It has been FIVE years since I started my coaching business! What better way to celebrate this milestone than to bring my first-ever client on the podcast?
In today’s episode, I sat down with my first money coaching client, Amanda. She shares her money journey, including why she decided to work with me, how she paid off all her debt, and how financial coaching has impacted her life. Amanda also talks about the money tools she still uses, including the budgeting tool she learned when we worked together five years ago.
Investing in money coaching is a decision that will change how you manage your finances for the rest of your life! Five years later, Amanda is confidently budgeting, managing her finances, and reaching her money goals as a six-figure earner.
The main points Amanda and I talk about in this episode are:
[03:00] Why Amanda started working with Keina
[11:45] What does budgeting look like for Amanda now?
[22:10] How a spending plan helped Amanda become debt-free
[28:44] What Amanda’s money dates look like today
[31:45] How does Amanda use credit cards now?
[35:23] Goals Amanda has accomplished since working with Keina
[36:57] Wealth legacy
Tune into this episode of Money Files to learn about the long-lasting impact money coaching has on managing your 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 THIS CONVERSATION ON THEN & NOW – HOW IS MY FIRST COACHING CLIENT MANAGING HER FINANCES?, CHECK OUT MY EPISODE ON SETTING, REACHING, & EXCEEDING YOUR FINANCIAL GOALS!
Transcript for “Then & Now – How Is My First Coaching Client Managing Her Finances?”
Intro: 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.
Keina: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Money Files. So today I have a really special episode for you, for those of you who have followed my journey, I started my coaching business in July of 2018, and one of my good friends and my line sisters told me just to start my website and I just thought clients would magically appear and then turns out they don’t just magically appear. But one of the things I did in the beginning of my business was I did a meetup, like meetup.com. There’s these whole, you can do different groups, whatever. So for me, I was like I’m going to do a meetup for young professionals to learn how to budget. And I scheduled the meetup. I can’t remember, I maybe told people that they had to pay me $20 or something like that to spend an hour or two with me.
And then I had the idea that I was going to do a series, a couple people signed up, nobody paid me, but I still went. And I went to WeWork to host my budgeting workshop. And the person that I have today is the person that registered the morning of the meetup. And I don’t even know, Amanda can tell you more, but she registered the morning of the meetup. I probably had five bagel sandwiches and juice and all these things, but it ended up just being Amanda and I for what felt like a couple, three week series or whatever it was. And then we started working together one-to-one. But Amanda was my first client five years ago and I’ve changed a lot. I think Amanda has changed a lot. So I’m introducing you to one of my very first clients, Amanda. So Amanda, thank you for joining me.
Amanda: Thanks for having me Keina.
Keina: Do you want to introduce yourself?
Amanda: Sure. I’m Amanda Mcklakin. I’m 33. I live in Annapolis, Maryland. And I’m the associate director of proposal management for an International Development company based out of Rockville. And yeah, five years ago I started working with Keina and completely transformed my relationship with money and I am just 150% better off for it.
Keina: I’m sure you’ve told me this before and I don’t remember, but what were you doing on this Saturday morning that you were looking for, like a budgeting meetup group?
Amanda: Well, to be honest, it’s so funny when you reached out, where was my headspace? It’s late September of 2018. And so I think actually, so meetup is such an approachable way to kind of look for things when you’re just kind of putting feelers out So I was like, “oh, look at that.” That looks very safe and approachable. I was looking at it I think for the week leading up to it, but I wasn’t ready to kind of commit. And at that time, kind of where I was with my money is I had moved to Washington DC in August of 2012 for graduate school, I had zero debt and I ended up interning for my first semester at grad school at GW. And then I got a full-time job at the college that paid me $37,000.
Keina: Woo big bucks.
Amanda: And to attend that very affordable graduate school, I had to take out my life in loans, student loans. And then the math didn’t math. So in order to, when you even looked at paying rent against what I got for my salary each week that didn’t math, and then you factor in these loan payments, that didn’t math. And so then I opened credit cards because living my life I was in my mid-twenties. And so I went from zero to a whole financial situation. And it came with a lot of emotions and shame and guilt, but also feeling, like “well if I’m here in DC I should take advantage of it.” I’m also really stressed from my graduate program and because the math didn’t math, you kind of let the grade just get even murkier.
