Testimonials

Testimonial

“Kenneth is an innovative entrepreneur who has a passion for helping individuals navigate through the complex web of private and Federal student loans. His investment in FMI and commitment to his student clients’ success is testament to his success.”


Angel Beltran Integration Project Manager, Talmer Bank & Trust

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Financial Goal Setting (Not A How To)

A Little Humor
Hey everyone, it's that time of the year health club membership are up everyone is on the bandwagon to loose weight, eat right you know who you are.  Your all excited and your saying "Girrrl I'm gonna loose all this weight off my A$$".  Now fellas if you are echoing those same words well that's just a topic for a different day.

Setting Financial goals is just as important as your health goals; it's like we know what to do but sometimes we disconnect from the goal.

A Coach-Um Up
Q-What are the motivating factors to setting this goal?
(Example: are these goals motivated by deeper values and interest, or by social pressures, perhaps guilt.)

Staying Focused On The Outcome
For many years and even today we view goals in terms of Short and Long Term goals.  In my opinion when we set goals and categorize our goals this can be very challenging especially if the individual is not accustomed to setting goals let alone achieving financial goals.

This is in the book on How To set and achieve short and long term goals. The real "How To" book should be called "How In The Hell Can You Tell Me How To Set and Achieve Financial Goals When You Don't Know A Damn Thing About Me" now that's a "How To"

Listen the important thing to do is:
  1. Identify the behaviors that manifest when you start to disconnect from the goal. (Is it in certain social groups, is it the late night infomercials that lure you in to buying items that you don't need, is it a family member that always seems to know when your check comes etc..) 
  2. When you begin to understand what the set of circumstances were that caused you to disconnect from the goal, achieving the goals become easier.
  3. If you struggle with holding yourself accountable for your action plan you can always connect with me at kgrayer@fmiedu.org 
Thank You For Reading

I'm Out Kenny G.

Here is the Coach-Um Up Questions of The Day

1. What social situations (having people around you) affect how I deal with money


 

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Financial Planning Vs. Financial Coaching A Heated Debate

Hey everyone this is Kenneth I recently had a conversation with a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) regarding Financial Coaching and let me tell you it was interesting well actually that is an understatement to say the lease.  It actually became a heated debate whether Financial Coaching techniques were  useful in helping a client achieve financial success.

This individual asked me what I felt was a Financial Planners job description was. I explained in my "Opinion" of course with a smile, so I said "the difference between a Financial Coaching practice and that of a Financial Planner is that the planners objective is to provide advice, this individual agreed, and the education process was a means to introduce himself to the community and the end result was to sell various securities instruments hence more of an educate to sell model".  Well interestingly enough this individual took offense that I would suggest such a thing so I asked "such a thing like what" this individual said educate to sell products.  Interesting I thought; so I asked how do you make money he confirmed through the sell of financial instruments so I asked a question, Q- What are you trying to achieve? this individual went on about how successful his practice was and his clients portfolios are worth x-amount of dollars which of course was ob-seen amounts of money "Not The Norm" and how he takes the time to get to know his clients.


Well after debating Financial Coaching vs. Financial Planning with this person for an hour we shook hands and went our separate ways.

In summary the main objectives of a coach is to listen deeply to the coachee and be their as an accountability partner to help the coachees improve their position by learning about themselves, make empowering decisions, set and achieve goals, resolve issues all through using effective questioning rather than simply presenting a solution or the coaches viewpoint.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Kenneth Grayer talks about Financial Coaching

The Coaching Industry
The Coaching industry itself is divided into several coaching platforms; such as Executive Coaching, Life Coaching, Entrepreneurship Coaching, Small Business Development Coaching, Money Coaching, Credit Coaching and so on. The one that I can not seem to rap my brain around is the Friendship Coach.  My understanding of Coaching is that a coach is not a friend but a strategic partner. 

Educate to Sell
There are organizations that use the word coaching to sell or license financial products.  We call this platform educate to sell.  Now I'm not say that selling products or licensing products is wrong.  What I'm saying is that if your coach is selling or licensing products you should not consider this individual a coach unless they have the proper Financial Coach training and credentialing.  

What is A Financial Coach
In my opinion a Financial Coach is an accountability & strategic partner, a provider of perspective, a motivation partner with an emphasis on forward thinking, a focus partner and an intention partner.

What Skills Should a  Financial Coach poses.
Financial Coaching is about transformation.  In order to transform ones Financial Behavior, a coach should be skilled in Behavior Modification techniques, Change management  skills as a component of Behavior Modification, Motivational Interviewing skills, Adhere to a standard code of ethics & conduct and Basic Coach training. 

 Are The How To's Coaching?
Americans have been bombarded with all the how to build credit, how to invest in stocks, or how to create a budget and so on.  If all the how to books, seminars, workshops on how to build wealth, manage money, build credit, invest in the stock market or create a budget  were working, our debt would not stands at $2.4 trillion - and many Americans are “just making it”, and dealing with huge financial stresses on a daily basis. 

In Summary
Being a Financial Coach takes time, patience and commitment to ongoing research and education.
At FMI we"Create Conversation For Change."  that empowers the coachee to own, and commit to their financial success.







Thursday, February 11, 2010

FMI Money Talk Radio

FMI Money Talk is a weekly internet radio station were individuals can call in and have financial questions answered. Guest Call In Number 646-595-4265 We look forward to speaking with you.
Listen to Fmi Money Talk on Blog Talk Radio

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

FMI Leadership CEO/President

Kenneth J. Grayer CDS, CCC, FDCPA Certified

Kenneth Grayer is Chief Executive Officer and President of Financial Management Institute, Inc (FMI) Prior to joining FMI. Mr. Grayer served as President of Unified Financial Negotiators Corporation, a consumer & small business debt settlement firm located in Roselle, IL. He brings 12 years of experience in the industry and has served as Director of Training and Education for some of Illinois’ largest accounts receivables firms such as Sallie Mae (Arrow Financial Services), Integrated Portfolio Management and Household Finance Corporation. Mr. Grayer holds the CDS & CCC designations from The International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (CDS) and is a member of the Certified Credit Consultants Association (CCC).

Monday, January 25, 2010

Rebuilding Your Credit With A Secured Credit Card

A secured credit card is where you send the issuing bank a minimum deposit. Deposits can range from $200.00 - $500.00. This deposit is applied to the credit card and becomes the limit in which you can charge. Once the account is established the account is reported to the three major credit reporting agency and within 30 - 60 days a new trade line appears on your credit report.

For a list of secured credit cards click here Credit then on the left side find Search By Credit Quality and begin your research.

For additional help please contact us at your convenience 866-507-7333 and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MONEY SMART WEEK

Money Smart Week® (MSW) is a series of free classes and activities designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. MSW events will be held in April 17–24, 2010 in Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. Watch our Blog for important updates.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Fed and You Consuming Interest

Federal Reserve releases credit card protections

The Federal Reserve released the final rules on the credit card reform act that basically will kick in Feb. 22.

Many of the provisions have already been heavily discussed, such as no cards issued to those under 21 unless they have a co-signor or can prove they have the means to pay the bill.

Other provisions you might not have heard about. Including:

- Credit card issuers generally won’t be allowed to increase interest rates on a card during the first year after an account is opened and when rates do go up, the new higher rate can’t be applied to the existing credit card balance.

- Card issuers will have to get your consent before charging fees for transaction that exceed the credit limit.

- And card companies will have to limit the high fees associated with subprime credit cards.

To Read the full 1,100 page report by the Federal Reserve click here