Lenet Rivas on Building Wealth

Blue Otter Financial Planning:

Joy and Claire welcome back Lenet Rivas to discuss her new business, Blue Otter Financial Planning, launched after a layoff and inspired by conversations at a Surf with Amigas retreat. Lenet shares her background in financial aid at Emory, then Fidelity and investment management, and explains leaving product- and target-driven models to offer flat-fee planning for people—especially women—who don’t meet typical $500K asset minimums. They discuss consolidating scattered old employer 401(k)s into an IRA, aligning investments with risk tolerance and time horizon, and how target-date funds often default people into mismatched allocations; Joy describes gaining confidence, discovering a pension, and improving results after adjusting investments. The episode also covers money shame, patriarchy in finance, spending vs. saving mindset, and practical questions to ask parents about estate plans, accounts, and wills.

00:00 Meet Lenet and Blue Otter

01:19 From Taxes to Entrepreneurship

04:15 The Retreat Seed and Layoff Leap

06:51 Traveling While Building the Plan

09:40 Who Blue Otter Serves

13:33 Joy’s Account Consolidation Win

15:28 Money Fear and the KFC Analogy

22:01 Fixing Default 401k Investments

27:05 Target Date Funds vs ETFs

28:22 Confidence to Manage Your 401k

29:13 Fix Your 401k Mix

29:42 Shame And Money Talk

31:28 Beating The Patriarchy

33:20 From Saving To Spending

36:16 Facing The Real Numbers

40:37 Family Money Planning

42:26 Questions For Parents

47:39 How To Work Together

49:50 Why Blue Otter

52:18 Coffee Cart Dreams

53:58 Where To Find Lenet

54:22 Final Wrap And Goodbye