Amy Greene – Financial Coach – Organize, Prioritize & Plan Your Money

Transcript

Amy, it's so nice to.

See you.

I am.

Glad to have you on the show.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I know you've been telling me you're from New Jersey, but you're a financial coach.

Tell us about that.

How you guys started.

What you're doing?

Absolutely, Jill.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

And so, yes, my name is Amy Green.

I am a financial coach.

I help people learn how to organize, prioritize and plan their.

Money. And so basically.

Helping people learn how to pay off debt.

Create some margin in their life to be able to save for upcoming and known things.

To be able to actually.

Keep some of the money they make.

So we make the paycheck to paycheck cycle and learn to build wealth.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, we get out of debt.

We have margin, we have savings.

We can start to build wealth and leave a legacy.

That is very cool.

I know that I was.

Looking at your website, I know.

And I'm going to ask you about.

This I hope it's not.

Too personal, but on your website you talk about having IBS and paying for that, being able to pay for that.

My son also had IBS IVF with two of his kids and I.

He's really good with money and he paid the whole way too.

It's not cheap and you want to talk about how you were able to do that and.

Right.

So on the website it talks about our debt journey, our debt free journey and how we got on a plan to pay off our debt.

And we used the debt snowball and we paid off $245,000 of.

Debt, but.

During that time, which was 24 months, I lost my job.

But then we were able to cash flow paying for a new roof, a new furnace, a new water heater.

And a round of IVF.

So my IVF journey is.

Pretty big.

We did 5 rounds total, four of which were covered by insurance.

It's a New Jersey mandate for New Jersey employers.

So we got 4 rounds covered.

That fifth round was on us and so we were able to afford it just by getting intentional with our money.

You know the budget is the absolute foundation.

It is the one number one tool I recommend everyone do if you just start to budget, you'll see where your money is.

Knowing and then you get to choose to change it, right?

So we were more than halfway through when we did that fifth round of IVF, so we knew it was coming.

And so we were able.

To just stack a bunch.

Of cash to be able to to pay for.

It outright.

And that's what we did is we just wrote a check and paid for.

It and.

So that felt.

Great to do and not have to worry about any bill coming out.

You know later or any interest on a credit card or debt of any.

Kind for that.

That is so fantastic, I.

Mean it.

It's the ability.

To just pay cash for things saves.

Thousands and thousands of dollars, 10s of thousands of dollars, depending on, you know what you're doing in your life.

Maybe, maybe even hundreds.

Depends on how early you start.

And when you and I'm sorry to interrupt, but when we pay cash, I think you're number one, you're going to buy differ.

You know, if you're paying cash, let's say for a car, which a lot of people.

Think is just.

And I'm going to challenge them that it's not impossible.

But you're going to buy a different.

Car. You're going to buy.

A completely different car than you would if you're just getting payments and you're like, oh, I can make those payments.

And so there's that.

But then there's also just you're going to, you're going to treat that.

Object or that item differently, right?

So I know for me I bought my very first car when I was 16.

My parents were like you're going.

To go and buy it. And my first car was 700.

Dollars and it was a little.

Piece of crap, but it it ran and my my dad was a is a mechanic so he was able to help keep it running, but I'm trying to wax that thing and there's no clear.

Coat on it.

Left, right.

There's no shine, but I love that car and took care of that car.

Right.

And so I think when you pay cash, there's a certain sense of pride and ownership and accomplishment that comes with it.

And so and then there's nothing that follows you.

Behind right.

You don't have car payments and you take a vacation.

You don't are you're not waiting for the bill to come in the mail after your trip to Disney when you're like, how much did we actually spend?

So it just makes things very clean and simple and peaceful.

I couldn't agree with you more and car payments are like.

The worst thing ever that they just, they suck all your available resources out for nothing and most of its interest.

Yes, and most of its interest and depreciation because that vehicle is depreciating faster than you're paying off that loan.

