Meet the Duo Behind Astra Financial: The Unofficial Charter Behind The New Partnership

Welcome to Heart of Your Retirement! In this episode, hosts Zena and Nicole provide an inside look at Astra Financial, where they’re shaking up their usual retirement-themed content.

Meet Nicole Putz, a certified financial planner (CFP) with a decade of expertise, and now a partner at Astra. They reveal their quirky partnership charter, highlighting their unique business habits and candid office dynamics. From brainstorming sessions over cold pork chops to handling technical woes and balancing work-life with workouts, get an authentic glimpse of how two dynamic women navigate the financial planning world.

This is what running a Canadian financial planning firm actually looks like – no power suits, no boardrooms, just real partnership and real financial advice.

Show Notes: Meet the Duo Behind Astra Financial: The Unofficial Charter Behind The New Partnership

Zena: Welcome to Heart of Your Money. So we’re trying something different. You can see we’ve got video, which is wildly new to us. And we’re trying that one. And also we’ve got Nicole. And so we’re going off the retirement theme a little bit, and it was because I wanted to give a peek of the behind-the-scenes happening at Astra. Because there’s some exciting things happening and you’re gonna be here often, sometimes. But you know, we’re gonna try and do some things together and tap into your retirement planning knowledge. You’ve been a CFP, certified financial planner, for 10 years and working in that field. So the exciting news is that we’ve also partnered, and so Nicole is now a partner here at Astra. And so today our change-up from our topics in retirement for you guys, we wanted to give you a little bit more of some fun things behind the scenes.

Nicole: Yeah.

Zena: As part of that partnership, we came up with a partnership charter. And basically behind the scenes, when you have a partnership, it’s, you talk about kind of like a marriage. You plan for, okay, what if we fight, and do we agree upon things, and how would we go forward?

Nicole: And it’s important to say it’s when things are happy. So we’re talking about these things when things are good.

Zena: Yeah, exactly. And so that’s the best, best time to do it totally. So we, you wrote up an official unofficial Astra partnership charter and we posted it on LinkedIn and we had such amazing feedback and people loved it and we thought we’d share a little bit and give you more behind the scenes of Astra.

Nicole: So yeah, just a feel for kind of what the day-to-day actually looks like here. Because there’s all the fun technical things that we do, and there’s all the financial planning stuff, but there’s also all the behind-the-scenes magic that happens over at Astra.

Zena: That’s right. It’s not all power suits and boardrooms here. It sure isn’t. And we’re gonna share then and give you a little bit of the insider scoop of what is actually happening behind the scenes in a financial planning firm run by two busy, strong women. So we’re pulling back the curtain first. Conversation is, read with us your first piece that you wrote for our partnership charter.

Nicole: Yeah. So I said rule number one for our partnership charter was lunches. And you can forget about power lunches around here. Lunch equals whatever we can stab with a fork while we’re walking laps and throwing out half-baked business ideas.

Zena: This is so accurate. So in my house, I’m called a raccoon because I, A, I don’t cook, but it’s like whatever we can eat and it’s sort of like just sustaining life. And if given to my own choice, it’s like whatever’s there. And one day Nicole was standing at the front and we were both sitting there throwing back business ideas and chatting, but of course you have to eat in between. And she has this cold pork chop on a fork and she’s eating it. And oh my god, sister from another mother. You’re like, this is how I operate. This is how you operate. And Morgan had come and she was like, oh my goodness, you two are so alike. You’re both raccoons. And we’re like, yes, this is how business gets done.

Nicole: We are 100 percent. When we just say, ’cause like, and I know people running businesses will relate to this, it’s kind of like, when you’re focused in on something, whatever it is, it’s like the joke is that we kind of forget to do the human physiology things like eating lunch. And so it’s like if it’s quick and it’s easy and I can stab it with a fork and eat it on the go.

Zena: Yeah, that’s a girl after my own heart. We were meant to be when I saw the pork chop cold eating. Okay, what’s the second one?

Nicole: All right, number two, we talked about wardrobe. So this one’s funny and you guys, this is actually hilarious too in terms of like even this podcast today. We have, pulling the curtain back, we’ve got some clothes in the back that we save for important things like this podcast or like client meetings, for example. But we talked about, okay, so we say same jeans four days in a row, swap the top and it’s basically a brand new outfit, right? Unless clients are coming in, of course, which we’ve already nodded to that, then we definitely throw in the blazer, apply some fresh deodorant and get rid of the Crocs and put some flats on.

Zena: So we look pretty polished. We do. And what I will say is this outfit, you know, it’s for camera and clients, but behind the scenes we’re in slippers. Okay. And whenever we can. And so it’s kind of funny that was very accurate when you wrote that, right?

