Summer Berlin — Breaking Free from a Scarcity Mindset with Summer Berlin

[00:00:00] Summer Berlin: I wish there was just one thing that we could scream from the mountaintops that would wake

[00:00:04] Jonathan DeYoe: yeah

[00:00:04] Summer Berlin: everyone up and help them to realize that they could get out of their rut. But I think it was honestly just repetitive positive framing of having abundance, having wealth. Hearing over and over people talk about wealth. Some of the content creators that I listen to, they’ll use words like rich in like a positive context. Hearing that over and over slowly opened my mind to understanding that an abundant life, a secure life, a wealthy life, is not just achievable, but okay. And, I really think it was just that exposure over time.

[00:00:36] Intro: Do you think money takes up more life space than it should? On this show, we discuss with and share stories from artists, authors, entrepreneurs, and advisors about how they mindfully minimize the time and energies. Spent thinking about money. Join your host, Jonathan DeYoe, and learn how to put [00:01:00] money in its place and get more out of life.

[00:01:10] Jonathan DeYoe: Hey, welcome back on this episode of the Mindful Money Podcast. I’m chatting with Summer Berlin. , summer is the new Mindful Money course manager. She’s taken over for Nicole, who I’ve worked with for eight, nine years now. , so, , I’m very excited to have Summer on the team.

[00:01:25] Jonathan DeYoe: During the interview process, , summer shared with us, , a basic personal finance booklet she’s created to help sort of young people back home. , the booklet’s gonna be available both in a blog post that she wrote for us. And, it’ll be in the show notes for the show. So go check that out. download it.

[00:01:41] Jonathan DeYoe: It’s free. Summer received her Bachelor of Science from Evergreen State College in 2020, and her passion for financial literacy was fostered by her own journey from poverty in the rural Midwest. I. Now I wanted to introduce Summer to the Mindful Money audience and talk about her experience coming outta poverty, [00:02:00] becoming financially literate, and the desire to share that literacy with anyone that wanted it.

[00:02:04] Jonathan DeYoe: , because the mindful money audience hears from me, a professional in this space and from other folks who did this a long time ago, and I, and who teach it. And I want, I thought it’d be kind of refreshing, you know, bordering on inspirational to talk to someone who’s just gone through this process and, ask, ask her how she did it and what was interesting about it to her.

[00:02:21] Jonathan DeYoe: , so Summer, welcome to the Mindful Money Podcast and welcome to the Mindful Money Team.

[00:02:26] Summer Berlin: Thank you. I’m so, so excited to be both places. I’m so honored to be a part of Mindful Money and to be on the team helping you make a difference. It’s just amazing.

[00:02:36] Jonathan DeYoe: Uh, I think that you actually have the potential to make a bigger difference just ’cause you, you, Represent, you know, folks that are actually trying to do this right now. I kind of, I, we come from kind of a similar background, but I’ve, I did this 30 years ago. , you’re kind of doing it now, so it’s kind of cool to have the opportunity to introduce you to folks and I, and I hope they can take these lessons and, and, um, you have a lot to share.

[00:02:56] Jonathan DeYoe: So I really appreciate you coming on first. [00:03:00] Where’d you grow up? , and where are you calling in from right now?

[00:03:03] Summer Berlin: I grew up in the Midwest in a tiny farm town in Ohio, and I lived there until I was 18, and then I moved out to the Pacific Northwest for college. So I’m connecting now from Washington State, and I’ve lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest for the past eight or so years.

[00:03:22] Jonathan DeYoe: so growing up in, in Ohio,

[00:03:25] Summer Berlin: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:25] Jonathan DeYoe: a little farm town, what did you learn about money and entrepreneurship, uh, growing up?

[00:03:30] Summer Berlin: Well, my hometown is full of people who work really, really hard, and my dad is an excellent example of that. He’s a farmer, he’s a trapper. He works all day long. But growing up I definitely saw my parents and my peers, other families around me in a perpetual state of lacking. So the money lessons that I learned were implicit.

