Centsational Women Investing: Personal Finance, Wealth & ETF Investing for European Women
Welcome to Women Investing: Investing Made Simple for European Women the money podcast for women who live anywhere in the European Continent and want to invest but have no idea where to start. Whether you’re in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, or anywhere else in Europe you’re in the right place. We welcome everyone who calls Europe home, including expats and Americans living here! Investing is only for rich men in suits… right? LOL. Nope. Not here.Whether you: - Don’t know what a portfolio is - Feel intimidated by the word “investing” and by the whole process - Or secr...
235. Portfolio Volatility: Why A "Calm" Portfolio Is The Bigger Risk (And Who's Getting Rich Off Your Fear)
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Every investor says they want a portfolio that doesn't move. This episode explains why that might be the worst thing you could ask for.
We break down what's really happening every time the market swings, and why the discomfort you're trying to avoid might be the exact thing separating investors who build wealth from investors who don't.
You'll learn:
Why a portfolio that never moves could be a warning sign instead of a good oneWhat actually happens in the market during moments of fear and excitement, and who...234. Salary Negotiation For Women: You Weren't Rejected, You Never Actually Asked (Do THIS Before Your Next Review)
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There's a number you already know. The raise you should have asked for two years ago. The rate you keep undercharging because saying the real one out loud feels too big for your mouth. The sentence you've rehearsed in the shower and never once said to your partner, your boss, or the client who's clearly getting more of you than they're paying for.
In this episode of The Ask, all four of us sit down with that number and the moment right before it gets said. Because here's the part almost...
233. Investing Mistake: Why "Just Hold" Is Secretly Bleeding Your Portfolio (Do THIS Math Before You Decide)
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This is the investing mistake almost every investor makes without realizing it, and the number behind it is not what you'd expect.
Everyone tells you the same thing when a stock drops: just hold, it'll come back. But in this episode, we show you the math nobody does before saying that, and why the real cost isn't the drop itself. It's something most investors never even calculate.
You'll learn:
The real math behind loss recovery that almost everyone gets wrong, and why the true number is bigger than...232. Investing Procrastination: Why Knowing What To Do With Your Money Still Isn't Enough To Make You Do It
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You know the move. You've known it for years. And still, every month, the money goes somewhere else, and the account you meant to open stays closed. In this episode, Francesca sits down with the full table, Melanie, Kristin, and Dagmar, to look at one of the strangest patterns in a woman's relationship with money: having the knowledge, and still standing still.
The freeze that keeps you from starting the thing you already know you need to start is doing something for you, whether you can see it or not. And...
231. How The Top 1% Of Investors Use SpaceX News To Predict Market Moves (And The Mistake Costing You Profits THIS Week)
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SpaceX just had its best quarter yet. Somewhere on the internet, someone is taking a very public victory lap for calling it years ago.
In today's Espresso, we break down the very human reason "I told you so" stories work on us even when the full picture is messier than the headline, plus the one question that separates real insight from a lucky guess with excellent timing.
You'll learn:
The detail missing from every "I called it" story you'll ever readWhy one right prediction feels like...230. Money & Sex: The Data Showing Why Financially Anxious Women Have Worse Sex
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Martinis poured, doors closed the Centsational ladies say the quiet part out loud. There's a real number from actual research that ties two things you've never once put in the same sentence, and once you hear it, you won't be able to un-hear it.
They get into why your body can't fully let go with anyone — a partner, a friend, yourself — while a part of you is still standing guard at your bank account. Why the same shame that shows up around your body shows up around money, in the exact same...
229. Portfolio Risk Mistake: Why A Good Market Year Is Hiding How Badly Yours Is Actually Built
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You check your banking app. Markets are up this week, and so is your number. You feel fine. Maybe even a little proud of yourself.
But fine, in a good market, doesn't tell you what you think it tells you. A rising market can hide a badly built portfolio for years. Nothing looks wrong, because almost everything looks fine when the tide is coming in. The real test only shows up later, when the tide goes out, and by then it's expensive to learn the truth.
In this episode...
