Join host Anthony Weaver as he welcomes Crystina Cardozo, author of "Goals for Life," to discuss the intersection of financial literacy and personal growth. In this engaging episode, Crystina Cardozo shares her journey of navigating life changes, including a divorce, while writing her first book. She emphasizes the importance of aligning financial education with national standards and the role of setting personal goals to maintain focus and discipline.

In this episode, we explore:

• The significance of financial literacy standards in education.
• Crystina Cardozo's personal journey and the challenges of balancing family life and career goals.
• The creation of "Goals for Life" and its unique approach to teaching children about money through soccer.
• Strategies for parents to engage in meaningful financial conversations with their children.
• The importance of self-reflection and aligning personal goals with core values.

Discover more about Crystina Cardozo and her work:

Instagram: @sherunsthenumbers

Website: https://runthenumbers.net/ 

Get "Goals for Life" on Amazon https://amzn.to/3OrFK94 

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

#FinancialLiteracy #AboutThatWallet #GoalsForLife #Parenting #Education

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Email: Anthony@aboutthatwallet.com

--

DISCLAIMER: The content in this audio is for educational purposes only. Conduct your own research and make the best choice for you. If you need advice, contact a qualified professional.

Episode 276

Yeah. So I was specifically talking about the

National Financial Literacy Standards.

So for those of you who are not familiar with

standards in schools, that's the way that

teachers are teaching. So they don't necessarily teach

to a book, but we have guidelines,

and we are required to teach to those guidelines,

and that's what standards are. And we do have

financial literacy standards that a lot of

finance content creators didn't really know about.

Uh, welcome to the about that Wallet

podcast show, where we help you build strong

financial habits so that you can have the

confidence in spending your money, talking about money,

and even making money. And I have a

special person coming on today, and her name is Christina,

and she wrote her first book called, uh, Goals

for Life. And I cannot

wait to hear all the amazing

things that she's been doing with this book. And I think you really

are gonna enjoy learning about different goals

for life and really what it is and how you can actually

utilize some of the lessons that I've learned throughout

her life to impact your life. So

welcome to the show, Christina. How are you doing today?

Thank you so much for having me, Anthony. I'm so excited to be

here.

Awesome. So, I mean, you've been doing

quite a bit of things, uh, especially this year. I mean,

I saw you speaking at fincon. I was the runner with

a microphone. U. Uh, you

talk, and it was amazing. So

how was that, by the way? How. Because we didn't get a chance to kind

of catch up afterwards. How was that?

You're right. Did I say thank you for being my

runner?

Probably not. I was like. After that, I was like, I'm

out. I get to get my trained.

Yeah. So thank you. Um, I had a great time at

fincon. Um, I always

love being surrounded by people who

get me right and my mission and my goal.

And I think that's really important to surround yourself

around people who have similar goals.

So that's always great. And to be able

to talk at one of my favorite conferences was

just like the cherry on top.

Uh, I loved it.

Nice. Yeah, because that's one of the things that, like,

it was pretty tough thing.

Can you tell everybody what you were talking about?

Yeah. So I was specifically talking about the

National Financial Literacy Standards.

So for those of you who are not familiar with

standards in schools, that's the way that

teachers are teaching. So they don't necessarily teach

to a book, but we have guidelines,

and we are required to teach to those guidelines,

and that's what standards are. And we do have

financial literacy standards that a lot of

finance Content creators didn't really know about. So

I was really encouraging for the

finance content creators to align their

work with the standards, and that way they

make themselves more marketable and they can

pitch themselves to schools, whether that's, you know,

talking to teachers or doing after school

events. I think we need more

of the finance content creators within our

schools, supporting our educators and our families

and kids.

Yeah, totally agree. Because that's one of the things that we

do miss out on, and especially when it comes

to people talking about finances, is

like, who are we actually

writing this content for? And yes, we might think

we have our good avatar, but what are the standards to

really take them with? They should know

at this level versus where they could be

going to that next level. And

I appreciate you sharing that because that was one of the things that

brought me back my teaching mode.

And I was like, yes,

I did so comprehensive

too. So you might think like, oh yeah, I'm

a content creator on credit. But then

when you actually go through, through the standards, you might

realize, oh, I miss that part, you know. So I

think it's really important for any, uh, regardless

if you want to get into schools or not, I think

it's important for you to take a look at the standards

and see what people have written in

terms of guidelines to incorporate everything or

as much as possible. Um, I think it's

great information.

Yeah.