And so by the time like you know, two or three years go by depending on if you bought it brand new.

But a lot of people become underwater in that car loan because they've had that car loan for 6/7.

Years and the car is now worth nothing and they owed 15 grand on it and it's maybe worth 5, you know.

And so it's something to consider.

We, we as Americans, I think tie a lot of our identity up into our vehicles.

And you know.

Not me either.

I I my car is 11 years old.

And so, you know it's.

It's just a car.

It's just a hunk of.

Metal. It gets it. It's.

A machine that gets me from A to.

B now.

It's a tool.

It's a tool and you know when you can afford a nicer vehicle in cash then then you can buy one, but they're depreciating assets.

So I just want people to be careful with how much they're spending on it.

Because they do go down in value.

And buying a brand new car is.

A fool's errand.

In my world.

Absolutely. Uh-huh.

Because you're rolling the dice.

Whether the people that put it together that day, we're having a good day or the.

Machinery was working.

Right.

Because if you buy a new car or a car that's got like 20 or 40,000 miles on it, the difference in price is enormous. But that one that's got 20 or 40,000.

I am.

It's gotten all the shakedown happening.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know you're going to find out if it's eleven.

You can get the.

Car report.

You can figure it out.

And you know, it's funny because everyone's like, oh, but I need a reliable vehicle and I don't think I could have a used one because.

I need.

It to be reliable and.

And I'm like, I don't understand cause I I grew up with, you know, my parents are driving old cars. My dad's car is 2.

And everyone gets all wigged.

Bill for a new computer?

Well, it's 11.

It's a 12 year old vehicle.

And it's time, you know, sometimes these things break.

And just like humans, we have to go to the doctor, and we might need getting fixed.

We might need a knee replacement.

We might.

Our car is needed too, and it's so much cheaper to maintain the vehicle by going to the mechanic and getting it taken care of and doing what you need to do than it is to buy a brand new one.

And so it just you can keep a car reliable and if it's a lemon, you'll find out soon enough.

The minute you drive.

A car off.

A lot.

It's a used vehicle anyway.

Just because you're the first one to drive, it doesn't.

Really mean much?

Yeah, go, Duke.

You know, drive around whatever they called.

Test Drive test drive.

Yeah, absolutely.

No test driver.

Then you get the new car smell.

They get to, you know, try out different cards.

If that's your.

Thing don't fire.

I would say don't do that.

I would say don't do it because when you test drive it, it's you get the fever right, you get the and it's.

Hard to sometimes.

For people, it's hard to say no, yeah.

Yeah, I I do get that.

No, it happens to us.

It's hard for me, though.

Because I I just don't buying cars is like the worst thing in my life.

I absolutely hate it.

It's I can buy houses all day long.

OK, cars.

Yeah, some of these transactions are a little complicated.

My, my 4 year old was asking how do you get the car up on the counter for the.

Person to scan it.

Right, right.

I'm like honey, honey, it takes a little more than that, and she's like, well, how do you buy it?

Right.

I was like, well, you sit at a desk with.

With someone and you're signing a bunch of papers and she's like.

She didn't understand.

So it's a little bit different.

But yeah, buying a car, buying a house is they're complicated purchases for sure.

So yeah.

And they should take some thought.

Before you get into them.

Oh, absolutely.

So I know we've been.

Like diving deep into like cars.

Yes, yes, yes.

I could talk it all day long for sure.

So what?

What kinds of things do you help people with?

How do you how do you?

I know you.

Think you do speaking as well as financial coaching, but what?

How does that all that look?

Right.

So a lot of what I do, you know, I teach my clients very practical skills.

So budgeting is a skill and it's something that doesn't happen right away.

And you know, we learn to budget and we learn to adjust the budget as life happens. So we might miss budget in terms of, you know, we think we spend $400.00 a month in groceries or.

To say that's probably not true. You probably spend 6 or 700 based on your.

