Summary
From Theatre Major to MBA… from Accountant for State Government to Dave Ramsey Certified Financial Coach… This mom of two is on a mission to empower woman with their finances. To help them achieve their goals by getting out of debt, creating a budget or just taking that first step to understand their relationship with money.
Listen in as Kate Maness shares about her journey about God calling her for years to start a business of her own after years (and years) of praying for Him to reveal to her what on earth she is supposed to do. Then hearing God clearly tell her that she is going to have to create the empowering environment that she has been seeking most of her professional life.
Kate Maness shares a few tips on how we can be good stewards and manage our financial resources well, but also about how she can come along side women and couples to coaching them through not just financial goals, but also through the emotional ties money can come with.
For more information or to connect with Kate jump into her Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/855032248781952/
— Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/intentional-abundance/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/intentional-abundance/support
Transcription
Sasha Star Robertson 0:12
Hello sisters, and welcome back for another episode of the intentional abundant life Podcast. I’m super excited to share today’s guest with you. She actually used to be my boss, didn’t tell her I was going to introduce her that way. But she is a strong, independent woman who is married to her college sweetheart. She has two adorable little ones. Aria, who is five years old, and Tyler, who is seven months old. She is the owner and founder of Maness financial, and also works full time as an accountant with the state of Alaska. So Kate, any more introduction that you would like to give us?
Kate Maness 0:51
Thank you so much, Sasha, I just thank you so much also for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Yeah, so I, I did used to be Sasha’s boss. And the state of Alaska. So yeah, we’ve lived in the state for oh my gosh, it’s gonna be 10 years. 10 years, this? July, August, I think. Yeah. So we came from Virginia, and decided on our on a honeymoon or Alaskan honeymoon, on the cruise that we were like, Yeah, we could do this. So we say like, literally on the cruise. So when we got home, we decided to like, save all our money. It took two years. My husband was a police officer at the time, and I was working as a manager of a country club. And finishing up, I have my master’s degree in business. And I needed to finish that up as well. Before we could pick up everything and drive took us like 22 days. But yeah, so we got to Alaska, and the rest was history.
Sasha Star Robertson 1:58
Awesome. I love that. 22 days, it’s like that’s quite an adventure. I’ve done the drive multiple times, and never have I been afforded that much time. But I hope to one day, but it’s so funny because I feel like I just threw that thing about, like used to be my boss. And I feel like I’ve mentioned here on the podcast before, but maybe not. But in other places like in my introduction, other places, whatever. There’s a story about like, I left my job, and Kate you remember this. I got this promotion, then had to turn it down and instead give you my two weeks notice because I was going to be a mom and just like, and then three months later I’m like, What am I doing as a mom? So it’s a huge part of my story of how I got here to where I am today like with Intentional Abundance Co so now I have proof. Thanks for coming on.
Kate Maness 3:04
It happens. Everybody it happens.
Sasha Star Robertson 3:06
Yes. So, you obviously have your master’s in business, right? You have an MBA. You work as an accountant for the state. How did Maness financial come into existence?
Kate Maness 3:29
Yeah, so I have been wanting to do my own thing, or I just never felt fulfilled. Like even in grad school. When I was in, I remember I was, it was my first class in grad school. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I got an undergrad in theater. And the only reason why I got an undergrad in theater is because literally when it was time to declare your major at the end of sophomore year, they’re like, so what do you want to do? And I was like, I have no earthly idea. And then my counselor looked at my tram or what I had been taking. And she was like, Oh, you’re like three classes away from like, getting a degree in theater. And I was like done. Sold. Like, I’ll just do that. I had taken so many theater courses that I was done and literally, for my senior year, I think I took like backpacking, camping. My friend was like, if you could have taken underwater basket weaving you probably would have, and I was like, yeah, probably. Still, I just didn’t it was just kind of like presented like I just kind of fell into it. And so you know, I was an actress I did that I, you know, I acted on the stage in Florida, but I just didn’t feel like that was gonna pay the bills. And so I knew I needed to take the next step which was for me grad school.