And I appreciate you bringing that

up, uh, into this because you have ve been going through a

lot in this whole year that since

I've last interviewed you and we

were partying hard last year to close it

out, I would say. And,

um, so, you know, you have children,

so how has that been far as creating this?

Not just creating this book, but your journey and really

giving back to your children and also your family? How's

that been?

Yeah, so it has been the most

challenging year or year and a half for me.

I went through a divorce

and I wrote this book.

And, um, at the same time, I'm

still trying to kind of

juggle and balance this new

work life that's

just a struggle to begin with.

And so I definitely found a lot of

challenges. But I feel like when you

set yourself with goals and you're very disciplined,

then it gives you something to

work for. And so I kind of just made sure

I always align my goals with my own

value_s and that kind of kept me pushing through.

Yeah. So what are those goals for the family? Like,

your core values? Because a lot of people right now still

trying to figure out what theirs are. And how to

formulate that.

Yes. So naturally, in the beginning of every

year, I come up with a vision board, right?

And I remember the beginning of this year, me

thinking to myself, because I kind of always, I'm,

um, an overachiever, right? I always try to set

these high goals. And then this year

I remember kind of self reflecting, thinking, christina, you're

going through a divorce. Don't do

too much. And so I kind of

scaled back a little bit. But then I worked

on this daily habit tracker. So I printed

out this habit tracker every single month.

And I thought about, like, what is important to me, what are

the values? And when it comes to my kids, it was

about spending quality time. So

now as, uh, a new divorced parent, where I'm

splitting custody and before I was with my

kids seven days a week. And so I

thought about what something important to me is spending that

quality time. So, um, on my habit tracker, I literally

wrote, spend quality time with my boys.

And so of course I'm not checking it off every

day. I might see them. Even on the days

that they're not with me, I still see them because they come home from

the bus stop and it might be a quick rush. I'm helping

with homework for a very short period of time. Time.

But I want to make sure that the time that I am with

them, on my days or the weekends that I'm with them,

I'm spending quality time. So I put that on my habit

tracker and I do just do like a quick check off. And it

might sound silly, but I feel like

if that's something important to you, you need it to be. You

need to remind yourself of that, you know, And I put,

you know, working out is really important for me too. And again,

you might just say, oh, yeah, my goal is to work out three times a week.

But if you're not actually monitoring and tracking

your progress and how do you know you're

reflecting after the quarter or after a

year if you've actually achieved those goals?

Now, this is a sad question. Um,

did your parents used to read to you when you were younger?

So my mom is a big time

reader and I really did not

like to read. She just tried to pay

me, like, christina, I will pay you

dollar to read this book. And I would look up

Cliff Notes. I was not into reading.

Now I was into math. Math was my thing,

but I did not like to read.

And so, yeah, my mom tried to. She tried to pay

me, you know, to read. And I would do it for the

money, but there was real no

intrinsic motivation for me to read. So

I really didn't read until like the last

few years. Like maybe late 20s, early 30s is

probably when I started reading.

That is interesting. Um, because

usually you would think like because people were read

to when they were younger that they would continue

on that passion forward. But

it's good to know that you know, it didn't

and ye everybody's a little different.

Yeah. And it's funny because my mom, she was a reader but

she was also a math person. And I used to think that that was

weird. I was just like I'm a math person. I think

also because I used to hear like are you a math person or are you a reading

person? And so I just told myself like

no, I can't be both. And I used to look at my mom like that's,

that's weird. You know. But now I'm totally

that person. You know, I'm obsessed with reading. I

always have to have a book.

Nice.

So what book are you reading now?

So I just finished literally two days ago this

book called Let Average Go.

Awesome book by Joseph Washington.

And it's really about in a

nutshell it's really about there's a lot of people around us who

are average and it's very easy for us to get into

this average lifestyle. Right kind of

place it lifestyle. So he talks about

breaking away from that and certain steps

to do to make sure that if you want an extraordinary

life, if you want something above average, you need to make sure that

you are doing these things.

So what things are you planning and changing your life to

kind be average.

So I'm um, big on goals

but u, um, I think I need to be more

reflective of my goals on a daily basis.

You know like I'm big on having a vision board

thinking about through the year but I feel

like I need to kind of

make my, my goals more

specific in terms of like timelines. So that's going to

be my new focus.

O I love that you know as a takeaway from a book because a lot of

people say like oh I read like 50

something books out the year but when do you got time to

implement. Yeah, any of the things that you

read and actually do you go back to reread

them? Because I've reread a couple books this year

that did from last year and I was like

I still haven't taken full action but uh, I've

taken at least in my conversations I've changed the way how

I say things based on some of the books That I

read.

