The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says that "Financial coaching can make a meaningful difference in people's financial behavior, attitudes, and situation." We use the approach taught in the Dave Ramsey Financial Coach Master Training curriculum. Talk with a coach for free. We'll work together to create a plan to help you reach your goals and walk with you through your financial transition: we bring insight, options, and encouragement. Coaching at Adult Life Training, Inc. is provided through a Memorandum of Understanding with American Programmers Independent, LLC., which provides the trained coaches.
Why is it called Freedom Trail?
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile-long path through Boston that passes by 17 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. (Info) The Freedom Trail is important because it represents the steps Americans took to become free from foreign rulers and stand up in their own right as a sovereign nation.(Info)We The People have sold ourselves back into bondage because of a massive marketing effort by foreign financial services to re-enslave us through entrapping us in debt. As a nation founded upon the fundamental principal of Individual Liberty, by the One God who is the Author of Liberty, we as a people must reclaim our freedom. We can do this through following clear, simple, money management principals that everyone can do. Freedom Trail Financial Life Coaching exists to help you get free of debt so that you can live the free life you were destined to live.
How do I get started?
Let's Talk
Before you commit to coaching, we should talk so that we both get a feel for how well we can work well together. Here is the link to my calendar. This is a free, no-obligation, call to get to know each other. It gives us a chance to hear your story, you a chance to hear our story, and both of us a chance to see if we'll be a good fit. It should be about ten minutes.
We will discuss such questions as
What's your most important financial goal right now?
According to a Pew Research article published in December 2022, one-in-four U.S. parents say they’ve struggled to afford food or housing in the past year. Debt sucks up almost all of the money that we work hard to earn, we face a retirement eating dog food on social security at best, and if any little thing goes wrong we're likely to be homeless. Does that sound like the American Dream to you? I think it is more of an American Nightmare! Yet that is the reality for four out of five American families. It should not be so, and here at Adult Life Training, Inc. we are changing that, family by family, across America right now. We will help you, too: The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come. (Isa 21:12)
I grant that most of us can be dumb sometimes, but nobody is that dumb! How did all this happen on such a massive scale?
Marketing
Click to see larger version
Marketing without caring how it affects human lives or civilization.
The best slaves are those who think they are free.(Johann von Goethe 1749-1832)
The financial services industry has been working for decades to get every American up to their eyeballs in debt and keep them there for life, and with billions of dollars to spend on marketing every year they are getting exactly what they intended. The financial services sector makes up over 14% of overall spend in online advertising. Financial services companies spend more on online advertising than almost any other industry. In year 2020 (a year of uncertainty when other industries were cutting back) the financial services spending on digital advertising (not including print, TV, and other advertising) increased 9.7% to $19.62 billion. According to eMarketer Mobile ad spending grew 13.0% to $13.91 billion in 2020, accounting for 70.9% of all digital ad spending in financial services. And that doesn't include the other forms of advertising that they still use. The financial services sector is expected to have the largest budget growth of any industry in 2022 at 10.4% of revenue, up from 7.4% in 2021, according to Gartner's The State of Marketing Budgets 2022 report.
And financial services marketing has been very effective. Most Americans have been programmed to believe that having a credit card means they are successful, even privileged, and that a credit score is a measure of financial well being. Wealthy people know otherwise: a debit card does everything a credit card can do, costs you nothing in annual fees, late fees, or interest charges, and lets you keep all your money; a credit score measures only how loyally someone funnels almost all of their income to lenders and has nothing at all to do with their financial well being, at least not in a positive sense.
We have been programmed to ignore all manner of rational thought and common sense, and run head long off the cliff of impossible indebtedness. What are we, lemmings?
How can we become financially healthy?
Awareness is the first step, then adjusting our behavior so that we get free of debt and can begin to prosper. Add up all of your payments to lenders: credit cards, car loans, student loans, mortages, and any other required payments. Then ask yourself what you could do with that money if you could use it any way you wished instead of being forced to give it to creditors. A well known and very effective program for building awareness and making needed changes is Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, which can be purchased in the Ramsey Solutions web store and is available free through our site license.