And when I was in grad school, I was in a human resources course and we had to talk about, like what we wanted to be or what we were. And I asked the professor, I was like, Well, what do you think about being a professor? Do you like doing that? He was like, Yeah, I do. But like, you should probably like, I don’t know, you’re good at math, like maybe accounting. And so that’s where that was kind of born. Like, he was like, if you want to be a professor, I would recommend you doing it in accounting because like, they need accounting professors. And so I kind of just went down that road, I finished with my master’s degree. And after graduate school, I went back and took 24 credit hours, because you had to do that for the CPA exam. And when I got to Alaska, honestly, I was prepared to like, bag groceries. I had no idea. Like, we drove up here, we quit our jobs, you know, like, we had no idea what we’re gonna do. And I was like, I’ll find something. And I did, I ended up working at trader college as a financial, I worked in financial aid.
And so I want I don’t know, just every step from there seemed to kind of be accounting, but I changed jobs every couple of years because I was still trying to find that, that job that I was on fire for, you know, just got excited to be at work, you know, you wanted to be there and nothing. It wasn’t for lack of trying, I mean, literally, every two years, I have switched jobs, except for the job that I’m in now. And, you know, I just felt this tugging from God, honestly, you’re gonna have to create that environment that you want, so desperately to be part of, because this isn’t working for you. And so I didn’t know what it was. So I was like, Okay, so now I’m supposed to go out and do something. I’m supposed to create my own business, but like, what am I supposed to do? And so again, I like, you know, I tried all the things and I’m good at sewing. Maybe I’ll have an online business of like, you know, cross stitching, you know, that didn’t like, I never really, like, pursued that super far, because it’s more of a hobby. And I didn’t want to, like hate it. By making a job. And then like, I was like, a volleyball coach. And, you know, I love that. But again, that wasn’t like a full-time opportunity for me.
And so I, you know, I identified with Dave Ramsey, I started taking, I went to church one day out in Eagle River. And it was that day that they talked about Financial Peace University. And I was like, yeah, like, I really should probably get my finances in order, you know, I’m an adult, like, this is something adults do. You know, and I mean, my parents are very savvy with their money, but they weren’t very on the teaching side of things. Like I went to college. And I had to ask my RA how to write a check. I was like I don’t know how to do this, like, where do you put what like, and like, you know, those are things I feel like people should know. And, you know, like, we assume, you know, society assumes that you like, get that education from home. And so, you know, I went down the road of Dave Ramsey, I went through financial peace actually twice. And I started listening to his podcasts and getting more involved.
And then a friend of mine who I actually coached volleyball with became a financial coach. And I was like, this is a thing? Like, that’s like a profession? So I contacted him and I was like, So tell me more about this. Like, you’re not an advisor, because an advisor, you have to get like your series 66 or series 65 and all those sort-of patients and I don’t want to deal with retirement and like, what is this? And he was like, Well, yeah, like, this is more on the day-to-day level. This is more on the like, you know, helping people like build a budget, you know, identify like goals and that type of thing. And I was like, that’s me, like, I am money goal-driven. I, you know, like, I want to help people that’s a huge need for me is to help others. So I started I asked him questions, and he had actually gone through Dave Ramsey has a program to, it’s a certification, I guess, for I say, I guess because they specifically say it’s not a certification, but like, it is a certification. But like, I went through the whole thing, I got my certificate at the end. But yeah, so I’m certified, as you know, Dave Ramsey financial coach. And it was just, it was super, like just learning all the things to be in that field. And, and I was able to connect it back. I mean, I’ve had 10 years of accounting experience. I’ve done multi-million dollar budgets for the government. You know, I just, that was something I was interested in, but again, it was lacking in the sense of feeling passionate about what I did.
And so I just as Sasha just said, I just had a baby. So not that I had extra time or anything, but during my maternity leave, I was like, Oh, I’ve got three and a half months off my day job. Maybe this will be a good time to like, start pursuing this. I took the time and, you know, carried the baby to like all the things I had to do to set up a business. Yeah, that’s kind of where we’re at.
Sasha Star Robertson 10:27
That is awesome. I love that you’re like, I have time off my day job. Let me jump into this new certification thing, just carry the baby to all the things. Literally, I love that like that is so empowering. Right there. Like just to know, I feel like that was very much like the zero to three months of being a mom, for me. I was like, I don’t want to say in a similar space, right? Because you had kind of already been like, doing this up, you had your job to go back to. But for me, like, I had left my job. And then that adoption actually fell through. And so it was another a little over a month, maybe even two months later, before I became a mom, right? We got matched with our son’s birth parents and brought him home. And then it was like three months in and I was like, wow, I had a career. Like I was actually utilizing my degree, I was engaging with adults. I was like, receiving promotions, like, and now I just changed diapers and play peekaboo. What is this? So it was very much this, like, I was searching right for that thing that to bring that fire and that passion like back into me like Yes, my son was that I love him to pieces. Like I wouldn’t trade it for anything. That was the job I begged for 10 years for. But at the same time, there was just this part of me, the intellectual and driven part of me that was like, what is happening? And so I was searching for that thing. And I felt a tugging from God, like a few different little times. So very similar story.
