Beth Mincks, Financial Educator and NFCC Certified Financial Professional
Recently the NFCC (National Foundation for Credit Counseling) started a nationwide campaign called “Sharpen Your Financial Focus”. This campaign is designed to help anyone get on the right path to financial freedom. This is exciting for CCCS for the Ozarks because we are part of this campaign and are helping people reach their financial goals.
You can get started by going to this website and signing up for My Money Check Up: https://www.mymoneycheckup.org/springfield
Once you have completed the online assessment, call our office to set up your free financial review and bring in your results. If you don’t have a printer, we can print them at the time of your appointment. We can also do a review over the phone but will need to send some documents via email or fax.
Once your financial review is completed, you can also request a follow up reveiw. Such as credit report review, staying on track with expenses, and specific financial questions or concerns.
The great part about this financial assessment, review and follow up is that it is all FREE! Our phone 417-889-7474 or Toll Free 800-882-0808.
Read below if you want to know a little more about My Money Check Up.
My Money Check Up is exactly what the title says, a check up. You go to the website www.mymoneycheckup.org/springfield click “Sign up today”. Enter in your preferred email and create a password. Once that is completed it asks you basic questions and then you put in your household income. Next it will ask you how much you have in your checking, savings, retirement, and any other accounts. Every page has a “sentence writer” feature that puts your answers and numbers into a sentence. I especially enjoyed this feature because it helped me understand why these questions were being asked and what the numbers mean for my financial situation. It never asked for any account numbers of any type and the site is secure and user friendly. As you go through the steps it asks you if you have a budget, if you have credit cards, are you currently saving money, do you rent or own and have money saved for maintenance, and are you currently saving for retirement. I like this part for two reasons: (1) It makes you really think about what you are and are not doing with your money and (2) It has a “Guidance” box on the right side of each page that tells you about that subject.
Once you get towards the end it creates an overview of all your answers that are written out and easy to understand. I like this page because my entire financial overview was staring me in the face and it was a wake up call. After you are finished reading your overview, click on “Results” and it will complete your checkup by giving you advice on what you could work on. This page is simple as well and has all of the categories on one page with a green, yellow or red circle next to it. Green stands for “Continue on your path”, Yellow stands for “Proceed with caution”, and Red stands for “Stop and make a change”. Each category has advice and websites you can visit to educate yourself. Before I completed the My Money Checkup, I thought I was doing alright financially and then realized I need to do a few things differently. The very last step is a budget that you can update and save as needed. I would highly recommend EVERYONE to use this tool and see if you are on the right path or maybe you could make some changes.