And then I ended up getting a second job at some point to supplement my first job’s income. And then I got another job, another full-time job in 2016, but was able to keep my part-time job. However, come September, 2018 when I was looking for financial assistance, at that point I really hadn’t been able to work at my part-time job for extra cash for about six months or more. And so the kind of bandaid that I used to make me feel better about these things were like, “at least I’m kind of working extra to make some cash to supplement my social life,” I hadn’t been able to do that. And it’s not like I was making, of course my salary had increased but not by enough. And so I think a combination of those things paired with just having an income at that point, that was, the math could think about mathing and curious about student loan payment plans.
I’m like “can I make that work?” And then just also, I had some big expenses coming up that were kind of non-negotiable in my life and “just how does this all work together? I need help.” I’m ready to open up this can of worms. And so I found myself looking on the meetups and I was like “I don’t know, I don’t want to sign up and then not go on Saturday.” And so that’s Saturday morning, it’s was like “sure, you can still sign up.” And so I signed up and that’s kind of when I think about it. That’s kind of what led me to you.
Keina: Yeah. That’s so funny, what were your non-negotiables that you needed to spend money on or expenses that were coming up, do you remember?
Amanda: I don’t know if you recall, and I think you thought I was crazy, but I went that winter, one of my best friends from college got married in Australia.
Keina: Oh, I do remember that.
Amanda: I wanted to go on this trip and part of me was maybe I should wait to work with someone until that’s over because you’re going to tell me not to go. I’m like “I’m going.”
Keina: Yeah. I do remember that.
Amanda: So you’ve the irrational and the rational and that’s reality. Since then I’ve learned everyone has their own way of thinking about and looking at money. And all of that. But I think part of why people don’t seek help or don’t talk about money is because of stuff like that, where it’s so easy to judge people for financial decisions. But yeah, at that point I just was well, “let’s just see what happens. It’s just a meetup.”
Keina: I mean obviously we worked together for a longer period of time, but I feel like I remember helping you plan for that trip.
Amanda: Oh, you did? You absolutely did. So I went to the meetup and kind of learned about your process, saw how approachable you were, and we did your worksheets. And I was oh God, every expense, oh God, could you tell how I feel about them, which was so helpful. And we ended up working together and for me in finance and in life, I love being organized. I love having a plan, also really require a decent amount of accountability. So it was really important that I signed up to work with you and it was funny because you did definitely help me kind of, you’re like just, “okay, you’re doing it, well let’s do it.”
And let’s be honest about it. Let’s see, like what does this trip actually cost you? And so we ended up, doing that. And so a couple of things that and when we signed up, I put my first six months with you on a credit card? So it was understanding that, okay, this is just where I’m at and this is what kind of has to happen for me to go in and we’re going to dig out of this and we’re going to kind of get to the root of how we got here. And to do that, we might have to continue. It didn’t 100% make sense.
Keina: The math didn’t make sense.
Amanda: It made sense for when I need it. I needed help. I felt really strongly about going on that, so it was interesting [09:01 inaudible].
Keina: I mean, the things that I remember about you, Amanda, is one you love to travel and your job kind of had some travel wrapped into it?
Amanda: It did, yes.
Keina: Yeah. And if anybody hears me talk on social media to plan for holidays, Amanda’s not just holidays, Amanda is like the thinking that comes behind planning for fall because Amanda was like “okay, it’s October Keina, I need to go on hay rides. There’s October Fest.” You were just super festive in your life. When I think about Friendsgiving or any of those things, Amanda at that time, you were doing all of those things. And I’m like “okay, these are things that in your budget, we just need to incorporate them.” We don’t need to ignore them because this is just who you are. This is how you show up. I also remember you had a roommate at the time, I helped you think through how are you guys sharing expenses and how is that communicated?
How do we make that feel more consistent? But you definitely helped me. I have my own financial experience of course, but every client helps me also think about what are other things that everybody needs to be considering? And so how do I make sure that I’m building a process that becomes something that’s sustainable for whoever it is that I’m working with?
Amanda: That was so helpful. Keina, so I moved to Annapolis last month from DC. I had the same roommate the whole time. We were working together. Yesterday, I updated the spreadsheet that you put together for us from the last time with my bills, my utility bills. It was so helpful. And we did, we clocked ours in and just kept adding sales to it. The tools that came out of working with you have been, I still use that and I still use my spreadsheet. My wealth Over Now, that’s my spending plan. And it’s like a God sent. It’s been really helpful.