[00:03:53] Summer Berlin: I didn’t have a lot of intentional education around money, but I gained a scarcity mindset for sure. One that [00:04:00] taught me to, you know, spend my money as soon as I got it because it was just gonna disappear if I didn’t. So a lot of implicit lessons growing up, just learning kind of an anxiety around money.

[00:04:13] Jonathan DeYoe: I just want to be clear, when you say your dad worked all day long, I don’t think you meant like eight hours a day. I think you meant all day long.

[00:04:21] Summer Berlin: Yeah, he’s constantly working, whether it’s on, you know, his farm, other

[00:04:25] Jonathan DeYoe: I.

[00:04:25] Summer Berlin: properties that he’s doing work for them or he’s trapping or he’s doing work around our house, you know? Um. keep the home warm, chopping wood, you know, there’s just so much hard work involved in his existence, other people that I grew up around.

[00:04:42] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah. I’m wondering if you can point to any, like, , specific experiences, that become part of your money story. parents talking about money, not necessarily the general feel of constant working all the time, but I. You know, arguments about money, you know, no, you can’t have that. These kinds of things.

[00:04:58] Jonathan DeYoe: And what, how does that, how does that [00:05:00] enter your skin?

[00:05:01] Summer Berlin: Yeah, a couple of memories that are specifically associated with money that I have growing up. One is. You know, when I wanted like a snack or to rent a DVD or something like that, the way that I was able to make that happen is by kind of searching under car mats for coins, you know, and trying to like get enough that I could get up to a dollar or a dollar 10 with tax and then see what I could buy at the Dollar General. that was how I kind of like my shopping. And you know, in high school we had these really amazing opportunities to go on trips. my high school was actually pretty great. I had some cool experiences and one of those was going to march in the marching band in Disney World. And when that was like. Presented as an opportunity to my class. I just didn’t even tell my parents about it. I just told my band director, I’m not gonna go, you know, I knew that it was gonna be too expensive, and my [00:06:00] band director, he’s such a great guy, he offered to pay my way, and that’s when I finally told my dad, you know, okay, there’s this trip and. getting this offer to go and I don’t know what to do. And my dad said, oh, we’ll figure it out. We’ll, we’ll pay for it. But before I got that from him, I just didn’t even bring it up. ’cause I knew in my heart of hearts that it was gonna be too expensive. So I had just counted myself out of things like that.

[00:06:27] Jonathan DeYoe: Hmm. you just mentioned sort of growing up with, growing up on the farm with not a lot of. Call it money, wisdom, you know, shared, you talk about looking for pennies or looking for coins for snacks. how do you think that affects your decision making now as an adult?

[00:06:43] Jonathan DeYoe: Like, how, how does that get underneath the skin? and then when you’re presented with a challenge or with a financial question, how does that affect the answer to that question?

[00:06:52] Summer Berlin: well I definitely had to do a lot of unlearning, and that’s what was so important to me about. You know, being exposed [00:07:00] to people like you who are online, who are sharing their financial wisdom, I had to learn that money could be a tool and it could allow you to progress. So I had to see it as less of, know, I have this money.

[00:07:13] Summer Berlin: What can I spend it on right now to make my life better today? And more, what can this money do for me long term? That was just a completely new mindset to me. So I feel like I’ve done a lot of growth in that area and you know, I don’t really have as much anxiety affecting me today, but it was a long journey to get there.

[00:07:33] Jonathan DeYoe: Hmm. I’m, I’m curious, you took this journey in the last eight years.

[00:07:37] Summer Berlin: Right.

[00:07:38] Jonathan DeYoe: How did you tell the difference between, and I’ll just, I’ll put myself in the good guys camp, but there’s, there’s a lot of good information. There’s just a lot of crap out there. How did you tell the difference, uh, and sort of avoid the pitfalls?

