Financial Empowerment Begins with Knowledge
Financial Empowerment Begins with Knowledge
The following blog post is part of the The Road to Financial Wellness Blog Tour. Over a period of 30 days, the Phroogal team will go to 30 locations to raise awareness about financial empowerment. Today they will be in New York City! Our goal is to help people learn about money by starting the conversation. We understand that local conversations can help bring about national awareness.
Intelligent but Financially Clueless
Despite the fact that I have blonde hair, I consider myself a very intelligent woman, and my former teachers, peers, colleagues and employers would agree with my assessment. From the age of five, I was an overachiever and since that first day of Kindergarten, I always challenged myself academically. There were a few times in my life where certain subject matters didn’t come easily to me like Calculus or Chemistry; however, whenever I hit those roadblocks, I just worked harder and pushed myself until I reached a level of comfort that was satisfactory to me.In college, I majored in Business and enjoyed learning every aspect about finance from how to evaluate a company to building a manufacturing plant overseas, and this passion continued throughout my career in investment banking. I loved learning the ins and outs of the various divisions where I worked, and I especially loved educating my clients who were not as comfortable in my area of expertise as I was.So you can imagine my shock and discomfort when I realized that I was not well versed in financial literacy and in fact, I was failing in my own personal finances. For twelve years, I focused more on corporate finance than I did on personal finance, and my family’s balance sheet suffered because of it.It was during my training to become a financial advisor that I truly began to comprehend just how clueless I was about personal finance, and I realized that it wasn’t a lack of intelligence on my part; it was a lack of knowledge. I spent years becoming knowledgeable on school related topics and what I needed to know from my career, but I never thought about gaining knowledge in personal finance.
Empowering Through Knowledge
I now have my own company focused on helping others feel less clueless like I did, and I have a front row seat for my client’s conversion from financial cluelessness to financial empowerment everyday. Empowering my client’s with their money decisions is truly the greatest personal experience for me, and I love to play a role in their conversion.Despite the fact that I cringe at my personal finance past, I am thankful for the experience because I know that it helps me empower my clients everyday. I know the knowledge they are missing, because I missed it myself. All of my clients, just like me, are smart people, but spent more time educating themselves in areas other than personal finance. Many of us don’t know how and where to begin gaining knowledge in personal finance.From the first meeting with my clients, I help educate them on important topics they need to know to get financially healthier and with each meeting; I share more thoughts, insights and resources to empower my clients in their money decisions. As time goes on, I see physical and financial changes happen to my clients. When I first meet with them, they sit nervously and slouched over because they are uncertain of their own financial well-being; however, after a few months together, they begin sitting with confidence as they gain knowledge and make changes with their money.If you are someone who feels financially clueless rather than financially empowered, I encourage you to start a journey in search of knowledge and education around this topic. A great starting point is this Road to Financial Wellness Tour and the information that is shared along the way. I also encourage you to read personal finance blogs or listen to personal finance podcasts. If you want to talk to someone one-on-one, feel free to email me and let me know how I can help. There are too many resources out there for anyone to say they are clueless, it’s just a matter of finding the right source for your financial knowledge so that you can discover financial empowerment for yourself.