Guest: Victoria Woods, the Financial Diva!

My guest on today's episode is Victoria Woods, the Financial Diva. She's appeared before on the Today Show and Fox News-- and now of course on The Causey Consulting Podcast. :)  Victoria is an internationally celebrated Investment Advisor to Millionaires and Aspiring Millionaires and leadership expert specializing in the fields of leadership, organizational change, productivity, communication and business profit growth. As a speaker and presenter, Victoria pulls from her unique upbringing, diverse experience to provide keynote presentations that are engaging and compelling, leaving the audience wanting more. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cruising, spending quality time with her husband and dog, Reno, and philanthropic activities.

Key topics we cover:

✔️ You can't cover your eyes and ignore your own finances.
✔️ Don't. Take. Advice. From. Broke. People!
✔️ "What you fear comes upon you." (And it most definitely does.)
✔️ Financial limiting beliefs: scarcity mentality and the fear of loss.
✔️ There is so much information and misinformation out there. How do we even go about choosing a financial advisor for ourselves?

You can find Victoria online at:

https://www.financialdiva.com/
https://www.chappelwood.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQpc3PQZAmeM9LFg9SUzzw

And on the radio at:

Oklahoma City NewsRadio 1000 KTOK, Saturdays at 1pm & Sundays at 6am

Transcript

Unknown Speaker : 0:15

Hello, hello and welcome to today's episode of the Causey Consulting podcast. I'm your host Sara Causey and I'm also the owner of Causey Consulting, which you can find online anytime at Causey ConsultingLLC.com. Excited for my guest today Victoria Woods. Victoria is an internationally celebrated investment advisor to millionaires and aspiring millionaires and leadership experts specializing in the fields of leadership, organizational change, productivity, communication and business profit growth. She has extensive experience in business coaching, management, finance, banking, insurance, real estate, government, organizational leadership, communication, business growth teamwork, strategic planning, human resources, customer service time management and project development. As a speaker and presenter Victoria pulls from her unique upbringing and diverse experience to provide keynote presentations that are engaging and compelling, leaving the audience wanting more. in her spare time she enjoys traveling, cruising, spending quality time with her husband and her dog, Reno, and philanthropic activities. It definitely sounds like a very full life. So Victoria, welcome, welcome. And thank you for being with me today.

Unknown Speaker : 1:33

I gotta say, I'm exhausted listening to all of that. Well, thank you so much for having me, Sara. I really I know I'm going to enjoy this. So I've heard some wonderfully great things about you. So I'm very excited and honored to be here.

Unknown Speaker : 1:50

Yay. Well, I I want to know about your own entrepreneurial journey. So tell us about that and how you got started.

Unknown Speaker : 1:59

Well That is it's very, probably unique, but yet amazing. At the same time, I was working for a very fancy store in Denver, Colorado, my husband had gotten transferred there. And this store was opening called print Tom. Well, it was very, very well fashioned after name and markets. So I'm living in Denver, Colorado, and I, you know, hear about the store as well my degrees in fashion. So I thought this is the perfect place for me. And it was, I got to design for the store, a concierge service for CEO and executive and I was calling on this co executive to make his life easier. And he proceeded to be impressed with my follow up skills. So he recruited me into the financial services business. So I was I working for him but very independent and As I'm working for him, my husband immediately within 30 days gets an opportunity to move in, relocate to Oklahoma. So once again, I follow him to Oklahoma and start my own independent. This I was just individual, and then it grew into, I was training other people and recruiting other financial advisors and insurance agents. And so I was really good at it. So I decided, you know, to start my own firm after I'd been just working individually a solo for about three years. So it just grew from there been a very exciting adventure for sure. We are now a high net worth firm specializing in mid tier millionaires.

