Financial Coach at Hart2Heart Financial Coaching, LLC
Money can be a difficult topic to talk about, not just with a significant other, but with friends and family as well. Growing up, my parents certainly tried to give me a decent basis of knowledge surrounding money, but like so many things in life, there is no other experience than to experience something yourself.
Growing up, my family started off rough, like so many other families. Eventually, my parents worked their way through promotions, different companies, always looking to push their own limits and provide a better life for their kids. Sure, there were times my family struggled, but for the most part, my parents did well with what they had and were always looking to improve our situation.
Going to college for me was numerous pieces falling into place at just the right time.
My parents were in a position to cover most of my first year of college, minus the government loans. The other 3 years, I was able to continue getting government loans, and what wasn’t covered I was lucky enough to borrow most of it from my God father. The remainder, which wasn’t a ton, I covered. Somehow throughout this entire ordeal, it just did not occur to me about taking on debt, having no idea how I was to pay for college, food, or transportation. Looking back, I know I felt entitled and expected to just be given a high paying job right out of college… because… that’s what companies did… right? WRONG!
While I went to school for a degree in Information Technology, and college really helped me hone some of the critical thinking skills that I am constantly having to put to work, I know that the degree really didn’t get me very far. The degree was the building blocks… but I had to put them in their places.
When life gives you lemons…
My first long-term relationship started great but there were red flags all along the way that I just couldn’t see for myself. During the relationship I took a ton of time to learn more about budgeting and getting a financial plan together, and during that relationship that plan worked … barely. Eventually, by the time the relationship had ended, I had dug myself into a massive hole of debt, was barely making ends meet, and had essentially gotten myself so far into debt that I didn’t see a way out.
After a while on my own and then finding the love of my life, I worked with her to figure out a better plan. A plan that would get me out of debt and would get us both into the position to purchase a house and live comfortably. I ended up taking the time to use some online budgeting tools, such as You Need A Budget (YNAB) [referral link] and put together a plan to budget out 6 to 12 months.
Using tools like this got me a direction I needed, but still wasn’t enough.
The lemonade flows…
Looking back over the years, I had unintentionally and unknowingly been financially coaching others to help get themselves out of debt or fix their budget so they could stop worrying about living paycheck-to-paycheck. Over the last couple of years I’ve started to realize that I genuinely enjoy helping others fix their budgets, change their mindset about money, and get on track to financial freedom.
After awhile of browsing the web, I came across Financial Coaching as a profession. I fell in love with the idea of being able to professionally coach others and get them the financial relief they need. Thus started Hart2Heart Financial Coaching. My wife loves the idea of it and has supported me the entire way through. She loves that the same ideas and help I’ve been learning and giving to us, I can return and give to others.
A helping hand is created…
My goal for Hart2Heart Financial Coaching, and thus myself, is to help others to formulate an actionable plan, design a budget that works for them, and to help change their mindset for how they think about money. With this business, I promise to do my best to provide my clients the best possible experience to assist and guide them through their financial journeys. Financial Coaching is less about looking at someones investments and less about looking at retirement down the road, but to help people figure out their current financial state and create a plan to get them to a significantly better financial state in the close future. The timeline I look at is usually from the present to about 5 years down the road. For most clients, I’m able to design a plan, get them on board with one of the payoff methods, and get them out of debt within about 2 years.
I’m so happy to be able to help others and have the opportunity to use the business name to be able to get seen by more people. The more people I help now… the more people I get to help later. It is a compounding effect that I am looking to amplify to help as many people as I can.