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What if you could get more of what you want in life? But not through pushing, forcing, or pressure.
You can.
When it comes to money, time, and energy, no one’s gonna turn away more.
And Kate Northrup, Bestselling Author of Money: A Love Story and Do Less and host of Plenty, is here to help you expand your capacity to receive all of the best.
As a Money Empowerment OG who’s been at it for nearly 2 decades, Kate’s the abundance-oriented best friend you may not even know you’ve always needed.
Pull up a chair every week with top thought leaders, luminaries, and adventurers to learn how to have more abundance with ease.
Every time I step to the plate and I say like, do I deserve this? Why me? God is always like, why not? Why not you? Why don't people get to see that they can really be a young mess up?
Ange Matthews:And I mean, if we could swear on this, I would totally swear.
Kate Northrup:But can swear.
Ange Matthews:Oh, it's called the y f u. A y f up. Right. I could really mess a lot of things up and the strategy that I have in the Happy Investor Method, it's so forgiving.
Kate Northrup:Hello. Welcome back to Plenty. I have such an energizing episode for you today with Angela Matthews of the Happy Investor Method. So Ange went from working a job that she did not like making $40,000 a year in over 6 figures of debt to becoming an investor self made passively. Her story is unbelievable.
Kate Northrup:She is effervescent and we're going to talk about in this episode how to get over financial regret, how to get started investing, and why you do not need to be out of debt first. And in fact, you should not wait any longer, and how she makes her decisions about her investment portfolio versus investing in her online business. Her story is absolutely incredible and inspiring. And if you know that you are here to be prosperous and abundant, you have to listen to this woman. Enjoy the episode.
Kate Northrup:Welcome to Plenty. I'm your host Kate Northrup and together we are going on a journey to help you have an incredible relationship with money, time, and energy and to have abundance on every possible level. Every week, we're gonna dive in with experts and insights to help you unlock a life of plenty. Let's go fill our cups.
Speaker 4:Please note that the opinions and perspectives of the guests on the Plenty podcast are not necessarily reflective of the opinions and perspectives of Kate Northrup or anyone who works within the Kate Northrup brand.
Kate Northrup:Hi, Ange. Hey, Kate. Thank you for being here.
Ange Matthews:Thank you for having me.
Kate Northrup:Okay. So yesterday on my group coaching call in Relax Money, which is the program I run for people to help heal their relationship with money, I got asked a question and it's a question for you. Okay. And I told everybody, tomorrow I'm interviewing the woman who's gonna answer this question, so I'm not gonna answer it, and you need to wait until the Plenty episode comes out. So the question was, how do I and it was a funny question.
Kate Northrup:I liked it. How do I I think the question was, how do I make money fast, which is always like a great one, right? We could talk about timing, so that I can get out of my nine to five. And when I heard your story, I was inspired, blown away, like, so excited to dig in more, and I thought that if you were in a nine to five that you didn't like and you wanted to get out of that life and create something new for yourself and you were to do it all over again, would you do the same thing, or would you do it differently?
Ange Matthews:So in terms of timing, timing is everything. And if it was me now with two kids, I would totally do it differently. Okay. But because at the time when I, you know, ditched my nine to five, and I really just peaced out, I did a slow burn and so they were clear I didn't wanna be there, I was clear I didn't wanna be there, but I didn't have the financial means to just leave. And so, I just did exactly what they paid me to do.
Ange Matthews:I wasn't a horrible employee, but
Kate Northrup:I did stop doing the most like a lot of people do.
Ange Matthews:And I started taking that most energy and allocating it to business endeavors. So, I think you're on the right path. If you're in a group where you're thinking about with your other entrepreneurs, you're thinking entrepreneurial endeavors, make sure that you make money the fastest way you can. And to me, that's always gonna be who has the most influence on your bank account right now, and that's you. So, even if you were to have an investment, the odds of the investment working out might not be as high if you're just starting your investing journey.
Ange Matthews:It's kind of like finding a husband or a partner. Odds are if you're just getting out there on the dating field, the person you land on odds are isn't it. Odds are, right? Could be, but probably isn't. However, if you work on yourself, well then the odds of you getting to your goal much better.
Ange Matthews:So for that person, I would say create your backup plan now, think about your exit date. Do you want us to be six months from now, a year from now? Just don't get on a whim and say, hey, I don't wanna be here, I'm gonna quit. Because you don't wanna find yourself going back to a toxic environment just because you need money. So be strategic about it, make a runway, and then what you wanna do is start incorporating investments just in case it gets there a little bit later than anticipated.
Ange Matthews:So that's how I kinda go about it. When I did it, like I said, I eventually just gave notice and no, we had a meeting and they were like, you know that I know that you know that I know none of us want this. And I was like, cool, so that equals unemployment, right? And they were like, yeah. And I'm like, touche, this worked out.
Ange Matthews:Don't do that. I was 22, don't do that.
Kate Northrup:Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a different time. There's when we're in our early twenties, it's like there's just so much of a feeling, and of course everyone's situation is different, but there is more of like, when you don't have other mouths to feed, when you don't have people depending on you, you know, you can just trampoline back a lot easier. Absolutely. And yes, once you're a householder, once you got kids, once you whatever, it's a different story.
Kate Northrup:But I loved hearing how you were in you had consumer debt or some sort of some sort of debt, and you were working a job for $40,000 a year, and you didn't wait to become an investor until you had paid off your debt or until you had a higher income specifically. Tell me why and how you got started with that. Because the myth is that I can't invest until I'm out of debt, and that is inaccurate. Absolutely inaccurate, and here's why.
Ange Matthews:So when I thought about the money that I had accumulated in debt, it was over 6 figures, and I don't regret it because I think it's such a powerful place to be in a country where you can, based on a random obscure number, someone is gonna give you a random obscure number of access to money and yes, it has a price, but I had no money and you just gave me access to money.
Kate Northrup:It is such a privilege. Debt is a privilege.
Ange Matthews:It is an absolute privilege. I don't think people really realize that.
Kate Northrup:You do not.
Ange Matthews:You know, it's just like wait, you don't even know me? Like all based on numbers, a social security number, based on a score, based on I don't even know what any of this means, but you just gave me access to
Kate Northrup:Most places in the world do not have that and like absolutely there's a lot of shadow.
Ange Matthews:Right? Mhmm.
Kate Northrup:It's not all know rainbows and roses. However, like to really get that I'm so glad you said that because people just talk about it as though it's this awful thing, and it's like, no, actually somebody let you buy something before you had the money in your bank account. Yeah. Like, that's amazing.
Ange Matthews:Yeah, absolutely. That money took me back trapping or back tracking backpacking around Europe, tracking amazing. But, I was able to do that. That's And coming from Queens, that really wasn't a possibility. And so, I swiped my whole life away.
Ange Matthews:And
Kate Northrup:And you got an incredible experience.
Ange Matthews:And, I had an incredible experience, but then Angela in that moment thought, if I had to calculate this $40,000 a year and paying off this, you know, debt including student loan debt, it's gonna be for forever.
