We Bought a House! One Couple's Success Story

Jon and Bethany Kramer decided on a first financial goal after getting married: buying a house. They didn’t see their financial situation as promising, but after working with their advisor and building a financial plan, they were able to achieve their goal.

Jon: It’s just more fun like overall, like, in life, when you're not stressed about money.

Bethany: Right.

Jon: You know, it’s not like we’re, you know, rich people here, but we know where our money’s going. My dad did a great job at building a successful business. Working with my family is a lot of fun, I mean, a bunch of mechanics getting together. We have a great time.

Bethany: When we first got married we lived in this tiny apartment and we had no budget to speak of. We didn't really know what we were doing.

Jon: I got scared when I started to think about the future.

Bethany: Jay is a special breed of person.

Jay: On October 12, 2014, I had the privilege of conducting their wedding ceremony. Bethany asked me at one point, “Could you be our financial advisor?” And I said, “Sure, I’d love to.”

Bethany: Well our first financial goal after getting married was to buy a house.

Jon: Before we got married I didn't plan for the next week, let alone the next five, 10, 15 years. We met with Jay and talked about where we thought we were financially.

Jay: And so, we set up a budget, we talked about how much they needed to save.

Bethany: Jay saw our financial situation as promising, very promising. We did not.

Jay: I can’t recall whether it was the first review or the second review and they brought in their numbers and I looked at them and I said, “You can do it.” And Bethany cried, and Jon cried and then I cried.

Jon: We're in a house now that we were able to remodel, we have a dog, the baby’s on the way and we’re not scared.

Bethany: I truly believe that he could take any budget, any income and still make it work.

Jay: When a plan actually comes together, then you know that we've done our job, and it’s just the start for this couple.

Bethany: It is really encouraging knowing that we’ve gotten a head start.