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How to Align Your Money With Your Values (Your Time and Energy Too)

budgeting financial empowerment for women intentional money method money mindset women and money

Let me ask you something. If a stranger looked at your bank statement and your calendar from last month, what would they say you care about?

For a lot of women, the answer stings a little. Nothing is wrong, exactly. What they value and where their money, time, and energy actually go have just drifted apart without anyone deciding it.

Aligning your money with your values means making sure your spending, saving, giving, and investing reflect what matters most to you, not what you think should matter or what everyone around you is doing. It's the Values pillar of the Intentional Money Method, and it's where every other money decision gets its direction.

Why your money and your values drift apart

Nobody sets out to spend money on things they don't care about. Drift happens because most financial decisions aren't really decisions. They're defaults. The subscription that renewed. The house that fit the life you had five years ago. The dinner out that started as a treat and quietly became...

Letting Your Adult Children Make Their Own Decisions (And Who You Become in the Process)

financial empowerment for women kids and money money and relationships money mindset personal empowerment women and money

Let me ask you something. When did the job of being their mom quietly change on you?

Letting your adult children make their own decisions is one of the hardest transitions a woman goes through in midlife, and almost nobody prepares you for it. Your role changes. Your relationship changes. Your money conversations change. And your own identity has to evolve right alongside them, whether or not you feel ready.

I am not writing this as someone who has figured it out. I am living it in real time, and parts of it have been harder than I expected.

This comes up constantly inside The Empowered Sisterhood. One member is packing a kid for college. Another is watching her child sign a first lease. Another is meeting her first grandchild and realizing she has a role nobody handed her a description for. Different transitions, same underlying question. Who am I in this next version of my family?

If that lands for you, you are not alone.

The Job of Mom Changes Before You Are Ready

For years,...

Why Capable Women Still Need Support (Even When They're the Expert)

financial empowerment for women intentional money method personal empowerment women and money women's empowerment network

Where in your life are you the one who's supposed to know? The one people call for advice. And where in that same life are you white-knuckling something alone, because asking for help there feels like admitting you're not who everyone thinks you are?

I've had a business coach or strategist since the day I started my business. At times, more than one. For some of them, I walked in already knowing more than they did about how to value a business, or how to build value into one. Years as an analyst will do that.

Knowing more doesn't mean knowing enough

Being ahead of your coach on one piece of the puzzle doesn't mean you don't have blind spots. There's still a long list of things they understand better than you do. Marketing, operations, people, positioning, and all the parts of running a business that have nothing to do with a spreadsheet. My coaches have helped me drive real growth I don't think I'd have found sitting alone with my own analysis.

You are not behind for needing support in...

The Hidden Cost of Financial Avoidance: Why Women Avoid Their Money and How to Stop

financial empowerment for women financial planning tips money beliefs money mindset relationship with money women and money

The Statement You Haven't Opened
What Financial Avoidance Actually Is
Why Women Are Especially Vulnerable to Financial Avoidance
What Financial Avoidance Looks Like in Real Life
The Hidden Cost of Not Looking
The Connection Between Mental Health and Financial Avoidance
How to Stop Avoiding Your Money
You Don't Have to Do This Alone
Frequently Asked Questions

The Statement You Haven't Opened

There's a bill sitting in your inbox. It's been there for three weeks.

You know it's there. You think about it more than you'd like, actually. You think about it when you're trying to fall asleep. You think about it when you're in the shower. And still, every day, you find a reason not to open it.

Or maybe it's not a bill. Maybe it's your investment account that you set up three years ago and haven't logged into since. The retirement statement that arrives every quarter and goes straight into a drawer. The email from your divorce attorney that requires you to revie...

Women's Empowerment Network: Why You Need More Than a Group Chat

financial planning tips money mindset personal empowerment women and money women's empowerment network

Let me tell you something I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. The women who build real, lasting wealth are almost never doing it alone.

They have a women’s network. They have mentors. They have a community that holds them accountable, celebrates their wins, and tells them the truth when they’re playing small.

I’ve spent over 20 years in financial services and more than a decade as a financial advisor. One pattern shows up again and again. Women who are isolated tend to make harder, more expensive, more emotionally draining decisions than women who are connected.

That’s not a knock on anyone. It’s a call to action.

If you’re looking for a women’s empowerment network that goes beyond surface-level networking and helps you take your wealth seriously, keep reading. This is for you.

What a Real Women’s Empowerment Network Actually Looks Like

Not all women’s networks are created equal. Some are great for exchanging business cards. Some are warm, supportive spaces that leave you...

5 Money Lessons My Mom Taught Me (That Changed How I Think About Wealth)

financial empowerment for women financial planning tips money mindset personal empowerment women and money

A tribute to the woman who showed me what financial intentionality looks like in real life

My mom didn't teach me about money through a course or a textbook. She taught me through how she lived and the lessons she passed down became the foundation of everything I do today.

Today, February 18th, would have been her birthday. And I wanted to honor her the best way I know how: by sharing what she taught me, so you can carry it forward too.

My mom was an accountant, a business owner, a director of operations at a nonprofit, and she retired as a director of financial aid at a college. She had an undergraduate degree in accounting and an MBA. She reinvented herself more times than I can count. And every single time, she did it with intention.

