8 episodes

What do you do if talk of stocks and bonds aren't your think, but you want to know more about money? Who can you ask when you are feeling down about life? How can you encourage the family when you feel pressure?
Optimist and encourager, Marion Syversen, will cheer you up and fill your heart with hope in this introduction to her new podcast.
Marion owns Norumbega Financial, is an independent financial advisor, the wife of one man, the mother of two sons, and the nana of nine grandchildren.
What if relatives want to borrow money? How much stuff do kids really need? How can we meet the deep needs we have without spending all our money?
I want you to see how beautiful you are, how capable is your brain and that improvement doesn't have to hurt.
Look for the Money, Motivation & Motherhood Facebook group and join in the conversation. https://www.facebook.com/moneymotivationandmotherhood/
Connect with Marion:
Twitter https://twitter.com/home
Website http://www.norumbegafinancial.com/

moneymotivationandmotherhood's podcast Marion Syversen

    • Business
    • 4.9 • 29 Ratings

What do you do if talk of stocks and bonds aren't your think, but you want to know more about money? Who can you ask when you are feeling down about life? How can you encourage the family when you feel pressure?
Optimist and encourager, Marion Syversen, will cheer you up and fill your heart with hope in this introduction to her new podcast.
Marion owns Norumbega Financial, is an independent financial advisor, the wife of one man, the mother of two sons, and the nana of nine grandchildren.
What if relatives want to borrow money? How much stuff do kids really need? How can we meet the deep needs we have without spending all our money?
I want you to see how beautiful you are, how capable is your brain and that improvement doesn't have to hurt.
Look for the Money, Motivation & Motherhood Facebook group and join in the conversation. https://www.facebook.com/moneymotivationandmotherhood/
Connect with Marion:
Twitter https://twitter.com/home
Website http://www.norumbegafinancial.com/

    Gratitude & Peer Pressure

    Gratitude & Peer Pressure

    Podcast – Episode #4
     
    Gratitude & Peer Pressure
     
    Gratitude is a good practice to have any time of year, all year, or around the holidays.
    The practice of gratitude is the mindful focus on the people, situations and things for which you are grateful. It sounds easy and too simple to be helpful.
    But being grateful changes our brains. Studies on happiness have found that a key to joy is gratitude.
    You’d think with all the years of research (for instance that something as simple as smiling – even without emotion, by holding a pencil between your teeth) people would do what they could to live in as much joy as they could. It’s FREE, it’s EASY and it changes your outlook and can lift up the hearts of those around you.
    And yet, though we may be thankful for a few days, or weeks, we tend to quickly fall back into our grouchy habits of jealousy and discontent.
     
    You may look around and think, ‘life is pretty chaotic here. The kids are noisy, money is a struggle, my spouse and I are tired, and the work piles up.’
     
    Yeah, but what if you said, ‘I’m married to the person I prayed for, a man who loves me, and does all he can to take care of us.’ Or, ‘I always wanted kids. I dreamed of being a mom. And now I get to live this life.’ Or, ‘we are making progress in money and so many parts of life. And look at all the blessings that we enjoy!’
     
    Part of our discontent is wound up in a discontent caused by our own hearts. And studies have also found that peer pressure can play a role.
    You’re shopping with friends, and feeling out of your element. But you want to fit in, so you spend money when you had kind of decided that self-control was your new middle name.
    Or you are simply envious of your neighbor’s new car and vacations and put yourself in financial jeopardy spending money unwisely.
     
