April came to my coaching program as a newly single mom, juggling grad school, parenting, and a full-time job — and feeling overwhelmed and out of control with her money.
In this episode, April and I discuss how she went from considering bankruptcy to building financial confidence. You’ll hear which beliefs finally shifted for her, the tough-love moment that helped her take ownership of her finances, and the simple but powerful habits she’s using to stay on track today.
Whether you’re stuck in overdraft fees, constantly second-guessing yourself, or just want to hear a story of what’s possible, April’s journey is the reminder you need: it can get better — and you are more capable than you think.
Get inspired by April’s financial journey…
- [01:05] April’s money story
- [08:33] Building self-trust and healthy money habits
- [16:30] April’s accomplishments since starting coaching
- [22:23] How April knew she was ready for coaching
- [25:20] April’s new relationship with money
Tune into this episode of Money Files to hear April’s money story and how tough love, believing in herself, and building healthy habits has changed the way she thinks about and manages her finances.
Are you ready to start asking for help with your finances? Apply to work with me, and let’s start working towards your financial goals.
If you loved hearing how April rewrote her money story, check out my episode, Breaking Free From the ‘I Should Be Better with Money’ Trap!
Transcript for “[MVP] Why April Chose Budgeting Over Bankruptcy (and How It Paid Off)”
Intro: Hi and welcome to Money Files. I’m Keina Newell from Wealth Over Now. I work everyday 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.
Keina: Hi, my name is Keina and I am a financial coach with Wealth Over Now and today I am with one of my clients, April. I am so excited that she is decided to let you guys into her financial journey that she’s been on, what I think for the like last five, last six-ish months. Yeah, it’s like from last December and I told her that I was going to let her introduce herself, but I’ll just go ahead and introduce her. Her name is April and she is a teacher, she’s also a grad student. Woo whoop. She’s getting her doctorate degree and she is also the mother of a fabulous son. So April, if you just want to go ahead and one, if you need to further introduce yourself, feel free. But I would love to just dive in and tell listeners like what did you believe about yourself and your relationship with money when we first started working together?
April: I think you did a great job introducing me, so I don’t need to add anything there. But when I reached out to you originally I was a newly single mom and was overwhelmed with managing my own finances. And for me I’ve just never had a good relationship with money. So I didn’t believe that I was capable or able to manage money on my own. I’ve always been told that I’m bad with money and usually those around me are like, well I’ll just do it because you’re not good at handling money. So I’ve never even tried to be good at managing money because I’ve always been told that I’m not good at it. And I was definitely in a space where, because I was for the first time in a very long time living on my own and also a parent and trying to navigate and manage the many financial obligations that came with that. I was in a space where I was living in a paycheck to paycheck cycle and it was exhausting and I didn’t know what to do.
Keina: No, thank you for sharing that. It just makes me think of how many of us our past inform our relationship with money. And especially when I think about like our money stories and we all have money stories. They may vary from person to person, but they really come from what other people have said about us or how we’ve seen money managed in the past. And it kind of like foreshadows or predicts how we end up managing our finances. One of the things I would love to dive into and like I told you before we hopped on the podcast, feel free to share as little or as much as you want, but like how bad was it really? Where were you when we started working together?
April: I think that when I was talking to you about retaining you to work with you, I was like, Keina, I think my account is negative, I don’t even know how I’m going to pay you because I don’t or I might have said, okay, well when I get paid in this next paycheck then I could pay you. And actually I do remember one of our conversations because I said, well Christmas is in a few weeks so when I get paid I need to buy Christmas present. So you and I could talk in January and your response was something like, well we can talk now and I can help you plan for Christmas so that you’re not struggling after Christmas. And I was, “oh that makes sense.”
