Lisa: Investing in Herself

Most of us think of saving as the opposite of spending. Not so says Lisa, a recent graduate of Heartland Alliance’s money management training program.

“The trick is to pay yourself first,” she says. “When you get your paycheck, the first account you pay on is your savings account. Learning that changed how I look at money.”

The mother of a teenage daughter, Lisa had always saved here and there, but she had a hard time maintaining it. She had a stable job and was able to provide for her family but she felt stuck, unable to save for the house she dreamed of and always living paycheck to paycheck.

“Something would always pop up and I’d have to dip into my savings,” Lisa says. “I learned that if I managed my money better, I’d have enough to go around without touching my savings, and that’s what Heartland [Alliance] taught me to do.”

As a part of the program, Lisa participated in workshops on debt management, building credit and spending habits while learning to create a personalized budgeting plan that would meet her needs. To help participants start off on the right foot, Heartland Alliance also matched the money she saved during the program, which she used to pay off her credit card and student loan debt.

Today, she’s watching her budget and carefully planning for her future – and teaching her daughter to do the same.

“She has a good job now, so I’ve given her the ‘financial commandments’,” Lisa says. I don’t want her to have to learn about finances the hard way, like I did. I’m using what I learned [through Heartland Alliance] to help her start off on the right foot.”

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Heartland Alliance—the leading anti-poverty organization in the Midwest— believes that all of us deserve the opportunity to improve our lives. Each year, we help ensure this opportunity for nearly one million people around the world who are homeless, living in poverty, or seeking safety.

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