In this episode of the Best Life Podcast, Tony is joined by some of Altra’s friendly and knowledgeable Financial Coaches to learn more about what they do to improve members’ financial outlook and why they enjoy doing it. Lindale, TX office manager Nohemi Garza, Financial Services Representative Carol Finch, and Solution Specialist Team Lead Kirsten Wallace all take time to be on the podcast to educate about this great program.
To learn more about Altra’s Financial Coaches and to schedule an appointment, visit our website at altra.org or call 800-755-0055.
Best Life Podcast – Episode 20: Altra’s Financial Coaches
(Tony Beyer)
Hello and welcome to the Best Life Podcast where we here at Altra Federal Credit Union are helping you live your best life. I'm your host, Tony Beyer, thank you so much for tuning in, and we are into the month of April now, can you believe it? I mean, where's the time gone this year and with it being Financial Capability Month, which focuses on financial literacy and education, we wanted to highlight and learn more about a great program here at Altra, and they are our financial coaches, who take the time to meet with our members and can assist them with putting together, spending plan, creating strategies to increase money and savings, learning more about credit, reducing debt, and just providing guidance to help them with their money to reach their financial goals. So, in this episode, we are sitting down with a few of our financial coaches to learn more about what they do every day to assist and support our members. So, without any further ado, because they're very busy and have been patiently waiting on the line as well for me to stop talking, I wanted to welcome to the podcast, our coaches. First off, Nohemi Garza was our office manager at our Lindale Office in Lindale Texas. Welcome to the podcast Nohemi!
(Nohemi Garza)
Hey Tony, thank you for having me.
(Tony Beyer)
Absolutely, and on the podcast taking time out of her busy day, as a Financial Services Representative at our office on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard in Clarksville, Tennessee, Carol Finch. Thanks for being on the podcast Carol!
(Carol Finch)
Thank you Tony, thank you for having me today.
(Tony Beyer)
Oh yeah, and also joining us from Altra's office in Holmen, Wisconsin, it's our Solution Specialist Team Leader, Kirsten Wallace, thanks for taking the time to be here Kirsten.
(Kirsten Wallace)
Hey tony, thanks for having me, I'm excited to be here.
(Tony Beyer)
Oh, we're excited to have every one of you here as well, and as I mentioned in the open, our certified financial coaches are here to meet one-on-one with our members whether that be in person, over the phone, or online, we're pretty flexible depending on our member’s needs, and i was hoping to start with you Nohemi, and I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about what a member can expect when meeting with you as a financial coach?
(Nohemi Garza)
You know, a member would come into my office and have that one-on-one interaction where they have my undivided attention to dig deeper into what they're finances may look like, see what financial goals they have set for themselves, and ultimately how can I provide guidance and help them by creating either budgeting tools, or different plans that can help them get to their financial goals.
(Tony Beyer)
Oh, that's excellent that, you know, we're able to take the time to learn more about what's important to whom we're meeting with, and I know you mentioned Nohemi giving your undivided attention which is becoming more and more rare these days, you know, with all the distractions around us with all the, you know, the deadlines pressures, everything that you're able to take the time to learn more about what's important to intervening with…that's excellent!...and Carol, I know that you've led some coaching sessions there in Clarksville, are there any topics or areas of interest that seem to come up most often with those that you meet with?
(Carol Finch)
Some of the main topics that I've been doing are understanding credit, so, going over the credit report on annualcreditreport.com, and budgeting, and how to eliminate some debt, but they're certainly other topics that we can talk about too, but yeah, those would be the main ones that I've come across.
(Tony Beyer)
Yeah, that makes sense that credit would be one of the big things discussed in meetings because it's such a valuable financial tool and it can be very beneficial to our financial health when it's used responsibly. I know it's a topic that I speak on quite often, my role presenting financial education here for Altra…that is for sure.
Now, I know that we have a lot of great success stories on helping our members and those are where, you know, working with our coaches to get them in a better financial situation, to set them up for success, and whether that be, you know, creating a spending plan to increase money and savings, paying down and eliminating debt, you know, getting current on bills and obligations, getting approved for credit, and a whole lot more, but we're not able to share those the stories because the sessions with our financial coaches they are strictly confidential. So, no information is being shared whatsoever but Kirsten, I know that you were making a point just before we started recording on why It's a great idea to meet with a coach and you know, there's no need to be, you know, shy or embarrassed and it's a good idea, even if somebody is feeling like they're doing pretty well financially, they could still, you know, meet with one of our coaches…could you talk a little bit more about that Kirsten?
