She's a Risk Expert Professionally, But Too Scared to Take Any Risk With Her Own Money.

Livia advised governments and multinationals on political and geopolitical risk for a living. She spent her career helping some of the world's most powerful organisations decide who to trust and where the danger was. Then she sold her own company, walked away with millions, and left it sitting in cash for three years because she couldn't bring herself to trust anyone with it.In this episode she sits down with Ayesha to talk about growing up in a family where knowledge mattered more than money, staying with a business everyone else was fleeing and coming out of it an owner, hiding a pregnancy from the buyers during the sale, and the long, honest road to finally understanding what to do with her own wealth. It is a conversation about ownership, agency, financial independence, and why so many capable, successful women freeze the moment the money is their own.Chapters0:00 Introduction1:43 Welcome back, and the episode we lost the first time2:14 A family that prized knowledge over money6:00 The wartime history that shaped her8:52 Studying politics, and her first job in risk13:48 The sinking ship: becoming an owner when everyone else fled16:09 What ownership actually feels like20:04 What the company really did21:08 The exit, and the pregnancy they hid from the buyers24:45 Motherhood and the 80 per cent rule25:58 Why having her own money mattered29:38 The cash that sat untouched for three years34:34 Why women hoard cash36:32 Distrust, 2008 and learning to invest41:35 What she had to unlearn, and the two flats44:25 Money as a motivator, and its limits46:38 Raising daughters who get it50:40 Why she ran for office54:08 Her advice for women sitting on cash57:46 The Femme and Fortune Five