018 Cristina Livadary & Stephanie Bucko - Wealth Planning & Biz Building

00:58 – Introducing today’s guests, Cristina Livadary and Stephanie Bucko

02:37 – Cristina’s money story

06:04 – Stephanie’s money story

11:05 – Cristina and Stephanie share their thoughts on the current financial services industry

13:35 – The value Cristina and Stephanie place on educating their clients

17:08 – Wealth management

20:35 – The shift from big business to small business

25:05 – The importance of having fun

30:26 – Cristina and Stephanie speak to the three phases on onboarding clients

35:40 – What Zen Money means to Cristina and Stephanie

37:23 – Where listeners can connect with Cristina and Stephanie

Sound Bites:

“The ‘Aha Moment’ came to me when a dear friend lost her mom and came to me and said, ‘I know you work with so many financial advisors in Southern California. Who do you recommend you would trust with your parents’ money?’ And, unfortunately I drew a blank.” (04:44)

“About five years ago I started managing money for people, and that’s when I really fell in love with the industry because it was able to take a lot of the complicated topics that I had been learning and actually apply them to our everyday lives.” (08:00)

“We wanted to start a business based on compassionate finance, with the understanding that women are earning as much as men.” (12:16)

“When we talk about finance, we’re all about educating.” (13:35)

“It’s really amazing to have a business partner that you can trust and lean on, too. So I think that is one of the greatest gifts that we’ve recognized is that when I’m down, Stephanie is up. When she’s down, I’m up. We lift each other up.” (26:36)

“For me Zen, as a practitioner of meditation, means balance. And so, it’s something we strive to create in our lives every day, as well as in the lives of our clients by not putting too much focus on any one thing.” (36:10)

“It’s [Zen Money] is making your life fun and enjoyable and, ya know, don’t stress the small stuff. Money is a way to propel you to do things that you want to do.” (36:43)

About Cristina and Stephanie

Cristina is a Certified Financial Planner® and Registered Life Planner®. Formerly she led sales and consulting efforts as a Regional Director for Russell Investments, one of the world’s largest institutional investment consultants. In this role she worked for the Advisor and Intermediary Services division in both Southern California and Hawaiian markets. Cristina has consulted for and worked with over 10,000 financial advisors. After years of experience in the industry she grew dissatisfied with the wide disparities in knowledge, empathy, and skill within the advisor population. Today, she believes that even greater success can be achieved by solving issues holistically - with individuals and their families. Cristina designed her own life plan and has transitioned to her dream career as a financial life planner who does everything in her power to positively impact the lives of her clients. When she’s not hard at work, you can find Cristina in the great outdoors. She is passionate about surfing and adventuring around the world.

Stephanie is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst®. She audited hedge funds in New York City with PricewaterhouseCoopers during the 2008 financial crisis. Following this challenging work, Stephanie joined Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund as a risk manager for six years, handling $15 billion in hedge funds. After years of serving banks, pensions and endowments, Stephanie became interested in bringing institutional quality services to a broader population. In 2016, she left New York City to pursue a career in individual money management where she managed $200 million in assets across equities, bonds, and alternative investments. Stephanie recognized that investment management was only a small piece of the service that individuals truly need in a financial advisor. She decided that clients needed more from their advisors in order to succeed. Through this realization, she partnered with Cristina to bring Mana's vision to life. When Stephanie isn't devouring books on economics and markets, you can find her outside. Her favorite days are spent on the ski slopes or the golf course.

Links Mentioned:

Mana Financial Life Design Website

Cristina and Stephanie’s Mana Financial Email – [email protected]

Mana Financial Life Design Instagram

Mana Financial Life Design Facebook

Zen Money Financial Quiz

Zen Money Website