Kate Northrup:Yeah.
Ange Matthews:And then, thought, well, when do I get to start focusing on Angela of the future? And, I know that my present is not where I wanna be forever. And, so, I thought, okay, well, you know what? If if I don't pay the debt back as soon as I can, it's okay, because I know where I'm going. I know that I wanna be a multi millionaire in the future, I know that my poorest days are behind me, and if everyone has to take a turn at being poor, I'm clear, I did my turn already, like, many times over.
Ange Matthews:So, I'm clear, never going back there. And, if I ever should, I'm also clear on how to get out. Yeah. And, so, all that to say, I realized that, you know, if I can invest a hundred bucks, which was all I could afford at the time, which is why folks will tell me I don't have enough to invest or you know, do I have to invest thousands? And, I tell them, actually no, you can get started with as little as a hundred bucks because that's where I was.
Ange Matthews:And, I invested that and I said, you know what, I'll put $20 of that to savings and I'll use $20 and the rest, I'm investing it into my future and that's how it started. And so, eventually I used the money from my investments to pay off my debt. In fact, I didn't, I just recently paid off 80% of those student loans like two weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Had a phenomenal amazing.
Ange Matthews:You. I appreciate it. I didn't think it was gonna last this long, but it's I'm 39 y'all. This was a while, so I did it.
Kate Northrup:Although, I know a lot of people paying into their forties and fifties and beyond, so
Ange Matthews:I have clients who are content with dying with this. Like, they have already signed it off, like, you know what? But, I did it because, you know, I said, this I can. I had a really profitable month with my investments. I made more than I would have made in an entire year.
Ange Matthews:I made more than what my mom would have made in an entire year, in one month passively. And, I just was like, it's time.
Kate Northrup:Let me just pay it off.
Ange Matthews:It's time to close this relationship.
Kate Northrup:I love that so much. You know, my husband, when I met him, he was in a bunch of debt. I was also in a bunch of debt. Both of us thought we were further the other one was further along than we were. We were both like, joke's on us.
Kate Northrup:But anyway, he said to me, part of his debt was was student loan debt from his undergrad and MBA, and he said to me, I am one day, I'm gonna pay this all off in one fell swoop. And I was like, what are you talking about? You know, for him, it was like $80. So that in the land of student debt, you know, is that a lot? Is it a little?
Kate Northrup:I don't know. It's many. Have friends who have had $750 in student debt. So like, it's all relative. But at that time in my life, I was like, there's no way you're gonna pay off $80 in one fell soup.
Kate Northrup:But we made one business move, and I remember I came home that day, and he was he had just got another shower. He was in his towel, and he was doing his little dance, and he was like, I just did it. I just paid it all off today in one fell swoop, and so I just like really wanna honor what a big deal that is for you, and just like, ugh, to Carrie, what
Ange Matthews:does it feel like? Honestly, it kinda feels the same because I didn't really care about it in that way.
Kate Northrup:Yeah, exactly.
Ange Matthews:And I think a lot of people think about this when, you know, in making millions or on the road to fighting the good fight to earning wealth and having plenty and whatever that means for you, you'll notice that when you do get there, and I I fully understand what a privileged statement I'm about to make cause Jim Carrey made some nonsensical of a statement once before, and I was like, let me figure this out when I get there to see what I feel like. But in the moment, you know, an example, again, last week, this has been a crazy week for me, but we went to a hotel in Louisiana that we co invested in. It's a Wyndham. And, this is very rare. A group of investors pooled money together.
Ange Matthews:And and the same time, I invested in like a property in Atlanta because it came up, right? And so, this is for me, once you have capital, you try to figure out where do I deploy it so it could come back with friends. And, I woke up that day and the one thing my husband looked at me and he's like, you're so giddy, like why are you so excited? And, you know, he's like, is it because we're staying in our own hotel? And, I'm like, no.
Ange Matthews:And, he's like, is it because the Atlanta property closed? I'm like, no. And, he's like, what is it women? And, I'm like, we're gonna pet crocodiles today. And, like, sure did go to like pet crocodiles and it was amazing.
Ange Matthews:Wow. And, but, you know, it's like I feel like that. Like, I'm like, oh that happened, yeah.
Kate Northrup:Right. Moving on. And, yeah,
Ange Matthews:I just in that moment, it feels good to think about it and I can do a visualization to go back to Ange freaking out having anxiety attacks about what we're gonna do with that money, and I probably will do that. Yeah. But, present Ange is just
Kate Northrup:grateful in this moment. Yeah. What you are describing has also very much been my experience with big financial milestones where a decade ago or twenty years ago, I would have felt like I was rocketing to outer space with reaching that milestone. But by the time we are the person who is, you know, making these sorts of investments, paying off large amounts of debt, whatever it is, having the biggest month of our lives passively, right, like, you've already sort of updated your identity to be there over time, which is why it's happening. But what about what we see in the media with, like, celebrities or athletes or different people who all over and this happens when people come into inheritance or whatever.
Kate Northrup:Right? I don't know your whole story, but you and I have been on a bit more of a step by step process. What do you think about the people who are just like, all of a sudden go from struggling to like overnight, now they have all this money, you know, millions of dollars or whatever. What do you think happens inside someone when that happens that oftentimes leads them to then not having it very soon after?
Ange Matthews:I think there are a couple of things that come into play, and I also think that for a lot of people this is what prevents them from wanting more. It's almost like, yeah, you know, I don't want to be that one hit wonder. And so, better to have never tasted it at all than to taste it and desire it forever. And, I think it's one of those things where those people didn't prepare their nervous system. Right?
Ange Matthews:They didn't do the work. And so, that's why I feel as if there's a reason why every time I get a up level in wealth, I don't mess it up and go back to five steps because I did the inner work to understand that my net worth doesn't necessarily equal my worth. And, sometimes we're very comfortable with the narrative of being broke or of of always being in need. Right? Sometimes it is an excuse that, hey, I didn't have access to the funds to do x y and z, so that's why I couldn't really step to the plate and play all out.
Ange Matthews:And, sometimes our subconscious will miss that place and do whatever we can to get back to that place of financial just muckiness. Yeah. Because we we play well in that field. And so, think for a lot of people, one it's they don't actually know what to do with it. Two is they might think, okay, I'm going to invest it and they put it into you know, their Uncle Tommy's cousin's best friend Snooki's you know, car wash that's coming up.
Ange Matthews:Right? And and they get targeted. Right? So, a lot of time people don't talk about having money and I think this is why a lot of folks who have it don't share it because they're paranoid about being targets. And so, but they fall into getting a target and then they end up back into this unwealthy place in their lives just so their subconscious could say, see, you weren't worthy of having it anyway.
Ange Matthews:See, you belong here. And, sometimes it's the outside people that are like, see, you weren't worthy of having this. See, you didn't belong here. See, you weren't meant to be everything you thought you were going to And so, I think that's what happens a lot. Then, also sometimes people take on way too much of a burden where they give from their own cup and not the overflow.