Family size.

You know, you probably spend more than that, you know, but things come up.

And people are.

Like I had a client just yesterday, she said.

Oh, my gosh, my Microsoft Office renewed or I or it.

It stopped allowing her to use it or save, and so she said I had to renew it.

It was the annual.

And so she had to spend a.

$110.

So sometimes it's not a big deal.

Most some people can handle that like and absorb that.

Into their budget some.

People are like, where is the money?

Coming from and so we just work through all those.

Once as we work through a lot with couples, right, their communication, their values, how are they handling their money?

Are they managing money?

Do they have separate accounts?

Do they have it joint?

What's you know, what are they doing with it?

And we talk through all of that with couples.

You know, just because money is very, very.

It's private even when you're married.

So and it's.

Hard if you're.

Separate then it's.

Emotionally charged.

That yes, thank you.

Yes, emotionally charged.

So it's hard for some couples to combine, but creating that sense of trust and.

Vulnerability to to be able to combine and to and to work together is huge.

I'll call it transparency to right so there's no secrets with where money is going or what people are doing with it.

We work on mindset a lot of.

It a lot of the way that we manage money today has to do with.

How we were brought up.

What did we see in our in our household?

Was it just mom manage the money or was it just dad?

Would we have a single mom?

Do we have a single?

Dad, you know, did our parents fight about money?

Do we know?

Did they never talk about it?

We just don't know.

We had everything we wanted, like my parents.

Told me no.

Like all those things add up into who we are today as adults.

And how we manage our money.

And so a lot of clients, you know, if their parents never told them no and they got whatever they wanted, then as adults they have a hard.

Time saying no to themselves.

With limitations on what they can actually afford to buy, and so we go into credit card debt.

We go into other debt, we're taking big trips.

We can't say no.

We can't say no to our children, so it's it becomes a snowball effect of financial challenges in that we can't, we don't have boundaries.

And so we talked about all of that.

We talked about what was it like growing up we talked about.

You know, boundaries.

Do we have any?

Are there family members?

They have other clients, you know?

Supporting their parents, their aging parents because their aging parents have nothing, they're living on Social Security, and they're having to help supplement them in some way or or care for them in some way.

So there's lots of nuances with money and it affects every single area of our life, and we'll even talk to, you know, if clients are like, I'm just, you know, I have no time, I have no time.

Then we start talking about what is your day look like.

How are we structuring it?

What can you say no to?

And we'll go into just time management skills because how you manage your time?

Will also impact how you manage your money.

You know those are two different two very valuable resources in time.

You can't get back.

And so we start to look at your values.

You know with clients, what are you, what do you value them most and are you putting your time and money into those things that you say are most important?

So we just work on that.

So we can work on a whole bunch of different things.

As it pertains to money and we walk through it, we walk through kind of what's happening in people's lives.

We're learning these these behaviors. We're changing habits. We're creating new ones, getting rid of bad ones. We're changing our mindset and we're looking at all the pieces that we need to create a very well-rounded financial plan. So we're looking at things you know.

Estate planning and life insurance and kids college and all the things that are that come down the line.

What are we doing about retirement?

Oh, I've got an old 401K or in this company. Well, what do we need to?

Do to kind of.

Bring that back into our ownership and making sure we're making the most of it.

So there's a it's a.

There's a lot that we can.

Talk about and it goes through, you know, every client's a.

Little bit different, right?

So we just see where things take us.

But I I'm looking with them to.

To reach their financial.

What they've said that they want to accomplish.

I kind of know the answer to this I think, but for our audience, how is what you do as a financial coach different from what somebody like Dave Ramsey does?

So good point. I actually trained with Dave Ramsey's company. I followed his plan as well. So his baby steps, he teaches how to do it, he teaches you know, how to save.

He'll tell you.

Go get a budget.

Here's how to budget and he'll teach very basic budgeting skills.

I dive in with my clients to show them.