Keina: So I definitely wanted to talk to you because I think there are so many people who have stopped and started budgeting and I know that you’re making more money now than you were when we were working together. And generally the school of thought is “well, when I make more money, I won’t need to budget.” And or the thought is like, “if I do work with a coach, I’m going to get a plan that I never use again.” So in thinking about your own financial mindset and your own practices, what does it actually look like after because I think we stopped working together sometime in 2019, but what does it look for you to continue budgeting and then also what does it look for you to continue budgeting as you’ve made more money?
Amanda: So I think for me, let me know if this answers your question. I think for me, the first six months were really crucial because it’s very emotional. Money is so emotional and you uncover things about yourself through that process. So I needed a few things. I needed a tool. I needed to learn how to use the tool, and then I needed to be held accountable to use the tool and build it into my life, because it’s learning how to work out again. After you haven’t run in a while or something like that. I needed someone to help infuse that into my life. And to kind of hold me accountable to that. And then using the tool was laden with different emotions. I’m looking at what I’m spending every day and having to attach an emotion, and then I’m like for someone who hadn’t looked at their expenses and then to look like “oh, what, what am I doing?” There’s a disconnect between how money was spent and then that being attached to my financial picture.
And so I had to kind of meld those together. So having those first six months of really continuous, I think we met almost every week in the beginning and then spread out, every couple of weeks, every few weeks. That was huge. And I think laying that foundation and then kind of customizing your tool to make sense, once we both kind of learned what my budget habits were. I didn’t really know I was a holiday person until you said it. Then I was like “well, yeah, man, if I don’t go to a pumpkin patch in my adult life, I don’t know, it’s October.” If I don’t plan to go to a Friendsgiving, I guess it was Thanksgiving. So thanks to, like that also kind of helped me stay present in the midst of a very demanding job and life. So it was really helpful, I think, to do that together. And then you were able, like I think such a value in having a coach is having someone in lockstep with you. And then you have all this knowledge and can apply that to this.
So because of that, then I have this tool and so that’s what I’ve been using ever since and I’ve been adapting it. I think I’ve even checked in with you once or twice over the past time since we’ve met together regularly when I’ve had kind of a sticky question. And so sometimes I do hit a point where even the tool kind of needs to be adapted in a way, and then I reach out. But in general it’s been such a helpful thing because it works if I’m using it every week, it works if I haven’t used it in a few months and I just have to kind of go back, oh, fell off the wagon, it was busy, whatever and kind of revisit it. It’s always kind of there for me. Does that answer your question?
Keina: It definitely does because I think the realness of budgeting and working with clients is that I do teach people “hey, update your spreadsheet every week.” And I can say in my own personal life, there are times where I’m like oops, I only did it once this month and you’ve probably experienced this, especially because you’ve been using that tool for the past five years. I know my numbers, I know what my spending looks for the most part. I also have a really good picture of what my expenses are. So I can have some breathing room where I don’t need to be like “where’s this exact dollar going?” But because I’m also automating certain things in my life, whether it’s like okay, I’m automating certain things like how much I’m saving each month or what I’m setting aside for an expense that maybe in the future like Christmas, because those things are on autopilot it gives me I think, a little bit more room to breathe in that week to week, month to month experience.
Amanda: Totally. Yeah. And it’s like there’s a line item for it. I love that that’s kind of in there because then I don’t even think about it. And then when it goes up, I kind of notice right away, I updated my plan yesterday and I was like my insurance has gone up a few dollars, I’m going to look into that. So that’s really helpful. And then I don’t have to sweat it too much. And then I think too, it’s helpful because you used to always kind of say, especially as I was getting used to things like “you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, you’re kind of jumping across your line items here.” And so now that I know, when I see that, I’m “okay, I need to make an adjustment,” something about this plan just isn’t fitting in with how I spent. And it’s not a guilt thing. I think also too, there’s something I kind of had to go through the journey of is sure there’s an ideal budget that looks great, and then there’s a budget that fits your life and how you spend. And so there’s nothing wrong, depending on what it is of course. That’s just how you spend your money and you’re allowed to do that. It’s your prerogative to spend your money how you want and you should build it out so that you’re not kind of hiding from yourself or masking your real numbers from yourself.