Yeah, definitely. I think the same way about

conferences. Right. You can say, oh, that conf was great,

but how did it impact your life? What are you

doing to change? So I always make it a thing

that while I'm flying back on the plane, like going

back home, I'm thinking about what actions am I going

to put into place, Things that I've learned from that

conference.

Yeah. Um, and I was reflecting on the conversations from

that conference. Cause I was telling everybody, don't start a

podcast because I felt bad.

But then I thought about again, I was like, no, I need to stand on

it. Um, the reason why I say telling a lot

of people don't start a podcast was because you can just do a

podcast tour first to see if you

like the process and actually.

Or just talk to more podcasters before you actually do a

deep dive. Mostly because it's like, yes, you

can start it and start ugly,

as a lot of people would say. But you

know, it can actually help you

understand. Do you have the time to commit? Do you have

the things in life to sacrifice for what

it takes to become a podcaster? Or even

like you said, writing a book, it took a lot of time, but you

sacrifice, you know, not that you weren't paying

attention to your kids. You were writing it, you took a break

while they were, why they doing their little break. You're writing

down. And then when they back to action, you know,

you'll paying attention again. Right?

Yeah.

So. And that's one of the things I think that,

uh, we also forget as the sacrifices for the

changes that we want to in our lives. And going back to your

goals, are you willing to. Yes, you

want the new thing, but what are you willing to sacrifice for

it?

So true, so true.

So good, my little soapbox.

Uh, so the

final for obviously I'm focusing on the sandwich

generation. So how is

now going through that divorce? Has that had an

impact on how you going to plan on taking

care of your parents as they get older?

Yes. So

I feel like I'm fortunate in terms

of my

mom. She's the one that had actually

given me the habits at a young age to

be financially literate. And so

I look to her for guidance. So it's not

something that I necessarily struggle with. You

know, my mom has recently shared with

me maybe like a year or two ago that she wanted to get more

into real estate. And so actually the last

field that we did a year and a half ago, I partnered with

her. And so it's really important for me

to, you know, help my parents as much as

possible. They're on track. Um,

but I know my mom would like to retire maybe

a little bit sooner, but she also loves what she does.

And so the way that I was helping her

was I've done so much of my own work, and I have a lot

of knowledge with real estate. So it's

just kind of passing on that knowledge and working with her

with certain deals.

That's amazing that you still give back. And, like, she.

She's receptive, because a lot of parents aren't

receptive, especially to their children.

Like, come, um, on, like, listen to

me for a moment.

Oh, yeah. No, I feel like at this point in our life, we're

more like friends. Like, I, you know, I can

go to her for certain things and.

Yeah, just. Just like our friend. But she's also still

like, a mentor where I can trust for her to give

me guidance. So we have a great

relationship.

That's amazing.

And, um, so, you know, this concept

of family and I love bringing back to

your book now is the goals for life

is that you have these four kids

and you almost have this bond

between them, even though they have different

expertise on the soccer field. So can you just kind

of give people just a little bit of background

of the four characters that you have on this?

This.

Yes, yes. So I'm very excited to

talk about this. It's very dear to my heart

because I am a soccer mom. My

two boys, they love soccer. Like, on the

regular, I'm either taking them to practice or to

games every weekend. My oldest one is on a

travel team, so I'm soccered out.

Right. And it's funny enough that I

actually wrote so much of the book

while I was at their practices.

So. But anyways, getting into

this story, it's about four friends that

have this passion for

soccer. They love soccer so much. Like, they want to, um, become professional

soccer players and similar. My boys

want to do the same thing. Um, but then they

also get curious about money. And then

they overhear that there's this

academy that talks about, that

teaches them about money, but also teaches

them about soccer. And they're like, wow, this would be really cool to

get into. So they apply and

they get into it. And then while

they are there. So in the morning, they might have soccer

practice. In the afternoon, they'll have money

lessons with Ms. Penny, and she's

teaching them real life skills that

they need, you know, related to personal finance. And

so that was kind of a way for me to

teach young children about it through a

fictional story.

Um, but one of the things that caught my eye when I was reading the

book is that you had 90% of

the kids our age play some Sport.

Less than 10%

actually understand how to handle money. What was

so impactful that you had to bring this into the

book?

Yes, because I think even as parents,

we want to get our kids so involved, which is

great. We want them to have certain social skills.

