Are you in a position where you know you need to make a change and think you might need a financial coaching partnership, but are too stuck in old beliefs and fears around money to ask for help?
That was the story for my client Karen, until she made the brave decision to reach out and ask me for help. Karen first started working with me at the beginning of the pandemic after going through bankruptcy. Today, I’m catching up with her after almost two years since we started working together.
In this episode, Karen reflects on the changes financial coaching brought into her life, like being able to pay for car repairs without an anxiety attack, how she does weekly money dates and continues to personalize the tools I developed for her to fit her changing life, and how the support she received during financial coaching allowed her to rein in her emotional spending and rebuild her trust in herself.
Toward the end of our chat, Karen shares how she recently found her one-year plan that she made with me and how she was surprised to discover that she had met every single goal that she had set for herself, from living on her own to moving to a new state.
Financial coaching completely changed Karen’s life, not only by teaching her how to set goals, but by giving her the skills and the confidence that have empowered her to reach those goals. Her biggest piece of advice to others is to take the leap today, right now, if you’re ready to make a change in the way you manage your finances and your life as well.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
- [02:47] What made Karen decide to finally make the leap to start working with me and her feelings about having someone in her corner on her financial journey
- [10:04] How Karen has kept up with her budget and stayed in control of her finances
- [17:44] How Karen continues to use the skills she learned during our coaching partnership to address her financial triggers
- [25:01] Why Karen, who is usually non-confrontational, likes to negotiate now and how she prepares for expected and unexpected expenses
- [32:52] How Karen learned to trust herself again and develop confidence through managing her money
Tune in to this episode of Money Files to hear how my financial coaching partnership changed Karen’s life.
Are you ready to take the leap like Karen and start a financial coaching partnership with me? Apply to work with me, and let’s start working towards your financial goals.
Want to hear more of Karen’s story? Check out her first episode!
Transcript:
[00:00:02] Keina Hi and welcome to Money Files. I’m Keina Newell from Wealth Over now. I work every day with professional women and solopreneurs to help them get out of financial overwhelm and shame so they can experience more flexibility and ease with their finances. Are you ready to gain confidence and learn to manage your finances intentionally? Tune in and grab financial tips that will help you master the way you think about and manage your finances.
[00:00:31] Keina Hi. Welcome back to another episode of Money Files. So I am doing a where are they now? Spotlight. I’m with my client, Karen. Karen, how long has it been since we worked together?
[00:00:42] Karen Well, we managed to get through the pandemic. That’s where I learned everything from you. Yes. And I have, you know, because with my history of not wanting to deal with my finances, I have hung in there with everything you taught me for the last. I think it’s been like two years almost. Yeah. And I’m a different person than when I first started with you. Like, I’m confident with my finances. I actually do sit down, and I found every week works best for me. Hmm. So my only regret is I wish I had found you when I was 20.
[00:01:16] Keina Yeah.
[00:01:18] Keina I love that. I think we started. I want to say it was like September of 2020.
[00:01:25] Karen I found you right after the pandemic started. And then I waited. Like I found you, like, April. And then I just waited and watched. And I shouldn’t have done that. I should have. I should have pushed the button earlier.
[00:01:35] Keina What were you waiting and watching on, if you remember?
[00:01:39] Karen Yeah, I remember because in my in my past, asking people to help me with finances never turned out well because they didn’t really understand, like, who I was and my trauma around money and how I was raised with money. And they just they were just like, just do it this way. Like, they didn’t it wasn’t their job to care. But I had been slapped a couple of times down about money, and it was kind of in my mind, I always believed that I wasn’t good with money. I was good at making it, good spending it, but saving it was just not in my wheelhouse. And then I learned that, you know, the mindset you taught me, being mindful of my money and then, you know, learning the financial plan and actually doing the work made all the difference in the world for me. And so now I’m a big advocate.
[00:02:24] Keina I think that resonates with a lot of people. Like there’s something I’m sure there’s somebody is listening right now who’s listened to a lot of my podcast episode. They may be on my email list, they may be following me, right? But like, what’s the thing that kind of like I always think of like a cup of water and you putting droplets in with the thing that like tipped everything over for you that made you go ahead and move forward with coaching.
[00:02:47] Karen I think it was just the moment like I had seen everything and had no and I really felt like this is a person who could really help me. And I remember, I think I might have come home from a bad day or whatever. And I thought, I have to stop the madness. And I was scared. But I went in and I filled out the form and I sent it to you and we scheduled that call. And I had many opportunities to cancel that call because I was working with fear. But I just kept saying to myself, I have to make this change. I have to you know, we just have to. I mean, literally, after that hour call, I knew that this was going to work.
