in a lot of ways, I was.
- [20:38]
Leslie
Gonna ask you, what do you attribute that to? Because I got little kiddos, our two boys, those green light cards which can sort of help them figure out what you want to save and what you want to spend. And I thought, gosh, I should have one of these. I have no idea, you know what I mean? So it's sort of a similar, I mean just having that discipline, right. Of knowing that you should be thinking about all the different buckets that you want to put your money into, whether it's donating things or saving or spending. Is that how this younger generation is getting access is just from some of these like just social media or just learning more about it or in your experience in talking to them.
- [21:18]
Lacey Garcia
I'd say the main driver of what's educating, if we look at really Gen Z and then the Alpha generation, right.
- [21:25]
Leslie
Is what is Alpha generation?
- [21:28]
Lacey Garcia
So I know my son's an Alpha. I don't know the exact dates off the top of my head, but I have a 10 year old son, he's Alpha.
- [21:33]
Leslie
I think I've got some Alphas.
- [21:34]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah, you've got some Alpha.
- [21:35]
Leslie
Then Gen Z. Gen z is like 20s.
- [21:38]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah, the 20s, exactly. So and then looking at Jess in.
- [21:42]
Leslie
The booth, Jess, listen up, we've got some Real free financial advice here.
- [21:46]
Lacey Garcia
No, but there's some.
- [21:47]
Leslie
Jess is probably already doing it because of her age.
- [21:50]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah, she looks like she is, definitely. But no, it is exciting that I think there's a combination of things that are happening and there's also still a lot of things that need to happen more. Right. Even five years ago we started. Willow. It was four years ago. I guess it was taboo to talk about money. Like you and I wouldn't sit down and talk about money this way. Even. Even just then. Right now it's. It's like we were raised that it was impolite to talk about money. We didn't talk about it, but now it's a front and center and it's okay and it's acceptable and it's actually encouraged. Right. So that's a difference. Right. Where they're fully encouraged. My son was. Wasn't even in. I think he was in second grade when we set up his first savings account and started really talking about all this. Right. And I was. That was not the case. My parents are amazing. But, you know, that was certainly not the case in any way, shape or form. And so I think that a lot of these things parents are realizing we want to make sure our kids are set up and are doing more at home. More is happening in school, but really not to the level that it should be because really financial literacy should be part of every curriculum across the country.
- [22:53]
Leslie
Yeah. It's shocking to me because that's one of those real life skills. If you're going to give impart any sort of practical experience or knowledge to kids, to me that would be sort of top. Top of the list. Our daughter wants to be an actress and she's at a school called Interlaken in Michigan, and they offer a full year financial literacy class. Obviously, I thought it was hilarious. I'm like all the actresses, right? Like, you're gonna have to learn how to save your money between. Between gigs, I guess. But, you know, I said to my husband, I'm like, this should be totally. Every school. Every school should have this across the country. Okay. So I'm sorry, I'm interrupting you. I just.
- [23:31]
Lacey Garcia
No, no, no.
- [23:31]
Leslie
Agreeing with your assessment of the need here.
- [23:34]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. But the last thing is just that there's been this proliferation across social media. Right. We heard about these finfluencers and we were talking about some of the, you know, the more prominent ones right before this. But. And there's. So there's a lot more kind of conversation happening and we know that, that, you know, not just millennials, but Gen Z is really getting most of their news online, Right. And most of their information and frankly most of their financial education online. So I think those are all contributing to why people are taking more control. And frankly, there's so many valuable tools out there that can help people to really save money faster, more tax efficiently, and actually be able to really grow wealth in a way that it's the, you know, it's never too late, but it's also never too early to start. So I'm thrilled to see that.
- [24:23]
Leslie
Okay, well, let's, let's talk some, let's get down to brass tacks on some of these strategies because I'm, I mean I've got my pen and piece of paper here and Jess is in the booth. She's going to be taking notes on her computer. I know. So like someone comes in to you and I guess it depends on what their goals are, right? To your point. But what kind of general advice do you give to a like woman? It's sort of like the level set of, this is sort of basics of what you want to be thinking about.
- [24:49]
Lacey Garcia
You know, the first piece of advice that I give to anybody is to think about what are your goals, what do you want? And then write them down. Because research shows that people who write their goals down on paper, like good old fashioned write it down, are 42% more likely to achieve them. So that's just the first place. And then the second piece of advice is really, do you know how much your life costs? Because if you don't like, make a budget and it's an eye opening experience.
- [25:20]
Leslie
Oh, it's eye opening.
