From Intimidated To Empowered: A Creative’s Guide To Financial Epiphanies

From Intimidated To Empowered: A Creative’s Guide To Financial Epiphanies

Talking about money can feel like talking about your underwear. At least, that is what author and creative professional Scott Yamamura was taught growing up.

But after a decade of studying personal finance, paying off hundreds of thousands in debt, and coaching others, Scott has a different view. Money does not have to be mysterious. It does not have to be a topic you avoid. And you definitely do not have to be a Wall Street pro to get it right.

In this episode of The Profitable Creative, host Christian Brim sits down with Scott Yamamura to unpack the simple framework behind his book Financial Epiphany and how it can change the trajectory of your financial life, especially if you are a creative who feels like an imposter with money.

Why Scott Chose Money Over Cars And Houses

About ten years ago, Scott gave himself a challenge: pick one of the three big “adult” skills and really master it:

1. Maintaining a house
2. Fixing a car
3. Learning personal finance

House and car care did not win. Personal finance did.

What started as curiosity turned into a full-on deep dive. Scott:

• Read books
• Took workshops
• Studied statistics on debt, savings, and financial literacy
• Eventually became a financial coach

Along the way he discovered something sobering:

• Around three quarters of people live paycheck to paycheck.
• Most people carry significant debt.
• Many cannot pass a basic financial literacy test.
• The most common answer to “How is your 401(k) doing?” is “I do not know.”

On the outside, our lives can look successful. Inside the bank account, it is a different story.

Scott did not hit bankruptcy or experience a dramatic financial collapse. Instead, he had what he calls a “soft reckoning.” He recognized that retirement would eventually show whether his choices were wise or not, and he did not want to wait for the crisis to find out.

So he chose to learn early and do something about it.

The Big Shift: “I Can Multiply Money”

For many creatives, money feels like something “serious” people handle. The belief is: I am not good with numbers, so finance is for someone else.

Scott felt that too, until one realization changed everything:

“The biggest realization was that we can multiply money.”

He had heard the usual advice:

• Compound interest is powerful
• Save early
• Put 10–15 percent into retirement

All helpful, but not personal.

As a creative, he needed a picture he could actually feel and use. That became the heart of his book: three “financial epiphanies” that explain, in simple terms, how money grows over time and why starting early matters so much.

Before we get to those, it is worth pausing on the mindset piece.

The Mindset Mess: Scarcity, Abundance, And Silence

One reason money is so loaded is that it carries our stories.

• Some grow up with a scarcity mindset: There is only so much money; managing finances is just cutting spending.
• Others grow up with abundance: There will always be more money, so they are not intentional and drift into trouble.

Scott grew up with another twist: “We do not talk about money.” His mom’s rule was that discussing money was like talking about your underwear. Private. Off-limits. So he did not ask questions.

Christian Brim shares his own contrast: he did not grow up with scarcity, but that confidence led to a different problem. “I always thought I can make more money,” which meant he was not as intentional as he should have been.

Add marriage to the mix, and it gets even more complicated. Spouses often value different things and spend differently. Money gets personal quickly, and for many couples, the solution is not to solve the disagreement but to stop talking about it entirely.

Silence might feel safer, but it is expensive.

Scott’s answer: bring money out of the shadows, strip away the jargon, and use simple concepts that normal people can understand and act on.

That is where his three epiphanies come in.

Financial Epiphany #1: Money Can Double Every 10 Years

To simplify the math, Scott “freezes” three things most of us share:

1. Starting work around age 22
2. Working career of about 40 years
3. Average long-term investment return of about 7.2 percent a year

At that rate, your money roughly doubles every 10 years. This is a basic rule known as the “Rule of 72,” but Scott packages it in a very human way.

If you put $1,000 into a long-term investment and leave it alone:

• 10 years later it can be $2,000
• 20 years later, $4,000
• 30 years later, $8,000
• 40 years later, $16,000

That simple pattern is the first epiphany:
Money can double every 10 years.

It is not a guarantee, not a promise, and returns bounce around year to year. But over a full working career, that doubling math gives you a ruler to measure with instead of guessing blindly.

Financial Epiphany #2: You Have The “Power Of 16”

If you work for about 40 years, and your money doubles every 10, that means each dollar you invest at the beginning has a potential multiple of 16 by the time you retire.

In other words:

“When you start working, you have the power of 16.”

Scott explains it with a story. Imagine you work one week and get paid one week’s salary. That is normal.

Now imagine your boss says, “You did such a good job I am going to pay you double.” One week of work, two weeks of pay. That is the power of two, and you would be thrilled.

The power of 16 is like:

Working one week and getting paid for four months.

That is what is happening when you invest at the beginning of your career and stay invested. Every $1,000 you put in early can behave like $16,000 by retirement.

