The €2 Million Lesson
How prioritising other people’s comfort over your own financial interests can have a significant financial cost. And why being knowledgeable, capable and successful does not automatically mean you advocate for yourself.
I spent 17 years helping move other people’s money. Not looking after my own cost me an estimated €2 million.
I’m Catrine Rhenberg, a commercial leader, speaker and co-founder of The Wealth Within Her.
Despite a career in fintech, I learned that knowing how money works and making it work for yourself are two very different things.
Today, I speak about the connection between self-worth, financial agency and the decisions that shape our lives. I challenge women to advocate for themselves, rethink what success means to them and build wealth that gives them greater freedom of choice.
The financial cost of keeping everyone else comfortable
I spent much of my career working in fintech, helping businesses build, move and manage money. I knew how money moved through businesses. I knew how commercial decisions were made. I had the experience and professional credibility to negotiate for myself.
But knowing how money works and making it work for yourself are two different things.
Looking back, I can see how often I prioritised keeping other people comfortable over protecting my own financial interests.
I did not always negotiate. I did not always ask for what I was worth. I avoided difficult conversations and sometimes delayed financial decisions that could have made a significant difference to my future.
The cumulative cost? I estimate it at €2 million.
It is not a story about getting everything wrong. It is about recognising the gap between what we know and what we actually do, and understanding how our relationship with money, self-worth and other people’s expectations can shape our financial future.
Today, this is the conversation I want more women to have.
Because financial agency is not simply about earning more or knowing more. It is about recognising your value, making deliberate choices and having the resources and confidence to create a life on your own terms.
My Perspective
Build wealth for a life you choose, not a version of success you inherited.
I bring together my commercial experience in fintech with the personal lessons that have shaped my own relationship with money, ambition and success.
I believe financial resources should serve the life we want to live. Yet many women spend years pursuing a definition of success shaped by family expectations, society and professional environments, without stopping to ask whether it is actually what they want.
The conversations I want to open include
Self-Worth and Net Worth
The relationship between how women value themselves and the financial decisions they make. From salary negotiations to investments, boundaries and asking for what they deserve.
Raised to Get It Right
How girls are often praised for being careful, correct and agreeable, and how that shows up in adult women as avoiding financial risk, waiting for external approval and second-guessing decisions that could build their wealth.
The Money Conversations Women Need to Have
Why women need to become more comfortable talking about money, asking questions, negotiating, making financial decisions and taking an active role in building wealth.
You Earn Well. But Are You Building Wealth?
The difference between a good salary and long-term financial security. Why earning more is only part of the picture, and how the decisions we make today influence the choices available to us tomorrow.
The NEXT 10: Redefining Success and Building Financial Agency
What could the next ten years look like if women were more deliberate about the lives they want to create? How financial confidence, wealth-building and clearer priorities can help turn that vision into reality.
Podcast Guest
Conversations that go beyond the usual money advice
I bring a combination of commercial experience, personal reflection and practical insight to conversations about money, ambition, self-worth and the choices that shape women’s lives.
With roles at eBay, PayPal, iZettle, Trustly and Zimpler, I have spent much of my career close to the business of money.
But some of my most important lessons did not come from work at all.
I speak openly about the gap between financial knowledge and financial action, the cost of not advocating for yourself, and why building wealth should be about creating the freedom to live a life you actually want.
Possible podcast conversations
My €2 million lesson: what keeping other people comfortable really cost me.
The financial consequences of not negotiating, not asking and not putting your own interests first, even when you know better.
She knew how money worked. So why didn’t she always get her own finances right?
What my fintech career taught me about the difference between financial knowledge, confidence and behaviour.
Who decided what success should look like for you?
Questioning inherited expectations around career, money and achievement, and defining success on your own terms.
Designing your next decade: what planning with intention can open up for you.
How deciding what you want from money, career and life, and planning for it now, can create more freedom, security and choice in the chapter ahead.
Previous appearances
Women Disrupting TechEpisode 114: How The Wealth Within Her Empowers Women’s Finances and Self-WorthListen to the episode →Feminine FlamesWatch the conversation on YouTube →Podcast invitation
Have a conversation in mind? I would love to hear about your show and the topic you would like to explore.
Invite me to your podcastKeynote Speaker
Make people think differently. Give them a reason to act.
My talks combine professional expertise, personal experience and practical insights to challenge how audiences think about money, self-worth and success.
I want people to leave with more than inspiration. I want them to question a decision they have been putting off, recognise an opportunity they have been overlooking or take a practical step towards a stronger financial future.
Keynote topics
The €2 Million Lesson: The Cost of Not Advocating for Yourself
A personal and professional story about the financial consequences of keeping other people comfortable.
A challenge to recognise your value, negotiate with confidence and stop leaving your financial interests until later.
Your Salary Is Not Your Wealth
Why earning well does not necessarily mean building wealth.
A conversation about the decisions, habits and financial priorities that can turn income into long-term security and freedom of choice.
The NEXT 10: Redefining Success, Building Wealth and Creating Freedom of Choice
A fresh perspective on the next decade.
What do you actually want your life to look like, and how can your financial decisions help you create it?
Self-Worth, Net Worth and the Decisions That Shape Our Lives
How the way women value themselves can influence the money conversations they have, the opportunities they pursue and the financial futures they create.
What audiences take away
A talk should do more than make people think. It should change what they do next.
Participants walk out ready to:
1Make an investment or take a more active role in their financial future.
2Have a difficult conversation about money.
3Ask for a salary increase, better terms or equity.
4Question whether the life they are working towards is actually the life they want.
5Make a more deliberate decision about what financial freedom means to them.
No one needs to change their entire financial life tomorrow. But one decision tomorrow can change its direction.
Speaking formats
Keynotes
Fireside conversations
Panels
Interactive workshops
Speaking enquiries
Planning a keynote, leadership programme or conference?
Tell me a little about your event, your audience and what you are looking to achieve.
About Catrine
Commercial experience. Personal perspective. A different conversation about money.
Catrine Rhenberg is a speaker, commercial leader and financial empowerment advocate with 20 years of experience across fintech, payments, sales, partnerships and business development, 17 of them in fintech and payments.
She has held senior commercial roles at eBay, PayPal, iZettle, Trustly and Zimpler, working across international markets and helping businesses grow through commercial strategy, partnerships and leadership.
Despite a career spent close to the business of money, Catrine’s own experiences made her question the relationship between financial knowledge, self-worth and financial decisions.
She recognised how often women can be professionally successful while still compromising their own financial interests.
That realisation became part of the motivation behind The Wealth Within Her, which she co-founded to help women build financial confidence, agency and wealth.
Today, Catrine brings together professional expertise, personal experience and practical insights to help women rethink money, redefine success and create greater freedom of choice.
Let’s start a conversation
Whether you are producing a podcast or planning an event, I would love to hear what you have in mind.
For podcast producers
Have a topic or episode idea in mind? Send me an invitation with a little information about your show.
For event organisers
Planning a keynote, panel, fireside conversation or workshop? Share some details about your event and audience.
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/catrine-rhenberg
The Wealth Within Herthewealthwithinher.com
Contact emailcatrine@thewealthwithinher.com