Ange Matthews:And so, that money was the overflow and then they maybe put too many people on their payroll, they wanted to save too many people, they didn't make financial boundaries, and then they thought that when things hit the fan that those folks would show up for them, and they didn't. And so, think a lot of that happens, and you look at interviews from people and a lot of that happens.
Kate Northrup:It does. Have you struggled at all with a feeling of, like, who do I think I am, or do I get to do this when possibly other people in my community or other people in my family or whatever? Like, sometimes when we are the first one in various areas of our lives, I think, you know, anyone listening can relate to being the first one in your lineage to go certain places. Has that been a thing for you at all or or not? Every time.
Ange Matthews:Okay. And so, this is also one of the reasons why I don't look to see actually how wealthy I am. I don't. Some people check it all the time, and I tell my clients, if you want to do that, cool, but I don't suggest it. And because you are the same regardless of what you have.
Kate Northrup:Yeah.
Ange Matthews:And so, I don't on a day to day know how wealthy we are, and maybe it could move thousands on a day to day basis with swings. I have no idea.
Kate Northrup:Which is also totally normal with investments, so watching it could give you anxiety.
Ange Matthews:It is, it's a very Yeah. I'm not a day trader here, you know, like this is a very passive long term relationship for me, and so it's almost as if I were to track my husband's every single movements. I I just go crazy, like I just don't need to know. It's better for us not to know that, Just stress wise. Yeah.
Ange Matthews:Same thing with our money. And so, to that point, every time I hit a new milestone a couple of things trigger in. One is, oh my gosh, nobody else is here doing this, I'm on a skinny branch. And, I could get pushed, you know, and that's real. The other thing that's super real that I've had to think about is, you know, my ancestors were once property, like Claire, African American from The Caribbean.
Ange Matthews:And, investments, property. And, so to think that, you know, there's some things to think about there for me, and I think about an inheritance made right. And so every time I have those doubtful things, I think about all the reasons why it should be me. And so I think, well I really wasn't the best in school, right? How do I end up being one of the top whatever percentage people they say when I really wasn't that smart in school?
Ange Matthews:This is a narrative that I thought had to be. You had to be smart to have money. That's why they told us to go to school. Right? But, I wasn't, you know.
Ange Matthews:I found the grades, I found I went home, unpacked my mom, unpacked my stuff and found like I was like a c minus student consistently. Mhmm. Right? Because I had some undiagnosed like neurodivergent stuff going on. But, every time I step to the plate and I say like, do I deserve this?
Ange Matthews:Why me? God is always like, why not you? Like, not you? Why don't people get to see that they can really be a young mess up? And, I mean, if we could swear on this, I would totally swear.
Kate Northrup:You can swear.
Ange Matthews:Oh, it's called the YFU, a YF up. Right? I could really mess a lot of things up. And, the strategy that I have in the happy investor method, it's so forgiving. Like, there's nothing that's going to stop this money from coming to me.
Ange Matthews:And, I deserve every single bit of it because I don't keep it all to myself. Yeah. And, so as long as you focus on that, it's okay. As long as you focus on being, you know, I told God a long time ago, I I get that not everyone will have this. But, if I'm the doorway for every single person in my life to have wealth, I'm okay with being the doorway.
Kate Northrup:So great. That makes me cry.
Ange Matthews:I know there was a lot to unpack there, but when you step up, there's different things at different moments and you're gonna have to pull up these different cards because it's really just a race against yourself. And, it could be yourself lifting you up, and it could be yourself tearing you down. Yeah. And, there's a lot of stuff in our DNA that's like also coming to bat when we step
Kate Northrup:to bat. Okay. So the happy investor method, I know you created because you learned yourself, and you just figured shit out because education is actually, I mean, yes, of course, I think we do need to invest in, like, good education, but all the information in the world is available for free for the most part. And so I heard you tell your story of going to the great library of Google and figuring out at that job how you were gonna do this. So can you walk us through some of those early steps?
Kate Northrup:I even for me, I've been an investor for decades, and I still was like, I have a lot to learn from this woman. So, yeah, tell us, what did you do?
Ange Matthews:So, I made a lot of mistakes and I'm also quite frugal, so I googled, you know, how you become rich. That's actually I didn't I don't know. I didn't. I know wealthy people now, but it's funny when you're trying to be wealthy, you really don't know a lot of other wealthy people and the wealthy folks don't want to talk to you because they don't know how committed you are. And, this also wasn't in the time where you could pay for experience.
Ange Matthews:And, so I love the time that we're in now where you can pay for someone else's shortcut. Yeah. Like, I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't invest in my education, right, or invest in knowing. So, after I Googled and Googled and came up with you need to start investing and I found Warren Buffett. And, this is why I was in Omaha earlier this week across the street from Berkshire Hathaway, which is the company that Warren Buffett is the CEO of.
Ange Matthews:And, Warren Buffett is the granddaddy of modern day value investing, which is the style of investing I preach. Okay. So, it was very much like being around my granddaddy. I did not meet him, I did drop a letter though.
Kate Northrup:That's amazing. I had to shoot my shot. Love that.
Ange Matthews:And so, found him and I I did interviews and he said, you know, invest in great companies that are successful around you. And, not all companies around you are successful, and I learned that the hard way. And, so, when I started investing it was before the last recession, the the 02/2008, '2 thousand '9 recession. And, I did work in a bank before Goldman Sachs, and so I knew there was a lot of money out there, but I lost a I would have lost a lot of money, but I didn't freak out. They said everything's unrealized, like none of this is real and so you click sell.
Ange Matthews:And so, was just like, you know, this ain't my story. Mhmm. You know, everyone out here losing money, this is not my story, and I just doubled down on It's gonna stick. I'm gonna stick and I'm gonna fight it, I'm not gonna look at it, and every time I got paid, just kept on thinking this is like a Macy's one day sale. All the things I wanted to afford, could not afford before, but now I can.
Ange Matthews:And, that's how I am now. Every time I got money, I said, alright, I'm going to invest some of it, I'm going have fun with some, and I'm going to invest some. And then I started noticing that there weren't other methods out there that did that. I did funds and I did stocks, and a lot of people just did either or. A lot of people did day trading, and I'm not a day trader.
Ange Matthews:I used to work at a bank. You it's really hard to beat them.
Kate Northrup:Yeah. Yeah. When they're sitting in front of those six ginormous screens all day and shouting at each other down on the sex, the whole thing like gives me
Ange Matthews:anxiety just thinking. Exactly. It's just not yeah, if it's not your personality, don't do it. Yeah yeah yeah. So, that's what happened and I actually forgot about it, you know.
Ange Matthews:After that job, I quit that job, I went to India, had my whole coming of age into me, and I forgot the investment accounts because it was for
Kate Northrup:like Really?
Ange Matthews:Later. I don't know.
Kate Northrup:Just Interesting. Yeah.