[00:07:51] Summer Berlin: That’s a great question. I, I was probably just kind of lucky with who I was first exposed to, you know, because that’s. A really good point when [00:08:00] someone doesn’t really have a lot of financial ground to stand on, they are susceptible to bad advice. and the first person that I saw online, her name is Vivian Tu, her handle was at your rich BFF.

[00:08:12] Summer Berlin: And I just happened to actually watch her content and connect with her. ’cause that was fun. You know, it was approachable. So that’s where I first started to learn, you know, some. Financial lessons, and it motivated me to learn more, and that’s just how my journey started. I got connected with some people who were sharing their wisdom online and they happened to be sharing some good tips.

[00:08:33] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah, it bothers me that it’s luck. ’cause there’s a lot of stuff that’s really not good and so just to happen, to run into some good stuff in the beginning is you know Luck shouldn’t be the determining factor.

[00:08:44] Summer Berlin: Yeah. And of course I learned, you know, some lessons the hard way in my own life as well. But yeah, there’s a lot of shame that can be felt too. I think there’s a lot of financial advice out there that’s very shame based, and that’s not the kind of thing that you need when you already have maybe like a [00:09:00] scarcity mindset or anxiety or negative mindset around money.

[00:09:05] Jonathan DeYoe: I wanna poke at this a little bit, it’s kind of your over the scarcity mindset. Like you, you got, you kind of, you kind of. Wash it out really. I mean, is that, I, I think I still carry it. I come from a similar background. I think I, it still infects almost every decision.

[00:09:19] Summer Berlin: Yeah. Well, I think that it takes a lot of work every day to make sure that I don’t fall into, you know, a pattern. I have kind of. Come to enjoy things like budgeting and keeping track. And, maybe that does kind of come from a scarcity mindset, I’m realizing now. it’s just become more positive for me, I think, instead of like a negative feeling instead of crying, feeling really afraid about, you know, what I’m gonna do, how I’m gonna pay for this or that.

[00:09:47] Summer Berlin: I feel really inspired and motivated and excited to plan. So that to me was the biggest transformation that I felt.

[00:09:55] Jonathan DeYoe: as an adult and, and working with a peer group, you know, at work, you know, [00:10:00] friends around town, do you think your, More concerned about or afraid of financial decisions than peers that didn’t grow up in the same kind of situation? Or do you think you’ve kind of come to par with them?

[00:10:12] Summer Berlin: You know, I think the way that my upbringing really follows me when I’m making financial decisions compared to how other people might. Be thinking about their financial futures is probably the fact that I have a lot of people to think about. So my parents, you know, I’m thinking about how I can pay for them and, how, you know. Entangled I might be with their financial futures. So that is one thing that I think sets me apart from some of my friends and my peers, because they might not have to worry about, you know, how their parents are getting by this month and their parents’ bills, things like that.

[00:10:50] Jonathan DeYoe: So you, you actually carry that on yourself.

[00:10:54] Summer Berlin: Yeah. I feel like, have the knowledge, at least, if not. The [00:11:00] capability to handle a lot of my parents’ situations, and I know I’m an only child too, so I know a lot of their future is gonna be intertwined with my decisions. So

[00:11:11] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah.

[00:11:12] Summer Berlin: something that feels constantly there for me.

[00:11:15] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah. have you ever heard this, the phrase, learned helplessness, like there’s research about. You know, folks who grow up with less money sort of just throw up their hands, like, oh, there’s nothing I can do about it. Uh, you know, to your credit, you sought out some information. you sought out a better path.

[00:11:32] Jonathan DeYoe: You said, I wanna learn about this, I wanna be better at this. So was it just the fact that you were in that situation or what was it that sort of inspired the search?

[00:11:40] Summer Berlin: Well, as I said, I kind of happened upon it when I.

[00:11:44] Jonathan DeYoe: Just luck.

