#awinewith Lucia Talotta
MEET Lucia Talotta, Founder of Marigold Money
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
Lucia, welcome to Spark tv. It's so lovely to have you here.
Lucia Talotta (00:08):
Thank you so much, Danielle. Nice to see you.
Danielle Lewis (00:11):
Yes, I'm excited to share your story today. Let's kick things off by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Lucia Talotta (00:18):
So my name's Lucia. I am a guest by trade, a lawyer. So I've worked in banking and private wealth and law for gosh, nearly 16 years showing my age. And I've always been really interested in financial literacy rates, especially for women, and in particular led the big wealth gap between men and women and the drivers behind that. So yeah, this year I kind of kicked off my own business, so I am building a financial literacy platform to help as many women as possible starting out in Australia to really improve financial literacy rates.
Danielle Lewis (01:00):
So why is this a problem? Are they bad? Let's talk about financial literacy rates for women. Let's fill everyone in.
Lucia Talotta (01:08):
Yeah, so there are big gaps, actually. I can pull the data and show it, but some of the systemic drivers are around really women taking career breaks for childcare or for other reasons. And then a lot of women working in casual or part-time work for flexibility reasons. And as a mom of two kids, I'm very familiar with the need to juggle work and childcare. And unfortunately we're still seeing a big gap in the genders with childcare responsibilities at home in Australia, and then a lot of women really being in careers and workplaces that are unfortunately more underpaid than a lot of industries that men might work in. And so it really compounds over time. And so that issue of all the wonderful benefits of compounding interest and how that works for us in a really amazing way over the long term actually works really negatively for a lot of women because you're getting that pay gap and then you're getting the lower hours and then the career breaks. And over time it just really works against you. And then at the end of your career, you might find out you have this enormous super gap, which is another sort of issue that you'll find out later in life that people don't like to think about when they're 25 and starting out because super, so boring.
Danielle Lewis (02:38):
Totally. And well, it's really funny, as you were just talking, I'm like, I feel like women, and maybe this is a mass generalization that I'm about to say, and everyone's going to hate me, but I feel like we make the decisions for the best for our families and the best for our communities, and we don't really think about pay gaps. Super. I feel like our priority is I'm ready for a family. I am going to do the majority of the looking after caregiving. And I almost think that we prioritize that and think about that and then just take what we can get when it comes to everything else, when it comes to work, when it comes to finance, it's almost, you don't look at it because family is the priority.
Lucia Talotta (03:27):
Yeah, absolutely. But it's thinking about how can I protect my own sort of financial wellbeing whilst also prioritizing family because ultimately the interests of your family come first obviously, but you need that financial independence in order to take care of them as well. So it's trying to find a way to even, and I think one of the gaps is that we're not really taught a lot of these things in school, so we're sort of thrown into the workforce and into family without really ever being taught about how we might be able to boost our super early on so we don't have to think about it for the next 20, 30 years or how we might be able to automate some kind of really small savings amount or investment amount or whatever it might be, so that in the long term you create that buffer of protection for yourself and you can still prioritize family. Absolutely. And then even look at alternative sources of income as well. Yeah, there's a lot there that I think just needs to be a bit more openly discussed.
Danielle Lewis (04:37):
Totally. And that's super interesting. So I think maybe because I'm in the women in business space, I hear a lot of the problem, the issues that we're all talking about and some solutions, but I've never actually thought about that. I've never actually thought about the fact that if you were educated that making those decisions early on, even if you didn't have a partner, so going, okay, long-term, sure, I'll find a man or woman, I'll get married, we'll have kids, all of the things, tick all the boxes, and perhaps I'm going to run into these issues. Let me sort it out now while I'm early in my career, maybe before I've even found said life partner and decided to have kids like that, I'm just reflecting. When I started work 20 plus years ago, that would never have been a consideration. I would never have given that an a thought, let alone a second thought. I actually think that's so cool that there's actually a solution. I didn't realize that there was actually solutions to this problem
Lucia Talotta (05:45):
Mean. Yeah, and looking back at some of the decisions that I made, even just by pure luck, I think are really good learnings for me is that I was lucky enough to work in a investment banking role where you could make this tiny salary sacrifice and just make this tiny amount of savings from each paycheck. And I just kind of ticked the box when I joined and didn't really think about it, and it was like a hundred pounds a month or something. I don't know what it was, but it would just come out and you wouldn't even notice it because it came out of your paycheck when you were starting to earn and you didn't really think about things like this that you mentioned. And then over time, that kind of goes into a separate pot that you just really forget about. And then now sort of 10 or so years later, you're like, oh wow, I'm really glad that kind of happened by chance and now I've got this little buffer to help me out if things go pear shaped for whatever reason financially. And it's that kind of learning that I think more women need to know about or need to think about early twenties, early thirties even. It's not too late, so anytime. But yeah, if we can get the word out to help as many people as possible.
Danielle Lewis (07:02):
Totally. And that's what's going through my mind right now is how do you reach young people? How do we reach young women and let them know about issues they may potentially face? But small things, and I love what you said often it's these tiny little things that you don't even notice. You don't even notice that it's a little bit coming out of your paycheck, and then that is you ticking and looking after future you for without immediate pain.
