Natalie Slagle (00:00):

Did I need to start a podcast to have these really deep, meaningful conversations with my husband?

[Music Playing]

Natalie Slagle (00:11):

Welcome to Money Dates, the podcast that makes money conversations with your partner feel a little less taboo. I'm Natalie Slagle, a certified financial planner, and I'm joined by my husband and business partner, Dan Slagle, also a certified financial planner. Say hi, Dan.

Dan Slagle (00:26):

Hello.

Natalie Slagle (00:27):

In each episode, we'll share honest stories and practical tips to help you and your partner feel more connected and confident on your financial journey. So, grab your drink, get comfortable, and join us for our money dates.

Natalie Slagle (00:41):

Hi, Dan.

Dan Slagle (00:43):

Natalie, how are you doing?

Natalie Slagle (00:45):

I'm good, I'm really excited. This is our first episode.

Dan Slagle (00:50):

I'm also excited. It's something we've been wanting to do for a while, and here we are. We're actually doing it. I'm really looking forward to it.

Natalie Slagle (00:59):

Me too. There's a part of me that feels or I like ask myself at night, I'm like, “Did I need to start a podcast to have these really deep, meaningful conversations with my husband?” And I know the answer is no. I know the answer is no because we do a good job of having these conversations together, but now, being parents, time's limited, right?

Natalie Slagle (01:22):

And so, if we have to use our working time to have these conversations, then so be it. But yeah, I'm just super pumped to have these discussions with you.

Dan Slagle (01:32):

Yeah, I mean, you literally just had to stick a microphone in front of my face for me to open up and share these things with you. That's what it seems like.

Natalie Slagle (01:39):

That's all it took. So, I think for our first episode, it would be helpful for people to get to know us. So, I think we should just share our story, which I love. Doesn't it always feel kind of good and special when we share our story a little bit? Do you want to share it or should I?

Dan Slagle (01:58):

No, I like when you start. Why don't we do this — kind of like when we watch a sports game, you be the number one commentator, and then I provide color commentary during the story. I think that could go really well.

Natalie Slagle (02:10):

Got it, got it. But now, I'm picturing us watching soccer on Saturday mornings, and so do we have to have English accents or no? That would be great.

Dan Slagle (02:17):

You can try it if you want. It might be really entertaining.

Natalie Slagle (02:22):

So, I mean, our story goes back to college. So, we went to college in Minnesota, small private college. That's where we got to know each other first, it’s just the same group of friends. And then it was after graduation, we both entered the financial industry. Sometimes, I even struggle, what do you call this industry? Because sometimes I'm like financial planning, wealth management.

Natalie Slagle (02:47):

Anyways, you're a year older than me, so you had to start taking all the exams. You had to take all these exams in licensure in this industry. And so, my good friend, she always appreciates it when I give her this credit. But my good friend was like, “Hey, Danny Slagle, you got to hit him up because he took these tests that you're about to study for and he passed them.” So, I hit you up. Do you remember that?

Dan Slagle (03:15):

Yeah, you hit me up. I feel like it was on my work email. It was really like formal.

Natalie Slagle (03:19):

I was going to say, was it text or was it email?

Dan Slagle (03:22):

I think it was email and I think it was my work email, which is really weird looking back at it.

Natalie Slagle (03:26):

Isn’t that romantic?

Dan Slagle (03:28):

But that was like early 2012. That was a long time ago.

Natalie Slagle (03:35):

At the time, I think I initially hit you up, I was just like getting out of a relationship. So, it was very intentional of this guy passes tests, A plus B equals C, get the guy to help me study and I will pass the test, and that's it. That's all I need. That's all I wanted from you.

Dan Slagle (03:53):

You were using me.

Natalie Slagle (03:54):

No offense. I was.

Dan Slagle (03:55):

Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Slagle (03:56):

I was. And so, you and I started hanging out. We would go to the, I think it was Caribou Coffee over there in St. Paul, and we would meet up and we would study together. And I'll never forget, it was probably had to be our fourth or fifth time meeting up, and I was gone for the weekend. I had like a girl's weekend in Milwaukee, I think.

