Kelley C. Long, CPA, CFP

If you’re thinking, “But it’s OnLy sIx DoLlArS!”

This is your fairy financial coach reminding you that you can also go and increase your monthly savings by $6 then…

A lot of times it’s the little things that make life delightful - catching the green light when you’re in a hurry or a great song on the radio you’d forgotten about or seeing something that reminds you of someone and then they send you a text later that day out of the blue.

These things, when noticed, make you feel lucky and favored. And they tend to snowball into more good things and more feelings of good luck.

Wishing you today, and all days, little sparks to give you hope and spots of joy. ✨🩷

But how do we do this???

I cover a great exercise and practice in episode 12 of the Financial Bliss with Kelley Long podcast, available on all the major platforms.

This episode is all about the ways we go about changing ourselves - what works and what doesn’t - plus a powerful ritual that can literally change your entire life (it changed mine)!

Listen wherever podcasts are available. Search for Financial Bliss with Kelley Long.

Tip to overcome shame:

Find a kind, compassionate person who makes you feel safe and share that shame with them.

calls this your shame partner.

Giving shame a voice, shining a light on it, puts it to bed and gets rid of it.

I want to be your money shame partner so we can move from “I’m bad at this” to “I wish I hadn’t done this so I’m ready to do differently.”

Make sure to check out episode 11 of my podcast, Financial Bliss with Kelley Long, for more on shame and money.

It’s totally fine and normal to feel bad when we make mistakes or have bad days.

The important thing is to avoid internalizing those times as who you are.

More on this in episode 11 of the Financial Bliss with Kelley Long podcast: “Money is Morally Neutral: Banishing Shame from Your Money Mindset.”

If you need some extra support this season, join the money circle starting next week! Just $59 for 4 weeks of group coaching and support.

More details at the link in my bio.

The ins and outs of all those insurance terms…

Questions? Drop them 👇🏼 and I’ll do my best to answer.

💫 REGISTRATION IS OPEN!✨

Join me for the Holiday Spending Bliss Money Circle starting November 8!

What to expect:

💻 Weekly Zoom meet-ups with likeminded women
💸 Group brainstorming on all the sneaky ways overspending creeps in
✨ Goal and intention setting specific to the holidays and your finances
👯‍♀️Accountability
🛠️ Tools to create spending plans
💳 Tips to save when you do spend

Questions? Let me know!

Hiiiiiii! 👋🏽 🌻

I’m Kelley and my life’s mission is to help make personal finance and money feel (& actually be) less intimidating to people who seek clarity and confidence around their financial decisions.

A few things about me that you might not know:
🐈‍⬛ I’m a cat lady through & through - mom to Larry & Tricky and a former foster for ALIVE Rescue in Chicago
👶🏽 My husband and I tried IVF twice and failed before opting to be child-free
🎙️ I have a podcast called Financial Bliss with Kelley Long, where I release monthly episodes on the intersection of money and feelings
🗺️ I’ve been to 46 US states & hope to check the last 4 off before I turn 50 (can you guess which ones?)
💻 I’ve worked for basically every type of financial services company there is, so I have a unique perspective on how banks are different from brokerages which are different from financial planning firms which are different from CPA firms & how the whole system works
🍭 I’ve actually been to the W***y Wonka factory to facilitate financial wellness workshops (no Oompa-Loompas attended, as they don’t qualify for the 401k plan)
👑 I was Miss Kalamazoo County in college and competed for the Miss Michigan title. I did not win, but received a $500 participation scholarship
🌵 We live in southern Arizona, but I’ll always be a Midwest girl at heart - I lived in Traverse City 🍒, Cincinnati 🐅 (Bengals fan for life!) and Chicago 🏙️ before moving to the desert

Tell me something about you or let me know something you wish you could hear more about from an unbiased money coach!

I’ve learned from these mistakes so you don’t have to even make them… what would you add to this as an example? Let me know 👇🏼

Are you traveling for the holidays this year?

Time to book, plus a few other money-related tasks to wrap up this month.

Can we stop calling things “guilty pleasures?”

Like why do people keep their money in LYSA (low yield savings accounts like W*lls or Cha$e) when they could be making enough interest in one month to pay for a thing they think is off limits like a monthly massage or cleaning service?

What’s holding you back? Let me know so I can either help or shut up about this 😂

"We spent HOW MUCH on Doordash last month?!! 🤯" - everyone, probably.

One of my favorite / least-painful ways to rein in spending is to reduce ONE category of spending and then strategically, intentionally reallocate the money elsewhere.

🍔 $200 less each month eating out ➡️ $200 more each month into the vacation fund

💅 $50 less each month on beauty treatments ➡️ $50 more each month for the "new deck" savings goal

📺 $60 less each month for cable ➡️ $60 more each month for the "new car" account

Using reloadable or gift cards is one of my favorite ways to track category-specific spending.

What are yours? Please share in the comments!

New month, new quick money tasks.

Please note that I did not say these would be fun, per se… (taxes 🤮)

Although number 4 can lead to fun.

