Check-in With Savana: Rider Family

Let’s check-in on my NOW family so I can tell yo about the things they’ve accomplished these last few months. Even though I am the “advisor” in this relationship, I realized very quickly into this whole thing that it was going to be a privilege being able to work alongside the Rider family! We have had some struggles (as every financial journey does), but we have also had lots of victories along the way.

When the program started, I joined the Rider family a few weeks late, but I was eager and excited to see the things that we could come up with to start knocking down debt and increasing savings. The first goal that we had was to pay off their car. They had a relatively low balance left, and we all felt like this was a manageable goal. Once the car was paid off, that would be almost $500 a month that we could start using in other places of the budget. The Riders were up for the challenge, and got it paid off back in September, just a few months into our journey!

The next big goal that we had was working to consolidate some larger debt while also hoping to save money in the long run. The Rider family had quite a bit of damage to their home from Hurricane Sally back in 2020, and as a result they had to use a large portion of their HELOC for repairs. Between the HELOC and their mortgage, they were paying roughly $1200 a month in payments, and were going to be paying over $65,000 in interest of the life of those two loans. As a team, we were able to refinance their mortgage, wrap in their HELOC debt, take 7 years off the life of their mortgage, AND save them over $35,000 in interest! And we were able to do this with relatively no changes to their monthly budget! I think this was a HUGE step in getting them that much closer to financial freedom.

Not only have we had victories, but we have had some pretty awesome cheerleaders along the way. Jennifer and Kirk have two daughters, and they have been incredibly supportive and even hard working throughout this program. Jennifer was recently telling me about how Bella worked this month to find the family free/low cost activities to do for the holiday season. And while Bella has been finding ways to save, Bayleigh has been making her own t-shirts to raise money and help pay for her dance and recital fees. Budgeting and finances are not typical things that most teenagers are even aware of, but both girls have been extremely supportive of their parents while they have been on this journey!

All in all, to say that I am proud, and more importantly honored, to work alongside the Rider family, would be an understatement. They have faced multiple challenges each month and conquered each and every one with no hesitation. I am excited to see where the rest of this journey takes us, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to work with the Rider family.