And I just love how you had shared that, like how he said, You’re going to have to create that. And I’m like, Wow, that’s so true for so many of us where it’s like, I feel like we it’s almost like we give the medicine that we want to receive right like you want this workplace or this environment where people can feel like empowered, and all these other things. And it’s just like, difficult to find that. And so I love that, that you found this because I do hear that. And you’ve said it before that like helping people is really important to you, obviously, like you’re good with numbers, like, into the finances has been the thing.
I love that you mentioned, like, Okay, I’m an adult, like I should probably get my finances in order now, I wrote down like hashtag adulting. But you had put in your description up here that you want to empower women with their finances to help them achieve their goals and getting out of debt, creating a budget, or even just taking that first step to help them understand their relationship with money. And I think all three of those things are really, really huge, especially if anyone has ever listened to Dave Ramsey or been through Financial Peace University, like he’s very, very big about not being in debt. And about the best way to create wealth is to use, like the income that you’re receiving the money that you’re earning, like, so many in America, I feel like hang on to this, like, get rich quick idea was like, Oh, I’ll pay it off later, or I’ll buy that later, or whatever else when I win the lottery that I’m never playing, or you know, when my great, great uncle dies, and I inherit money that doesn’t exist. And so I think it’s really important to be really good stewards of our money as well. So I don’t know if there’s anything I said you want to…
Kate Maness 13:52
I do actually want to expand a little bit on the empowering women. Like, you know, mostly when I got into this, I was kind of like thinking about what my target audience was right? Because you kind of think about who you’re gearing towards, so that you can market it to them or whatever. And at first, like I wanted to be a wedding planner. Again, I’m all over the place. That’s okay. I like all the things. But yeah, I have done wedding planning. So I am a jack of all trades. But it was the budget component of the wedding planning that I was a stickler on. And like, I mean when I was helping these brides, they were like, you’re really fixated on this money. Like you gave me a budget. We have to stick within budget. Like you’ve got all these grandiose ideas, and I think that’s fantastic and wonderful and we can do all these things and I’ve got these books that have like budgeting for weddings and yada yada. But I was like, we’ve got $5,000. Having Cinderella’s castle in the background probably isn’t in the budget, you know, and like, I wasn’t trying to be a party pooper but I also was like, you know, the realistic unfortunate voice sometimes of reason. And I was like, I don’t think that’s going to be a thing that we’re going to be able to do. But I identified that that was also my, like my strong point, right? Like, you probably didn’t hire a wedding planner to keep you on budget, right? They work off the percentage, usually of how much your wedding is. So sure, let’s have a $30,000 wedding so I can get the 10% whatever of that.
So I identified that. And at the beginning, I was like, I would really like to market towards engaged couples because money is also one of the top reasons why people get divorced. And so like, if I could have like a product or, you know, go to wedding next rows and set up booths or whatever. Again, I don’t think brides are, you know, and I don’t know, you know, maybe they wouldn’t mind talking to me at a wedding expo next to flowers and the cake and be like, how much do you have to spend on that, like, you know, the parents of the bride or the groom, or the whoever’s paying for it might be like, yeah this might be a good thing as a wedding gift to like, start the couple off. And like get them set up on the right track, like you’re merging your finances. What does that look like? What are you bringing to the table? What conversations are hard for you to be able to talk about? Oh, you didn’t know she had $20,000 on her credit card. And you’re about to marry into that? What does that look like for you? How does that make you feel? Like these are the tough conversations that people don’t want to have.