These five lessons are woven into the Intentional Money Method™. They're woven into my book. And today, I'm sharing them with you, along with one thing you can actually do with each one this week.

Lesson One: Reinvention Is Always on the Table

...

When Abundance Mindset Becomes Financial Self-Sabotage

financial empowerment for women financial planning tips intentional money method money beliefs money mindset women and money

I need to tell you about a conversation I had that has been sitting heavy on my heart.

A woman came to me $47,000 in credit card debt. She makes good money. She is smart, capable, and successful in her career. And she could not figure out how she got there.

As we dug into her spending patterns, a theme emerged. Every purchase was justified with some version of: "I'm claiming abundance." "The money will show up." "You have to spend money to make money." "I'm investing in myself." "Scarcity mindset is what's really expensive."

She had taken courses she never completed. Bought business coaching programs while her business barely broke even. Purchased a luxury car because "successful people drive nice cars." Invested in a mastermind she could not afford because she was "afraid of staying small."

Every decision made sense in the moment. Every purchase felt like an act of faith in her future self. Every swipe of the card felt like choosing abundance over scarcity.

And now she is drownin...

Why Saving Still Matters: How to Build the Habit That Actually Protects Your Future

financial empowerment for women financial planning tips intentional money method investing money mindset saving women and money

Investing gets all the attention.

Stock market highs make headlines. New investment strategies go viral. Everyone has a hot take on what to do with your money right now. And somewhere in all of that noise, saving quietly gets dismissed as the boring option for people who are not ready to do the exciting stuff yet.

That is exactly backwards.

Saving is not a stepping stone to real financial planning. It is the foundation that makes everything else possible. Without it, your investments are fragile, your options are limited, and every unexpected expense becomes a financial crisis.

I see this play out regularly with the women I work with. The ones who feel genuinely secure in their finances are almost always the ones who have built a consistent saving habit alongside everything else. Not instead of investing. Alongside it.

Here is why saving still deserves your attention and how to build a habit that actually sticks.

The Brain Trick That Works Against You

One of the biggest obstacle...

Life Isn't Fair: How Women Can Build a Stronger Money Mindset Anyway

financial empowerment for women financial literacy life after divorce money mindset personal empowerment women and money

by Liesel Darby, Mediator & Divorce Coach

Growing up, you probably heard the "F-word" at some point, and it wasn't "fudge." In this post, we're talking about a different F-word, one that can quietly undermine your financial empowerment and overall wellbeing: FAIRNESS.

For women navigating careers, money, relationships, and midlife transitions, the belief that things should be fair can be a surprisingly powerful obstacle. Here's what the research and real life experience tell us about why fairness thinking holds us back, and what to do instead.

Why "Life Isn't Fair" Is Actually Useful Wisdom for Women

The concept of fairness seems harmless enough. It has the ring of righteousness. When things go our way, fairness feels like justice. But that's precisely the problem: the expectation that things should be fair sets us up for indignation, resentment, and paralysis when life doesn't deliver.

At the extreme end, a rigid attachment to fairness can keep us stuck, waiting for the world to ...

Financial Tips for Changing Careers: What to Do With Your Money Before, During, and After

career financial empowerment for women financial planning tips increasing income intentional money method retirement saving women and money

I have been through this more than once.

I have been unexpectedly laid off. I have made a deliberate decision to walk away from a career path that was no longer right for me. And I have built a business from scratch without a guarantee of what the first year would look like financially.

Each time, the thing that made the difference was not courage or optimism, though those help. It was preparation. Having a financial plan that gave me enough runway to make the leap without free-falling.

A career change is one of the most significant financial transitions a woman can make, especially in midlife when the stakes are real and the margin for error feels smaller. But it is absolutely navigable. Here is how I think about it.

Start With Clarity Before You Start With Job Boards

Before you update your resume or start researching new fields, get honest about where you stand financially right now.

This is the Clarity pillar of the Intentional Money Method. You cannot plan a transition withou...

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Leah Hadley, AFC, CDFA, MAFF

Leah Hadley, AFC® CDFA® MAFF™, is a bestselling author and financial planner with over 20 years of experience helping women build wealth with intention. She is the founder of Watch Her Thrive and Intentional Wealth Partners, and the author of Intentional Money: The Modern Woman's Guide to Building Wealth, Purpose & Peace.

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

Watch Her Thrive is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Investment Advisory Disclosure:

Leah Hadley is a Licensed Investment Adviser Representative and the Founder of Intentional Wealth Partners, a Registered Investment Adviser. Advisory services are offered exclusively through Intentional Wealth Partners.

Watch Her Thrive is not a Registered Investment Adviser and does not provide individualized investment advice, financial planning, or securities recommendations. All content provided through Watch Her Thrive is for educational and informational purposes only.

Why your money and your values drift apart

The Job of Mom Changes Before You Are Ready

Knowing more doesn't mean knowing enough

Table of Contents

The Statement You Haven't Opened

What a Real Women’s Empowerment Network Actually Looks Like

Lesson One: Reinvention Is Always on the Table

The Brain Trick That Works Against You

Why "Life Isn't Fair" Is Actually Useful Wisdom for Women

Start With Clarity Before You Start With Job Boards

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

Investment Advisory Disclosure: