10 Ways To Prepare Financially For A Recession
The economy is always in flux. It's a fact of life. Recessions are inevitable, and so are recoveries. They happen every few years, but there's no telling when they will come or how long they'll last. And while everyone wants to prepare for their financial future, not everyone knows how to do it - especially when you're starting from scratch! The good news is that you don't have to be an expert on finances or economics to be ready for any situation that comes your way. You can do plenty of things right now (and over time) so that whenever [...]
3 Reasons Traditional Budgets Don’t Work + What To Do Instead
Traditional budgeting is a term used to describe the process of creating a spreadsheet or other type of document that lists every income source, expense category, and savings goal. You can use this to track your progress toward your goals, but it doesn't work well for long-term planning or for helping you make adjustments when the unexpected happens. If this sounds like an issue you've had with traditional budgeting before, don't worry—we have solutions! Let’s take a look at the 3 ways traditional budgeting is failing you and how to approach your budgeting instead. 1: Traditional budgeting is [...]
Meet the Newest Team Member at Fiscal Fitness, Embo Tshimanga
Meet Embo Tshimanga, Fiscal Fitness’ newest team member and our Client Journey and Team Coordinator Specialist. She joined the team this month, and we were SO excited when she said yes and made it official! Get to know a little more about the dynamic, amazing Embo below. What’s your title at FFP? I am the new Client Journey & Team Coordination Specialist! What degrees or certifications do you have? I have a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies with concentrations in Communications, HR, and Leadership from University of North Texas. I am currently obtaining my MBA in Human Resources Management [...]
Everything You Need to Know About the New Student Loan Forgiveness Program
Determine If You Qualify and How To Take Advantage of the New Student Loan Forgiveness Program When the Biden administration announced the federal government will cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans, it made headlines everywhere. As the facts of this program are coming out and people have questions about this new student loan forgiveness program, we wanted to give you the rundown. Read on to learn about this program, how its different from past programs, who qualifies, and what steps to take if you do qualify if you are one of 43.9 million borrowers who [...]
3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Cutting An Expense
How to Eliminate Expenses From Your Budget And Keep What You Love Expense creep is real. You added a Hulu subscription last week. You signed up for an Audible account a few weeks ago that you might have forgotten about. The kids started piano lessons a few months back. And in the meantime, the price of everything has seemed to have slowly crept up too. What once was a manageable budget with some wiggle room might start feeling a bit too tight. If you’re considering cutting some expenses, there are three questions you’ll want to ask. It’s important to evaluate [...]
Thoughts On Ice Baths and Financial Goals
Hey! Coach Jill here. I wanted to share a quick story with you. I did something crazy last week. I took an ice bath. Willingly. Let me tell you how out of character this ice bath was for me. I hate being cold. Like HAAAAAATE it. I moved to Arizona from Nebraska in part because suffering through a 100+ degree summer sounded MUCH better than living through a snowy winter. Also my favorite item of clothing is a pair of warm, fuzzy socks. 🧦 Give me all the warm, cozy things. An ice bath is pretty much the opposite of [...]
Meet Our Newest Financial Coach, Niyani Armstrong
Say Hello To Niyani We are so excited to have the amazing Niyani Armstrong join Fiscal Fitness Phoenix as our newest financial coach. That’s right. We now have four financial coaches to help you unlock your financial greatness. Niyani is joining us officially this month, but we've know about Niyani since 2019. We've watched her bloom and grow as a financial coach and business owner. She's rocked it on her own, and we are looking forward to all the growth and value that Niyani will bring to the team. We recently sat down to [...]
Free Your Mind From Money Dysmorphia
How Your Fear Of Spending Money or Your Anxiety About Money May Actually Be Money Dysmorphia By Kelsa Dickey This past weekend, I went shopping for some brand new jean shorts at American Eagle. I love how their jeans fit. I’ve been buying them for years. As I was looking for the perfect new pair, something really crazy happened. You see, since working with a personal trainer and losing weight I’ve been experiencing a kind of body dysmorphia. And it definitely shows up when I’m jean shopping. I hold up jeans in the store that I have in the same [...]
The Fiscal Fitness Podcast (S2E5) | Client Dreams Fulfilled
Listen to Episode 5 from Season 2 of the Fiscal Fitness Podcast to hear some inspirational stories of how financial coaching has transformed our clients' lives. When Coach Kelsa first started working with a fitness coach, she had a goal to lose 10 lbs. At that time, 10 lbs seemed like a big deal. A year into her program, she lost more than twice that amount and was training for her first powerlifting meet. As financial coaches, Kelsa Dickey and Jill Emanuel have seen this with their clients too. A client comes to them with an immediate need or idea [...]
Communicating Effectively With Your Partner About Money and Budgeting
How My Husband and I Have Worked Over the Past Two Decades to Get On The Same Page About Our Money And Our Goals Mr. Fiscal Fitness, AKA Michael, and I have been together since college. We went for coffee one Sunday morning during our junior year, and the rest, they say, is history. I love my husband dearly, but I noticed one thing very early on in our relationship. He didn’t budget. I’ve always had systems in place to track and manage my money (no surprise there), and when we first met, Michael did not. He routinely overdrafted his [...]