(Kirsten Wallace)
Yeah, you know, everybody's financial situation is different, and some people are more open about it, some people are more reserved, so not being afraid of taking that first step to getting to that next level on your financial journey. So, it could be a great way for them to save money, to get into a better financial situation, or maybe they're just kind of wanting to understand credit, how It works, maybe they're, you know, just freshly graduated person from high school and they're not sure of what they need to do because they want to maybe buy a car once they graduate from college, but they wanted to know what the necessary steps are to get them to that level. It's really a wide variety of options and solutions of what they can get out of it. They don't know what they don't know. So, having those meetings, that's very important, I feel, because getting to know them to understand them and maybe picking up on those unperceived needs and then getting them to that goal.
(Tony Beyer)
Yeah, it's all about helping others going back to that credit union motto of “People helping people,” it's what our financial coaches and really everyone here at Altra is all about, that desire to help others. I remember that was one of your driving forces, Nohemi that motivated you to become a financial coach and it still plays a key role in your coach's meetings today, and i was hoping you could share a little bit more about your story and how it's helped shape your experience as a coach.
(Nohemi Garza)
I come from a generation where maybe I wasn't really taught you know how to manage my finances myself. The first time I went to a financial institution, it was more of a “Hey you need a credit card to start credit,” but I was not guided or coached on how to utilize my credit card and how to really watch out for my credit. So, personally I have gotten myself in trouble in the past and some financial binds, and not being able to have a mentor or a coach in that sense. You know, I think didn't set me up for success, but now that I've been at Altra and I get to learn a lot more and I have the resources available. Now, I can share the knowledge that I have with other people. I can share that knowledge with my members, or with the young individual who's just now turning 18, like I was sometime ago, and getting started with their credit. So, I like to be able to share what wasn't shared with me, you know, during my time coming up growing up so now I feel like it's my responsibility to share that knowledge with others than and help them not make the mistakes that I did once.
(Tony Beyer)
That's great Nohemi, that you're able to give help to others help that you didn't experience in the past, and, you know, when it comes to talk talking about making mistakes, I know that I have made some money mistakes of the past too, absolutely, and I talk about those as well, so my educational sessions and I think they can be, you know, really good learning experiences or teaching tools, albeit a painful one, sometimes but if we're able to help others, not experience some of those pitfalls and common money mistakes, the better, that's for sure. Yeah, so we're getting towards the end here and Carol, I’d love to know a little bit more about your experience as a financial coach and what do you enjoy about being a coach?
(Carol Finch)
My biggest thing would be connecting with the members and then seeing that light bulb when I'm able to educate them in different aspects of financial wellness, how to gain financial wellness, and just be In a better place than they were before, or kind of just bounce off ideas with them. But yeah, seeing that lightbulb is definitely the greatest part of being a coach.
(Tony Beyer)
Very good, and Kirsten, what do you enjoy about being a coach?
(Kirsten Wallace)
You know, just the ability to help people achieve their financial goals, like i said before, they don't know what they don't know, and it's an amazing feeling to me to be able to help.
(Tony Beyer)
Excellent. Well, that's all the time that we have. I know that you are all very busy, helping our members, but I appreciate everyone taking the time to be on the podcast.
(Kirsten Wallace)
Thank you so much for having me.
(Carol Finch)
Of course, happy to be here.
(Nohemi Garza)
Sure, thanks again for having me.
(Tony Beyer)
On this episode of the Best Life Podcast, we had Financial Coaches Nohemi Garza, Carrol Finch, and Kirsten Wallace. Nohemi is the Office Manager at our office in Lindale, Texas. Carrol is a Financial Services Representative at our Clarksville, Tennessee office on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, and Kirsten is a Solution Specialist Team Leader at our office in Holmen, Wisconsin.
If you'd like to learn more about meeting with one of our financial coaches, you can visit our website at altra.org or stop in one of our Altra offices and set up an appointment.
Well, that's going to do it for this episode of the Best Life Podcast presented by Altra Federal Credit Union. We appreciate you taking a moment to learn how you can live your best life. If you have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover, send me an email at tjbeyer@altra.org and who knows, it may even make it into a future episode. Don't forget to follow the Best Life Podcast pretty much wherever you get your podcasts or find it on our website at Altra.org.
Thanks again, be well, and we'll talk to you again soon.