[00:03:25] Keina I just love it. And I would say, like, I mean, I’m always I love you. And the fact that two years later but just thinking about like anyone listening, just the bravery that’s required to be able to say, like, I’m going to raise my hand and ask for help. Like, I know that that’s not a small thing for anyone. That’s in that place because especially like when you’re talking about like trauma and judgment and this narrative that. You have about like you said, like I was really good at spending money. I’m really good at making money, but I’m not good at saving money. And I think that that definitely resonates.
[00:04:05] Karen Well, you know, a person in the last you know, because I still continue to listen to my episode and then I when I find time, I will listen to other ones of yours. I thought, you know, my case was the worst ever in the world, had never seen somebody got out of bankruptcy, which wasn’t true. But I had beaten myself down so for so very long about what I had done with the money that was I inherited and that whole story. But I’m not, though, because I hear a lot of other clients or other women that, you know, they’re hiding their spending habits from their husband. And, you know, there’s a lot more emotions and shame and trauma around their own stories than than just with mine. But with you. I never felt alone. Like, you know, like I said this in last podcast, we had a conversation and I think I’d asked you a question and you had said, Don’t worry, I got your back. And I hung up the phone and I cried because I had never in my entire life had anybody say that to me. No one in my family, I think. And that just that I still tear up. That just made a huge difference to know to have someone that actually was interested in really helping me and following up with that and that even though we don’t work together anymore, I know in a desperate moment I could email you Keina like, what do I do?
[00:05:20] Keina Most definitely.
[00:05:22] Karen You know, it being a being single and alone and not really having family. It’s rare if ever you have someone that actually has your back and then I actually believed you. That’s the difference, because I’d heard that before. Yeah, you hear that? But. But you have such a great sense of follow through and trust and, you know, your smile and your energy just. That’s just how I see it.
[00:05:45] Keina I love it.
[00:05:47] Keina I mean, every time I talk to you, I’m like, I’m so glad Karen and I met. Just for anyone who’s listening. And you just we’re briefly sharing. And if you haven’t gone back, I can tag the episode that Karen was in originally. But you had gone through bankruptcy, what, in your early late fifties?
[00:06:02] Karen It was 20, 1959.
[00:06:05] Keina Yeah. I mean, I think anyone listening can think about like, what would you think about yourself? Right. At 59, I’ve gone through bankruptcy and like thinking about it’s all over. And I think everyone, all of us have like some story of what it would look like for everything to be over financially and just I think you still just for inviting me into that very private piece of your life and allowing me to be a part of your team to help you work through that.
[00:06:34] Karen So and then even after the podcast was recorded, I shared it with, like, four people. Mm hmm. Because, like I said in that original podcast episode, people in your life see you in a particular role. And when you change that role or step away from that role, they don’t like that. And in order to, I believe, bring about change in your life, you have to keep it to yourself. Mm hmm. Or keep it between yourself and who’s helping you. Mm hmm. And then when the change happens, there’s nobody else to say. Hey, I don’t like that. Hey, don’t think it’s a good idea. So, I mean, I think there was only one person that knew I was using a financial coach because it was the one friend I knew that was like, good. That’s a great idea. Everybody else would have just, you know, and I think of the four people I shared the podcast with, I think they all four of my friends actually listened to it and they were really they were like, Karen, thank you so much for sharing that with me because I didn’t have to know it’s business.
[00:07:25] Keina Well, I think you bring up a good point about like I think I encounter clients that have thoughts about asking for help and what what other people think. And I’ve done a podcast on just a podcast episode about investing in myself, like I’ve invested heavily in like business coaching. People have a lot of thoughts about like, why would you spend money on something you could do by yourself? Or Why would you? You know, and especially when you’re in this financial situation, say, well, why would you spend money? I could teach you how to budget, why would you? Right? And there’s this like judgment. And so I think that just you mentioning that it’s if you want to do this work, it’s also about enrolling yourself in what are the results you desire to create. Because sometimes, especially like I’m someone who’s always I seek other people’s opinion for things. And that’s kind of like the nature and how I move. Like I make a lot of decisions by myself and then I’ve also like different people’s opinions. And so as I’ve learned to invest in myself, like sometimes it’s not about seeking other people’s opinions. I’m going to go after the thing that I desire and it really takes me and really my self in it and thinking about like, what’s the return on my investment that I desire and moving forward? Because if I tell other people, some of those people might deter me from the goals that I have and talk me out of it.
[00:08:39] Karen Plus, working with you, was it it was a focus to it for me. So I knew that every week I had an hour to focus on this. And we talked through a lot of my trauma and a lot of the shame. We talked about the history of how I was raised around money. And it was I kind of got like a shrink and a financial coach kind of rolled into one because it was.
