Initial Appointment
How do I know if I should schedule an appointment?
There is really no wrong time to talk with a trained budget and financial consultant. Here are a couple of questions to get you started:
- Do you spend more than you make each month and need help reviewing your finances?
- Are you financially overwhelmed and struggling to pay your bills each month?
- Has an income reduction made previously manageable debts unmanageable?
- Are mounting medical bills, recent divorce, deployment, or other life event causing financial strain?
You're not alone. RDI Financial Consultants have been assisting people with their credit and debt since 1968.
In your financial appointment you will review your goals, debt, credit, income, expenses and establish your budget/spending plan to reach your goals. Our professional team is here to put their experience and knowledge to work for you. Whether it's negotiating with creditors or helping you determine your budget, their experience will aid you in establishing a realistic and workable financial plan.
In your free one-hour appointment you will:
- Set your financial goals
- Review your current monthly income and expenses
- Review your debts
- Develop an action plan to achieve your goals
Your RDI Financial Consultant will then offer you tools to assist in putting your plan to action and walk with you every step of the way.
How to Prepare
Rest assured, our experienced team is well trained and certified through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. We are more than happy to help you through the entire counseling process. You can begin taking control of your finances now by gathering together your monthly financial information. We also have a secure tool online that you can use to begin organizing and tracking your budget. By entering the information into the tool now, you and your RDI Financial Consultant will have more time together to work on your action plan.
Think about where you want to be. What are your financial goals? Do you want to live debt free? Do you want to begin or increase savings? Do you want to buy a home? Budgeting is about creating a plan to reach your goals.
Consider all of your sources of income. Sources of income might include money received from paychecks, rent, Social Security, or child support.
Identify who you owe and how much you owe. Gathering copies of your latest statements can help with this process. You can also request free copies of your credit reports annually from AnnualCreditReport.com.
Think about where your money is going. It might be helpful to consider that there are three main types of expenses:
- Variable expenses are those that vary from month to month. Examples of variable expenses include clothing and food.
- Fixed expenses are those that do not vary from month to month. Examples of fixed expenses include car payments and mortgage or rent payments.
- Periodic expenses are those that are not paid on a regular monthly basis. Examples of periodic expenses include holidays, vehicle registration or anything that happens once a year or every few months rather than every month.
Create your secure online account and you will be able to begin organizing the above information. The more you can do now the more time you and your RDI Financial Consultant will have during your appointment to work on details and get a realistic plan of action that fits your life. Don’t worry if you aren't able to begin entering the information, you and your RDI Financial Consultant will go through that together.