Unknown Speaker : 3:45

Nice. You know, it's it's funny because many of my clients want to make more money, yet they're somewhat afraid of discussing money, like the image that comes to my mind is you know how raccoons will put their paws over their eyes and they think, "well, if I can't see you, you can't see me!" like I'm invisible now. So what's your advice for people who have some fearfulness around taking an honest appraisal of their own finances?

Unknown Speaker : 4:17

Well, first of all, Sara, let me say how correct you are. I mean, there are books written, there are guest speakers that, you know, travel the world talking to advisors about people not wanting to talk about money. Yeah. Which I find fascinating. Because I hear other advisors say it's a challenge and struggle, getting people to give them information. People tell me everything, so I'm good. I don't understand that concept. However, I did create something years ago to help people see the big picture. It's a very simple document. You can actually find it on my website, the financial diva website, and My company chapel wood, Financial Services website as well, chappelwood.com. And it's a it's called the gold bucket. And this is just a form that I designed. Like for the the overall view. What I have found over the last 28 years is that people don't want to get it's just painful this minutia that we get into. Yes. So most of the standard discovery that we send clients, they're extremely painful because they're very, very detailed. And if people start with the gold buckets, it's easier for them. It's simple. I mean, I've had women literally particularly women just get tearful. Yeah, thank you for making this so easy. Because all you have to do is just fill in the blanks. I love that in school. By the way, fill in the blanks multiple choice. I was I get a stone. Just fill in the blanks and say this is your cash. This is how much you have in guarantee of prints. This is what you have in investments 401k. So we just list it for you stocks, bonds, mutual bunches, and you just do like a, an average. And then what you have in possibly we have a lot of clients that have oil, royalties and stuff. So you just fill in the blanks. And when you do that, you can just kind of see the overview and see where your holes are, and how much it where you really need help. Because what we find is most of the time when we first see a potential client or a future client is what we call them in our office. What we find is they're going to have a hole somewhere and because then you can sit down and say, Okay, well, I don't have anything and protection of assets. So that okay, it gives them confidence to call. I got an email from a gentleman off by a radio show two weeks ago. And his name actually was Mr. Smith. I don't have to make that up. His name was Mr. Fred Like you said with Victoria, you know, what are your minimums? Because, you know, are you hard on that? And yes, we are. And, and he was, I was explaining to me he was asking about these and the structure, which is a very important question to ask. So I said, so glad you asked that question. And I gave him our process, we have a step, six step, simple process, because I'm always about the easy button, make it easy for the client. So he says to me, though, and I said, and when you come in for your initial appointment, we will help you clarify what it is you want to accomplish, and it's okay. Because most people when they come in, they're really not sure. So I've learned over the years that people are embarrassed because they don't even know the questions to ask they don't know what they should be doing. So they'd rather do nothing and that that that's detrimental. I mean, that's a disaster waiting to happen. So you you anything that we can do to make the process is easier for clients is what we try to do. And in my book, I talk about this, I list the questions like when you're, you are interviewing an advisor to find out, they're going to be a good match for you. Here's the question. Just ask these questions. You can go online and Google that. questions to ask. The problem with that is, they don't give you the answers. In my book, I go okay. In school, they give you the answers, right? So you, you're trained, you learn, well, when you Google these things, I'm like, What am I? Okay, here's the questions and they're good. But how do I know what the right answer supposed to be? So I give you the right answers. And if they say XYZ, they're not the right partner for you. So just, you know, say thank you get up and leave now. Don't spend your time or waste theirs. Because it's, it's not going to be a good fit for you. So I help you determine what what is going to be a good fit.

Unknown Speaker : 8:56

Yes, that's well said. That helps. Yeah, absolutely. And I love speaking of your website, I love on your website, how you say, don't take advice from broke people. And this is something that I see in my world coaching and consulting way too much. You know, there's coaches out there who are barely scraping by themselves, their living clients a client hand to mouth, but they're trying to dole out advice to others. It's sort of like the old adage, do as I say, not as I do. What is a good criteria for someone out there if they're looking for a finance coach or a financial advisor? What's a good criteria as you said, you know, you have to start somewhere. So what's a good criteria in your opinion for that person who's out there and they want to to be smart in how they select a finance coach or a financial advisor?