Why You Need Financial Coaching, Not Financial Literacy
Money is the #1 cause of stress in the U.S. Financial coaching is the solution. Not financial literacy. The impact of this widespread financial stress is undeniable: It’s the #1 cause of divorce in the U.S. It increases both the severity and frequency of migraines and ulcers. And sadly, it has stopped people from dreaming and living life to the fullest. Financial literacy is important during our school years. Kids should learn about money in school and at home. But as an adult, financial literacy is not the answer to alleviating financial stress. Personal finance is one of the most blogged [...]
Thoughts On Becoming A Coach And The Fear Of Regret
“I think I should do this for real.” I remember the first time I said that to Michael. I was financial coaching friends and family as a side hobby, while spending my days in Corporate Accounting. We were living in Phoenix - a city we moved to for MY career. Our “life plan” up until that point was to chase my career. I was the breadwinner. I was good at my job, and I knew I could keep moving up the corporate ladder - something I thought I wanted. It was practical. It made sense. It was a good plan. [...]
The Fiscal Fitness Podcast (S2E2) | Our Financial and Fitness Journeys
Coach Kelsa and Coach Jill weren’t always so dialed in with their fitness and finances. Coach Kelsa struggled for years to make her fitness a priority while growing her financial coaching business. And Coach Jill, despite several injuries and surgeries through the years, has been pretty great with her fitness. Her finances though were a wreck before she started financial coaching. Hear their stories about the moments that sparked a change and shifted their trajectory. Learn about the line in the sand that each of them drew and the things they’ve been able to do now that their fitness and [...]
We’ve Launched Season 2 of the Fiscal Fitness Podcast
We’re combining fitness and finances in the new season of our podcast. Learn what it means to be truly fiscally fit. Coach Jill, Coach Jaclyn and I make no secret of the fact that we love financial coaching. We also make no secret of the fact that we’re all a wee bit fitness obsessed. We probably post on Instagram about fitness as often as we do about money strategies. In being active members of the fitness community for a while now, we’ve observed some trends that we as financial coaches could no longer ignore. First, there are so many people [...]
Helping a Saver and Spender See Eye-to-Eye: A Six Month Client Celebration Interview
Helping a Saver and Spender See Eye to Eye: A Client Celebration Interview Coach Jill recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie and Katie, financial coaching clients who began working with us in 2020. Jamie is a saver and Katie likes to plan elaborate two-year-old birthday parties for her kids. Through coaching, they found a way to marry their different outlooks on money and find a common purpose and plan for their money. Read parts of their interview below or listen to the whole thing on this episode of the Fiscal Fitness Podcast. Q: How or why did you start talking about [...]
What I Really Think About All Of Those Frivolous Expenses On Your Budget
Why Frivolous Expenses Don't Exist and How My Opinion About How You Spend Your Money Is Irrelevant One of the biggest hesitations clients have when they come to us for financial coaching is judgment. They are afraid we're going to shame them for their past decisions. They think we're going to judge them for overspending or for their amount of debt or whatever it was that led them to seek out financial coaching. They assume we're going to go over their budget, line by line, and cut any frivolous expenses. You know the expenses. They're the ones that [...]
Breaking the Cycle of Credit Card Debt: A Six Month Client Celebration Interview
How Financial Coaching Helped Jenny and Bo Get and Finally Stay Ahead of their Credit Card Debt Coach Jaclyn recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jenny, a financial coaching client who has made a lot of progress and had a lot of ah-ha moments over the past six months of coaching. She and her husband Bo came to Fiscal Fitness in 2020 and have been working to pay off their credit cards, get a handle on their business finances, and of course, get a plan for their money. Within six months of financial coaching, they have been able to accomplish [...]
4 Signs that Your Budget is No Longer Working For You | If It’s Broke: Fix it
How to Fix your Broken Budget The budget you have today, right now, is not meant to be permanent. It’s flexible, it’s fluid. It can and will change. Furthermore, it should change. Your budget is a living document. So instead of trying to squeeze into it like a pair of jeans that no longer fits, give yourself some breathing room and create the budget you need to match your life as it is now. It's time to fix your broken budget. Often times we can start with a plan and a budget that works. We can live within it. It [...]
Are Your Caretaker Tendencies Sabotaging Your Financial Progress?
How to Tell and What to Do if Helping Others is Hurting You and Your Financial Outlook Caretakers are helpers and natural givers. They are generous people who have a loving and caring spirit. We all have some caretaker tendencies, and that's a beautiful thing. Caretakers make this world a better place. We appreciate the caretakers and consider this trait to be a strength. But at some point, these behaviors can cause financial stress and resentment if someone cares or gives too much. That's when the caretaker tendencies can go from positive to presenting a problem. Listen to Episode 119 [...]
Planning and Budgeting for a Disney Vacation (Podcast)
How to Best Plan and Budget for Disney if You Have Kids or are a Kid At Heart Stacy Ellis, Disney travel advisor If you have kids, usually it's not a matter of to Disney or not - it's a matter of when. Whether you've never been to Disney or make it an annual pilgrimage like our very own Coach Jaclyn, this episode is for you. We brought in an expert to talk about ways to plan and budget for your perfect Disney vacation. We talked with Stacy Ellis, a travel advisor for Key to the World Travel, [...]