Keina: I love that you pointed out that jumping across lines because when you actually do know your numbers, I think you don’t have to be judgmental. One of the things, especially in the last couple years is groceries are a lot more expensive. And so if you see, oh, every single time, I’m going into budget, I’m overspending, it’s like are you overspending or is the number just not real? Or is this something that maybe you didn’t realize, not with groceries necessarily, but maybe you didn’t realize how much you enjoy going out with friends. So maybe you do want to adjust that number because now that we’re post pandemic, you realize, “oh, okay, I actually do want to be outside.” There are concerts, it’s warm. When it’s warm, I spend more money. And so just really being able to check in with your expenses in that way, I think is really meaningful.
Amanda: 100% I definitely agree.
Keina: Yeah. What shifts have you had around budgeting as you’ve made more money?
Amanda: Oh man, those are such nice shifts. What’s been nice is I’ve been able to just make it a little more realistic to what I want it to be, or to what I actually spend. So I feel a little less restricted. I can add a little breathing room to my going out line, whereas sometimes it is a bit of a conversation be like “I could up that line, but should I?” So you can up that a little. I think one thing that was exciting that you introduced me to was values-based budgeting. And so we had the teeny tiniest little line item for donations, and I’ve been able to increase that as my money has gone up and I’ve been able to increase the line item for gift giving. So now it’s someone’s birthday, I don’t bat an eye at sending an $80 bouquet of flowers. And that would’ve been stressful before. And that feels more in line with who I want to be and show up as in the world. So stuff like that, making space for what aligns with my values in a more meaningful way and less of a scarce place.
Keina: Yeah. I don’t know if we did this or not, but I’m curious, did you use your budget at all to think about negotiating your salary when you switched jobs?
Amanda: So, yes, I did. So I actually, so a year ago, I had a different job. This job I just hit my one year anniversary. And actually how it came about was I wanted to move and I wanted to not have a roommate anymore. I wanted space to have an office and close the door on my workday at the end of the day. And all of that required higher income. And so I was able to use my budget to figure out if I kind of play around with this and leave everything else the same. I didn’t want to stop at the time putting money towards my student loans. I didn’t want to stop putting money towards my values-based line items. I didn’t want to give any of that up. I didn’t want to give up the money I put towards vacations.
I didn’t want moving, having to mean that I had to give on other things. And so when I put that number together, I presented that, I came really with like a worth proposition essentially. And one that I felt very good about because it was based on the life I felt I deserved, based on all the work I’m putting in. And honestly what it resulted in is I’m now at a new job and they offered me even more than that. So it was really nice to put the data together. So I knew it told me a lot. When you have a number and see if people are willing to meet that or not, for whatever reason, you feel very justified and kind of step leveling up, I guess. So my budget was definitely helpful in that.
Keina: And I think I remember too when we were working together within the job you were in, we were still like you need to ask for more money. But just to have seen over the years you’ve made more.
Amanda: I think a year after we started working together, there were huge shifts in my job. And yes, I was in a very rare position, I had a lot of leverage at that point in my job. And yes, I’m hazy about the time because it was about four years ago, but yes, I had to kind of think, “I have a lot of leverage. What’s a realistic thing to ask for?” And so my budget helped then too. I forgot about that.
Keina: Yeah. I don’t remember how much you were making when you first started working with me. I feel at some point you were making $80,000 a year.
Amanda: Yeah, I was, yeah. Probably after that, maybe after that. Just before the negotiation, I think.
Keina: And so just thinking about that because one of the things that I definitely remember in the very beginning is I think the biggest goal you had in addition to the baba, living your life was also paying off your debt. And in fact, you told me you wouldn’t do a podcast interview until you paid off your debt. I think you had what, like maybe $20,000.
Amanda: I can tell you because I looked it up before. So when we started working together, I had over $53,000 in debt between my student loans all combined and my credit cards all combined. And that was over $17,000 in credit card debt and over $35,000 in student loan debt. And then a year or two ago, I paid off all my credit card debt and then, well, I was hoping the Supreme Court would do some good things for me but they did not. So before the payment started up, I’m debt free. As of a month ago, I paid off my student loan debt. That’s the thing I’m most proud of. It’s hard to feel good about saving, investing or spending money of any kind when you’re interested [22:47 inaudible] of money. And so I paid off the debt and I wasn’t ready to, again, money’s tied up with a lot of things and I just wasn’t ready to talk about it until that was kind of achieved.