[00:09:00] Keina Like all this free.
[00:09:01] Keina Will because it would.
[00:09:02] Karen Be had become such a large balloon in my life that needed to be lanced and take care of, you know, cyst or whatever. But I mean, I remember I remember actually looking forward to it because I kind of was I had kind of like, okay, I’m finally addressing this and guess what? I’m still alive. Yeah. Because, you know, most people think that their problems are their problems and nobody else in the world has those kind of problems. Then when you can actually find the courage to get help or talk to somebody, you find out that, oh, you’re not alone. There is nothing unique about my situation at all. Yeah, except that maybe I’m. I’ve never been married. I’m 62. Yeah, I think that’s a plus.
[00:09:43] Keina Well, since.
[00:09:44] Keina We recorded the podcast for the. I know we were talking before we started recording and you said sometimes you use it, you like listen to it yourself. That’s one of the reasons I love doing these episodes because I feel like for any of my clients, they have this wide version of themselves that they can always go back and listen to. But where are you now since you were on the last podcast?
[00:10:04] Karen Well, you know, A, I’m surprised that I’m still doing the financial plan because. It’s easy to not. But then I have forgotten patient enough with myself where I could sit and go. Karen But you’d know what it was like before the financial plan. And one account that just bled money. I know my life is better because I’m sitting here doing this financial plan and have gone through this training with you. Mm hmm. And I’ve actually almost gotten to the obsessive side with it, because it was just in the last month or so where I really decided to do it every week. Now, every seven days. The reason I’m doing it every week now is because it’s easier to get through it, like to to match up everything and work the financial plan. And the numbers are in my head more because if I wait two or three weeks to do it, that’s a lot of back logging and going through. And what I’m seeing are mistakes because it’s so much easier to go, well, that $30 probably isn’t that line. But by the time I get around to doing the financial plan, more money will be have dumped in that line and then I’ll be okay. That’s what I was doing to myself, and I don’t like that because that’s where I get in trouble. Most the time is just thinking about now versus the future. Mm hmm. But so now when I do it, it doesn’t take me as long, because there’s less things to go through. I’m actually looking at my money more often, so I know when I go to the grocery store, Karen you have 200 bucks or whatever? I have? Because if I when I was doing it once every two or three weeks, it was vague. Yeah. But like we’ve learned before, I don’t do good with I can’t I can’t live on vague. I have to. I have to know. So, I mean, I’ve even gotten back to where I am sometimes I open the spreadsheet in my car, like in the app it just to make sure, like, how much do I have for gas? I have $190 for gas. Okay. And what do I have? You know? So that just helps me, especially right now, where everything is just kind of crazy in the world. And inflation, I’m sitting in a state that is expensive, then things with the job, etc. So it just really helps me. Then I have friends that make twice as much as I do and they don’t have a financial plan that they have no idea where the money goes. Believe it or not, that makes me ill. Now, when I find out people don’t know where the money’s going and I’m constantly going, I know exactly.
[00:12:19] Karen Where every penny.
[00:12:20] Karen Of my money sits.
[00:12:22] Keina You’re me now.
[00:12:23] Keina Exactly. It’s like, how are you?
[00:12:26] Keina You’re just out here spending money. You’re not sure where it is.
[00:12:30] Karen What have you.
[00:12:30] Karen Plus, you know, I learned we learned early on that I never really thought about I was an emotional spender. Yeah. And I also at the time had a lot of money. And so I developed that very bad habit of, like, if it was pretty, I liked it, and I just bought it. I just bought it. And so it’s taken me a full year at least, at least a full year to get away from that habit and to really like stop when I’ve taken some of your tips, like put it in a cart, think about it, or sometimes I’ll just forget about it. Yeah, but I’ve really, I’ve really, I have to say, I really have stopped at the 20 and the $20, the $30 things, because it adds up, especially for when you’re living pretty close to the bone. $20 makes a difference. So like, you know, when I’m working my financial plan and there’s somehow there’s happens to extra money someplace, I usually will actually move it to where I could use it. Yeah, money or maybe eating out. That’s a small part. That would be nice to eat out a little bit more often. But you know, I try and stays as close to the bone. Like I really want my financial plan to actually reflect what’s in the bank. I mean, the bigger one, you know, the app spending account that can sometimes float, you know, it’s not ever really exact. That’s because it’s kind of fluid. It’s kind of a move, it’s a moving system. But I try and get it this close to it. You know, there’s a discrepancy in was like, well, how am I supposed to figure out where the discrepancy is? And so I just try to.