Ange Matthews:And so, lot of people ask me about selling too. I made I made 25%, should I sell now? The stock doubled, should I sell now? And, for me, I don't really sell unless I have a reason to. Unless you're
Kate Northrup:going to invest it in something else.
Ange Matthews:Unless I invested in something else or unless I have a life event that I need I want to be funded by Yeah. Like free money. Yeah. So, if I'm purchasing a home, if I want to take a trip around the world, if I want to throw my mom a lavish 70 birthday party, right? Yeah.
Ange Matthews:Totally worth cashing out on. Yeah. Otherwise, it's just there for later. So, I forgot about them, and that's when I saw the power of it.
Kate Northrup:That's so beautiful. Okay. So, you're really a long term investor. Are you so when I talk to a lot of investing experts, if you will, though, as I told you, you're the first investing expert on Plenty, which is so fun.
Ange Matthews:I'm honored.
Kate Northrup:It's amazing that I can manage to talk about money in so many other ways, because I think we're like in our the episodes in the seventies, and we still haven't gotten to investing. But anyway, here we are. It's perfect timing. So a lot of people say, you know, you can't beat the the market essentially with picking stocks. Just invest, just like robo invest in in funds and, you know, EFT's, which I don't even know what that stands for.
Kate Northrup:What does an EFT stand for?
Ange Matthews:ETF. Thank you. You're thinking, you know
Kate Northrup:It's an electronic funds transfer.
Ange Matthews:You're thinking Oh.
Kate Northrup:Oh, the emotional freedom technique.
Ange Matthews:Yeah.
Kate Northrup:Which I'm familiar with too.
Kate Northrup:EFTs are something different. Okay. ETFs. Oh, what is it? Exchange traded fund.
Kate Northrup:Thank you. Okay. So just for those listening, I want you to know, you can build a great net worth and actually be really good with money, and ask pretty silly questions. I just gave that as an example. Like, I consider myself really good with money, and I'm actually super confident about money, and I'm also not afraid to ask the questions that I don't know the answers to, even when they quote unquote should be obvious, so other people would call it a stupid question.
Kate Northrup:I don't believe in that. Okay. So, ETFs. Yes.
Ange Matthews:Say it again. Exchange traded fund.
Kate Northrup:What does that mean?
Ange Matthews:So an exchange traded fund is typically you'll have a fund which I consider a fund a bag of jelly beans. Right? And in the bag of jelly beans, you've got your red, yellow, popcorn, I don't know, snot, whatever Harry Potter's is.
Kate Northrup:Popcorn ones are disgusting Yeah. In my opinion. Licorice is just disgusting.
Ange Matthews:Oh. But in my opinion, anyhoo, each of these beans represent a company. And instead of individually investing in, you know, popcorn jelly bean, you're just gonna invest in the whole bag of jelly beans and knowing that the bag of jelly beans in itself will become more valuable over time.
Kate Northrup:Over time.
Ange Matthews:And so that's a fund. Typically, a fund could be managed by a a like a guy, right, a mutual fund, you know, Wall Street dude, that's a managed fund, and then you have an exchange trap fund that you can just get on the regular stock market that anyone can invest on. Yeah. And so for an exchange traded fund, typically you'll have a fund where you can invest in the whole stock market. You know, every time folks are like, invest in the whole stock market.
Ange Matthews:But if you're a regular person, you're like, what does that mean? Do I have to actually physically go to a market and buy everything? And you're probably thinking a grocery store and buying everything, which is madness. Madness. Like, cool in theory, not in practicality.
Ange Matthews:So, a fund is actually something that you can just purchase and own the entire stock market. So, an example of this would be Vanguard's VTI, very popular. Yep. This is not investment advice, by the way. This is purely education and case study.
Ange Matthews:Have to drop that in Thank you. Do not put all your money into the market, investing involves risk. Things might not seem typical, all that fun stuff. All this to say you can't sleep on our couches if you put all your money into anything we say here. Period.
Ange Matthews:Clear. Great. Work cover. Yeah. Okay.
Ange Matthews:Okay. So, as you start getting this stuff, right, you can just invest in VTI and you can buy a partial share or a whole share of something, and so you can put a hundred bucks into the stock market, right? You can do SPY, which is a S and P 500 fund, and every time when I was, I always put like a hundred bucks every single month into it. Yeah. Because I know over time the stock Dollar cost averaging.
Ange Matthews:Dollar cost averaging. So, if you wanna play and put a baby toe in this game, you invest in an ETF, a Now, to the question of is that all you need? I do find that for some of us who need to catch up, for some of us who didn't necessarily grow up with a ton of money at our disposal and do not have an inheritance, for some of us where we came to the table a little later than we should have, well you need to play the catch up game. And a fund I don't think is really the best in catching up. Okay.
Ange Matthews:Right? For some of us who are investing in our thirties, forties, fifties, right, which is fairly late for investing for your long term future. If you can pick individual stocks, well that can actually give you two to three x the performance of a fund, which is why I always advocate for understanding some form of analysis. But, there are shortcuts to analysis, right? So, an example would be, I have a lot of medical professionals in my field, in our tribe.
Ange Matthews:And, it's really crazy because again, we're all at the same level of trying to figure out how to make our money grow. You'd think a doctor or a medical professional would have enough money to be okay for the rest of their lives.
Kate Northrup:I am born from two of them, and I am well aware that that's not
Kate Northrup:the case.
Ange Matthews:Not the case. I know. I'm just like, dude, you did everything right. How did you end up
Kate Northrup:It's the illusion of the careers that you think you're set. Like, there's no such thing as getting the right job or the right profession and being taken care of. There is no such thing.
Ange Matthews:There absolutely isn't. We're all playing the game of making money, and that bigger game is what did you do with it?
Kate Northrup:The bigger game is what did you do with it? I have a lot to say about that that I want to ask you about, but carry on.
Ange Matthews:And so for me, I think to myself, there are shortcuts to picking companies, and you have insider knowledge, not insider trading, but just your own inherent I think that you can match investments to personalities, you can match investments to secreting the life you want to see in the world. So, for a doctor, you know, I'll just say, hey, have you ever invested in McKesson? McKesson is pretty much a supply company for gloves and everything in the medical field. Okay. You go to your doctor's office, look up, you're going to see McKesson.
Ange Matthews:Now that I've said it, you will see it Got it. And so, but doctors have been seeing it everywhere. They've used it since they were in grad school.
Kate Northrup:Sure.
Ange Matthews:And that stock alone has probably three to four x ed over the last five, six, ten years. So as long as they've been in medical school, they could have been investing in something that made their careers possible. So looking around
Kate Northrup:at what we're spending money on, looking around at like what we know, because you said that you were when you first got started, you had this jewelry business, and you were getting all your supplies for it from Amazon. So you were like, I wanna invest in Amazon. So are you saying In research. I did. So, are you saying like invest in what we know, or is this different advice?
Kate Northrup:It's invest in what you uniquely know.