- [25:21]
Lacey Garcia
It's an eye opening experience because there's so many things that we aren't even aware that we are paying for. That's just a little tip here, is check your credit card bill regularly for those subscriptions because I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I say this all the time to people and I hadn't checked mine in a couple months and I just checked it this past weekend and I was on track to spend several hundred dollars on things that wasn't even aware that they'd gotten on there. So that's a quick one. Just to save instantly, save some money is to cancel those, you know, those automatic subscriptions. We can get into a lot more tools and things. But I think just at a high level is like understand, you know, you know, really write your goal down.
- [26:03]
Leslie
Okay.
- [26:04]
Lacey Garcia
Understand what your life costs and then, and then you can make a financial plan and then we can talk about all the different tools and different kind of accounts and vehicles you can be taking advant advantage of to help you to achieve there. Yeah.
- [26:17]
Leslie
So on, on the budget front, is there in your experience like a program or an app or a. Something that you recommend for people to use? I'm taking my head, I've tried to do this. I'm just curious. I'm sort of curious about what. And it's the same thing. I'm like, I, apparently somebody used my credit card, this is a few years ago, and they bought an appliance out in Brooklyn. I'm like, oh my God, you really do have to look through your credit cards and then those subscriptions and things that build up. But I had a very good friend in law school who, you know, was working and she had student loans and she was really disciplined about how she was managing her finances. And she gave up Starbucks.
- [26:54]
Lacey Garcia
Yes.
- [26:54]
Leslie
And she kept track of how much money she was spending on coffee. And at the end of the year it was thousands of dollars.
- [27:02]
Lacey Garcia
Totally.
- [27:02]
Leslie
And maybe she'd pick up like, I don't know, a snack too. Like she was watching. She just packed her, started bringing her coffee to class and packed her food. And so those kind of practices. Right. Are really important. But, but on the budgeting front, what do you suggest or how do you suggest to put it together? Do you look at your bank statements, your credit cards, what?
- [27:21]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. So I think there are a lot of great apps out there. I have to be honest, I don't use them. I go the old fashioned route with an Excel spreadsheet.
- [27:28]
Leslie
Yeah, that's what I would do.
- [27:29]
Lacey Garcia
I was like, that's like.
- [27:30]
Leslie
Or maybe Microsoft Word. That shows my age right over a pad and pen.
- [27:36]
Lacey Garcia
Exactly. That shows my age. But I know I used mint.com@1, but there are great tools out there. But if you're like me, Excel spreadsheet, go through your credit card bills, go through your online checking, savings accounts, check those things regularly. And honestly, if you don't even know where to start, this is a good time to try have a conversation with a financial advisor. Right. Because you know, print those things out or have them, you know, easily accessible and then you can talk to somebody who can actually really help you to go through and create a budget. And just on your point about Starbucks, I have to say I did that a couple of years ago, was that I used to be a Starbucks everyday person and I got an espresso machine. And at first you think, oh, this is expensive. But frankly, I've saved Thousands, thousands of dollars on that. And there's little things and you can.
- [28:34]
Leslie
Still get the Starbucks pods.
- [28:35]
Lacey Garcia
Oh my gosh, you know, you could still, like, people are like, wow, this is amazing. I mean, I've got like all, all the, all the things going on that are, you know, just as good, quite frankly. And it's crazy how much money you can spend. So there are little things like that that frankly, you know, I don't know about you, but getting your nails done.
- [28:50]
Leslie
Yeah.
- [28:50]
Lacey Garcia
Get, you know, do them, polish them in between, you know, get your only, get them done half as much time. You know, there's little things like that where you can save money when you think, oh, I'm living paycheck to paycheck and there's no way I possibly can. But actually it's amazing. And on that note, the biggest financial tip probably of 2024 is everyone's talking about this High Yield Savings Account, right? And if you haven't looked into or don't know what that means, like what is a High Yield Savings Account? Right. They're typically online accounts that are offering much higher than regular interest rate and the interest is compounding daily and they don't have like monthly fees, right. So this is, there's a lot of advantages. So for instance, if you're going to set up an emergency fund, which we haven't talked about yet, but an emergency fund is an important thing that if you don't have, it's something to really think about getting. And that's that rainy day fund or that cash kitchen, which is basically recommended that you have anywhere from three to six months of your household expenses saved away in case something happens, right. Because one thing we can count on in life is that the unpredictable happens, right? Whether it's like car repairs, home repairs, medical emergency bills, those things that just can totally derail us, or like so many people have experienced over the last couple years as they lose their job unexpectedly. Right. So that just as a general rule of thumb is that three to six months. But you know, if you are, say if you're an actor or if you're somebody who is self employed and your income fluctuates, you might want to consider putting away more, but putting that money into High Yield Savings Account. Looking into High Yield Savings Accounts and you can look online, do your homework.
