Ep #84: Learn How Mary Went From Welfare to Wealth Management

Mary Sterk is the Founder of Sterk Financial Services and Best Selling Author of Ready to Pull the Retirement Trigger which you can find on Amazon, Books A Million and in your local bookstores.   Mary is a Financial Planner who helps her clients grow money and know what to do with it once they have more.     Old Story: Single-Mom with Two Kids on Welfare, Food Stamps and Low Income Housing New Story: Wealth Management Guru   LEARN HOW A SINGLE MOM WITH TWO KIDS GOT OFF WELFARE By age 19, Mary was a single-mom with two kids who bought her food on welfare and bought her food stamps and lived in low income housing. Decisions she had to make when it came to money was between buying diapers and food.   Mary realized people in this setting had been there for a long time and they were not creating something better for themselves or their families. She wanted something better. Mary went on a journey to learn how money works.   She went to night school while working full-time during the day while raising her children. Mary ended up earning her Certified Planning Designation where she has worked in her career for the last 25 years.   WHAT IS A HOLISTIC FINANCIAL PLANNER? Mary helps client look at their finances, invest their money and understand they aren’t just their balance sheets. She looks at them as a whole person not just their finances. She loves helping people align their financial picture with the life they want to lead.   Financial plans have to come back to the life you are most excited about living.   Mary says, “Every financial planner out there will have different graphs and charts and numbers, that is all part of it. When looking at retirement planning, it must be approached like a three-legged stool.”   Mary explains this concept: The first leg is emotional readiness. There is a big difference between working and not. The second leg of the stool is health and long term care issues. The third leg is the financial side of it. All three legs must be addressed for a well-balanced stool.     MONEY BUYS YOU CHOICES Money buys more choices! If people don’t have money, their choices are more limited. Choices can be things that are wanted, experiences to have or the feelings clients want to create.   For example, Mary will often ask people how they want retirement to feel? Her clients might say connected, generous and creative. So this is a clue as to what they will want to spend money on. In their retirement budget, money will need to be allowed to do those things.   DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU INVEST? When there is a reason to invest money it is much more successful than to invest money to have a pile of money. Having a pile of money just to have money is not the goal.   T