What is Savvy?
Savvy is a cohort-fueled money program for creative income generators who want to wrap their heads around their finances and set their money mindset right.
Whether you’re already self-employed trying to wrangle variable income (or you’re preparing to) Savvy gives you the resources and support you need to feel confident about your money.
✸ the program ✸
Four weeks of video calls led by Melissa with a cohort of fellow learners
One call will feature a certified financial planner who’ll answer your top money questions
The current winter cohort is in session. Add your name here to be notified about future launches.
The curriculum
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Week #1 — Mindset
Unpack habituated attitudes, money tendencies and how to get into a healthier place
We’ll cover:
Inherited money beliefs
Money personality types
Myths about creatives + money
Unique challenges
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Week #2 — Clear View
See your current finances with open eyes and diagnose where your biggest opportunity lies
We’ll cover:
Budgeting strategies
How to pay yourself a salary
Return on energy investments
Order of what to prioritize
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Week #3 — Big Wins
Learn the tactics you need to make improvements from a certified financial planner
We’ll cover:
Q&A with a financial planner
Income or spending problem?
Connecting life goals to savings
Creating a system to stay on track
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Week #4 — Commitment
Step into an owner’s shoes and get accountable with yourself to stay in an empowered place
We’ll cover:
Valuing your work
The first small steps
Measuring your success
Celebrating victories
What past Savvy participants have said…
“I learned so much that I just didn't have the drive to learn on my own! Melissa is a kind, encouraging teacher. It also really helped that the space was femme/queer majority and I felt really safe asking questions. I feel WAY more confident to have conversations about and make changes to my financial situation.” - Nina B.
“Melissa is an incredible facilitator who creates an environment of learning together, and making money not-so-scary to talk about! I made some big changes throughout the course and am excited to take the learnings and run with them. Highly recommend!”
- Olive
“Melissa helped demystify everything that seemed daunting to me about managing your finances as an adult. Savvy helped me to understand how to approach saving and budgeting and left me with a newfound confidence and vocabulary that I didn't anticipate having.” - Atlas A.
“In the past, money has been a very isolating and lonely topic. Savvy gave me a community to share frustrations, goals, and accomplishments related to money.”
- Charlotte B.
“Melissa gave us lots of material to work with that I will be able to return to as my financial situation improves. She offered additional coaching opportunities beyond the class in areas where I wanted individual help. Best of all, she created a safe space to talk about money — a topic I was embarrassed to dive into.” - Sarah
Why now?
It can be harder to prioritize finances when times feel overwhelming or chaotic or even when you’re just having lots of fun. Something always seems to get in the way. But you are at a point where you can’t afford to be in the dark anymore. You know that getting in control of your finances is something you must do to feel more ease in your life.
Why Savvy?
This is the program to help you start to become friends with your money.
Multiple income streams and irregular payments can make feeling financially secure feel impossible when you don’t know what is going on. And it’s easy to feel like you *should* be able to have figured it out by now or that you are somehow 'less than’ because you haven’t yet.
What this program does that so many spaces about finance do not is give you a comfortable space to not know things. Everyone moving through the program is in the same boat as you — they want to finally look at their finances with clear eyes. So no need to feel dumb. No need to feel alone. No need to beat yourself up for where you’re at. We are ALL learning here together. And you have a compassionate coach as your guide.
No more feeling bad, guilty, or strained with your money.
Why are you here?
You know that your financial security is the ticket to you being able to own your time and make the work you want, but the way your brain works and the variability of your income makes the numbers part feel extra tricky. You feel like there has GOT to be a better way to be doing things than you have been (which is mostly to just close your eyes and hope that things work out).
ready to pull your head out of the sand?
Why me?
I may just be the guide you’ve been looking for.
I’ve found such satisfaction in helping clients improve their money mindset and take action to get their spending and debt in check. I have repeatedly heard feedback from clients that one of the most valuable things they did while we were working together was bravely looking at their finances. Most people realize it’s not as bad as they thought, and knowing the plain dollars and cents helps transform our money from feeling like a bogeyman to an approachable room in our house.
I am not a certified financial planner or financial expert. Think of me less as a teacher or advisor and more as a facilitator who is going to help you execute and follow though. My strengths are creating intentional programs for shared connection and learning and to find the right motivation to get you into action.
Who else?
You will have access to a certified financial planner the third call of the program. I am partnering with long time collaborator Kristen Euretig, CFP® who is the founder and chief planner at Brooklyn Plans who can answer as many of your questions as we can fit.