Or, you know, those Lexus commercials, those are my favorite. Hey Honey, I just bought you a Lexus for Christmas! And you look surprised. Did you know the price tag on that? It’s about $700 a month, I hope we have it in our budget! You know, having those conversations with everybody and like, I don’t mind being the tough cookie, who has to get in there and have those conversations and be like, What are you bringing to the table? How does this make you feel? What are your goals? And then I’m the quote-unquote, bad guy? Yeah, don’t like me, but like, like your spouse, but like, be mad at me. That’s fine. But like, I mean, that, I mean, obviously, I want us to have a good relationship, but I’m also okay with like having those tough conversations. But then on that note, when I get to the empowering women component, I was thinking about, I’ve helped, you know, an older woman who has gone through a divorce. And she said, that was the most stressful thing, not only the divorce in and of itself is terrible, they’ve been married for 40 years. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, they decided to separate ways and, and that in and of itself is devastating. And it has its own baggage. But when I talked to the woman, and her main concerns when she was speaking with me is I never knew what was going on with the finances. I had no idea, he handled everything. You know, I don’t, I don’t even know where to begin. And that, to me, made this situation nearly impossible for me, which caused a massive breakdown. And this, that, and the other.
So like, you know, when I say empowering women, I mean, giving them the ability to feel like they’re not stuck in a relationship, just because even if it’s not the right one, I don’t say divorce is a good thing, but if it, you know, if you decided this is not for you, and you can’t do it anymore, you know, finances should not be the reason why you’re in that relationship, you know, because you’re scared because you don’t understand, and so helping, and I feel like women are more in that situation than men, and I’ve talked to, you know, I had another conversation with a friend of mine, and the money would just go out the door, like, you know, her spouse made a lot of money, and they would just spend it. And then at the end of the month, they wouldn’t have enough money for diapers. And I’m like, you’re making good money, like what’s going on? Like, you know, and so coaching is also talking about the emotional component to money, and what that looks like for you and how you’re spending it. And that’s why financial advisors are great, you know they help you set up, you know, your retirement long term long distance, but like we’re talking about today, like, I can’t get there until I fix my problems now.
And so that’s why I want to like, you know when we have these coaching meetings, and if you’re in a relationship, it’s best to have both parties. But I, I don’t want the woman to feel like she has to do this alone. If she’s the one that wants to get on board and she wants to have the conversation with me. I’m all for it because I can help you. You know, any questions are not too small or too big. Like we can talk about all the things, and I just had a different client who is debt-free, which is fantastic. But, you know, wasn’t aware of what sinking funds were. And so we had a conversation about sinking funds and made sure we set those up for her, you know, moving forward, and so, I just, I want to make sure that women have all the tools they need to be as successful, and be who they want to be, and not be held back. Because, you know, of not having the opportunity to learn these things or, or just not being exposed to it or, you know, not understanding it, it’s hard, like, some of it is complicated it, you know, like, and it’s so emotional. And so, when we have things that are hard, that are emotional, that we don’t want to deal with, guess what, you don’t deal with that. And then it gets bigger and we pretend like it’s not there. And then it becomes from like, a little molehill or whatever, until this like, massive mountain.
Sasha Star Robertson 21:12
Yes, yes. Yes. So I have so many things I want to say to this, but first, for people who are listening, can you give us like a 101? Like elementary level? What is a sinking fund? Because there might be some conflict going on in people? Like she said, this, I don’t know what it is, I need to go to Google searching and pause this and not come back.
Kate Maness 21:32
Yeah, so I guess so a sinking fund, I guess the easiest way to describe it is if you have, you know, let’s just say perfect world, you’ve paid off all your debt, right? And your car needs to be upgraded. So you’ve paid off all your debt, are you going to go to the dealership and take out a $20,000 loan and put you back in debt? No, you’re going to set up what is called as a sinking fund. And so every month, you’re gonna take $200, and you’re gonna put it into an account, and you’re gonna label it. So you can have like multiple sinking funds, you can have one for like a car, or like a vacation, or, you know, you have to pay your insurance once a year. But if it’s a hefty bill, so we’re gonna go ahead and put a percentage of that every month. So instead of having like, all these accounts, you have one account that is for your sinking fund. And we’re gonna make it super easy. You have a legal pad, and you write down all of the accounts, all of the things like new car, insurance. What else did I say, you know, anything that’s, you know, you don’t want to do all at once a vacation. And so when you put the 200 in you’re just going to add it onto the list. And so when it’s time to go purchase your vehicle, you have it right there, how much money do I have to purchase this car? Okay, great, I have my $20,000 I can take it out, I leave the rest of it in the accounts, I can pay my insurance so that I can go on that beautiful, you know, Bali vacation that I wanted to go on whatever, but that’s what a sinking fund is.
