We all worry about money – whether we have too much of it or a lack thereof. Learn how limiting beliefs from childhood and the way you manage money can impact your sense of financial wellness. Alison’s superpower is her ability to counsel women through every stage in their life, providing education on money management and implementing this knowledge to attain financial freedom.

Dina:                        
Welcome and thank you for joining us for Wonder Woman of the month. I am delighted to be introducing Alison. She is a guru in many facets of life and what I would really love is to have her give us some background: about who she is and share with you why we chose her to be our Wonder Woman of the Month. Alison, welcome to our women’s tribe.

Alison:                    
Thank you so much Dina. I'm actually so thankful that I've joined your tribe. You are absolutely inspiring and everything you have done, I'm so grateful for all of that. First of all, for those of you listening today, my name is Alison Tasker. I'm a wife. I'm a mother of two beautiful young girls. I'm a mother of three furry babies, which Dina can relate to. And we live just North of Toronto. I am a certified financial planner and registered retirement consultant in my day job and I've been doing that for 19 years within wealth management. Essentially what I do is I act as your advocate, your role model, your guide to financial decisions. And what I find is that clients are really looking for someone who will listen to them and know what their needs really are versus what's out there in the masses. I can provide them that ear, the expertise I provide them with access to information and research, educate them along the way and create meaningful goals and a living plan for them.

Dina:                        
Well, that's wonderful. The topic this month is financial wellness. Our overall theme was about wellness and as women, and as an entrepreneur myself, I think that women are not comfortable with this topic, Alison. There's a group of us that go through our members and find women that can share their story and empower others. So let's ask the question. Why don't women like talking about their finances or when putting a business plan together, there is no consideration around finance. What is the barrier? What's stopping them in your opinion?

Alison:                     
That's actually a really great question because I find in my role, I'm often a psychologist and things stem from an early age. They stem from childhood. They stem from your belief system of what you believe you are or should be. I see this all the time. Women… I'm not in any way knocking men. I have a fabulous husband, I have respect for men, but women tend to take a seat behind when it comes to the overall finances. They might pay the bills, but they're not in charge of the daily finance. I think that stems from way back when women ran the household and men went out for the paycheck. So, if I had a goal for this recording, it would be to empower at least one woman to actually take control and see what they can do for their financial wellbeing.

I find there's also the buy-in. I know your theme is of wellness and I've watched all the podcasts and I know last month you talked about mental well-being and mental health. And I also find that that ties into financial health and it's a very close correlation. If you're not feeling good mentally and you're not feeling happy or fulfilled, then often times your financial situation is not going to follow that path either. And we want to empower women to see that they need to feel confident and I understand what their needs are, to put themselves first. And by doing all of that we can hopefully help them see the financial side is important as well.

Dina:                        
You had quite a few key messages there, Alison, and I really do appreciate you sharing with our members what you're seeing and sensing. And I do think that you're taking the bull by the horn and really controlling their finances. I think that we're doing a great job, but we could also be better. And so with that, with your lessons learned, with all your wisdom, what advice do you have for women who are seeking people like yourself? I mean, yes, this is your career. That's fantastic. But what things should we be cautious about? And when we look for a financial advisor or an expert like yourself, what should I be asking? And you know, what might be some red flags for us to consider?

Alison:                    
The first thing is somebody needs to understand where you're coming from. It should be a partnership, just like a marriage. Whatever information my clients give to me I can work around that. But if you're not going to give me all the information and you're not going to be upfront or you don't want to share the scary things, in the end, It is about your real goals. Maybe you want to write a book. Maybe you really just want to stay home with your kids but don't know how to articulate that. Or you feel that you deserve more. Maybe at work, you're not getting what you want. So many different things that people are willing to say out loud to their spouses, their friends or colleagues or family. Have that open communication with a planner because there's no judgment here.

                                    
And if there is judgment, that's a red flag. I always say I can teach you and tell you what is right in terms of the financial side, but it doesn't mean it's right. There's no right or wrong. And the other thing I would say is trying to ignore it. The noise out there. The neighbor just had a whole renovation in their house. How can we do better too? Is that what's right for your family? Is that going to make you happier? Again, back to that mental and financial health. Ignore the noise. Ignore trying to keep up with the Joneses, ignore the judgment from the family and go back to your core beliefs -- what's important to you. 

Dina:                        
For women who are starting their business or looking to grow that business, definitely having a financial planner is key. I know that's something that I have done and it really has shifted the way I make my decisions. Therefore, I do see a value in what you're saying and I love the correlation of how the mental health on financial wellness is combined. For you in this role, you've been doing this for a few years; what is it that really draws you to wake up in the morning and continue to do what you're doing? And what message do you have for other women that may want to consider this as a career path? What is it that motivates you, Alison?

