This conversation with Spenser Liszt is about money. But not in the “optimize your portfolio” sense.

It’s about identity. Shame. Performance. And what happens when your external success doesn’t match how you feel internally.

Spenser went from a 17-year career as a professional musician to becoming a Certified Financial Planner. Along the way, he had to separate money from music to heal his relationship with both.

We talk about growing up around bankruptcy and scarcity, the pressure to prove people wrong, the hidden financial instability behind creative careers, and why so many high performers avoid looking directly at their numbers.

We also explore values, mortality, artistic freedom, and why clarity around what matters makes decisions less complicated than we think.

This isn’t a conversation about getting rich. It’s about getting honest.

What comes up in the conversation

In this episode, we talk about:

• Growing up with scarcity and how early money stories shape identity
• The hidden financial instability inside creative industries
• Why making money from your art can quietly damage your relationship with it
• The moment avoidance stops working
• How separating income from identity can create freedom
• Why knowing your values leads to clearer decisions
• Status games, shame, and the performance of success
• Reframing retirement as artistic freedom
• Mortality, time, and what actually matters

About Spenser Liszt

Spenser Liszt, CFP® is a holistic financial life planner and founder of Motif Planning, a firm helping music executives make confident financial decisions rooted in their values and long-term goals.

After a 17-year career as a professional musician touring and recording nationally, he transitioned into financial planning and now supports senior professionals across the music business through personalised advice. He also provides free financial education and pro bono planning to those facing financial hardship.

Website:

www.motifplanning.com

About the podcast

12 Steps to Success is a podcast about what happens when the path you were on stops making sense.

Hosted by Eric Mackay, the show centres on honest conversations with people navigating change, pressure, identity shifts, recovery, and redefinition. These are not success stories or instruction manuals, but real conversations about how people live inside uncertainty and keep moving without false certainty.

Website: https://twelvestepstosuccess.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/twelvestepstosuccess