- [30:28]
Leslie
Yeah. So, so what is the, what is the catch, I guess with a High Yield Savings Account, meaning, you know, my children have their little savings account at our local bank and they're like, there's no money. I'm like, because you only earn 0.005%. You know what, Maybe it's. Maybe it's a check. No, I think it's a savings. Their little thing at bank of Millbrook. But I guess for the high yield savings account, what is the benefit to the bank or how is that working? They're just offering that level of interest.
- [30:54]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. At this point. Yes. Wow. Yeah.
- [30:57]
Leslie
And so is that. Do kind of the mainstream commercial banks offer them?
- [31:01]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. So if you look online, most. Most of the larger banks and who have online banking will offer them. Oh, wow.
- [31:09]
Leslie
Oh, that's great to know.
- [31:10]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. So that's. And I mean, otherwise, if you're. If you're more comfortable with your local bank. The three things to check. The thing about money markets is that there can be fees with money market funds. With a regular savings account, you don't necessarily earn as much interest. So if you're trying to save up cash reserves and build up cash reserves, you're not earning the most interest on that. There's another thing called a cd, or everyone's like, what's a cd? It's a credit deposit. And that means that you'll buy a CD, which will lock your money up for an allotted amount of time. And you don't have access during that time, but you're earning higher interest.
- [31:42]
Leslie
Okay, so people come in, what are your goals? Tell me about what's going on. And then you. You start off with the level set of like, what's your budget? How much are you spending in a year? And then the next question would probably be, what's your source of income?
- [31:53]
Lacey Garcia
Totally.
- [31:54]
Leslie
Right. And then is there like a formula or recommended. You mentioned the emergency fund or the rainy day fund. You want to have three to six months of your kind of, I guess your monthly budget or whatever your spend is saved away. And then how do you hold them accountable? Yeah. Is it like, is there a formula. Right. That you want people to be, you know, saving 10% or what. I'm saying, what are the kind of. What's your advice? Or is there. Or maybe it's different for each person, but how do you.
- [32:21]
Lacey Garcia
It's different. It's honestly different for each person. Right. It varies so much. Someone like me is going to say, you know, give it. Especially given my capacity of what I do today, because I'm not registered as a financial advisor in the US Today, I'm, you know, running Willow. Right. And I'm working with advisors and obviously we're training and then recommending advisors to individuals, to two investors I'm hesitant to give a specific recommendation like that. I instead, like, because it varies so much depending upon all the factors that you talked about. Right. But you know, start with your gut and what you think, you know, where you are today, where you want to be. And then honestly, talk to somebody, talk to a professional. Right. Because frankly, they're gonna be. They're gonna have that information from you and then they can make specific recommendations.
- [33:08]
Leslie
Recommendations.
- [33:08]
Lacey Garcia
They can give you that financial advice. Right. Based upon your specific circumstances and needs.
- [33:16]
Leslie
So on the goals front, I'm assuming some of them might be things like I want to buy a house or pay off my mortgage. I want to save for my children for college. I want to save for fertility treatments. You know, I'm just throwing out like a big budget items here. What kind of recommendations do you have? Probably buying a house or saving for college. There might be more particular recommendations that you would have or like, for example, with the saving for college. The 529.
- [33:48]
Lacey Garcia
Yes. If we're talking about college, I do highly recommend that people look into a 529 plan. Because I don't know, Leslie, if you like me just the first time I heard about 529 plans, they came with a whole bunch of what are now misconceptions. Right. That 529 plans, they can only be parents, but in fact, really any family member or actually any person. Like, I could set up a 529 plan for your children, you know, can set up.
- [34:16]
Leslie
Is that right?