Sasha Star Robertson 23:03
Love it. So people always ask or want to make comments about how we travel a lot like it’s one of our passions. This is like a firm belief of mine, travel’s the only thing that you can spend money on that makes you richer, like you’re building experiences together as a family that are building memories that shaped the person that you are. And so like we do, we save for our vacations, like it’s something we prioritize instead of keeping up with the Joneses and certain things like we don’t have an iPhone 12 even because we would rather spend the extra money every month for vacation. So in case anybody’s wondering how to vacation a lot, prioritize it, create it in your budget, save for it first.
So many things about what you said I want to touch on. Like, I’m a stickler about a wedding you had said about like the number one reason people get divorced is money, and like being able to communicate about that. And it’s hard conversations, right? And I remember this like, early, early on in our marriage. I went to see a counselor about… totally it wasn’t marriage-related. I just went to a counselor for I don’t even know what at that point. I don’t even know why. Because, in hindsight, my life got way worse after that. Anyway. The counselor’s asking me Oh, so how’s your relationship? Oh, it’s great. We don’t need to talk about that. Well, so how are your conversations about family and children? Oh, we don’t talk about that. Because my husband did not want to talk about kids at that time. Well, how’s your relationship about money? Oh, we don’t talk about that. I paid my husband rent.
It was so bad because we just did not have those money conversations at first. And honestly, I think it was like, just about, almost a year or just after a year into our marriage, like, we were living in England. And he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. And I told him a plane ticket home because I didn’t want to be in the relationship anymore, because I was scolded for spending $86 at the grocery store one day, because I’m like, I didn’t have a job like I was fully dependent on him. I was in a foreign country. But like, our finances were so separate, and we didn’t talk about it. And it was like, we had so much work to do to get where we’re at right now. We’re also going through Financial Peace University for the second time. Because we’ve been in that, like, money just runs out the door. If you’re not paying attention, you don’t know where it’s going. And it’s just gone. And so it’s so incredibly important.
And I loved how in Financial Peace University, I don’t know if it was like this when you did it. But I think it’s Rachael Cruz, Dave Ramsey’s daughter, like, she hates budgeting, she’s like, if there’s anything I’m really good at, it’s spending money and shopping. And so it was like six months into their marriage for like, whoa, we need to like talk to dad, figure this out, and make a budget. And I was just like, Oh, my goodness, I’m not alone in that. Right? So anybody else is listening. You are not alone in that either. Like you’re in good hands with Kate here. So I love everything that you had to say. Because so much of it. It’s just so true. And so relevant. And there are so many emotional ties to it.
My husband and I had a really deep, deep financial conversation two weeks ago when we went to Costco for the first time this year. And we had to buy diapers and toilet paper and paper towels and groceries. And then he was like, so upset about like, when when the price came up, like, oh my gosh, that’s like almost all of our grocery budget. And it was like, it was a long 40-minute conversation on the way home about money and just like the emotional ties to it, and everything else. And so it’s so so deep. If we are talking to likely moms on here, right, maybe people who are in this struggle bus with money just going out the window, maybe people finding themselves in positions where we make enough money that I don’t have enough money for diapers, or even women who like you’re saying, you want them to not feel stuck and be able to, like, pour into and spend money on the things that are really important to them. Like, I have a lot of potential clients who are like, I really want to work with you. And I see the results that I could get, but I literally don’t have the money. But it’s like, I’m a firm believer, a lot of us do have the money. It’s just we don’t realize where we’re spending it and what we’re spending it on anyway, what are a couple of tips that you could give us that we can take away and maybe even start doing today that can help us be better stewards of our finances?
Kate Maness 27:50
Sure, so this is gonna, and then when I say this, I can feel the eye rolls, but I promise you, just be mindful. Write everything down. Now I know that Dave Ramsey’s, like, you know, you, you know, don’t use credit cards, use cash, and cash is actually my second tip. But if we’re just focusing, like, if you can’t do three, if you’re like, I can only do one, Kate, what is it? It is: write everything down. So, I mean, if you do use credit cards, you know, go like, cuz if your spouse uses cards, like, well, I don’t know what my spouse uses, and he won’t like write down what he’s using with cash, then yeah, maybe that’s the best way for you guys to do it, then you can look at the… you know, pull up your account every single night and write down what’s been spent, right. And I’m not talking about a budget. I’m not there’s no, there’s no talk of budget in this, is literally write everything down. And I find having a credit card does help because you know, my spouse doesn’t want to write everything down like he just wants to spend. I’m the spender. I fully acknowledge this, you know, there’s the spenders and the Savers, the saver, but he won’t like he’ll go out to lunch and then not tell me it’s fine. I have no problem with the budget, whatever, but write everything down.