Ange Matthews:So, everything everyone knows Walmart, everyone knows Amazon now, but at the time they didn't know to the degree I did. And so when I started working, I was at a tech firm. And when they denied my raise, I kept on saying, you know, it's okay. Oh, so everyone that I hire needs to have Adobe experience? I'm going to buy Adobe Stock.
Ange Matthews:Oh, you hired us to redo this website, they're going make a ton of money later. I'm going to buy that stock. Right? Something that you uniquely know. Oh, we're entrepreneurs and we had people coming on Zooms pre pandemic, I'm going invest in Zoom.
Ange Matthews:Was a great idea. It was a great idea.
Kate Northrup:Yeah. Smart. No. It's like and so it's so
Kate Northrup:obvious. Like it is so It's like, ugh.
Kate Northrup:Yes. Okay. And so, it's
Ange Matthews:like that. It's it's what do you have? I call it a triple advantage, right? And, so for me, I'm investing in something that I give money to, I need to make them give money back to me as well so that I can also just own it. An example like Zoom or even investing in MasterCard or Visa.
Ange Matthews:I'm a business owner. I take those payments. Yeah. And so, and I pay people with it. Yeah.
Ange Matthews:So, I pay Visa, Visa pays me. I think I should own Visa.
Kate Northrup:And, they pay you. Yes. So great. It's very regenerative. It I love thinking about cycles and how can we create more closed loops where
Ange Matthews:it calms back. Exactly. It's about closing the loop in these relationships. And so, when folks do something or oh, I had a bad business month, well let me go look at my other companies. Did I really have a bad business month?
Ange Matthews:Because I own a lot of companies. So, maybe this company might not have been great because it's cyclical and business is cyclical, but someone else was at the bat for me, and I'm very thankful for that.
Kate Northrup:So beautiful. Yeah. It's it's such a it's such a wise way of mitigating risk, and also truly experiencing I mean, I believe in the energy of abundance is available at all times, and also, like, the practicality of if I plant my seeds in a lot of different gardens, and those different gardens are having various degrees of different kinds of weather, different kinds of sunshine, different kinds of water conditions, different types of farming. Like, my seeds, some of them are gonna do great Mhmm. Because of that.
Kate Northrup:Okay. So I love that so much. So, obviously, you teach this in the happy investor method for people who, you know, wanna dive in, and they're like, I I wanna learn from this woman. Okay. Do you have and you may not be able to answer this question, so that's fine.
Kate Northrup:But, like, do you have some guidelines for folks around just figuring out, like, how much they can afford to invest or how much they should allocate towards paying down debt versus building up what I call a cushion fund. I don't like the phrase emergency fund because I don't like to save for an emergency. I like to save for a cushion. Cushions are all sorts of things. And so how much they should invest, like, for these different things in their lives, of course, I don't actually believe in rules, and I don't give people rules in my program, but I am always curious what's underneath the philosophy of other money experts, like those gauges?
Ange Matthews:Yeah. So I have something called e cig, which is earn, save, invest, give. And so you earn your money, and when you earn it, you save some of it, you invest it, and then you give. If you have debt, that s, that saving part gets fifty fifty ed, and so you save half, you invest half, maybe the give also gets fifty fifty ed and you give less and you put it towards investing, which is actually really cool because once you understand how to invest, I have sometimes had to give slack on my giving. I'm a giver and there are many ways to give financially, humanly, physically, all those things.
Ange Matthews:But, I just recently actually found another way to give and do a DAF, which is a I'm just figuring it out now, but it's a it's an investment account specifically for giving. Because I have like really good tax problems this year, so I have been like really doing my work to
Kate Northrup:Gotta buy a truck. So, this is
Ange Matthews:the thing, everyone's like, have a deductible, get a deduction, and I'm like, no, I am gonna like, this deduction's gonna be an investment. Yeah. And so, I need to figure out how to have my investments be tax deductible, so I'm closing the loop. Cool. Right?
Ange Matthews:And so, anyhoo, there's a good way to give and have it be an investment account, and now I can turbocharge my giving. So, all this to say, if you have to cut back on your giving, it's okay because once you figure out investing, you could come back and complete the circle.
Kate Northrup:I love that.
Ange Matthews:And so and it's okay because they're putting you first. So, e cig, earn, save, invest, give, I always tell people, I always think about percentages. And so, it's not a dollar amount, and this is one of the first things you learn when you're on the path to becoming wealthy. Right? You A lot of people think, I want 7,000,000, I want 6 figures, or you know, 7,000,000.
Ange Matthews:That that works too. That sounds great. That I'm like, that works. I'll take 2. That's cosine.
Ange Matthews:Yeah. Y'all want some Anybody? Yes.
Kate Northrup:Say it.
Ange Matthews:Yes. I want 7,000,000. Yes. You can just say that right now in
Kate Northrup:your spirit.
Ange Matthews:And so, all that to say is it's about the percentage gain. And so, do I want a 10% gain, a 20% gain, 50%, a %? Because if I only want a thousand dollars and someone says, hey, do you want a %? That's 2,000. Right.
Ange Matthews:Right? But, they could have also said, do you want a thousand? Okay. That seems like the same, but what happens when it's a hundred thousand dollars? Do I want a thousand or do I want 10%?
Ange Matthews:I want my 10%, please. Yeah. I want $10,000. And so, this is why percentages are important. And so, just start with a percentage.
Ange Matthews:Right? If you have a hundred bucks, what does it look like to put time? If you have a thousand, what does it look like to put a hundred? You know, if you have 10,000, what does it look like to put a thousand? And, that's the way I typically tell people to do it.
Ange Matthews:And then, also, give yourself enough where it's like a sacrifice of something that was going be gone anyway. What does this mean? I have a picture on my phone of a screenshot, maybe about five years ago of my friends being in Thailand and they took a girl trip and I didn't go. And, it hurt so bad. Mhmm.
Ange Matthews:But, I knew that I had an investing goal that year because I invest for short and long term. Short term meaning every two to three years, I wanna have a windfall, not like wait till I'm 69. I'm not climbing a Machu Picchu when I'm 69, probably not.
Kate Northrup:Who knows?
Ange Matthews:Who knows? But, you know, the way these knees are shaking out at this age, I don't know what's to come.
Kate Northrup:Okay. No. We are going to talk about longevity, but
Ange Matthews:come back. We should. We should. I'm telling you, I look lean.
Kate Northrup:You cannot be talking about your knees like that at the age of 39. I am.
Ange Matthews:Okay. No. I I am, and I am concerned for 69 year old age.
Kate Northrup:You and I are gonna climb Machu Picchu at 69, but we're coming back to that. Okay. But let's pretend you wanna do it now.
Ange Matthews:Let's pretend I wanna do it now.
Kate Northrup:And later.
Ange Matthews:And later. Right?
Kate Northrup:With your bionic knees. Let's first
Kate Northrup:let's say that. Right? And so all this to say, like, Kate, where
Kate Northrup:are we going?
