Martinis and Your Money Podcast

Shannon McLay

This podcast presents various topics around money and careers in a fun and lighthearted setting. The host, Shannon McLay, is a successful entrepreneur, author, and personal finance expert with a passion for helping people get and stay financially fit. In each episode, Shannon will share a martini (or something similar) with friends and experts while discussing money and career topics.

  1. Out With The Old and In With The Collective Wellness Revival!

    08/08/2025

    Out With The Old and In With The Collective Wellness Revival!

    Hello, Martinis and Your Money listeners! Whether you just found the show or were a longtime listener, I wanted to hop on here and share what's been happening in my life since I stopped recording new episodes at the end of 2024. As many of you know, in 2013, I founded the company Financial Gym and ran the company through good days and bad days until March 15th, 2025. On that date, I had the unthinkable happen to me, at least what was unthinkable to me. I had a mental health breakdown that led to me being taken from my home, pantsless, and in handcuffs. Yep, you heard that right. This type A overachiever had something unthinkable happen, and this was never a scenario that I had on my life bingo card. But yet, there I was, and that was the hand I was dealt. After three days in the institution, I knew I needed a break from work, so I put in for a mental health leave until May 1st. Immediately while I was on leave, the investors of the company decided to sell Financial Gym to a wealth management company run by two men.    For those of you who don't know me, I left Merrill Lynch in 2013 to create something different, and now all of my 12 years of life focused on serving the underserved and bringing change in their lives was erased, and I was being asked to move backward in time. It was a gut punch to say the least, but it was also an answer to prayers I had been praying, and that was the opportunity to take Financial Gym and financial wellness in a different direction.   It gave me the freedom to leave and start Collective Wellness Revival, a truly one-of-a-kind wellness company that I think we all need in our lives. I spent the last 12 years of my life in the most intimate way possible, diving deep into people's money habits and behaviors, and while I was doing that, I kept noticing the interconnectedness of financial wellness with the other areas of wellness, predominantly your physical and your mental wellness. There were many times where I almost felt it was wrong to offer people financial wellness, while also not offering them mental and physical wellness.    Well, three days in a mental institution actually also reminded me there's a fourth area of wellness, and that is your spiritual or soul level wellness, the area deep down inside most of us that we never get to attack because we're like hamsters on a wheel just trying to get through the surface level areas of life. But we are all beautiful and connected souls here for a reason but life “lifes” us, all of us really hard. And especially the last few months and our souls get lost in the process. I've realized that I've been on my own soul discovery journey for the past 17 years. And in the past five months, since I left my Gym journey, I've been given the gift to truly learn, know, and understand the soul behind Shannon. I knew I wanted to create a company like this for years, and I'm grateful for three powerhouse women stepping in and stepping up to help me launch the first stage of this company, which is a one-of-a-kind, one-on-one coaching program.   For one monthly fee, you can work on any area of wellness you choose. Every wellness journey is unique, and now you can explore all areas of your wellness: mind, body, money, and soul under one tent. And coaching is just the beginning. Our big goal is to grow a collective of like-minded women and our allies to support and encourage each other through these crazy and chaotic times we live in. This is the perfect time for everyone to work on the most epic project of our lives. And that's us. I think of the revival as the perfect place to work on Project YOU. Who are YOU? Why are YOU here? What do YOU want to do in life? Most of us are living who we think we are. Daughters, sisters, mothers, partners, co-workers, bosses, CEOs. But none of us, none of us are really these roles. They're just roles we get to play in this life. They're not really who we are. If you want to explore YOU deeper and work with me as a coach, you should check out the Soul House for what I'm calling Pneuma or Soul Level Coaching. If you liked my money coaching philosophy, wait till you discover my Soul Level Coaching. But also, if you loved my money coaching philosophy, you can still access it through the Revival and our Money House, led by my new friend Melanie and some other familiar faces.    Anywho, I hope you'll support me and the ladies by joining and taking advantage of our offering and helping us build this new collective. Martinis and Your Money listeners will always have access to founder member pricing, which starts at $100 a month. But we have limited spaces for this launch. So head over to or send friends to collectivewellnessrevival.com/coaching to sign up today.    And until next time everybody, cheers!   SIGN UP TODAY!!

    5 min
  2. 10/18/2024

    Celebrating Friendships & Special Shoutouts

    After 10 years of podcasting and 554 episodes, we’re coming down to the final episodes of Martinis and Your Money. These final three episodes before Happy Hour will be a chat between me and you. When I was thinking about how I wanted to end this podcast, all I could think was, “I have to make it epic for my fans and listeners,” who have supported me for almost a decade. I have shared so much with you over these past 10 years, but I’ve also held some things back.    My intent with these final three conversations with you is to answer all of the questions, spill all of the tea, and share all of the lessons I’ve learned not only over the past 10 years but also over the past 46 years I’ve been on this earth.    I am splitting the final three episodes before Happy Hour into three categories: my personal experiences, my work and professional experiences, and my blogging and podcasting experiences. You can listen to all three, one or none.    I know that many of you have come here for years for money-related advice and guidance, and I will have that in these final episodes, but I’ll also have more. My intent in sharing all of this with you is in the hopes that my journey and the lessons I’ve learned can help you or someone you know who has been on a journey. I have faced a great deal of challenges over my life, and I would face all of them again if I knew that my story could help just one person. For more information, visit the show notes: https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode553-podcasting-blogging-friends

    53 min
  3. 10/11/2024

    The Journey of Building The Financial Gym

    After 10 years of podcasting and 554 episodes, we’re coming down to the final episodes of Martinis and Your Money. These final episodes before Happy Hour will be a chat between me and you. When I was thinking about how I wanted to end this podcast, all I could think was, “I have to make it epic for my fans and listeners,” who have supported me for almost a decade. I have shared so much with you over these past 10 years, but I’ve also held some things back.     My intent with these final three conversations with you is to answer all of the questions, spill all of the tea, and share all of the lessons I’ve learned not only over the past 10 years but also over the past 46 years I’ve been on this earth.     I am splitting the final three episodes before Happy Hour into three categories: my personal experiences, my work and professional experiences, and my blogging and podcasting experiences. You can listen to all three, one or none.     I know that many of you have come here for years for money-related advice and guidance, and I will have that in these final episodes, but I’ll also have more. My intent in sharing all of this with you is in the hopes that my journey and the lessons I’ve learned can help you or someone you know who has been on a journey. I have faced a great deal of challenges over my life, and I would face all of them again if I knew that my story could help just one person. For more information, visit the show notes:  https://www.martinisandyourmoney.com/show-notes/episode552-FinGym-friends

    1h 18m
4.7
out of 5
249 Ratings

About

This podcast presents various topics around money and careers in a fun and lighthearted setting. The host, Shannon McLay, is a successful entrepreneur, author, and personal finance expert with a passion for helping people get and stay financially fit. In each episode, Shannon will share a martini (or something similar) with friends and experts while discussing money and career topics.

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