Meet Jill Emanuel
Money Coach at Fiscal Fitness
“I felt so alone — like the weight and pressure was all on my shoulders. But I also know that he felt helpless — he didn’t know how to fix it either.“
Growing up, my financial education consisted of two things:
- Being told “Write down your purchases.” in my checkbook register
- “Don’t get credit cards.”
Money wasn’t something we talked about, so it always felt like a foreign thing to me.
But…when we’d go on vacations or when a car repair was needed, I would hear my parents say things like “that’s what credit cards are for”.
I know my parents didn’t mean to give me this lesson — but as a child I adopted the belief that when you needed to spend money you didn’t have….”that’s what credit cards are for.”
This mindset about money got me into a lot of trouble as a young adult.
My parents wound up bailing me out of credit card debt…multiple times. I felt immense financial pressure and shame about money, starting as a young adult.
Fast forward several years and after graduating college, I brought these bad money habits and beliefs with me into my true “adult life”.
My thought was that I just needed to “earn more” and then everything would be OK.
I focused on my career, on getting to a six-figure income and naively waited for my financial life to start feeling better.
It didn’t.
Soon I was married and had two little boys. Despite our high combined incomes, Matt and I were also burdened with high expenses. A mortgage, two car payments, over six-figures in student loan debt…and the credit cards were still there.
Then Matt lost his job…and it all came crashing down.
I was sitting in my car when I looked at our bank account on my phone.
We were overdrawn. Again.
I remember calling Matt and telling him “Do not, under any circumstances, buy anything!”
I wish I could say this exchange was unusual, but it was becoming a pretty regular conversation.
When I made that call, I know I was angry — at myself, at him, at the situation we had found ourselves in once again.
I know that in that moment Matt felt attacked. But he also felt guilty and he felt helpless — he didn’t know how to fix it either.
There was so much friction in our relationship and I knew we were in trouble if we didn’t fix this…soon..
I felt so alone — like the weight and pressure was all on my shoulders.
Unfortunately, it took hitting rock bottom for us to finally ask for help.
When I finally put my ego aside and surrendered to the fact that we weren’t figuring this out on our own…EVERYTHING CHANGED.
We wound up being referred to Fiscal Fitness PHX by a friend.
That phone call with Matt about our overdrawn checking account was the tipping point. I couldn’t keep it all bottled up anymore. I called my friend and burst into tears.
“I think we’re going to file bankruptcy. I think we’re going to wind up divorced.”
My world felt like it was falling apart.
And I will never forget her response…..“Before you do anything crazy….I have someone you need to talk to.”
That person was Kelsa Dickey — of Fiscal Fitness PHX.
When she said we should meet with a financial coach I replied, “You don’t get it. We don’t have any money to invest!” I thought she was referring me to a financial planner.
But I made the call.
And scheduled our very first coaching session by putting it on one of our nearly maxed out credit cards.
That was nearly a decade ago and it has single handedly been the best investment Matt and I have ever made.
The strategies we learned were simple and clear and I loved having a coach by my side helping us to navigate all the bumps and turns along the way.
Within the first 2 years, we paid off $85,000 in debt and we’ve never looked back. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but that was just the beginning.
The financial progress we’ve made has been remarkable. But by far the best part is how this journey has transformed my and Matt’s relationship.
Now our communication about money is … calm. It’s collaborative and open. Money is the least stressful thing in our world.
We openly and regularly talk about what our plans are for money. We both understand when sacrifices or changes need to be made, but neither of us take it personally, because we make the decision together. We’re both focused on our goals for the future and what we want for our family and for ourselves.