Ange Matthews:We are going to you really want to be A windfall every couple of have a windfall every couple of years. Sorry. And, with the windfall every couple of years, I knew that Thailand wasn't on the bucket, and it it was gonna suck for a couple mornings. That's what my 87 year old aunt Olive always says to me when there's heartache. When I had my first heartache, she was like, it's gonna hurt for a couple mornings, and then it won't.
Ange Matthews:And so, time I do something or I have a a hurt, a loss, it'll hurt for a couple mornings
Kate Northrup:Yeah.
Ange Matthews:And then it won't. So, the trip to Thailand, screenshot, about three, four years ago, and I invested that money. And, I invested it in probably, like, my first five k deal. Right? And, it's funny because I'd hear people at the time talk about, you put 5,000 in investment, and I was like, you're crazy.
Ange Matthews:But then I was like, you know what? I've been to Asia before, let's be honest, Ange. I've never done this type of investment before. Either way, this money was going to be gone. Let's just be honest.
Ange Matthews:It was going to be gone. And so I took it and I just transferred it to this future dream. I invested in my future dream rather than creating like a memory. And that's what you can do too. Think about something that you have on the docket for this year or next year and say, you know what?
Ange Matthews:That was gonna be a really great thing to have, but this would be even better, and just reallocate the funds.
Kate Northrup:For you, how do you check-in with yourself to know? It is so frequent that folks are in that moment of, like, okay. I have this future dream, but I really wanna go on the trip to Thailand. Right? And it's like, how do you mitigate inside yourself that desire for instant gratification so that you can be building your future and also building the satisfaction in the peace in the moment of knowing that you're building your future.
Ange Matthews:Absolutely. So delayed gratification is the name of the game, friends. Yeah. And, if you weren't brought up with it, like I wasn't, my mama would get money, it would go straight out of her hands, Still is to this day, we're working on it. We will forever work on it.
Ange Matthews:I am clear. But, if you want to practice delayed gratification, I think about, well, is this experience serving me today and tomorrow? Like, is it helping me get to my goals? It's just really that clear for me. And then, also think to the same degree, have I experienced something like this before?
Ange Matthews:Now, let's be real. I'm out here in these travel streets. Right? Like, yes, I really really wanna do it. I'm at Ingram 7.
Ange Matthews:FOMO is so It sucks. So freaking intense. It's like the way like, I cannot wait for a close cart, and I'm like, my god, I survived.
Kate Northrup:Right. No.
Kate Northrup:For for you saying no to that trip to Thailand as a fellow seven myself, like, that is not the same as when you're one of those people who would prefer to stay home with a book anyway.
Ange Matthews:No. It's like this is what I dream and live for. Yeah. And, this is what I dreamed and lived for to do these trips. But then, I think to myself, okay, are we going to be able to ball out in Thailand?
Ange Matthews:No, actually all my friends at the time was making way more money than me and I was gonna be the lower, like the one who's just like, you know, maybe we shouldn't go to that restaurant, right? And so that's not my vision for that trip. It's okay, you know, I'm gonna go on another trip. They always go on girls trips, there will be another girl trip and there was, many others, right, with beaches and everything and so it's okay. And if this hunch works out, I can actually take my best friend on a trip with me for free.
Ange Matthews:I could just say, hey, let's go. And that's what I do now. All those times I didn't go to concerts, I just took my cousin to an Usher concert. Her first concert ever in her And it was amazing, and we did VIP tickets. I always try to opt for VIP when I can because, oh, the value in VIP is amazing.
Ange Matthews:It's always like triple the base. Even though it might be double the cost, I usually find VIP gives you triple the value. Again, investor talk, right?
Kate Northrup:So No, but it's it's great
Kate Northrup:to know that for yourself, right? Because for some people, like actually being around loud noises and crowds is always gonna be a negative ROI. No matter Absolutely. What. Right?
Kate Northrup:But for somebody like you, you know, we were just talking about this on our coaching call yesterday, like, if somebody if I'm gonna spend a hundred dollars, let's say, on a massage, I'm gonna get 10 x value on that. Like, unless the massage is terrible, but that's very rare. Right? Like but if somebody's like, okay. I'm gonna take you out for a hundred dollar bottle of wine, I'm gonna get a negative 10 x value on that.
Kate Northrup:I don't drink. I don't like being around drinking. I don't give a shit about wine. Like, that's not right. So to know that for yourself, like, to spring for VIP is always gonna be a triple value for you.
Kate Northrup:That's personal, and you you've done the work to know that about yourself. And I just wanna highlight that because I think we can get so swept up in what other people think is a good ROI. In the investor world, in the business world. Right? It's like everyone's doing this evergreen funnel thing.
Kate Northrup:Everyone's doing this ManyChat thing. Everyone's doing, like, high ticket DM sales. Everyone's doing you know, and it's like, wait a second. But is that right for me? So I really wanna know because you run an online business and you also are an investor, how do you do that dance for yourself of the time, the investment, the money to determine, like, okay.
Kate Northrup:This money I'm gonna invest over here passively in my stocks, in my hotels, in my I don't know what else you invest in, but please feel free to share in other people's companies. Broadway plays. Oh my god. So fun. Okay.
Kate Northrup:That's the best. And then and then how do you determine, like, okay. But I wanna go in this mastermind, or I wanna go to this event, or I'm gonna invest in this software, or this consulting, or whatever. Can you walk me through a little bit of those decision making strategies?
Ange Matthews:Absolutely. Because I I really do both. So, I'm so glad you asked and for a lot of people they might not know because we talk about investing in ourselves and that can be so many different ways. Yeah. And so, I'm clear that a lot of businesses I'm clear on numbers and statistics.
Ange Matthews:I don't I defy statistics, but I do like to be aware of them. Right? Just on an educated type of front. Yes. And so, my whole life I defy statistics.
Ange Matthews:The fact that I'm like a woman of color in a certain income bracket defies statistics, right? Crush them. But, I still like to know what they are. And so, I know that, I don't know, it's something ridiculous number amount of businesses fail within five years. I think it's ninety five percent.
Kate Northrup:Yes. Could be higher. Exactly.
Ange Matthews:And so even though the Happy Investor Method is an amazing company and it is my pride and joy and it is a part of my life's work, I also know the odds are stacked against it. And though I know that I will always 100% be on top as me, Ang, regardless of what I do, I know and I'm aware that the Happy Investor Method might be like AM Social Media or might be like the jewelry company, which those two don't exist.
Kate Northrup:And those were your previous Those were my previous business. And
Ange Matthews:so, I have to think about am I investing? I'm investing in Happy Investor Method and in myself as an entrepreneur, but also how am I investing so that I win period? And that's what it is. It's I do fifty fifty oftentimes. I'll invest in a high end mastermind which I recently did because I knew that I needed to get back in the game.
Ange Matthews:I took a year off, like a mini retirement from business and I shut the b to c down. And folks were like, I wanna work with you. It's like, yeah, I kinda don't do that. I wanna join one of your programs that you launched, you know, like two years ago. Yeah, I'm not really there right now, focusing on investments and I'm focusing on like the corporate arm.