[00:11:45] Summer Berlin: online, you know? Um, but the more that I learned, the more that I wanted to learn. You know, and I, I looked up podcasts and things, and it did take years, I think, for me to really feel like, okay, I can implement this in my own life. But the biggest step [00:12:00] for me was just realizing that it was possible to take control of your financial future.

[00:12:04] Summer Berlin: That just, it took me a while to kind of chew on, but once I knew that, that was like the fire under me, that, you know. Inspired me to keep learning and keep implementing new things in my life To feel more secure.

[00:12:17] Jonathan DeYoe: you realized it was possible to take control of your financial life.

[00:12:21] Summer Berlin: Exactly.

[00:12:22] Jonathan DeYoe: I’m wondering what the trigger was. What was it that sort of pushed you over the edge like I did? It’s not possible. It’s not possible.

[00:12:28] Jonathan DeYoe: It’s not possible. And then all of a sudden, oh, it is possible. What was that?

[00:12:32] Summer Berlin: You know, I wish there was just one thing that we could scream from the mountaintops that

[00:12:36] Summer Berlin: would wake Yeah.

[00:12:37] Summer Berlin: Everyone up and help them to realize that they could get out of their rut. But I think it was honestly just repetitive positive framing of, you know, having abundance, having wealth. In small towns like mine, I often refer to my hometown as like a snow globe. You know, they’re so small and your reality is built around other people like you in your same [00:13:00] situation, and I think it can feel as though an abundant life or a wealthy life is completely unachievable or exclusively reserved for others. if you intrinsically believe that.

[00:13:12] Summer Berlin: By dreaming big, you are essentially admitting that you’re always gonna be unhappy because you want something more than that and you know, or you think, you know deep down that you’re never gonna have it. So that’s an embarrassing and unsettling thing to project. So in that environment, you don’t dare set goals that are too high, and then it becomes kind of like a negative feedback loop because whether you’re aware of those blocks or not, they prevent you from making. Progress towards financial independence.

[00:13:42] Summer Berlin: So I think just getting out of that, you know, that snow globe and then hearing over and over people talk about wealth. You know, some of the, content creators that I listen to, they’ll use words like Rich in like a positive context. And just hearing that over and over, it really slowly opened my [00:14:00] mind to understanding that an abundant life, a secure life, a wealthy life. Is not just achievable, but Okay. And, I really think it was just that exposure over time.

[00:14:11] Jonathan DeYoe: is there a judgment of, People who would seek a secure life, a wealthy life, an abundant life, a judgment of them as bad people. I mean, all, all they want is money, you know, greedy, those kinds of things. Or is it, not that, not a judgment, just a fear. I.

[00:14:27] Summer Berlin: Yeah, I think people would be afraid of projecting that because that kind of hardworking nose to the grindstone environment where everyone’s feeling a little scarce, everyone’s feeling a little behind. I do think they look at people who want more or who have more, you know, in kind of a negative light. And I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily their fault for feeling those feelings, you know, I think that they’re valid and they probably just shouldn’t be directed at people who are doing better than them. They should be directed at, you know, their circumstances, their [00:15:00] situation, you know, collective situation that exists there.

[00:15:04] Jonathan DeYoe: I mean, I can, I can just hear all kinds of, uh. Potential feedback. You know, I can’t, you know. Yeah. You’re special. Some, something you did was enabled at, uh, I’ve heard often. Yeah. Jonathan, you’re. You’re tall, you’re white, you’re male. you had all the advantages and I always, I always bristle at it because, yes, I am tall, I’m white and male.

[00:15:24] Jonathan DeYoe: I understand those are advantages, but I, I also didn’t have anything. And I, the thing that I had was parental lesson. Like my parents were like, yeah, you can do whatever you want. You just go out there and you make it happen. You work hard. You, you get good grades, you do this and you can, you can make it happen.

[00:15:36] Jonathan DeYoe: You can make it. It was like belief.

[00:15:38] Summer Berlin: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:39] Jonathan DeYoe: It doesn’t sound like you, got the belief and yet you come out of it and I’m, that impresses me a lot. cause I know that you, you sort of had this, uh, disbelief that you could do it. Yet you turn that around and I’m just, I’m wondering what enabled that to happen.

