The Money Fit Show · Season 2, Episode 21
Money Mindsets
Knowing about money and consistently making financial choices that work for you are not always the same thing. Alissa Locke joins Todd Christensen to discuss moving from significant debt as a single mother toward greater financial security, examining the beliefs behind spending, planning for irregular expenses, and helping children develop their own money skills.
Understanding the habits and beliefs behind the numbers
Play Season 2, Episode 21 directly through Spotify without leaving Money Fit.
Financial knowledge does not automatically create healthy money habits
Alissa Locke had professional experience in insurance and financial services, but she says her own financial life still included painful mistakes. After divorce, she found herself raising a daughter while carrying approximately $60,000 in debt.
Alissa describes that period as the beginning of a different relationship with money. She sought out books and educational resources, became more intentional about spending, and found other people who were also trying to improve their finances.
Over time, she says those changes helped her move from significant debt toward a level of financial security where she felt comfortable with the possibility of retiring in her early 50s. Her experience eventually became part of her decision to coach other people around financial habits, confidence, and money behavior.
Topics covered in this episode
- The emotional and financial consequences that can follow money decisions someone later wishes they had handled differently.
- Why growing up around parents who manage their own money well does not guarantee that a child will automatically develop the same habits.
- Alissa's experience with feelings of deprivation and how those feelings sometimes contributed to overspending.
- Facing approximately $60,000 in debt while recently divorced and raising a child as a single mother.
- Finding motivation to change her money habits and create greater financial stability for herself and her daughter.
- Using the local library to learn about banking, real estate, personal finance, investing, and the stock market.
- Finding other people working toward similar financial goals and using community and accountability as support.
- How greater openness with trusted friends can make it easier to discuss spending changes, financial boundaries, and shared activities.
- Accepting the reality of a difficult financial position without assuming that the current situation must be permanent.
- The danger Alissa sees in using the phrase “I deserve it” to justify spending that conflicts with larger financial goals.
- How messages and experiences around money while growing up can influence financial expectations and habits in adulthood.
- Money lessons Alissa tried to apply while raising her own daughter.
- Finding age-appropriate ways to be open with children about money without making them responsible for adult financial stress.
- Giving children opportunities to make real choices with limited amounts of money and learn from the results.
- Why traditional budgeting felt restrictive to Alissa and how she looked for a money-management approach she could maintain.
- Tracking variable expenses and using separate accounts for everyday spending that is not tied to recurring household bills.
- Planning ahead for periodic expenses such as holidays, annual fees, gifts, repairs, and other costs that may be predictable even when they do not occur every month.
A surprise expense is not always an unpredictable expense
Many expenses feel unexpected only because they do not arrive every month. Look back through the past year for annual fees, holidays, school costs, vehicle registration, gifts, insurance, maintenance, and similar expenses. Dividing those costs into monthly amounts can make them easier to prepare for before the bill arrives.
Money habits, budgeting, and periodic expenses
At the time of this episode, Alissa Locke was associated with Money Mentor Group. The organization continues to offer financial coaching, but its current site now identifies a different primary coach. Alissa's current public professional profile identifies her with Your Money Mama.
Alissa Locke
Alissa Locke joined Todd Christensen with a professional background in mortgage, insurance, and financial services and experience as a financial coach and educator.
At the time of this episode, Alissa worked through Money Mentor Group, where her coaching focused on helping individuals, couples, and business owners understand the beliefs and emotions connected to their money habits and develop greater financial confidence.
Alissa's current public professional profile identifies her with Your Money Mama. Her work has continued to emphasize money management, spending behavior, debt, financial education, and helping people make financial decisions that fit their own circumstances.
