Weekend at Lola’s – Roundup of Lola Retreat LA

Lola Retreat: “A bold money event for bold women”

This time last weekend, I was enjoying myself in the swish art deco surrounds of the Ace Hotel in downtown LA for Lola Retreat 2019. I was gathered with fifty other savvy women and carefully curated speakers in the name of learning more about money management and mindset – with a female focus.

Run by Melanie Lockert of DearDebt.com (with hat tip to original co-founder Emma Pattee), this third edition of Lola Retreat was held from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon – full of thoughtful presentations, discussion panels, drinks, informal networking, breakfasts and… ok, more drinks.

I was drawn to attend Lola Retreat after hearing its praises sung on Twitter and Facebook amongst fellow female bloggers and finance enthusiasts. I was particularly interested in immersing myself in talk of mindset and emotional aspects of financial management. I feel I have many of the tactics down in pursuit of financial independence already, but I am always keen to get a better understanding of why I (and other women) deal with money in certain ways and how to improve a healthier relationship with it.

Highlights

I was impressed with Melanie’s carefully consider scheduling of the speakers, with the topic order set to build on each other as the conference progressed. My favourite presentations included:

• Financial therapist Amanda Clayman spoke about lessons that could be learned from unpleasant emotions related to money (such as anger and fear). Amanda reminded us that these negative emotions shouldn’t just be dismissed and avoided, as they can be effective tools to help guide decisions if listened to and understood better.

• Johanna Porter of BigCityFI shared her personal story of ‘How to Save and Pay Off Debt in a High Cost of Living City’. Johanna provided details of clever tactics, savings ideas and side hustles she used to smash out her final $40,000 student loan debt in one year while living in LA on $72k salary. Her tips included babysitting for extra income, travel hacking, couponing, getting best value for money when spending, and even reducing transportation costs by learning to skateboard in New York City!

• Melissa Burton, a non-diet Registered Dietitian Nutritionist discussed ‘How the Diet and Wellness Industry is Making You Broke on Every Level’. Lots of truth bombs served up here about ‘diet culture’ and how women are compelled through society and marketing to spend money on wellness, with many empty promises. She asserted how having a more positive relationship with health and our bodies pays dividends in all aspects of our lives.

• ‘Getting Paid Is Her Forte’ with Audrey Bellis, who emphasised that “You can’t raise your net worth, until you raise your self worth.” Audrey gave a punchy talk on entrepreneurship and getting paid to be you – finding alignment between your passions, skill set, market needs, and that which you can be paid for.

• A diverse discussion panel on ‘Preparing Your Finances for Big Life Events’ featured Tonya Rapley, Kristin Wong, Miranda Marquit and Natalie Torres-Haddad. Good exploration of themes such as divorce-proofing your finances, supporting aging parents, and setting up savings for concurrent large goals.

See the full schedule on the Lola Retreat website.

It was refreshing to be surrounded by a roomful of women when discussing money topics, with the difference in energy palpable compared to mixed gender events I’ve attended. The feeling of shared experience and understanding allowed for discussions to go deeper and broach topics that can have a tendency to be dismissed or reduced in importance when men are dominant in the room. (Sorry guys, but it’s true).

The retreat had a more general personal finance focus that other financial independence-specific events. I found it interesting to be around other attendees at different stages and knowledge levels, including those with limited familiarity with FI concepts – in fact, one member referenced being ‘financially independent’ as a single income earner without a partner, self-reliant when it comes to financial earnings and decisions. It was a good reminder for me to step out of the FI ‘bubble’ once in a while and not assume terminology or concepts are generally understood.

While some of the beginner-level money management ideas were less relevant to me these days, I loved hearing the diversity of themes presented, unashamed discussions of money psychology beyond just the numbers, informal chats of goals and money styles with other attendees, and new friendships made (including The76kProject, who has a great Lola Retreat roundup here.)

Here’s a Twitter recap from the weekend

Spending Breakdown

Since I track all of my spending while on this year’s mini-retirement trip around USA, here’s a peek at my costs for the weekend.

Note: I arrived one day early on Thursday morning to see a little of LA and gather my thoughts before the imminent brain overload of Lola Retreat’s inspiring content!

Bus to LA: $22 – I travelled by discount bus operator FlixBus from San Jose, taking the 6.5 hour overnight trip to save myself a night’s accommodation. Fortunately, I sleep pretty well on buses and didn’t mind when the bus was 90 minutes late in LA traffic = more zzzzzz’s.

Accommodation (3 nights): $35.60 total – I paid for one night in a hostel on Thursday night before Lola for $45.60, submitting a review on Hostelz.com after my stay for $10 payment, so the net cost was $35.60. For the remaining two nights, a past Lola attendee kindly lent me her spare room in LA’s suburbs. Thanks to Johanna of BigCityFI for connecting me!

Local Transportation: $10.50 – For the local metro to and from Lola Retreat. After the event, I got a ride to the airport = $0. (Thanks again, BigCityFI.)

Food: $30.25 – Before Lola kicked off, I enjoyed an excellent ramen ($14) and matcha donut ($3.75) while exploring LA’s Little Tokyo. During the event, I did save a bunch by, um, overeating at the breakfast buffets and nibbles at the drinks receptions; only buying a lunch snack at Tacos Mexico adjacent the venue for $3.85. On the final day before departure, I split a diner meal with a fellow attendee for $8.10.

Lola Retreat ticket: $250 – In full disclosure, I received a discounted media rate for my retreat ticket as a personal finance blogger. The full rate was $450, with a handful of scholarships available by application.

Flight from LA: $149 – I flew from LAX to my next stop of Austin with a Sunday evening Southwest flight. I only booked it 10 days beforehand, so could have saved more if I was better organised, but them’s the breaks.

Total Spending: $497.35

Total Earnings: $10.91 – Wut? Yes, I earned a little cash taking pics of hiring signs on the JobSpotter app during my stay. Learn more about the app here.

NET COST OF WEEKEND: $486.44

Want to connect with other women in personal finance?

In-person Events

Lola Retreat – The next edition will be held in Seattle from 16-18 August 2019, with tickets on sale now.

Cents Positive – Described as “A Safe Space for Women to Talk Money & Financial Independence”, Cents Positive retreat has two dates in Fall 2019 and is run by Our Next Life‘s Tanja Hester (who is likely a little busy with the launch of book Work Optional this month).

Money on the Mountain – Run by Michelle Jackson of Michelle is Money Hungry, this retreat will be in Denver from 4-6 October 2019 and explores issues faced by ‘financially single women’.

Online

On Facebook, two great active groups to connect with other women and ask questions are Women’s Personal Finance (Women on FIRE) and Women in Pursuit of FI.

To read more financial content from female writers, check out Tread Lightly, Retire Early‘s extensive list of ‘Women Bloggers of the Financial Independent Movement’ here.

Have you enjoyed attending Lola Retreat or another women’s finance event? Let me hear you in the comments below!