Keina: Can you tell us, because I know that there are people listening that are like how did you pay off $17,000 worth of debt? Or how did you even pay off another $30,000 worth of student loan debt?
Amanda: Well, I think those pay jumps were huge, but they would, alone that never would’ve achieved anything, it was the spending plan and getting real about that. I think one of the things, we started again with a very, very baby amount of, you had me set up an ally savings account. And so just like an automatic payment to others, I started off with an automatic payment to myself. That’s another thing, with every pay increase, I increase the amount I myself in my savings account.
Keina: You’re a star student.
Amanda: But it took me some time. It works. But it’s just any other, I think of subjects in school, you have to take the course and you have to take some criticism and you have to like kind of when you know your stuff, kind of then stand up for yourself in certain ways. You kind of learn when to stand up for your spending and you learn when to be able to shed some layers about it. So I think that was really key. And then as I made more, I also increased amounts to paying off my debt. And when I’d get a little chunk here or there, a bonus or a tax refund, I’d kind of do that 50, 30, 20. So all of that helped. And then a huge thing was the pandemic, zero interest on student loans. I was able to pay so much off that I don’t think I ever would’ve made the headway that I did without having a stop on interest. That was huge.
Keina: Also, you made, I just want to highlight that you made an intentional decision and that was to make sure that you still considered where your student loan payment fit into your plan, which requires. It’s the shift in thinking that I talk so much about with clients because there are a lot of people that have the same three years of no student loan payments, but they didn’t make the same amount of progress because you don’t know where does this fit into the plan and where does it fit into your spending? Even thinking about Amanda, you were talking about like I’ve had some increases on how much money I’m making. Once again, those increases in how much money you make. You can say I have nothing to show for it if you don’t have a plan for where it’s going. So I’m coming back to you to say like kudos to you because it sounds like you’re using the spending plan that we created in a way that makes sense for your life like five years later to be okay paying off the credit card is non-negotiable for me in the same way Australia was years ago. And paying off my student loans, I want that to be an option and this is the way that I’m going to maintain that being an option.
Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. So there’s the tool, there’s knowing how to use the tool and honestly using it in like a high quality, accountable way. And then there’s the implementation of it in your everyday life. And part of using that tool is spending your money day going into your Washington gas account and doing all that and reconciling things with your roommate and going into these different things when you see something odd and checking it out. And so how that tied into the pandemic was, I kind of took a break for a month, what am I spending? But at May, 2020, I went in and I realized, oh, they had stopped my payments. But I still have a line item. I’m still making my paycheck. I was fortunate, I was very fortunate to be in the position where I was still working full-time through the entire pandemic.
And so I saw that and as part of my spending money date, I saw they stopped. I was like “hold up, I’ve got this line item I keep paying.” And so the implementation of the process, it’s the process along with the tool and having the system set up. It really is such a key part of doing the work. And then when you do skip a few months, just knowing okay, I’m going to have a four hour money day on Sunday, going to be long, but by the end of it I’m not even going to be upset. I’m just going to feel okay, the drawers are, it’s kind of walking into your room and cleaning it and closing the drawers with [27:22 inaudible] clothes. I’m going to leave with a clean room. That’s kind of how I felt after yesterday, after the summer. Summer can always be like a skip of a month or two and then, so in the fall. I’m actually on the precipice of having to kind of adapt my spending plan again. But I’ve been holding off because I’m waiting to see how I’ve got an increase coming and I’ve got my new bills in Annapolis hitting.
And then I’ve got these moving expense, so it’s just a few things up in the air and I don’t have a student loan payment anymore. So that’s going to be another kind of, okay, how do I adjust this plan and what do I want to be doing with my money so that in five years time I can say, look at all that I achieved financially. Kind of like how I am now. And that’s all thanks to, this is 100% from my coaching with you Keina. All of this is, it was truly transformational that meetup five years ago.
Keina: She came for a bagel. I love it. How have money dates changed for you? From when I feel with clients, I’m doing money dates with them when our coaching calls when we first start. But how have money dates shifted for you in the last five years?
