What is a financial coach?
As your financial coach, I help you first understand your current relationship with money and your present-day financial reality. We discover your natural tendencies toward saving and spending and what financial needs are and are not being met. We look at your values around both time and money and determine your financial goals for the future.
Then we create a plan to get you from where you are now to where you would rather be. A sound financial plan includes having a realistic budget, consistently using a budget tracker, having an emergency fund, paying off debt, living within your means, having adequate insurance, saving for a new home or car, and eventually planning for retirement.
A financial plan, no matter how thorough, is still subject to human behavior and emotion. Given that, having a financial coach, someone who has been where you are now, can help you stay on track and realize your financial goals.
Over 70% of Americans rank financial stress as the #1 stress in their life. It contributes to poor health, divorce, chronic anxiety, and unwise financial decisions.
Are you stuck living paycheck-to-paycheck? Does this make you afraid of what the future might bring? Break out of the rut now! Regardless of your income, it's possible to save money and build financial security for yourself. I can help you. You can do this.
My personal financial story
How did we do it? By becoming very aware of not just how much we were spending, but why we were spending. I found out we weren't just buying necessities. I learned that every time I drove to town I thought I needed to spend $7 on a muffin and coffee from the bakery. I learned that eating in restaurants was eating up our budget, so I learned to cook at home more. I learned to wear the clothes I already owned instead of buying new. I taught myself how to shop for insurance and when to know I was over-paying. I traded everything from childcare to clothing to vacation spots with friends and neighbors. And when periodically necessary, we increased our income with additional work.
We developed a budget and stuck to it. We tracked our spending and saving. We set financial goals and took baby steps to reach them. We learned to live within our means and found out that we were deprived of nothing. We had everything most important to us: a roof over our heads, plenty of food on the table, and the love of family and friends.
Regaining control of your finances is empowering. Don't be a victim of your circumstances. Let's make a reasonable financial plan that you can stick with and win with. You will be so glad you did.
In the year 2000, my husband and I found ourselves financially strapped. We had just purchased our home and within four months found ourselves unexpectedly without income. Our children were in early elementary school and on top of everything, I became ill for over a year. We had an emergency fund which we used, but the stress of that time was enormous.
Fast-forward 13 years: we had paid off our mortgage and all credit card debt, rebuilt the emergency fund, had health insurance, had ear-marked savings for the next car purchase and an upcoming vacation, and were fully investing the maximum amount in Roth IRAs. And we did this on only one modest income.
