Stacey was apprehensive about letting someone advise her about her finances; she thought a budget advisor would dictate what she could do with her money. Her first visit to Visionwest Money Mentors changed both her mind and her life..
“As a solo mum with four children, I was struggling. Everything was crazy with my finances. The cost-of-living – food, gas, power, and everything else – was going up and pushing me to a point where I didn’t know how I could survive. A lady at WINZ suggested I go to a budgeting service.”
Stacey came to Visionwest’s Money Mentors and met Mahesha. They hit it off straightaway. “Mahesha was so warm and friendly and had a completely non-judgemental approach. She never once said, ‘You should be doing this, or you shouldn’t be doing that.’ She just listened and guided me.”
Mahesha helped Stacey to see exactly where her money was going each week. That enabled Stacey to come up with a plan where she could focus her spending on what was important, including paying off debt.
“I assumed my debt would follow me and I’d be struggling forever but Mahesha gave me the confidence to contact companies I owed money to and suggest repayment plans. I’ve been working hard to pay off debt ever since and I’m almost there! In fact, I now have $50 extra at the end of each week. That’s awesome, I can take my children out and do fun things.”
When asked what life would be like if she hadn’t had financial mentoring help, Stacey says she would still be struggling and probably in greater debt than she was before. Instead, she can begin to realise the goals and dreams she has for the future. “I have a three-year plan that Mahesha helped me develop. I’m studying business Level 4. That means, once my youngest is near school age, I can come off the benefit and open my own business.
“To think I was once in two minds about seeing a budgeter and yet, if it wasn’t for Mahesha, I’d still be broke and doing the same things I was doing before … which was nothing … spending my money willy nilly and achieving nothing.”
Stacey has completed all the necessary sessions to put into practice the tools needed to get her finances on track and keep them there. “When I meet friends who are struggling with their money, I tell them to come down and meet the Money Mentors Team and the people at Visionwest – they are a lovely bunch of people.”