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Budget Coaching Pays Big Benefits

Susan Campbell

December 09, 2008

For years, Sherry Coelho's parents ran a painting and contracting business in Rhode Island. As the more serious of their four children, Coelho was privy to everything about the business, including payroll.

Her early exposure to the business world made her uniquely attuned to finances, and her parents noted her interest. Be a banker, they told her. Go get rich.

If she didn't become exactly rich, Coelho at least learned financial responsibility at her job as vice president/relationship management at Prudential Retirement. And last year she became a volunteer budget coach with Co-opportunity Inc., a Hartford-based nonprofit that helps move working families toward economic stability. Coelho has worked with seven clients so far. She's spent nearly 20 hours with each one, and what they tell her falls into two general categories. Namely:

It's not nice to think too much about money.

And what I don't know I don't have to be responsible for.

So far, Co-opportunity's free budget coaching, in addition to its free tax preparation, has been immensely popular, said Donna Taglianetti, the nonprofit's executive director.

"Most coaches have a good understanding of how to put a budget together," said Taglianetti. "Our training ensures that is true, and then arms them with the tools they need to bridge the cultural and income divides they may face working with a family from a lower income bracket."

The program is funded by United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. Families work with a coach for several months. Coaches track spending, and with the client, they develop a budget. So far, Co-opportunity has trained 125 coaches who are working or have worked with nearly 100 families. Of the families who've completed coaching, 85 percent have reduced their debt, 72 percent pay bills on time, and more than half say they've stayed within their budget for at least a half-year.

Also, nearly half say they've increased their income. And the coaches can't volunteer enough, said Taglianetti. They build relationships with their clients that go beyond coaching because the help they offer goes beyond money, said Coelho.

"A lot of what I do with people is get them to understand that having control over your money can mean having control over your life," she said. She's seen clients get their finances in order and then start a new diet or begin an exercise program.

"They get excited about making changes," said Coelho. And they become proactive about managing their money. One woman wanted to buy cellphones for her teen sons, but she also wanted to have $200 pocket money every month. Buying phones would make that impossible, so she decided to buy them when she was better situated.

That's another theme that runs through her clients' lives. They give too much. One grandmother was going broke buying expensive gifts for her family. Coelho helped her ease away from gifts and dispense wisdom instead, which lasts longer.

Once clients reduce their debt, they're able to start looking at bigger goals, such as home-ownership, said Coelho.

The best part, she said, comes when clients start making good financial decisions on their own. They don't sign up for another credit card, or they step away from paying for identity theft insurance. And then they come back and happily report their new acumen, to which Coelho replies, "How cool is that?"

•Co-opportunity Inc. is at 860-236-3617.