About
Thirty years in finance. In your corner.
I’m Chris Weil. I’ve run finance for multiple companies, prepared individual taxes, and served as treasurer for my HOA and our local elementary school PTO. The same skills I’ve used in the office for decades work just as well at the kitchen table.
I built this practice as a personal budget coach because money is personal, and most people don’t have anyone safe to talk about it with. That’s the conversation I want to be on the other side of.
30+ years
in financial & accounting roles
Multi-co.
ran finance for several different companies
Individual tax
prepared returns at multiple local firms
Treasurer
HOA & Poplar Elementary PTO
Why I started this
Most people are one expense away from financial trouble.
In a single recent month, I had $700 for a car repair, $1,400 for a hot water heater, $2,200 for my wife’s car, and a $400 vet bill. That’s four thousand dollars in 30 days. Not a single one of those came out of our monthly budget, because we’d saved reserves for exactly this kind of month.
I didn’t blink. For most of the people I talk to, that same month would have been a crisis. And what kills me is that for almost all of them, it wouldn’t have to be. Not with a few hours of the right kind of help.
I started this practice because I’ve watched too many people I care about get crushed by problems that were entirely solvable. I’ve helped friends and family quietly for years: one who needed a single budget conversation, one who needed a monthly review, one whose situation was a mess and needed me at the table every week. Those three friends are why my services are shaped the way they are.
My goal isn’t to keep you on retainer forever. It’s to teach you what you need so you can run things confidently on your own. If you stay, it’s because we keep finding value together.
My approach
Discipline plus strategy. Not blanket rules.
We agree on the foundations. Stop spending more than you earn. Build a buffer. Attack debt with intent. Live within your means. None of that is controversial.
Where I part ways with most popular advice is on the absolutes. “Never use a credit card.” “Pay off your mortgage no matter what.” Those rules exist because they’re safe for people who’d otherwise misuse the alternatives. If you’ve got the discipline, and most of my clients do, following those rules blindly can leave thousands of dollars on the table every year.
I’ve got a 2.8% mortgage. The market returns roughly 7% over time. Paying that mortgage down early would cost me real money. I run every dollar of household spending through credit cards, pay them in full each month, and pull $1,500 to $2,000 a year in rewards. No interest. No fees. That’s a feature, not a flaw.
My job is to teach you the strategies that actually move the needle, and to keep you accountable to the discipline that makes them work.
“Most clients I pay for myself with the savings. The rest is just upside.”
Chris
What I believe
A handful of principles I bring to every engagement.
Judgment-free, always.
Money is personal, and most people don’t have anywhere safe to talk about theirs. With me, you do. No shame, no lectures. Just an honest conversation.
Save for the foreseeable.
A spring of three kids’ sports isn’t a surprise. It’s $200 a month set aside the rest of the year. Same for car repairs, vet bills, holidays. We name them and fund them.
Use credit, don’t fear it.
Run spending through a rewards card you pay off every month, and the card pays you. Use 0% balance transfers to throttle interest while you knock down higher-rate debt.
Don’t leave free money behind.
If your employer matches a 401(k), take the match. If there’s an Employee Stock Purchase Plan at a 15% discount, use it. These aren’t exotic moves. They’re free dollars you’re entitled to.
Park cash where it earns.
Money in a 0.1% savings account is money the bank is keeping. A 3–4% high-yield account, set up in fifteen minutes, can be hundreds of dollars a year.
A phone call is a strategy.
Lower interest rate on your car loan? Better insurance quote? Reduced cable bill? Some of the highest-ROI work in personal finance is a 20-minute phone call.
Six months tells the truth.
Any single month is too noisy to draw conclusions from. Six months of statements is where real spending patterns (and the leaks) show up.
Built to graduate.
My goal is for you to need me less over time, not more. The work we do together is teaching you to run this confidently on your own.
Ready when you are
Let’s find out if I’m the right fit.
Book a free 20-minute intro call and we’ll talk through where you’re at and what would actually help.