Educated Women of the Week - Timi Joy Jorgensen

Timi Joy Jorgensen
Financial Planner, Student

Where did you go to school and what did you study?
Utah Valley University & (soon to be) University of Georgia
Personal Financial Planning

Tell us about your school/work life:
I have always loved school. I was a quintessential teachers pet as a kid, got good grades, always did my homework, and wanted nothing more than to teach high school. I went to Boise State right out of high school on an honors scholarship, but still had to work two jobs to pay for my apartment and living expenses. I had always wanted to work in a salon as a stylist and decided I would take a year off from college and get my license. I went to Evans Hairstyling College in Lindon, and it was wonderful and some of the most valuable education I have ever received. After that year I got married to my sweetheart, started college at Dixie State University, where he was playing football. We got our associates degrees there, then transferred up to Utah Valley University where we finished out Bachelors degrees. Our most recent move has taken us to Georgia where I will start my doctoral program for Personal Financial Planning at UGA fall 2016.

I interned with a financial planning firm in Provo during and after completion of my undergraduate. That experience was amazing, taught me so much about myself, my industry, and where I wanted to get. Now I’m on the way to getting licensed and working with a fee-based planner in Athens, GA working on cash-flow based planning, and doing a lot of Gen X&Y financial literacy education.

Tell us about your life outside of school/work:
I married my childhood sweetheart, and I love every day with my best friend. He is the sweetest, most patient person I have ever known and I owe so much to him. We have one daughter, she just turned 3. She is the love of our lives, hilarious, sassy, and sweet. The most recent addition to our family is Beezly, our black lab mix puppy.

How do you de-stress?
I wake up early (around 5:45 or 6:00) and go running or go the gym and lift about 5 days a week. You know that principle in physics that says a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion? I find that is absolutely true for my body. My days are so much more productive and I have a much healthier head-space with less negative head-talk and by extension less stress when I start my day in motion. I also try to carve out time every few days to strengthen the relationships that matter most to me, my husband and daughter. I love to get out of my normal routine and play tag, go for a hike, or have a dress-up adventure. Laughing and having fun with my family helps me remember what is really important in life – and what isn’t.

What does goal setting looks like for you?
I like to use private Pinterest boards to make vision boards for myself. I find that 3 month time periods work really well for physical goals (toned arms, flatter belly, etc.), 6 month time periods work well for relationship & self-improvement goals (make more eye-contact, stop nagging, keep my room clean, etc.), and 1 year time periods work great for professional goals. I like to break down my professional goals into quarters, months, and weeks to create actionable items that can help me track my progress better. And every once in a while, when I notice progress I’ve made on a goal I congratulate myself and send myself a quick email that I put in my journal folder. Sometimes when I need to get rid of some negative head-talk or feel brave I go in and read the notes I sent myself and feel a surge of confidence.

How did you know your path or decide your current path?
I knew my path by trusting my talents, passion, and gut – and a lot of prayer. First, I pay attention to the things that are recurring in my life – like when I decided to go to school for financial planning I had been hearing about it in several different places, so I looked into it. The opportunity to go to UGA for grad school literally gave me goosebumps and I felt like a bolt of lightening had struck me – I was excited and I wanted to pursue that opportunity. At other points in my life I’ve had opportunities that seemed great, but I didn’t feel good about it, didn’t feel passionate about it, or it seemed too good to be true. Trusting yourself is a hard lesson to learn, but if I don’t feel good about something, I don’t do it. And when something is working out and feels good, I go for it. And like I said, I pray a lot that my feet will be guided and my mind will be clear and open to whatever good is coming.