Blog

 Karen Lynn Poff, MPA, AFC® has served as a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension since 1987. Following the economic downturn in 2008, she launched the Northern Shenandoah Valley Financial Education Program to help individuals and families learn to manage their finances effectively. Since then, she...

July 19, 2019

Victoria Lowell is a financial coach, which – in her words – is much like a life coach, a pitching coach, or swim coach. She is also an AFCPE® Member and AFC® candidate who is passionate about empowering women with the knowledge and skills to take a leading role in...

July 12, 2019

 Shay James is a CPA who specializes in helping people save money, save their business, or save their relationships. She does this through a variety of strategies, most recently adding the AFC® certification to her professional arsenal of resources.AFCPE: What led you to a career in personal finance?Shay: My journey...

June 28, 2019

 Dionne Blanks, AFC® specializes in helping her clients crush debt, increase savings, and build wealth through good management skills and an effective money mindset. She accomplishes this by working with her clients to establish customized cash flow plans for their household.AFCPE: What inspired you to pursue a career in personal...

June 21, 2019

Katherine Sauer, PhD is Vice President, Research and Programs for National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). She oversees educational programs, as well as research and strategic impact at a national nonprofit devoted to financial capability. In addition to financial health, she is also passionate about mental and physical health. Learn...

June 14, 2019

 Todd Christensen, AFC® is a financial educator and counselor who works with students and clients of all ages to manage their money on a day-to-day basis. Todd helps people use financial tools for building their financial hopes and dreams, while also guiding them along their path to financial stability, security,...

June 07, 2019

 Ambus Hunter IV is a personal finance educator who helps people understand their relationship with money and how finances intersect with the other essential elements of well-being: physical, career, social, and community. Ambus is passionate about helping people find balance in life, and money plays a large role in that....

May 24, 2019

My short personal financial story began in 1979 when my husband joined the Navy. We struggled with the same personal financial challenges that young Sailors and Marines still face today. They included living paycheck-to-paycheck, mismanaging checking accounts, not building savings and making poor choices with credit. I have worked with...

May 01, 2019

 My name is Janeil Pierre, I am an aspiring AFC and this is my personal finance story…I was born and raised on a tiny island in the Caribbean by the name of Trinidad. I was the first of 3 children and my mom was a single parent. Growing up it...

April 30, 2019

 I have been a social worker for almost 20 years and have worked with survivors of intimate partner violence. Over the years, survivors would share with me that one of the main reasons that they remain with or return to their abusers was because they could not financially care for...

April 29, 2019

 Independent. Bold. Resourceful. When you are 19 years old, these are the words you are expected to be described as before even having the experience and yet, these were the words that I lived by at such an early age.#MyFinLitStory was just beginning to unfold as I was leaving my...

April 26, 2019

 Financial literacy equates to social freedom and independence from consumerism that stunt our upward mobility. We are bombarded with these images of status and unrealistic comparison of what life could be like if we had things. In contrast we see in real life the consequences to over spending, lack of...

April 25, 2019