Meet Our Founder

Hi, there! My name is Stephanie Vaught. I am a financial coach and the Founder of Social Money Finance, LLC.

Through hundreds of discussions with my Gen X peers, I realized that many of us didn't learn financial literacy growing up. As a result, we may have unknowingly made unwise financial decisions. Now, we tend to find ourselves working hard to recover from those choices while feeling stressed and uncertain about our financial future!

Therefore, in 2018, I founded Social Money Finance to help alleviate the uncertainty and provide a road map of personal finance principles to help GenXers improve current money habits, manage their money, and fulfill their financial goals. After working with us, you will know how to lean into your power to put your financial future front and center.   

MY BACK STORY:

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, I attended Detroit Public Schools, received a B.A. in Political Science Pre-law from Michigan State University in 2000, and earned a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2007. My career and background is in legal research and writing, contract construction, and advocating on behalf of communities. 

In 2009, while still in the legal field, I became profoundly interested in personal finance – mostly because I wanted to learn how to manage my money and never feel broke again! So, I read everything I could and taught myself budgeting, money management, and optimal money mindset principles. 

In 2015, I got an opportunity to honor my new passion and work in the personal finance industry. I trained to become a certified financial counselor and, through a nonprofit, provided financial counseling and education to thousands of people across the country for more than 4 years.  

During that experience, I discovered a problem, specifically, in the Gen X community: No one was talking to us about our money!

I DECIDED TO CHANGE THAT.

"When you learn better, you do better. You make more confident decisions with your money and position yourself for long term success." - Stephanie Vaught, J.D.