Hi,
Welcome to this week’s Get Ready newsletter, helping you navigate life’s what if’s before life happens. As always, you’ll find my recommendations to help you change the way you think about money with the people and resources that provide integrity and purpose.
This week:
💡 Beyond the Mirage: Rethinking the American Dream and Financial Equity
💡 How To Fight Injustice and How Women Can Invest In Real People, Not Billionaires
💡 People pay a lot for insurance. Sometimes it’s not enough to protect them from disaster.
🧠 Thought of the Week
Anyone can have a successful financial journey. Understanding who we are, our values and our goals is more important than the numbers. We don’t all start in the same place, however, we also don’t have the same goals. Be true to yourself.
1️⃣ Money for Good → Beyond the Mirage: Rethinking the American Dream and Financial Equity
Why it matters: What if the American Dream isn’t broken, it’s just out of reach for too many? It's not lack of effort, it's the cost of entry that's changed.
Your Move: Financial literacy must be contextual, personal, and inclusive.
The Win: Understanding your financial starting point matters more than ever.
💭 Tony’s Take: Your demographic doesn’t define your potential—your choices, mindset and awareness do.
🎙 Ashlyn Brooks and Tony Steuer on the Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here)
2️⃣ Preparedness Check → My Hopes for You
Why it matters: I have these hopes for you because I don’t want you to be surprised. I want you to think about the things you think will never happen.
Your Move: I want you to make a plan for them because they may happen.
The Win: When your life is turned upside down by tragedy, the last thing you need are higher costs and more stress. My hope for you is that you take these hopes to heart and take action — today.
💭 Tony’s Take: Understanding your potential risks and being prepared for them is the foundation of a solid financial plan.
📖 Elliott Appel for Kindness Financial Planning. Read (here).
3️⃣ Money for Good → Feeling Behind? How to Turn Comparison Into Your Financial Advantage
Turn comparison into a healthy source of motivation and clarity. Through the idea of financial role models, you’ll learn how to focus less on what others have and more on the behaviors and values that truly matter to you.
👉 How to find financial role models who inspire progress (not pressure)
👉 The common traps that make comparison feel discouraging
👉 A simple way to turn comparison from emotional drain into practical growth
💭 Tony’s Take: Focusing on your own journey allows you to achieve your goals (not someone else’s).
🎙 Wisdom in Wealth with Brendan Frazier. Watch on (YouTube)
4️⃣ Integrity in Action → Sick of Billionaires? Here's How To Fight Injustice
How Women Can Invest In Real People, Not Billionaires
Why it matters: What if your money could create not only financial security but also meaningful change in the world?
Your Move:Practical steps to support women entrepreneurs, invest locally, and make your financial plan bigger than retirement.
The Win: Align your money with your values and community. Practice proactive generosity.
💭 Tony’s Take: Aligning your money with your values creates a whole new mindset for your financial journey. Be the change you want to see in the world (Mahatma Ghandi - probably).
🎙 Alison Patterson and Bernadette Joy on the Sick of It series. Watch on (YouTube).
5️⃣ Preparedness Check → People pay a lot for insurance. Sometimes it’s not enough to protect them from disaster.
I shared my perspective with Venessa Wong of Marketwatch on how lower premiums can often mean higher deductibles, which people may not have funds for, before their insurance kicks in.
Yet most people don’t know how to assess their insurance needs, for example, by calculating how much financial shock they can absorb from different emergencies.
👉 We often pay more for our total insurance portfolio than our total housing costs
👉 Some people pick the cheapest policy because they believe that they’re getting the best deal. They don’t realize what they’re giving up in coverage.
👉 With a 401(k) or an IRA, we focus on how much money we’re going to have at the end. We go, ‘This is how much we need to retire,’ and so we focus on that. With insurance, we don’t focus on what we’re actually going to get from the policy. We start in the wrong place.
👉 People “really need to look at each type of coverage and evaluate it on its own merits.”
📖 Read the article (here)
➡️ Get The Tony Steuer Bookshelf - a digital collection of my books including Insurance Made Easy which includes tips on optimizing your insurance (here)
6️⃣ Get Ready For → Trading Isn’t Just for “Finance Bros”: Why Women Are Built to Win in the Markets
Why it matters: Trading isn’t as intimidating as it looks, women’s natural strengths give them an investing edge.
Your Move: Practical strategies to manage risk, control emotions, and trade with confidence.