[00:13:52] Keina Use it earlier when I want to like underscore this because I think somebody would be like, well, I hold numbers in my head, but you said you have numbers in your head, but it’s because you’re looking at your plan every week, which I just want to say that that’s very different when you’re like in tune with how you’re spending your money, the numbers in your head are, like, informative. Mm hmm. Versus being like, oh, I think I have, like, $300. Yes, I want to. I think I’ve invested, like $300 just. Right. Like it’s a mental math number. Yes. First is when you’re when you’re actually heavily at like a financial planner. We are. Okay. I’ve been going here. I’ve made this purchase, this purchase. And so here’s what I said. I want to spend here’s what I’ve spent and here’s where I am able to make those like intentional decisions.
[00:14:38] Keina And the vague thing was something that I’d gotten into a bad habit about, about thinking, Well, I think that even if there’s money’s not there, it’ll show up by the time I do the financial plan because the money will be brought over. So that was then I had to I had to get my I had to get out of that habit very quickly because, you know, it’s just you know, you can I mean, there are sometimes I had to get creative and, you know, I may take something out of one line, but I liked the fact that we had set it up where there are two or three months worth of money in that line, like for my car payment line. I have three months of payments in there. I don’t like disturbing that. Now, occasionally I will go in there for maybe a 20, but I try and replace that to.
[00:15:19] Keina Honor.
[00:15:20] Karen The lives that are so important, the insurance lines, the things I try and really stay away from those. But you know me, there are days when I go, I got $2,000 in this line in there. I good. You know, France, whatever. You know my Christmas line. My Christmas line is holding up pretty well. I mean, I struggle with that one, but it’s holding up pretty well. I mean, I think I’ll end up with like three or $4 for Christmas. And so that’s that I haven’t made any friends here. So that may work. But I mean, the temptation is always there. I really try to not.
[00:15:55] Keina But I think it’s true that the.
[00:15:57] Keina Temptation is always going to be there for all of us. Like, I have a budget, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have temptations.
[00:16:03] Karen Right. You know, I have I have friends that we talk about money a lot, some of them and one of us, the financial adviser. And she makes a lot of money and she just says, I don’t really spend any money. She goes, there’s nothing, anything I really need. My mindset is I need everything. Mhm. But again, but, but just the way I live, I like, I have art and I have, I have nice things that she’s just not that person. She’s very low key, very, you know, they have a lovely house, but they have good cars, but they know that on a day to day basis she’s not wandering around looking at items for her kitchen, you know, just a different personality. So I want everything.
[00:16:38] Keina Yeah. And I will say that I think that there are also people that have to be encouraged to spend money. There is a flipside. So there is definitely a flipside where people have thoughts about what it means if they spend money. And so. Yes, yes, money is emotional.
[00:16:53] Karen Yeah. I mean, I have friends that are super paranoid about their money. Because they’re worried about not having enough till the end of their life. And I’ve just never thought of I just never really. I mean, you remember when we first started working, one of my line items I wanted was just, what’s it called? Personal suicide, remember? I don’t know what it’s called.
[00:17:12] Keina But I was like, here, this is this is morbid idea.
[00:17:16] Karen Where I can go and be put down basically if I’m terminally ill. And then we laughed about it. I was like, but I’m not really not kidding. I mean, I still don’t have that line item.
[00:17:26] Keina But it’s it’s coming. I know.
[00:17:29] Keina Yes.
[00:17:31] Keina I know Karen’s wishes. If anybody asks me, I was like, no, she was my client. I can show you this.
[00:17:36] Keina This is this is what I heard.
[00:17:38] Karen You say, $20 for someone to put her down. And I have friends that would do it for nothing.
[00:17:44] Keina So what results have like when you think back to when you started till now, what results have blown your mind?
[00:17:51] Karen You know, the mindset that you taught me and that financial plan continues to blow my mind because it’s it’s a no fail. It’s a win win situation. I love it. And it’s and it works and everything. All your tips that you gave me about like stop any emails coming in from your favorite places that you like to shop. Stop many people on Instagram. It sounds kind of like what, but it works because when the temptation is not put in front of you, you know, I don’t even I rarely seek out those sites anymore. Occasionally. I mean, the other day I had an occasion I went out I went out to Crate Barrel because they were releasing a new line of a mid-century designer. And I want I was just curious to see what had it looked. And it was complete crap. I mean, I was really disappointed. Good thing because, you know, I mean, you just go out there you go. I love this couch. It’s $7,000. But that’s still I still have remnants of that that old mindset. Yeah. And again, like I said, I have also figured out that when I have a trigger moment, I can also walk away, which I’ve never done before. I can go for a walk, I can pick a book, I could take a shower and clean house. I mean, I’ve had to learn to develop habits to prevent me from doing damage because I, you know, I constantly have five or $6,000 in my account, but that’s all you know, it’s all a line item, but it in a heartbeat, you know, they take all that money and get out of town.
