In this episode, we meet Catherine Collins, a financial expert and author who shares her journey from a graduate history student to a leading financial writer and podcaster. Catherine discusses her accidental path to entrepreneurship, starting with her blog Budget Blonde. She highlights the importance of financial independence, especially during and after a divorce, offering advice on budget management, asset awareness, and emotional strength. Catherine also introduces the concept of 'five year you,' focusing on self-improvement and financial independence, while providing a realistic approach to personal growth post-divorce. Tune in for actionable insights and inspiring stories that make financial management accessible and empowering for everyone.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:09 Catherine's Journey to Financial Writing

04:23 The Five Year You Project

06:02 Navigating Divorce and Finances

08:05 Building Financial Confidence Post-Divorce

11:24 Practical Steps for Financial Stability

18:49 Embracing a New Beginning

21:18 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

By way of background, Catherine Collins is a nationally recognized entrepreneur and author of the book “Mom's Got Money: A millennial mom's guide to managing money like a boss”. Over the past decade, her writing and expertise have been featured in dozens of media outlets, including Good Morning America, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Real Simple, The Huffington Post, Kiplinger, Investopedia, Business Insider, and many more. 

Websites:   Five Year You and Micro Morning Magic - Free Download

Linkedin:    https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-collins-8b983049/

Find Lesa at Saddleuplive.com

https://linktr.ee/LesaKoski

and @saddleuplive

Welcome listeners.

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I'm thrilled to have you here today.

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And you're going to love to

get to know Catherine Collins.

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Cat, another name we are going to probably

be calling her cat, but she's an author.

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She's kind of a money expert.

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She's going to share her

authentic story with us.

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She also has her own podcast,

but today on doing divorces.

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different.

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We're going to talk

about divorce recovery.

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And, um, you know, sometimes

that's hard for women or men.

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Finances are a huge part of divorce.

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So I'm thankful to have Catherine

here to help walk us through that.

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Grateful for her time.

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And I just want to let you know, if

you love this podcast and you want

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to hear more from Catherine, she's

going to be on my saddle up live.

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Podcasts also talking about stay at home

moms versus working moms and how to get

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your kids on the right financial path.

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So go ahead and check

her out there as well.

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But let's get to know Catherine.

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Catherine, welcome.

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Thank you for being here.

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Catt Collins: Thanks for having me.

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I'm so excited.

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I'm excited to be on both your podcasts.

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Lesa Koski: Awesome.

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Well, tell me Catherine,

what led you down this path?

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Catt Collins: Yeah.

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Well, like so many entrepreneurs,

I'm kind of an accidental one.

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I actually went to school for history.

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I went to grad school for history.

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I wanted to work in museums

and be a curator and educator.

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And I, and I did those things,

but while I was in grad school, I

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started a blog called Budget Blonde.

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And I shared all about my

like thrifting adventures and

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how I was surviving on this.

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Pittance of a TA salary.

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I think it was like 14, 000 a year

or something insane like that.

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And it became my creative outlet.

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This was in 2010.

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So this was.

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So many years before blogging became

mainstream, before it became people's

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incomes, this was where, you know, we were

literally just chatting about our lives.

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There's no search engine optimization,

no marketing, like I'm just getting

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back from these difficult classes and

just sharing my thrift store finds.

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And I, Uh, over time when I just

supplement my income and I started to

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search for freelance writing jobs and

I found, um, writing jobs at like a

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budget beauty blog for like 8 a post.

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And I was so thrilled with that

because I was like, I'm a real writer.

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People are paying me for my words.

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I'm so legit.

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And over time I would get emails.

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Like I got an email from a

mortgage company and it said, we

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love how you write about money.

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Uh, would you please

write about mortgages?

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And I'm like 20 years old.

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I never.

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Had a mortgage, never written

about mortgages, but I was a

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trained historian and researcher.

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So I, I was like, yeah, totally.

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I can write about that because I'm

broke and I want to make money.

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And, uh, so I just knew that I had

the ability to research it, make sure

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it was accurate, make it compelling.

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And that set me on a path.

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I'm becoming a financial writer full time.

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It took many years, but I'm essentially

self taught and I love sharing that with

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people because I think there's a big thing

in the finance community that you have to

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have all these letters behind your name

and all that stuff is very legitimate for

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investing advice and things like that.

