• Opportunity: Priming yourself to be gainfully employed

    After years of practicing on the indoor rock wall, you’re ready to scale the mountain. However, the classroom might have shielded you from employment disparities. With Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services, you’ll learn how to optimize your professional skills to take on these hurdles. Some highlights include how to strategically build a network of mentors and sponsors, and how to evaluate a job offer. Let’s turn theory into practice for your next career Opportunity.

  • Leverage: Making the most of your benefits package

    Imagine being handed a map written in an unfamiliar language. Would you ask for a translation or blindly follow? The same applies when you are discussing your benefits package with your employer. How can you make the most of your benefits package if you can’t decipher it? With Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services, you can decode your benefits package. Understanding what you’re being offered is your Leverage.

  • Autonomy: Living life by your terms

    These times prove we’re always trying to control the uncontrollable. In the pursuit of taming money concerns, we miss out on the joys of our life’s expedition. With Autonomy, we’re free to explore our goals, tackle our fears and put a plan in place. This category introduces you to building emergency funds and other personal finance essentials. It’s time to go beyond trying to survive.

  • Intention: Financially planning for a goal

    Think of “X” on the map as your goal. To get to it, you need to ensure you’re pointing your compass in the right direction. On your financial journey, a budget is your guide. Having one can protect you from impulse spending, and allow for expense analysis. With the help of Monique, her team at Higher Ground Financial Services, and access to planning tools, you can set your Intention. Welcome to budgeting with purpose!

  • Release: Eliminating low credit scores

    Imagine hiking with a backpack full of rocks. Having bad credit can feel like a burden. Yet, not having credit can block you during your financial journey. It’s essential to understand how credit works. Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services will teach you the role of credit and strategize on how it can serve you best. Through our personalized guidance of the MyBlocks* tool suite, we can plan to minimize credit card and student loan debt. Release low credit scores and welcome financial flexibility.

    *part of the comprehensive financial planning tool suite of MoneyGuidePro. MyBlocks helps clients gain answers to financial questions via interactive modules and calculators.

  • Knowledge: Understand how to invest.

    Nowadays, everyone seems to be advising on stocks. With Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services, you will gain Knowledge of Investing 101 from a professional. Nothing compares to the credibility of a Financial Advisor who has the responsibility of fiduciary.

  • Foresee: Preventing premature 401k withdrawal

    Life happens, and financial emergencies are common. However, in response to these instances, some might withdraw from their 401Ks. Black and Hispanic employees withdraw from their 401k before retirement 2-3x’s that of their white co-workers.* Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services can set you up for protection from this temptation. We’ll explore your investment options and recommendations for your 401K allocation. You can be the leader in your own story, not dependent on whether or not your employment gives retirement benefits.

    *Harvard Pollack for Washington Post, 2015

  • Map: Preparing for financial goals like college

    We can help take the fear out of a looming financial expense, like college debt, by preparing at a pace achievable by you. Student loan debt triples and the disparity between loan pay-down widens within three years of graduation between Black/Hispanic students vs white.** With the help of Monique, her team at Higher Ground Financial Services, and access to planning tool MyBlocks,* we can review your existing debt and formulate pay-down options.

    *part of the comprehensive financial planning tool suite of MoneyGuidePro. MyBlocks helps clients gain answers to financial questions via interactive modules and calculators.

    **Black-white student loan debt gap triples within a few years after graduation – Judith Scott-Clayton & Jing Li, 2016

  • Alleviate: Grasping Tax Diversification via Asset Location*

    Life might have treated you financially well and placed you in the upper tax brackets (32% or higher). Monique and her team at Higher Ground Financial Services can help optimize your earnings in a tax-sensitive way, including Profit Sharing Plans, Cash Balance Plans, and more. We’ll explore other healthy moves that add to your assets while increasing your tax relief.