[00:19:17] Keina Yeah.
[00:19:18] Karen So the fact. That I have this great restraint when it comes to that, because for the first time in my life, I am thinking about the future. I have never done that before. I just wish I had started when I was you know, I was just thinking about this earlier. If I was a parent and I had kids going off to college, I would buy time with you for them to teach them because they’re heading out and, you know, they won’t have a lot of finances in college, but give them the knowledge of how it works and how you can spend, because it’ll stay with me until I die. Absolutely. And it doesn’t matter how much I spent, because it’s still I still say it was worth $1,000,000 for me. What you did and what I learned and I honestly like for the first time, I like I like seeing my balances. They’re not as healthy as they were a year ago because I live in Florida and you make the adjustment. But I haven’t. Yeah. Never had those before.
[00:20:08] Keina Well and like you’re doing it I. Always with clients. Like I have to celebrate that with them because at the end of the day, you are the one who’s managing the plan. I am not managing the plan. And if you did want to take your money and go to France, I can’t tell you that. You can’t. Right. Like you’re making that decision for yourself and you are upholding the things that are valuable to you. You’re making sure that you’re hitting your goals and you’re adjusting the things you feel like you are in control of your finances.
[00:20:43] Karen And that right there is a 180 degree shift for me to get to know me on a personal level before after all that money that finances is not what any word anybody ever uses a word to to do like Karen’s great with money.
[00:20:58] Keina Yeah.
[00:20:59] Karen And I don’t think anybody would use that word now, but I am living on my own again. After, not during the pandemic. I was housesitting and living on my own. I’m holding my own. And I had lost that part of me when of course, during the pandemic I was housesitting. I could work with you and I didn’t have any bills. I mean, so the adjustment back to living on my own was difficult but still worth it because I still do enjoy living on my own and I like doing that. But there are days when it does get scary when you kind of go, I just wish there was somebody else to kind of pick up the pieces or I don’t know.
[00:21:32] Keina But but still you’re doing it.
[00:21:34] Karen Yes, that’s the difference.
[00:21:36] Keina So when you listen to this again, once you just remind yourself that you’re doing it.
[00:21:40] Karen Uh huh, uh huh, yeah. Because five years ago I wouldn’t even have said was possible then, you know. But again, you know, moving through fear can the only way to change your life something you’re afraid of? I believe.
[00:21:54] Keina What advice would you go back and give yourself? First started.
[00:21:57] Karen I would pay more attention to the things you asked me to do, like for the daily homeworks or the weekly homeworks, because I think a lot of those I kind of skimmed over and I really waited too long. I mean, I really allowed you to do that financial planning for me without me doing it. Like I waited too long to do that on my own because I think we were knee deep. I think we were in like end of the year, maybe January four, because I scared the crap out of me still, even though I knew you had my back. Yeah, but the thought of doing that on my own just freaked me out because I just. It’s not that I couldn’t grasp the concept. I absolutely could. I just did not want to, because it meant. It meant I was in it now, and it meant I had to do what I hired you to teach me to do. And, you know, and it took me a long time to feel comfortable doing it on my own. But now it’s me. It’s on my calendar. Every Friday, a little thing pops up and says, Money, date. So it’s not far from me, ever. It’s always in the back of my mind or on the laptop or, you know. And I think since we stopped working, especially since I moved to Florida, I’ve had days where they’re just complete meltdowns, not necessarily about money, but just in life. But there have been a couple of meltdown days where I just like Karen go back in and look again. You have to find that money. You have to find it someplace. And there are days when I’m like, Still wish I could have Keina in my life every week, but I know that in a pinch I can email you and you can say, can try this.
[00:23:25] Keina You can listen to my weekly podcast. I’m sure there’s some gem that will.
[00:23:27] Karen Care or even on Instagram. Yeah. And plus I remember I remember that one tip and I don’t even know if we are still working together now, but it was like when you’re working on your financial plan, you know, look at your savings accounts, round them up. And I thought, wow, that and that. The weird thing is that if you have $329 and you’re in some line and you can rounded up to 300 and 330, but anything ends in zero. Just looks better. Yeah, even if it’s $0.50 or not. And I still look, I still will go and especially with like some of the external ones outside of my bank because I have weird like I think one of my accounts gets like $33 every two weeks ever. So they have these there’s always a weird figure to us. I’m always, I can’t just go in there, but and then I’m always like, well, I have to find an extra $2.50.
[00:24:12] Karen But.