Nicole: Yeah. We’re cozy when we’re doing the work, but then when we’re in front of clients, we make sure we spruce it up a little bit for you guys.

Zena: Yeah. A little bit of that Steve Jobs idea too, right? Or I think it was him that, yeah. Or is it Mark Zuckerberg, the one shirt. You just have the one white shirt.

Nicole: Oh, it takes brain, so mental load. Oh, that’s so true.

Zena: And that’s what we have. We rotate our same outfits every time and it’s ’cause I don’t have time to think about what to eat and what to wear.

Nicole: 100 percent. Oh my gosh. And that’s funny. That literally just dawned on me right now as you said it. That’s 100 percent why we do it.

Zena: Yeah.

Nicole: Because it just takes mental load out of our head.

Zena: Okay. Oh, I knew before you.

Nicole: I was like, I’ve already known this. All right, let’s head into meetings. So, oh, this is funny. So this is kind of an insider on our end. We’ll bring you into it. So I say yes, we plan, then we make plans to make more plans. Then those plans get snowballed into even bigger plans. Then we accidentally solve half the problems we weren’t even planning on in the first place. Please email us for planning tips.

Zena: Yeah, it just snowballs and I think, so we have Astra University now, and that’s that resource place. But if you saw behind the scenes, we pretty much have like a, I don’t know, I’m thinking like a car wash drive-through. You come and maybe we’ll wash your car. We’ll do some financial planning. We might feed you in there. I don’t know. I just, all the things, making stuff up.

Nicole: Mm-hmm.

Zena: But it’s like, it just keeps going because we get so excited about things that we wanna do for you, for clients and all the add-ons and this course and that course. We need to get this information. What if we this, and it just keeps going.

Nicole: Keeps going. This is probably even gonna become part of our partnership charter because we have a parking lot of items. Like the items we have in our parking lot. And it’s because we’re constantly thinking of ideas. We always have things bubbling up to the front. And I just wanna share, before we finally partnered, Zena and I over what, eight years, have been meeting probably monthly. And so we would meet once a month, we’ll call it, and we would basically sit down for three hours and all of these ideas would just get spit out into each other’s laps. And so now we’re in the same building. So we just do it. It’s good.

Zena: Yeah. It’s actually exciting and I think it’s part of our nerdy financial planning outlet. So, yep. Good.

Nicole: All right. Let’s go. Rule number four, office etiquette. The official way to enter each other’s office is, sorry to bug you, but I just had an idea that will likely change the world. Spoiler, we never actually are sorry.

Zena: Yeah. Having our offices right next to each other. And I have to say, I actually bite my tongue sometimes and I’m like, oh no, she looks busy. I should wait. Oh, and I waited a minute. And then it’s been two minutes. Oh my God. Now I’m gonna go in. And it’s like, hey, we should this, or let’s do this. And it’s something that we will do. What’s that Seinfeld, where Kramer would come sliding? He’d open up Seinfeld’s door and he’d come sliding in today. That’s happening. That’s it.

Nicole: That’s what, that’s our day-to-day. Yep. Okay, so that’s point blank. Easy rule number five. Dress code for no makeup days, glasses. The end. That’s just how we operate. All right.

Nicole: Number six, health and wellness. So this is a nod to our personal trainer. So Tanner, God bless you at Foundation Fitness, destroys us twice a week. In between deadlifts, we do, however, hijack our rest breaks and turn them into strategy sessions. Sounds like this is a common theme. Tanner is so, so nice though, and he always just gently motions us back to the workouts and says, okay ladies, stop. Stop talking now.

Zena: He’s so patient with us. He is. He’s so nice. So I think that this could, we’ll loop this back to having all these business ideas in the parking lot. And we’re like, oh my gosh, Astra Health. Yes. Okay. So we need a fitness gym for all of our clients. Right. Bring it back, rein it in. But the big piece is with financial health is also mental and physical health. And in prepping for being able to sustain and handle, you know, business life, but also being there for our clients 100 percent means that I need to walk the talk as well. And we need to take care of ourselves. And so we go to the gym twice a week. And it’s hard. But Tanner said, you have a hard time, or he didn’t say I had a hard time leaving business at the office, he just says, you’re 100 percent business, aren’t you? And it’s ’cause even at the gym, I’m Nicole. Yes. And it’s something we’re solving or doing in the business.

Nicole: Yep. And I think too, like the workout thing, I think we get there and it gives our, honestly it’s, it gives us freedom to think about other things. And so when we’re working out and the blood’s pumping, we’re like, oh my God. And more things come up.

Zena: And he’s given us instructions like five times. And then I look at him and he goes, you weren’t listening. I’m like, I’m so sorry. Can you show me again what we’re doing?

