*This was written by a client of mine (Chris) to help you understand a little more about what working with a financial coach/planner is like and so you can better decide if it’s something that interests you.
I think until the time I started working with Chris, I was just nervous and ashamed about money in every way, and had an extremely hard time talking about it to anyone. I felt like I could never get it right with money; I never had enough of it, I was always behind my bills in some way, and I could never trust myself with it. I felt like I had screwed up my financial life entirely, that I was destined to constantly be broke and insecure.
To be fair to myself, I had never been taught how to handle it;
I think my parents, who were both first generation college grads and came from working class backgrounds, felt like they were giving me a gift when they didn’t teach me how it worked. Because I didn’t grow up “on the farm” (literally), they thought I wouldn’t have the same problems they did, so I didn’t need to know the basics. Unfortunately, the opposite happened. I never got the financial education that they did. When I got out into the real world, I had nothing to fall back on, and I had to work it out on my own.
For a long time I was ok—I was making enough to get by without too much planning, but I was miserable in my day job. I started to take my art seriously by going back to school for my MFA, and everything changed. My income decreased as my quality of life increased. I was doing what I wanted to do with my life, but I couldn’t just pay for things that came up out of the cash in my checking account.
Simultaneously, I was getting older, and I started seeing the writing on the wall: Shape up or…else. Big questions started looming. I can’t wait tables/dogsit/babysit/be your assistant forever! I now know my body will give out at some point J. I felt like I was a teenager trapped in a middle-aged person’s body. Odd jobs were not cutting it. When they did, I didn’t know how to make them fit together to pay everything on time.
I had found a lot of relief from other kinds of therapy, so I thought there must be some sort of financial therapy that might be useful in the same way. That was how I found Chris.
What was surprising to me was how quickly after we started working together, I became in control of my finances.
Once I took a look at what I really needed and what my options were, I was able to find a path forward. But freedom didn’t look like what I thought it would; it’s not like I magically made more money. But I was able to set up a system that worked without me having to freak out every minute. Making rent was so stressful to me before Chris; now, I know that the money is there. I don’t have to fake it, I don’t have to stress out on the 20th of the month, wondering how I will get it together before the 1st. I know what is happening, and I don’t actually even have to try that hard.
It has literally been the difference between me being able to do my work and not. Instead of letting my brain be occupied by endless small worries about money, I now know that my basic needs will be met. All I have to do is…make the art I’ve been trying to do my whole life. Without worrying about how I will pay rent next month. Truly, it’s amazing.
I’ve already recommended Chris to people I know, because so many artist friends of mine are in the same bind. We have dedicated our lives to making something meaningful out of our time on this earth. But making something meaningful both requires our undivided attention and a day job. How can those things that are opposites find a way to speak to each other? We don’t want to have to worry about money, but it is the not worrying about money that makes us unable to work.
Simultaneously, money is this thing we can’t talk about, it is the shame we all carry.
I’ve seen friends both with a lot of money and with no money who are terrified to speak about it, terrified they’re doing the wrong thing and that if people knew how terrified they were, somehow the smoke screen they’ve set up will disappear.
Working with Chris allowed me to devise a system that takes the pressure off day-to-day scrambling. It has become one of the reasons I am able to do the work that I love, that I feel driven to do. Just knowing that my bills will be paid gives me a peace of mind I never thought I would know.
Seriously, thank you, Chris! I didn’t know life could feel this (relatively) carefree. Can you write my novel for me now?
Emily Nixon
Rags to Reasonable Community Outreach Coordinator
Emily Nixon is an actor/writer/director/filmmaking Swiss Army Knife. She is also a big money nerd and Community Outreach Coordinator for Rags to Reasonable.
She came to this work after becoming completely fed up with living paycheque-to-paycheque and being too afraid to look in her chequing account. She is passionate about empowering other artists and variable income earners to keep doing what they love and feel confident about their finances.
Email Emily at emily@ragstoreasonable.com