- [34:17]
Lacey Garcia
Yes. And then also grandparents. And there's a lot of tax advantages to grandparents either setting up or contributing to a 529 plan. And I'll kind of. And there's also another myth is that this is going to really negatively impact my child's ability to get financial aid. But that's not true either. If it is the parents, it will, you know, there will be some impact, but. But it's not as much as you think it is. And if it's the grandparents, as long as you kind of defer that gift until like their junior year, actually high school or college, it's not if they're going to graduate in five years, it's actually not seen as income. So it doesn't impact financial aid at all. A couple other things are Today, you know, 529 plans can be used for. They were only seen as being able to be used for a four year or kind of traditional college or university, but they can be used for K through 12 private school education. There are like allowances and you have to look into the specifics. Right. About how much you can put, you know, put towards that a year. But you can put them towards K through 12 private education. You can also put them through to certificate programs, vocational schools. So there's a lot of benefits there. And then if that child doesn't actually end up using them for education related expenses, they can still be used for other expenses by that specific child or beneficiary. There might be some tax, you know, penalties at that time, but they could also be transferred to, like another child or to someone else in your family. It could even be your spouse or, you know, a niece or a nephew. And they can use them without any tax.
- [35:55]
Leslie
Oh, that's amazing.
- [35:56]
Lacey Garcia
So there's a lot of things right there.
- [35:57]
Leslie
So would your recommendation be you have a child the minute the child is born, you set up the 529.
- [36:04]
Lacey Garcia
I think the best gift that you can give new parents is a 529 plan.
- [36:09]
Leslie
Okay.
- [36:09]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah.
- [36:10]
Leslie
And then for best gift you can.
- [36:11]
Lacey Garcia
Give your child is a 529.
- [36:13]
Leslie
Godparents, aunts and uncles, whatever I want to give. Great.
- [36:18]
Lacey Garcia
And I would say especially for all the grandparents who are listening here, and I'm, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not going to go deep into the details. Details over you, but just the tax benefits. If you're planning on giving money to your children or your grandchildren, pay for their education.
- [36:35]
Leslie
Yeah.
- [36:35]
Lacey Garcia
Because the tax benefits are really huge, you know. Yeah.
- [36:40]
Leslie
And by the way, the tax benefits to the grandparents are huge. And it's just the cost of education is so high. That's why so many of these schools have grandparents. We celebrate you. Thank you for, you know, making it possible for this school to even exist. Because without grandparents, I think, you know, there'd be a lot more conversation. So our school has gone education.
- [37:00]
Lacey Garcia
Our school has changed from parents to caregivers, specifically to include grandparents.
- [37:05]
Leslie
Amazing. It's amazing. Okay, so you are a young woman or a young man, you're considering marriage.
- [37:15]
Lacey Garcia
Yes.
- [37:16]
Leslie
What kind of conversations? Because, you know, at least if you get married in the Episcopal Church, you have to do pre counseling. They covered, I mean, really inappropriate topics. I mean, I'm still recovering. And we had the minister that was supposed to marry us. He's like, my wife's decided she wants to go on vacation. This is a true story, like three weeks before our wedding. And we had a stand in who was a family friend and he needed to do the counseling with us again and was asking us questions and then sharing his Own personal tips about his own love life with his wife, who's my friend's mom. I mean, we're still recovering anyway.
- [37:56]
Lacey Garcia
I had a similar experience, by the way.
- [37:58]
Leslie
Yeah, I mean, it's like, oh, my God. But in that conversation, like, because you're not supposed to talk about money, there was no conversation about how a couple plans to save, talk about money or have that kind of relationship. And in my experience, again, as a retired divorce lawyer, it's probably one of the number one issues for the demise of a marriage is not having different financial expectations, having different financial practices where one spouse is spending too much despite the fact the other person is telling them they can't. And all this kind of stuff, Money being hidden. I mean, all kinds of crazy things. So what would your advice be to a young couple about conversations that they should be having with each other or what should they be doing to kind of set themselves up for financial success with. With their marriage? Is this such a life coach marriage?
- [38:48]
Lacey Garcia
I know such an important topic, and I think one of the best ways you can show that you love yourself and you love your partner is to talk about your finances, to, like, schedule a money date. Right. At a good time. Because, you know, most of the time couples end up talking about finances. It's like late at night or it's like. And it's a fight, right? It's a fight.
- [39:11]
Leslie
I just said to husband, I'm like, can you. We need to pay the camp bill. Can you put money in the account so I can set, you know, just things like that. It's just sort of on.
- [39:18]
Lacey Garcia
And it's always when people are tired or stressed and. And it ends up becoming a fight. So find a good time when everybody's relaxed and just sit down. Like, especially, like, when you're getting, like, I'd say do it early. Is you're starting a relationship before you get to the point where you're making the decision to marry somebody, or just like, sitting down and sharing, you know, being vulnerable, sharing kind of what your financial picture looks like, what your goals are, what your expectations are, and then, you know, asking those things of the other person, frankly, you will get to know that person so much better. And like, that's like three years of true relationship experience in one conversation. You're like, you know what?