Lucia Talotta (07:30):
Yeah, exactly. So there's all this girl math out online and there's heaps of influences and stuff, and I think it's easy to get distracted by it all and trying to work out the good content from the slightly, but there's really basic principles underlining it all and underlying it all. And I think going back to those basic principles, yeah, absolutely. If there's a way to just make those easy kind of pain, less painful decisions early on that really give you that benefit long term. And no one, I mean no really wants to think about super or savings or even investing boring. So try and just think about it as a way to invest in I think future you as well.
Danielle Lewis (08:20):
Yeah, I love that.
Lucia Talotta (08:22):
And another way I really like to think about it is, what kind of retirement do you want to have? Do you want to have the freedom to go on a holiday and go on a cruise and do whatever when you're in your fifties or sixties or whatever? Or what kind of things do you want to be able to afford? So if there's a way to just make those tiny decisions early on, it'll really reap benefits in the long run for you.
Danielle Lewis (08:50):
Yeah, that is so good. I just feel like as women, even now, it's like the word let every woman you come into contact with know that there are options available. I think the more that we have these discussions, and particularly, it's funny you talk about the influences and the girl math, and I get that oftentimes it's a joke and there's entertainment content that goes out there and all of that kind of stuff. But I really have a problem with some of the content that's out around at the moment that just hones in and makes light of the problem and doesn't offer these solutions. And just, again, I know I've got to lighten up and it is entertainment and social media's not really all those things, but I'm like, it is such a great way to connect with a certain demographic, if not everyone, because we're all on bloody social media these days. But we really do need to be conscious, I think, of using it as a tool to communicate solutions and not just always make light of the problem.
Lucia Talotta (09:57):
Yeah, absolutely. I dunno where to start with social media. Oh, that's like a whole other podcast, all sorts of stuff online. You're just tearing your hair out. But I think absolutely, if there's a way to use that in a positive way to get a really strong message out until there's better programs in schools, then I think, yeah, that's sort of what we need to use what we've got at hand. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (10:24):
Oh, I know. It's just unboxing a can of worms, isn't it? Yeah, I think So. How are you going about building this? So how are you going from, okay, transition to lawyer land, which was potentially lots of consulting and service-based work. How are you transitioning into building this platform and getting this solution out there?
Lucia Talotta (10:48):
So at the moment, I've been doing B2B type work, so training employees and doing new joiner type training, especially in women, more women centered type industries. But at the moment I'm looking to build into a more B2C model, so training direct to women all over the place, and that's through building an online training platform. So yeah, I was lucky enough to join a Start Mate program last year and do their launch club program, which opened my eyes to heaps of technical types and all sorts of cool options to build. So at the moment I'm doing that platform build and then we'll have a really cool product to be able to help more women and kind of build community as well to make it a bit more fun and a bit less boring. Hopefully that's the idea. And see where it goes from there.
Danielle Lewis (11:49):
That's so cool. What was the Start Mate program? That's awesome.
Lucia Talotta (11:53):
Oh yeah, it was actually, so that's a 12 week program called Launch Club, so that's their pre-accelerator program. So they kind of take people in that have an idea of a business, and through that you get to meet lots of different people in their networks and do lots of different trainings and learn a lot about building a business, which is cool.
Danielle Lewis (12:15):
Yeah, that's so cool. It's really interesting. I think that there is, I guess back to social media, there's so much content around, but it's also piecemeal. I just love some of these accelerators and programs that we have in Australia that have, and I know MATE has really solid experts and entrepreneurs and residents and people that you can tap into. So I'm always curious as to how the programs are and if they're worth it.
Lucia Talotta (12:42):
Yeah, I think it's definitely worth it if you're interested. And then I think that's sort of their feeder into the accelerator, which is where they will invest in your idea. Cool. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (12:57):
That's so cool. I love it. I love it. What have you found has been the biggest challenge for you so far? Building the business?
Lucia Talotta (13:07):
For me personally, it's more probably marketing and sales. That's not kind of my natural area, so it's trying to work out the best way to do that. And so far it's just been through word of mouth and networks, which has been great, more organic growth. And then now with the tech side of it and with hopefully scaling it, it will be more online sales and marketing.
Danielle Lewis (13:33):
Yeah, it's interesting. I think that that is one of the biggest challenges for everybody. Oftentimes we start businesses because we have a really strong skillset or strong passion for something, and it's like, I know this is a problem and I know I've got the solution, but actually getting the word out is really difficult.
Lucia Talotta (13:56):
I learned a lot. I had a, maybe going on a tangent, but I had a sleepwear business. I started when I was on maternity leave.
Danielle Lewis (14:03):
Cool.