Keina: That conversation and I also remember you saying on our call before we started working together, it’s like, Keina basically like this is my last straw, like I want to do this because it’s important to me. And it’s more than just like, yes, it’s about a budget, but it was also like about this legacy for your son and wanting to be like the best mother that you could be for him financially. And as you know, like I work with women who I think identify as being like very hardworking and passionate and professional. Like you have your life figured out in every other aspect except when it comes to money. Like that’s the thing that frustrates you and it doesn’t align with like, but all of the other areas of my life are eights and nines and tens to get to my finance.
So we work together in our one month intensive and then we are still working together as well in a partnership. So you just gave us a picture of when you started working with me, you’re like, Keina, I like need to wait until the next paycheck before I can even invest in this opportunity for myself. Tell us a little bit more about the beginning of us working together and when did everything change? Like I want to hear probably things you maybe haven’t even told me, when things like shifted for you.
April: Well, prior to working with you, I just think I was making a lot of bad financial decisions and my mentor often says to me like, you live life like you have endless supplies of money. So when you get paid you’re like, oh, I have money so I’m just going to go spend it without really planning for what that money needs to go to. I know that when I came to you, I had convinced myself that the only way to get out of the space I was in was to file bankruptcy, which I don’t feel like is even remotely something that I need to consider at this moment. And then when we started working together, I mean we would have a whole conversation and I would say, okay, Keina, you’re right, I’m going to do this. And then we’d get off our call and then I might do well for like two days or maybe I won’t even do well, like I’ll put in a note, I bought a milkshake and how did you feel about it? I felt really good because I really wanted it, but then now I’m like, but I need that money later.
And it took until the end of the one month incentive before I was really in a place where I was almost, I think ready to do the work and it took you kind of like having hard conversations with me and telling me I needed to set my priorities straight and figure out what it is I needed to do and kind of refusing to work with me until you felt like I was ready and had it together.
Keina: I know in in the board that we managed together, it’s on our trauma board where we keep all our notes, it’s called Tough Love was the name. I remember it. I didn’t deny working with you further, but I was like, you have to show up for yourself. And one of the things that I always want people to know is that the process of this coaching partnership works when you show up for yourself, there’s nothing magical about it. Like definitely I think you learn tools, but when you come with the space that like this could be challenging, it is going to be challenging, but I’m ready to put in the work. But yes, I remember our first few calls, it’s like April, if you just do these things, here’s the path. You stay on it.
April: And then I’m like, you’re right. And then we get on the next call and be like, I didn’t listen to you at all. But I remember that conversation also. And I really think that conversation for me was like the mind shift I needed. Like it was like, you’re right, I’m not showing up for myself. And I appreciate that the Trello card is still there because sometimes I’ll log in and I’ll see that and it kind of just reminds me like of all the things I’m working towards or the things that I’m trying to accomplish, so like keep going and I have a habit of making decisions in a moment versus making decisions and planning out for the future. So I’m often reminding myself like I can’t always just make a decision in the moment. Like I got to sit with it, think about it and figure out where it fits in to the bigger picture, especially when it comes to money.
Keina: What ould you say? Because as you’re talking about this, it makes me think about the people that I speak to and they’re like, I don’t know that I can trust myself with money. Or I don’t know if I can trust myself through this process. What have you learned about trusting yourself?
April: Oh, I’ve learned that I absolutely can trust myself, but I feel like it took a really long time. I feel like there were in the very beginning, everytime I did something I knew was wrong, I’d think about, I like would see your face in my brain, I’m like oh my gosh, what is Keina going to say? So then I’ll feel droopy about it and then kind of like when I just got into some really healthy habits, I would still want to kind of like text you and be like, can I do this? Or what do you think? And now I feel like pretty confident about being able to just make decisions for myself and knowing that I’m not making a reckless decision or knowing that I can afford to make that decision because you’ve kind of given me the confidence to know that I can do that. Even when you ask me like, what are the things you’ve accomplished? And I’m like naming two things, you’re like, April, you’ve accomplished like 20 things. Let’s look at this list. So I think in this time that we’ve worked together, I’ve definitely built a lot of confidence in myself and my own ability to manage money.