Number two is cash. I mean, so yes, this contradicts what I just said. But if you’re able to do cash, I fully like there’s something called the envelope system. And when you do build a budget you take, you know, okay, so like, let’s just say $400 for the month for groceries, you literally go to the bank, you get $400 You put it in the envelope, and that’s all you have. So when you go to the grocery store, when you’re out you can’t just, you don’t whip out your debit card or your credit card or whatever, you put things back. And so you have your little credit card and you look like a nerd. But I promise you I’m right there with you looking like a nerd and I’m okay with this because it helps identify like what you’re spending And then you there is a little bit more of an emotional reaction instead of just swiping, it’s handing over those dollar bills.
Kate Maness 27:59
Dave Ramsey talks a lot about that. That’s why he always carries cash with them. And then the third thing is yeah, like creating a budget. Now, this can be overwhelming to people because they’re like, I don’t even know where to start like, and that’s where I come in. That’s, you know, that’s kind of my role as a financial coach, is what we do in our sessions. So I do have different sessions. We have three, six or nine months sessions like you’re, I meet with you once a month, and depending on kind of how much debt you have, and you know where you are with your financial goals, but I will tell you this, do not get discouraged.
It does not, you cannot create one budget and expect it to be good for every single month. Your birthday isn’t every single month, because we are going to celebrate you, you know, you’re going to make sure that you do you. But like Christmas, that’s not in every single month, so you’re going to not have any money for Christmas. This is a very live document. And so Dave says it takes about three months to really get a budget down and that’s why even if you’re debt-free, my minimum like session grouping is three months because then we have three months together where we can really get to set you know, the first session is called like the discovery session where we kind of talk about the things you know this than the other you do have homework to do. I know homework as adults. But like, you know, we kind of look at where you are and here’s the other thing people are like, well, I don’t know this woman. I don’t want to share my finances with her but I do want tips.
Here’s the thing. I’m here to help you. I’m only here for you, I get like, you succeed. That’s super great. That’s what we’re here for. If you don’t want to share all the details about your income, that’s your personal business and that is 100% completely fine. We can dive as deep in as you want. Or we can stay at the surface level. It’s kind of how much you’re committed and how much kind of you want to, you know, get into, I will say the people who have the most success are the ones who like, you know, bring it all to the table and kind of lay it all out and we go through it. But again, we’ve, I mean I have as I said at the very beginning of this podcast, like my family was, we didn’t really talk about finances, it was just a taboo conversation. I think that you know, my generation I’m 37 right now, you know, we talk a little bit more about I mean, even about salary, like I mean, not in the workplace, but I mean even my friends have had more of those conversations, and I think my parents would never have had that conversation, and again, it’s on people’s comfort levels. And so I completely respect the people who are like, that’s my personal business. I don’t even share that with you. But also, we’re here having a conversation for a reason because you have financial goals and I can help you get there.
Sasha Star Robertson 30:50
Yes. I love that. I love it. I’m a all on the table kind of person. I don’t go to somebody for help, and then like, try and hold parts of it back. Like that’s the surest way in my opinion not to succeed, but I love that you brought that up because I feel like that’s so relevant in a lot of different areas where people will do like, I’m coming to you for help. But I’m still gonna hold on to this little bit over here. Like, this is the part that you can play with. And so really what we’re doing is withholding help, as we’re holding on to control and so but there are people who are are going to come to you like that and who are going to want to operate that. So I love that you already have a solution in place to still help them. Even if that is the situation through it and who knows maybe three months or six months or nine months in, they’ll be like okay, you’ve done really well with this here’s the rest of it, you know, and in find that, that release in that control. Super, super cool. I love these tips because these are things that I like I knew going through Dave Ramsey, I think it was like six years ago. 2016 that we went through it the first time we did really well. We actually decided to put our house for sale at the time because like our house altogether was more expensive than the percentage of income that was recommended or whatever and we’re like, now we have to pay our house off. That seems daunting. Let’s just sell it and then ended up not selling and that’s when we started Airbnb. So it’s like it’s been this whole play out and roll of events that’s turned into something really, really cool for us.
