Jacquette M. Timmons

There Are Questions You’re Not Asking…

I started college at the age of sixteen hell bent on being a shoe designer. Before the end of my first semester at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I discovered something really important: I can’t really draw!! 🙂

I switched gears and changed my major to marketing. Before graduating, I met my mentor and because of her I went to Wall Street…and fell in love! That was twenty-nine years ago.

My stick figures may not have cut it the world of high-fashion shoes. But it turns out that thinking like a designer is perfect for the world of money and personal finance.

After all, what is design other than a process to define the right problem, select one or multiple solutions, execute and refine, and repeat. Right?

To me, thinking like a designer is a mind-set – one that:

  • values curiosity over certainty
  • puts a premium on insight vs. information
  • appreciates the abstract, but works to translate that into detailed action
  • uses the obvious questions as a starting point – never the end
  • uses what you have to create what you want (or need)
  • sees the holistic connection between steps, process and outcomes

“Jacquette was able to help me look past the basic dollars and cents, to see the thought patterns that were driving my spending choices. The tailored financial action plan she delivered was realistic and easy to follow, moving me towards my goals.” Aduke Thewell

And once you realize that money is never just about money, it’s easy to see how curiosity, an understanding of human behavior, creativity, observation and discipline – aka design skills – can be applied to helping people solve their money challenges and satisfy their life’s desires.

That’s what I do…

Jacquette-M-Timmons-2013I’m Jacquette M. Timmons – a  financial behaviorist. I help people identify the underlying behaviors and beliefs that keep them from reaching their financial goals. I coach, teach, speak and write on creative solutions to common financial problems for everyone from the middle class to the 1%. I’m the founder of Sterling Investment Management, Inc. and the author of Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate.

My clients are educated, work in diverse professions and industries, live creatively, often quirky and successful at charting their own path. In other words, they are confident and in control.

But there’s just one thing that trips them up – sometimes in small, subtle ways; at other times in large and significant ways: their money!

Wondering – “How can this be?” – is a huge source of frustration for them. It is why they ask questions like…

  • Why can’t I consistently save and hit my savings goals
  • How should I invest what I’ve saved
  • Why can’t I seem to get my out.of.control spending under control
  • Given my income, why am I living paycheck-to-paycheck
  • How do I get (and stay) out of debt
  • Why does talking about money with my family, friends and especially my mate always feel so uncomfortable and messy
  • Why does it feel like everybody else has this money thing figured out, but me

They have everything else in their life under control…EXCEPT their money.

As a result, they retreat into the closet about their money situation.

I help them come out!

And, if you’re like my clients, I can help you come out, too.

“Jacquette identifies obstacles to wealth creation and provides tools for working through those obstacles.” anonymous

You don’t need my help because you’re not smart enough.

You need it because you’re not objective enough to see the questions you aren’t asking!

Let’s use the common goal of wanting to save more as an example:

  • Are you clear about the amount you want to save, broken down in different time periods – 30-days; the next year; over the course of your life-time
  • Have you figured out why those numbers are important to you
  • Did you give yourself permission to think big, or did you play it safe
  • Did you base your savings targets on what you’re currently earning

These are questions you’re likely not asking. And ironically when you ask questions like these you expand your scope of inquiry beyond money. You begin delving into beliefs + philosophy; behavior + habits; conditioning + creativity. Things that make money much more interesting.

I apply my academic training (I have an MBA in finance), years of private-banking experience, and keen skills of perception, discernment + focus to ask YOU insightful questions – the ones you’re not asking but that will lead to you making the right moves with your money and getting the best results from your money.

If you want to see what I mean? Click the below link to enter your name and email to download my signature exercise, “The Financial Wheel” – a tool that helps you ask the right questions, make the right moves, and get the best results.

(Get your free tool here.)

As you get to know me, you’ll learn that I’m a bit contrarian, somewhat non-traditional and really great at bringing a warm and fun energy to a topic that is perceived to be staid and boring, yet is very, very emotional and touches EVERY aspect of your life.

And yes…I still have a thing for shoes 🙂

 

p.s. if you’d prefer a more formal bio, click here.

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