This interview is with Erin Gray, Founder at Generate A Life Well Lived.

Erin Gray, Founder, Generate A Life Well Lived

Erin, welcome to FinancialPlanners.io! Could you tell our readers a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming a financial expert, especially your passion for empowering others through financial knowledge?

I wouldn't consider myself a financial expert. I'm not sure that I agree with the term. I think we have been taught within industries that there are "experts," but I believe that we can only be experts in our own lives. We know what is best for us, and many of us have been taught to outsource our power to "experts." My background is in financial planning, and I also helped run my family's water and wastewater construction business for 10 years. I realized that what really mattered to me was time freedom, freedom to travel, and to be location-independent, so I gathered enough courage to tell my family I didn't want to purchase the company or work there anymore. One of the things that I have realized over the years is how much power we give away to our bankers, tax advisors, attorneys, and financial planners. I believe the financial industry began as a way to empower us, and then somewhere along the way, we allowed them to drive the bus. We think because we don't know as much as they do that their opinion holds more weight than ours, but they aren't in our body; they aren't living our life. They don't have our dreams and goals. I like to look at our advisors as being on our team, and we are the quarterback; we get to make the decision ultimately. This comes down to trusting ourselves, and I believe many of us haven't developed that skill set. It's like any skill, so having your own back is something that gets stronger the more decisions you make and being there for yourself when it doesn't go as planned.

You've mentioned the concepts of '3D' and '5D' finance. How do you see these two approaches intertwining, particularly for someone who dreams of incorporating more travel into their life?

I realized that what I was searching for wasn't financial freedom, because for many of us, we have financial freedom, but we don't feel free. What I wanted to experience was financial ease. I wanted to feel free from my old beliefs around money and how I was supposed to use and give my money. I used to feel a lot of shame for spending the amount that we did on travel, and then I realized that travel was something that I valued a lot. Some people value having designer clothes and bags, or driving the newest car; I value travel and experiences, and so that is where we have decided to allocate some of our funds.

Many people dream of traveling more but worry about the financial implications. From your experience, what's the biggest misconception people have about funding their travel dreams?

I lived a lot of my life with the belief in 'someday,' and what that had me doing was waiting indefinitely. Nothing is guaranteed. I feel like sometimes we can use money as a weapon instead of a powerful, nourishing tool. The whole point of generating money is to have it, use it, give it, and share it in ways that light our soul on fire. If travel is something that is important to you, withholding that from yourself until you reach some milestone is like telling a kid when they want something that they can't have it until they meet all these expectations. The whole point of being on this planet is to have fun, evolve, and grow. Withholding the things we value and that light us up is not an act of kindness or love. You are worthy of enjoying your life now. You are worthy of making memories now. You can always start small and work up to the bigger trips if, in the beginning, the price tag or time off is too big of a jump for your nervous system. I believe the self-development world has created this fallacy that we have to go big or go home. We don't. We can start slow and small and see how it feels, and the irony is, the more steps we take, the more we prove to our brains and bodies that we are OK.

You've spoken about the importance of aligning financial decisions with personal values. How can someone interested in travel incorporate this principle into their financial planning?

Understand that living your life now is part of your financial plan. The point of generating the money we do is to have it, invest it, use it, and give it in ways that light our soul on fire. If we are withholding money from ourselves for the future and not getting to enjoy the present, that isn’t the point of money. Recognizing what your values are is important because we want to take care of ourselves now and in the future. Everyone is different. This is where you get to stand powerfully for what matters to you and invest your money accordingly. Investing doesn’t just apply to the stock market or real estate. Think about the investment in you when you travel. How do you evolve and grow? How much joy do you feel when you travel? What insights and awareness do you gain by traveling? Setting an amount that feels aligned to you and the way you want to travel into your financial plan is part of financial planning.

Let's talk practicalities. What's one financial strategy you've personally used to make travel more affordable or even generate income while exploring the world?

Understanding how much you want to spend on your travel experience is the third dimension of money. Recognizing and determining how you want to feel is the fifth dimension of money. If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed from a financial standpoint when it comes to traveling, I would suggest you take some time to get more clarity on why you are feeling this way and do some somatic work to help you release some of these emotions. Sometimes, when we are doing new things, some of our old patterns and beliefs come to the surface, which is great news because what is being asked of us is to evolve. If you build a travel plan and have funds allocated toward it, then the work is to allow ourselves to have fun and enjoy the experience.

Many people turn to credit cards or loans to fund their travel. What are your thoughts on using these financial tools responsibly to support travel goals?

Again, this is a personal decision. For me personally, and my family, we used some of our cash and our investments to fund our travels. We planned and spent in alignment with our values and the way we wanted to travel. If you are going to use credit cards or loans to fund your travel, I would be curious as to how you intend to repay them and when. What I have found is that when we are wanting to fund something with a credit card or loan when we currently don't have the funds, we might be rushing for the experience versus generating the money first to cover the experience. If this is the case, I would get curious as to what feeling you are wanting to feel from travel and whether you can feel that in your life now. If you were to slow down and really look within, you could find where you might already be experiencing that feeling, and you could focus more on that.