my story

My name is Victor Devens. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, and a father. I have a passion for helping people. I am a graduate of Financial Peace University. I have coordinated several Financial Peace University classes since and attended the Ramsey Solutions Financial Coach Master Training in April of 2017.

I have lived on the Central Coast for most of my life. In fact, my family goes back several generations in San Luis Obispo. I attended Atascadero High School, Cuesta College and finally graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I am a Civil Engineer by trade.

I started out my adult life never having a credit card or borrowing money. I went to get a cell phone while in college. After running a credit check and determining that I didn't have a credit score (life would have been much easier had I kept it that way), I was told I was going to have to place a $500 deposit. I still remember the salesman telling me that someone with terrible credit would have to put down a lower deposit than I would because "at least we know where we stand with someone with poor credit". I vowed to fix that (I wish I hadn't). Oddly enough, a credit card offer showed up in the mail several days later. I applied for a card and received one. I would generally buy one tank of gas a month and pay it off.

After graduating from college, debt wasn't an issue for me. In fact, I never borrowed money to attend school (so it can be done). I wasn't intentional with money. I just always spent less than I made.

I met my beautiful wife Jamie while in college. After we both graduated, we became engaged and started looking to buy a home. Planning a wedding, buying a house, and trying to honor God by not living together before marriage made our financial life a little tight. So a little credit card debt creeped in. After the wedding, we started our life together. We were both working and making great money. We were really enjoying life. We got careless and a little more debt creeped into our life.

Fast forward to 2009. My wife lost her job in the recession. I had to take a pay cut at my job. We throttled our lifestyle back some, but not enough. So a little more debt creeped into our life. Next thing we know we have one credit card with a $20,000 limit, it was maxed out, and we were only "able" to make the minimum payment. We were in a cycle of making a minimum payment and then maxing it back out to make ends meet.

We started attending Grace Bible Church in Arroyo Grande. Feeling lost and broken in this cycle of debt we saw an announcement for Financial Peace University. We attended the class and started working the steps and turned things around.

In the Spring of 2016, I was asked to join the counseling ministry at Grace Bible Church. I agreed but wanted something other than leading Financial Peace University and my own experience to give me credibility. I enrolled in and completed Dave Ramsey's Financial Coach Master Training in 2017.

To keep my skills sharp, I recently attened the Wizfi Masterclass. The information is similar to Dave Ramsey's Financial Coach Master Training, but utilizes software to help people track their progress.

We still aren't always perfect with money. Even after taking and leading several Financial Peace University classes, we still have hiccups. The important thing is we make an effort to be intentional with the money God provides.