No, no, no.

Go click on this and click on that and move this here and here's how you do it.

And I teach them that the.

Nuts and the.

Bolts of using a budgeting tool.

So I go.

I'm holding people's hands through this process, right?

And I'm not here to force the baby steps on anyone.

So clients who are like I don't really want to get rid of my credit card.

I'm like, you don't have to, but let's make sure we're using it responsibly and that all those transactions you're charging on it are within your means.

They're in your budget, and then we'll just pay it off at the end.

No, in the next.

So we work to make sure that we're being very responsible and disciplined with it.

If it gets out of hand, then we'll have a discussion about, well, maybe this is not serving you, maybe we should get.

Rid of it.

So we just we work through that with every, every couple.

So what I do is very similar to Dave, you know and I really believe in people getting out of debt and paying cash for things.

But if you have a credit card just so that you have a a credit score for whatever reason, fine.

So let's make sure we're using it wisely.

Good answer. Thank you. I think some people look at Dave Ramsey's staff and I, you know, I admire the man.

He's filled a need that's been out there because people for a while it was just like everybody's free for all go crazy.

And buy a bunch of junk.

Excuse me.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

But and his, his, you know, Snowball idea is a good one.

It's been around for a really long time, but he's getting the message out I think was really important, but it's nice to see people like you coming along, Amy, that are actually helping people.

Make progress in doing what he teaches.

It's different than you know.

You can tell somebody how to.

Do anything but unless you actually get in there and get in action and you, you start to see.

Ohh well, I don't really understand this and it's can be really frustrating for people.

When they're trying to do things and they think they're doing it the right way and then they're hit with.

It's just not working.

These things come up because sometimes, you know, it's life.

Stuff is gonna happen that you don't expect.

Right.

Which is I think, where you come in and it's just like, you know, we're going to expect that stuff's going to.

Happen and I'm going to be here to hold your hand and help you get through.

Right.

Right.

Yeah, I liked what I do to a personal trainer, so.

You can read a.

Book join the gym, take a class or hire.

A personal trainer.

And the trainer's gonna be the ones who kick your ****, make you pick up heavier weights, do more reps, do different exercises, keep you accountable.

You know all of those things that you wouldn't do necessarily on your own if you're going to the gym by yourself, you're going to pick up lighter weights.

You know what I mean?

You're gonna just be like, yeah.

That's enough.

I've done enough today.

It's fine.

You have to be very self.

Motivated to push yourself?

Right.

So that's what I do.

I help push my.

Science and I asked them how hard can I push you?

Not everyone wants to be pushed to the wall, like not everyone wants that.

But if you want to fix your finances, how?

How hard do you want to?

Go. You know we.

Can rip off the Band-Aid.

We can take a slower route.

We can, you know, figure out some things that we might we might need to put some buyers out first.

So we work through all of that.

So yeah, I have that more that that, that one-on-one.

You know zoom screen to zoom screen if you will assistance where I can help be in it with them right where Dave is just he's teaching from a stage he's teaching from a video he's teaching from a book the podcast you can get great ideas but if you're not self disciplined self motivated to walk through some of this and a lot of it people there's a lot of people I'll call it the ostrich.

Syndrome. They bury their head in the sand. They don't want to look at it, but they know that someone's with them to hold their hands and to.

Turn on the.

Light with them.

And to open up the closet and look for the money.

There's we're going to say that there's no monsters in the closet, but there might.

Be just a lot of mess.

It's messy, so let's just go ahead and open the bills and figure things out and we'll do it together.

And so that's, that's where I come in.

That's great. So you just do one-on-one coaching, do you do group coaching? How does the one-on-one coaching look?

Right. So.

I do one-on-one mostly I have started a group coaching program. I just finished our first round of marriage of money masteries.

That was for couples.

We're looking to turn that into an online course.

I am looking to start a group coaching program but haven't launched it yet.