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But what I like to show people

is that it doesn't matter your

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background or your education.

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So much of this stuff is just not taught

in school and we can all learn it.

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And so over the years, I, you

know, became a freelance writer,

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did brand deals, got a book deal.

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Uh, financial writing is still a

large part of my income, but, uh,

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I, uh, got a business partner.

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We bought other financial websites

and we just started our own podcast.

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So we do a million different things, but

that's the, uh, weird direction the last,

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you know, almost 15 years has taken.

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Lesa Koski: That's amazing.

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And I didn't know that.

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And I love that.

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I love, um, well, basically what

you did is you found something

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that you loved learning about

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Catt Collins: and

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Lesa Koski: you probably can make it

really easy for people to understand.

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And you know what?

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A lot of my listeners are going to love

to hear that because there may be feeling

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like they have no idea what's going on

financially and now they get to talk

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to you and hear what you have to say.

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And you know, also we'll have in the show

notes where to find that book of yours.

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You know, you also.

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Have something called the five year you

and is that that's related to finances?

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Catt Collins: Is it?

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It is.

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Well, it is the name of, uh, my,

my same partner and I, that we

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have all the financial websites.

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Uh, we are personal development

junkies, self improvement junkies.

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We're always like reading the same

books and, um, During the pandemic,

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we started thinking about this ideas.

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Like, you know, what if we talked

about more than just money?

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What if we talked about all the things

that we use in our business life, life

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hacks and, uh, time hacks and, you know,

talking about our feelings, especially

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him because he was a man and he's, you

know, very big on encouraging other

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men to, you know, feel their feelings.

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And we're just huge.

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On mental health in general.

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And so five year you, we created it to,

uh, the goal is to help 1 million people

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become their best selves in five years.

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And a big component of that is

becoming financially independent.

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Lesa Koski: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I love that.

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Okay.

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So we're going to go back and talk

about the finances, but I just

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want to say, I love that you're.

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You're being kind of courageous by saying

the five year you because Kat, you've got

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to get people who are really committed to

say, okay, I'm willing to wait five years.

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Yes.

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And people will drop off because

you can give them advice,

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but they want the quick fix.

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They want to know.

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And so listeners.

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It doesn't mean that you're not going to

see better things happening in your life

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before five years, but it's realistic.

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It's honest and it's true.

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And I love that.

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I love that.

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Thank

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Catt Collins: you so much.

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Lesa Koski: Okay.

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So now I want to talk a

little bit about divorce.

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I don't know how familiar you are with

divorce, but a lot, you know, listeners

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here are going through divorce issues

and probably terrified about finances.

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What?

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You know, can you, how can you

help them feel less afraid?

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Catt Collins: No, I, I'm

very familiar with divorce.

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I get it.

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I didn't know.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I got, I got divorced two and a half

years ago and it was pretty, it was an

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unexpected divorce and, um, I obviously

went through all the same emotions

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that your listeners are feeling.

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And I have to say my one saving grace

the whole time devastating as all of

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it was and is, was the fact that I.

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I had the confidence that I

could take care of my money.

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I was the one that managed the finances.

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I was the one that had every login.

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I was the one that knew where we stood

to the point where like post divorce,

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my ex was texting me, like, how do I log

into my student loan account, you know?

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And I was just like,

wow, good luck to you.

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And, um, it's.

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It was, uh, an amicable divorce

in the sense that we were able to

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come to a lot of agreements on our

own without, uh, involving a very

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lengthy or heavy court battle.

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So I am proud of us for that.

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Um, but it's still a

complete unearthing of life.

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It's still a complete departure from

everything you thought and expected.

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Um, and in so many ways, and if

someone's really fresh divorce

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listening and so many ways.

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two and a half years out

is like so much better.

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So many silver linings, like you, you

understand so much more about how things

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happen, but when you're in the thick of

it, I know it's devastating financially,

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emotionally, physically, everything.

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Yep.

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And sometimes you just Kind

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Lesa Koski: of feel

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Catt Collins: paralyzed.

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A hundred percent.

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And that's very valid.

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Lesa Koski: Yep.

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Yep.