228. Salary Negotiation For Women: Why Your 20% Raise Is Actually A Trapped Identity Keeping You Underpaid & Overworked
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She was thrilled with her 20% raise. Then a male colleague mentioned, almost in passing, that he wouldn't take a job for less than 50%.
That's the moment everything cracked open and it's where this episode starts.
Being excellent at your job and being paid for it are two completely different skills. The world only ever trained you in one of them. In this episode, we unpack why competence and compensation come apart for women specifically — the conditioning, the fear of "upsetting the bear," the years of being praised for being ea...
227. What Is "Good Debt" — and Why Rich Women Use It on Purpose
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Most of us were handed one flat rule about money as children: debt is bad. Debt is danger. Debt is the thing that ruins people. And for a lot of women, it's wrapped in something heavier than logic — shame, and the quiet belief that owing money means you failed.
So we build our whole financial identity around avoiding it. It feels responsible. But in this Espresso, Francesca gently makes the case that running from debt entirely isn't sophistication — it's fear wearing a nice coat. And it's costing you more than you thin...
226. Building An Investing 'F-You Fund' Is Controlling Your Entire Life: Do THIS To Stop Bleeding Cash Before You Quit
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Your grandmother's generation had a name for it and they kept it a secret, tucked in a drawer. In this episode of the Centsational Aperitivo, we're pouring a slightly spicier glass and talking about something almost no one teaches women directly: the money that is entirely yours.
It goes by many names running away money, freedom money, peace-of-mind money. But it has almost nothing to do with running away. It's not about a dramatic exit or a relationship gone wrong. You can be happy in your marriage, your home, your job...
225. Investing Mistake: Why Chasing "Hot" Stocks Is Just Texting The Ex Who Only Wants You Back Now That You've Moved On
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There's a moment almost every woman knows. It's late, you're on your phone, and a stock — a sector, a "theme" — keeps coming up. The chart is going up and up, someone you know apparently made a lot, and something in your chest does a little flip. Everyone's getting this except me. I'm late. I should do something.
In this episode of Centsational Women Investing, we sit with that flip — and why it has quietly cost smart, capable women more money than any market crash ever has. Because the hard part of invest...
224. Luxury Spending Mistake: The Birkin Test That Reveals If You're Buying Status Or Building Wealth
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In this episode, we pour the martinis and ask the one question that quietly separates a real investment from an expensive way to feel important: would you buy this thing if you could never show it to anyone or tell anyone about it?
In this episode:
The question that reveals whether you're buying the object or buying your own statusBought status vs. earned status — and why one disappears while the other can never be taken from youWhat the Birkin "14% a year" claim leaves out (and who's really making that math wo...223. Global Economy Shift: The World Just Stopped Chasing Cheap Workers — What It's Chasing Now Will Change Your Portfolio
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For 40 years, the entire global economy has run on one simple rule. A humanoid robot working full shifts on a factory floor just started to break it and almost nobody is explaining what it means.
In this Espresso & the Economy, we unpack one of the deepest currents moving markets right now.
In about eight minutes, you'll get:
The single rule that has run global trade for 40 years and why it's cracking nowThe strange new question the whole world is starting to ask instead (yes, it involves robots)Why...222. Salary Negotiation For Women: Why Asking For More Teaches Your Boss How To Treat You (Do THIS Before Your Next Ask)
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Somewhere in a sunlit café in Paris, the four of us leaned in to talk about the one thing most women would rather avoid entirely: asking for more money.
Because here's the truth we kept coming back to — you teach people how to treat you. Including your boss.
We cover:
Why your voice goes tight and your breath goes shallow the moment you have to ask The hidden belief underneath the fear Why the first "no" is a test and the mindset shift...221. European Investing Mistake: The Cozy Money Habit Costing Women A Fortune — Fix THIS Before It's Too Late
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Your friend at dinner says it with total confidence: "I only invest in Europe I like to keep my money where I understand it." Everyone nods. It sounds wise. It sounds grounded :) It's also costing her.
In this Espresso shot, Francesca unpacks why the American market keeps sprinting while Europe jogs in plain language, no economics degree required.
This is the difference between women who read about investing and women who actually become investors.
Familiar is a feeling. Diversified is a decision.
🎧 Ready to build a c...