Nicole: And he is so, and this is again, he’s so nice. ‘Cause he’s like, you both look like you’re listening so intently and we definitely are, but it goes in one ear and then completely out the other and like, oh my God, Tanner, please explain it again when we start the workout.

Zena: It’s the mental load because we carry lots and juggling and numbers and it’s so funny ’cause I feel like saying like, we’re smart. We promise. I just don’t know like how many sets again?

Nicole: Yeah, just how many and what are we doing again? And which way does our hand go on the bar? Yep. Okay. Next. Number seven is our hydration policy. This one’s so real, we forget to pee all the time. And it’s because we’re not drinking enough water throughout the day.

Zena: Especially if you’re doing a plan. And I’m in there and I love it. You know, that zone, they talk about the zone for athletes or something, and it’s like when I’m in the plan doing it, like hours go by and it feels like minutes. And then you realize, I don’t think I’ve drank water today.

Nicole: Yeah, yeah. And like we both know, we both do this and so the joke in our charter is that because we’re forgetting to drink water, and we both, you know, intuitively know this, eventually one of us just yells, go drink water. And we say, got it. So it’s good. It’s, yeah, that’s our version of corporate wellness. That’s what we called it.

Zena: Yes. I like it.

Nicole: Yeah. All right. Number eight. Another nod to a really important person in our lives right now, business-wise, but hire a business coach. And so I wanna read this one verbatim. And I say not just any business coach, you need one with full-on dad energy, the kind who cheers for your big ideas, but also says, no, you can’t launch three new businesses this week. Our rule of thumb, if dad says it’s okay, then it’s probably okay.

Zena: Yeah, right. And isn’t this relatable because every coach needs a coach. And so we are coaching our clients through all financial, and it’s everything. It’s the emotional, you know, like in all of the podcast, the last podcast was about in retirement, but it’s all the things you don’t think about. And it’s the emotional piece and it’s all the coaching that we all need. And I think that that’s important and that relates, that this is what we’re doing for our clients. We need a coach.

Nicole: For sure. Well, and it’s, it’s funny, like our coach, Jason is his name, and basically this is what we said we love about him so much is the fact that he gives us permission to dream. He gives us permission to think big, dream big, but he also keeps it. He always has our back with the big dreams, which is cool. So yeah, same for clients.

Zena: And the sounding board. And the math, like we do this, but to have him go through, we’re doing financial projections. We’re running a business and we’re growing. And this is so thoughtful. And he has been a guiding light, but even we need to talk it out and walk it out with a third party.

Nicole: Totally. So we’re doing it too in a way. Okay. And then number nine, operations. We do have assistants. Their names are Google, ChatGPT, and YouTube. We have come to witness that they’re excellent in the following skills. How to fix office wifi. Oh yeah. How to contact someone to fix the office wifi and how to contact someone else when we can’t get ahold of that first person to fix the office wifi.

Zena: I think if someone said, what’s your biggest challenge right now? It’s tech, tech, tech. Like setting up this podcast.

Nicole: We should have videotaped that. Actually, it took us a hot minute. We’re good at, we’re good with numbers. Not so much with tech. But we’re learning. We’re good. But that’s it. Those are our nine kind of unofficial rules of partnership. And I just said, and you know, and this actually came, I just kind of wanna talk about why we did this unofficial partnership to begin with. And so Zena and I have been kind of going back and forth with ideas like we’ve talked about. But I had given Zena some questions and I was like, oh, you know, we should both think of these questions. And Zena, I can’t even remember what the question was, to be perfectly honest, but you gave me an answer back and I was like, oh my God, that’s so great. And basically the sentiment was, is like we are not Wolf of Wall Street. We are not Mad Men. We’re not perfect.

Zena: We’re not perfect. And it’s, we were kind of like, so in my brain when I was coming up with this unofficial partnership charter, I was like, okay, so what does it look like then for us? The real, like, this is real. This is real day-to-day for us. So it might look glamorous maybe. And we look pretty and we are pretty together. But behind the scenes is a real life business. And it’s thoughtful and with purpose. And it’s growing fast. And so this is us managing it together. And bringing you in a little bit. So you get to see a little bit of behind the scenes. And also, I just wanted to introduce Nicole because she’s gonna be joining us and giving us some great things. And maybe adding a little bit more humor. Meaning she’s sharing, you know, some of our secrets, like cold pork chops, our cold pork chops and slippers.

Zena: Yeah, exactly.

Nicole: No, but it’s, yeah. Comfort breeds creativity, I think.

Zena: Yeah. Yep. So we’re up to some great things and we’re super excited to share with you. So please stay on board. Thanks.

Nicole: Thank you.