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Financial Flash Newsletter

How the Women's Financial Empowerment Center

Transformed the Peterson Family

By Zanne Garland, Director of Development & Communications, OnTrack WNC

 “Thank you for saving my family.” –Gigi, Women’s Financial Empowerment Center participant

As the new Development Director at OnTrack WNC, I’ve been meeting with board members, donors, staff, community partners, and clients to get a full picture of the organization and understand its impact from different perspectives.

Going to a “Money Buddies” Class

Last Thursday, I joined the sixth class of the six-part series Money Buddies in the Women’s Financial Empowerment Center, a program fully funded by a grant from the Women for Women Giving Circle. I went to the class to see what the group had accomplished and, in particular, to interview the Peterson family: Bella (age 10), Maria (Bella’s mom), and Gigi (Maria’s mom). Three generations of Petersons, all living in one house, all taking the Money Buddies class together!

At one point, Maria told everyone, “I have hope now. It’s an amazing feeling.”

This is the main premise of the Women’s Financial Empowerment Center: to utilize the core strengths of women, relationship building, communication, and resilience to build community, support, and accountability among each other to improve their financial lives. And it’s working.

After class, I sat down with the Petersons: grandmother Gigi, mother Maria, and daughter Bella to hear more about this sense of hope. I assumed I’d hear about their new budget or new friends, it had only been six weeks since they started the classes, after all. What I found out was that their household had completely transformed over the past six weeks! 

(Daughter, Bella, Mother Maria, and Grandmother, Gigi with Melissa Clack, Women's Financial Empowerment Center Coordinator, above)

How the Petersons decided to make the call

Gigi started the discussion by telling me that she had interacted with OnTrack WNC for two plus years. She had gone to financial counseling sessions, had free tax preparation done for her, and found out about the Women’s Financial Empowerment Center in the spring of 2011. But she was nervous to bring home the “Money Buddies” flier to her daughter, Maria, because, she said, “We fought about money. It’s the only thing we fought about, so it made me hesitate.”

When Maria saw the flier her mom had about the “Money Buddies” series, she was actually pleasantly surprised.  While she worried a bit that “We’re going to be ‘Money Buddies’?   We can’t even talk about money,” she also thought, “I'm tired of struggling!” It was that frustration that helped Gigi and Maria get over their hesitations and start the classes in September together with Maria’s daughter, Bella.

The Financial Changes

I asked Maria about some of the steps they’ve taken just in the last six weeks to take control of their financial lives. This is what she said:

“I’ve made a lot of changes:

  1. I set up a $20 per paycheck automatic withdrawal to my savings account
  2. I made a REAL budget (no estimates!)
  3. I keep track of my expenses with fritter finders and other tools to see where my money goes.
  4. I set up ‘budget pay’ with the energy company to make even payments throughout the year rather than higher payments in the winter or summer.
  5. I cut back on Showtime, HBO and OnDemand saving our family $65/month!
  6. I cut my cigarette intake in half, saving $5.65/pack and up to $250/year. I hope to get down to ZERO cigarettes within a year for both my financial and physical health!
  7. I’ve set up a meeting with Carolyn [Women’s Financial Empowerment Center’s financial counselor] to figure out how to improve my credit score! I want a grade-A triple-star credit score to get lower interest rates.
  8. I know that I want a house!”

Then Maria's mom, Gigi, told me what she’s done differently. “I want to take my granddaughter, Bella, out to dinner. Before this class, I used to think, ‘it’s only $20!’ but now I think ‘no, that’s $240/yr.’” And, she told me that because of Money Buddies, “Bella’s all for it.” In fact, now, whenever the family is deciding whether to purchase something that’s more of a “want” than a “need” they look at each other and say “Money Buddies!” to remind each other to resist unnecessary spending temptations.

When adding up the $20/paycheck to savings, the $65/month cut in cable, the $250/year savings in cigarettes, and the $240/year cut in eating out, the Peterson family will save $1,750 in the coming year. All this because of the steps they’ve taken from what they've learned in the Money Buddies class so far!

The Emotional Changes

But the financial change doesn’t tell the full story. At the end of the interview, Maria asked her daughter Bella how much she and Gigi used to fight about money and Bella said, “They used to fight about 20 times a week!” Then Maria asked Bella how much she and Gigi fight now, after taking the Money Buddies classes, “Now? Almost never!” They reflected back to a time when they fought about an $11 purchase that illustrated their past interactions about money. Now, they laughed about that $11 because they realize that it was never about the small purchases they were making. Their fights were about a lack of understanding and a lack of control of their finances. Something they both knew they lacked, they now have. Bella seemed relieved at their new-found lightheartedness and laughed along with them.

On my way out of the class, I told Maria that I’d love to stay in touch with her and hear about how her credit score is improving and if she’s bought a home yet. Maria said that she wants to email me once-a-month because she’s confident she’s going to hit her goals, and she also thinks it will hold her accountable to stay in touch with me.

That’s when Gigi turned to hug Melissa Clack, Women’s Financial Empowerment Center’s Coordinator and their Money Buddies teacher, and said, “Thank you for saving my family.”

I have to believe that the change in the number of fights and the reduction in stress were the reasons for the emotion in Gigi’s voice. While saving $1,750 is a step in the right direction for the family to be able to purchase a home and make financial choices rooted in their shared values, the amount of love and excitement Gigi, Maria, and Bella had for each other – even when talking about money – was the real difference.

Maria’s hope is rooted in both the financial improvements and the family’s significant emotional changes.

Tell us YOUR Story

The classes, and these client stories, have been affecting me, too! I told the women how I’ve been spending more time on my budget and sitting down with my husband to figure out our financial goals. It has shown me that there’s no perfect time to start thinking about finances or goal setting or budgeting, but that any time is the right time to take the initiative to make changes in our lives.

Do YOU have a story of how OnTrack WNC has impacted you? If you are a donor, client, community partner, or volunteer, email me!  I’d love to hear your story to inspire others! Thanks so much to Gigi, Maria, and Bella for telling us theirs.

Check out the classes we still have available this year to see if now’s the time for you to take control of your financial life.

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