220. Retirement Savings Mistake: What Your Botox & Highlights Budget Could Be Worth If You Invested It Instead
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Let's do something a little dangerous over our espresso today: let's actually add it up.
The hair. The nails. The lashes. The facials, the massages, the gels, the "one more" moisturiser on an already full shelf. None of it is something to feel guilty about we love all of it. But almost no woman ever totals what it costs across a lifetime, and the number can quietly reach six figures.
Three things we get into:
Why spending on looking good feels so easy and building wealth feels so...219. Stock Market Bubble Or Correction: The One-Question Test That Tells You Which One You're In
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Everyone's whispering the word "bubble" right now — and the headlines want you scared before you understand anything. In this Espresso episode, Francesca shows you why "is this a bubble?" is the wrong question, and the one simple test that turns any frightening market headline into something you can read calmly.
In this episode:
Why the word "bubble" is suddenly everywhere and what's actually happening in the market right now (the tech and AI pullback, in plain language)Correction vs. bubble — the one distinction that changes how every headline lands, explained with...218. Investing For Women: Why "I'm Too Stupid To Invest" Is The Sentence Costing You The Most
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I'd love to start… but I don't understand enough yet.
If you've ever said it, this one's about you and it's not what you think. Over a cocktail, Francesca, Melanie and Kristin take apart the most paralyzing sentence in a woman's financial life.
In this episode:
Why "I don't understand enough" is almost never an information problemThe quiet difference between waiting to feel ready and building readinessWhy the women who "know the most" are so often the ones who invest the leastYou don't need to understand ev...
217. Elon Musk's Salary: The Number That Should Change How You See Your Own Money Right Now
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The richest man alive reportedly pays himself a salary of just $54,080 a year. It's true and almost everyone read it backwards.
In this episode:
Why "he only earns $54,080" is completely true and completely beside the pointIncome vs. wealth: the river and the reservoir, and why we were taught to watch the wrong oneHow the very wealthy actually fund their lives (and why it isn't a salary)Listen now!
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216. Extra Income Mistake: Why Yours Keeps Disappearing — And How To Turn It Into Wealth Before It's Too Late
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Most women treat extra income as spending money… a little reward, a treat, a "I earned it so I can enjoy it." And then it quietly disappears. In this episode, Melanie shows you why that one decision is the difference between a side project and a real investment engine.
What you'll learn in this episode:
The percentage model for handling every euro that comes in (bonus, rebate, winnings, side income)How to enjoy your money and invest it without resentment or guiltWhat lifestyle inflation really costs you by age 60Creative, lo...215. Investing Strategy: Own The Canal Not The Ship — Where The Real Money Is Actually Hiding
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Everyone watches the ship. Almost no one watches the canal.
In this episode, I share one mental model that, once you see it, you can't un-see, the quiet reason the obvious investment is almost never the one that makes people wealthy. We'll go from the great age of shipping to the phone in your hand, and I'll show you why the real value (and the real risk) almost always sits one layer beneath the headlines.
This is the difference between consuming money facts and becoming a woman who can...
214. Investing Over 40, 50 & 60: The Truth About Whether It's Too Late — It's Not What You Think
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You'll hear why women say "it's too late" about money with a grief they'd never feel about learning a language, what to do if you're starting at 50 or 55, how to set a goal that's actually realistic, and why the answer is almost always: it's not too late but you do need the right structure and support around you.
What you'll learn in this episode:
Whether it's realistically possible to start investing at 40, 50, 55 or olderThe "everything or nothing" mindset that keeps women stuck and how to break itWhy age gets wrongly a...213. Market Highs Investing Mistake: The Most Expensive One Women Make (And Are Making Right Now)
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You finally did it. You put money in the market. Things are going well and instead of feeling good, you feel tense. You're watching the number, waiting for it to all fall apart.
That feeling has a name, a mechanism, and a cost. And if you don't understand it, it won't just bite you once it'll cost you again and again, across your entire investing life.
In this episode, we unpack:
The hidden reason your brain screams sell at exactly the wrong moment (it's not a flaw — it's anc...212. Investing Procrastination: Why Knowing What To Do With Your Money Isn't Enough
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You've done the research. You understand the strategy. You even agree with it. And yet you still haven't done it.
