FAQs - Initial Call
Questions about our first call or your prep work?
It’s normal to have some questions about your first financial coaching session! Scroll down to select a question, and I’ll do my best to help you answer it. There’s also this Warm-up Worksheet Tips Video which will walk you through that part of the prep work, step by step, so that will be a great resource for you, too!
Click the category or each question to link directly to that answer.
Questions About the Warm-up Worksheet:
How long will it take me to complete the prep work?
Why do you require prep work 48 hours before the call?
Do I have to put an amount on every line of the worksheet?
How can I calculate a monthly amount for the categories that are “flexible” (like groceries or restaurants), not fixed monthly bills?
How do I find my interest rates and current balances on debts and savings accounts?
Is there anything else I should do before sending the worksheet to you?
Questions About Our Call:
What will we talk about in our two-hour block?
It sounds like I’ll have a lot of changes to make after the call. How will I remember it all?
Questions About Coach Jaclyn:
Questions About the Warm-up Worksheet:
How long will it take me to complete the prep work?
It will probably take between 2-3 hours. The questionnaire is pretty quick, but the Warm-up Worksheet is detailed. I know that it’s a big investment of your time, but diving deep into your financial situation is going to be so worth it to you. You might even start to feel better before we have our call because you’ll have started to get some clarity on the state of your finances.
Why do you require prep work 48 hours before the call?
I know the prep work might seem overwhelming, but I promise that it will really help me get a clear picture of what’s going on in your finances. Remember, part of the cost of your call includes up to two hours of me reviewing your questionnaire and worksheet, asking a few clarification / follow-up questions about them, and doing background research. All of that is included so that in our time together, we can focus completely on strategy and determining the best action steps to move your finances forward right away.
Do I have to put an amount on every line of the worksheet?
Definitely not! I’d actually prefer you to leave expense categories blank if you don’t spend any money in those ones. There are plenty of categories that might not apply to you at all, and there might be some categories you think of that I don’t list on the sheet. You can rename any of the lines into something that fits better for your situation.
How can I calculate a monthly amount for the categories that are “flexible” (like groceries or restaurants), not fixed monthly bills?
There are lots of ways to do this, but some are more time-consuming than others! Start by listing the categories in which you spend money. Make a column for each category on a piece of paper (or if you’re techy like me, a spreadsheet).
You can start by printing your bank statements (or credit card statements, whatever you use to spend money) for the past month. Go through line by line and find all the charges you made for the categories you listed, and enter each transaction under the correct column. For the transactions at places like Target or Wal-Mart, where you might have multiple expense categories on one receipt, give me your best guess. You can find the receipt and determine how much you spent in each category, but you don’t need to go calculate sales tax to figure out the exact change, etc. I like detail, but I don’t want this to take you FOREVER. What you should get in the habit of doing is tracking the full amount of the receipt. So if you spent $43.52 on groceries and cleaning supplies, estimate the amount, and just put the change in one of the categories (ex: $20.52 to groceries and $23 to cleaning supplies). Or just take turns putting transactions from places like that in different categories. When you’re done doing this, total the amounts in each category, and provide those numbers on the Warm-up Worksheet.
You can do the same exercise as #1, but for the past 2-3 months. This will definitely take longer, but it will help you get more of an average. I’d suggest you do this if you had an exceptionally expensive/inexpensive month for some reason (vacation, lots of entertaining, holidays, etc.). If you add up two months, divide by 2 to get the average; if three months, divide by 3.
You can do the same exercise as #2, but instead of choosing the last 2-3 months, choose 2 or 3 random months from the past year. This is especially helpful if you spend more in different seasons than others. You could pick March, June, and September, for instance, and then divide the total of the three months by 3 to get the average.
You can use Mint (mint.com) to categorize your past expenses. Be sure to categorize any transactions that Mint doesn’t know how to track. (Note: I do not recommend Mint for actual budgeting and money management because it is more of a reactive approach than proactive, but it can save you some time in coming up with an estimate of your current expenses.)
Finally, some people have a pretty good idea of their spending habits and can give an estimate that is close to an accurate monthly average. If you feel like you truly have a realistic idea of what you spend, go ahead and provide an estimate. I would recommend that if you have time, you go back and calculate using one of the methods I suggest above. The more detail I have, the better I can help you!
How do I find my interest rates and current balances on debts and savings accounts?
Look on your statements for your bank accounts, credit cards, student loans, and other debts. That’s usually the easiest way to find it. If you don’t receive monthly statements, you can log in to your account online and find the information, or even call the company. Just make sure to have your account information handy before you sign up for an account or make a phone call!
Is there anything else I should do before sending the worksheet to you?
Yes! Once you think you’ve completed the Warm-up Worksheet, I suggest you look over your bank statements (or credit card statements, etc., whatever you use to spend money) and make sure you’ve accounted for everything. Look out for regular monthly payments that you didn’t consider (monthly subscriptions, etc.), irregular expenses that pop up that you didn’t include, and other types of day-to-day expenses that aren’t categorized on the worksheet. Find the most applicable place to enter those (even if it’s just in the notes sections), and then send the sheet my way!
Don’t forget to follow the step-by-step directions in your confirmation email for sharing the file with me. It’s super important that you rename your file before you share it so that it has a unique name in my Google Drive. :)
Questions About Our Call:
What will we talk about in our two-hour block?
