About Shay
My Story
I have been money conscious for as long as I can remember, from helping my dad keep track of how much he was spending at the grocery store to getting good grades so I could receive scholarships to the private school I went to. I am a child of divorce and neither my mom or my dad had much money while I was growing up. I worked 2 jobs in high school just to afford to be on my schools dance team and pay for gas. I took college courses in high school because they were free. When I went to college in 2008 my dad had just been laid off, like many Americans during the Great Recession. The only bright side of this was my financial aid changed and I got to go to school the next 3 years for free. Unfortunately, I did have to take out some student loans and came out of college with about $14,000 in loans.
2016- I got married. My husband, Eric, and I cash flowed our wedding for about $8,000. But as soon as that marriage certificate came in I had acquired $50,000 in student loans from Eric. A few months later we were pregnant.
2017- We had been saving like crazy. Eric went to school full time and I was on maternity leave. Then we got hit with a $12,000 hospital bill. Who can afford that? Luckily we had enough in savings to take care of it. This is also the year I started my Instagram page to share my journey. At this time we had a car loan, student loans, and a personal loan. I was ready to smash that debt. Later in the year I started a reselling side hustle to accelerate debt payoff and went back to work part time so we didn’t need daycare.
2018- We had paid off over 20k in debt so far both working part-time. Now it was time for our next crazy adventure. Sell the house and buy a multigenerational home with my dad. After all fees we made $80,000 off of the sale of that home. We used some of it to pay off the rest of our student loans, purchase a bigger suv(suprise, I am pregnant again), and put a down payment on our mutigenerational home.
2019- April of 2019 we had just moved into our new house. In our new home we converted the walk out basement into an 1100sft basement apartment for my dad. He cash flowed the whole renovation. Summer came and my second girl was born. One week before she was born I was able to quit my job and become a stay at home parent!
2021- Let’s just skip the year 2020. Just kidding. 2020-2023 were years full of ups and downs. 2020 was the year we decided we were going to focus on savings and invested so we can become financially independent. 2021 Was the year I started my financial coaching business. 2021 was also the year I decided to do a no buy year. That was a wild ride all in itself but it allowed us to save and invest 48% of our income. 2022 I decided to start writing my first book.
Testemonials
“Shay is amazing! In six months, she helped my partner and I get on track and turn our net worth from negative 13k to positive 13k. We now have a substantial emergency fund, as well as established sinking funds that prepare us for the expected expenditures year round.”
Keaton B
“Since i worked with Shay, I was able to pay off my care early, build a savings, and follow a budget. My life has truly been changed. THANK YOU Front Porch Finances!”
Jessica P.
“Coming Soon”