Unknown Speaker : 9:46

Well, Sara, this is my pet peeve. As from day one, I have used this same AI in my radio show with it every single week. When I sign an autograph books, I do the same thing, my best advice for you don't take advice from broke people. Financially or spiritually. Yes, it makes no sense. Now, I was very fortunate to learn this really powerful lesson when I was in my early 20s. That credibility matters. Yes. And it does matter just because somebody says something. I'll give you a great little story, and I'm going to answer your question for you. But when I was on the Today Show, oh, it was first of all, it was so much fun. Yeah, there was a young man, I was on this panel of three and there was a young man in his 20s, mid to late 20s. And he'd written a book about becoming a millionaire. Oh, it took every, you know, strength that I had and restraint not to challenge him. Yeah, I want to lean over and say, really? How much student debt do you have? How did you how did you Earn your million dollars. Right was a great interview and you can actually see it it is on the financial diva website. And it was the today show. It's really easy to see we still play it. I've never watched it personally. But I was offered my own TV show afterwards. So I'm at Trump Tower Park in New York. So I'm apparently it was a really good interview. But I didn't challenge him on it. But this is what's going through my head. And I talked about don't take advice from broke people. It's just like, it makes common sense. If you have a weight issue, any weight to there. That's your first thing at the beginning of the year, yes, I'm going to go on a diet, I'm going to eat better. The deal is this. If you think about a diet, it's a real simple process. And you want advice. You don't go to somebody that's still 300 pounds or you don't go to somebody that is lost 200 pounds and then gained it back right? You go to someone who has had Challenge. They have found a process that works for them. They've been disciplined, and they can coach you through this and encourage you. So why would you go to someone and I use the spiritual. If somebody is spiritually broken, and you're having a crisis, you've lost a loved one a child, you're mad at God, you need some, some guidance here. Then you don't go to somebody that's spiritually broken. You go to somebody that is bulletproof in their faith. That's who you go to. So you're right. What we find I find is that people are maybe a little intimidated. In asking the questions. I would ask an advisor, you know, if you want to be a millionaire, and you're looking for an advisor, and let's say you've got you've done a really great job and you've got $500,000 in investable assets. I would recommend going to a class like we we hold a class called chapel with the university and it's truly a class. This isn't one of those steak dinners. Come and hear dinner. We're gonna give you a pitch. No, this is a real class. Yes, held it at the university. However, now we're doing it online and people love it online. But go to a class. I mean, invest in yourself. But don't don't be intimidated. If you want to be a millionaire do what millionaires do. They go to class, they educate themselves, they live on in this may sound tough to people. millionaires will tell you they live below their means. And they live on 70% of what they earn. And they invest the rest. Yes, so they can have a great retirement. So you have to you have to make the decision of finding the right person. So, you know, if it's being a billionaire, you go to the people that have done it. And in my book, I talk about the minefield I've always said, somebody else that's gone before me whatever I'm doing, if it's writing a book, if it's doing a radio show, I just go to the people that have done it that I aspire and, you know, respect and aspire to be like and, and just analyze it, you know, what are they doing, I'm going to do exactly what they do to get through the minefield from one side of the minefield to the others, safe as I can. And once I've accomplished what, you know, their level, then I can always tweak it and bump it up a notch, which I've always done my whole life. It's like I'm gonna listen and watch. It's mostly Watch, watch to see what they do. And then then you get to the other side safely, and you could say, well, that all that work, but I can improve this, I can improve that.

Unknown Speaker : 14:48

Mmhmm. Nice. I love it. I often work with clients on limiting beliefs and money is definitely a part of that. What are some of the most common common limiting beliefs that you see around money with your clients and then how do you help them shift those beliefs?