Ange Matthews:And so I could do that because Angie in the past when I had those huge like 6 figure launches or, you know, 5 figure launches, I had the sense to take half of it and put it in investments. And so, when I made the decision to shut down the B2C side except for like random VIP days, I would look at those accounts and my nervous system would be like, we're okay. It's okay, we're not going back to 40,000 a year. Like, it's okay, you're not gonna be on the street. Like, it's gonna be okay.
Ange Matthews:Like, we invested and we meet like all the angers of the past.
Kate Northrup:Understood. Like
Ange Matthews:we invested so you in this present moment could do what you have to do to take care of
Kate Northrup:yourself. And
Ange Matthews:I need to make sure an ang in the future can say that too. And so why I do both, that's how I do both. And I also think to the end of the day, even though I'm investing in my business and paying for a coach or paying for a program or something like that, that money is still going to somebody else's social security number. Yeah. So, I need to make sure that something comes back to my social security number And so I do both.
Kate Northrup:I love that. As you're kind of coming back into maybe, like, reengaging, I'm just curious, did you just, like, feel like it? You just took the year and now you're like, okay. Cool. Like, is it just a new season?
Kate Northrup:Tell me about that decision.
Ange Matthews:Oh, geezum.
Kate Northrup:I I
Ange Matthews:say the weirdest things are the weirdest points, so geezum's one of them. So, I have been getting a nudge from God that it's time to get back in the game for a bit. I have not done a public launch in over eighteen months minus last week. And so, initially, it was, okay, I'm taking time off and I'm in a holding period, I'm waiting, I was trying at everything, nothing was working. I was like, you know, I'm just plugging a cord out.
Ange Matthews:Nice. We're just gonna stop because clearly universe is telling me I need to focus on something else. And for me, that was my relationships, relationship with myself, my husband, my kids, my body, and I just needed to take a beat because it felt like a pivotal moment for the Ang in the future. I did that. And so every time I queried in, was like, no, this is our assignment.
Ange Matthews:My assignment was making our new home, our new house a home, that was the assignment. The assignment was bringing in my feminine energy in a way that only I could, that was the assignment. I always ask God, what's the assignment? So then God's been nudging me, okay girl, so the assignment's about to change and you're gonna have to start preaching the good word of you know, money loves everybody. And then I'm like, but I don't wanna launch.
Ange Matthews:I have so much launch trauma because if you launch, sometimes it could get crazy because you're in there and you're prying your hardest and you don't know what you're gonna get. And then the message got too big where I had to share it and it threw me into a launch. And so that was about two weeks ago and I I made a lot of money like I said a month ago, the most ever from our investments that I am aware of because like I said, I don't check this often. But I checked it and I was like, holy shmily, this is crazy. Like, I think it ended up being now we're at like a hundred and 25,000 for the Yeah.
Kate Northrup:Amazing.
Ange Matthews:Yeah. Ridiculous. Again, results not typical.
Kate Northrup:No. But I'm so glad you say numbers because we're so often conditioned that it's not okay to say the numbers. And for folks, I think it's important to know even though results are not typical, it is important to know what's possible because you are a real human being sitting here who is having this experience.
Ange Matthews:Absolutely, and there's nothing that separates me from you or anybody else that's watching or listening to this. There's nothing that separates us and that's the point. And, numbers matter. I mean, there were times when I'd go into a bank and I'd go into the garbage to pull receipts to see what other people had to see what was possible. That's amazing.
Ange Matthews:Like, yeah, I mean grungy, but yes. And I would take out their account number and I'd put my account number and I'd be like, this is gonna be me. Or someone would say like, yeah, someone asked me to borrow $75,000 and I would be like, what? You have 75 ks to lend?
Kate Northrup:To
Ange Matthews:lend. Lend. Can we just sit in this? And I had to hold my face like, you don't say, like what are you gonna do? You know, like sip some tea.
Ange Matthews:And so I say numbers because it gives people permission to dream and to see what's reality out here. And my numbers, you know, honestly, they're not the biggest, they're people with bigger, but they're mine. And I'm gonna own it.
Kate Northrup:You're be proud of them.
Ange Matthews:And I'm gonna be proud of it. That's amazing.
Kate Northrup:You said that you went to Google and said, you know, how how do I how do I become rich? Or how do I Yeah. Write something like that. Right? Because in your immediate environment, it wasn't like you could just go ask somebody.
Kate Northrup:Right? What do you think is different about you as someone who would even have the audacity to go Google that? Because so many of us are just not giving ourselves permission to even go beyond what our immediate circle has experienced. Like, we don't even know it's possible. Now thanks to the Internet, we actually do know what's possible in a way that is unprecedented.
Kate Northrup:Right? And that's really new. Like, it's in the last twenty years that that has become available. And yet, how is it that you were just like, I'm never going back. I am always going forward.
Kate Northrup:Money loves everybody. Like, how did you get that way? Were you born this way?
Ange Matthews:No. Actually, no. So but I I definitely was poured into and it's funny because the quote from my dad came up to me this morning. I haven't thought about it for a year and it's something he used to tell me growing up and it's a very conscientious thing and I fully am aware as I say it that it could come off very strange. But it was, you are beneath no one and you are better than most.
Ange Matthews:And he would always tell me this and in growing up not knowing how to understand it, there was a point in my life where it did breathe some like elitist, like an elitist mentality. But, come to think about it, totally fine as a black woman I
Kate Northrup:honestly think that's great.
Ange Matthews:Who, you know I mean honestly, we probably had a hundred dollars in the accounts every single month of wiggle room. We grew up not the poorest, but not even close to middle class. And so to continuously tell us this, but we came from a country where we did have money and both of my parents, you know, came to this country for an opportunity. So I was always really clear that I'm the opportunity here. And, I'm also really clear that, you know, my parents told me just like everyone else tells their kids who are immigrants, you know, lawyer, doctor, which one?
Ange Matthews:And, my sister did the doctor route.
Kate Northrup:Okay.
Ange Matthews:And they looked at me like, okay, lawyer, clearly, I mean, you you talk sense and you're sensical. And when I went and saw how much it cost to be a lawyer, I was like, this is a horrible decision, especially when I interviewed lawyers. And so for me I
Kate Northrup:brought a generally happy crew. Now, that's a generalization, but like for a woman who was gonna found a company called the Happy Investor Method, that was probably not gonna be your path.
Ange Matthews:Yeah, probably not. And so, me If
Kate Northrup:you're a happy lawyer, please feel free to send me a DM.
Ange Matthews:Oh, and yes, let's celebrate you and
Kate Northrup:Yes. Talk
Ange Matthews:you out there because the reputation is not good. Mhmm. And so, all that to say, I'm one of those folks like, rules don't exist in my world. I just don't see them and I've paid the price for it, but I've also reaped the rewards. Yeah.