[00:15:58] Jonathan DeYoe: It’s not just financial [00:16:00] literacy. There’s, there’s, there’s, there’s a motivation, there’s a mindset. There’s a belief system that changed. How do you change the belief system when somebody just, they don’t have access to that? They don’t have the encouragement. They don’t have someone saying, you can do this.

[00:16:15] Summer Berlin: I do think they were supportive of me, you know, going after my dreams, moving across the country. I think to them, I. Money was never really tied in with things like that. I think there was a certain ignorance that existed in

[00:16:31] Jonathan DeYoe: Hmm.

[00:16:32] Summer Berlin: in the people around me, just about money. At all, how fundamental it is to certain things that you can do, how fundamental your choices are to whether or not you have money, things like that.

[00:16:44] Summer Berlin: I just don’t think money was ever really fully connected in the lessons that I learned or in the support that I got, because I don’t wanna say I didn’t receive support. You know, I, I did have supportive parents, but I just don’t think money was ever really. of their wisdom that [00:17:00] they were trying to pass down to me.

[00:17:01] Summer Berlin: You know? So that’s really what was lacking for me. But that’s why I wanted to write this little booklet that I wrote. and like the last line in the booklet is just, you do deserve it I recognize that hearing that that people deserve to be in a better place. That they deserve to feel secure and have abundance.

[00:17:21] Summer Berlin: That, that’s so important. So I got it from financial literacy content creators online. wherever someone can get it, that’s really important. if they’re not receiving it from their family or their friends, you know, I hope that people like you, could step in and be the person that shows them that they’re worth it by giving them this advice, you know?

[00:17:47] Jonathan DeYoe: are there resources out there that you would currently recommend for somebody that are just trying to get, you know, launched, get an understanding, trying to become financially literate, trying to be motivated, trying to have that mindset shift?

[00:17:58] Summer Berlin: I mean, I can’t not recommend [00:18:00] the mindful money, courses because specifically,

[00:18:03] Jonathan DeYoe: I.

[00:18:03] Summer Berlin: in my notes, I have written visualization and affirmation because. Those are the first important things. Visualizing that you can have a better life, you know, telling yourself that you’re worth it. And the vision and goals course is just that.

[00:18:18] Summer Berlin: So I can’t not recommend that. but that’s also why I ended up writing this booklet to send back home because I even more so in my opinion than the little money tips that I have in there and the little, you know, facts about certain financial areas of life. I think just the. Act of passing that onto someone and saying, here, read this.

[00:18:39] Summer Berlin: You are worth it. You know? That was the big deal to me.

[00:18:42] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah.

[00:18:43] Jonathan DeYoe: What do you think the biggest hurdles are, for millennials and Gen Z today, in terms of their own financial success?

[00:18:49] Summer Berlin: Well, I think that younger generations today definitely have access to more information. I. Than other generations have ever had. you know, if you know where to [00:19:00] look, you can find some really amazing financial advice online. You could find endless hours of it. But I think the other side of that coin, the problem with it is that there’s so much distraction and targeted distraction, targeted advertisements and targeted algorithms that really show you. You know, people living large or influencer lifestyles where maybe they’re getting those things for free, you know, free vacations or whatever, but you’re comparing yourself to them. So I think younger generations have kind of fallen into this trap of comparison. You know, being barrage with content online that’s specifically to kind of harvest their money out of them.

[00:19:41] Summer Berlin: I think that’s a really big hurdle for younger generations today.

[00:19:45] Jonathan DeYoe: I almost paid attention to, no. Like, I, I’ve never actually logged into TikTok. I’m never on Instagram, so I don’t see the. don’t even know what they’re called, shorts or reels or whatever they’re called. Um, so that’s perhaps I’m naive, but as a percentage, [00:20:00] you’re, you’re there.