The Win: The simple, practical steps you can take to start building wealth through the markets.
💭 Tony’s Take: Anyone can become a successful investor with the right strategy and knowledge.
🎙 Diana Perkins and Shari Rash on the Everyone’s Talkin’ Money Podcast. Listen on (Apple Podcasts)
7️⃣ Redefining Success for Women in Finance: The Power of Your Network
Why it matters: The power of your network is instrumental to reaching the next level.
Independence isn’t just a career move—it’s a defining step toward serving clients on your terms
Your Move: You have to find your niche and what aligns with your core values. Don’t let self-doubt become your ceiling—believe in your potential
The Win: Women can find success in financial services by embracing independence, leaning into their purpose, and harnessing the power of their networks.
💭 Tony’s Take: Going independent isn’t just a career move—it’s a chance to build a business that reflects your values.
🎙 Cameo Roberson, Kari Ellis and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Watch or listen (here).
8️⃣ Preparedness Check → Scammerdemic – The Billion-Dollar Plague We’re Ignoring
Why it matters: Between 2019 and 2024, scam complaints doubled while the money lost quadrupled — reaching $16.6 billion in a single year. From phishing emails to romance scams, crypto cons to deepfakes, the Scammerdemic whitepaper reveals how scams now spread faster than
Scammerdemic uncovers how fraud has grown into a global epidemic. It exposes how scams don’t just drain money — they destroy trust, silence victims, and undermine entire financial systems.
The Scammerdemic whitepaper combines verified global data, real victim stories, and expert insights to map how this crisis is evolving.
It highlights the latest anti-scam innovations and showcases the organisations fighting to protect consumers and rebuild confidence.
💭 Tony’s Take: Understanding how scams works protects you and your family. Scams impact all of us and any of us can fall prey to scams.
🎙 From The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards. Download the (whitepaper)
9️⃣ ⚡ Quick Hits
📖 Time to celebrate? By Rhianna Basore. Read on (LinkedIn).
📖 Three Essential Tools for Highly Sensitive People Navigating Money. Moving past decision fatigue. By Diana Yanez. Read it (here).
🎙 The Connection Between Wealth and Well-Being. Dr. Preston Cherry and on the You Potential Podcast. Watch on (YouTube).
📖 Most Debated Personal Finance Topics (& My Thoughts on Them) by Thomas Kopelman. Read on (LinkedIn).
📖 RealTime Bubble Checklist by Barry Ritholtz. Read it (here).
📖 The 2025 Planning & Progress Study, from Northwestern Mutual, explores U.S. adults’ attitudes and behaviors toward money, financial decision-making, and the broader issues impacting people’s long-term financial security. Check it out (here).
🔟 Action Item → Week 43: Check Your Tax Burden Ratio
What strategies do you use to reduce your tax burden, such as charitable giving or funding a retirement plan?
Why it matters: Minimizing your tax burden will help you keep more money.
There are many types of tax, including federal income tax, state income tax, sales tax, property tax, and capital gains tax.
Your Move: Check your tax burden ratio.
- Add up your taxes: Federal income, state and local income taxes, state and local personal property taxes, self-employment tax and any other taxes.
- Divide your total taxes by your gross income to create your tax burden ratio.
- Consider tax reduction strategies such as increasing retirement fund contributions and increasing charitable giving.
The Win: Reducing your tax burden will help you keep more money.
💭 Tony’s Take: While you have no control over the tax rate, you can use planning to reduce your tax burden.
🛠️ Member Resources:
Access your resources for this week's action item (#43) from your dashboard (located in Monthly Focus Area 10: Find Value):
- The Get Ready Blueprint, week 43 PDF, you’ll create your tax burden ratio. You’ll also review tips to reduce your tax burden.
- Taxes worksheet (week 25).
- Property Taxes worksheet where you can enter details for your income tax and property tax.
Access Your Get Ready Resources here
🧠 Final Thought
Everyone can find financial success. We need to be real that the financial world needs to be more inclusive and welcoming to help women and minorities feel supported.
✅ Stay ready.
💬 Start a conversation.
💡 Share what sparked something — with a friend, client, or in the comments.
— Tony
Coming Next Week: Knowing Yourself, Knowing Your Worth: Define Value on Your Own Terms
P.S.
🎙️ Check out The Get Ready Money Podcast → [Apple] | [YouTube]
