About Janizbel Ferrera

My story: why I decided to become a financial coach

My path as a financial coach started with a fairly simple question that ended up completely changing how I see money: why, if I am earning more, does it still feel like it is never enough?

There was a point in my life when I earned around $1,000 and spent the $1,000. Then I started earning $2,000 and spent the $2,000. The interesting part is that I felt I was doing things right, because I was working more, generating more income and even reinvesting in my business. But looking back, I was also spending a great deal on rides, coffees and a pile of small things that individually looked insignificant.

The problem was that every time my income went up, my lifestyle went up too. Instead of saving more, I spent more. And I did not even have a budget. No structure. No system. I was simply earning money and spending it.

Until someone told me something that seems very simple but was a before and after for me: start writing down all your expenses. When I did, I could see something I had not wanted or known how to see: the problem was not only how much money I was earning. The problem was also what I was doing with the money I already had.

You can keep increasing your income and build absolutely nothing.

That is when I began to understand that having good income does not necessarily mean having good finances. Because you can earn $1,000 and spend $1,000. You can earn $2,000 and spend $2,000.

That is when I started taking my finances much more seriously. I began reading personal finance books, consuming financial education, tracking my expenses and, above all, experimenting. I tried different methods, made mistakes, adjusted, and discovered what actually worked for me.

That trial and error taught me something that is now one of the reasons I do what I do: learning on your own can work, but it can also make you take far longer to get to the result. Sometimes you do not need to keep trying ten different things. You need someone to look at your situation and tell you: this is what is failing, this is what you have to sort out first, and this is the next step.

From talks to certification

While I was learning all of this, I also started giving personal finance talks. Something important happened there. I began to see that I was not the only person who needed this information. In those talks I heard people say: this is exactly what I needed, or why does nobody teach us this, or simply admit they had the same problems I had had.

And I began to understand there was an enormous need. At university we are taught management, accounting, corporate finance, banking and plenty of things related to money. But where are we taught to handle our own money? Where do we learn to build a budget? To organize our income? To get out of debt? To make spending decisions? To create stability? To understand our emotional relationship with money?

I wanted this to be something more formal. I did not want to simply be the person who read a few finance books and now gives advice. I wanted specific training to walk with other people through that process. That is why I decided to certify as a financial coach.

Why I combine the financial with the mental and the spiritual

Over time I understood that being a financial coach was not only about teaching numbers. You can give someone the best budget in the world, the best debt payoff strategy or the best spreadsheet, but if you do not work on what sits behind their decisions, they will probably repeat the same patterns.

That is why the way I work combines the financial with the mental and, for me, also the spiritual. Because often the problem is not that someone cannot add or subtract. The problem is that they buy to feel better. That they spend to prove something. That they are afraid to look at their accounts. That they use money to fill voids. That they live under pressure. That they normalized being in debt. That they believe once they earn more they will finally be fine. And if we do not work on those roots, we can teach them a hundred financial techniques and they will still end up in the same place.

Why I do this

Because I want families to be more prosperous. And to me, prosperity does not simply mean earning more money. It means learning what to do with the money you have, building stability, making better decisions and getting money to become a tool for building the life you want.

Because a person who lives in constant anxiety, stress and desperation over debt can hardly think about helping others, starting a business, investing, giving, supporting their family or building something that outlasts them. I want people to reach a point where their money works in favor of their life, instead of their life revolving around money. That is also why I want to take this message far beyond Panama.

Where I come from

There is a part of my story I cannot leave out either: where I come from. I am from Colón, Panama. Growing up in Colón is also part of the woman I am today. From my family I learned a great deal about unity, solidarity and supporting one another. I learned that when one of ours needs help, we are there. And I think that is reflected in what I do today.

Because I do not see financial education only as an individual tool. I believe that when one person learns to handle their money better, that can transform an entire family. And when you transform a family, you can end up impacting a community.

I am also a woman who deeply values her independence. It matters to me to know I can make my own decisions and build my own life. I have never wanted my stability to depend on someone else deciding what I can do, what I can have or where I can go. And that is exactly why I believe so much in financial education. Because having control over your money also gives you the power to decide.

Today, after all that path, I understand that my story started by asking why money was never enough, and ended up leading me to a much bigger mission: helping other people stop running their money on autopilot, understand what is actually happening with their finances and build financial stability.

Because in the end, it is not only about how much you earn. It is about what you do with it, what decisions you make and what life you are building with that money. And that is the work I decided to do.

May money serve people, and not people end up serving money.