Laura Rotter goes solo in this episode to introduce something new she's weaving into upcoming conversations: astrology — and she wants to explain why before you react. As a CFP, CFA, and MBA from NYU Stern with years in institutional investing, Laura knows what eyebrows this raises. But in her work with women around money, she's noticed something the spreadsheets can't explain: two women with nearly identical finances can have completely different relationships with money. The difference, she says, is in the person.

In this episode, Laura introduces the concept of archetypal systems — frameworks developed over centuries to understand the patterns that shape us — and explains how astrology, at its most thoughtful, functions as a mirror for self-knowledge, not a prediction tool. She connects this to the "money scripts" psychologists describe and explores how understanding your relationship with planets like Saturn and Venus can illuminate why you relate to money the way you do.

This is a preview of what's coming: conversations with women navigating life transitions, viewed through both a financial and archetypal lens. The Chiron return at 50. The second Saturn return in your late 50s. The Pluto transit that asks where you've given your power away. Laura isn't asking you to believe — she's asking you to stay curious.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The difference in how two women with identical finances relate to money isn't in the numbers — it's in the person
• Archetypal systems (like astrology and Jungian frameworks) are tools for self-knowledge, not personality tests
• Astrology as Laura uses it is a mirror, not a prediction tool — she's skeptical of predictive astrology too
• Every financial decision is filtered through a lens of meaning shaped by family, culture, and early experiences
• "Money scripts" — unconscious money beliefs — can be explored through archetypal frameworks
• Saturn in your chart reveals how you relate to structure and long-term planning; Venus reveals what you truly value
• Upcoming episodes will explore life transitions (career change, divorce, retirement) through both financial and archetypal lenses
• Major astrological cycles to watch: Chiron return (~age 50), second Saturn return (late 50s), Pluto transit

CONNECT WITH LAURA

Website: trueabundanceadvisors.com

Email: laura@trueabundanceadvisors.com

Interested in a Money & Stars Profile? Email Laura for a 60-minute session combining your birth chart and financial picture.

Christine Mathieu grew up with champagne taste on a beer budget — her mother's words, repeated so often they became a wound. From a gifted dancer whose knee injury ended her performing arts career, to a financial advisor who quietly filed for bankruptcy while serving clients, Christine has lived through upheaval that would break most people. In this conversation, she shares how divorce, financial collapse, and a life rebuilt through Buddhism, metaphysics, and money coaching taught her that real wealth begins with your inner world — and that the question she lives by, "Says who?", is the most liberating thing anyone can ask themselves.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL DISCOVER

• Why hearing "you have champagne taste on a beer budget" as a little girl shaped Christine's financial struggles for decades
• How a knee injury at 19 derailed a dance career — and led her to art history, writing, and eventually wealth coaching
• What Christine noticed during the 2008 recession that made her realize financial advice alone was never enough
• The hidden financial abuse inside one of her marriages — and how she used money strategically to protect her children
• Why she became a Metaphysical Minister, a practicing Buddhist, and a certified money coach — and how they all connect
• The difference between "follow the push" and "follow the pull" — and why Christine now lives entirely by the latter
• How she helps clients facing retirement or divorce reconnect to their values, identity, and core desired feelings

ABOUT CHRISTINE MATHIEU

Christine Mathieu is Western New York's only Certified Money Coach (CMC)® and a Wealth Coach at Note Advisors. A former financial advisor and current Metaphysical Minister, she blends spiritual insight with grounded financial wisdom to support women navigating midlife transitions. Having personally experienced divorce, bankruptcy, cancer, and reinvention, Christine understands that true change begins within. Through compassionate inquiry and her signature question, "Says who?", she helps women release fear-based beliefs, reclaim self-trust, and redefine wealth as a state of peace, purpose, and possibility — creating meaningful change from the inside out.

CONNECT WITH CHRISTINE

🌐 Website: www.noteadvisor.com/wealth-coaching/

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christineamathieu

📸 Instagram: @christine.mathieu | @sayswho.whatfor

🎯 Take the Money Types Quiz: www.noteadvisor.com/the-money-types-quiz/

📅 Book a Money Confidence & Clarity Audit: calendly.com/christine-wealthcoach/finding-peace-clarity-after-divorce

Imagine lying in bed, laptop open, typing an apology to a client because your body has completely given out — a full allergic reaction on top of a car accident on top of a shoulder that can't lift above your head. You're 48. A UC Berkeley researcher. A mother. And for the first time in your life, you're turning down work.

Kara Sammet grew up with one foot in two very different worlds. Her mother — a single mom on public assistance — stretched every dollar, chose between bus fare and macaroni and cheese, and built herself into a CPA with a 4.0 the same year Kara graduated middle school. Her father's family, meanwhile, skied in Aspen. The message Kara absorbed was sharp and clear: your safety depends on your ability to earn. Work hard, save everything, never go into debt. And never make too much money — because people with money think they're better than you.

She carried that drive all the way to a PhD in educational statistics, a research post at UC Berkeley, and a seat at the table with tenured faculty from Harvard. She was doing important work — helping tech companies like Google, Snap, and Cisco bring more women into leadership. But it was soft-money contract work. And she was running herself into the ground.

At 48, her body staged a revolt. Shoulder injury. Constant illness. Nearly 50 extra pounds. A doctor who shrugged and said: "You're almost 50. That's just what happens." A yoga teacher who said: that's not true — go find a physical therapist. So Kara did. She paid that yoga teacher to walk a mile with her while she rehabbed her shoulder. She set a goal: run three miles around the lake by her 50th birthday. She did it. Then kept going — to triathlons, to 100-mile bike rides, to half Ironmans.

When the pandemic hit and her academic contracts dried up, she made the pivot. The colleagues asking "how are you doing what you're doing?" became her first clients. The behavior-change research she'd spent a career studying became the method. And Healthspan Habits was born — coaching high-achieving adults, especially women, from couch to consistency using neuroscience, community, and compassion.

Her definition of success hasn't changed at its core: do work that matters, and trust that financial stability follows. What has shifted is where she believes safety comes from. Not from external circumstances. From within.

Guest

Kara Sammet is the founder of Healthspan Habits and a behavior-change coach helping high-achieving adults build sustainable, active lifestyles for long-term health and longevity. A former global tech consultant (Google, Snap, UN Women) with a PhD from UC Berkeley, Kara blends neuroscience, identity-based habit design, and community to move people from knowing what to do to actually doing it.

Connect with Kara

• Website: https://www.karasammet.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kara.sammet
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karasammet/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karasammet

Resources

• Healthspan Habits — coaching programs and resources: https://www.karasammet.com