Helping others by following my dreams

I've always had a strong desire to help others in anyway that I can. I'm that person who stops on the highway to help you change a tire while my wife is sitting next to me reminding how dangerous it is! Recently I was challenged to think about my career choice. If I could have any job, what would I do? I gave it a lot of thought, here's what the thinking has lead to. As I already said, I love to help others, to point them in the right direction, to help them learn and to ultimately change their lives. I also have a strong belief that we as consumers are vastly mislead in their financial understandings. We live in such a credit driven, buy now pay later (if I have the money) society, that we've lost an understanding of money and how it works. We work so hard to make money, but we don't take the time to understand it and make it work for us after we get it.

With the country in the worst recession that most of us have ever seen, we are all worried to some extent about our finances. Last year most of us were worried about being able to get the newest toy before it sold out during the holiday season. This years question is were will I find money to buy presents and gifts for my loved ones. Retailers know people have less money, so the solution is simple. We'll give it to you today and you can pay us for it later. Financing is in full swing at most major retailers in an attempt to save the massive number of sales they are loosing every day. Let's think about this for a minute. A major part of what is causing the recession we are in now was bad lending practices from our banks. We were lending money to people who honestly couldn't afford to pay it back and now it's come back to bite us. So todays solution to loosing money because people have lost jobs or taken financial cuts in some way is to lend them money! Sounds like we're heading back to what got us here in the first place. Yes, there is a difference between a $250,000 mortgage loan that goes into default and a $2,000 loan for a TV that is defaulted on. And I know the restrictions are tighter on who is being given credit. But lets face it, we're saying we know you don't have a job and can't afford to buy this but we need your money, so take it and pay us for it in 6 months. Who knows if the consumer will have found a job by then? It seems to me we didn't really learn from our own mistakes the first time around. So hold on, because here we go again!

All of that to say, what I would do is help others understand their own financial situation. How their finances work, what they're doing, how they can improve, how they can make their money work for them. I've decided to get into the financial planning business with a strong desire to help others change their lives. I'm starting Staley Financial as an effort to help other realize financial freedom in their lives. To help others achieve their financial goals and dreams no matter what their current situation is. I'm starting by offering the basics, as I get more schooling, licenses, and other necessities I will offer more. I'm currently in the process of acquiring my Certified Financial Planners (CFP) Certificate and becoming a Registered Financial Planner (RFP).

Well, that is probably more than I've ever expressed about our economic situation since this recession started, but it is scary when you stop and think about it. If you have any questions or would like to know more about what I am offering feel free to post here or email me at staleyfinancial@gmail.com