Still in the still in the kind of creation phases of a group program.

And then one-on-one, coaching is typically a six month commitment to start and I we have a conversation versus that's where you are and what needs you have and you know some people want to meet.

A lot and some.

People can have more space and get still, get the work done.

So everyone's in a different places to what they need from me in terms of the one-on-one, but.

So both of those are great.

And then I speak so speaking to high schools or universities or organizations, anyone who's looking to bring in someone to.

Stare a message of hope and you know possibility with their finances, you know, going to college debt free.

People think it's impossible.

And I'm here to tell you, it's not impossible.

You might not be going to the fancy school you thought you were going to do.

But if you want to.

Have a a life of financial freedom in the future.

Make a smart choice.

Today we can talk about marriage.

We can talk about all you know.

There's lots of topics to share on money, but helping people understand that they have more.

Power to.

To change their financial future than just getting more.

It's a.

It's a nice message.

To share you can you.

Can become a millionaire at any income.

Yeah, you can.

Yes you can.

And it's not hard.

It's, it's like 100 bucks. Yeah, it's 100 bucks a month for 40 years. But if you don't have 40 years, then that month that dollar month goes up. And so it's really just discipline. It's the discipline to.

A function of time.

So want that more than whatever you can spend it on today.

Yeah, but we talked about, you know, in in line of that it's well, OK, if you have a low income, well, how can we bring your income up?

What do you want to do?

You know, and we can.

We can talk more about ways to increase income.

You're never stuck.

You're never stuck.

Where you are, if you're stuck, then that's.

A choice you made to stay there.

Have a great quote from Ken Coleman who works with Ramsey.

Not stuck.

You've just decided to stay where you are.

And so it's choosing to to get unstuck.

It's always a decision.

Everything in life is a.

Decision and even if you think you're not making a.

Decision. You've made a decision.

No decision is so absolutely, absolutely yeah.

And it's tough because there's a lot of fear involved with decisions sometimes, right?

We can be afraid.

We can feel uncomfortable, but I'm gonna tell you guys lean into the discomfort because that's where that's where the magic happens.

It's in the discomfort.

And you discover so much about yourself whether.

It's, you know.

Finances or just your life in general?

Yeah. Yes.

It's those places you're afraid to look.

That you need to look the most.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it's usually.

Never as bad as you think it is.

Right.

That little message that goes around in a loop in your brain.

It's just a message.

You can ignore it.

It's like advertising on television.

You're going to see lots of those flashes, but the more you tell it, man, I'm not interested in reacting to that today.

Right, right, right.

The less it'll happen.

Yeah, absolutely.

And these are messages we've probably, you know, picked up from childhood that we needed to survive.

And they've carried us forward, but they don't serve us today, right.

So absolutely just being like, hi, I see you fear.

I see.

You doubt I see you.

I've got this.

You can sit down now.

Yeah, yeah.

Or or that might have been true.

Yesterday but today.

Is different, just you know, even if it's just for.

Today is different.

This 30 minutes.

This is 30 minutes.

I'm going to be.

OK.

And I don't need to think about that.

Right, right. Exactly, exactly.

So what's the biggest message you'd like?

Let's ask you.

This what's your biggest struggle with your business, right?

Now, would you?

With my business, you know, I work from home.

I have little kids.

I have a four year old choppy 5.

Soon and I have a nine year old.

You know I.

Think it's scale right now is scaling because time is limited. So how many one-on-one clients?

So that's why I'm talking about.

Coaching and talking about speaking what?

Are some things I can do to expand the?

Business increase.

But it's not just increasing revenue for me personally it's increasing my impact for others, how can.

I touch more.

And share a message of hope.

So that's kind of like my challenge, you know?

And it's summer.

So like the summer hours get a little compressed just given that things change a bit in the summer time but yeah, that would be my, I would say my biggest challenge is more like.

Adjusting to scale.

I have an idea for you.