Today I'm joined by Kristin, our certified somatic and accountability coach inside the Academy, and we're going somewhere most financial podcasts never go: your body.
We cover the four nervous system patterns that quietly run your financial decisions (scarcity, hypervigilance, freeze, and fawn), where they come from, and what it actually takes to change them not just understand them, but genuinely shift them.
Because investing isn't only...
211. Stock Market Investing: The Hidden Force Behind Rising Markets Most Investors Have Never Heard Of
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Most people think they understand why stock markets go up. Companies do well, prices rise. Simple, right?
Not quite.
There are actually two completely separate forces that drive markets higher and if you only know one of them, you're missing half the picture. More importantly, you're making decisions based on an incomplete map.
In this episode:
— The two engines that drive stock prices higher (and why most people only know one)
— What multiple expansion is, explained with a bakery
— Why...
210. Investing Over 40: Is It Too Late? The Answer That Changes Everything
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Every week a woman asks us this question a little quietly, a little ashamed: is it too late for me to start?
In this episode Francesca sits down with the full Centsational Women team to answer it honestly. No false comfort. No "it's never too late!" cheerleading. Just the real answer, the numbers, and what starting at 40, 45 or 50 actually builds.
Because underneath that question is almost always something else entirely. And that's where the real conversation begins.
If you're ready to stop wondering and start building book...
209. Inflation Investing Mistake: What Smart Women Do About The Problem Nobody Can Fix
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Prices are rising. Wages aren't keeping up. And yet the stock market just hit an all-time high. If that feels confusing — this episode is for you.
In today's episode I break down why the inflation we're living through right now is fundamentally different from anything central banks know how to fix, how one geopolitical conflict is directly raising the price of your groceries, and what this moment actually means for your money.
Understanding the type of economic problem you're facing is the first step to making smart financial decisions.
...208. Investing Readiness Trap: Why "Waiting To Feel Ready" Is Costing You Years
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You've read the articles. You've listened to the podcasts. You understand the basics. So why haven't you started investing yet?
Spoiler: it's not because you don't know enough.
This week, Francesca sits down with KristIn, our somatic and accountability coach, to talk about the real reason intelligent, high-earning women stay on the sidelines and what actually moves them forward.
Because the problem was never information. It was never the right moment. It was your nervous system. And in this episode, we explain exactly why and w...
207. Salary Increase Mistake: Why Your Pay Rise Is Making You Feel Broker Than Ever
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You got a pay rise this year. So why does money still feel tight?
In this episode, we break down one of the most important — and most quietly confusing — things happening in the economy right now: the difference between what your salary says on paper, and what it's actually worth in real life.
You'll learn what real wages are and why this single concept changes how you read any financial headline. You'll understand how inflation works as a slow, invisible leak on your savings and why cash is not as sa...
206. Investing Fear: What If I Lose Everything — The Honest Answer Nobody Gives You
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There's one question that comes up more than almost any other when women think about investing: What if I lose all my money?
In this episode, Francesca sits down with three members of the Centsational Women team to give this question the full, honest answer it deserves.
Not "don't worry, it'll be fine." A real one.
By the end, you'll understand:
Where this fear actually comes from and why it tends to feel much bigger than the evidence says it shouldWhat the numbers actually tell us...205. Oil Prices & Your Portfolio: The 4-Step Chain Nobody Explained Before It Cost You
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Every week, the financial news mentions oil. Inflation. Interest rates. Markets going up or going down. And for most women, it all feels like background noise — vaguely relevant, but not really for them.
It is for you. All of it.
In this episode, I'm walking you through the invisible chain that connects the price of oil to the performance of your investments. Four steps. Plain language. A framework you'll use for the rest of your life as an investor.
If you've ever felt like financial news was sp...
204. Wealth Building Order Of Operations: The Steps Nobody Taught You (And You're Doing Them Wrong)
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Everyone talks about where to invest. Almost nobody talks about getting the foundation right first.
In this episode, Francesca sits down with Melanie, Head of Wealth Advisors, and Dagmar, COO of Centsational Women, for the conversation most finance content skips entirely: what actually needs to be in place before your money can start working for you and the order that changes everything.
