The Grown-Ass Woman’s Guide

Do you think your elderly parent could be talked into a financial scam?

I asked this recently in the Grown Ass community. 43% said they already worry about it. For 28%, it's already happened in their family. And the stories that came in were from people who described themselves as sharp, aware, and not the type—and it happened anyway.

Because that is exactly who these scammers target. Not only the people who are vulnerable, but also the people who believe they aren't.

Today's guest (we'll call her Stephanie) watched her mother, a woman who had been happily married for nearly 70 years, become the target of a calculated scheme that could have absolutely taken everything. What started as a chance meeting in a supermarket aisle turned into eight months of isolation, love bombing, and financial manipulation — and the one thing that stood between her mother and losing it all was a decision her family had made years earlier.

We're talking about what the red flags actually look like, why smart people fall for this every day, what elder abuse really means legally, and why a trust isn't just for multimillionaires; it's a financial speed bump that could save your family.

This episode is not legal advice. It is one family's story. And it is absolutely worth hearing.

If you've ever dreaded Mother's Day, felt blindsided by grief, or wondered why missing your mother never quite goes away, this conversation is for you.

Whether you lost your mother years ago or just recently, your relationship was loving or messy (or somewhere in between), this time of year has a way of bringing everything back up.

Join Jackie MacDougall and Hope Edelman—NYT #1 bestselling author of Motherless Daughters and The AfterGrief—for the conversation nobody prepares you for: grief, going on without Mom, and how to stop dreading the second Sunday in May.

Links referenced in this episode:

• grownasswoman.guide/adminnight
• grownasswoman.guide/nokbox
• grownasswoman.guide/trustandwill
• grownasswoman.guide/motherlessdaughters

You've got the list. You know what needs to get done. And somehow another week goes by.

This isn't a laziness problem. According to licensed therapist Melody Murray, it's a nervous system problem—and there's a very specific reason so many women feel stuck, scattered, and perpetually behind right now.

Melody Murray is an LMFT, child mental health specialist, former reality TV producer, and author of Mourning the Living. She's been on The Today Show, The Doctors, and featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and more. She has also nearly died twice in four weeks, which, as you'll hear, changed everything about how she thinks about self-dismissal.

In this episode:

• Why chaos feels oddly familiar (and what that actually means)
• How your coping mechanisms are still running on a five-year-old's operating system
• The social media check nobody talks about
• Why protecting your peace is now an act of rebellion
• Practical ways to regulate your nervous system today, not eventually

Plus: the closet you don't actually care about, the pervy uncle who started it all, and why self-care has nothing to do with a manicure.

Free workshop: Handle Your Sh*t — live April 18th. Grab your spot: grownasswoman.guide/handle

It's a tale as old as time. Four male investment managers try to tell a woman that a product she's interested in doesn't exist. How does she know they're wrong? She literally traded them when she worked at Goldman Sachs. That's just one moment that inspired Wallis Tsai to start her own company, AboveBoard Financial, built on the idea that you deserve straight answers about your insurance.

We get into red flags to watch for when choosing an agent, the real difference between term and permanent life insurance, why your workplace coverage probably isn't the deal you think it is, and what to do if you're in your 40s or 50s and haven't tackled this yet.

Don't want to take notes? We did it for you. Grab the cheat sheet that covers all three episodes.

"Health is the unbecoming. So much of the work around health is unbecoming the beliefs that were never yours." — Courtney Townley

What if getting healthy wasn't about doing more but about finally putting some things down?

In this episode, Courtney Townley, health and self-leadership coach, author of The Consistency Code, and host of the Grace & Grit podcast, drops some midlife truth bombs we absolutely need to hear. We cut through the noise of wellness culture, talk about what consistency actually means at this stage of our lives (hint: it's not doing the same thing over and over until you die). And we dive into why outsourcing to the "experts" might be the thing holding you back.

If you're looking for an episode to guilt or shame you around diet and exercise, you've come to the wrong place.

In This Episode

1. Why the first thing women need from their health is relief, not results
2. How to stop outsourcing your life choices
3. What changes when you finally do it for yourself
4. Pre-deciding: why planning doesn't require charts, graphs, or a color-coded notebook
5. Grace vs. excuses: two questions that help you tell the difference

Free Resource:

The Grown-Ass Woman's Health Cheat Sheet: screenings, labs, vaccines, hormones, HRT, and supplements all in one printable checklist. Download it at grownasswoman.guide/myhealth and bring it to your next appointment.

About Courtney Townley:

Courtney Townley is a health and self-leadership coach, speaker, and host of the top-rated Grace & Grit podcast and the author of The Consistency Code. She helps midlife women cut through the noise of wellness culture and lead themselves with less overwhelm and more confidence. With over 30 years in the wellness industry, Courtney blends neuroscience, behavior change, and straight talk to show women that deep health isn’t about following someone else’s plan... it’s about learning to trust and lead yourself. A sought-after speaker and educator, she is known for her grounded, no-nonsense approach to sustainable change. When she’s not coaching or podcasting, you’ll find her salsa dancing, traveling, or soaking up time with her family and her Great Dane, Sully.

Resources & Links

1. The Consistency Code by Courtney Townley
2. Grace & Grit Podcast
3. Courtney on Instagram
4. The Grown-Ass Woman's Health Cheat Sheet
5. The Grown-Ass Woman's Guide on Instagram

Mentioned in this episode:

Join us for Grown-Ass Study Hall!

Grown-Ass Study Hall is a virtual co-working session for women who are done putting things off. You bring your task. We show up together. No camera required, no pressure to speak. Just an hour of actually getting it done. Founding members lock in $27/month for life (regular price will be $37) plus access to a private Voxer channel with direct access to keep the convo going outside of the sessions. Sessions kick off the last week of March! https://grownasswoman.guide/studyhall