- [40:01]
Leslie
I don't. I don't want to actually split every dinner, Bill. So I'm out of here.
- [40:05]
Lacey Garcia
It's like. I mean, there's so many. I think it's approached with tact and with care. You know, it can bring you so much closer together. Like, if you're meant to be together, then you're gonna be, like, so much more in sync after that conversation. And frankly, if you're not meant to be together, you're gonna, like, find those red flags sooner than you would have otherwise. So it is so important. And then if you're. If you're looking at getting married, I mean, I know, you know, prenups. Prenups used to be this totally taboo, terrible. I remember, like, being with my girlfriends in our 20s and, like, early 30s and so and so asked so and so to get a prenup, and it was like, oh, my gosh, how could they? You know? And I'm like. And whereas today, I wouldn't recommend anyone gets married without a prenup, and I don't, you know, whether or not you have any money or none, you should certainly have a conversation about what happens if things don't work, because it's not just the money. There's a lot of other, you know, sort of wishes and children, other things that can be added into that document. But it's another really important way just to make sure you're on the same page with this person, be clear about what your expectations are better set yourself up for success and, like, open communication in the relationship. But then also, you know, sadly, and I'm part of this statistic, you know, I don't know actually the exact percentage today, but we know that at least half of marriages in the US End, and we're seeing really, this growing trend in the last decade is this rise in the gray divorce, which is, you know, the empty nesters, which is a big, big thing that's really, really happened.
- [41:34]
Leslie
Well, the reason why it's gray is because to actually divide the assets, you know, it just costs so much. And it's like, you know, if you're there and I'm here, we can just live separate lives without having to divide the property.
- [41:49]
Lacey Garcia
Yes. Yeah. And I know so many women who would love to get divorced but can't because they're worried about their finances. Right. And they don't even know where to begin because they're sitting here listening to this conversation be like, I don't even know how much my life costs. And guess what? You're not alone. Yep. You're not alone. Like, I'm giving you a big hug. It's. It's. But you want to start to try to figure out that. And there are a lot of people and some really great financial professionals who can help you to figure that out and then figure out how to get in a better place. And if the best thing for you is to end your marriage, then you'll be in that position to be able to do that.
- [42:25]
Leslie
Yeah. You know, it's interesting too. I also think you mentioned, like, having that very frank conversation. Maybe not when you're initially dating at the.
- [42:34]
Lacey Garcia
Once you get to that point, you're.
- [42:35]
Leslie
Getting a little serious. Yeah, but. But enough so that you kind of know what you're in for. Because I have had friends and have, through my former work, seen situations where people think that they're going to be getting X, Y or Z from an inheritance or from another source and kind of are planning that those things are gonna happen and so they don't have to worry about these other things. And to your point, nothing is certain. Like, you gotta plan for the unexpected and really take charge of your own situation.
- [43:06]
Lacey Garcia
Right.
- [43:06]
Leslie
And your own reality and rely on yourself and your own even. Again, as I was saying, I'm curious just. Cause I don't know all these terms. I don't know about the high yield savings. And actually, the thing that I'm concerned about as a parent is I'm doing exactly what my parents did, which is like, my daughter has an Apple Pay on her phone. She's just like, I'm fine, Mom, I've got Apple Pay. I'm like, but wait, what are you spending your money on? You know what I mean?
- [43:32]
Lacey Garcia
And how does the money get into the Apple Pay?
- [43:33]
Leslie
And where do you think it's coming from? And my husband was like, I don't even know what credit card she has on that. I'm like, I don't either. Okay. I mean, that's a real conversation that happened. I'm not doing her a service here. Okay. I want to talk about a couple other things people should be thinking about, and that's retirement.
- [43:51]
Lacey Garcia
Yes.
- [43:52]
Leslie
And there are a bunch of different vehicles. And I don't. I mean, hsa, I think, is a health savings account. Ira, you're going to have to tell me. And then I think the other thing is just general advice. Maybe I could be one of your side coaches. Lacey, like, another thing we should think about. But I know this is life insurance. And life insurance you brought up earlier about, you know, what you would have to pay the caregiver who stays home. I don't think people, they think often about life insurance for the person that's outside the home working to replace that income. But what about the people you're going to have to Hire if something happens to the person that's managing everything that's.
