126. Ali & the Experts Week with Shannon McLay, Founder of The Financial Gym

"Physical fitness and financial fitness are both simple. To get physically fit, we need to eat less and work out more, and to get financially fit, we need to spend less and make more. It sounds really simple, but if it were that simple, we’d have a bunch of skinny millionaires running around! There are a lot of emotions around both." —Shannon McLay If you want to run a marathon, you hire a running coach or personal trainer. If you want to get your finances whipped into shape, you hire Shannon McLay, founder and CEO of The Financial Gym and host of the Martinis and Your Money podcast. Shannon is a former Merrill Lynch financial advisor who created The Financial Gym to help people "kick their assets into shape and their bad money habits to the curb." Her goal is to help men and women, primarily of the millennial generation, to get financially healthy. Shannon and her team at The Financial Gym have coached more than 1,400 clients and helped them turn their bank accounts, credit scores, and investments around — and on this episode, she talks about how to get started, plus how to avoid the financial comparison trap. Thank you to Strava for sponsoring Ali & the Experts Week! CLICK HERE and use code ONTHERUN to get one month FREE with your purchase of a Strava Summit subscription.   What you’ll get on this episode: General money Q&A, including advice on credit cards, bank accounts, the financial comparison trap, and more (5:00) Budgeting 101 (22:15) Advice for paying off student loans (28:05) All about investing and saving (37:45) Baby and family questions (53:00) What we mention on this episode: NerdWallet The Points Guy Acorns Investing 101 Webinar via The Financial Gym Betterment Policygenius Follow Shannon: Instagram @theshannonmclay Twitter @theshannonmclay The Financial Gym Martinis & Your Money Podcast Follow Ali: Instagram @aliontherun1 Facebook Twitter @aliontherun1 Blog Strava Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify SoundCloud Overcast Stitcher Google Play SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!