Money is terrifying for a lot of people and many of us don’t know where to start.

That’s where I come in.

I demystify personal finance and break it down into manageable steps. I explain where to start, where to go and how to confidently manage your money on your own.

Want to learn more?

Schedule a free 15-minute call with me

or

Check out my rates and packages

I Meet You Where You’re At

Most of us didn’t receive personal finance education in school. Nor did we get good advice at home. And so, we launched into adulthood deeply unsure of what we’re supposed to do with our money. I get it because that used to be me.

• I don’t expect clients to already know everything about their money before we start working together.
• I meet each client where they’re at.
• Some folks need me for high-level conversations around tax-advantaged accounts, longterm investment strategies and early retirement mapping.
• Others need me to help them discern how much they’re spending each month and what their take-home pay is.
• Our sessions are guided by what each individual client needs from me because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for financial advice or money management. We’ll work together to figure out what works best for you.
• My goal by the end of the consultation process is for you to be enfranchised to manage your own money.

My consultation sessions–and resulting written financial plans–are comprehensive, holistic, and all-encompassing of each client’s finances. I look at income, debts, assets, mortgages, expenses, investments, retirement accounts, anticipated social security, credit card strategy and more. I run through every aspect of a person’s financial life alongside their longterm goals and aspirations.

I help people figure out how to make their money enable them to live the life they want.

Here Are My Rates

I charge a flat rate for all of my services because I don’t believe in hidden fees or upselling. I want you to know in advance what you’ll be paying and that you don’t need to worry about me steering you towards investments or products that give me a kick back.

• $125: 30-minute phone/video call
  • If you decide to purchase a Basic or Premium consultation after our call, this $125 will be deducted from the cost
• $250: One-hour phone/video call
  • If you decide to purchase a Basic or Premium consultation after our call, this $250 will be deducted from the cost
• $1,500: Basic Financial Consultation
• $3,000: Premium Financial Consultation

→Not sure which option is right for you? Schedule a free 15-minute chat with me to learn more.

Here’s What To Expect

$3,000: Premium Financial Consultation

In a Premium Consultation, we’ll have four phone/video calls and I will help you gather all of your data and financial information. This is for folks who know they need to get a better handle on their money, but feel overwhelmed at the prospect of filling out spreadsheets and documents detailing every aspect of their finances.

Here’s the process:

• Go here to sign-up
• You’ll schedule your first call now. We’ll schedule our other three calls after our first meeting.
• I’ll take care of all the paperwork for you.
• After our second call, you’ll receive your written financial plan and we’ll have a third call to review and discuss.
• We’ll have a check-in call three months after you receive your full financial plan.
• You will go forth and confidently manage your money!

Here’s what you’ll receive:

• Full Financial Plan: you’ll receive a written financial plan.
  • My analysis will include in-depth feedback and advice about your entire financial picture, your short and long term goals, where you want to be in 10 years (regarding your career, lifestyle and finances), as well as answers to your specific questions.
  • I will address every aspect of your finances, including your income, debts, assets, mortgages, expenses, investments, retirement accounts, anticipated social security, credit card strategy and more.
  • I’ll conclude with a summary of concrete next steps for you to take.
• Four Phone Consultation Sessions to guide you through the process:
  1. In our first meeting, we’ll discuss your goals, what you hope to get from our sessions, why you’re seeking advice now, your lifestyle and family, how you like to spend your time, what you view as your financial strengths and weaknesses, and more.
  2. Our second meeting is a financial deep dive. I’ll create a workbook for you of everything in your life related to money.
  3. During our third meeting, we’ll review your full financial plan and address any questions you have about my recommendations. We’ll discuss where you’re headed financially and what future steps you can take.
  4. Our fourth conversation, which takes place approximately three months later, is a check-in on how you’re feeling about implementing the action items outlined in your financial plan. We’ll work collaboratively to ensure you’re comfortable with your immediate next financial steps as well as your future goals.

$1,500: Basic Financial Consultation

In a Basic Consultation, you’ll receive a complete financial consultation resulting in a written financial plan and a 90-minute phone/video call with me. You’ll be responsible for collecting your own data and filling out several worksheets detailing your full financial picture.

Here’s the process:

• Go here to sign-up
• You’ll book your 90-minute call now, but it’ll be about a month in the future since you need time to…
• …fill out the worksheets I send you!
• You’ll complete the worksheets and email them back to me.
• I’ll email you your complete financial plan.
• We’ll have a phone/video call to review and discuss your financial plan.
• You will go forth and confidently manage your money!