So now that I’ve answered your questions, what are you waiting for?
✸ program cost ✸
You just need to put down $75 to secure your spot. In exchange for a large helping of new financial confidence and all the money you are going to save, the program costs $300. You can pay in full or choose to pay $75 per week. You might be thinking, ‘I can go out to a nice dinner for that amount’! OR ‘Why don’t I just save that money instead?’ OR ‘How do I know it will be worth the cost?’ I promise you it will be worth it. Still skeptical? I’ll include some examples at the bottom of this page so you can see how the numbers work out. It’s pretty crazy actually. It’s a modest investment to start feeling more hopeful and in control of your finances.
our quality promise
signing up is a no brainer.
I offer a 100% money back guarantee.
If you’re not satisfied with our program after attending the meetings and doing the accountability each week, I’ll issue a full refund.
the details
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This is a 4 week program where we meet once a week on Zoom for 90 minutes.
After each call you will understand your accountability for the week - the quick, simple actions you can take to start building your money confidence muscles.
You will have homework! Please budget 1-2 hours per week of accountability. This is where the action happens.
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This is not a ‘talk at you’ kind of program. We believe in hands-on learning and have designed the curriculum to be less of a lecture and more of a workshop where you will get to hear from others, share what you please, with mini ‘lecturettes’ to anchor each meeting to a few key takeaways.
Simplicity, connection and action are the goals.
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The dates for the next cohort are not yet set. Sign up to get notified about future dates.
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We know that life gets busy. The goal of the program is to create accountability for yourself, so ideally you sign up with the aim to make all the meetings.
For group privacy reasons (and to add to accountability to really show up) we won’t be recording the meetings, though you can get access to the questions we compile during each meeting.
Ultimately, you get what you put into it. If you need to miss a weekly meeting, that is up to you!
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No. This program is for anyone with income that feels unpredictable or variable looking to get a handle on their finances. You don’t have to identify as a ‘creative’ to join.
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This program is for anyone with variable income or who wants to learn about managing money with variable income.
You don’t need to have a certain amount of net worth, debt, or number of income streams to join. You also don’t have to be currently managing multiple income streams. You can just be curious to learn more.
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I am a certified coach with the Co-Active Training Institute. In my coaching practice I help clients understand their relationship to money and security.
I am not, however, a certified financial planner or financial expert. Think of me more as a facilitator, not a teacher or advisor.
Our third call will feature a Certified Financial Planner — Kristen Euretig, CFP® from Brooklyn Plans — who will address as many questions as we can fit into one call.
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The program costs $300.
We know that money can feel tight so we offer the option to pay in full or to be billed in installments each week.
If you select the weekly billing option, we will still bill you for the full $300 (no matter what your participation looks like) it will just happen over the course of 4 weeks.
The weekly payment is not a pay as you go. Think of it more like installments.
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I will offer you a full refund, no questions asked, if you are not satisfied with the program. That said, I require that you attended at least 3 out of the 4 meetings in order to request a refund. The money back guarantee is for people who weren’t satisfied with the program. It’s not for people who didn’t show up for the program.
So, for example, if you attend two meetings and then decide you can’t keep the commitment, you will not be refunded.
For valid refund requests, the refund will be a full refund less the fees from Stripe, the payment processor.
The numbers…
Example scenarios of how actions you can take with Savvy will make you money
Scenario 1: Getting a better savings account
Before Savvy
$5,000 in a basic savings account with .01% APY (annual percentage yield)
Over 10 years you would make $5
After Savvy
$5,000 in a basic savings account with 4.3% APY (annual percentage yield)
Over 10 years you would make $2,617
The Difference
$2,612
→
Scenario 2: Investing a little more each month
Before Savvy
You don’t believe you have enough to invest so you invest $0 per month
In 10 years you would have $0
After Savvy
You realize that every little bit counts and decide to set up an auto-investment of $50 per month
In 10 years with an 8% market return you would have $27,442
The Difference
$27,442
→
Scenario 3: Paying down debt faster
Before Savvy
$5,000 of credit card debt and you only pay the minimum balance (let’s say it’s $100)
it will take you 60 months to pay off and you will pay $2,948 in interest.
After Savvy
$5,000 of credit card debt and you pay more each month (let’s say $500)
it will only take you 12 months to pay off and you will pay $558 in interest.
The Difference
$2390