MOCA TALKS with Shang Saavedra: Wealth Is a Mindset

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) invites you to an insightful conversation with Shang Saavedra, founder of Save My Cents and author of Wealth Is a Mindset: Change Your Mind, Change Your Money. Join us for an evening that explores how mental health and financial freedom are deeply interconnected and learn actionable strategies for transforming your relationship with money.

Saavedra believes personal finance is more than just dollars and cents—it’s about understanding the psychological and emotional roots of our financial habits. In this talk, Saavedra will share practical financial advice with an empathetic exploration of how past experiences, family history, and societal pressures shape our money behaviors. Drawing on her pioneering “Trigger, Action, Reward” methodology, Saavedra will offer tools such as step-by-step strategies for paying off debt, saving for retirement, building generational wealth, and achieving a life of financial security—on your own terms.

Moderating the talk is Robert Chen, MOCA Board Trustee and Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. With over a decade of experience helping individuals and families shape and implement their asset strategies, Chen brings a wealth of expertise and insight to this conversation.

About Shang Saavedra

Shang Saavedra is the Founder and CEO of Save My Cents, an influential personal-finance website and social-media platform. Saavedra teaches readers the key habits and behaviors needed to become less fearful of money and live life with joy. Saavedra was named one of the "Twenty-five Most Influential New Voices of Money" by TIME/NextAdvisor in 2022 and is an Expert Reviewer and Contributor at CNet Money. She received her bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard and her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Saavedra and her husband finished saving for their retirement by the age of thirty-one and now live a work-optional life in Southern California with their two boys and two cats.

About Robert Chen

As a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, Robert has over a decade of experience in helping high net worth individuals and family clientele shape and implement their overall asset allocation strategies and over 18 years in the financial services industry.

Robert is a graduate of Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics. Robert is an active member of the Brown University Alumni Committee, currently serves on the Woodberry Forest School Advisory Council, the Madison Square Park Conservancy Art Council and the Associate Board of the Cancer Research Institute. He and his wife, daughter, and dog reside in Manhattan.

About Wealth Is a Mindset

Drawing upon scientific research on psychology and neuroscience, as well as many mental health experts, Saavedra has developed a methodology called “Trigger, Action, Reward,” which identifies the root causes of unhealthy money behaviors, provides concrete suggestions on how to break those cycles, and guides readers toward an abundance mindset that leads to financial success and security. Through her online classes and coaching lessons in investing, saving for retirement, debt freedom, and more, she has helped thousands of clients implement the TAR strategy and achieve transformative change in their lives.

Wealth Is a Mindset provides practical, concrete applications of Saavedra’s mindset-changing methodology. It is also an empathetic memoir that shows how Saavedra and her husband overcame many of their own emotional challenges to attain financial freedom. Dozens of anecdotes from her clients illustrate how the strategy works in real life. More importantly, it shows that we all are human, our inherent worth going far beyond simply a salary and net worth number. Featuring prescriptive, judgment-free exercises and worksheets to show step by step how to pay down debt, raise income, start a side hustle, save more money, invest for retirement, and build generational wealth, Wealth Is a Mindset will help readers find ways to improve their money and their lives, no matter where they are in their personal money story.

Host or Publisher Museum of Chinese in America