Here’s what you’ll receive:

• Full Financial Plan: you’ll receive a written financial plan.
  • My analysis will include in-depth feedback and advice about your entire financial picture, your short and long term goals, where you want to be in 10 years (regarding your career, lifestyle and finances), as well as answers to your specific questions.
  • I will address every aspect of your finances, including your income, debts, assets, mortgages, expenses, investments, retirement accounts, anticipated social security, credit card strategy and more.
  • I’ll conclude with a summary of concrete next steps for you to take.
• 90-minute Phone Consultation Session: after you receive your financial plan, we’ll have a 90-minute call via video or audio (whichever you’re most comfortable with).
  • We’ll address your questions about my recommendations and chat more generally about where you’re headed financially and what future steps you can take. It’ll be your chance to ask me any and every question you can think of!
  • We’ll work collaboratively during this call to ensure you’re comfortable with your immediate next steps as well as your future goals.

$250: One-hour phone/video call

This is a not a full financial consultation, but rather a conversation to address anything you’d like to discuss. You won’t fill out any worksheets, I won’t write a financial plan for you, you won’t submit information to me ahead of time and I won’t send you anything after our call. If, after our call, you decide to purchase a Basic or Premium consultation, this $250 will be deducted from the cost.

This is designed for folks who want to:

• Generally discuss their finances with the knowledge that I cannot provide specific financial advice within the confines of an hourlong call.
• Ask questions related to my other areas of expertise, including: how to start a blog, how to write a book, rural living, parenting, homesteading, etc.

Here’s the process:

• Go here to schedule a call with me.

Here’s what you’ll receive:

• One hour of my undivided attention via phone or video, whichever you prefer!

$125: 30-minute phone/video call

This is a not a full financial consultation, but rather a conversation to address anything you’d like to discuss. You won’t fill out any worksheets, I won’t write a financial plan for you, you won’t submit information to me ahead of time and I won’t send you anything after our call. If, after our call, you decide to purchase a Basic or Premium consultation, this $125 will be deducted from the cost.

This is designed for folks who want to:

• Generally discuss their finances with the knowledge that I cannot provide specific financial advice within the confines of an hourlong call.
• Ask questions related to my other areas of expertise, including: how to start a blog, how to write a book, rural living, parenting, homesteading, etc.

Here’s the process:

• Go here to schedule a call with me.

Here’s what you’ll receive:

• 30 minutes of my undivided attention via phone or video, whichever you prefer!

I can help you with pretty much any question you have about your money, including:

• Understanding your full financial picture, your asset allocation (fancy term for “how you use your money”), and how you should structure your financial goals for the future.
• Budgeting.
• 

  My family doing our favorite winter activity!

  Debt repayment strategies and how to balance that with savings and investment goals.

• How to save more money every month (even with kids! or pets! or pets AND kids!).
• Career changes/going back to school/re-locating/relationship challenges/life after divorce.
• Coping with expensive family obligations/expectations.
• How to align your spending with your short and long-term goals.
• Saving for retirement (both early and traditional).
• How to balance raising a family while staying focused on your own career aspirations and retirement plans.
• Creative solutions to managing your time.
• Figuring out where your passions and your ability to earn an income line up.
• Ideas for increasing your income.
• Pursuing FIRE (financial independence, retire early).
• Renting vs. buying a home.
• …. other stuff too!

I don’t offer consultation on:

• Detailed business accounting practices.
• Complex tax-advantaged early retirement strategies (beyond the norm).
• In-depth travel hacking.
• Crypto, dividend investing, or other unusual investing avenues.
• Real estate investing (beyond the basics).

If you’re wondering if I can help in your specific situation, feel free to email me (liz@frugalwoods.com) or schedule a free 15-minute introductory call with me.

Here’s What Past Clients Say About Working With Me

“As we near retirement age, my husband and I were concerned that we weren’t making the right decisions to prepare for that step. Liz was incredible to work with. She walked us through our finances and helped us with changes we could make to ensure we’re set up for the future. She is also extremely insightful as, with the minimal information we provided on the worksheet, she was able to pinpoint retirement goals that we hadn’t even considered but love! My husband and I have been discussing how kind and knowledgeable Liz was and how she diminished our stress and made us confident that we’ll be ready for retirement. We strongly recommend her!”

-C.P., Attorney and S.P., Medical Imaging Software R&D

“Liz is so insightful and thoughtful, and gave me pragmatic, meaningful advice that works with my life. I felt incredibly seen and heard by her. She truly took the time to ask important questions, learn about me, my family and my values, and tailor her advice to my and my family’s unique needs. Grateful to have the opportunity to work one on one with her.”

-S.M., Attorney

“Working with Liz was an incredibly reassuring and rewarding process. Her analysis and report of our financial situation and goals were thorough, unbiased, and thoughtful. She provided both small, immediate actionable steps and long term planning suggestions. I can’t recommend her services more highly!”