Natalie Slagle (04:20):

And that Sunday you and I were getting together to study, and you hopped out either the car or I just remember you hopping out, I don't even know what you were hopping, but you had a hot-

Dan Slagle (04:31):

Like bam, like here I am.

Natalie Slagle (04:34):

And you had this crew neck sweater on and these shorts. And I was like, “This guy's cute!” It hit me differently. I always knew you were good looking, but then the way you hopped out and you had this big smile on, I was like, “Wait a second, why am I feeling different?”

Dan Slagle (04:52):

I don't know. Why did you feel different? What was going through your mind? Were you feeling more confident about your tests during our study sessions?

Natalie Slagle (04:59):

No, no, no. Side note: you helped me study for two tests, and those first two tests, I failed my first attempt. So, you were not a good tutor, I will say that. And I think I was getting distracted anyways.

Dan Slagle (05:15):

Yeah, that makes sense.

Natalie Slagle (05:15):

I think I could see your excitement, which is what caught my eye. I was like, “This guy's excited to see me, that's special.” So, we start dating, blah, blah, blah.

Natalie Slagle (05:29):

I mean, I feel like I can rush through all the relationship stuff. We get married and we continue to work at our separate financial places. Do you want to share anything about that?

Dan Slagle (05:45):

No, there's nothing to share about that time in my life, no.

Natalie Slagle (05:51):

But it's important. It was important to your career. You learned so much.

Dan Slagle (05:54):

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Obviously, like I learned so much, people were amazing. But looking back on it, no, this is where I want to be right now.

Natalie Slagle (06:03):

Oh yes, absolutely. We had great foundations to our careers. We learned so much about investments, financial planning, tax planning, all those things. But we were learning them separately.

Natalie Slagle (06:17):

And then I got a job opportunity out in Canvas, Washington, so we moved out to Portland, Oregon, and that was so fun. The experience of living in Portland — the job, that's another conversation. But us just uprooting our lives, moving across the country, trying something different together was really great. But we were feeling this sense of, is there more we could be doing?

Dan Slagle (06:44):

Yeah, it was the life, I'm checking the boxes. I'm going to school, I got a good education, I have a good career, things are progressing up. We meet, we get married, we buy a home, and it felt very mundane. And there's nothing wrong with that. If people want that lifestyle, then by all means, that's for them.

Dan Slagle (07:12):

But for you and I, I think we were seeking more adventure, and this job opportunity to bring us out to the west coast allowed us to feel that and get a sense of what that was like. And I think that also opened up some other doors into creative outlets for us in a field (finance) that is not always that creative.

Natalie Slagle (07:33):

True. When did we start getting the itch?

Dan Slagle (07:36):

I think we started getting the itch like 2019, maybe late 2018. I feel like that's when we started planning our-

Natalie Slagle (07:45):

It was before that because we had to save so much money. We launched in 2019, and by that point, we had saved a lot of money.

Dan Slagle (07:55):

Yeah. I also think the itch allowed us to understand more about our business and how we wanted to create it, and who we wanted to work with. So, in our previous careers, we were working with clients in their seventies, eighties, nineties. And there's a point in this industry when you're maybe not client-facing and working with households where it's literally just numbers on a screen, and it's really hard to connect with the client.

Dan Slagle (08:25):

So, all you see are numbers, I'm talking about dollar signs. And I really enjoyed working with an older demographic.

Natalie Slagle (08:35):

Yeah, me too.

Dan Slagle (08:36):

But I feel like you and I were kind of like, okay, wait, wait a second, something seems off. There's something missing in terms of an offering to people like us. We're going through all these life changes like getting married, buying a home, moving across the country, whatever it may be (on that checklist of life items), we're going through it. And what are the implications from a financial standpoint for you in that timeframe to think about, oh, if I make the correct decision or if I come reasonably close to making the correct decision, what is the long-term impact?

Dan Slagle (09:08):

So, when we're those clients who are 70, 80, 90, we're not regretting decisions we made from a financial standpoint, we're likely better off than where we would've been without getting some support.

Natalie Slagle (09:20):

And wasn't that what felt missing for us, was support? We were like, “Who would we talk to? If we weren't in finance and making these big life decisions, who could we reach out to, to help us?” Because yes, it's financially impactful, but there's so much of the financial decisions we make that are really led by our values and our beliefs that we needed someone that we could relate to. And I feel like there wasn't anyone.