[00:24:12] Karen You know, but honestly, what I also really learned and that and I think that was the hardest part, is that when you’re putting in the figures in the sheet, when you’re finished and how it has to balance at the top and then has to, you know, it says, are you budgeted at the bottom is it’s generally at zero, sometimes it’s 0.01. I don’t bother with a couple of cents, but when I’ve been shifting around and I know that I have to keep shifting and I look at the balance like, okay, you’re $7 over, is it worth it? I’m like, Yeah, there’s something about that zero. Like now for me is that I was off by $70. I would’ve left it. But now I’m really trying to really like know exactly. It’s not ever going to be exact, but I’m as close as it possibly can get to really knowing how much money I have. And I’ve learned from you also to negotiate a lot more.
[00:24:56] Keina I know I heard you talk about negotiating here.
[00:24:58] Keina I was like, okay, good job because.
[00:25:01] Karen I keep telling that to somebody today. She goes, I didn’t know you could do that. I said, Yeah, I heard from a couple of people. So I said, Hey, this is who I am. I’ve never been the whatever. And I offered them and they took it. I was like, I’m not even going to say thank you. I’m just going to move on and sign the lease. Yeah. You know, but I mean, just it’s really sometimes it is just these little tiny tricks. Like, I, I renegotiated my cell phone. They had a discount plan for veterans, and I thought I had put it in place, but for the whole year, I wasn’t seeing it. And I finally went back and they were like, You can finish it. So the minute I finished it out, it dropped by $15. Yeah, because as a single person, we get screwed up cell phones because we don’t have you know, if you have a family of three, time is $20 and I have that. So I pay 70, 80 down to 65. So $15 more months doesn’t sound like a lot to a lot of people.
[00:25:47] Keina But here’s the thing, though, right? Like a lot or not a lot, it’s like that’s your money and it’s about owning your money. I don’t care if it’s $3, it’s mine. It’s not yours, you know? And so just being able to have that sense of control and I think when you’re not feeling like you’re swimming or drowning, you can like look at those things. Like, I very much though, will look at at my money and say, excuse me, the price went up on my security, on my house, or, you know, and even noticing little fluctuations in your utility bills, like sometimes it’s not even about the money as much as it is knowing the why behind it. And I don’t want to be giving my money away without knowing why I’m giving it away, right?
[00:26:32] Karen Yeah. I mean, I push back on a couple of different things here at the apartment complex because just sometimes, you know, because you’re kind of like, for instance, you’re beholden to a certain cable company and I think I’m paying too much for Internet. Mm. But, you know, because so many places off, like, you know, Verizon has their own Internet service now, so does T-Mobile and it’s like $25 a month. I’m paying 80, but this Internet company has a lock on the complex. So I’ve gone in there multiple times saying, you know, this isn’t fair, that we’re being forced to use the one Internet company in Gainesville, Florida. I would like an option to be able to use, you know, but at their level, it’s a corporate thing. So, you know, I just keep asking questions where I can. And again, again, I’m not a confrontation. I don’t like confronting people. But for some reason, when it comes to money, I’ve gotten.
[00:27:22] Keina Well, I love it. That means you’re financially confident.
[00:27:25] Karen Well, yeah. I mean, there are there days.
[00:27:28] Keina It is because I think there’s so many of us that like don’t pay attention to those things and those things matter and they aren’t to be discredited. Right. And so I think that that shows your financial stewardship over your finances.
[00:27:41] Karen Well, plus, I also remember we had a conversation where I think it’s like $35 a paycheck goes to my car account and you don’t even think about it like that’s just nothing. Well, you know what? Right now I’m sitting here with, like $800 in my car account because it truly adds up. I mean, I didn’t even really know. That’s why I was like, why have I not had used any of that money? And I think I had uses for oil change. It’s like there’s like there’s a maintenance and there’s registration. Most of it’s in the registration. Well, my registration when I got here because I was changing states and counties was so much more now. And I have ridiculous more money in there than I need for registration. But I don’t I’m okay with that. I’m okay with that. You know, it just so sometimes I just kind of go, you know what? Even if you can only save $10 a paycheck to something, think about at the end of the year, like, say, like with Christmas, there’s not a lot of money that goes into my Christmas line from January to December. I like the fact now that rarely that I get surprised about an expense. I mean, I got surprised in January with new tires that wasn’t ready for. But I would say 98% of the things that are there coming into my life that are due, I’m ready for them.
[00:28:46] Keina And even if you do have a surprise, you know how to maneuver, manipulate things. Yep.