I’ve already spent $25 on spooky season - couldn’t resist a few decorations to add to the collection for our annual epic Halloween party.

However, that’s probably all I’ll spend this year outside of costume necessities (once I figure out what that will be) and food for the party.

What about you? Do you need to check yourself with spooky season spending? Set an intention now and make it a game to stick to it! 🎃

Have you scheduled your monthly money date yet? Here’s your reminder!

Important caveat: this order of priority assumes that you don’t spend your HSA unless you’d accumulate debt otherwise AND that you invest that money once you get to a certain balance.

It’s also super important to have a system for saving receipts for eligible expenses when you do have medical expenses that you pay out of your checking or savings.

That way when you do need to get some of that tax-free money out, even if not for a medical expense, you can do so through reimbursement of prior expenses.

Questions on this? Drop them in the comments - let’s chat!

Real talk: there’s no amount of money in your savings account that will ease your anxiety if you don’t work on the root cause of that anxiety.

I know because I live it.

When I first started my adult life, I lived paycheck to paycheck in the most extreme way - my checking account would get down to less than $10 and I had MAYBE $175 in savings. Not to mention $8,000 in credit card debt.

I started every day by logging in to my bank account and checking to see how much was in there then doing the math on what bills I had coming up to see if I could afford to buy groceries before my next paycheck.

Basically, I was familiar with financial anxiety and always just thought that if I had more money, that would go away.

Wrong.

Today I have commas in all of my account balances. When added all up, there are 2 commas in my net worth.

And yet I still have some of the same anxieties about money if I don’t check myself. It’s a deliberate effort to keep myself in a space of feeling abundant.

And when I slack off on the things that work, I slide back to that anxiety, no matter what my bank account has in it.

This is why I emphasize mindset work so much in my work with clients.

People are often confused when I start a session by asking them things like “how do you know when it’s ok for you to spend money?” Or “what are you afraid will happen?” When they’re like “Lady, I just need a plan to pay off my debt!”

The most perfect plan won’t work if you don’t at least have an awareness of the root cause of your anxiety or guilt or fear or whatever emotional experience you have around money.

This is also why I’m launching an ongoing coaching subscription plan for clients to sign on for at least 6 months of work together.

Those second and third sessions are CRUCIAL to making any lasting progress on what we discuss in our first. And the following months are all about taking giant leaps on next steps.

I’m excited to see what kind of progress we can make with a bigger money coaching commitment.

Want to be the first to know when it’s officially launched? Drop a 🦋 and I’ll DM you the info when it’s live!

Working with a financial pro can be super intimidating, I totally get that. I’ve been on a laser-focused mission to make it less scary for over 20 years.

Yes, I am an expert on this stuff and even the federal government recognizes it - this photo was taken at a roundtable in DC when the Fed invited me to join a roomful of nationally recognized personal finance experts to discuss and ideate on ways to help Americans increase their financial well-being.

However, I also get that it’s not a cut and dried thing.

It’s the human part that I love the most about my work, which is why I continue to choose to help “everyday people” rather than take a job with a financial firm where I’d, quite frankly, make a lot more money and work a lot less.

When you work with me as a coach, not only will we verify and validate the facts around your financial well-being, we'll dig in to the emotional bits too, giving you two expert opinions on your condition: your own (obvy, you're the #1 expert on You) and that of an experienced CFP® who's done the work herself and has helped over 2,500 others do the same.

If you’ve ever wanted to figure out more about your finances but worried that an expert might make you feel bad, I’m your gal. Book a free 15-minute consultation with me to make sure!

Set aside 15 minutes this week to go over these 4 simple but impactful tasks.

Questions on any of these? Hit me in the comments!

When I drove across the country by myself during the move from Chicago to Arizona back in 2021, I built in a stop at White Sands National Park as part of the trip.

Former Kelley never would have done this.

First, I would not have been willing to use PTO to make the drive. Now I have whatever days off I want (although they are obviously not paid).

Second, I would have been so focused on just getting there – too many things to do!

I’d heard the phrase ‘the journey is the reward,’ but I had trouble practicing it.

Now I have time to experiment with what that means so I can re-train my system to actually enjoy the journey.

One of the biggest barriers to taking a mini-retirement has nothing to do with the logistics like money, healthcare, kids, career implications, etc.

The big barrier is our own thoughts and beliefs about what it means to succeed, what it feels like to enjoy life, how to reset the mind to think differently.

It’s a continuous process, I can tell you from personal experience, but it’s totally worth it.

How can I help you overcome your barriers?

*Not tax advice - this post is for educational purposes only.

For a personalized assessment of ways to get your MAGI (jargon alert! Check out slide 3 for definition) within range to contribute directly to a Roth IRA, book a session with me!

