Money Files: Money Mindset & Personal Finance

Have you ever taken the time to think about your relationship with debt? Many of my clients come to me with student loan debt, personal loans, or credit card debt. Their thoughts are consumed with trying to figure out how to manage paying off their debt while also working towards other goals like buying a home, building an emergency fund, or having extra money to do things they enjoy like travelin...

Are you trying to decide between saving money or paying down debt? Maybe you’re intimidated by trying to save a certain amount because you’ve never been “good” at saving money, or you’re tempted to pay off some of your big credit card balances or student loans with every spare dollar you have. But if you don’t have any savings for unexpected expenses, you’ll be stuck using credit cards and adding...

Are you making “good money,” but still feel you can’t do what you want with your money without concern of “how am I going to pay for this?”  You might think making more money will solve your financial desire to travel more, pay off debt, or reach your next goal of buying a home. But you can’t out-earn your spending habits, so to create clarity with your finances you need to start giving every...

I first shared Brent’s journey shortly after he finished working with me in my five month coaching partnership. In this conversation I caught up with Brent almost two years later and we’re pulling back the curtain to hear about his financial journey after working with me. Before working with me Brent spent his mental energy either agonizing over his imperfect finances or avoiding them as much as p...

You’re often told that you’re supposed to do life a certain way. Finish K-12, graduate with a college degree, then get a full-time job. We’re taught that life progresses in a linear fashion. But life isn’t always linear. And neither is your financial journey. Sometimes, you may take one step forward and two steps back. But that doesn’t mean failure. Everything is a learning experience. Everything...

If your story is similar to my own, you might have opened your first credit card with the intention of building your credit. But, years later, your credit line increased and the way you use your card changed, perhaps without you even noticing. Instead of using your credit card as a tool to boost your financial health or to earn cash back and rewards, now it’s just an easy way to make purchases and...

Overspending is a common challenge for my clients. Fluctuating categories like groceries, shopping, and travel can catch you off guard if you’re not paying attention and spending with intention. Many people live with the thought that budgeting will be too restrictive, so they don’t track their money at all, leading to shame and buyer’s remorse. But budgeting isn’t about restriction. It gives you f...

Fear of failure is something I hear about a lot from my clients. If they get out of debt, they’re afraid they’ll get back into it. They overdrafted before, maybe they’ll overdraft again. They feel like making a misstep means starting back from square one. This fear could be why you haven’t started a budget or revisited your money goals or started tackling your debt. Like many of my clients, you mi...

When I first met Amy and Jennifer, they hadn’t ever put much forethought into their finances in their 23 years together. They didn’t manage their money together, set goals together, or even think through their spending together. They had dreams, but they had no idea how to reach them financially. Learning how to discuss and manage their finances as a team helped them transform their relationship w...

If you’re like most of my clients, the overwhelm and shame you experience with your finances can be traced back to a lack of financial confidence. You don’t feel confident in your ability to manage your money well and any time you’ve started to make changes you end up in the same place. You recognize that you need to make a change, but you don’t feel capable of taking the necessary steps towards c...

Many of my clients believe they need a financial planner because they feel overwhelmed by their finances or they’ve heard that you “should” have an advisor to help you make “good” financial decisions. When is the right time to seek out a financial planner? What services does a financial planner provide that a financial coach does not? In today’s episode, I’m talking to my friend Ellen, a financial...

When you think about how much money you have the ability to ask for or create, what is that number? We all have thoughts about money and one thing I help my clients discover is how much money seems “unreasonable” or “unattainable” when it comes to their ability to earn more.  I call this concept their money ceiling. Your money ceiling is the highest amount of money that you feel comfortable t...

Before I met Chelsea, she struggled with managing her money in a way that felt intentional. As an entrepreneur—a personal stylist for six-figure earners—she was paying herself everything she was making and pulling tax money for her business from her personal savings account. Her personal and business finances were too muddled. Creating a financial system gave her the clarity and peace of mind need...

When I started working with Tavianna, she was living paycheck to paycheck…even though she was making plenty of money. The issue wasn’t necessarily her income—though she does have bigger income goals now—it was the fact that she wasn’t paying attention to where her money was going. Through working with me in my five month coaching partnership, Tavianna learned how to implement spending goals, why i...

There’s a good chance you’re in a new financial season in your life or that you have a desire to spend your time and money differently in the next three to six months. Pandemic has brought with it lots of changes to the economy and the working world that likely have you adjusting your spending. But are you actively paying attention to and making those necessary adjustments? Do you know how your ex...

If you feel overwhelmed by money, if you feel like you’ve tried budgeting before and it didn’t work, or if you just don’t pay attention to your money beyond knowing when your bills are due … then you’ll want to tune in to this episode. You do not have to be overwhelmed by negative feelings and limiting beliefs towards money. I want you to understand that you can experience ease with your finances...

When I first started working with Lynae, she was living in a credit card debt cycle, with no savings or emergency fund. She was full of fear and shame and guilt around money and how to manage it. This is a common initial profile of many of my clients. Lynae also knew that she had to start somewhere. In two short years, she has been able to build her savings, go down to part-time at her job, and st...

Putting financial systems in place for where you desire to be long term should be a priority whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out with your business. Fluctuating income can bring with it a feast or famine cycle, but I promise you can break free from that. I want you to be able to create consistency with your cash flow so that you can have predictability in your income and ac...

If you are a solo entrepreneur, you’re responsible for paying yourself. A lot of my clients pay themselves all of the money they make. They pay their bills, and their paycheck is whatever is left. There’s a lot they don’t consider. And it’s not a sustainable system. I want you to know exactly what you need to pay yourself and where your money needs to go so you can feel more in control and create...

It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers of your budget and feel shame around mistakes you’ve made. It tends to make people want to get everything perfect before really tackling their spending. But money management is not about perfection. I want to encourage you to slow down, take a step back from the numbers, and identify why and how to start managing your finances more proactively by taking yo...

It’s common to hear someone say that they’re going to “prove themselves” in a new job before they ask for more money. Or that they need to “prove themselves” when starting a business before getting more clients or charging more for their services. I hear this from my clients all the time. They think they need to prove themselves to be worthy of more money. I want you to understand you do not need...

Finances are shaped by personal experiences. The most common mindset block I unravel with my clients is their fear of making more money. They doubt their ability to earn more. They think they’re just bad with the money they already have. They let their emotions get in the way, and they let their brain stay stuck in this realm of financial pressure and uncertainty. I want to give you the tools that...

Being an entrepreneur comes with a lot of ups and downs. High income months, low income months, months without clients, months with a client waitlist. The inevitable unpredictability can feel stressful. You may find yourself thinking, I’ll just keep pushing through and hopefully things will turn around. I can’t go back to a full-time job. That would mean I failed at my business . It’s a more commo...

My clients always tell me when they come into extra money—whether it’s income from a freelance job or a birthday gift or a tax refund. And then they tell me how they spent it. Oftentimes, they over spend without even realizing it. A $1,000 bonus from work can turn into $1,500 in spending if you’re not paying attention. Extra money can show up in our lives in many ways. The important thing is havin...

When most people think about budgeting, they think about saying “no” to the things that bring them joy: their daily Starbucks run, getting their nails done, brunch with friends. But when you restrict your spending at the expense of your happiness, you set yourself up for an unhealthy relationship with money. That’s why I teach budgeting without restrictions. Today, I’m walking you through my five-...