Here is my client’s money story, written by her, in her own words.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦.

There’s an ugly truth about money that I’ve learned several times in my adult life. It can be a shackle that keeps you trapped, even when you have plenty to pay the bills.

I’m good at paying off debt. I’ve done it about a half dozen times and the amounts were significant. Of course, from that you can gather that I’m pretty good at running up debts.

I never felt my debt was unmanageable. I’ve never reached a point where I worried about being able to pay my bills. The problem, though, was that my debt was dictating decisions about my life.

As I and my partner achieved success in our respective careers, we increased the threshold of debt we carried. We were very generous with ourselves in building our life. The challenge is that this life we were living made me feel trapped when I ended up in employment situations that were unhealthy.

It’s a common story these days. Toxic work environments are affecting workers everywhere. A google search of that phrase brings up 377 million search results! Clearly, it’s a widespread problem.

Spending most of your waking hours in a job like this can compromise your mental and physical health, but it’s often financial health that forces people to stay. I’ve lived this experience twice in my career and it was hard on me and my family. Being unhappy at work and about work infects everyone around you.

After a particularly traumatizing experience with a toxic workplace, a friend suggested I get help making a plan so that I would never have to stay in a job for financial reasons. Though I found a new job and got away from that toxic environment, my friend knew I would be in the same boat if things went bad in the future.

I was motivated because I wanted the freedom to do what was best for me and my family. So, I called Pamela George. Within 6 months, Pam got us on track with a plan that gave us room to enjoy life while we paid off our debts for good. In fact, we paid over 20K toward our debts while developing the plan and finalizing our budget.

We also created funds that fit our life and needs. Pam helped us figure out how much to set aside to build an emergency fund (for unexpected expenses and as some call it, a F*%! Off Fund), and a travel fund so we had a plan for how we’d afford our next big trip without needing to carry a balance on our credit card.

For the first time since I started making money, I had a plan. I knew what money I had and where it was going.

The best part? When I had yet another change to my employment situation, I knew I had the runway I needed to avoid financial disaster.

Am I debt-free or financially free? Not yet. But I’m on the path to get there and I owe it to the expert plan and judgement-free advice I got from Pam.