Lucia Talotta (14:04):
And it was kind of a side hustle type project, and I built, designed and made this collection that I loved, and then I didn't really learn anything until I put it to market and got all the data back from the sales through the Facebook advertising around what people actually wanted and whether I had the right product market fit. And then from that data I was like, oh, okay. So they don't like those colors and they like this kind of cut. So yeah, I learned so much from putting it to market, and I think that's what the MATE program teaches as well is the faster you can get it out there, you get that feedback loop of data and then you can start customizing and building what the customer actually wants rather than just thinking, I know what I need to do,
Danielle Lewis (14:56):
Which we all do. But it's interesting in the digital space, and I kind of don't think people realize this as much when it's a physical product like sleepwear. So it is actually hard because you've got to kind of do it and put it out there. Sure, there are things you can do perhaps to get feedback before you fully design and manufacture, but it is so much harder because people are still trying to visualize what you are wanting to put out there. But in the digital space, you can mock up a landing page in an afternoon and start sending it out and start asking people questions and getting their feedback straight away, which is kind of what I love about digital products.
Lucia Talotta (15:39):
Yeah, it's amazing. It's much faster.
Danielle Lewis (15:42):
Has there been any surprises for you as you've been building marigold?
Lucia Talotta (15:48):
Yeah, I think the feedback loop for me so far, I've had a lot of questions around dodgy lending products that I wasn't really expecting. And then the feedback's been more I think around the real need for quality financial advice. And my product is not financial advice, so should give that disclaimer. It's very much just the education piece,
(16:19):
But part of the education is like, okay, recognizing maybe I do need to speak to an expert and get financial advice. So who do I speak to? Where do I go? What kind of questions should I be asking that advisor? And then how does that relationship work and what kind of fees would I be looking at for it as well? And as one of the things I've observed is there's a kind of bigger barrier to entry to that world. For a lot of people it's either because it seems a bit, it's pretty opaque, a lot of women probably, there are hardly any world. There's a very few female financial advisors around nowadays. There's been lots of changes in the industry as well. And then even just knowing who to go to. So yeah, there's a lot of barriers there. And that's been a lot of the feedback loop I've been getting as well, so yeah.
Danielle Lewis (17:15):
Yeah, it's interesting too, and I think that the education piece is so important. I hear a lot around, well, and I think, I don't know if it's just been in the last few years, that we've heard a lot more about how financial abuse is a real issue in domestic violence. I think historically we've thought about women and domestic violence in physical abuse, and I know even in WA where I am, they've just passed a coercive control law and all of those types of things. And I kind of think though, there's still so much education that needs to go on in the financial literacy space because I don't think people realize what the connection is between domestic and financial abuse, but even just what is happening to them, I just think that there is this big gap in education around what women experience and what is right and wrong.
Lucia Talotta (18:14):
Absolutely. It's so much of an issue now, and it's so insidious because it's that kind of almost silent form of abuse,
(18:23):
Not physical, it's not verbal, but there are ways that coercive control that you don't even recognize with certain types of narcissistic type financial abuse. The partner could be like, I'll buy you this, or I'll buy you a car, or I'll, don't worry, I'll take care of it for you. And you're like, oh, super cool if I don't have to worry about it. But really that's just a kind of insidious way of controlling you and removing your independence. And so it's really important that people have that educational piece so they can protect themselves in a way they have that financial independence so that if they need to make those difficult decisions to leave those types of relationships or to even just prevent getting into them in the first place, they have that basis there. So yeah, there's a lot of work to be done, but there's always, and if people need help, there's always places they can go to get it as well.
Danielle Lewis (19:25):
Yeah, absolutely. And I'll make sure that we drop some phone numbers and links in the show notes of this episode, so if anybody's listening that they can have a look at some places to go if they are worried about their circumstances. But yeah, it is just really interesting and I am having more and more conversations. So we're a part of supporting the women's shelter here where I live, and it's just becoming more and more commonplace. And it was actually really interesting. My husband went along to an event and it was like his eyes were open up. He was like, oh my God, do I say these things? Obviously not. So it's fine. But I almost think there's so much education that needs to go on, so even guys can understand what is right, what is wrong, so they can be on the listen out. If they hear men talking about particular things, they can also understand the flags as well.
Lucia Talotta (20:26):
Yeah, for sure. And I've actually this year gone back to do a diploma of financial counseling as well to boost that area of my expertise and to help with the programs that I'm running. But through that, there's been a lot of issues, financial abuse that have come out as well. So yeah, unfortunately it's something that definitely needs a lot of attention. Attention. Yeah. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (21:01):
For sure. Absolutely. Well, I think what you're doing is absolutely incredible, and I'm very excited for it all to come to light, and obviously we will share that with the community as well. Now, I always love to wrap up these podcasts with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her journey?
Lucia Talotta (21:29):
I would say don't ignore the financials as boring as they're, because I'm personally bootstrapping and it's easy to just say worry about that later. But I think for sure the financials. But absolutely be dogmatic and keep going with whatever it is that your plan is, because yeah, there's always going to be setbacks in the way, but there's always a way to get around it. So yeah, keep going forward.
Danielle Lewis (21:55):
I love that. And you are right. I mean, it doesn't matter how big you get, there's always challenges, but there's always ways to move forward and things to move past it. So don't give up on your dreams. What a bloody great way to end. I think you're amazing. Thank you so much, Lucia, for coming on Spark tv. It was a pleasure to have you.
Lucia Talotta (22:16):
Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
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