Unknown Speaker : 15:06

Sara, that is one of the smartest questions I honestly believe I have ever been asked and yea, truly, because people don't think about limiting beliefs are your mindset and mastering your mindset and I am a huge proponent in my newest book, How to outsell the all the boys in 30 days or less. I talk about this a lot. So people think they're getting a sales manual and I said okay, this is not your typical sales book. Ladies. This is about your mindset has to be number one. Yes, you've got to get your mind right first, before you can do be successful at anything. And we all need a track to follow. We need books we need some something that will help us get there. And then you know once you gotten it You're gonna understand you're going to get off track. It's a lifelong process, you're going to get off track, but at least when you do you go up. This is why things aren't working out. Let me go back to what I know. So, the number one thing I would have to say, is those people that think of money as scarce scarcity, yes. That there's only so much to go around and we're going to divvy it up like a pie. That is no not the case at all. There is so much money out there. And I've always said those with a vision, those with a plan are going to be blessed. Yes, because I have a really good mindset and expect money to flow to me easily and effortlessly. It does. Yes, amen. People. Just let go. How does it all just come to you and I go, because I expect Get in because I'm giving out massive amounts of, you know, wisdom and knowledge. And I'm sincere and I care. Because you have to start with that it's got to be about your passion. Yes, in a business, you've got to be passionate about what you do. So scarcity is the first thing that you've got to switch that brain cell that you've got about scarcity. There's no scarcity at all. Number two, I would say probably, people's fear of loss. Yeah. They will be more fearful of losing, say $1,000. Then the hard work that it takes to earn that thousand dollars, but they're so fearful of losing it, and I have to teach them again. Okay. What you fear comes upon you.

Unknown Speaker : 17:50

Yes, yes, it does. Mm hmm.

Unknown Speaker : 17:52

You cannot fear and I'll say, I tell women especially stories like think about the female Friend, sister, cousin, next door neighbor, whomever that you know, that so wanted a baby so bad, you know, tried everything in vitro, they tried everything until they just gave up three, five years and said, I'm going to adopt my husband. I agree we want a family. We're not going to wait any longer. This is just not meant for us. Many children out there that need a loving home, they make that decision. They get the adoption done. They've now got their beautiful family 30 days later,

Unknown Speaker : 18:35

If that!

Unknown Speaker : 18:36

six months later, she gets pregnant. Why? Because the stress that she put on herself. The anxiety, stress is a killer. And the anxiety and stress she put on herself. The minute she relaxed because why she got what she wanted. She's now a mother. Mm hmm. She's got a family. Yes. And that's what happens. So it's what you fear. upon you. So you've got to learn to become fearless. Mm hmm. And I'd never said it was easy. I just said it was simple. Yes, fearless, and just say there's nothing to fear. Whatever you're dealing with, there's nothing to fear. The last thing I really need to share, I believe is that when you accumulated and who we deal with, these are individuals that have accumulated a lot of money because they need to live on this money for 30 years. So their biggest fear, once you've accumulated money, it is outliving the money. Yeah, that is that is the number one. I don't care. If you're a billionaire. If you're a multi millionaire, if you're a female, a doctor, a lawyer, it doesn't matter. It's the exact same for every single individual. Because when we were living, you know in retirement for five years, 10 years, he's talking 30 years. Yeah. And we're it's even getting longer. Yes. Like every year, it seems like we get another year added to our lives. So outliving your money is a huge, huge, big concern for everyone that's accumulated.

Unknown Speaker : 20:20

Yes, that's a perfect segue into my last question. Many of my clients think about retirement and they genuinely want to plan ahead yet. There's so much conflicting information out there. I mean, it's super easy to get into overwhelment when you even think about retirement.

Unknown Speaker : 20:39

I couldn't agree more. I I feel for people. Because and it's worse now today than you know, back when I was with my first job, you know, put my little money away for my Christmas account. Okay, account and all that. It's now massive.

