“When middle class people use financial planning solutions that are designed for the wealthy, it can be like treating heart disease with insulin,” said Jenny Wilson, founder of Maple Street Financial. “The treatment doesn’t suit the malady.”
Wilson worked in accounting for many years before she decided to move into personal finance. She worried about the troubles faced by the American middle class, “My goal was to offer personal financial advisory services to this underserved sector. However, as I progressed through the process of CFP® certification, “it became very clear to me that the middle class was more than underserved. Services were basically nonexistent. Not only are most financial products and services prohibitively expensive, financial planning itself tends to be synonymous with wealth,” she told JLNJ.
To meet what she saw as an overwhelming need to bring affordable financial planning to the middle class, Wilson spent years developing financial-planning methods and software designed to address the unique needs of middle-income earners. The heart of every middle class plan, she says, is cash-flow maintenance, and the soul is personal values. “What middle class people care about isn’t buying a yacht, it’s providing for their families,” she said.
All Maple Street planning starts with a cash-flow analysis and an in-depth examination of values. “If your top priority is saving for college but the bulk of your resources is going towards paying down credit cards, we’re going to address that, we’re going to construct a multi-year plan that will bring your financial habits in line with your values and goals. That’s what brings satisfaction to the middle class. No one cares about a yacht.”
As she developed her business concept, Wilson spent the next several years teaching free classes in her dining room and working with people in their homes. “I ended up with what I call ‘Values-Based Financial Planning,’ and the tools with which we build your values-based plan is a software I designed, called ‘Foundations.’ The foundation of the middle class financial plan is cash flow. Whether your household income is $30,000 a year or $250,000 a year, the biggest concern for almost all middle class families is running out of cash. So what we do is build a cash-flow-based plan centered upon your personal values, priorities, and goals. We’re not going to spend any time talking about your net worth. That’s for the wealthy.”
With Maple Street’s financial products, Wilson said she can bring to light real, down-to-earth issues that the middle class faces, like whether the $5,000 a year you have available to save should be put toward college or retirement. If you have no money to invest and are barely getting by, she’ll build you a survival plan. Wilson also said she will calculate how much credit you should allow yourself access to and how much house you can afford.
“The result of doing the math and really examining your priorities and goals is a long-term and realistic financial plan that guides you month by month through your spending, saving, and debt-management habits, and does so in a way that reflects your personal values and priorities,” Wilson said.
To that end, Wilson said that managing your financial life in accordance with your values is what brings satisfaction to the middle class. Wealth building never even comes up as a topic.
One of Wilson’s biggest goals in establishing Maple Street was to make financial planning affordable on any budget, so the group workshops she puts on are not only the most affordable option ($45 for the course and, if students choose, $9.95 monthly subscription to Foundations software). “But I personally think the best planning option, because it teaches you how to be your own financial planner, is an intensive eight-hour course focusing on what I call the four pillars of the middle class financial plan: (1) Budgeting/Cash Flow Management, (2) Debt & Credit Management, (3) Managed Spending, and (4) Saving & Investing.”
Wilson added that everyone needs to have a retirement plan, but it doesn’t need to look like the retirement plans you see on TV commercials, which always seem to involve a sailboat. “Every financial pundit in America is talking about the impending retirement disaster and how we have to start rethinking retirement, but the rethinking they talk about always has to do with increased saving and investing. I couldn’t agree more, but the rethinking people need to do has to do with intergenerational planning.”
Wilson will be holding a workshop series on January 26, February 2, and February 9 at Temple Emeth in Teaneck from 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m. For more information or to sign up, please contact 201-543-9467 or visit https://www.maplestreetfin.com.
By Elizabeth Kratz