If your income has felt stuck, your savings aren't moving, or you've been waiting for the "right moment" to start — this one is for you.
Su...
203. Cash vs. Market Returns: Why Your Savings Are Losing While The Market Climbs
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Maybe you've noticed the financial news lately. Markets moving. Headlines multiplying. Everyone seeming to have an opinion.
And maybe — like a lot of the women I talk to — you've been half-watching all of it, feeling vaguely confused, vaguely guilty, and not entirely sure any of it has anything to do with you or your money.
This episode is for you.
Today I'm breaking down the one thing that's actually driving markets right now — not the noise, not the speculation, but the real signal underneath. And I'm explaining it the...
202. Money Mindset Trap: The "I'm Bad With Money" Story That Was Never Yours To Begin With
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In this episode, I'm walking you through the distinction that changes everything — the difference between a capability gap and a responsibility gap — and why most women who believe they can't do this are actually women who were simply never given the chance.
We talk about:
Where the "I'm not good with money" story actually comes from and why it can feel so much like a factThe person in the background who "handled it" and what years of that quietly does to your financial identityWhy information alone won't rewrite this belief (and...201. Investing Mistake: How The News Is Quietly Destroying Your Returns — Stop THIS Now
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The news this week was heavy. Geopolitical tension, market volatility, headlines designed to make you feel like something is about to go very wrong with your money.
In this episode, I use that moment as a window into one of the most important investing lessons there is — and one that has almost nothing to do with finance, and everything to do with how your brain works.
Here's what we cover:
— What actually happened in the markets this week, explained simply and clearly, so you can understand what it m...
200. Investing Confidence: Why "Unprepared" Is The Wrong Excuse — The Real Fear Costing You Growth
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This is episode 200. And to mark it, we're going somewhere important.
Because if you've ever felt like you know enough to invest — but still haven't fully done it — this episode is for you. Not because something is wrong with you. But because there's a very specific pattern behind that hesitation, and once you can see it clearly, it starts to lose its hold on you.
In this episode, I'm talking about the real reason intelligent, capable women keep waiting to feel ready before they invest. It's not a knowledge gap...
199. Market Fear Investing Mistake: What Calm Investors Know That You Don't — Yet
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Have you ever checked your investment account during a scary week in markets and immediately wished you hadn't?
Last week, oil prices surged. Headlines were loud. Markets wobbled. And for millions of women who are either already investing or thinking about starting, it felt like a signal to stop, wait, or panic. But here's what the calm investors saw that most people missed: the fear was bigger than the reality.
This episode is for you if:
- You felt anxious watching the markets last week and didn't...
198. Six-Figure Business Secret: How She Built It While Hiding It From Everyone She Knew
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Have you ever had a dream you weren't ready to say out loud yet?
If you've ever felt like you couldn't be fully seen — not yet — this episode is going to hit differently.
In this episode, you'll discover:
Why starting in secret isn't cowardice — and how Sara used it to become 10x better before going publicThe simple three-point framework to find your million-dollar idea, even if you think you have nothing special to offerHow to take your first visible step without panicking — and why showing up scared is still sh...197. Bond Market Investing: Why Bonds Were Set Up To Win Last Week No Matter What Happened
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Did you know there was an asset last week that was quietly set up to win — whether the conflict in the Middle East continued or ended?
Most women scroll past the financial news, feel vaguely anxious, and assume it has nothing to do with them. But what happened in markets last week is actually one of the clearest lessons in why a well-built portfolio doesn't need the world to behave itself.
In this episode, you'll discover:
What a bond actually is — explained simply, no jargon, no falling asleepWhy bond...196. Money Mindset: The Nervous System Block Stopping You From Holding More Wealth — And The Fix
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Are you unknowingly pushing money away even when you’re working harder than ever to earn it?
In this episode, you’ll discover:
How subconscious beliefs formed early in life are silently capping your incomeWhy earning more money is only half the equation and how to actually keep itPractical mindset and nervous system shifts to help you feel safe, stable, and abundant with moneyFree Masterclass with Sara:
The Strategy My Clients Use to Add 10K+ in Sales Every Month, Starting From...