Ange Matthews:And so, even if someone out there, I really don't believe there's anything but different between you and I or me and Warren Buffett. Right? I can play the cards that I were dealt and get the same outcome. And so I say all this to say that you just gotta keep fighting for it. And I went to India Many Years after investing and I was like, where's my money?
Ange Matthews:I know I'm supposed to be wealthy. I know it to my core. Right? A lot of us listening, you might feel that, I know it's to my core. So, I went to the dude in India in Varanasi with my sister and I'm like, where's my money?
Kate Northrup:And you ask the man in India, where's
Ange Matthews:my Ask the money. He said, you can ask anything to the universe. What is it? Where's my money?
Kate Northrup:I love this story so much. What did he say?
Ange Matthews:He's like, your money's here. What? Okay, I don't see it on my bank account, like you know I charged this trip, like I'll be so honest. And so I don't understand, you mean it's here, oh your money's here. And the way I received it was, you know when you send an email and someone's like, I didn't get it yet?
Ange Matthews:You're like, I sent it. And they're like, but I didn't get it. And you're like, well, it's gonna come because I sent it. That's how my money was. And then I just had to open up the channels for it to come into me.
Ange Matthews:And so it was here and then that was probably a year later when a lot of my wealth started happening. But it was grungy for seven years of being being like, was working at it, but nothing was hitting. Yeah. And then, yeah, it was me realizing that it was here that actually made
Kate Northrup:it so. What did that feel like, the difference between asking where is my money and knowing my money is already here and opening up to that? Like, can you describe the physical sensation or the new thoughts or any new behaviors or patterns? It was, I think, like it's like cry. Like a cry that even in
Ange Matthews:this moment I wanna cry because it was like, Okay, that's all you had to say. I've been running around here going I've been probably not sticking with things as long as I could have because I was looking for something. The curse of the seven. Yes, seriously. It like a mission now to find it versus or to reveal it.
Ange Matthews:Yeah, totally. It felt more not like a find, but a reveal. And so, for me, even as I invest, I'm just like, maybe you're the one because I have it, but this is not what I know what I'm meant to have like in its entirety. Right.
Kate Northrup:You're in process.
Ange Matthews:I'm in the process. And so, when I invest in, example, a hotel, when I invest in a startup, when I invest in like Convertkit, when I invest in these companies, it's like maybe you're it. And if you're not, that's okay too. Right, because it's coming. Because it's coming some way.
Kate Northrup:Yeah. Like so there's a certainty. There's a certainty. Which is fundamentally relaxing. It is.
Kate Northrup:At least for me. It is. It is. And so you and this
Ange Matthews:is a muscle. Right? I didn't pop out the womb like this. It's a muscle that every time something happens, every time I go to sleep and I look at my account and it even goes up like a dollar. Okay, I'm onto something here.
Ange Matthews:It's that I'm onto something here, and then honoring that.
Kate Northrup:I love that so much. What do you do to metabolize and release yourself from investments that don't go the way you wanted, whether it's an investment in a company, in a stock, in a, you know, Mike and I made an investment many years ago, and it has become clear now that there was a huge opportunity cost of that particular investment. And had we made a different made a different decision with this money, we would be sitting on a lot more money now. And I've been metabolizing it, and, mostly, it's, like, through my system. But yesterday, it came up again while I was digging through the freezer.
Kate Northrup:I start going off, and Mike was like, what is happening right now? So I just wanna know, like, you know, woman to woman, how do you deal with the inevitable loss when it doesn't go the way you wanted or when you realize, oops, I could be sitting on a lot more money now if eight years ago I had made a different choice?
Ange Matthews:There are a couple of these. And it's such a clear answer, so in this moment it's a very clear answer. Someone bumped into me and they saw me speak at a conference and then they saw me in real life and they're like their friend's like, go talk to her. She's like, oh my god, it's Ange. They're like, go talk to her.
Ange Matthews:So they kind of like push her and she's like, hi Ange, and I'm like, hey, like let's hug it out, let's kiki it, like I'm here, I don't know if we'll ever meet again, so you might as well use me. Yeah. Like if you ever see me in person, this is how I am. And, so she told me about a past experience where she did lose money and it was really painful and it was preventing her from investing more. So, this is a very common thing and it can stop you from getting your future blessings.
Ange Matthews:And I told her, was like, you know, when you have a scar, it's there to remind you of something that could be painful, but it doesn't hurt anymore. And that's the same thing for our mistakes in life and our financial mistakes and blunders, right? Initially, yes, it hurts. It hurts like hell. But sometimes we're looking at it again as if we're getting recut when it's really just a scar.
Ange Matthews:And so you have to see it like, oh, but I'm not actually in pain anymore.
Kate Northrup:Like
Ange Matthews:it worked out even though that didn't work, I'm still working. It's working.
Kate Northrup:Right.
Ange Matthews:Right? And so that might just be a reminder to you to say like, hey, I might be actually really good at making other decisions. Right? Because clearly I am, I'm here. And it's a scar, not an actual cut.
Ange Matthews:And as you can identify as like, this isn't a cut body, this is just a scar. Like, and touch an actual scar on you, like, this doesn't hurt. I see it. Like, I see this cut right here, but it doesn't hurt, like at all. It's just a reminder.
Ange Matthews:And that's it. And it's a reminder that you are on the search, that you're on a mission. Right. And so yeah.
Kate Northrup:So good. So good. This has been an absolute pleasure. I love learning from you. You're such great energy.
Kate Northrup:So if people wanna connect and learn more about your work, the happy investor method, where should they go?
Ange Matthews:So, I do email. I'm an email person. I'm I'm starting to get more social, but it is a work in progress. And so, you can find me on Instagram at Happy Investor Method, but if you go to HappyInvestorMethod.com, there's always an opt in or something in there and that is where you will get all of your actual gems. Amazing.
Ange Matthews:And, my list and I, that's how people always they know more about me because I'm so transparent about the journey. Yes. And, I will let you know about the things that work, things that don't work and sometimes I'll even drop a little deal in your box, like, hey, I got an opportunity to invest in like a Broadway musical, you wanna do this together? And so it's really cool.
Kate Northrup:And you say what musical you invested
Ange Matthews:in? The Wiz. And it's nominated for a Tony and it's already paid a return.
Kate Northrup:It's on down So good.
Ange Matthews:That is literally what the LLC
Kate Northrup:is Really? Oh my god, that makes
Kate Northrup:me so happy. Okay, I love that. So smart to double down on email, obviously, as a business owner, like we cannot be building on rented property. Email is the way. Okay, I love that.
Ange Matthews:Email's the way.
Kate Northrup:Thank you for being here. So happyinvestormethod dot com, get on Angie's
Ange Matthews:Yeah, there's always a freebie, but even if you don't like the freebie, just put your name and you're gonna get
Kate Northrup:The email
Ange Matthews:all the other amazing things that come with being in the community and the tribe. Amazing.
Kate Northrup:Thank you.
Ange Matthews:Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Kate Northrup:This is so great.
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