Keina: So you said a lot of good stuff. You talked about healthy habits, confidence and accomplishments. What would you say are like some of the healthy habits that you’ve developed for yourself?
April: The biggest thing for me that I think was life changing was separating my accounts. Having an account that the only money that is in there is for bills. And really I don’t need to touch that card unless I’m paying something, like paying a bill and then having a separate card that is for the other things that I need or like going grocery shopping or going to Target or whatever the case may be. I think that was life changing for me because I think when all of my money was in one bucket, it just felt like I had money, but I wasn’t thinking about like, so I’m in Target, I’m like, oh I have $500 in my account, I can spend $500, forgetting like, oh, but T-Mobile is going to come take their bill out at midnight. So that was like life changing for me.
And I tell anybody who ever complains about money, if they don’t do anything else, I’m like, let me tell you what you need to do. You really need to just separate your money because it makes a difference. You need to look out. So that for me has been a great habit. And then also like just with my direct deposit, splitting them so they just go where they belong. So not even really needing to move money around, although sometimes I still have to. And trying to be diligent about keeping up with like my spending fee, like my money, my budget has been really good. So I’m still working on that.
Keina: The thing that I want everybody that’s listening to hear as well is that I say this to everyone, it’s like progress over perfection. And it’s not a matter of if I’ll mess up, it’s like when because I’m not even perfect when it comes to like budgeting. There are things that I forget. I’m like, oh man. But it’s about having a plan that gets you back on track. Like do you know what to do if an expense throws you off? Or like where does that money come from? What are your tradeoffs?
April: I feel I can do that now in a way I’ve never been able to, even when I started doing better with my money habits, I feel like I would feel like maybe the accounts were off, like I had money but things were just in different places and it didn’t look right. I would feel like I couldn’t do anything until I talked to you so you can help me figure out where to go. But now I feel like if my accounts look off, I can kind of go look at the spreadsheet and figure out where I miscalculated or messed something up and I can fix it without having to wait to talk to Keina, which feels good. I feel like, oh, I got it, I can do this. It’s going to be alright.
Keina: What are the things that you would attribute to your confidence about your finances now?
April: Well for one, I have not had an overdraft fee in like three, four months.
Keina: That is like, no, not even 3. You have not had an overdraft.
April: No, I have not paid TNC, not a dollar towards an overdraft fee, thank God, which feels amazing because I feel like I would giving Tank so much money in just my account being overdrawn. And the other thing is like opening my account and I always have money, even if that money is for a bill that’s coming out or something, I’m no longer in a space where sometimes I’m like, what happens tomorrow? Actually last week I had a flat tire and I was like, okay, I can go in my emergency fund and pull some money out to get this tire fixed. There was a point when I wouldn’t have ever been able to do that because I wouldn’t have had an emergency fund to start with.
Keina: So proud of you.
April: So yeah, like just being able to open, look at my accounts and see that there is money in there and not just like $5, but like a significant amount of money. I looked at my credit report today and it said I’ve been paying my bills on time for the last several months and just like things like that are like, oh look at you April.
Keina: And I wish you guys could see her right now because she’s shrugging her shoulders, which I love because in the first calls, there was like, Keina, if you tell me one more time, I need to track my expenses. I think it was you that was like, Keina, why do you want me tracking my expenses the entire time? Once you saw this, like it works. There’s a reason.
April: Yeah. And I mean really like the beginning was rough. Remember when I had to track every single day and then when you told me, no, we’re going to move away from that, I was like scared because I was like, what do you mean? Like that won’t work. And now I’m like, if you made me track everyday I would be like, oh come on, I could do this without.
Keina: Yeah. So in the beginning April, where she was is that we were like really going for like no overdrafts and what was going to be pivotal for her was like she needed to see how her money moved every single day. And I would say like what is the cause and effect of if I make this purchase, how does that play into my bigger financial picture for the deals that we talked about that were upcoming and due when I get paid the next time. So I set her up a spreadsheet that was literally, she could track every single day, which killed me because I don’t track my expenses every single day, not in that fashion, but I think like that was definitely a thing that got you to the place where you’re like, okay, I can trust and believe that this process works.