We want them to be able to, you know,

love something, have a passion for something. And so we

sign them up for things until they really love it. And then, you

know, um, then we spend our whole weekends doing what

they love. Right. We're sacrificing a

lot. And so many of us

parents do this. So many kids are enrolled in at

least one activity, one kind of sport, but

something that is so important that we deal with on

a daily basis, which is dealing with money,

we don't pay enough attention to. So that's why I

needed to throw that stat in there, because we're

so worried about, like, this social, uh,

interaction and being

physical and, you know, working

with the team, which is so important. Yes.

But we're not having enough money

conversations around the table with

our children. And to me, I needed

to, like, share that, you know, And

I really want the parents

to capture that and think about it, you

know, oh, okay. How can I have more money conversations? And

ideally, like, I would love for parents to read the book

with the children. And so this is

initiating conversation around money in

their household.

Yeah, because it's one of the things that I have to say

that a lot of us. I don't say a lot of us, but more

than likely, I know for myself, I'll speak for myself,

that it was talked about, but not in a

good connotation. It was like, hey, we ain't

got it. It was always from the scarcity

mindset. It wasn't of the abundance of, like,

hey, it's possible to have it. This is what I'm

doing from a parent to actually

make sure that we have food on the table.

Um, because one of the things that you brought up in here, which I thought

was great in the one sentence

or paragraph that was actually tying both soccer and

money together. It'like this is from Ms. Penny. She

was saying, just as in

soccer, where he passed the ball, planning moves

and strategizing is essential.

She also, um, Ms. Penny began, and

so is planning where your money goes. It's called a

budget. And I was like, this

is the sentence for this

whole concept, because we have to

know where our money'going in order for us to

really hone in on what we really want in life.

And I greatly appreciate you throw that in there.

Oh, yeah, I appreciate that.

Ye.

So as a sock mom,

um, deal with all the sports and obviously dealing

with all the money. What is the next

thing for you? I mean, you've been doing so many great

things.

Yes. So I have a goal in

mind. I really want to

impact as many

children and families as possible.

And so really I want to be able

to take this book with me and be able to

speak at schools. Because I feel like by speaking

at schools, that would be the most impactful way to

reach the most amount of kids at one period.

And so that's really my goal. And that's where

I see myself, you know, in the

future, the near future, within the next five years is

really growing in that area.

Okay, so we're going to take. So people can get the book.

Uh, where can I get the book at for right now?

Yes. So it's not officially

launched until November 21, but then it'll be

on Amazon. Itly is on Barnes and

Noble right now. So if you wanted to grab it there. But

I, I am going to do an official launch on November

21, so maybe by the time people are

hearing this, it's already on Amazon, so you can

grab it there.

Nice. Because I would definitely would like to have a

physical copy, um, so we can

take pictures with it and party it

it. Uh, because I think this is

amazing. Like, you're really

taking a lot of the structure that

we're haven't been taught. Um,

and least some of the basic stuff

like basic budgeting, what is credit, what

is debt, and how to utilize it. And I have to say this

book has really taking a deep dive into that,

but also gamifying it so that it's something

that's fun that you can actually teach your kids

with that. Is there going to be like a workbook follow up with this

for the kids?

Oh, funny, because I've, uh,

been. Yeah, I've been told that I should have a

workbook, so maybe that's next. I'll

work on it.

All right, so this is obviously the future, so we don't know what holds,

but we're going to say let's's,

let's lock this in. I think you got this.

All right. All right.

All right,

man. Um, I'm so excited that you wrote your first book. Like, how does it

feel to have the first all complete the

finish line of writing this.

Yeah, it was a lot of work behind it

because I really wanted to tie in soccer with

money, you know, so there was a lot of thinking about

it also. I'm a soccer mom, but I never

played soccer growing up. So there were certain

things that I remember asking my kids, you

know, what is this kid called again? Or what are

certain plays? Like, I see you guys do it, but what are these? Because I

wanted to make very relatable. So

the soccer fans that are reading it, they're like, they

can picture in their head how this story is moving,

you know, so there was so much thought

behind it. And my oldest

son has helped me a lot with it. So

he would give me certain ideas, I would read it. He actually

told me, like, I want to be the first one to read it. So, like,

there was a time that, like, every. As the chapter would go

by, I would read it to him. It would

give me his input. And so really, my book is

dedicated to him, um, because

he also loves children's books, graphic

novels, that kind of thing. And like I said, he's a soccer

fan. And so, yeah, I just needed to

shout him out, too.

Nice. Did you use the kids names in the book too?

They.

No, I didn't at first. I thought about it, but then I was like,

noah, let me change it. I did start off with it, but

I do have a dedication page for them.

Okay. Yeah, Yeah, I appreciate doing that.