If you have not already completed Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, do that first. There are details on how to take this program for free on our Free Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Classes web page. Many millions of families across America (and in fact the world) have used the basic "Baby Steps" that anyone can do in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University classes. So the first step, if you have not already been through the FPU training or had it several years ago, is to take FPU, for free, using our site license. All the information that you need, for free, is on our Free Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Classes page. The cost has already be paid in full by local businesses in the Fort Wayne, Allen County area: it is free.
As an overview there are basically three parts: one, we ascertain what is actually happening with our financial matters, two we assert personal control over our financial matters, and then three we maintain.
The way we apply this for financial management is:
Collect the last several month's financial papers - bank statements, bills, notices - everything
Select the documents that involved any money movement, in or out, over the last three (3) months
Do a Cash Flow (budget) on what actually happened -- not what you wish happened -- the last few months
Compose a best effort budget for the coming month. Craft it to get what you want to happen this month instead of what has been happening.
Spouses meet together, go over the budget, and make any needed changes using all available information
Use that budget as your road map, updating as needed to reflect unexpected things that happened, refusing to spend anything outside of what is on that budget, and spouses meeting together each week to review what actually happened and fix the budget as needed to work the rest of the month
In the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University training we learn "Baby Steps" to get and keep control of our finances, and by extension, our lives, and the above is a component spread across these steps. The Dave Ramsey "Baby Steps" are:
Save $1,000 for your starter emergency fund
Pay off all debt (except the house) using the debt snowball
Increase your Emergency Fund to cover three (3) to six (6) months of actual living expenses
Invest 15% of your household income in retirement
Save for your children’s college fund
Pay off your home early
Build wealth and give
The "Baby Steps" are taught in Financial Peace University. The biggest part of transitioning to a better life financially is changing habits, and that is why everyone needs a financial coach.
What does coaching do?
Coaching helps people change in the way that they want to change, and guides or supports them through this process. Financial coaching helps people build an awareness of what they are doing financially, how it affects them, and how they can change to attain the financial situation (and life) that they want.
Once you understand the principals taught in Financial Peace University it is time to get your own Financial Coach. The cost of having a coach is a lot less than the cost of not having a coach.
To get started with a coach first you need to talk with your potential coach(es) and see how you feel about working with each of them. When you decide on a coach then schedule a meeting for your initial consultation. In the consultation the coach will gather a lot of details about your situation and your goals, and then help you build a plan on how to proceed. The consultation is like a "Clean Out" when you first hire someone to do your cleaning or landscaping - once things are under control the remaining visits are less difficult, but the maid or landscaper is really going to work that first visit. The coach does a lot of digging and organizing to understand your whole financial situation in that first meeting. You could reasonably tell them that their first job is to show you how you can pay for their services!
Periodically after the initial consultation you will meet for coaching sessions to discuss your progress, questions, and any new challenges. If you are in financial crisis you may meet as much as once a week, if you are in Baby Step seven you might meet once a year. Whatever your need, your coach will walk with you through your financial journey.
How do coaches decide if they are willing to work with me?
That is a very perceptive question: coaches cannot afford to work with everyone, so they must invest their time in people who will benefit the most. In the Ramsey Financial Coach Master Training that we use to train our coaches we are taught to look for three traits:
Are they Faithful? - will they follow through on the tasks you give them to improve
Are they Available? - will they be at their appointments on time, as agreed
Are they Teachable? - will they take direction and improve, or make excuses
When you are making your initial calls with coaches they are going to try to understand where you are with respect to these three traits. Not everyone is ready for coaching now, but they may be next year. Financial Coaching is not like Gym Membership - you don't just buy it and then never go or get around to exercising. Financial coaching comes with the expectation that you are committed to improving yourself: the coach is there as your guide, but your coach can not fix your life for you: you are the hero in your story, and you are the only one who can fix your life.
The coach will want to know that you are genuinely committed to make this work.
How much does coaching cost?