April: Right. Yeah, absolutely. That and I mean you’re really good about reminding me about my priorities even when I don’t want to hear it. So I’ll be like, oh Keina, I got a puppy. You’re like, oh okay, so is that coming out of Alex’s activity side? Like where is that coming from? But it’s like you’re really good about saying like, April we have this list of priorities. You got to figure out where this fits into the priorities and if you do something different than that, you need to understand that it’s coming off that priority list, which is not a bad thing, but you just need to decide which one you want more. Is this a priority right now or is your puppy a priority? Which one? I think sometimes that’s really good to hear even if I roll my eyes at you.
Keina: Let’s talk about what are some things that you accomplished. I’m sure that you’ll come up with more than just two, but what have you accomplished since we’ve been working together? And it can be like tangible things, how you feel, whatever, I think you’ve said a lot, but what are some other things that you’ve accomplished?
April: Okay, so the whole note and overdraft thing. I have a savings account now, which is something, I’ve never had a savings account ever and I have a savings account with money in it.
Keina: With money in it.
April: Like it’s not just, because I’ve had savings accounts with my name on it, but they’ve always been zero. So I have an established savings account and established an amount that goes in that every time I get paid. I pay my bills on time. And it’s not overwhelming. Like having to go and pay like rent or a cell phone bill, whatever, doesn’t feel overwhelming because the money is there and even if I’m paying this large bill, there’s still money left over because I’ve budgeted in such a way that there’s that overlap. I do feel a lot more confident in my spending habits and my ability to manage money. And I also feel like I trust myself. I feel like even when, for example, when I got my puppy, I felt, I know Keina’s going to fuss at me but I also feel like I could say, but Keina I know that I can figure this out, whereas before I might have been like, Keina’s going to kill me and I don’t even have an answer for her.
I might not have an answer in a moment, but I can look at my spreadsheet and I know how to move it around to make my priorities shift. So I feel like that is something that has really, really been great for me and being able to talk to Alex about money, my son about money. I had on a pair of crocs the other day and he put his feet in my croc, was like, ooh, can you get me some of these crocs like this with the fur inside? And I was like, yeah, sure, like I have to look. And he was like, are they expensive. I was like probably $40. He was like, oh okay, mommy, don’t spend that. That’s too much money to spend on me. I don’t need these crocs but like that’s something Alex would never ever say. That’s not a thing he would say. He’s like, okay well when are you going to buy them? So even him realize, starting to have a better understanding of the importance of money and the fact that we have to make sure we hit our priorities and those things first before we start talking about the fun stuff. That $40 might be going towards your tuition. So him just starting to understand that more has been pretty great also.
Keina: And not just like having a general concept that like things aren’t free.
April: Right.
Keina: And I don’t know if anybody has picked up on this, but April keeps referring to a spreadsheet and she’s not saying she’s looking at her bank account for her spending. And one of the things that we worked on together was creating a spending plan. And that’s an intentional like shift in language there instead of saying budget. But really the thing that she has also accomplished is that she’s using her spending plan to inform her decisions on whether or not she can, like is she willing to invest on certain things in her life. Like do I want to go to brunch with my friends? Do I want to go on this trip? Where can I shift money around if something doesn’t fall nicely? But really making sure that she’s using her spending plan as a tool and it’s not just something that has a layer of dust on it. And she’s like, yeah, I made a budget one time January and then.
April: And now it’s like, I very rarely check my bank account actually. I probably only check my account if I’m going to balance my spending plan. Because I’m like, okay, I’ve spent money over the past few days and I haven’t looked at the spending plan, let me go fix some stuff. But other than that, like before I would be checking my account constantly because I’m like, oh I don’t know, let make sure I have money before I swipe this card and it gets declined or whatever the case may be. And now I feel like I pretty confidently can spend money and know that my card is not going to get declined because I’m already negative.