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And you know, just sitting with

it is okay for a little while,

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but then you've got to, you know,

you gotta do what you need to do.

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So now you said something that I grabbed

onto that when you went through this,

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you had the confidence to take, you knew

that you could take care of yourself.

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Catt Collins: Let's

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Lesa Koski: help the listeners

who don't know that right now.

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How do they get that confidence like

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Catt Collins: kind of quick?

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Yeah.

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I mean, there was definitely

moments of not having confidence

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in other aspects of my life.

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Right.

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So like, uh, you know, like I think of

one month in of me living by myself,

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like the whole basement flooded.

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Right.

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So, I mean, there's definitely

those moments of like, I don't know

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what to do and I'm all by myself.

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So this was just like one

category that I was able to.

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Uh, move forward with, and, but I

still had to make hard decisions.

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And so my biggest advice to your

listeners is it, I agree with taking

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time because you do go in a free state

and you do have to pause for a second.

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And I know every, you know, I,

especially as a woman, if, if moms are

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listening, you like, you're like, I

got to take care of my kids and I got

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to do this and what's going to happen

and you know, everything's different.

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And I think just.

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It's taking some time, um, and getting

support from friends and family to

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really think through how you want

things to look in the next few years.

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We're not trying to like plan life

here, but, um, to take each big category

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of your finances, which will likely

be your home, um, you know, your

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vehicle, your food, like these are

the three main categories that get you

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to and from work or whatever it is.

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And as far as building confidence,

we build confidence by doing.

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And it sounds silly to say, but like,

if you suddenly wanted to take up

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rollerblading as an adult and you

don't feel very coordinated because you

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know, you're a grown up now, you know,

you would be super wobbly putting the

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roller skates on, you would be putting

on like knee pads and elbow pads, and

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you would be so wobbly, you'd probably

fall down, you'd probably get hurt,

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you'd probably feel old, but if you

kept it up, time after time after time,

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suddenly, a few weeks in, you might

do a little spin on your rollerblades.

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Right.

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And that's how this works.

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We're not talking about

taking giant leaps and bounds.

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We're just talking about 1 percent

a day doing something that you need.

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And look, I'm a financial writer.

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It was literally like two weeks ago that

I finally got his name off of my car.

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Like these things take time.

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I don't know why it took me that

long, but it's just, there's

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so many things to figure out.

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So don't expect to have

it done so quickly.

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Lesa Koski: Right.

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Okay.

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So I love that you're talking

about taking action because

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I'm a true believer in that.

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And then I just also want to add that

what can help, what I've found can

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help people to actually take that,

you know, you have to have the belief.

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Yes, and you have to have a thought and

it's hard because so many women are like

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I can't do this I've never done that.

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Of course.

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Okay, so so you look at that

and you go now, wait a minute.

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Is that true ask yourself?

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Is that really true?

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Well, you've probably done

a lot of really hard things.

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You know, you've learned a lot

of things So could you maybe

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believe that you're someone?

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learning How to be great at finances.

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And if you can believe that that's

going to get you so you can take that

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action to start figuring things out.

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And what I always have people

start with in, um, uh, mediation

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session is their budget.

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Catt Collins: Yes.

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Lesa Koski: And a look at their assets.

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So is that something that

you would recommend as well?

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Catt Collins: Oh, absolutely.

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I mean, we are very big on

encouraging people to take

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care of the main necessities.

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Yeah.

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And to, uh, We're just trying to ensure

that you have a path forward, and it's

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obviously especially difficult, let's

say, for women who were stay at home moms

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who maybe have to figure out how to go

to work again, how to do these things

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again, those are like the most challenging

cases, or people who don't have a lot

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of assets, but yes, it's sitting down

and figuring out what do I have now

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as a single individual, how do I want

things to look, what is the next step?

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And again, you learn by doing.

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I'm 100 percent in agreement with you.

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Our brains are always searching

for evidence to confirm the

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bias inside of our heads.

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And so you're going to feel frantic

if it's not something you've done.

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And you're going to think, I'm, you

know, I'm all alone and I don't know

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how to do this, but search for evidence.

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Like you said, of hard

things that you've done.

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I, you can say, Oh, I presented this

meeting at work last week, uh, you know,

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and I did really well, or I got this

promotion or I raised children, you

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know, and I'm always talking to moms

about this, who go through divorce.