    Giving into to these darker impulses only give us a kind of pleasure for a short time, before we are overcome with remorse and maybe are even embarrassed.
    Gratitude is the victor over jealousy and peer-pressure. Knowing you have everything you NEED, that you are blessed with breath and that there is beauty in the nature around you. Kissing your kids who are safe in their beds at night gives a lasting peace and joy that few other things can match.
    For many people, a Gratitude JOURNAL is a great way to see all the good things that float in your life every day. What works for me is a blessing Jar. I write down all the kindnesses that come to me that made a situation more wonderful. Friends that go beyond the extra mile. A gift won in a contest. Health in a situation. A joyful event. On New Year’s EVE we open the jar and reflect on all the good things God has sent into our lives over the past year. When you begin focusing on the good things that FILL your days, you will see even more of them.
    When you practice gratitude it’s much easier to be content.  Makes sense. That contentment gives you a sense of confidence that makes you stronger in a variety of situations. Now you can choose YOUR plan for your future, instead of perhaps spending money that you don’t have to meet other’s expectations.
    Where to YOU want to be in your life? Are you willing to sell your future just to keep up with others? Do you want the peace that comes from knowing your life isn’t perfect, but it’s awesome and getting better every day?
    Use peer pressure and a good group of friends to help you STAY on track. Not because you show them your checking account balance and they monitor your spending. But folks who have similar goals and priorities as you when it comes to what they find important in life. Folks with similar values will be less likely to pressure you into things that aren’t in your best interest.
    But ultimately, you and your family are the BEST JUDGE of what’s good for you.
    It’s easy to be grateful for new stuff. It’s BETTER to build your gratitude based on things OUTSIDE of stuff. Practice grat

    • 15 min
    Medals

    Medals

    Podcast #3  - Medals
     
    I recently ran four races in three days and received participation medals for them all. The days were spent with friends, but the focus was on the racing. Or running, since many of us weren’t going fast enough to WIN.
    My brain sees so many bits to share from that experience.
      I have never been a big athlete. My preferred way to relax is sitting in my garden, puttering a bit there, but usually reading a book – and snacking. I like to sit by our cozy fire and read in the winter months. And snack.
    And though I have almost always set aside time to do 20-30 minutes of some aerobic activity 3-4 times a week, that level of activity didn’t cut the mustard as my snacking continued and my metabolism slowed.  So a month before my 59th birthday, in frustration and not really wanting to RUN, so much as wanting to change my body in an efficient time, I started the Couch to 5k program.
    Abbreviated as c25k I was invited to join a group of friends who were also frustrated at their weight and health, to meet them at ‘the track.’ SO unfamiliar with sports at all I had NO idea where or what was the track.
    Apparently, you don’t have to be of superior ability to start this sport.
    For those unfamiliar the program – which is free- works by prompting you to run a minute or two, and more as you progress, and to walk some time. Years ago a fitness instructor, and friend, had told me ‘anyone can run IF they RUN SLOWLY ENOUGH.’ So if you don’t sprint like a 2 year-old trying to get away from mom, and slow down the pace to what may feel ridiculously slow- you CAN RUN for a very long distance.
    As you do this running, and the support things with it, some strength work of hips, core and glutes, you will likely get faster.
    But, like the race I first talked about, it was also the people. The people who encouraged one another, who laughed with you, who you prayed for when they had a hard situation and who you looked forward to seeing again.
    Since that first beginning, I’ve kept running- even though I don’t love it. I don’t hate it anymore, so that’s a step in the right direction.
    I am God’s girl. I try to do many of the things science and common sense says leads to a healthy life. BECAUSE He has a job for me and I want to be a vessel that He can use. So I try to do what I know to do. Most of the time. Unless there’s a block of cheese nearby. Or chips. I do love chips…
    There’s a lot of things YOU can do to be healthy and it doesn’t have to be running. I’m just generally a slug and running makes me have an APPOINTMENT to MOVE.
    Walking, cycling, boxing, hiking, karate, rowing, skiing, climbing, so many opportunities to be FIT. Not guilt. But also not excuses.  
    Today, take one step closer to doing what you KNOW TO DO to get your fitness on track.
     
    Finances The next thing these medals and this weekend of running made me reflect on is finances. Finances? Yes, because it’s my job and a passion of mine to figure out finances for folks.
    The races made me think about WINNING at money. So many folks are adamant, speaking in loud and insistent voices about finances and how it should be done. Of COURSE, there are principles.  ‘Live your wage,’ is a good principle.  Sometimes we’ve already messed up – and maybe badly- before we really hear that idea, and we can’t figure out how to run the finances race except as the last runner, way in the back, followed by the sweep car that tracks the last runner.
    There is no one who hasn’t erred in money. Perhaps they’ve spent more than they earned and the debt feels like guilt. Or maybe not guilt, but not excellence.
    Perhaps they’ve gotten bills under control and they aren’t tithing. Tithing is the practice of giving back to God a tenth of all He has given you. I know a lot of people, who in getting their ‘spending under control’ and accumulating an emergency account, stopped tithing, and have never begun it again.