Once you see it that way, the idea of “I will save later when I make more money” starts to crumble.

Financial Epiphany #3: Your Power Halves Every 10 Years

If you have the power of 16 at the start of your career, what happens as time passes?

Every ten years, your multiplying power is cut in half:

• Early 20s: Power of 16
• Early 30s: Power of 8
• Early 40s: Power of 4
• Early 50s: Power of 2
• Early 60s: Power of 1

That does not mean it is pointless to invest in your 30s, 40s, or 50s. It simply means you will never again have as much leverage as you did in your 20s.

Your “financial biological clock” is ticking.

The good news: even a power of 2 is still impressive. Doubling money over a decade is something many people around the world do not have access to. We live in a system where that kind of growth is possible. Being aware of this is not cause for panic. It is a call to action.

Why Simple Beats “Financial Porn”

Both Scott and Christian are blunt about the financial industry’s role in confusing people.

Christian calls it “financial porn”: the constant stream of market noise, fear-driven headlines, and complicated products designed more to impress and scare than to help.

All of that:

• Grabs your attention
• Drives anxiety
• Pushes you toward hiring “experts” or buying complex products you do not understand

Scott’s message is the opposite.

You do not need:

• Exotic investments
• Fancy derivatives
• Perfect timing

You do need:

• Simple, common tools like 401(k)s, IRAs, index funds, and target-date funds
• Steady contributions over time
• A willingness to start before you feel ready

You can always optimize later. The crucial step is to get in the game.

Teaching The Next Generation: How Scott Trains His Son

Scott decided his son would not grow up with the same secrecy and intimidation around money. He started teaching him around age seven and made two big moves:

1. A 529 College Savings Plan

They opened a 529 plan and funded it when their son was seven, eight, and nine. Then they stopped contributing.

Scott’s wife asked why they had stopped, and Scott’s answer drew directly from his epiphanies: he knew how the money would multiply over time. The dollars contributed in those early years had so much runway that they could grow faster than college tuition.

By age 16, the account held enough for a state college, even though they had stopped funding it years earlier.

2. A Custodial Investment Account

They also opened a custodial account for their son, funding it with birthday and Christmas money.

His son picked familiar companies:

• Disney
• Netflix
• Amazon

During the pandemic, they watched together as:

• Amazon rose because everyone was ordering from home
• Netflix rose because everyone was streaming content

His son has now watched his small portfolio double, well before college. More importantly, he has seen:

• What a stock is
• How businesses and world events connect
• That investing is not gambling, but ownership in real companies

By the time he starts his own career, he will not be starting from zero emotionally or mentally. He will already be comfortable with the tools.

Created To Create: Using Video Skills For Impact

Money is not the only part of Scott’s life. If you break his world into three slices, it looks like this:

1. Full-time work at Costco Wholesale, where he leads global video communications
2. Financial Epiphany, his book and teaching work that help people become healthy with money
3. Created to Create, his nonprofit-focused video ministry

Created to Create produces videos for nonprofit organizations and causes, giving Scott a way to connect his creative skills to meaningful impact.

Examples include:

• Traveling with his wife and son to Sierra Leone, Africa, to film for Bridge of Hope, a ministry that builds schools, churches, and clinics and tackles issues like malaria and malnutrition
• Working with an organization called “Dads,” which helps reconnect fathers with their children after divorce, abandonment, or incarceration

One story that stands out involves a donor named Ernie. He paid for Scott’s trip and video production for a project in Sierra Leone. When Ernie saw the finished video for the first time at a fundraising breakfast, he turned to Scott and said he and his wife had arrived with a number in mind for their donation.

After watching the story, he quietly doubled it.

That is the power of story. Not manipulation, but clarity. When people can see real lives being changed, their generosity multiplies.

What This Means For Creatives And Money

If you are a creative, you may have told yourself some of these stories:

• “I am not good with numbers.”
• “Money is boring, I will just find someone to handle it later.”
• “I will start saving when my income is higher.”

Scott’s journey, and the three financial epiphanies he shares, poke holes in those assumptions.

A few takeaways:

• You do not need to be an expert to start. Begin with the simple, common tools available through work or your bank.
• Time matters more than sophistication. The earlier you begin, the more that “power of 16” works in your favor.
• Silence is expensive. Talk about money with your spouse, your kids, and trusted mentors. Hiding from it does not protect you.
• Your creativity is not a liability. You can use the same storytelling instincts you bring to your craft to understand money, teach your kids, or support causes you care about.

You can be both creative and financially wise. In fact, your creativity might be what helps you finally see money clearly.

Now, Do This

Ready to turn your passion into profit with systems that keep the clients you work so hard to win?
Book a call to CORE and subscribe for new episodes with Christian Brim on The Profitable Creative.

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