Turn Financial Knowledge Into Action
Hi,
Welcome to this week’s Get Ready Newsletter; ideas, conversations, resources, and practical steps to help you prepare before life happens.
You can read all about running a river, however you build your capability by actually doing it.
When starting out as a guide we reviewed river dynamics off the water. We learned how the river flows around an obstacle like a rock and how other river features impact your run.
Then we got on the river. That’s where we turned our knowledge into action. Experience taught us how to apply what we had learned when the conditions were real.
Money works the same way. Financial literacy gives us knowledge. Financial fluency grows when we put that knowledge into action.
The Big Idea: Financial capability happens when we put knowledge into practice.
Question to Consider: What financial knowledge did you recently put into action that was successful?
Featured Conversation: Financial Capability Starts With Curiosity
Lacey Filipich, co-founder of Money School and co-author of the FinCap for All white paper, joined me to talk about how curiosity and understanding financial basics can help people turn financial knowledge into action.
What Stood Out
- Early money conversations help people develop lifelong financial habits.
- Understanding first principles helps people evaluate financial decisions.
- Curiosity helps uncover the reasons behind financial information and advice.
The Bottom Line: Financial capability grows when we understand how money works and apply that knowledge to real decisions.
In collaboration with The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards. Learn more (here).
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here)
Also From The Podcast
Generational Wealth Is More Than Money
Kakurah Ninsiima, author of A Guide to Building Generational Wealth in East African Families, joined me to talk about how culture and family expectations shape financial decisions and what families can do to build lasting wealth. People can support others while setting healthy financial boundaries.
The Bottom Line: Generational wealth grows when shared values are put into practice.
In collaboration with The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards. Learn more (here).
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here)
From Retirement Planning to Longevity Planning
Dov Sugarman, co-founder of Ingagers, joined me on the Get Ready Before Life Happens podcast to talk about moving from traditional retirement planning to holistic longevity planning. Aging well includes mind, body, lifestyle, legal, financial, and social needs.
Bottom Line: Retirement is often treated as a finish line. Longevity planning asks a better question: How do you want to design the years ahead?
🎙️Watch or listen to the podcast (here)
Featured Resource:
Book: The Last Victim By Tracy Hall (Amazon)
What it is: Tracy shares the full story behind the relationship made famous by the hit podcast Who the Hell is Hamish? What happened before, during, and after Tracy unknowingly swiped right on a man who'd reportedly swindled people around the world out of an estimated $70 million through investment and business scams.
What stood out: Anyone can fall victim to a scam, regardless of education, experience, or intuition.
Why I recommend it: The personal story shows how trust can be built and manipulated over time.
Worth Your Attention
Retirement is about more than work. Retirement for Women: Identity, Purpose, and Life After Work with Kelly Ottman and Eric Blake on the Simply Retirement Podcast (Part 1 here) (Part 2 here)
Extreme wealth can change how people receive feedback. Hanna Horvath explores what happens when money shields someone from consequences. What happens when you’re too rich to hear no? For Your Brain on Money (read)
Longer lives are changing the assumptions behind retirement, income, care, and client conversations. The Growing Need for Holistic Longevity Planning by MP Dunleavey for the FPA Journal of Financial Planning (read)
Think you can fix Social Security? Now you can give it a try with The Reformer An Interactive Tool to Fix Social Security. From Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (here)
Background: The Social Security Trustees estimate the Social Security retirement program will run out of reserves in 2032, or in 2034 if theoretically combined with the disability program.
Related: 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, Explained from the Bipartisan Policy Center (here)
Research Worth Knowing:
Financial confidence may depend more on clarity than more information
Empower found that 50% of working U.S. adults said having their financial information in one place would reduce stress. The study also found that many people set financial goals without regularly checking their progress.
The Bottom Line: More information does not automatically create more clarity.
Source: 2026 Personal Finance Experience Study (here)
What’s Your Guess?
What percentage of U.S. Employees are stying in unwanted jobs for health insurance?
A. 11%
B. 25%
C. 34%
D. 5%
Answer: 25%. One in four U.S. employees say they are staying in a job they would prefer to leave because they need the health insurance.
Why it matters: Health insurance can shape career choices as well as financial decisions.
Source: Ellen Maese for Gallup (read)
Scam Fighters Tip:
Behavioral scientist Serene Koh explains why scam victims should not be dismissed as greedy or gullible. Sophisticated scammers build trust and create convincing realities.
The Bottom Line: Intelligence does make us scam-proof.
Try this: When an investment opportunity depends heavily on trust in one person, verify the opportunity independently.
For the Straits Times with Lynda Hong (YouTube)
From the Tony Steuer Bookshelf:
The Get Ready Blueprint turns financial knowledge into action through one practical step each week. Over 52 weeks, it walks you through reviewing and monitoring all areas of our financial lives. Get your copy at (Amazon)(Bookshop)
Closing Thought:
Reading about a river can teach you how the current works. Running the river teaches you how to respond when the current is actually moving around you.
Money works much the same way.
Knowledge gives us a foundation. Experience helps us learn how to use it.
Financial capability grows when we put what we know into practice.
Because when life happens, the way you think about money matters.
Cheers,
Tony
👉 Check out The Get Ready Before Life Happens Podcast. Conversations with professionals, advocates, authors, researchers, and other informed voices who help people ask better questions, understand financial guidance, and make more informed decisions. (Apple Podcasts)(YouTube)