Natalie Slagle (09:53):

And we started to realize that for our friends too because we would have some friends and people in our network reach out to us and say like, “Hey, can you help me with this finance stuff?” And our response was, “Yes, but we'll have to go grab coffee or you can come over to my house because the place I work at does not help people in your financial situation.”

Natalie Slagle (10:14):

Even if our clients had a good amount of money — not our clients, but our friends, even if they had a good amount of money or whatever, it's just the places we worked for and who our industry tries to reach were not people like us. And that was like the, well, why don't we create it? So, we did. What's that saying? If you build it, they will come?

Dan Slagle (10:40):

Yeah, I think that's another sports reference, which I'm just going to highlight how many sports references you're putting into a podcast right now, because that can be used at a later date. It's field of dreams, it's field of dreams.

Natalie Slagle (10:54):

It seems like it'd be gladiator or something, but I think you're right.

Dan Slagle (10:58):

It is field of dreams. Yeah, it is, for sure.

Natalie Slagle (11:00):

So, one thing y'all should know about me is I don't love watching sports except soccer. I like watching soccer because that was a sport I grew up playing. And so, I kind of poo-poo on sports because I feel like there's a lot of time spent.

Natalie Slagle (11:17):

Look at this, I'm spending time on the first episode talking about sports, but I like playing sports. I have a lot of appreciation for athletes, especially female athletes. So, anyways, that's that side tangent.

Dan Slagle (11:37):

Alright, let's go back, let's go back. So, what were we talking about? We were talking about why we created Fyooz, which is the name of our business. Have we even said that yet?

Natalie Slagle (11:44):

I don't know, let's say it.

Dan Slagle (11:46):

Okay, well let's say it. So, Fyooz (F-Y-O-O-Z is the phonetic spelling of the word Fyooz), which we wanted, again, when working specifically with clients in their thirties and forties, create some sort of offering that is appealing to that demographic.

Natalie Slagle (12:02):

So, we came up with the name Fyooz, chose the phonetic spelling based on the definition of two entities coming together into one. And that's essentially what we wanted to do with couples’ finances for a household.

Natalie Slagle (12:19):

Blend two individual experiences into one — not blend almost, more like join, because I think we'll talk about this here in a little bit. But even today, so how long have we been married? Almost 10 years, yeah, something like that. And you and I still have different beliefs and thoughts around money, and so we've had to create our own financial planning, honoring how I view money and how you view money, which are different.

Natalie Slagle (12:51):

And so, marriage 101, like compromise. And so, we wanted our name and our business and our approach to do just that, is hey, you're still two people and you've had different upbringings around money and you've had different experiences, so like how do we mesh this together that still honors and respects the worries, the excitements and everything in between about money? We do a really good job of that. I'm proud of that.

Dan Slagle (13:19):

Yeah. Are you talking about personally or with our work?

Natalie Slagle (13:22):

Both.

Dan Slagle (13:23):

Oh, both. Yeah, for sure, yeah.

Natalie Slagle (13:25):

Yeah. We should talk about our personal approach with this, which stems back to a conversation we have with all of our clients, which is talking about your values and your experiences around money.

Dan Slagle (13:40):

Maybe some really good starter questions that y'all can take with you, think about on your own and even ask your partner, have a candid conversation. I think that would be really, really good. Why don't I ask you, Natalie, that question.

Natalie Slagle (13:59):

And what question is that?

Dan Slagle (14:00):

What were some of your first experiences with money?

Natalie Slagle (14:04):

Some of my first experiences with money-

Dan Slagle (14:08):

That you recall, like core memories, whether it was like household talked about money, like your parents, maybe your first job — some experiences with money that really stick out for you.

Natalie Slagle (14:23):

Yeah, I have quite a few. There's experiences and then there's people. So, people who have helped shape my money mindsets. And so, right away, when I think about my mindset around money and my experiences, my father, my dad comes up quite a bit.

Natalie Slagle (14:46):

I think I have a similar approach to money like he does. There's a lot of conversations that were had and I'm grateful for that because based on having this conversation with our clients, not everybody has a positive experience with their parents in regards to money.