[00:28:51] Karen I remember that first time when we were working together and I had a car battery that was fixing to go working for a while. So I had money in that car line. And we, you and I had talked about in the past, I would have been completely freaked out because it was five days past payday and I would have already spent everything. And I remember how wonderful I felt when I went to that dealership. They put in a new battery. I sat in that dealership and I moved the money from here to here, and I had it. There was no stress. There were no tears. There was no hyperventilating. And that was the best feeling in the world. Now, when I see something that pops up, it’s like, Oh, that’s really. You got to put it. That goes. Even if I get extra cash, like sometimes I’ll get cash from work because, you know, per diem or whatever for something and if it’s. Typically I would put it back into the gas line at the toll line. Sometimes I don’t. I make a line for it because it’s everything. It’s like, Oh, they sent me a check for $220. Good on me. That’s for me.
[00:29:46] Keina Yeah.
[00:29:47] Karen Yeah. Guess what? I underspending 300. Yeah, I put that line in. That’s the first thing I do. I figured out how to add lines. I figure to how to check out lines. And then I sit there and I just, you know, I think maybe this was one of the pandemic checks. I think I had gotten a bonus earlier this year. I’m in line for it. Yeah, the cash. And I sat there and I deducted everything from it that I want to do. Like I paid off this or I paid off that. But, I mean, and when it was gone, it was gone.
[00:30:11] Keina Look at that. I’m so proud of you.
[00:30:13] Karen That vague thing, I’ll get you every time it will.
[00:30:15] Keina Or like, I mean, I talk about it all the time. We have overworked dollars, right? It’s like spending money before you get it. So in that space, we were like, I’m getting $200. I can buy the $200 pair of shoes. I get the $200 haircut I can do. I’m like, Now you spent $600. You spent so much more because you didn’t actually one, you probably didn’t wait for it to come in or two like you didn’t have an actual written plan and you were doing this mental math in your head.
[00:30:41] Karen Yeah, I’m much better with mental math on paper.
[00:30:44] Keina Yeah.
[00:30:44] Karen The mental math in my head is not a calculator. It’s really not. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, think that when you had told me, I think when you and I had discussed about that, you said make a line for it for that cash. And there’s so many simple things that you tell me. I’m like, how do they. I remember the conversation we had where I was, I think something and you said, we’ll just we’ll just take money out of your savings and put it towards that. And I said I was so reluctant because I was so proud of myself. And you’re like, we’ll just put that money back. And I was like, Huh? Where to put money back? Even like when I was listening to the podcast, it was almost like after you could put my hand and you can take it out of it.
[00:31:21] Karen But it was just.
[00:31:21] Karen It was just stuttered like a river.
[00:31:22] Keina But when you’ve never done it before, right? Because, like, you don’t have the space to think about what else could be possible. Right. And the thing that I’ve been sharing a lot in my content recently is like budgeting provides you access, like access to dreams, possibilities, way of thinking. Like it’s not like I don’t see budgeting as this tool to be like restricted by, but it’s being able to give you access to the things, some of the things you think you potentially want access to and some of them you may have never have imagined in your life. Right.
[00:31:55] Karen And there are many times I look at the financial plan constantly. Scaling is going to. I really need to. Mm hmm. Because I can find another place for $35. So I need that because I can find a place that I happiest. I have these discussions with myself out loud about Netflix because Netflix not really doing it for me right now. That’s $22 I can put towards food. There are things that, you know, I don’t need any of these luxury items, trust me. Yeah, but I mean, there are there are times when you just like, that’s what I like about your financial plan. I consider it to be fluid. It’s static, yet fluid like at any time or any given moment, I can I can change things as long as it stays budgeted. And at that money, I don’t try I try not to stay in the negative because sooner or later that catches up with you when.
[00:32:39] Karen You’re doing a good job. So to wrap up, I talk a lot about financial trust, confidence and awareness. Like what’s a candid moment or a reflection about how these results have shown up in your life?
[00:32:52] Karen Well, I mean, you were the first person I trusted with helping me, and you delivered 100%. Have I felt like that? It’s hard. It’s hard to. I mean, the trust thing was big for me. Mm hmm. It was a really big thing for me. And so learning to do that is sometimes I have gotten better about learning to trust people. And but mostly I think I’ve learned to ask for help and not just generally in the financial sector, but just in general. Sometimes the results are good, but again, it goes back to people are not used to that from me. I don’t ask for help. I don’t ask for advice. So generally want to ask for help. There’s always this like stunned silence. And in that moment, I know whether or not they can.
[00:33:33] Keina How have you learned to trust yourself through this process?
[00:33:37] Karen By doing it the only way they had to do it. I have to sit down. I have to do this. This is the one constant in my life right now. Everything else is a fluctuation in the jobs. And fluctuation, I want to say in Florida is a fluctuation that’s a constant that’s an absolute have to. Because it’s my tether right now. It’s my grounding stone. It’s the one thing that I know I’m doing right. And I know that we’ve talked about this for if I can. You know, I am learning to manage my own finances. There are got to be other aspects of my life that I’ve got to look at and learn to manage better.