-R.W., Brand Marketer and A.W., School Counselor

“After years of putting this off, I finally took the dive to dig deep into my financial health. I could not have done this without Liz. There is a lot of emotion wrapped up in how we spend money. Saving is hard, especially at the start. Liz is knowledgeable, practical and empathetic in her approach. She has done wonders to help me understand my current financial health and what I need to do to get to a more secure place.”

-R.Y., Pediatrician

“I worked with Liz at a moment of complete stress and terror in my life as my husband lost his job due to the pandemic. I suddenly became the primary breadwinner in our family and felt completely panicked. She stayed calm, clear, and persistently focused on supporting me to see the financial reality of my situation. She empowered me to see the numbers through the panic and grounded me in the knowledge that was underneath my fears. I can’t imagine having made it through this dicey period in my life without her AND I have more skills, knowledge, and confidence on the other side of our work together. She is an invaluable resource. I can’t recommend her enough!”

-M.H., Leadership and Career Coach

Here’s who I am:

My name is Liz Thames, although I’m better known as Liz Frugalwoods. I’m the creator of the award-winning personal finance blog, Frugalwoods.com and author of the book, Meet The Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living (published by HarperCollins in 2018). I’ve been featured on The Today Show, PBS, NPR, in the New York Times, Forbes, Parents Magazine, and more. Prior to following my calling as a financial writer and consultant, I worked for ten years in the non-profit sector as a fundraiser and communications manager. I received a BA from the University of Kansas and an MA from American University. I live on a 66-acre homestead in the woods of rural Vermont with my husband and our two young daughters. You can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Can I See Some Examples of Your Work?

Absolutely! I have a series on my blog, The Reader Case Studies, which contain examples of the type of advice I offer as well as my style. To get a sense of how I work, check out the below:

• Reader Case Study: Can I Retire at 60 and Pay for My Kids’ College?
• Reader Case Study: Nurses in Oregon Near Retirement
• Reader Case Study: Stay Married on Paper or Finalize the Divorce?
• Reader Case Study: Breaking the Cycle of Financial Instability

Here’s what some of my Reader Case Study subjects said about working with me:

“I cannot say enough how useful it is to have a big picture thinker like Liz take a look at my financial picture and make sense of it from her perspective. Thanks to Liz, I’m on track to ramp up my retirement savings and investments. I knew I could trust her to provide positive encouragement and honest feedback on my financial situation.” ~Jana

“Having Liz’s thoughtful attention and nonjudgmental and encouraging advice gave me the courage and confidence to consider options I would not have otherwise. I felt stronger as a woman, more empowered from the process, and in a place financially and emotionally to welcome a partner and a whole new adventure in this phase of life.” ~Lucy

“The thoughtful feedback and exterior ‘unbiased’ perspective on our unique situation was by far my favorite part of the experience and really opened our eyes to a lot of angles we had been overlooking… From the bottom of our hearts, we can’t express our gratitude. Our lives will never be quite the same and that’s such a wonderful feeling!” ~Jack & Elizabeth

I Offer Holistic Money Coaching

Our financial lives are not separate from any other part of our lives. How we use our money is inextricably linked to our options and ultimately, dictates the type of life we’ll lead. I don’t believe in looking solely at someone’s expenses or income or assets in order to offer financial advice. Instead, I believe in looking at the holistic picture a person paints of their life, where they want to be in the future, what stresses them out, what brings them joy and how money plays a role in all of that.

Many of us have a sinking feeling that we should be doing SOMETHING about our savings, debt, investments and 401ks (wait, what are those again?!?), and we break into a cold sweat. In this panicked state, we shakily scroll over to our bank account–realize it’s worse than we thought–close the tab and resolve to do something (but what?!) about it tomorrow. Or maybe next week. Or… next year.

Ignorance is never the bliss we think it’ll be and ignoring your money only makes problems worse. I can help you look under the rug and see just what your money is up to. I am anti-jargon and anti-judgment.

I talk about money the way I talk about everything else in life because that’s all money is: one more thing in our lives that we need to manage, but that doesn’t have to be frightening, guilt-inducing, shameful or complicated.

Do You Offer Anything For Free?

Yes indeed! If you’re not ready to hire me just yet, check out some of my free offerings:

1. A free 15-minute introductory call to discuss how we might work together.
2. My Frugalwoods personal finance articles (there are 715 as of 3/16/23!).
3. My ongoing on-the-blog Reader Case Study series. There’ve been 94 Case Studies to date and there’s no end in sight!
4. My 31-day Uber Frugal Month Challenge.
5. My book (which is free if you check it out from your local library).

Feel free to email me with questions (liz@frugalwoods.com) or sign-up here to get on my calendar.

I look forward to working with you!