Natalie Slagle (15:04):

So, between myself and my dad, I had some good experiences. And one thing that my parents … they were still together at the time that I was having my initial money experiences, is they were like, “Hey, your needs are covered, we got you. You got a roof over your head, you've got food on the table, but you want to go get those Abercrombie jeans?” Which is funny because now I buy Abercrombie jeans skin — “But you want to go get those expensive things? You got to get a job. We're not paying for that.”

Natalie Slagle (15:38):

And so, I had my babysitting gigs by the time I was 12. I had my first paycheck job when I was 14, working at Hy-Vee baking groceries. And I think sometimes there was some resentment in that of like, “Well, why do I have to work when my friends aren't working?” I even had that resentment in college.

Natalie Slagle (16:02):

But then now, I look back and I'm like, “Wow, I have a really strong work ethic” because it's kind of been ingrained in me since I was 11 or 12. If I want something above and beyond my needs, I need to work harder to make more money in order to afford that.

Natalie Slagle (16:19):

So, I think that was a value given, and I think I learned at a young age how hard work, the appropriate hard work can be financially rewarding. That's all I'm going to share so far.

Dan Slagle (16:32):

Yeah, that's amazing. First point is like it's crazy how Abercrombie is a thing again.

Natalie Slagle (16:37):

I know. Kudos to that.

Dan Slagle (16:41):

I remember walking through the mall, and I was just like it was busy, it was busy. Let's follow up, let's just hit you with both questions then. How do you think your past experiences with money, everything that you've just shared, has impacted your relationship with money today?

Natalie Slagle (17:01):

It has impacted me in the sense that I'm a really hard worker. I also think I care too much about money, and I stress about it more. And maybe it's because I've always felt like I'm the one responsible here. I'm the one who's got to be in control and create my own outcome because … I think we can talk about this in another time, but I don't like that part of me. And I know it's from a really young self that there's this innate desire to just have so much control over our financial wealth or our financial health, I should say.

Natalie Slagle (17:45):

And I worry about money a lot more than you do, and that comes from somewhere, and I don't fully understand that, and I probably should talk about that with my therapist a little bit more. But I am a hard worker. I have benefited financially from being a hard worker. I also think and stress about money more than I wish I did.

Dan Slagle (18:08):

That's fair, that's fair. Sounds like I will be balancing the checkbook after this conversation if people still do that.

Natalie Slagle (18:15):

Yeah. Well, our next episode is going to be talking about the mental load of managing a household's finances, so we'll get into that even more next episode.

Natalie Slagle (18:26):

But let's go over to you, Dan; what was money for you growing up? Talk about some of your initial experiences or memories around it.

Dan Slagle (18:34):

I have two core memories that stand out to me. One is a core memory, the other one's just like how I was raised. What would you like first?

Natalie Slagle (18:43):

I want the core memory.

Dan Slagle (18:45):

Core memory — I say core memory, I don't exactly remember the timeline, but I think it was at some point in middle school, and I was just having one of those mornings before school where most teenage boys probably have of like just a hard day. And when I say that, not being the best version of myself.

Natalie Slagle (19:08):

You were giving your household a hard day, that's how I interpret it.

Dan Slagle (19:11):

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly correct. I said that very elegantly.

Natalie Slagle (19:15):

Okay, okay.

Dan Slagle (19:16):

It was so rough on my parents (not me) that my dad actually pulled me out of school. He didn't even take me to school that day because I was that bad. You know what he did?

Natalie Slagle (19:30):

Danny Slagle, what? What did he do?

Dan Slagle (19:33):

So, my dad, backstory: self-employed most of his career. He sold wheel weights and tire products to local distributors.

Natalie Slagle (19:44):

I still don't even know what a wheel weight is.

Dan Slagle (19:47):

Maybe one day we can have him on, and he can explain it if he becomes this cult figure in this podcast, like cult following.

Natalie Slagle (19:51):

But I know he’s called Wheel Weight Bob.

Dan Slagle (19:55):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, self-proclaimed nickname. Anyways, what he did during the course of his workday was he would drive around to different tire shops and sell the products. So, we always growing up, we had the really big van, like 1970s, like maroon Dodge Ram van. That's like every year, we had a new version of that van it felt like for his business, because he would haul his supplies.