Keina: Like I said, I tell you this all the time, I’m very proud of what changes you’ve made and how you’ve rewritten your money story for yourself. And I know early on I talked about like, if this is about how you want to show up one for yourself, but show up for your son, these are important moves that you’re making in the right direction. So it’s been cool to hang out with you for the last several months.
April: I love it.
Keina: And then one other question that I have for you is, like many people would talk about like budgeting is challenging, it’s so overwhelming, it’s too much to handle. Why do you think people believe that and like what’s a new thought that they should adopt?
April: I think that if you really don’t understand the practice behind it, it can feel hard and daunting and like a lot, you always say every dollar needs to have a purpose, like you need to assign your dollars. I feel like that for me is a really good concept. So when I have money I’m thinking about where are each of these dollars going to. But also I think for me, prior to working with you, I had this idea in my head that if I have a budget and I say I’m spending hundred dollars on groceries this week and then I spent $105, then I’ve messed up my whole budget and being able to see like, okay, I spent $105 so I guess that $5 needs to just come out of like my entertainment for this week or whatever. And so like it’s okay if it doesn’t work 100% out the way you plan, you just adjust and make it work so that you can continue to stay on target.
Keina: So sometimes people ask me, how do you know when a client’s ready for coaching? So how did you know when you were ready?
April: When you told me that I was not ready. No, when you told me, like I think about that a lot because your intake form, you very clearly say like I need you to be ready to work if I’m going to work with you. And I was like, I’m ready. I really still feel like that first month I wasn’t ready. I wanted to be ready. I really had this desire to make the change, but I wasn’t willing to change my behavior by like actions. And I had to get to a place where I was really willing to change the behavior that was causing me to be in the place that I was in. And really I had to kind of just take a look at where I was and where I wanted to be. I had to really look at that list of priorities and goals that I had for my spending and say, okay, well the only way you’re going to go on vacation in a few months is if you start saving for it and figuring out how you’re going to put money to the side for that. Or the only way you’re going to be able to do this for Alex is if you’re saving in this way. I had to have a conversation with myself about what was important to me and what I needed to do to get there.
Keina: What encouraged you to like just even sign up for a call to talk to me? I think we all are like, yeah, money. And then you get into the work you are like, oh hold on, wait, I said I was ready.
April: Well I just think because I was in a place where I was like, everything I’ve tried isn’t working right. I tried to make, I like did the little Excel template for a budget and tried to work it out and was like, this still is failing. And then I also felt like I wasn’t seeing money that you found. I absolutely felt like I was living well above my means and that with just bills, I had too many bills for what I was bringing in as far as income and I feel like I was able, you showed me like, no, but you just need to figure out how to shift your spending a little bit. Can I benefit a little bit more? Sure. But I can afford it. And I think that for me it was ultimately like nothing I have tried at this point has worked so I mean what is this going to hurt? And as I said when I came to you, I was really considering filing bankruptcy and to be quite honest, you and bankruptcy kind of cost about the same. So I was like, maybe instead of paying to put this money into something that’s going to negatively impact my credit, why not put this money into working with someone that can help me change everything as it relates to my finances.
Keina: So what do you believe now about your relationship with money?
April: I believe that I am capable of making wise financial decisions. I believe that I understand the importance and the value of money and I believe that it’s kind of like what I assign my dollar to and how I spend my money is completely up to me and it’s in my control and I can make good choices with that.
Keina: That’s beautiful. I need like a heart emoji that like go, people listening could hear it. So what advice would you give to listeners that are maybe in a similar situation to you? Like when we first spoke, like almost seven months ago now?
