Master Your Relationship with Money with YeSeul Kim | Ep. 45

• Tiffany introduces YeSeul Kim, a business executive turned storyteller living in Italy, working on her book 'Business Love' and the 'Humans of Treviso' project.

• YeSeul describes growing up in Guam with entrepreneurial parents who owned a car rental company and driving school. Their success ended abruptly due to a plane crash and the Asian financial crisis.

We lost everything... we weren't sure where I would go to school in two weeks.

• At age 12, she began teaching English to support her family, managing 15 students from ages 3-18 while barely speaking Korean herself.

• Tiffany highlights the entrepreneurial genius of YeSeul's parents and acknowledges the trauma of a 12-year-old bearing such responsibility.

Money no longer became a rational thing... I also became a little bit obsessed with making money.

• YeSeul realized her sense of security never came despite earning more - she was using money to solve insecurities rooted in 20-year-old trauma.

• YeSeul reframes her experience: the adversity gave her confidence that she can 'start anything and figure things out as I go,' leading to seven different industry careers.

The self-confidence and the pride and the assurance that no matter what, I can figure things out - those are equally priceless.

• YeSeul describes her 'Gollum-like' approach to money - obsessively tracking what came in but avoiding tracking spending due to fear.

My husband is very rational. He's an engineer... I'd say 'you're spending too much' and he'd say 'that's your feeling, but what's it based on?'

• Analysis revealed YeSeul actually spent more than her husband in most months - her fears weren't based on current reality.

• They adopted a 'why' framework from business: asking what they're saving for, not just saving for its own sake.

• They use Ally Bank to create specific savings goals with separate 'pots' - $5,000/year for a dog, $10,000 for three vacations - making progress visible and emotionally satisfying.

It wasn't just a nebulous, infinite goal of saving.

• YeSeul's husband maintains an Excel 'wealth tracker' that automatically tabulates their assets. He highlights key numbers in green for her to review, giving her the visibility she needs without constant check-ins.

I can access it anytime I want... that calms me down. He can update it whenever he wants... we're still able to communicate and give each other both what we need.

• YeSeul shares her relationship framework: (1) Do you love each other? (2) Do you fulfill each other's needs - financial, spiritual, physical? (3) The tool or system that works for your specific dynamic.

• If neither partner enjoys financial tasks, outsource them - consider it an investment in the relationship.

• YeSeul describes her photojournalism project documenting stories of people in the conservative Italian town of Treviso, inspired by Humans of New York. The project helped her build community as an outsider.

• Stories are published 2-3 times weekly on Instagram and Facebook under 'Gente di Treviso.'