Amanda: Well, I think they started so laborious. I’m doing it in an Excel sheet and then I’m putting my ceilings and then there’s a lot of, “oh God, why did I do that?” Or “oh, I’m going to have to.” I felt like I was kind of in trouble, some of my expenses and sometimes it felt I was a little in trouble. And sometimes it would be like “no, if you don’t want to spend that, that’s fine, let’s think about why you did.” Or do you want to. So it was more of a conversation and that’s kind of how the money day started and then it kind of moved into, I remember just hard to squeeze them in, hard to build them into my life because I kind of like doing them every week when I’m really on top of my life. I’m doing them once a week and just kind of incorporating it in regularly. And then I guess I probably, now I like to have them once a month, good or bad.
And basically they involve, they’re like an hour or two. So I write down all my expenses. I like to write it physically out on a notepad from my bank account. And then I go through and go subtract through the plan as you have taught me. And that can take like an hour depending. And then I kind of go in and I’m doing all of the analysis or that’s when you kind of adapting things, like oh I’m way over here but I’m not way over in my budget. So like what happened here? Okay. Well you know what, I actually didn’t use any of this line item. So there is a little Peter and Paul going on if it’s just kind of one-offs. Sometimes it’s like “that was a really random expense. I don’t really even have a place to take that out of. Do I need to create something for that?” So just kind of going through, so now my money dates are more or less that.
And then kind of going into my different accounts and remembering what they are for all of that. So it’s a lot more low key for the most part. And then it’s also going into my ally savings account and let me tell you, that was great. That’s looking a whole lot different now than it did five years ago. And so I also go in and kind of make sure my bucketed items are kind of, and I do my transfers.
Keina: What’s been most fun to save for?
Amanda: This year was fun. This year I had three big financial goals, like three big life goals, but it’s all tied together. So I’d say I went to Ireland and then Scotland and England in May with my family and the Ireland part of the trip was four years in the making. That was really fun to save for just because that was such a reward.
Keina: Yeah. That’s really cool. You’re still traveling. I know when I see you on Instagram I’m like “oh look, she’s in a different country all the time.”
Amanda: I love it.
Keina: So you paid off your, I feel you paid off your credit card debt several years ago now.
Amanda: I know that I had two cards. So I paid one of them off first and then I think the second one, it could have been a couple years ago. I don’t quite remember. It felt very good. I just remember it just felt good.
Keina: In terms of, one of the things I talk about is getting in and out of the debt cycle. What has shifted for you in terms of how you use credit cards or just having paid those off and thinking about even your thoughts about debt?
Amanda: It’s such a good question. So for a long time, a year or two, everyone’s big on credit cards and bonus points and it’s a very smart way to use credit cards and I know that, but I also know that I got myself into a really big hole previously. I think after I paid off my credit cards. I didn’t want a credit card for a little while. I just needed to kind of be good, not have that as an option. And what’s nice is looking back, I really see why I did that and I’ve delved into that. I’ve excavated those things. I’ve got a system to where I don’t need it. So I actually just opened up a credit card for the first time since that because of the points and this and that and because I think it’s a sound financial option to have to be quite honest.
So I think around that, I just know, it feels an added responsibility to be honest like having a credit card. And so that’s not a bad thing, but it’s something that I’m like “oh, if I miss a couple months of money dates, I need to make sure I’m paying off this credit card or that’s going to cost me,” it’s not going to be the end of the world, but that interest is going to show from those three months. So I think it’s also just another thing of like “yeah, it’s an added responsibility. It has a bit of a consequence.” If I don’t have my money date, it’s just me and my bank account because I’m a pretty well-oiled machine at this point, it shouldn’t cost me anything more or less. The credit card can cost me and I don’t like that so that’s one thing I think about.
But with the student loan debt being paid off, oh man, that just feels, I mean it feels terrible and good at the same time. I had things planned for that 10K, but it’s just nice to not be paying that off. I graduated in 2014, it’s 2023. And that’s such a huge chunk that can go to life goals that just couldn’t before and it’s weird to be 34 and finally going like “oh, good, I can put that money towards a house.” It’s like wow, what a difference in this generation versus previous funds.
Keina: I want to make a comment on your credit cards because I feel people think different things about their credit cards, but something that I suggest if people are using credit cards is I’m like “just pay it off every week.” And then it’s just like you get to have the benefit of I use my credit card and I use it well and that balance isn’t something that has to be held over your head, especially when the things you’re putting on it.
Amanda: I love that.
Keina: Because it’s all just the awareness piece.