When we hear "Roth" 99% of us think "Roth IRA" - but did you know about Roth 401ks?! (or 403bs or even coming soon - SEP-IRAs!!)
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For 2023, single tax filers with modified adjusted gross income over $153,000 and married people with a combined income over $228,000 cannot contribute directly to a Roth IRA because they make too much.
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BUT! If your job offers you a Roth option for your 401k or 403b contributions, you are able to elect that no matter how much you make.
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Which is awesome, because you can put WAY more into your 401k than you can into your IRA each year! 💰💰
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The key point here is that you don’t have to worry about any income limits to put money into a Roth 401k.
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This is a big relief to a lot of people who had just kind of given up on the idea of using Roth for savings once they started making good money!
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Want to learn 4 more unexpected things about 401ks? Check out episode 7 of my podcast - Financial Bliss With Kelley Long, anywhere you get your podcasts!

Sometimes a wise, insightful quote does more for us than another round of facts and figures.
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I could spout statistics all day about 401ks and HSAs, but sometimes we just need a good quote!
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I talk more about getting over financial fears in episode 3 of my podcast - check out the link in the bio!

😬 YES, I SAID IT. 😬

Not to throw shade at my fellow financial planners, because there are many more reasons besides fees that your financial planner might not be talking to you about your 401k or 403b:
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💰 Each company’s plan is slightly different, so it can be a challenge for a financial planner point out the benefits since they may or may not be offered in your particular plan.
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😶‍🌫️ A lot of folks in my industry just don’t understand how great that 401ks and 403bs are. (It’s definitely not part of the exam)
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💸 Or sometimes they do, but promoting 401ks doesn't help them to make more money so they just say something like: save enough to get your match then invest the rest with me.
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But here's the truth: If you have a 401k or a 403b, it’s the easiest way to accumulate significant wealth for your future.
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If you're not maxing out your 401k or 403b, this is your nudge to start working to do so!
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I also talk about this is episode 7 of my podcast, Financial Bliss with Kelley Long. Check it out! 🎙️

I’ve actually been let go from 2 jobs (actually 3, if you count the time The Buckle didn’t keep me on after the holiday season at the mall in 1996) and I’m still able to keep my money on track for total retirement at a reasonable age while also enjoying life in my 40’s.

We tend to think of financial and life “failures” as forever life-altering, and while I learned big lessons and had to make trade-offs to survive job losses that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, in the big picture of life, they were just blips.

Too many of us define ourselves by the things that we are least proud of or the thing that took us by surprise that we felt like we could have been better prepared for and that’s not serving Today You or Tomorrow You at all.

It’s fine to incorporate those happenings into your future decisions, but doing the work to release the character assessment you’re making of yourself is necessary to ever truly reach that FEELING of financial bliss.

What’s one “failure” that you now realize was one of the best things to happen to you? I’d love to hear.

And what do we do AFTER we've started strategically repaying those debts? 🤔
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We find a way to stop taking on new debt.
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This might look like committing to a month of ramen or putting yourself on an Amazon ban or whatever you need to do to stop the bleeding.
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Then you MAKE A PLAN that includes creating a small pot of savings to help you through tough times and setting your payments on auto-pilot.
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Ideally, you’d also work to refinance your debt to the lowest interest rate possible, then you just commit to making the same total payment toward your debt till it’s entirely gone. 💪
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Getting a plan in place helps ensure that each payment has the highest impact possible.
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It also helps you focus less on the debt itself on a day-to-day basis, which can be an energetic drag.
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You’ll have a debt-free date too, which can help you stick with the plan!
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Got questions about strategic debt repayment? Get in my DMs!

One of my more controversial money opinions: Many people would enjoy their lives more if they worked less (and enjoyed their lives more) in their 40s and 50s ... even if it means working till they are older!

Here's why:

30% of retirees report becoming depressed when they completely stop working.

25% of retirees go back to work - often because of the social aspect, rather than the financial aspect.

And while this is only anecdotal, almost ALL my mid-career and younger coaching clients tell me that they can't imagine themselves NEVER working - that they'd like to be doing something, even very part-time, in their 70s and beyond.

So with that knowledge, doesn't that mean we can allow ourselves a bit of breathing room during our "highest earning years"?

If we'd be okay with working part-time in our 70s, that means we could:

✈️ Take 6 months off between jobs for a bucket list trip

😌 Accept a less-demanding, less high-paying job, even just for a few years

⏲️ Take a part-time or contract job

💰 Save up and take a sabbatical for a few years

I go a lot deeper into my perspective on retirement in episode 5 of my podcast, "A Different Perspective on Retirement Planning." Give it a listen on all the pod platforms!

And tell me - what are your thoughts? Are you saving hard now so you can 100% stop working at 65? Or would you prefer to slow down now and work a bit longer (while letting the money you have saved so far for retirement ride)?

Calling all perfectionists! Recovering perfectionist here with an important PSA:
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🗣️ Don't let perfect be the enemy of good!
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If you've been putting off opening a Roth IRA (or doing any other big financial thing) this is your permission to take a "good enough" first step and JUST START.
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Even if that's investing $20 a month!
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You can do it!
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Let me know if I can help...