Share with you.

After the show but.

OK, perfect.

When you were talking about talking to schools.

But anyway, back to what?

What we're talking about here.

What's the biggest message you want to?

Leave for everyone.

I want you to know.

That the life you dream of is possible for you.

Now, it might seem very far off.

It might seem completely impossible.

But what can you do today is take one small step towards that goal.

And how we accomplish things is just one small step at a time.

Regardless of your income.

Because I worked with people at all income levels and everyone can be broke at any income level.

But anyone can become wealthy at any income level.

Now obviously it's easier for people who are on the higher end, but even if you're.

On the lower end.

You can become wealthy.

It's just a choice.

And so I.

I firmly believe that anyone can become wealthy.

Again, it all comes down to it's a.

Decision, yeah.

You make the decision.

That you want this to be.

And we create, we're always creating our reality and.

One decision at a time and you never saw in the same season that you reap so that you reap in the decisions that you made yesterday and the day before and the years before.

But if you make different decisions today, you're going to be reaping a different result in the future.

Yeah, and sometimes it doesn't.

Take that long for your.

Your little seeds to grow.

And you know what?

I really want it.

There's also this message of that little things add up over time.

So there's this. There's this example of how you know when asked whether or not you want $1,000,000 given to you right now.

$1,000,000 or do you?

Want a penny that double s for 31 days?

And most people pick the $1,000,000.

But it's because we don't understand compound interest.

And a penny that double s every day for 31 days ends up to being over $10 million.

And so if we're able to just take a penny today and two pennies tomorrow and four pennies a day after that, by the end of the month, we'll have a million, a $10 million.

Is it worth the wait?

Right. And so.

That's just a.

Small example of or maybe a dramatic example of the power of compound interest and the compound interest is you just being diligent over time.

Consistently diligent overtime.

And that could be, you know, saving 5 bucks a month.

It could be, you know, whatever it is.

But it's those small habits that.

Add up all the time.

Small habits and being aware of opportunities when they come along.

And being willing.

To take.

Take other people's pay for experience when you can to shorten the learning curve.

Yes, yes.

And I tell clients that, you know, when people are like, well, why would I hire a financial coach?

When I can do?

This and like because you're going to shorten your window.

Of progress, you know, could you do it faster?

You. You.

You can go, you can go.

Fast on your own, but you go farther with a coach, right?

Like that's just kind of how it how it works.

So there is an investment involved, yeah.

You can.

Spend the investment.

Or you can and get the education quickly and start taking action to see results quickly or.

You can do it yourself and you're going to spend that much money and more, and eventually you're going to spend that same amount of money on a coach because you'll realize that you really can't.

Do it on your own.

No, that's very true.

That's very true.

And that's the thing was when I think about clients that I want, I want the clients who are either willing to take the risk of investing in themselves when they work with me or saying I'm gonna go find, I'm gonna go make the money somehow and I will, you know, and I'm gonna come back.

So those are the people that.

Are ready to get after it, you know?

So they and they, they tend to make the they tend to have the most.

For us, and when you pay, you pay attention.

So people are gonna be like, why?

Would I pay?

If I could use that towards debt.

I've had people say that to me and they don't work with me and then months go by and I was like, hey, you didn't want to work with me.

Have you used like my fee times?

Whatever you know, times.

However, I mean months.

Have you used that to pay off debt?

And they were shocked they would ask that question like, well, if the point of not hiring me was to use the money, you would have paid me to pay off debt.

Why haven't you paid off debt?

What's going on?

So it's always a question just to ask yourself, what would I?

How can I invest in myself to?

Move myself farther along towards the.

Life I want to live.

So how do people get in?

Touch with you, Amy.

Sure. So they can find me online at Amy Green with an extra ESOGRENEFC, as in financialcoach.com. They can find me at Amy Green FC on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn as well.

Perfect.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

Absolutely. Thank you, Jill.