In this episode of Mindful Money, I talk with Summer Berlin, our new course manager, about her personal path out of poverty and into financial empowerment. Summer shares how growing up in a small Ohio farm town shaped her money mindset—and how exposure to positive messages about wealth slowly helped her transform it. We explore how mindset, not just money skills, drives lasting change. Summer also discusses her free personal finance booklet, created to help others start their own journey. It’s a conversation about worthiness, abundance, and why representation matters when learning to believe a better life is possible.

In this episode:
(00:00) - Intro
(02:36) - Summer's upbringing and early financial journey
(06:52) -Unlearning the scarcity mindset
(07:52) - How to navigate financial advice
(08:33) - Is early career growth mostly about luck?
(11:12) - "Learned helplessness" and forging a different path
(12:22) - How growing up in a small town shapes our beliefs about money
(16:31) - The role of influencers in teaching financial literacy
(18:43) - The biggest hurdles facing Millennials and Gen Z
(20:00) - Can social media be a tool for financial education?
(22:27) - How people responded to Summer’s personal finance booklet
(24:04) - The importance of budgeting and awareness of credit card debt
(26:13) - Summer's perfect day

Get full show notes and links at https://mindful.money.

ABOUT MINDFUL MONEY:
Do you struggle with money? You’re not alone.

Money is a means, not an end. It’s a necessity of life for sure, but more money does not always guarantee a “good life”. Money enables many aspects of modern life, but as a dominant consideration, it becomes destructive.

The paradox is that more time and energy spent on personal finance does NOT create better outcomes. Unlike many other parts of life, we can’t create better outcomes by being smarter, spending more time, or putting in more effort.

Join Mindful Money author and experienced 40-year investor Jonathan DeYoe as he shares stories from artists, authors, entrepreneurs, and other advisors about how they mindfully minimize their need to think about money and get more out of life.

If you aren’t happy with your finances, feel like money takes more time than it should, or want to place your financial decisions into the broader context of your life, this show is for you.

Each episode will draw the line between the “enough” activities that the academics tell us are additive to family outcomes, and those “little bit more” efforts that take time and sap energy but do NOT improve outcomes.

MINDFUL MONEY RESOURCES:
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