[00:20:00] Jonathan DeYoe: How much of it is decent, you know, people that have information and, and then how much of it is just influencer or, you know, product pitch or, you know, just sort of self-promoting kind of stuff.

[00:20:13] Summer Berlin: Well, the scary thing is everyone’s algorithm looks so totally different, so you know, I can’t really speak for. The majority because my algorithm is gonna be so targeted to me specifically

[00:20:27] Jonathan DeYoe: Of course.

[00:20:27] Summer Berlin: algorithm might be completely different. But that’s kind of a problem because, you know, if you start off watching, you know, some halls, some luxury brand halls, and you’re just aspirational and you, you know, you keep watching that stuff, your entire feed, your entire algorithm is gonna be people buying. Luxury brands showing off their new outfits, showing off, you know, all of these expensive things. And that’s what you’re gonna think the world is.

[00:20:56] Summer Berlin: You know, that’s what you’re seeing, that’s making up most of the [00:21:00] content you’re consuming. So then you know, you’re gonna feel a lot of fomo. You’re gonna feel a lot of need to buy those things to feel like you’re stacking up.

[00:21:08] Summer Berlin: And that’s, I think, a really big problem that a lot of people, Experience, not just in ads, but just in the kind of content that they’re seeing people’s posts.

[00:21:18] Jonathan DeYoe: And that, and that goes for, you know, how to invest if the, if you happen to, you know, grow up in the age of crypto and,

[00:21:24] Summer Berlin: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:24] Jonathan DeYoe: is the thing that’s on the news and you click on a crypto thing, ’cause hey, that’s, you’re curious and then that just, that’s all you get is crypto, crypto, crypto, crypto.

[00:21:31] Jonathan DeYoe: After that,

[00:21:32] Summer Berlin: And then that’s what you think, being financially literate is, is, you know, knowing everything about crypto. Exactly. They become like these echo chambers.

[00:21:40] Jonathan DeYoe: huh? I’m curious, was your degree in sociology? I mean, you, you seem to have thought this through quite a bit in a way that I, I wouldn’t imagine someone thinking it through.

[00:21:50] Summer Berlin: no, my degree was in environmental science. depressingly,

[00:21:53] Jonathan DeYoe: I.

[00:21:54] Summer Berlin: care a lot about environmental science, so, um, it’s not depressing, but it kind of is. but yeah, I [00:22:00] just really think a lot about, The way that the world is working today, it’s getting a little, I mean, a lot more complex and a little scarier with each new complexity, in my opinion.

[00:22:12] Jonathan DeYoe: for sure. so I love the short book of money tips. You know, the vast majority of of what I teach, I. Assumes the very basics, the things you talk about, like checking accounts and credit cards and car stuff, right? we’ve got courses that teach these items, but I rarely talk about it.

[00:22:26] Summer Berlin: Mm-hmm.

[00:22:27] Jonathan DeYoe: I love the fact that you sort of hit right on the basics and it’s, so important that those of us in the financial world tend to forget or just assume everyone knows these things, you know?

[00:22:37] Jonathan DeYoe: So what made you wanna write, I know what made you wanna write the book, but then you wanted to share it with people back home. what have people said about it? You’ve sent it back. Do people give you a comment, oh, this is really helpful, or I, this is even, this is a stretch, or what, what do you hear?

[00:22:51] Summer Berlin: You know, I sent the book to my

[00:22:54] Jonathan DeYoe: I.

[00:22:54] Summer Berlin: she’s only a little bit younger than me, and I said, would you be interested in this? ’cause you know, I was sending it mostly to younger [00:23:00] people. and she said, I would pay you for that. So, um, I have heard people say that it’s like. You know, very valuable to them, that they really appreciate me putting it together, for their reference.

[00:23:12] Summer Berlin: So that’s really nice to hear. But I think a lot of the young people that I’ve given it to, they will need to take their time, you know, using it and experiencing the things that I talk about in there before they probably really, you know, use it in its full capacity. Just like the things that I was exposed to.