- [44:29]
Lacey Garcia
Happening at home, at least $140,000 a year. So life insurance is definitely something that you should strongly, strongly consider if you're the breadwinner and people are financially dependent on you. Very much so. But as we've talked about, if you're a caregiver also, you know, there's a financial. There's not only, you know, all the other value, but there's financial, real financial value in that. And with life insurance there is in simplest terms, you know, there's two types. There's something that's called the term life insurance, which goes for a specific period of time that you agree upon with the insurance agency who holds your policy, or there's permanent or kind of whole, and you pay into it and it will continue until the person passes away. And that amount, that kind of lump sum amount is paid out, which is called a death benefit, or the face value of the policy is paid out to your beneficiaries. So there's a lot of different options with life insurance and there's a lot of information that's easily available online. I know we've got information on our website if you go to our blog@trustwillow.com, but one of the things I would just say is that I think it's an important thing to, you know, think about your unique circumstances. What makes the most sense for you, for your family. And certainly one thing is that policy is only as good as the financial institution, you know, the stability of that financial institution. So make sure you're really working with a reputable institution.
- [45:53]
Leslie
So what about someone's coming into you, right? They've done all the goals piece, the other piece, not everyone wants to think about their golden years sort of saving. But when should people start saving for their retirement? And what are the best vehicles for that?
- [46:07]
Lacey Garcia
Okay, so if you're employed, the best vehicle is to start with is your 401k from your employer. If you have a 401k through your employer, which we know not everybody does, and a lot of us are either self employed or, you know, doing something else. But I'd say for starters, to your first question is it's never too early, right? The 401k, if you work for an employer, there's like free money in that, right? Employers are typically doing matches. It's like there's max out your 401k like, and if you're not maxing out your 401k today, go and do it tomorrow, like, because there's so much benefit there, especially if your employer is matching you, right? Because you can build so much wealth so quickly through that. And the earlier you start, there's obviously, it's compounded interest and it's growing tax free. And that's the same thing. If you don't have a 401k, there's the IRA or the Roth IRA and all these other terms, which I honestly recommend that you talk to an advisor to get the specifics on what's the best option for you. But, you know, the great thing about it is that they're. They're growing tax free, right? And they're compounding kind of interest over the years. So set them up as early as possible. On the flip side, if you don't have one yet and you're freaking out when you're listening to this, it's not too late, Right?
- [47:22]
Leslie
That's what I mean. I don't. So my husband is an entrepreneur. His company, our family company, I don't know if we have one. So it's just interesting to, you know.
- [47:33]
Lacey Garcia
I bet Andrew's on top of it. But at the same time, you know, ask him, talk about it, right? Have that money date.
- [47:38]
Leslie
And then we. We definitely need a money date. I'm. I'm. I said to you, when I got here, I'm like, I left my wallet at home. Thank God I've got my Apple pay. I don't even know what. What credit cards. It's.
- [47:46]
Lacey Garcia
And by the way, you're not alone on the kid thing. I just realized this. I'm gonna set John up with. I'm actually gonna pay him, like a real allowance. Because his allowance has been this thing that we talk about and he does.
- [47:56]
Leslie
Chores, but he doesn't actually.
- [47:57]
Lacey Garcia
It doesn't actually.
- [47:58]
Leslie
Well, you should actually think about greenlight, because that's what I do. They do their chores. That might be an interesting thing for you to look at for him.
- [48:05]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. But I've decided to your earlier point, I'm like, you know what? He thinks money basically grows on trees at this point, Right. Because it just comes and it shows up and it's like, oh, I want this jersey. You know, Like, I want this, I want that. So now I'm gonna give him more money as an allowance and then be like, you get to make the decisions, right. Of what you wanna spend it on. So I'm not gonna be in that position of saying no to him. I'd be like, can you afford it?
- [48:28]
Leslie
Yeah, I did have a Conversation. I took our 12 year old out for dinner and the two of us a couple weeks ago, and we went to this restaurant and he's like, I love a dozen oysters. And I. And we got the bill. And I'm like, you know, I never do this, but I was like, I just want you to know your oysters cost $50. I mean, it was $4.25 or something. An oyster. Maybe it's a little more than that. And we talked about that. He's got like keys and safes all in his room and his allowance and stuff. He's like, you want me to pay for them? I'm like, I don't want you to pay me for them. I just want you to know, just have a sense of it. And I talked about minimum wage and like, how many hours it would take someone to work minimum wage to pay for the oysters.
- [49:10]
Lacey Garcia
Then that's exactly what you should be doing. That's great. And I have a son who loves oysters and lobsters and all that. I'm right with you. Because they just don't know. Right. And that's something.
