Because your money should help you live, not make you afraid to

I Don't Want You to Build Wealth Just to Have More Money I Want You to Build Wealth so You Have More Choices.

The choice to leave a job that makes you miserable. To walk away from a relationship without wondering if you can afford to. To take care of someone you love. To travel. To rest. To work for passion and purpose instead of a paycheck.

Because I've seen what happens when we spend our whole lives waiting for the freedom money was supposed to eventually give us.

Hey, I’m Nicole (she/her)

I'm a financial coach for Queer and BIPOC folks who want to build wealth, but don't necessarily see themselves in traditional financial advice.

Maybe you have credit card debt and can't figure out if you should pay it off or use that debt strategically.

Maybe opening your banking app makes your stomach drop.

Maybe you're making good money, doing everything you're "supposed" to do, and somehow still don't feel safe.

Or maybe no one ever taught you this shit in the first place.

I get it.

I'm not here to hand you another list of things you "should" be doing with your money. I'm here to help you understand it, use it, and build wealth in a way that actually fits your life.

This Work Is Personal For Me

My dad died at 60.

He had huge dreams of taking off the suit and tie he hated, traveling the world, becoming a philanthropist, and finally getting to work for passion and purpose.

He never got the chance.

Instead, I watched him die of cancer worrying about money. His debt. The financial mess he was leaving behind. What the people he loved would have to deal with after he was gone.

He spent so much of his life working and never got to live the life he was working for.

That changed the way I think about wealth forever.

I don't want you sacrificing your life now for some magical "someday" when you'll finally get to live it. I want your money to help you live more freely now while also taking care of future you.

That's why I created Fostering Finances.

Becoming a millionaire wasn't the flex I wish it was.

I started my first job after college making $24,000 a year. I paid off $215,000 of debt in six years and became a millionaire before 40.

I wish that was a flex.

I wish I could tell you I built all of that wealth because I had some huge dream for my life.

I didn't.

I mostly did it because I was fucking scared.

I grew up with divorced parents and saw firsthand the financial hardships that can come when a relationship ends. As a lesbian, I knew no man was coming to fund my dream life, and I never wanted my financial freedom to be contingent on any romantic relationship.

I also wanted enough money that if an employer found out I was a "BIG ol' lesbian" (please read that in Damian's voice from Mean Girls) and had a problem with it, I'd be okay.

So I became really fucking good at money.

And it worked.

But I built a lot of that financial security from anxiety, scarcity, and fear.

It wasn't until I started healing my relationship with money that I understood the difference between having wealth and feeling financially liberated.

Money became a resource that helped me leave corporate America, live more authentically, foster my beautiful son, help people I love, give back to my community, start businesses, and choose passion and purpose over a paycheck.

That's the kind of wealth I want for you.

I spent 15 years learning how wealthy white men use money.

Before becoming a financial coach, I spent 15 years in corporate finance and accounting supporting Fortune 50 companies.

I watched wealthy white men use money as a resource to create even more options.

And I kept thinking:

Why aren't the rest of us taught to use money this way?

I want Queer people, BIPOC communities, and first-generation wealth builders to have access to those same skills.

Because imagine what WE do with more money and more financial power.

We support our families and communities. We fund causes we care about. We build businesses that reflect our values. We leave jobs that require us to make ourselves smaller. We buy back our time.

I don't want us excluded from wealth. I want us to build it and decide what the fuck we want to do with it.

Traditional financial advice wasn't written for all of us.

Save 3 to 6 months of expenses.

Separate your wants from your needs.

Pay off ALL your debt before you invest.

Stop buying the coffee.

Cool. But what if your life doesn't fit neatly inside those rules?

You can't budget your way out of poverty. A 3-month emergency fund means something different when you don't have traditional family support to fall back on. And I refuse to divide your entire life into "wants" and "needs" as if the things that bring you joy, connection, culture, and community don't fucking matter.

Your money plan needs to work for your identity, your values, and your actual life.

So what does working with me actually look like?

We start with where you are, figure out where you actually want to go, and create a personalized step-by-step plan to get there.

And when I say where you are, I don't just mean your bank balance.

I mean YOU.

Your money stories. Your beliefs. Your identity. Your experiences.

If you have so much anxiety you can't fill out a spreadsheet, we start there. If you can't tell me what you make or spend because even thinking about it brings up shame, we start there.

We can do the work before we ever do the numbers.

Then we figure out where you're actually going.

Not buying property because your ancestors told you that's how you build wealth. Not checking off somebody else's list of what a successful adult is supposed to have.

What actually lights you up? What makes life worth living? What do you want money to make possible?

Then we build your plan around that.

And we do it side by side. Well, virtually side by side.

No faux-leather chair. No stuffy office. No feeling like you're being interrogated about that one time you DoorDashed three days in a row.

Grab your tea, coffee, wine, whatever.

We'll look at this shit together.

You'll leave our calls with actual steps to work on so you continue building momentum and skills between meetings. Because I don't want you to need me forever.

I want you to eventually be able to say:

"I know what I want. I know my options. I trust myself to make this decision."

Outside of talking about money...

I love trash TV because there is enough tragedy happening in the actual world. I prefer my unnecessary drama on a screen and OUT of my real life.

I also love documentaries, camping in my vintage trailer, kayaking, being outside, and spending time with friends I've had for more than 20 years.

And I love traveling, especially experiencing other cultures and realizing how much we have in common with people we've never met living on a completely different part of the planet.

Turns out community is kind of my thing.

You don't have to wait for someday.

My dad thought there would be more time.

That's why I don't just want to help you become "good with money."

I want to help you build a life your money makes possible.

You might be starting with $1. You might be starting with debt. You might make six figures and have no fucking clue where it goes. You might be starting with so much financial anxiety that looking at your bank account feels courageous.

Cool. We'll start there.

You don't need to get your shit together before asking for help getting your shit together.

If you're ready to stop living by everyone else's financial "shoulds" and start figuring out what you actually want your money to do for you, come talk to me.

You bring the money mess. I'll bring the tea.