    • 20 min
    A Man is Not a Financial Plan

    A Man is Not a Financial Plan

    Episode 6 –
    A Man Is Not a Financial Plan – and why men should care
     
    Years ago I came upon an awesome bumper stick put out by the Women’s Institute of Financial Education, or WIFE. (You can find them at www.WIFE.ORG  ) And they have a free bumper sticker that reads, ‘A Man is Not a Financial Plan.’
    This is not meant as a slight towards your partner. It is instead a wake-up call for women to take some control of money and finance.
    Let’s face it, it’s not just you who may not have this high on your list of priorities, this financial stuff. But ignorance isn’t a good place to be, either.
    I was waiting for an appointment at my doctor’s office and picked up the People magazine where I read about a famous and seemingly strong woman news anchor. She and her husband were getting a divorce. She had been making millions of dollars every year as a woman at the top of her field, and assumed they were financially awesome.
    Well, she assumed wrong. In fact, she had very little left. The court documents alleged
    “…that Cohen, 59, had spun “a Byzantine web” of investments and refused to disclose specifics, Zahn’s attorneys say that she is now “readying to assume responsibility for her own financial security.” *
     
    Looking from the outside, we probably wouldn’t have guessed that this was what was happening. That this strong and capable women was not really keeping track of her finances.
    But there’s another reason to know what’s going on than because of the unlikely possibility of mismanagement. Men don’t want to do the financial management alone. Their biology doesn’t make them financial advisors or wealth managers, and your input matters a great deal.
    I’ve spoken with couples and the husband is often very interested in having a partner to help figure things out.  Probably neither of you have gone to school for this or necessarily feel like experts in the field. So both of you, working together, make a more balanced pair than one carrying all the weight.
    Look, I understand the division of roles. We do that here, too. Neither of us are great at every task needed to run a family – though we do both cook and bake pretty well.
    We even separate the financial jobs for the household. But we discuss what’s happening in every aspect of our finances. We both are very aware of bank balances, of spending plans, of investments, etc.
    And you should be, too. Aware. Informed. Taking part. Being a voice. You don’t have to know how compound interest works to have the common sense needed to make a financial map for your family. You have a good brain. You know baloney when you see it.  And you bring a different perspective that is what makes you two so good together.
    And if you are doing things by yourself for your family, get yourself to a financial institution or to a knowledgeable friend who can be your coach or financial bud, to help you stay balanced in your own plan.
    We are all quirky and have fears and tendencies.  If you’re married, we have a built-in person to balance out your wonkiness. If you aren’t married, grab a bud with whom you feel safe, and have lunch together occasionally to keep the quirks in line with reasonableness.
    Whatever you do, don’t think you’re off the hook for having a basic idea of what’s going on with your money. You don’t have to be an expert in every aspect of this. But you do have to take responsibility for your grownup self and be involved.
    Love yourself enough to take a role in this. Honor your relationship enough to stand together and carry your weight.
    *
    https://people.com/archive/unhappy-ending-vol-68-no-11/
     
     