- [49:20]
Leslie
It's a shellfish talk.
- [49:21]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah, Love it.
- [49:24]
Leslie
We'll start there. Okay, so if you could give listeners sort of three takeaways. What are the most important tips, do you think, for people or things that you want people to think about?
- [49:34]
Lacey Garcia
Yeah. So I think the number one or for starters, is think about what your goals are and then write them down. Because really there's the power in writing those down. Right? It's like writing down the New Year's resolutions or whatever it is. You want to take whatever's in your head from this conversation that you want to make happen, write it down on paper, and then look at it again next week, the week after. Right. Check in on it, because then you'll actually make some progress. You'll feel account, make yourself feel accountable to it. The second thing is, if any of these things, I'm sure you probably have heard of some of them. Others, you might not know what any of these are. I mean, that's okay. You're not alone. In fact, we were talking like there are hundreds if you're a woman or man. And if you're a man, you're not alone either. But I know the stats around women better. And it's like hundreds of millions of women just don't even know, and that's okay. But if you don't know and you feel like you should get a better sense of how much your life costs and you do want to increase your savings and you do want to figure out how to take advantage of some of these things? I would say consider talking to someone. And if you, if you have an advisor today, you know, hopefully you feel comfort in going to them and speaking to them because they should be able to answer these questions and they should be there for you. If you don't, I encourage you to visit. Obviously I would say visit trustwillow.com and get match because I can vouch for those people. But there are lots of other sources online. Right. And you can have that first conversation is free. Right. And it's anonymous and it's free.
- [51:05]
Leslie
Tell me how that works and then tell me also, what is the relationship like with a financial advisor? Meaning we have someone and we just. I get statements and I think Andrew may speak with them. Someone's obviously talking to them. It's not me. I do get the mail. But do financial advisors. Is it like you don't want to call your lawyer unless you've got all your questions lined up because the clock starts ticking. Is it by the hour or is it just how do they usually charge and what is usually, what does a relationship look like?
- [51:37]
Lacey Garcia
Such a great question. Because there's a range. Right. So we only work with fiduciary advisors who are those who are bound to put their clients interests first, for starters, and not just push products. Right. Sometimes if you're working with some of the bigger firms, they have an obligation to do that as well.
- [51:55]
Leslie
But push products saying like you should invest in a CD because they're bank.
- [51:59]
Lacey Garcia
Exactly. Recommending versus recommending a vehicle. But recommending a specific product, you know, that's for other purposes other than just what's best for you. Right, Right. But okay, in terms of how financial advisors charge, there's a range. So the historical model was something called AUM or Assets under Management, an annual percentage fee of that. And there is nothing necessarily wrong with that model. It's getting a lot of flack in the, you know, in the media or sort of the, the growing perception around that is that like, oh, those fees are too high. But honestly, if you're somebody who has like significant wealth and you're working kind of sophisticated team, you can work one on one with your advisor on what percentage they're charging. But there's benefits sometimes in there. Right. But at the same time, there is also a lot of advisors who are charging what we call flat fee and there's even advisors who literally are charging an hourly fee. So I know at Willow we purposely Work with a range of advisors who have different fee models and who offer different types of relationship models or styles. Like, I know there's. We were talking about this one advisor who before she starts working with a client, she has them go through a five session coaching. She has them go through like five coaching sessions before she'll really start working with you on managing your money. And others will do one coaching session before they really start managing your money. So there's a lot of flexibility there. And so that's where we get into like you don't need to have tons of money or you don't even necessarily have tons of money to put towards this. Right. It's a free first conversation and even just to get started doesn't have to be very expensive in any way, shape or form.
- [53:33]
Leslie
When you go on your site, that's the part of, it's like, that's the hinge, that's the match.
- [53:39]
Lacey Garcia
Right.
- [53:39]
Leslie
So putting in, do you put in. So tell me kind of what you put in. What is the.
- [53:44]
Lacey Garcia
So we are, you know, I guess people are referring to us like the bumble of financial services.
- [53:48]
Leslie
Yes.
- [53:49]
Lacey Garcia
Find your advisor. And that's because we are using AI or generative AI. So we have like what's typically been like a static form instead. With us, it's like you talk to our Willow AI assistant and she'll go back and forth with you on finding out like those personal details that are important because we are matching you with an advisor, not just on what your financial situation looks like and what your goals are and like what type of help you need, where you're based, all those details, but really like on what type of person do you want to work with from a personality standpoint? Are you getting divorced and you really want to work with somebody who's also divorced? Are you a middle child and you want to work with somebody who kind of understands that. We get really nitty gritty, like, are you a dog lover? And they're a dog lover. But we, we take into account all these personality types and personal characteristics that we know are really important to actually making a match. Right. Setting you up with like a new friend or setting you up with a romantic partner.