Unknown Speaker : 20:57

Yeah, yes. information overload. Where do I get started What do I do? So if if someone is at a point in their life where they want to get started, they don't they don't even know what is step one. Like they're thinking about retirement. They're trying to get a game plan together. They don't even know what is step one. And the whole idea of trying to use Google University or YouTubeCollege is like, okay, no, I want to really get good, solid information. I don't want to just get random things flowing at me from the interwebs. Where do they start?

Unknown Speaker : 21:33

Well, the first thing I totally agree with you, Sara, is there's so much information, it's overwhelming. And I'm going to share with you the first thing of what not to do. The biggest problem I see when especially younger people, and then they say the system doesn't work and you know, they make all these excuses. Because what they do is they go chase the top mutual fund that Whatever on money magazine or mutual fund magazine, and they pick it up at the, you know, CVS, and the grocery stores or the Oh, well, like, here it is, this is my answer. And it's, it's hard. So that is a big, big mistake. Because this is a great example of a very successful teacher, who had been a client for maybe five, seven years at the time. There was a fund called the enterprise fund. And it had gotten 104% return one year, wow. Now we didn't Of course, we didn't have all of our money there. It was one of five that she had. So she calls me and says, Victoria, I just got my statements. And I think we need to put more money in the inside. And I said, Really? Now I'm not going to argue with her. I said, Well, Pamela, I said, Why don't you come into the office and let's let's visit about it because I needed to see her across my desk. didn't give her any lecture didn't tell her how foolish that was. I simply said this. First of all, Pamela, haven't we done a really great job of diversifying your portfolio? Creating a great retirement income plan? Yes. Are you still planning on retiring in two years? Yes. Now we've got a plan here that's going to allow you to do that. So let me ask you this question. As she tells Megan, but wait, Victoria, I think we should take X amount of dollars is 200,000 over here and put it over in the enterprise funds. I said, Okay. I can see where you would think that now let me ask you. What are the odds of a fund that went up 140% going up another 25% next year. A lot of don't know, Victoria and I said exactly what are the odds because It went up 104% that it goes down 50% next year. She smiled she smart woman smile. She said, Well, this has been a lovely chat. Let's just keep everything the way it is. Thank you for your time. Hug. Kiss, she's out the door. Yeah. So helping people understand their own. So chasing mutual funds or a document is never going to work in the long run. So, another thing I'll ask people when they say, Oh, I'm too old, I don't know what to do. I'm like, okay, think about this. When is the best time to plant a tree?

Unknown Speaker : 24:41

Exactly. Yes. Yes.

Unknown Speaker : 24:43

Because they cocked her head and they're like, Why is she asking me about landscaping when I'm talking to her about finance? And I wait and they go, Okay, well, 20 years ago or so? Exactly. What is the second best time to plant a tree today, right now never going to be a big gorgeous, beautiful tree unless you go get it. You decide what kind of tree you get in your car, you go by it, you come home, you dig the hole you planted, and you nurture it. So starting with the best thing anyone can do that has a 401k is getting themselves on a budget and consistently putting money into that account every single week. Now what I do for juniors high school juniors when they start, because they're not even 19 yet, so I give them an example of when you start at 19 and you only have to put in $40 a week. And you can stop investing at 27 years old 28-30 when you're going to be a multimillionaire if you stopped now someone that starts at 20 Seven will never catch up. never catch up with you. It's not possible. So my recommendation to them is start early, just be consistent, whatever it is $25 a week, whatever you can do, just get that good foundation of a, an account. And the best way is your 401k. Now, if you don't have your company or whoever you work for doesn't have a 401k. I highly recommend starting with a Roth account or traditional IRA. Now that came into being at the White House Conference in 1995. Under President Bill Clinton, it was a White House Conference on small business, how can we help small business owners and we we got the raw. I didn't work on that piece of legislation. I was one of the committee members that supported it. I worked on several others, but this one I was extremely interested in the HSA, the Social Security The the Small Business home deduction i was able that was my legislation I got push through in enacted. So there are some good things to come out of, you know, Congress

Unknown Speaker : 27:13

This does happen.