That's so cool, man. I'm so excited

for you. I mean, I really can't wait to see what

is next for you and what's in stored,

because I'll be rooting for you on the sidelines. And if

there's anything else that we can always hear at the about

that wallet community can kind of help support

you. Um, by all means, just let us

know. We'll do our best.

Thank you so much. I so appreciate you.

You're welcome.

All right, so you're ready for the final four questions. They're going to be

slightly modified because I had you interviewed last

year.

I'm ready.

All ready.

Number one, what does wealth mean to

you?

Yes, I think that

wealth, it's not all

about having this money, but it's more about having

freedom and having

options. So I feel

like that you might

have a lot of money, but if you don't

enjoy the things that you do, if you're not

happy in life, then you are not wealthy.

I don't think that in order to say that you're

wealthy, that means you're completely retired. You don't have to

work. You can still be working and

enjoying life, enjoying the things that you

do. Because so many times, like I also know people

who have retired early and then they're like, and now what?

You know, So I want to make sure

that, uh, yes, it might sound nice to

like chill on the beach being retired early, but

like I'm the type of person that I have to

stay busy, right? And I want to do things that I

really enjoy. And so that might be

still speaking, like doing assemblies, talking to kids and

families. And because I have a passion for educating,

like to me that's like the true wealth to be

able to have that freedom and choices to do what I

want.

Number two, what was your worst money

mistake?

Yes, so my

worst money mistake. That's a great

question. I would

say when I got to the point

of making a lot more

money, I let that lifestyle

creep come in. So yeah,

I was working a lot, making more money

than I ever had also because I had like multiple part

time jobs and I was like, oh, this money is coming in.

And I remember looking at my credit

card the end of that year and

me thinking, I spent this much on like

Amazon and on the credit card and like, what

do I have to show? I don't even know. So it was kind of

like a year. And then I reflected on that

and then I think it's really important for you to

examine your budget, right? Because at that point I was just like, I'm

just making a lot of money, right? Never made this kind of money before

and I really wasn't budgeting that time

period. So I think it's important

for not only for you to look at your budget, but for you to

analyze what your values are. You know, is it

important for you to, you know, eat out? Like,

is that something like you really want to do for me

per se? It's not like I actually rather

have whole meals, you know, and so I'm

thinking about like, hmm, hm. As I'm

analyzing, do I really want to spend my this amount of

money on eating out? Because that's not something I really

value, you know, so kind of like

analyzing that part.

All right, number

three. Now this one's modified because

you already answered this one last time. But

this one is what book book

got you back into reading.

So I love the book

Psychology of Money.

It's one of my favorite. It's probably my

favorite money book because it really

talks about the history. So sometimes

you think that your way of thinking is

right, but it really depends on the

person next to you, Their background, their

upbringing, their parents. Like, they have a whole

different perspective. And so I think you need to be

cognizant of that. I think you need to respect other people's

perspectives. So it kind of gives you that history

and that psychology of why people

have different thoughts about money. And so that

triggered more reading

about financial literacy.

The last question. Well, the fourth question.

What is your favorite dish to make?

Oh, food.

Yeah.

Mmm.

I would say pasta.

I don't make pasta so often.

And so I like.

That's like a recent thing. I like exploring

different things with pasta, Italian

food. So that's my new thing.

All right.

Yes, like that.

So the last question of the show.

Where could people find out more about

you?

Yes. So I'm on

LinkedIn, but I'm more active on

Instagram. My handle is she runs

the numbers. And so you can send me

a message there. And I would definitely respond to

you. Um, because I'm definitely more active on

ig.

Yeah're very active.

All right, well, Christina, thank you so much for

coming on to about that Wallet podcast, where

we are trying to do our best

one interview at a time so that people can

take action on the activities and the knowledge that

they've gained. And B means listeners, if

you made it this far, you

definitely have to. You should have already went

to Amazon by now. Started looking up

goals for life and getting the book today.

So by all means. And then when you reach out to

Orn Insta, let her know that you found her

from the about that water podcast. We like, you know, Hey, I just

heard your episode. It was amazing. Give a shout

out and thank you so much. I just want to

continue on giving you amazing praise

for all the work that you've been doing and all of work

that you continue to do. Thank you. Than you so much you.

Thank you, Anthony. I appreciate your support, your

friendship, all of that.

Awh. Thanks. Bye.

Bye.

First book, by the way, and

it's called. Oh,

gosh, I had it.

Please tell me do things. Cause I

was just looking at it. I got to cut all this out.

Great goals for

life goals.

Okay. All right.