Butit’s been such a great reminder and hearing you say it again is like yep, just reminding me. This is one of the plans that I’m sticking to right, because essentially, going through this program, I’ve been partnered with like a financial coach, and like we’ve made the plan. Now I just have to stick to it. And it’s very simple. And I love that you had pointed out you can’t make a budget once and just like expect it to work. It’s not a month after month, you know same thing. It’s a living document. But also like my husband and I did this last year where we just like sat down and tried to make a budget and then we completely blew it out of the water and we’re like, why bother? And then next thing you know, you look at the credit cards and you’re like, Oh my goodness. So now thankfully we’re approaching it in that different mindset where it’s like, okay, you know, some things are a little bit up here. Like we set a budget for our cars that is kind of like the sinking fund style of like $100 a month for vehicle maintenance, thinking Oh, it’ll add up and then we can buy tires and whatever else. And then my husband sold his car, got a different car. It’s 20-something year old. Car, he needs an alignment. He needs tires, fixing calls these parts, it’s like, we’ve totally blew that line out of the water in terms of our budget this month, but you know what? Now we know and so next month, we can adjust it a little bit better. And so it’s very much a living document and like, it’s about giving yourself grace a little bit too, but having an accountability partner is super, super important. So, Kate, um, if people wanted to reach out to you, do you have a place?
Kate Maness 34:34
You can email me at kmaness@manessfinancial.com. And then I’m also on Facebook. I have like just Maness financial on Facebook. It’s an open group and you can just there’s not a whole lot that I’ve done with it. But it’s like another place to contact me. But yeah, so yeah, I mean phone call or email or, you know, Facebook is probably the best one right now if you just want to kind of look and see a couple of things that I posted and I’m going to try and get that going. More so as we move forward.
Sasha Star Robertson 35:46
Okay, cool. Well, I will certainly include all of this in the show notes so people have a way to reach out to you for any further questions or what it might look like. I assume you’re able to do this online and so whether they’re local here in Alaska or across the globe, in Michigan or Florida, you’re still able to serve them.
Kate Maness 36:07
I am yeah. So right now specifically with like, I’m a one on one person I like to meet in person, but kind of right now we’re the environment that we’re in. Zoom works. You know, like, that’s kind of where I’m at. So yeah, we can definitely meet, you know, via zoom or, you know, that kind of platform. If you’re local and that’s your jam to meet up. I’m all about some coffee and meeting at a coffee shop. But again, we’re probably more in the Zoom era right now. But moving forward. I you know, I would like to move into that. But yes, the answer to your question is near or far. We can connect. We can make work. Awesome.
Sasha Star Robertson 36:47
Very, very cool. Well, last question, kind of gave you a little bit heads up but I want to know, what does intentional abundance mean to you?
Kate Maness 36:57
I’ve been trying to think about that. What that does mean. Like if they break up the two words intentional to do something intentionally to do something mindfully, that we make a habit of doing. And then abundance, you know, a plethora of whatever that is, you know, whatever we’re being intentional about. So I feel like you know, what you’re saying and that you know, intentional abundance. You can have so much if you just make up your mind to do that. You know, you can, pretty much do anything that you want to put your mind to and if you do put your mind to it, you can have a lot of it. That’s what I feel like that’s, that is.
Sasha Star Robertson 37:57
Yes. I love it and I so agree. I love just like watching the gears turn and like watching you put this together. I don’t think a lot of people think about intentional abundance and what it means and so I just love asking this to all of my guests that I at least think of to ask you, you know sometimes I forget to ask but all the ones that I did, it’ll be a compilation someday. So anyways, any final thoughts or parting words that you have for our listeners today?
Kate Maness 38:28
Yeah, just you know. I guess you know, do your best. Don’t beat yourself up. Every day is a new day and just keep being you. And that’s yeah, and people are here to help you. I think that’s the biggest takeaway. There are people out there that if you need help and want to reach out, there are people that genuinely want to help you. I think that’s the biggest takeaway.
Sasha Star Robertson 38:54
Yes. Amen to that. Wow, awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast today, Kate, I so appreciate our conversation, such awesome reminders and just like practical, real-world stuff about money and finances, and thank you for sharing your story with us and maybe you’ll be a guest here again one day we’ll see.
Kate Maness 39:19
I hope so. But thank you so much for having me, Sasha. I’m so honored to be on your show. Bye.
Sasha Star Robertson 39:25
Bye.
Intentional Momlife with Jesus 