April: That really just taking the first step is all you need. And after that step, everything else starts to just fall into place. It’s that initial jump that is the fear and the worry that we have. But after you make that jump, then things start to fall into place and you start to realize like, okay, this isn’t really bad at all and it’s actually probably one of the best things ever. And like when you make choices with intention, that also makes a difference. I feel every choice I make as it relates to my spending is with some type of intention, whether it is I’m buying this because we need something to eat tonight and this is what we’re getting. Or I’m buying hair product because I want to do my hair at home so I don’t have to pay any other hairdresser or something like that. And sometimes I really just want to have a [26:16 inaudible].
Keina: You guys are funny. Is there anything that I should have asked you but didn’t that you want to mention?
April: Not that I can think of. I feel like this has great. I’m like so excited about where I’m now as it relates to money and that feeling is really good. I even remember one time, you and I having a conversation and someone I said, oh well I don’t have money, like I’m $50 short here or something because someone needed to borrow money and I gave the $50. You were like, wow. Remember there was a point when you could not give anybody $50 because you was probably the one needing the $50. So even in those spaces, it feels good to be able to help somebody else out the way my friends have helped me or my family has helped me because I’ve made this big shift in my habits.
Keina: No, thank you for your reflections. It’s cool to listen to you and it’s the reason that I wanted to create this little mini series of talking to clients because I realize we all have our own money stories and just where we start. And if your story resonates with April, I hope the thing that you hear the most is that it’s possible and that you can rewrite your money story. One of the questions that I put in to ask all of my clients was like, how bad was it really? And I know that when April and I started working together, she was like, I mean I’m going to trust you Keina, but I just don’t know. And then, I would say even within like calls two and three of that one month intensive, it was like, look, April, I’ve laid out the picture where you can [28:01 inaudible].
And I think you were still like, okay, I mean I kind of see it but I don’t really know. But like even just watching your demeanor over the last couple months that we’ve worked together has been encouraging to me, to like have been working alongside you. And I’m excited to see what happens for you in the next year. Like what happens for you when you start earning more money? All of those things, like you investing in yourself right now I know is like a gift that continues to give back to yourself. Even hearing tell people like, nah, you need to get two accounts. And I know that you’ve had some dynamic money conversations just even in your own personal life because this was like how you chose to invest in yourself.
April: And something else that is actually really interesting and thinking about like what we learn about money, I had a conversation with my dad in the past few months about money in a way where we kind of both had this whole epiphany because my dad is really good about his money. He budgets money very well, he always has money, his bills are paid on time. So when we talked about how I’m not good with money, he’s like, I don’t understand how you’re not good with money because I’m good with money. So you should just know how to be good with money and then realizing, okay, you’re good with money, but you did not teach me how to be good with money. We didn’t, just because you were good about managing your finances and paying bills on time. There were never intentional conversations about that at home. So how would I know? Like why would I know that or how would know? So that has really made me reflect about how I am conscious of what I do with Alex and talking to him about it.
Keina: And letting him see you, like, I pay bills. I don’t think it looks the same as we probably saw our parents. Like I remember seeing my mom with her checkbook, paying bills. And I even remember one of my first money memories is my mom telling me that I had to open up a lay-a-way. It was like for $15, that was a lot of money. It was like in fourth grade, I was like, how will I ever pay this? But I know like through that experience, like I learned about money just in like, okay, I feel like I had to break it up into like three payments, which really.
April: That is so funny.
Keina: But it was that and then in fifth grade, I remember like a local bank coming to our school and encouraging us to open up these little kids checking savings accounts, whatever they were. And I do remember going home to my parents and being like, I need to open up one of these because I just like need to, and I used to babysit. That’s how I earned money all the way through college. I never had a real job, like fast food or anything. So yeah, like I became intrigued with wanting a bank account. My parents didn’t let me do the program at school, but they did take me to the bank. I got my little kids Moula bank account.
April: That’s funny.
Keina: Like you got a treat whenever you deposited. But I have a slew of nieces and nephews and I’m always like, my brothers are like, Hey, when are my nieces and nephews getting bank accounts? Like this year I sent two of my nieces piggy banks for their birthdays because I do want to start instill that habit. We have a save bucket, a give bucket and a spend bucket. But teaching kids the power of when we get a dollar from our birthdays, like these are the things that we can do with it and every dollar does have a purpose. So just thinking about you saying that like the intentionality piece, just because somebody in your family was good or bad with money doesn’t necessarily have direct.
