After five years with roommates in New York City, I was ready to take the plunge and move to a new apartment -- alone. As someone surviving but not thriving financially, only hearing one alarm each morning seemed like an unattainable dream.

Perched on a stool at the Financial Gym’s former Flatiron location, each new revelation about negotiating at a Wine & Learn Wednesday event made me more fired up about personal finance. At the beginning of 2017, I made a New Year resolution get my finances in order.

My relationship with money is linked to fear. A series of experiences with housing uncertainty, scarcity, and witnessing financial and psychological abuse taught me to live in fear of anything to do with money. 

After getting “naked” with my financial trainer, I felt a little hopeless. Will I ever pay off my debt? Will I ever not live paycheck to paycheck? She assured me all would be okay, but I knew I had a long road ahead of me.

Throughout childhood our parents, family, friends, and teachers act as our role models and can pass down their beliefs and behaviors around money.

We are officially in the middle of the Summer season which means it is more crucial than ever to make sure we are soaking up the beautiful weather as much as possible! Yes that means meals and happy hours outside, but we are talking about moving our workouts outside, too!

Raise your hand if you know how much money your friends make. My hand would be down. I only know about half of my friends’ salaries – mostly because I’m cautious to share my own.

Meet Jessica! We sent some Gym Magic her way to assist in paying for an unexpected expense after she worked hard to achieve TWO big goals of her’s.

These tips will help guide young graduates through this difficult transition and set the groundwork for future financial success!

Most of the clients that come to the gym, have a love-hate relationship with money. They love to spend it and hate to save it.

“Do I have to give up wine?” That was one of my big questions when figuring out what costs to cut. For Chandra Savage, a Level 2 trainer at the Financial Gym, wine is also something that’s on the “must have” list.

Since joining Financial Gym as a member, Elham has worked with her trainer Crystal Martinez on how to budget for school, her future job relocation and Nina (her cat who can do puzzles. Seriously.)

Financial Gym client, Laura Branch, shared with us her experience being on a three month retail spending freeze and the lessons she learned to keep her retail spending to a minimum!

Chary started at the Financial Gym during Summer of 2017. She resides in Brooklyn, NY and has been working hard with her trainer, Crystal Martinez, to pay off her debt.

The Art of Travel Hacking” demonstrates that the ideal getaway doesn’t necessarily have to be a heavy lift on your expenses.

Have you ever thought about making money as you spend money? It may be a foreign concept to some, but there are great tools out there to help you earn money when you need to spend it.

Whether you’re self-employed or working at a traditional job, the basics of budgeting won’t change: keep track of your cash flow, live below your means, and save!

Through working with Financial Gym trainer Alicia Lazarto, Logan said she finally had a gut check partner whenever she wanted to make financial decisions, big and small.

Today we are sharing our first Gym Magic Fund story. We spoke to Florida and Vincent Harris who are one of the first recipients of Gym Magic and they shared how it helped them celebrate a very special day.

Let’s face it, adulting is hard. As a grown up, there are very few moments where we get to be truly free of our obligations.Somewhere along the way, we inevitably get caught up in the chaos of being “an adult” and forget  how to have FUN.