Unknown Speaker : 27:17

It does happen, it's occasional, but you take small business owners to go up there and say, Okay, these are 1400 different issues, we're going to narrow them down to the top 60 that are going to help small business owners and they certainly have. The other thing is, is that you certainly can do it yourself. There's different types of platforms out there to use if you you know, if you don't have a 401k so if you have to open your own traditional or Roth on your own, there's, there's so many self help platforms out there. I recommend fidelity for a couple of reasons. And they all change but their their platform was very useful for They also have some really good support staff. And we keep accounts on there just so that I know that they can keep up. I even put an account on there for myself, so that I can help recommend those to people. Because when I was researching, which was years ago, they had definitely the best. And then everybody else was kind of trying to catch up. There's a lot of good platforms, just find one that you for you is user friendly, I just happen to know that they are very robust, and they are user friendly, and they have great support staff. That is always available. And it's extremely reasonable to be able to cost effectively is what I'm saying, to have an account with fidelity. And I only think it's only fair. If, if I'm going to recommend something, whether it's a book or a CD or anything that I actually you know, use it myself and that's why I maintain so Count on fidelity show that I can, you know, I can help educate people even on my radio show.

Unknown Speaker : 29:06

Fantastic. Well, we have gotten a lot of wisdom and excellent insights out of this episode. If someone fits the profile of a person that you typically work with, or perhaps they don't, but they want to be able to tune in to your radio show. They want to know more about you or potentially buy some of your books. where's the best place to go online for that person to find you?

Unknown Speaker : 29:32

The best place is always the financialdiva.com website and it links the company it links to everything else. There's resources there. There's even order books there. The resources are phenomenal. We have one on the chapel website that explains all the things like our minimum assets are 500,000 for the firm. My minimums I only take on three clients a year and the minimum is $5 million. But as the firm and an I oversee as Chief Investment Advisor, the financial people website and thank you very much for asking Sarah, the financial diva is more about guest speaking, but it has all the videos if you want to watch, I create a lot of content over there. So there's a lot of YouTube videos. There's also resource pages that on the chapel website, it links to us but it also has financial resources. And there's right on the front page is what's called risk alive. So if you wanted to know, if you're, you know, doing a good job and you're, if you're overly conservative, overly aggressive, that's a great free tool right on the front page, and it's three steps and we just click the button, it will let me know what your risk tolerance is, or we call it your speed limit. That is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. And of course my books on there and we're everywhere. We've got it. We're LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter, any plant Form Instagram, any platform that someone wants to use. We're out there. We have one of the top financial podcasts, which we cut up from our radio show. We're always in the top 10 sometimes the top four for financial shows every single week.

Unknown Speaker : 31:15

Awesome: coast to coast like butter on toast you're out there and you can be found.

Unknown Speaker : 31:21

I love it's not it's not hard just put in financial diva Victoria or Victoria woods and you'll see page you'll see more information Sara than you really wanted. It's shocking to me. Like when you're reading a bio I think, okay, I'm exhausted. I don't know.

Unknown Speaker : 31:41

Well, speaking of which, I know that you have a busy day ahead of you. And I thank you so much for taking the time to to speak with me and to provide these awesome insights to the listeners.

Unknown Speaker : 31:53

You're welcome. Congratulations on your show anytime. Thank you. I'd love to come back anytime.

Unknown Speaker : 31:59

Yes, ma'am.

Unknown Speaker : 32:01

Once again, our guest today was Victoria Woods, you can visit her online at financialdiva.com. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it. If you haven't already, please take a moment to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review for us on iTunes. Bye for now. Transcribed by https://otter.ai