Tony’s Take: 10 Things Moving the Needle in Financial Literacy
đź‘‹ Welcome to The Get Ready Movement Newsletter
Each week, I share what’s catching my attention in the world of financial literacy—from trends and tools to the people reshaping how we teach, talk about, and take action around money. Whether you're a financial educator, advisor, or someone who just wants to stay informed, here’s what I think matters this week.
10 Things I Think (About Money, Life & What’s Next)

1. Action Prompt: Check Your Rainy Day Fund (Week 23)
📌 Action: A rainy day fund helps protect you against an unexpected event.
💠Tony’s Take: Cash reserves provides a safety net for unexpected financial events such as a loss of income, surprise medical expense, or urgent car repair.
2. Strategy of the week: Build Liquidity First
đź’ˇA good benchmark is to save enough to cover three to six months of essential expenses. Your rainy day fund should remain liquid and should not be invested so that you can access it without penalties or delays.
💠Tony’s Take: Start small and be consistent. It’s about creating a financial buffer, not hitting perfection overnight.
3. Big Question to Ask: How do you feel about your rainy day fund?
❓What’s working? What’s holding you back?
💠Tony’s Take: How we feel impacts whether we take action. Check in to see if something is holding you back.
4. Unlock Your Potential: Balance is Key to Wealth!

🔑 3 key insights:
🔹 Is your life design aligned with your money?
🔹 Success looks different for everyone
🔹 Understand the difference between wealth and well-being
Tony’s Take: Real prosperity comes from alignment—between values, goals, and finances.
🎙️ Dr. Preston Cherry joins me on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out on (YouTube).
5. Secrets to Helping Clients Set & Stick to Better Goals
Why people set arbitrary goals and what really drives behavior change.
💠Tony’s Take: Our decisions are based upon a range of factors beyond the facts including our experience, perception, bias and emotions.
🎙️ Daniel Crosby and Libby Greiwe on The Efficient Advisor Podcast (here)
6. Financial Tortoise: Slow and Steady Approach to Wealth Building
The importance of a gradual approach to financial growth, and the rewards of aligning work with personal priorities.
💠Tony’s Take: We should take time to enjoy our lives and find balance.
🎙️ Tae Kim and Larry Sprung on the Mitlin Money Mindset Podcast (YouTube)
7. GET Ready to Maximize Your Travel Rewards!

🔑 3 key insights:
🔹 Smart strategies help unlock opportunities.
🔹 Details are critical to maximize value, your points may have more value than cash.
🔹 Flexibility is key—programs and values can change.
💠Tony’s Take: Ready to travel smarter? Travel rewards can unlock unexpected opportunities.
🎙️ Michael Gandara joins me on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Watch on (YouTube)
8. Investing with Integrity: Janine Firpo on Values-Aligned Wealth
How women can own their power with their investments and have them better reflect their values, especially around climate collapse.
💠Tony’s Take: Aligning our money with our values provides purpose, not just returns.
🎙️ Janine Firpo and Diana Yanez on the Hightly Sensitive Money Podcast (Apple Podcasts).
9. Financial Literacy and Aging with Dignity
A discussion on the emotional and practical challenges of aging in America — from the growing crisis of elder care to why most adults struggle with long-term financial planning.
💠Tony’s Take: If we want people to prepare for the future, we need to talk about long term care. We need to talk about protecting well-being at every life stage.
🎙️ I joined Michael Banner on the 62 Who Knew podcast. Watch on (YouTube).
10. The Power of Her Portfolio: Advising women with insight and intention.
This event is designed to help financial advisors better understand, connect with, and serve this powerful and growing client base.
💠Tony’s Take: Advisors must adapt—women are changing the face of wealth.
🎙️ Featuring Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Cary Carbonaro, Paula DeLaurentis, Laura Dix and more. Virtual Event: June 18, 2025 - 11am-3pm ET. Presented by Equities.com (register here)
🚀 Bonus: 5 Quick Hits:
- Financial Empowerment After Divorce. Amy Slate and Misty Lynch on the Demystifying Money podcast (Apple Podcasts)
- Insurance and Wealth Management Still Feel Like a Digital Ambush. By Derek Notman. Read on (LinkedIn)
- Should You Go Solo? Laura D. Adams and CJ Follini on the AccessGranted: The Financial Education Podcast (YouTube)
- To Hell and Back for Cheap Groceries: The Epic Investigation (and Shocking Results) of My Grocery Store Price Comparison Quest by Lauren Torres for Bitches Get Riches read it (here)
- What We’ve Learned From 150 Years of Stock Market Crashes. Though they varied in length and severity, the market always recovered and went on to new highs. By Emelia Fredlick for Morningstar. Read (here).
đź“‚ Member Resources
Resources for this week’s action item from your dashboard (Monthly Focus Area 6: Strategy Review: Week 23):
- The Get Ready Blueprint Week 23 worksheet where you’ll calculate your liquidity ratio.
- Review your cash flow analysis from Week 16 and net worth statement worksheet from Week 21.
- Ask Tony AI - and get personalized answers to your money questions (includes all of my content).
Access Your Get Ready Resources here
Note: Available to all members of The Get Ready Movement.
Support The Get Ready Movement here.
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📝 Final Thought
There is no magic number. Just put aside what you’ll need to feel secure - typically three to six months of expenses.
Thanks for being part of the Get Ready movement.
If something resonated with you, please share this newsletter.
Let’s keep changing the way we think - and talk- about money.
– Tony
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