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And it's like, you've done like one

of the hardest things people can do,

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trust me, like setting up a budget and

money and all that stuff is nothing

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compared to like raising a human and

the challenges that come with that.

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So I think it's just kind

of starting with the basics.

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Like you said, what assets do I have?

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Yeah.

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How much money do I need every month?

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And what can I do to make sure that I

have that money to meet those needs?

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Exactly.

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And

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Lesa Koski: once people

actually look at what do I need?

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How much do I have?

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Even if they're needing more than their,

they have, there is something that is

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really freeing about actually knowing.

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And I think sometimes

that's a really hard step.

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For people to take and so I always

encourage people to do that first And

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once you do that give yourself a big pat

on the back and go wow I am a woman or

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a man, you know learning how to do this

and you know I love what you were saying

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about finding evidence of things you've

done and you think I think my heart

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goes out to those Stay at home moms.

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Mm-Hmm.

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who feel like, I haven't worked.

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I haven't.

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And what you said is so true.

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Being a stay at home mom is

not a walk in the park, . No.

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It's, it's not at all.

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A lot of people can't do it.

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A lot of people would prefer to go

work and actually make less money

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because it's easier than, it's, it's so

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Catt Collins: difficult.

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Yes.

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Lesa Koski: Yes.

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Mm-Hmm.

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. Yes.

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So.

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You know, realize that

that's a huge thing too.

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And, um, that is evidence of

amazing things that you can do.

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So, you know, anything that we can

do to help make this less scary.

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So what, what we're kind of recommending

is to get yourself, give yourself

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a little pause, have your support.

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Um, I always have my God with

me, you know, I know I got to

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count on him and then take a

look at where you are right now.

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And sometimes it can be hard

with assets if you have no idea.

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And, um, hopefully you're

in a relationship where

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someone's not hiding anything.

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If they are connect with us, we

can help you find someone who

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can figure that out for you.

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Um, but otherwise some

clues are just kind of.

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Keep an eye on the mail and on emails

and, and things that are coming in

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about what assets you have so that you

do have a good understanding and then

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that budget just start working on it.

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And if anyone needs a budget sheet, send

me an email because I'll send you out one

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where it'll just help you remember all the

things, all the categories of everything.

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There's so many.

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Yeah.

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There's so many.

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So many categories.

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And, um, and I think

that is the first step.

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What would be next?

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Catt Collins: I think next is, is

again, sort of, for a lot of people,

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this might be their first time

ever knowing what their assets are.

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This might be their first time

ever even looking at a budget.

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First time ever, even considering their

investment accounts, even knowing what

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the investment account names are and

what's in them and what they mean.

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And so for me, it's, it's a lot of

education, but this is not a time for,

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um, I don't think it's, it's not this

first like six months after the divorce

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or not really a time for like, uh, Wild

spending or this or that it's sort of

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like a hibernation period, I would say.

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And so the next steps are to get used to

knowing how to spend within your new life

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and your new parameters and not viewing

the budget as spending restriction, but

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more spending permission and whatever,

everyone's situation's different.

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Some people get alimony, some

people get child support.

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Um, some people don't have kids

and they just get an asset split.

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It's.

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Taking the time to find trusted

people and advisors if you

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need them, like you, right?

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Um, people who, you know, act as

fiduciaries, who have your best interests

343

in mind, and then, like, after that six

month hibernation of, I'm getting used

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to my new budget, I'm getting used to

my new thoughts about, I can do this.

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Okay, now I need to move forward

with some sort of Plan because I

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know for me, um, I, I do my net

worth on the first of every month.

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That's something I used to do

together with my spouse previously.

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And the first time I ever did it on

my own and it was just my numbers.

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I cried.

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Like, I just felt like I thought

I was in one place and I was like

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drastically in another place.

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Right.

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And so there's so much emotional

things tied up into it, but sometimes

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it just helps to have the hibernation

and then to say, okay, hibernated.

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I know.

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I know what's missing in the budget.

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I know that with.

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this money coming in, let's

say I have a 2, 000 difference.

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Do I need to go back to work?

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Do I need to start a little business?

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Like where, how can I do it?