    • 7 min
    Having a Plan

    Having a Plan

    Episode 5
     
    Having a Plan
     
    I’m a planner. My brain just works much better when I have an agenda, some direction as to what happens next.
    When the kids were young we would have Family Night. We’d play games, of which I am not a fan. Read a bit of a Bible story, have snacks, maybe watch a movie. Mort would read the comics to the boys before they went to sleep.
    But whatever we were doing, I also had an agenda.
    This perplexed my dear husband, who thought letting things just happen as they went along would be an awesome approach.
    But I wanted to make sure that the various aspects of the evening were cozy. So I had an agenda. I didn’t pass it around like a business meeting. But planning is how my brain works.
    At this time of year, with the changing seasons, school starting, holidays here before you know it, family and friends visiting, celebrations, presents to buy, planning can be beneficial.
    You may not plan like I plan. But I tend to plan for the season. So May through September, when we have our short, but monthly, tent-camping vacations, I have the calendar all mapped out in February. I do that because the State Park reservations open in early February. So BEFORE that, I look at the calendar, get a feel for holidays, weddings, known events around which we work our own plans, and I then bring a printout of five months, and the list of potential camping places, to Mort. We get cozy in bed or over an adult beverage, and figure out where we think we’d like to go and when.
    In February I block out the calendar so that I’m certain to be free for vacation.
    For the last quarter of the year, I do similar things. But I don’t try to put too many activities into the months. Instead I am looking for spaces of rest and quiet that I can put into the schedule.
    What is important to you for this upcoming season? What are the things that threaten to crowd out rest, and where are the places in these coming months where more money than usual will be spent?
     
    Planning Finances
    Figuring out the budget for all the activities and celebrations and activities is the next part of planning.  Very few people have an unlimited budget for all the things we could fit into our days.
    But if we are keeping our eye on what we value, what’s really important to us, to you, how much money do we really need for those important things?
    Visiting family is awesome, but if the money isn’t in the budget, if getting into debt is the only way to make this happen, is that really in everyone’s best interest? Maybe to you the debt is worth it. I would think long and hard about your family’s priorities.
    Money and emotions are so tightly interwoven that it is nearly impossible to really talk about one without the other. When we dig in our heels on something, try to examine the thinking, the feeling, the emotions, behind the insistence.
    Whose heart are we trying to salve with this spending? Determined that our own childhood hurts won’t ever happen to our kids? Feeling guilty because of a moody and possibly manipulative family member? Trying to please someone who only feels loved based on the amount you spend on their behalf?
    As you plan for times of quiet, for times of busyness, for times of laughter and room for fun, look yourself squarely in the eye and examine the whys behind your desires. Talk to yourself and be practical- and loving. Think through what is up in your head, and heart, and make peace with how things are TODAY. Don’t relive times past. Be free of chains that drag you down. Be prudent, loving and fair to your spouse and kids, and not driven without thinking by possible unexamined emotion.
    You know what I’m saying.  
    Discuss the overall plans with your immediate family, spouse first. Get general consensus as they work through their expectations for what lies ahead.
    Give time for folks to work things out in their own minds. Not all of us arrive at things the same way. Some make snap decisions, and others of

    • 9 min
    Christmas Special

    Christmas Special

    Memories
    This Christmas will not be the same as any Christmas before. This year is different. It’s full of people. Or, it’s just you. It’s overflowing with craziness and crowds of noisy folks gathered. Or, it’s the peace of a quiet time with just your favorite person.
    But it’s somehow different than Christmases past. It may be missing someone dearly loved who waits for us in Heaven. Or, we are separated by distance, or even separated by hurt.
    Today, this Christmas, we bring these memories into our present. We’re going to put aside the pain to rejoice in the celebration of the day. We’re not forgetting it. But Christmas isn’t about any of that, really. It’s about an Amazing and wonderful gift given to us as a sacrifice of Love and devotion; a sacrifice GLADLY given, to take away OUR separation from our Eternal and Awesome God and Daddy.
    He couldn’t bear what sin had done to rip us apart and He gave all He had to make us together forever.
    He knows your pain, because he has lived the separation and death. He has joyously welcomed your loved ones to His heart and made a home for them with Him. He collects your every tear.
    But, darling girl, He also knows your JOYS! The peace you feel when everyone is together, the happiness when you see the faces of people you love grateful for the thoughtful love you’ve shown.
    Though our past is beyond us, in our present we can give the very best gift to our dear Father by giving him the gift of our joy and gladness, our happy face when we see his daily and beautiful gifts to us, and his constant and thoughtful mercies always given.
    As you remember all the good things graciously given you, Make your present and wholehearted gift of gratitude to the Daddy who loves you more than you have ever loved anyone. The Father who has spent years preparing the good gifts he pours out on you and those you love.
    On this Christmas, remember the God who saves.
    Connect with me:
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    • 6 min
    A Little Whine

