Leveraging Your Capital Into Freedom Financially Ever After Widowhood

Mia Poppe had a successful 22-year career as a senior-level banker. Her own disastrous first divorce was the catalyst that led her to go to law school at the age of 42 and retrain as a matrimonial attorney. She now runs her own successful private practice. Mia joins Stacy Francis this week to chat about why it’s important to manage your money, knowing your value, and leveraging your capital into freedom.


Mia got married the month after her college graduation, at age 22. Her marriage failed after 12 years, however. A few weeks later she realized that her ex-husband had cleaned out the bank account. There she was, she says, a senior level banker with 3 children in private school and other expensive family overheads, and no money. She had to seek public assistance to get grocery money. [7:20]

Mia shares her story to reiterate that life can be unpredictable. Not having money puts you in an unduly vulnerable situation. It’s very important to manage your money and be financially responsible. She says that we owe it to our families and our communities to be givers into the public trust and not takers. [11:19]

Mia encourages listeners to have their own business because no one will value you like you value you. Stacy adds that having your own business gives you more options and financial freedom. The only limits you have are those you place on yourself, she says. Business ownership teaches you to love, value and care for yourself the same way you care for your loved ones. [17:51]

Stacy and Mia discuss the challenges of starting a business as a woman. Mia’s advice to women thinking of starting a business is to find a partner with like desire, hunger and integrity because collaboration gives you more ideas and synergies. You should treat your business like a Fortune 500 business, she says. [20:58]

Personal and business finances should be separate. When they are commingled, and you enter a divorce, you are going to lose out. It also makes the divorce more expensive. [27:19]

Women going through divorce, no matter their economic situations, have a fear of survival. Mia admits to having the same fear in her second divorce. [31:30]

Mia counsels her clients to finance themselves, even if they need to retool to do so. She quotes Hernando deSoto’s book, The Mystery of Capital, to emphasize that we all have resources at our disposal that we can convert into capital. We can leverage that capital into freedom, to create the life we want. Having accountability partners are an important part of creating that life because they help you stay true to your goals. [34:40]

Stacy says that money is a tool you need to build your life. It gives you options and opportunities, and even acts as a safety net, making you more comfortable with taking risks. [39:47]

When people are going through a divorce they often lose their minds, Mia says. She calls it divorce psychosis. As such, she insists on handling custody issues first, to ensure that the children are taken care of in the best way possible. Only after a fully executed parenting plan is in place does she tackle money issues. [41:54]


Resources
The Law Firm of Poppe & Associates  
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto

Find out more about the Second Opinion program 
FrancisFinancial.com
Stacy Francis: Stacy@Stacyfrancis.com
Phone: 212-374-9008