- [54:47]
Leslie
Because I could, you know, I had a doctor on who's a friend and we're chatting about how I don't always tell my gp, you know, how often I'm having wine and he's like, why would you not tell them? I'm like, oh please. I just don't want the lecture that you can only have Three glasses in a month, whatever we're supposed to be doing. And I would think, you know, you want to find that match for your financial advisor, so it's not like, oh, geez, I don't want to tell him or her that I bought this purse that I shouldn't have bought or whatever it is or how.
- [55:15]
Lacey Garcia
You know, I think that I personally wanted an advisor who felt. Who was this? You're a lawyer, right? What does a trusted advisor really mean? Right. And for me, it meant I wanted a friend, I wanted a sounding board. I wanted somebody I felt super comfortable with that I could go in there and be like, I've just did all these things, and I'm like. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm stressed about.
- [55:37]
Leslie
Help me fix what I've just done.
- [55:39]
Lacey Garcia
Exactly. I'm like a hot mess. And I don't know.
- [55:41]
Leslie
I went to Tulum last weekend.
- [55:43]
Lacey Garcia
Totally. I was like, that's because I'm like, you know, how do you. You need somebody who really knows what's actually, like, you know, what's happening in order to be able to get it, help you either get it back on track or make sure that it doesn't go off the rails. Right. So that. That's what we're doing at Willow. Right. For me, that was missing and I think for so many people across, you know, we're trying to work with advisors or had a really terrible experience with trying to work with an advisor or their parents advisor or their former spouse's advisor, you know, like, are looking for something more like this. So that's what we're doing is we're trying to help you find that person that you connect with on a personal level, and you feel like you can trust and you can trust to share all the details that you're embarrassed to tell other people.
- [56:22]
Leslie
You know, I think what's so exciting about it is that you're making this service accessible to everyone. I mean, there is no. Because I do think there is a stigma. Not a stigma, but there's just a perception that you have to be in a. Have a certain net worth to work with a financial advisor. So making it accessible to everyone, knowing that trust. Willow has done. You've done the due diligence right. On these people. Not only are they. Have they been coached by you, but you know that they're actually like, properly vetted people.
- [56:53]
Lacey Garcia
They're not good standing.
- [56:54]
Leslie
They like taking what's in your account. Speak about going to Mexico and hitting the road. But I just think it's Such an exciting opportunity for women and men. I'm sure men can use treswillow, too. Oh, completely.
- [57:07]
Lacey Garcia
I mean, we are all about men. You know, I'll just say I have male co founders, for starters, who deserve a shout out, and they like to stay in the background. But Jason, Navon, you should stand up and take a bow. But also, you know, our focus is women, but it's also on, like we call next gen, which is, you know, women and men. Very much so. And frankly, we'll take anybody who comes to us. Right. You know, we're thrilled to help anybody who comes to us. We just targeted that based upon the fact that those were the people who were feeling the most underserved. Right. And that the industry hadn't originally been built for them. So.
- [57:40]
Leslie
Well, Lacy, I know you've. You've got to go to a lunch. Jess has got something she's got to do, and we're so. I want to be mindful of the time, but I just was telling friends that I was going to see you today. I'm like, you have to. You have to go on like, oh, I don't know if I can afford, you know, all this stuff. I'm like, no, this is the most exciting thing.
- [57:56]
Lacey Garcia
First of all, come on and have a free conversation, honestly, you know, because you'll learn something from it and hopefully you'll end up meeting, getting matched with somebody who's going to actually really help you. It's so great.
- [58:07]
Leslie
It's such a great service. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us about what's out there, what's available that, you know, thanks to you and what you're. You're doing with Trust Willow. But also so many great tips and great things to think about.
- [58:18]
Lacey Garcia
Well, Leslie, thank you so much.
- [58:20]
Leslie
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to see you.
- [58:22]
Lacey Garcia
Thank you.
- [58:23]
Leslie
Thanks, Lacey. That brings us to the end of this episode of the interview. A huge thank you again to Lacey Garcia for joining, and as always, thank you again for listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate review us on Apple Podcasts and follow us on Instagram at the interview with Leslie. A new podcast is released every Wednesday. Until then, this is Leslie. And don't forget to join the interview.