    A Little Whine

    Every day is a blessing that you get to live. A Great and amazing adventure, filled with thrills and chills. You are really so blessed to be where you are, with so many folks who love your face.
    You have ALL THE THINGS. You have transportation and don’t have to walk miles in ‘shoes’ made of plastic bottles. You have shelter, a place you can make cozy, and not a cardboard shack that floods and washes away your few belongings.
    Speaking of belongings, some of us have SO many things that we have a storage unit to hold our extra stuff. That’s prosperity.
    But….but…
    But these daily blessings don’t ever seem like enough. And we demonstrate that with our little whines. We would never make a giant production about how shortchanged we feel in life 15 year-old us had EXPECTATIONS. 35 year-old us had dreams, man, and look at things now! It isn’t going as planned and that brings out our little whine.
    I’m not discounting the realignment of our dreams and expectations with our real-life LIFE. I’m not suggesting that adjusting our thinking isn’t a thing.
    But adjusting our thinking should not involve whining over what we ‘should’ have had.
    So, life is a blessing. But it’s also filled with bad things, with HARD things. Disappointment and pain meanders through it like a stream through your town’s center.
    And like a stream, it sometimes overflows its banks, washing away bits of life, and forever changing direction.
    So yeah, life is a blessing, but.
    What are we going to DO about this dilemma, this dichotomy of the breath of life and the disappointment? In adjusting to a new reality, the transition can be sloppy. With kids it often results in a loud and long-lasting whine that curdles our blood.
    As adults, are we that different? We had expectations, had our hearts set on some event or thing. We saved for years for a goal, only to have things out of our control turn life upside down.
    We mourn, of course we mourn. But do we really all the rest? The self-pity? The drama? The whining?
    Because most of the time, the events that trigger our whining are little, unimportant things. The daily annoyances and disappointments and we are feeling sorry for ourselves, forgetting all the blessings that we have every day, all around us.
    Living a life of whining means nothing Is ever enough – for long. It’s a sour life, a miserly life- I mean how can you be generous when you are certain life is ripping you off?
    Is THAT part of the dream you had of your future? A dour face, a whining pout, arms crossed over yourself as you feel robbed? Imagine what this looks like to your Heavenly dad. How would YOU feel if you had a child like this…?
    This grouchy attitude doesn’t bring joy to your life, OR to the lives of those around you. Whining brings down every mood.
    If you are leader, in your home, in your workplace, in your community, you are sharing this germ with others. You aren’t SOLVING anything. You are bringing a sadness to those you touch.
    You don’t want to have a disappointing situation spiral down into crazy darkness. You can change this with a nap, with some music, with a walk, with a chat with a trusted friend – who may kick your can in love.
    Because life is a blessing. Your job, your street, your closet of clothes, your ‘fridge full of food, the sky full of stars. All of this, so beautiful, so good. And all yours.
    Let your heart be glad, little bird. Let your voice be light. Let your joy be contagious.  Let the whining cease.
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/moneymotivationandmotherhood/?eid=ARDs6xVicn-ZuflZVtqDtNUnWpDo7CrDfycEw3W_AVIXlXeUprWf2_N-6McGQTbabrpG-yvKbv9dbHI1
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    • 10 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
29 Ratings

29 Ratings

FatMan Chronicles ,

A Much Needed Voice

Money can be stressful. So can motherhood. Heck, that's life. We don't need to have every answer. We need an honest, open approach. That's what happens here. Marion is honest, relatable, and incredibly positive in the most real way. I'm not a mom but I need this podcast!

RERuggiero ,

Wise, Warm, and Wonderful

Marion is like the mom, aunt, big sister, or nana you always wanted. Dispensing sage advice, personal stories, and compassionate encouragement, she helps us keep a realistic, joyous perspective on managing finances, enjoying marriage, and relishing motherhood. Bravo!

J & Red ,

Fun way to learn about money!

Marion is the most fun way to learn, grow, and keep financial health prioritized. This podcast is such an enjoyable way for me to keep my financial decisions aligned with my life’s priorities!

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