Coaching costs less than a typical monthly Netflix bill. Several things will happen during the time you are coached. These things are steps to have you assert your personal control over your finances, to get your debts all paid off honorably, and to eliminate financial stress and bring peace into your life. Those coached in our program also receive a free Ramsey Plus membership which includes the well known Financial Peace University curriculum and several very popular audio books on finances. Dave Ramsey says:
Coaches put the “person” back in personal finance. When you’ve got a financial coach, you’ve got someone in your corner who will focus on you—your strengths, your weaknesses, your priorities. And they’ll work with you to organize your financial life, give you a plan to reach your money goals, and help you develop the habits to achieve them. A coach shows you the way, and as you see more clearly, momentum builds and you can actually make progress with your money. But without a coach or a plan, you’re more likely to keep living paycheck to paycheck, going deeper into debt, and moving further away from your money goals. (https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/how-to-pay-for-financial-coaching)
Let's look at what you get from our financial coaching.
What will you get?
These things are typical for every family or individual to achieve during coaching: they are primary in eliminating financial stress and getting you some peace in your life now, and a future that you want and love. The coach will provide experience so that you can actually achieve these things.
With your coach's help:
You will identify your real financial situation, your desired outcomes, and your goals
You will develop a monthly plan, a budget, and take control of your financial situation by establishing and enforcing your own policies on how you will transact business with creditors. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, these policies will include:
Appropriate allocation of all your income so that you can eat, stay sheltered, and have transportation to and from work, while still paying off all debts
Communications expectations and requirements for all creditors who wish to contact you
Priorities and importance of each of your goals so that you know which choices you want to make
You will store up cash as a safety net, typically $1,000, so that unexpected expenses become an inconvenience and not a crisis
You will itemize a list of all your debts, and begin aggressively eliminating them
You will get proper protection using the right kind and amounts of insurance
You will better understand how to control the effects marketing has on you, and you will learn how to bargain more effectively
When you have paid off your last debt you will increase your safety net so that you can easily continue life as usual should you loose all income for at least three (3) and up to six (6) months
When you have paid off your last debt you will begin investing for your families' future needs and your own retirement
Finally, you will learn how to prepare yourself for a retirement that you will enjoy instead of fear
Families usually complete the first six (6) items in the first three months. After the third month you may not be happy with your financial situation but you should feel more confident that you know what is going on and feel more in control.
Our Rates
Our coaches have all completed the Dave Ramsey Financial Coach Master training program. In that program we are told that we should charge at least $200 and more probably around $300 per hour. After consulting with my Advisory Board and my Board of Directors, we feel that this rate would be very difficult for someone in economic crisis to afford. Also, charging hourly is an old professional business model - people want to buy an improved life, not an hour of someone's time. Our pricing model is based upon how much we must work to help you and our fee covers a reasonable number of meetings during the month, not one session. If you need to meet more than once we will meet.
If you would like some ways to come up with easy money to pay for a coach, these 22 simple tips from Dave Ramsey will save you money immediately. Our simple and affordable rates are as follows:
Financial Life Strategic Planning Session
$100
Financial Life Monthly Session (single)
$100
Financial Life Three Month bundle
$250
Typically a family will meet with their coach once a month. The coach can still be contacted if there is a need for a quick question or an emergency.
How do I get started?
Let's Talk
We should talk. Here is the link to my calendar. This is a free call to get to know each other. It gives me a chance to hear your story, you a chance to hear my story, and both of us a chance to see if we think we'll work well together. It should be about ten minutes.
This site uses HTML Responsive Web Design. W3.CSS is a modern CSS framework with support for desktop, tablet, and mobile design by default. It is smaller and faster than similar CSS frameworks and it is designed to be independent of jQuery or any other JavaScript library. It can be found at https://www.w3schools.com/w3css/4/w3.css and more information on building your web pages for fully modern responsive design can be found at https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_responsive.asp
The Adult Life Training, Inc. school admits students of any race, color, and national origin and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. Coaching is provided through independent agreements with the trained coaches.
Ramsey Disclaimer: Coach has attended and completed Ramsey Solutions Financial Coach Master Training. Completion of Ramsey Solutions Financial Coach Master Training does not create an employment or agency relationship with Ramsey Solutions or its affiliates; it does not constitute a license or credentials to engage in legal, tax, accounting, investment, or other professional services; nor does it constitute an endorsement or recommendation of the Coach by Dave Ramsey.
Adult Life Training, Inc.
HTML Validator
CSS Validator
Made with Bluefish HTML editor.
American Programmers Independent LLC.