I was your stereotypical active duty military woman. I married at 19, had my daughter at 21, and separated from my now-ex-husband not long after separating from active duty.
At 18 and 19 I had excellent credit. I was very popular because I was one of the few people in tech school who had a credit card to rent cars with. My fellow students would pay me to rent the car and I would chauffer them on weekends. We had a lot of fun!
My ex-husband was less responsible. By the time we separated when we were 24, I found myself $30,000 in debt. Granted, $10,000 of that was a used car, but when you only make $12,000, it is an overwhelming amount of debt!
Less than two years later, I was able to purchase my first home- a two bedroom singlewide with a detached 2.5 car garage on 1.3 acres.
When my daughter started kindergarten I took advantage of my GI Bill to attend college while she was in class. In three years I earned my Bachelors in Accounting and my MBA.
I spent the next 19 years as a sales tax auditor, then a Senior Accountant and Finance Director at not-for-profits. They did not pay well, but were great for a single mom. In fact, at one agency, the pay did not keep up with inflation and I ended up working part-time at the Home Depot.
But, along the way, I kept learning and figured out repeatable ways to get to the next financial level.
In January 2019 I realized that I was spending a lot of time answering questions for my daughter and her friends, all of whom were in their twenties and learning how to live on their own. After all, I was their “money mom” (they are a close knit group of kids who grew up together in 4-H and showing horses together).
To be efficient, I decided to create a facebook group for questions and a website for resources. I did not want to risk anyone being left out.
Word quickly spread. Soon their friends, their parents, and complete strangers were asking to join.
That was the start of the How To Be A Money Master program.
By offering free and low-cost financial education, I have been able to help hundreds of people make improvements to their financial situation- get out of debt, rebuild credit, buy their first home, start investing in the stock market, create a savings account, understand their retirement accounts, help their children start down the path to financial success, overcome their money blocks and limiting beliefs, and make empowered financial decisions.
I also realized later in 2019 that my mission in life is to help at least 1 million people break free from the stress and uncertainty of living paycheck-to-paycheck by 2030 and help eliminate generational poverty.
To do so, I need your help. I need an army of “money moms” who are ready to take action and learn all the things we should have been taught in school so they can teach their children. As a bonus, they will create better lives for their families and inspire their friends and family to do the same. They will be in a place to pass their financial knowledge on to their children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.
Because education is the antidote to poverty and women are multipliers. For every “money mom” that graduates from this academy an exponential number of future adults will be ready to live financially successful lives.
Will you be one of them?