Alison:                    
I really feel like I'm an advocate for my clients. Love what I do. I feel like I can make a big impact on people's lives by listening and hearing what they want to achieve. And I don't do it for them. They do it for themselves, but I'm like a coach and a guide so I can help them get there. I feel like it's an empowering job and from a standpoint of giving back to the world and the community, you feel like you're doing a lot for your clients. If I were to give somebody who wants to enter this career advice, I would definitely say go with your passion, be fearless. Hard work does pay off, you know? I look back and I think there's never been a time in the 19 years that I've regretted my decision to do this job. At the same time, I could've done things a little bit different. Currently, I have some belief in yourself that you do deserve more, you deserve bigger, and that it's okay to turn down a client if you don't feel the connection is there. This is important as well.

Dina:                        
And those tough days when you got to go inside and pull your strength to get up! I got to keep going the Avanti way. Is there a superhero or something that you visually use to say, I got this, and this is my strength today?

Alison:                     
Superhero… that's a great one. I know you always ask that question. If I were to look at what superhero I am and what drives me, I think it's twofold.  I'm a daughter and my parents had four daughters so I'm one of four girls. I have two beautiful little girls myself. And I want my girls to be proud of me and I want them to know that the world is their oyster and they can be whatever they want to be. And it doesn't mean that they have to be financially sound at some high level or anything like that. 

But question them-- what is your passion? What wakes me up and what superhero am I? I am a mom. A middle-aged mom. That's who I am. I'm a mom of two kids and I'm on the street, when we're out on bikes, yelling at cars, for all the neighborhood kids. That's me. I'm out there protecting my kids and the neighborhood kids. That's my personal side of superhero. And then I'm often the psychologist for my clients. I'm an advocate, I'm there to support. And then I'd like to say I'm a little bit of Jean Gray. I know she gets a little bit mean and evil in the end but the good parts where you connect with a client, you're almost telepathic, you can almost read their minds and know where you need to help take them. And I often get, how do you know I was going to say that? How did you know it was going to get there? And that comes from listening and from my passion for helping people. 

Dina:                        
What mentors did you use or what other women inspired you to continue to grow into this path?

Alison:                     
I have had two really amazing female mentors that have been in my life. My first one was one of my first bosses--her name was Wanda. Unfortunately, she passed away. Wanda taught me to enjoy my job. She taught me to take control and take the bull by the horns. She taught me to be proud of the work that I do, allowed me to have control over my job and to be creative. And that probably taught me more than I realize because it made me count on myself and have the ability to make decisions from my ideas. I think she was a great role model for me and the other one role model is in the industry and her name is Sue.

Sue is still today an incredible role model. She and I had a lot of fun and that's one of my mottos in life. If you're not having fun, then why are you doing it? Sue taught me the importance of self-love and self-care and she shares this story about looking in the mirror. We're looking at a picture of yourself as a child and telling that child that you love them and telling them that everything's okay. That was really empowering when I did that exercise.  She also taught me about creating a really strong vision and mission, setting goals and reviewing them all the time. A quick, interesting story on that. Every week I used to sit down with Sue and we'd write out our goals, vision, mission, review it, and then you get back on track.

After about five years, she moved downtown. I moved to Midtown and all of a sudden I stopped doing it. And one day I'm going through some boxes and find my journal, with all of my vision and mission written out, over and over again. I can still say it verbatim. And I wrote this in 2002. By 2008, I had surpassed the goals that I set for myself. Most of the personal things I wanted to do, I'd already done. And all I thought was, wow, I was thinking small. That's one thing that I've talked about recently. Why do we as women think small? Why do we put ourselves in a position to not be the one? Who runs the company, who owns the show? Sue has been an incredible inspiration and always will be for me. 

Dina:                        
A lot of what you said today really resonates with me, Alison and I'm sure it will with our members as well. I appreciate your wisdom and talking about those difficult conversations around setting large goals. They don't have to be small. Definitely setting a vision as part of our career path. You can still be a mom and have a business. It sounds like you're having some fun. With that, I have a few sentences I would like for you to complete. And life is....

Alison:                     
Life is a gift. Don't waste it. Enjoy it. Appreciate it, unwrap it.

Dina:                        
The world needs more...

Alison:                     
I think the world needs more understanding. I think that we all walk around in our isolated little worlds and we really do think about ourselves and think that everyone's thinking about us. But if we understood that we're all coming from the same place, there'd be more happiness, more peace and more love to go around.

Dina:                        
What are you most thankful and grateful for?

Alison:                     
I have my inner circle, so I have my own mini tribe if you will. And there are three people who are very special to me. They know who they are. And without them, I don't think I'd be who I am. And I hope that I give them that too. So I'm thankful for my inner circle.

Dina:                        
Awesome. And my final question to you is, what do you want your legacy to be?

Alison:                     
I really want my legacy to be empowerment for women and also for young people.  Knowing that you can have the confidence and you can have the growth that you want and whatever that is, whether it's financial, having a business, running, a family, being a sportsperson. Whatever your goal is, I want people to know that they can get there and I want to help mentor those people to get there as well.

Dina:                        
Excellent. I really appreciated you being a part of our Wonder Woman of the Month and speaking about financial wellness. Alison, you are a blessing. I'm forever grateful for your insights. We look forward to doing more work with you in the future. Stay tuned Avanti Women. Thank you everybody and have a wonderful day.