[00:34:11] Keina I love it. So it’s something new. I’m trying to finish these statements. Okay. At first I thought budgeting was blank, but now I think blink.
[00:34:22] Karen At first I thought budgeting was for other people, not me. But now I think everyone should have a financial plan, whether you have a little money or a lot of money.
[00:34:31] Keina Ooh, I like that one. One thought I use Regularly.
[00:34:35] Karen I really can do this.
[00:34:37] Keina I like that one.
[00:34:38] Karen And I know that you still have my back. Even though we’re not longer. I mean, there are times when I’m out there whirling around in my world going, Oh, that’s pretty. That’s $200. Let’s be vague and think about where had that money. And then.
[00:34:52] Karen Just in very little tiny whisper, because it’s.
[00:34:54] Karen Not you saying no, it’s just your voice.
[00:34:57] Karen That’s all.
[00:34:57] Karen It’s just your voice. Think mindset. Now be mindful. Can you do? And I bet for me that helps. It really does. You still have my back, even though I don’t see that often. You still have my back because I still hear your voice.
[00:35:10] Keina I love it. I’m glad. I feel like I need everybody to have this. What would Keina do? Bracelet.
[00:35:17] Karen Keina stalker.
[00:35:19] Keina And the result I’m most proud of is blank.
[00:35:24] Karen It would be trusting you and taking that leap with you. And then look where I am. Because when we first started, you had me write down six month goals, one year, five and ten. And when I moved to Florida, when I was unpacking, I happened to have a couple of journals I don’t really journal, but for some reason I had started a new journal when I was working with you, but there was only ever one page filled out. And it was that page where I’d made that quartet my quadrant and we divided up into like four. And I was looking at it was like, Oh my God, I hit the six months and I hit the one and I didn’t even really remember it. And I remember I took a picture it sent you. I’m like, Keina.
[00:36:02] Karen Look what I did.
[00:36:04] Karen Like, the one of your goals was a new car. Living on my own. Living in Florida. It’s something else. I can’t remember what it was, but I hit them all. And then the five year was like, I’d like a house. And I think five years was like not dead.
[00:36:18] Karen And.
[00:36:18] Karen Year was like still alive.
[00:36:20] Karen I mean, it was.
[00:36:21] Karen Traveling was a big part of it. Yeah, that was a big wow for me. And it because I had never set or hit goals in my entire life that that was, I was like, that was awesome.
[00:36:32] Keina Confirmation that you can learn new things at any age and do new things.
[00:36:36] Karen Because changes change is tough. And I’ve always been a big believer in if, you know, change, you know, change has to happen in your life and you don’t implement it. Guess what? The universe is going to do it for you. It’s gonna suck and it’s always going to suck. Like, I have friends that are in bad marriages. They know it’s over. They need to make the change and they don’t. And here comes the universe. Makes it twice as hard because they didn’t pay attention. I try to listen to my intuition a lot. Yeah. And you were a big part of that. I mean, my intuition is pretty strong. And like I said, that first, if I make phone calls like. I know in my gut that this girl could help me. And I was right there.
[00:37:15] Keina I’m glad you’re right. I’m glad it worked out. Well, is.
[00:37:20] Keina There anything, Karen, I should have asked you that I didn’t ask or that you wanted to share?
[00:37:24] Karen No, I think you know, I think I would just reiterate to people that if you don’t think you’re ready, you’re ready. Like call Keina, push, it pushed the button. Like I said before, that’s the only thing I just I just regret. Was not doing it sooner or not looking. Like I said before, my other pockets, I didn’t even know financial coaches existed. You know, I think the fact that I found you by some miracle and, you know, and and I and I waited four or five months before I did it, that that’s the one thing I would reiterate to people is in your deepest, darkest moment, push the button, call her, send email, talk to her. Talk to her. At least talk to her. Yeah. And then go from there. That’s what I did. Like I said, I came close to canceling a number of times because, you know, why not? But definitely.
[00:38:08] Keina Well, I’m glad you did it. Because would be able to have this conversation today.
[00:38:11] Karen Right. That’s been so much fun seeing you again.
[00:38:14] Keina I’m glad to see you, too. Well, if you’re listening, do what Karen said and apply to work with me. I have a five month coaching partnership and I can help you dove into your numbers. Thank you so much for listening to Money Files. If you’re ready to take the next step to reach your financial goals, head to www.wealthovernow.com/appointment and let’s get started.