[00:23:28] Summer Berlin: I’m sure it’ll take them learning a couple of their own lessons alongside having that stuff too. appreciate everything

[00:23:35] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah. Have you thought about ever like including a bibliography or You know, six or eight other people in there that you’ve read and, and sort of believe that are worthy of following. You know, share, just, Hey, don’t, just don’t trust my, don’t take my word for it, you know, here’s six others that you might wanna listen to.

[00:23:50] Summer Berlin: I thought about including just a list of, you know, people’s accounts, people’s books and things like that. But I haven’t put one together yet. I think it’s a great idea.

[00:23:59] Jonathan DeYoe: [00:24:00] Yeah. What do you think the most important lesson in the book is in your, in the booklet?

[00:24:04] Summer Berlin: Well, you mentioned, you know how I start off with just the basics I think for people who are just, you know, getting cash as their paychecks, they’re spending it down the corner right after they get it into their hand, those. Early chapters about checking accounts and, you know, budgeting, those are going to be the most important. I would be tempted to say that for me the most important lesson. Was about credit cards because, you know, as someone who didn’t have a lot of knowledge, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of credit card debt and to not know how to crawl out of it. So that’s very important. but I think honestly the biggest one for me is probably budgeting because it taught me, like I said before, um. That your money can work for you. That it doesn’t have to be checking out how much you have to see if you can buy that thing. It can be planning ahead for how much you’re gonna have left over and then putting that money to work for your future. And I’m constantly [00:25:00] exercising that skill now and I’m sure I will for the rest of my life.

[00:25:03] Summer Berlin: And that was really the most life-changing thing for me to understand.

[00:25:08] Jonathan DeYoe: Funny. I, I mean, who, who, who would’ve thunk it? Like who would’ve thunk that would work?

[00:25:12] Summer Berlin: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:13] Jonathan DeYoe: if you were starting all over today, what’s the first thing that you think you would do to lead to greater understanding of money and personal finance?

[00:25:21] Summer Berlin: Well, I would start by telling myself, Hey, you’re worth this. You’re worth, you know, accumulating an abundant and secure life. you don’t have to worry so much if you can just. Put a few helpful practices in place, things can get a lot better because I think starting off, I just, all I knew of money and personal finance was how to be worried about it. So if I could immediately shift my mindset like that, wouldn’t that be awesome? I wish that I could just tell myself, you know, to open my eyes and have a more accepting and. Energetic and motivated mindset [00:26:00] about moving forward, making progress.

[00:26:02] Jonathan DeYoe: I that first step suggests that mindset is probably the most powerful thing that we have to change the future. Is that, do you agree with that?

[00:26:10] Summer Berlin: I do honestly believe that. Yeah.

[00:26:12] Jonathan DeYoe: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:13] Jonathan DeYoe: So just before we wrap, what would constitute a perfect day for you?

[00:26:17] Summer Berlin: Hmm. I guess being outside under the sun and Some ice cream hanging out with my friends. I have a lot of long distance friends who I love very much. that would be a really perfect day for me.

[00:26:33] Jonathan DeYoe: So I wanna say thanks for coming on and, and sort of just sharing the path and, being a little vulnerable with the audience. I really appreciate that. I, I think that, um, as you know, one of the goals of mindful money is to normalize the conversation. It makes no sense to feel shame about your personal finances and your money because you know so many people that will never admit it to you have gone through something similar.

[00:26:53] Jonathan DeYoe: So we’re all in this together. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story.

[00:26:57] Summer Berlin: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

[00:26:59] Outro: [00:27:00] Thanks for listening. Full show notes for each episode, which includes a summary, key takeaways, quotes, and any resources mentioned are available at Mindful Money. Be sure to follow and subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. And if you’re enjoying the content and getting value from these episodes, please leave us a rating and review ratethispodcast.com/mindfulmoney. We’ll be sure to read those out on future episodes.