We will cover SO much in two hours! We’ll start by talking about what’s causing you the most stress in your finances, because if I can help you start tackling that right away, then I will! We’ll spend a few minutes looking at common causes for financial stress, and I’ll show you how and why the traditional budget is not working for most people, and why if you’ve tried budgeting, it probably has not served you well. Then I’ll teach you the simple steps of “The Wise Way” method of budgeting. Don’t worry - I’ll send you a list of action steps and a video for how to set all of that up after our call, so you can definitely take notes, but you’ll have something to refer to following our session.
After that, we’ll jump into the bulk of our call, where we’ll examine your specific numbers. I will ask a lot about your values and goals and how you want to spend your money, and we’ll determine if your current spending habits are in alignment with those ideals. I will give you a fully customized series of suggestions for ways to make tweaks to your habits and maximize the progress you make each month toward those goals. While we talk about those suggestions, I will list them on your worksheet so that you have access to all of them after the call.
My scheduling software, Acuity, blocks off two hours, but we might wrap up around the 90-minute mark. I want you to walk away from the session able to successfully execute your new plan and make any changes you want in your finances. Because this call is highly personalized, I try to save about 30 minutes for you to ask questions so that we can leave no stone unturned!
It sounds like I’ll have a lot of changes to make after the call. How will I remember it all?
Let’s start with the Warm-up Worksheet. When we finish our call, I will make sure that you can access all the changes we talk about. I will be taking notes on the worksheet with steps for you to take following the call, so you’ll have that to refer to for any questions you have. The action steps will all be color-coded, so they’ll stand out to you.
I will also email you a video showing you how to manage your money “The Wise Way.” The Money Map we create together is the first piece of the puzzle. It helps you align your money habits with your values and goals. The actual execution phase of it all happens in what I call the Money Flow. The video will take you step by step through the process of setting up your Money Flow, and then you’ll take three simple steps each pay period to make sure you not only start planning out your money, but also sticking to your plan. (I know that’s the hardest part - so by just taking the same three steps each time you get paid, you’ll be able to finally move forward in your finances.)
Finally, a few weeks after our call, we will touch base for 15 minutes to see how everything is going. I call it the “Stretch it Out” call (more exercise analogies!), and the goal is to help make what you learned in the HIIT Session stretch into your actual life. I want to make sure that you’re actually executing the plan we discussed and answer any questions that have come up since our call.
Questions about Coach Jaclyn:
What’s up with all the fitness analogies?
Physical fitness is important to me! It wasn’t always that way, but in the past couple of years, I have had some health challenges (mostly thyroid-related) that have made it difficult to stay in good shape. In 2017 I had to completely change the way I approached nutrition, exercising, and even resting, and although I indulge in cheats from time to time, my life looks totally different than it did before. I had to become incredibly intentional about taking care of myself, and I found that there are a lot of parallels to leading a healthy lifestyle and creating a healthy financial situation. I think that a lot of what I do as a financial coach is similar to what a personal trainer does for clients with fitness goals. Making wise money choices is a muscle that needs developed over time, and so a lot of my programs have fitness related names, like your HIIT Session, Warm-up Worksheet, and upcoming Stretch It Out call.
How did you become a financial coach?
I love sharing my story of why I started coaching! You can read a more detailed version on my About page. The short version is this: my husband John and I got married in 2015. At the time I was six years out of college, six years into my career as a math teacher, and I was struggling in my finances. I thought managing money would be easy once I had a “real job,” but it wasn’t! I thought I’d have my small student loans paid off, but I had only paid off the interest. I thought I’d be able to go out and splurge on clothes or trips whenever I wanted, but I literally felt paycheck to paycheck. I would wonder if I should get a second job, but teaching already consumed about 60 hours per week, and I didn’t want my whole life to be about work!
Fast forward a few months to me taking a finances course and then meeting with a financial coach - I finally had a plan! We started being intentional with our finances early in our marriage, and now a few years later (even having married into more debt thanks to my husband’s student loans and needing to purchase two used cars), we are almost debt free! We have made so much progress in a few years that sometimes I can’t even believe it. It was never an income problem for us - it was a lack of intentionality. And I really believe that most of us are in the same boat when it comes to money - it’s not an income issue or even a knowledge issue. It’s a habits issue.
That’s where I come in. Financial coaching is all about teaching you how to manage your money (head knowledge, 20% of the puzzle) and helping you stick to those smart systems (behaviors, 80% and the more important part). I love helping people create new, healthy habits around their money. And my system for managing money is honestly so simple. Once you see the impact you can make on your financial situation just by taking small steps consistently, it will start to feel like anything is possible for you!
What training do you have?
Only the best! I have taken and facilitated Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course multiple times, which has given me a very well-rounded knowledge of great financial practices. I also enrolled in Financial Coaches Academy through Fiscal Fitness Phoenix, which has helped me improve my coaching practices and build some really great systems to help my clients. Beyond that, I attended a retreat hosted by the leaders of FCA/FFP in 2019, I consistently listen to financial podcasts to learn more methods of managing money, and I regularly read financial articles to stay up-to-date about the latest trends in the world of finances.
To top it off, I’m a math teacher by day! Numbers are literally my thing. And I’m a tech lover - spreadsheets, apps, software, you name it: I love it! I have taken dozens of tech courses, and I can help you master technology and streamline your entire money management process.