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Because you're not going to

feel like starting a business

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two months after divorce.

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You're just not going to feel like that.

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But at that, like, you know,

midpoint, it's time to start.

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Making a plan for what comes next.

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Lesa Koski: Right.

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Well, I don't know about you,

but there are moments when I can

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feel a little sorry for myself.

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Like, what the heck?

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I'm like a grandma.

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We've been working years.

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I can't, you telling

me I can't afford that?

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You know, like, I actually think

about getting my nails done, you

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know, or whatever, whatever it is.

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And that can be hard.

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It really can.

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And so I think, um, I don't

know how you deal with that.

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How do you deal with that?

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But I liked what you said,

Catherine, because sometimes

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Just going to a thrift shop?

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Yes.

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One of my favorite

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Catt Collins: things, as you know.

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Lesa Koski: I know.

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But maybe that could be fun.

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Um, you know, finding something

special that maybe isn't brand new

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and expensive can make you feel a

little bit better, a little bit rich.

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Catt Collins: I agree.

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And I think that, This is the

opportunity of divorce for many people.

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And this is the silver lining that you

can't really see until you're out of it.

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And it's that you thought your life was

going to be one way, but guess what?

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You have a blank page.

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And I know that's terrifying for

a lot of people, but it's also.

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Completely incredible.

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Like the world is wide open for you.

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We teach something at five year

you called the layers of life.

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You have to think of it like a

target sign with five layers and the

399

innermost layer is, is you, your soul,

your spirit, whatever you believe.

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It's the essence of you.

401

It's all your preferences and

your dreams and your goals.

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And then we go out to, you know, family

and career and all these different things.

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But the outer ring is social

media, the title you have at work.

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Um, you know, how many friends

you have, how many designer bags

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you have, and all these things.

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All these things are great and fun.

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The problem is that so many of

us live from the outside in.

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We're, you know, we're collecting

the outer ring of the circle in hopes

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that it fills the innermost ring.

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And so this is the time to look within

yourself and say, Like what didn't I

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like about my life before these clothes,

these bags, whatever, maybe that, maybe

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that's your jam and like you live for it.

413

And that's awesome.

414

But maybe you're like,

this didn't make me happy.

415

This didn't make my marriage better.

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This didn't improve my quality of life.

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Now's the time to sit

in and say, who am I?

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What do I actually want?

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I can do whatever I want at this point.

420

I can change jobs.

421

I can be a completely new person.

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I can finally be the person I always was

on the inside, but was afraid to show.

423

And it starts with honoring those

preferences and trying new things.

424

And you might find that you don't

need a lot of the expenses that were

425

on the quote unquote budget sheet,

the spending log, the credit card

426

statement in your previous life.

427

This is your life 2.

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0 now.

429

And you get to go and explore

and see what that might be.

430

Okay.

431

I, Kat,

432

Lesa Koski: I'm so with you on that.

433

And in fact, I have found in my

years on earth that those things

434

are not really what makes me happy.

435

Yeah.

436

Um, taking care of myself and eating good,

healthy food and getting my exercise.

437

Make me way more happy than

going out and buying a new

438

handbag or getting my nails done.

439

It's really interesting how we get, you

know, and I, so I like that, how you

440

talked about the, the outside and now I

get, I get that and I'm looking at the

441

time and that's a great place to end.

442

The only thing that I wanted to add to

our conversation that I thought about

443

was I just want women to know if you are

a stay at home mom and you're listening

444

to this, And you haven't worked and you

have children and you're scared to death

445

because you've got divorce looming.

446

This is what I want you to know is that

there is spousal maintenance available and

447

yes, in the future, the judges are going

to want you to have a plan and get things

448

moving in the direction so that you can.

449

care for yourself and your

children financially, but I don't

450

want you to be terrified that

it's going to be right away.

451

You know, you can get that maintenance

to help support you going to school

452

or getting your career set up.

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So do your very best to trust in that.

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Catt Collins: Yes.

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There are so many resources for you and

you don't have to go through it alone.

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And there is a path forward.

457

I get

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Lesa Koski: amen.

459

Well, Kat, thank you

so much for joining me.

460

It's a treat.

461

My pleasure.

462

Take good care.

463

Bye.