This content was created by Alan Akina. This content was uploaded by Alan Akina. This is a YouTube testimonial video titled "The world opened up" - 101 Financial Success Story (posted March 7, 2019). It features Loretta Brinkerhoff, a 78-year-old Pleasant Grove, Utah resident, giving a first-person account of how the Financial 101 / 101 Financial program reduced her debt (including a >$10,000 mortgage reduction in about six months), provided financial freedom, and gave her hope and security after years of living paycheck to paycheck.
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My name is Loretta Brinkerhoff, and I have— I live here in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I have been in this home for 40 years. I am 78 years old, will be 79 in September, and I have 11 children, 38 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, and 2 more on the way. So I have a little bit of a draw when it comes to financial means, and my home is not paid for even though I've been here for 40 years. because of situations that I've gotten myself into, mainly because I had no idea how finances really worked. Before I started in 101 Financial, I was living paycheck to paycheck. My husband had passed away 20 years ago this May, and so I was the sole breadwinner. And 101 has given me the freedom to be able to do things And a couple of times go somewhere, as well as take care of emergencies that come up in my life. And everybody has an emergency, whether they like it or plan for it or not, it's still going to happen. And so because of One on One, it has given me the freedom to go to bed without sitting and worrying, where is the next item going to come from? As I've been thinking about 101, that's been the one area, the one word that keeps coming back into my mind— freedom. How do you explain freedom to people? The world opened up, financial freedom opened up, life changed, and the worry went away. Sure, you have a few concerns about things, but every emergency that has come up has been able to be taken care of because of Financial 101. It has left me with hope. I can see that I can— I will be able to pay this home off, and it will not take me that many more years. Even though I've only been with 101 just about 1.5 years now, my debt amount has extremely diminished. It would never have happened under using my mortgage payment that I was making every single month. It made no difference. I would look at that balance, the balance didn't seem to change much ever, ever, ever. And since I have been in Financial 101, the balance has just gone down, down, down. And within the first 6 months, I had almost, well, I'd taken out at least $10,000, had gone down in less than 6 months actually. And that to me was just like, wow, where did that come from? How could that possibly have happened? Because I'd been paying on the mortgage for years and it had never gone $10,000 down. So that was, you know, an eye-opener as well for me to recognize what a great program I was involved in? How can I explain to people what this freedom feels like? It's a freedom that you get when you learn how to wisely use your money.
