My approach to financial education starts with the strength of the client connection. I focus on learning about my clients’ lives, goals and motivations by asking strategic questions – and then listening. I love the challenge of discovering how the intricate pieces of people’s financial puzzles fit together, identifying the missing pieces and then finding ways to complete the picture for them.

By presenting information in a relatable way, I help clients make financial choices they’re comfortable with and that they know are right for them. As a matter of principle, it’s important to me to know that I’ve educated them and empowered them to understand their options for growing their wealth as well as the impact of their eventual decisions.

My passion for helping others gain personal finance skills has developed throughout my life. When I was quite young, my parents opened a passbook savings account for me. Through this simple act, they taught me the fundamental principles of financial planning. I still remember how excited I felt to see those numbers – right there in black and white – indicating the amount I had saved and the interest my money had generated. It gave me a profound sense of accomplishment. I was unwittingly learning the benefits of saving toward a goal and compounding interest. When I later earned my first paycheck as a teenager, I realized one’s hourly wage does not determine the amount one has to live on after taxes and FICA are deducted. I had encountered my first lesson in the effects of tax policies on gross income.

Early in my professional life, I experienced a gap between jobs that resulted in a loss of income. While I intuitively already understood the importance of having cash reserves and maximizing COBRA benefits to support myself through difficult times, experiencing job loss firsthand gave me an awareness of the personal effects of financially stressful situations. Years later, I acted as executor for several family members’ estates. I learned not only the technical steps but also the emotional aspects of working through the estate planning process. Cumulatively, these events gave me the capability and compassion to connect with clients and guide them through the practical and emotional challenges that can accompany managing their money.

I have spoken directly with more than a thousand people about their personal wealth or lack of it. In the process, I have learned the vast majority do not possess the foundational skills necessary to make basic financial decisions. Many people lack understanding of budgeting, managing debt or building an adequate cash reserve as well as simple economic concepts such as supply and demand. At a minimum, learning about budgeting techniques, tax deductions, and the impact of interest rates on debt/investments builds confidence and enables people to make better fiscal decisions in the short term that will lead to greater financial success in the long term.

My involvement with the financial literacy movement offers me the opportunity to reach an even wider audience, providing my community stronger financial skills that will improve their lives. Financial literacy equals economic power, and I predict that improving financial literacy will be the next great economic game changer. When more individuals reach heightened financial literacy and fiscal awareness, the effects will spill into all aspects of society: enhancing lives, strengthening family units, improving communities and empowering citizens to hold political leaders to the highest accountability standards. That said, my immediate goal is to make a difference in the lives of as many individuals and their families as I possibly can.

Nominate yourself or another deserving educator for recognition on Financial Educators Day

See the latest NFEC nationwide testing results on financial literacy, updated for this year.