Dan Slagle (20:25):

And our garage was his warehouse for those supplies. But this one particular day, he didn't allow me to go to school, and he actually made me go to work with him for the whole day. So, I literally sat in the front seat of the big Dodge van and watched him go in and out of all these selling his product, and I would occasionally go into the store with him.

Dan Slagle (20:53):

And that day, just stands out to me because that was my first … I know his message. I feel like I know his message. We haven't even talked about this. It's just a man thing, we don't talk about feelings.

Natalie Slagle (21:08):

Oh, you mean you haven't talked about this with your dad?

Dan Slagle (21:10):

Yeah, and I feel like his point was to, “Hey kid, if you're going to give me a very hard time and not appreciate what I'm doing for you, I'm going to show you what I am doing for you.”

Natalie Slagle (21:25):

Wow.

Dan Slagle (21:27):

That's what I feel like the lesson was.

Natalie Slagle (21:30):

When you were saying this, I was thinking what … I didn't know why, but I was thinking what a strong parenting moment for your dad. I feel as if most parents, if they're having a really hard day with their child in the morning, they're like, “Get this kid off of my radar. Get him to school, get him to daycare.” That I think is most parents' response in a really difficult morning. And so, the fact that your dad did the opposite is really cool.

Dan Slagle (22:00):

Yeah. And I look at it now and parents pull kids out of school for vacations and stuff. So, I think he was totally in the right for having me do that. And so, that whole day, I got such a great experience of like, “Oh, here's what it's like to be self-employed and create your own path and provide for your family.” That day really stands out to me.

Dan Slagle (22:22):

The second thing I was going to say is I just grew up in (this is probably more so from my mom) a family where it was like gifts, like gift-giving was the love language across the board for everyone in my family. And it was always that way. And you and I can remember our first holiday together when my mom had dozens of gifts for you, and you were so overwhelmed.

Natalie Slagle (22:52):

I was a girlfriend of not that long, and I was like, “Wait, you have gifts for me? You have more than one gift for me? Like I'm getting as much as Dan?” I was very thrown off. Now, I'm very appreciative, but I was very thrown off.

Dan Slagle (23:09):

For sure. And when I went to your family's holiday and got a pair of socks, I was like, “Oh, interesting.”

Natalie Slagle (23:17):

You thought that my family didn't like you, and I was like, “Dang, you got socks, they must love you.”

Dan Slagle (23:23):

You're in, yeah.

Natalie Slagle (23:25):

Getting socks from a Fuchsel (that's my maiden name) is a love language in itself.

Dan Slagle (23:30):

Socks and gloves. You know how many socks and gloves I've received over the years? Probably 10, actually because it's been 10 holidays, but yeah.

Natalie Slagle (23:40):

And they always do the Hardy Minnesotan socks. We never buy those socks, and we never buy gloves because we're always getting them from our family.

Dan Slagle (23:49):

Let's go back to probably the follow-up question, which is: how have my experiences impacted my relationship with money today?

Natalie Slagle (23:58):

Yes.

Dan Slagle (23:59):

I'm still really into gift-giving.

Natalie Slagle (24:02):

You're so good at it.

Dan Slagle (24:04):

You receive the benefit of that. You and our daughter now and our dog.

Natalie Slagle (24:10):

You are such a good gift-giver that it creates anxiety for me when it's my turn to give you a gift because I’m like you're so good. Well, now, we're talking about love languages, and I think we were kind of talking about our money experiences and how they've impacted us today. How do you think your money experience has shaped in our household financial experience?

Dan Slagle (24:38):

Yeah, it's really interesting because you more so keep track of our finances from a household perspective. So, for me, it's like just not being in front of it as much.

Natalie Slagle (24:50):

Are you kind the passenger princess of our finances?

Dan Slagle (24:56):

Yeah, duh! I mean, that might change after this conversation.

Natalie Slagle (25:01):

Well, we're going to talk about it more in our next combo.

Dan Slagle (25:03):

Okay, let's go back. How has it impacted me? I know it's love languages, but gift giving is still really big. So, it has impacted me because I love giving gifts.