April: And you even talking about this made me think of just even another like accomplishment almost, because I don’t even own a checkbook. I refuse to get a checkbook because like, I hate writing checks. It takes forever for them to clear my account and then I end up overdrawn because I don’t remember that I wrote this check, but it’s like now I would probably write a check and not even give it a second thought in a way that before I was like very intentionally like, no, but now I’m writing a check because I feel like it’ll be fine, like it’ll be okay.
Keina: Which also speaks to another accomplishment, which you automated all your bills. Like you’re not like, oh, I don’t know if it’s going to clear because even that is in the same thing where you’re like, hold on, you can get $5 at the beginning of the month and let me give you another 10 on the next paycheck.
April: Sometimes when you will ask me if we’re like checking in and you say like, well are all your bills paid on time? My hesitation more so comes because it’s like, oh, I don’t remember if I paid it, but it’s more so because they all just come out and I’ll go look and be like, oh yeah, it came out yesterday. Or like, oh, it came out today.
Keina: And in the beginning you didn’t know when your bills were due.
April: I was like I don’t even know when it supposed to paid. I think it’s due on the 15th.
Keina: Yeah. And I was like, okay, we’re going to get in a rhythm.
April: How much is the bill? I don’t know.
Keina: And April can tell you, I also don’t like rounding. I’m like, is it 48 dollars and how much? It’s just no, there’s some change on that. What is it? Okay it’s $48 and 12 cents Keina. I’m like, thank you.
April: And if you like insist that there is no change. She’s like, oh, that’s interesting. I’ve never seen a bill that doesn’t have like a little bit of change on it. Fine Keina. I’ll go look it up.
Keina: Like you spoke to it earlier though. It’s like the intentionality behind it and you get in a rhythm where even if you’re not, like, I check all my automated bills and not because I’m worried that there’s not money in the account, but I want to make sure like what I told you, you could take out, you took out and didn’t take out anymore. Or that you remembered to take it out because I had a situation a couple years ago where one of my utility bills, they had a faulty system and they weren’t withdrawing my auto pay. Did they notify me? No. And it happened for like three months. But if I wasn’t someone who managed my finances, that potentially could have thrown me all the way off. And now I’m in the hole, 2, $300 because I’m thinking, well, it’s on autopay. So take it from April and I check your bank accounts. Have stuff on autopay, still check and make sure that it cleared. Just because you set it up doesn’t mean it comes out.
April: Right. This is true.
Keina: Well, I know I was pretending like we were ending earlier, but now we really are going to end. And thank you again April for just hopping on and sharing your story.
April: Of course.
Keina: I’m glad that you enjoyed it and I’m so glad guys that she said yes because I was like, I don’t know if April, she’s going to be like, no, because usually in the beginning when people start working with me, I ask them like, do you mind if I share your story?
April: Yeah. I said, no…
Keina: They’re like, no. But I’m like thankful that you were courageous and vulnerable in just sharing like where you were. Because I know that there’s a lot of people that are going to listen to this and the story is going to resonate with them because I know one of the biggest fears that people had before working with me is like, is this possible for me? Like, okay, I heard about April, or like, yeah, that worked for Lourdes, or it worked for Lauren, but you don’t know my situation, it’s different.
April: Yeah. But it can, it will work. And yeah, now I don’t care. Like now I don’t mind sharing. Before I used to be like, nope, I’m not. Nope. Now I go look, when you put your little highlights on Instagram, I’ll be like, oh, that’s me.
Keina: Yeah. I always want to make sure that I respect people’s space and their growth and know that like over time, people come to, they’re like, no, I need people to know. Yes, this is what happened and this was a shift and a change. So thank you.
Outro: 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.
