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. One Thing to Share This Week: Week 21 Action Prompt
đź“ŚCreating and/or updating your net worth statement brings all of your information together.
💠Tony’s Take: Knowing your net worth will help you determine whether you are financially solvent, and on track for a healthy financial life and retirement.
2. Strategy of the Week: Calculate Your New Worth
đź’ˇCreate your net worth statement (OR CALCULATE YOUR NET WORTH?)
📉 Your net worth is the total value of everything that you own (assets) less what you owe (liabilities).
💠Tony’s Take: Your net worth isn’t just a number—it’s a snapshot of your financial health. Tracking it helps you make informed decisions and see what changes may be needed.
3. Big Question to Ask
âť“How can you increase your net worth?
💠Tony’s Take: This can be accomplished either by increasing income or decreasing debt.
4. Financial Planning for Special Needs Individuals
🔹 How a Chartered Special Needs Consultant helps clients who have family members with special needs.
🔹 How an ABLE Account helps with Special Needs Planning.
🔹 The true value of money is that it helps you buy back your time.
💠Tony’s Take: Financial planning for special needs individuals requires specialized expertise.
🎙️Bryan Jepson and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here).
5. The Secret to Separating Your Self-Worth from Your Net Worth
Hanna shares her story of struggling with finances and how she created a new way to manage money without guilt or shame.
💠Tony’s Take: Money doesn’t define our value.
🎙️Hanna Morrell and Naseema McElroy on the Financially Intentional Podcast. Watch it on YouTube (here)
6. What If It Is Possible?
Have you ever paused long enough to realize that you might already be living parts of the life you once dreamed of? You can live in abundance right now—no matter what’s happening around you.
💠Tony’s Take: Appreciating what you’ve already achieved can bring peace of mind and help you see where you are on your journey to the goals that really matter.
đź“– By Michelle Petrowski (read)
7. Revolutionize Insurance Agent Success with Better Training!
🔹 The gap between selling and servicing—and why most agents aren’t trained to do either well.
🔹 Outdated compensation models undermine long-term client relationships.
🔹 Advisors need to facilitate conversations on insurance. Consumers need fiduciary-level advice to understand their current insurance coverage.
💠Tony’s Take: We need to transform training, compensation, and client conversations which will lead to better outcomes for everyone.
🎙️Derek Notman, Adam Holt, Dick Weber and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here).
8. "I’m sorry isn’t really enough.”
It’s important to learn how to communicate authentically with someone who is grieving.
💠Tony’s Take: “I’m sorry” is a start—but grief literacy helps us show up in a more meaningful way.
đź“–Free e-book from Kathi Balasek (here)
9. From Early Retiree to Investment Coach: An interview with Charlene Cong
Charlene shares why she decided to quit her 10-year career in banking—and how she step-by-step built her first million through investing along with her best advice for anyone who’s dreaming of quitting the 9–5 earlier than 65.
💠Tony’s Take: Charlene’s journey is insightful to how you can achieve your financial dreams and have a meaningful life.
đź“– The Poor Swiss (read)
10. Why did I become an advocate for changing the way we think about money?
My journey started with my first job selling life insurance. I quickly saw that people weren’t just confused—they were frustrated.
Many had been sold policies they didn’t understand or that didn’t serve their actual needs.
❌ I realized I didn’t want to be part of that system.
So I made a choice:
âś… To become a true advisor.
âś… To align myself with clients.
✅ To collaborate with financial planners, trust officers, and litigation attorneys—always with the client’s best interest in mind.
As I dug deeper into the industry, I saw patterns that bothered me:
⚠️ Policies that underperformed.
⚠️ Plans that no longer made sense.
⚠️ And too often—no one, including the insurance companies, was doing anything about it.
That was the turning point. I joined the California Department of Insurance Curriculum Board. I started writing and speaking about these issues.
🛡️ And I became a consumer advocate—because people deserve to understand what they’re buying and what they already own.
🎙️💡 Today, through The Get Ready Movement, my podcast, and the tools I’ve created,I help people move from confusion to clarity, and from overwhelm to confidence.
What I’ve learned:
💡 You don’t have to accept “how it’s always been done”—especially when it comes to money.
đź’ˇ There is a better way.
đź’ˇ And we can build it together.
🚀 Bonus: 5 Quick Hits:
- Money Savvy summer reads for kids from Jaime Bosse (LinkedIn)
- Financial Planning for Women Post-Divorce: Research Insights and Practical Studies. With Michael Kothakota and Ashley Quamme on the Planning & Beyond Podcast (Apple Podcasts)
- Can AI Agents Improve Financial Decisions and Conversations? By Chris Heye for the Journal of Financial Planning. Read (here).
- 8 Tech Tools for Financial Caregiving to help safeguard a loved one with dementia. By Laura Petrecca for AARP (read here)
- The new face of wealth: The rise of the female investor. McKinsey. Read (here)
đź“‚ Member Resources
📝 Resources for this week’s action item (#21) from your dashboard (Monthly Focus Area 5: Net Worth):
- The Get Ready Blueprint week 21 worksheet where create or update your net worth statement and calculate your net worth ratio (fillable PDF).
- Net Worth Statement worksheet in Excel format.
- Relevant worksheets as needed from other weeks:
- Property and Assets (week 19)
- Review Your Debts (Week 20)
- Chat with Tony AI about this week’s action item. Ask Tony AI - and get personalized answers to your money questions (includes all of my content: books, articles, podcasts and more).
Access Your Get Ready Resources here
Note: Available to all members of The Get Ready Movement.
Support The Get Ready Movement here.
Support the Get Ready Movement
đź“ť Final Thought
Your mission: Grow your net worth by growing your assets and reducing liabilities.
Thanks for being part of the Get Ready movement.
If something resonated with you, please share.
Let’s keep changing the way we think - and talk- about money.
– Tony
➡️ Support The Get Ready Movement (here). Help me keep these resources free.
🎙️ Subscribe to The Get Ready Money Podcast (Apple Podcasts) (YouTube)
đź“š Books: Explore The Tony Steuer Bookshelf (digital editions of all of my books) or at (Bookshop) (Amazon)
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