Natalie Slagle (25:14):

And we spend money on those gifts.

Dan Slagle (25:16):

We spend money on the gifts, I also love receiving gifts. The story with my dad, I don't know how that impacts me. Maybe I started a business and I’m self-employed, and I learned how to work hard for my family. And I think those are probably my biggest takeaways from the experiences I've shared.

Natalie Slagle (25:34):

Yeah, I feel like I actually gained a lot. I mentioned my dad, I've gained a lot of wisdom from how my mom spends money. I mean, my mom (you know this, Dan, and you've benefited from this), she works harder than anyone I know in my life, and her working is her job-job, and then working on providing her time for her family and her grandkids. And my mom is also very financially responsible.

Natalie Slagle (26:01):

So, I had this desire to be financially responsible for our family, like me, Dan, and our daughter, Jay. I feel like I've taken that on, and I've learned that through my parents, but I bring in money anxieties into this household that you do not, right? Wouldn't you say that?

Dan Slagle (26:24):

Yeah, I think so.

Natalie Slagle (26:26):

And I don't have an answer for that right now, but I know that that comes from somewhere. I think there was some instabilities in my household growing up, and so I think managing our household wealth is kind of a sense of security. If the spreadsheet says it's okay, then that creates a sense of security, and you're kind of over here like, “Great!”

Natalie Slagle (26:50):

What was it? Last night, I was like, “Hey, did you know …” we just redesigned our daughter's bedroom, essentially created her the nursery we always wanted to, and we hadn't gotten to yet. And I was like, “Dan, we spent $2,000 on that.” I kind of said it like, “Ooh!” And you're like, “Great money well spent.” And I was like, wow.

Dan Slagle (27:11):

I didn't say it that cooley, I said, “That's what we budgeted for …”

Natalie Slagle (27:17):

It is.

Dan Slagle (27:18):

Her room, and that's what we spent, so that's amazing. And the things in that room will provide a lot of joy for everyone. And you've said it's now your favorite room in the house.

Natalie Slagle (27:28):

It is.

Dan Slagle (27:29):

What is that worth to you?

Natalie Slagle (27:31):

Yeah, I would spend it again. I would spend it again.

Dan Slagle (27:34):

Interesting. Sometimes you just need to talk it through because in the moment, you didn't feel like that.

Natalie Slagle (27:39):

No, I felt like I was working on paying off our credit cards last night. I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I have to pull all this money to pay off the credit card.” And then now, I'm like, “Who cares!” It's incredible. Her room feels so lovely. It feels like an expression of her, and that's a good feeling.

Natalie Slagle (28:01):

Alright, Dan, how do we wrap this up? It's our first episode, we're amateurs.

Dan Slagle (28:06):

I have no idea. I think what I would do is just reiterate the questions that listeners can take away for themselves and ask their partner these questions as well, because it's really interesting what it unravels for you/what it uncovers for you as a household when you start dealing with money. So, Natalie, you want to repeat the framework for our listeners?

Natalie Slagle (28:29):

Yeah. So, ask your partner — even if you think you already know the answer, you should ask your partner because Dan and I have asked ourselves these questions before, and each time I feel like I learn a little something.

Natalie Slagle (28:41):

So, ask them again and let them speak and ask, “What was money like for you growing up?” That's it. “What was money like for you growing up?” And then after they share, ask them, “How do you think those experiences has impacted your relationship with money today?” Take the opportunity to share your responses as well.

Natalie Slagle (29:05):

This was fun, Dan. Thanks for hanging with me.

Dan Slagle (29:08):

Absolutely. We'll see you next time. Thanks.

Natalie Slagle (29:11):

Thanks.

[Music Playing]

Dan Slagle (29:15):

Hey, if you've enjoyed this episode and are looking for personalized financial guidance, schedule a free complimentary consultation using the link in the description below.

Dan Slagle (29:26):

Natalie and Dan Slagle are the founding partners of Fyooz Financial Planning, a registered investment advisor. The information provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only, and should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal.

Dan Slagle (29:47):

Advisory services are offered to clients or prospective clients where Fyooz Financial Planning and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. For more information, including our disclosures, please visit our website at www.fyoozfinancial.com.

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