Amanda: It’s so key. And also I just paid off some things and I’m paying it off in multiple payments because I needed to hit my bank account in my line items. So I’m like “great.” So that charge, I’m going to pay that one charge and then it’ll hit my, so that’s another thing I’m trying to make it work so I like that suggestion. I think I’ll definitely try to implement it.
Keina: Yeah. Just try it because I want you to feel good about using credit cards because I wrote somewhere, I’m like “rich white men use credit cards debt all the time and they leverage debt and women are told, you need to save.” And it’s like this restrictive nature when you talk to women about money and men are told to take risk and so just feeling really confident that you are someone who can manage using a credit card and you can do that well. So that’s what I would add there.
Amanda: Love that.
Keina: So can you tell us, in working with me, what would you say, what’s one or two of the goals that you accomplished that you’ve accomplished somewhere in this process that maybe felt like in the beginning, “oh my goodness, this is a pipe dream. I couldn’t have done that.” Anything stand out for you?
Amanda: I mean, paying off the debt, I think I was putting $25 a paycheck to a savings account at the time. So the idea of paying off $53,000 in debt as the interest increases felt impossible. So that was the biggest thing and say with credit card interest, that was big. That was just “God, it’s terrible,” but if you stick, consistency is key. It really makes a difference. And then I think one thing I think that’s changed that’s just nice is just to feel competent around money and to feel like I know what my finances are doing and not to feel so mystified by the whole financial world. I’m still mystified by a lot of things. But my own household budget is not one of them.
Keina: And I was telling you a little bit about, one of the things I’m excited to share as I talked to past clients and especially talking to you because we worked together five years ago, is how do you see yourself creating a legacy for yourself because you learned how to budget and being able to even really using a budget to create wealth for yourself.
Amanda: I mean, I think it’s the only way I’m getting to a legacy, as I think too, just being a single woman is just so integral to this whole financial life too. There is no mini safety net, you get sick, I’m Uber eating, there’s no one to make me a soup. So I think even down to those decisions like that, having that budget in place to be able to not let something minor kind of get in your way of your long-term goals. I can create, for instance, I’ve been saving and I’m using stuff for reproductive decisions, that is something that is 100% tied to my ability to budget, that is a huge legacy choice. Moving into this house, creating mental space and energy for myself was done through the budgeting process. Down the line I’d to own a home and that’s going to be done through the budgeting process. And I’d like to have a dog that’s going to be another first financial choice and then find the dog. So I’d say you can feel a little better about the choices you make or the plans you have for your life when you kind of know how you’re going to get there.
Keina: Yeah. Definitely. Well, I’m just so excited. I mean, I know you’re doing well because I talked to you on Instagram and we’ve met up for coffee and stuff, so that’s awesome. And then hearing about you moving and it makes me happy to know people are doing really well, especially someone I randomly met on Meetup.
Amanda: I mean that WeWork space is very cool. Key to my heart is food. I mean, the stars just align.
Keina: I mean, it was just meant to be and thank you for trusting me five years ago. I mean, you’ve helped me become a better coach and you’re my proof of concept. I’m like “see it works.”
Amanda: It works. Thank you Keina. I mean, I referred you too. I think it’s tough. You have to be able to financially invest in yourself when you are not confident in your ability to make financial decisions. And I think that’s a unique hurdle to working with a financial coach.
Keina: Yes, it is.
Amanda: But I’ve recommended you to very close friends and it’s been life changing. I just can’t thank you enough and I’ve just loved, I mean, I feel very grateful having worked with you, so thank you so much.
Keina: Well, you’re so welcome. Well, is there anything, I know I gave you a couple things to talk about before we got on the call today, but is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you’re like “oh, I wanted to share this?”
Amanda: No, I mean, those are the big things. We covered kind of the highlights of my financial journey.
Keina: No, you’ve done a phenomenal job. And I mean, I’m excited for you. I also know you’re going to make a lot more money and you’re going to know exactly where it’s going and just being able to say yes to things that you weren’t able to say yes to five years ago.
Amanda: It feels great. Hop on everyone.
Keina: Yes. Budgeting is great. I mean, I just want everybody to know budgeting is great. It doesn’t have to be restrictive. It’s not a consequence. I mean, I know Amanda makes six figures now and it’s not something that she stopped. It’s just something that continues to push her forward to be able to say yes to more things in our life. So that’s what I got out of today. Alright. Thank you Amanda.
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.
