While leading divorce recovery groups in the mid 1990’s, I became acutely aware of the issues newly single people were having with their finances. Many hadn’t been included in the financial decisions of the married household and they had never overseen a budget. At that time I was referring people in my groups to the materials offered by Larry Burkett, who had a program on Moody Radio. I was also offering his budgeting guide to my group members. Larry passed away in 2003, but as he moved off the radio program, Moody radio has continued a financial program from a Christian world view. The current program is known as Faith and Finance Live.
Over the years of serving with FOCUS Ministries, Paula Silva and I talked about having a program to help women we served get on track with their finances once they could take control of them. When Covid hit and I was not working for several months, I decided to take the Dave Ramsey financial coaching master training using the Covid money the government gave us. I have done bookkeeping for several businesses over my lifetime and this seemed like a good fit for me. I thought that I should have certification in order to offer this service through FOCUS and I want to be able to offer these services to personal clients as well.
My philosophy is “Take control of your money before it controls you.” Part of the process is to give every dollar you earn a place to go, whether it is to give, save for short-term needs, owe for bills or grow for the future. It starts with setting goals, then planning how to achieve them. For some of us the ability to just survive is THE primary goal. Taking control of your finances helps with that.
Over the next several months, every two weeks or so, I will be posting helpful tools for you to use as you are working on your financial wellbeing. I would love to receive feedback as to what you tried, did it work, and what other information you would like to know about. Just remember that this blog is public, so do not post anything you would not want everyone to access.
I can be reached by email at [email protected], if you have personal information you want to share. If you would like more personalized service and you don’t want to wait for each blog post, you can register for 3 financial coaching sessions through the FOCUS website at www.focusministries1.org click on the HELP tab and find financial coaching, there is a reduced fee of $25.00 for 3 sessions, paid directly to FOCUS.
As a Financial Coach I work with clients to build money management skills. This can include getting out of debt, building savings and understanding how to manage and balance expenses by setting up a spending plan. I work with clients to figure out which expenses are working, which aren’t and why. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, in a lot of debt, or have some emotional blocks around money, you are really looking for some extra accountability and that is the job of a Financial Coach.
Financial Coaches do not give investment advice, perform tax preparation, give tax advice or financial legal advice. These are specialized services offered by other financial professionals.
As we head to a New Year, let’s devote ourselves to better money management by doing it God’s way.
