Carrollwood Budget Coach Provides Life-Changing Financial Secrets

Although she and her husband earned a comfortable income, Carrollwood mom of three Melinda Turner remembers the monthly struggle of living paycheck to paycheck, questioning where the money went and wondering why wasn’t there anything left to carry through the month.

After frustration and arguments about money, in 2008 she and her husband enrolled in a 14-week class to better understand how to properly budget and save for their future.

Armed with the skills they learned, the couple was able to pay off $30,000 in 13 months, leaving the family debt-free. Since 2008, Turner has used the money-saving education to purchase new cars, furniture and vacations with cash, leaving no dent in the family pocketbook.

While employed full-time, Turner volunteered her budgeting expertise with family and friends, and also taught the class that changed her family’s life for two years.

A company close-out in April 2011 and encouragement from her husband gave Turner the push she needed to turn her budgeting skills into an occupation as a budgeting coach. Word-of-mouth referrals, a 100 percent success rate and a money-back guarantee ensured her calendar stayed packed.

Likening her life-changing program to working out at the gym, Turner is a personal trainer for finances. She will get you everything you need to succeed and eventually you will be able to do it your own. Turner even involves children in the process of saving.

Said daughter Alexandria: “Give. Save. Spend. Those are three things we can do with our money.” 

And following in her parents’ footsteps, the sensible 10-year-old chose to save.

“I love having money - especially for a fashion emergency,” she said. “I don’t buy toys because I don’t really play with them. I like to use my imagination. I’ve saved $140 just earning $3 per week. ”

Turner has made a thriving career out of solving other people’s money issues, surprising them by finding cash they never knew they could have.

Client Lori Hall met Turner at a networking meeting, and was intrigued by her introduction to the group.

“She said, ‘I’m Melinda Turner, and I’m a budget coach, and I teach you how to you make your money behave,'" said Hall. “Melinda has changed my life. She has showed me that I do not live paycheck to paycheck. I have plenty of money left over at the end of the month by managing my money, knowing what is coming in and what needs to go out.”

Hall said that the money left over is being invested and paying off debt and it is behaving like it never has in her forty-eight years. “I have never felt more in control of my finances than I do right now.”

Patch sat down with the local budget coach to learn how she managed to love what most others loath and to learn a few of the savings methods she shares with clients.

Patch: What is the number one mistake people are making about saving money?

Turner: They put it off. They say ‘when I make more money,’ ‘when I pay this debt off, or ‘when the kids get a little older,’ that’s when I’ll do it. A lot of people get into that pattern and ‘that’s when I’ll do it’ never happens. I show them how to do it now, today.  All my clients always have money left over.

Patch: What can we do to control our money?

Turner: We all have the same kind of patterns, but you need to get that virtual whip out and tell your money where to go and make it behave, because right now your money basically has wings and is just flying around. A lot of people don’t even realize how much they make and how much comes out because everything is so automated.  Your check gets directed deposited and your mortgage gets taken out.

We’ve gotten away from that cash in our pockets – I like to say our grandma’s way of doing things- using and saving cash. I teach my clients to do a very old-fashioned way of managing money.

Patch: Is cash the “secret” to saving money?

Turner: Absolutely, it’s cash. It’s that simple. If you have a debit or a credit card, if you go into the grocery store to spend $100 and come out spending $150, you’re thinking no big deal, but you’ve just taken $50 away from someplace else. I teach my clients about using the cash envelope system. If you don’t have the money in the envelope, you don’t buy it.

Patch: What is the typical savings you find?

Turner: Typical is $500 to $1,000 left over just by me showing them some simple tricks and tools.

Patch: What is the cost? Can you go through the process for a new client?

Turner: I charge $125 per person per session. Service is all-inclusive. There is no additional charge for email, phone calls or texting.

Usually, I meet my clients once a month for three months because typically it takes 90 days to form a habit. Whether it’s trying to lose weight, quitting smoking, or saving money, it’s a process, so I walk them through that process.

I sit down and we make a budget together on paper. We make the cash envelopes and a plan together of this is where your money is going to go. I ask what money is coming in and what bills do you have.  When you write down where you want the money to go, you are in control, not the money. We make a meal plan to take control of the grocery list. I also have a Series 6 license, so I can teach them how and where to invest. I teach about the dangers of credit cards, how not to be a slave to the lender.

If my clients are parents, I advise them to sit down with their kids and show them the budget, tell them ‘we are changing things.’  That way, they can understand that ‘money doesn’t grow on trees.’

To schedule an appointment with Turner, email budgetcoach7@gmail.com or call 727-858-0709.