If you’ve ever heard the old-school approach to saving money from a financial advisor (or your parents) and thought “that sounds terrible,” you’re not alone.

Meet Alli Willams, South Carolina native and founder/owner of FinanciALLI Focused. Alli created a money philosophy that teaches clients they can have a life while saving money + paying off debt with smart spending, all at the same time. 💵

This philosophy not only helped Alli save $17K ahead of her own wedding, got her featured as a finance expert in Business Insider twice, and garnered her 17.8K Instagram followers — but also turned into a finance coaching business in which anyone can learn her modern money approach. (Read: this isn’t your dad’s financial advice.)

So, can you guess what’s really #FactOrFiction when it comes to finances? 🤔

Here are 7 modern money myths vs. truths from Alli:

#FactOrFiction: I have to give up everything to pay off debt.

💰 This is fiction. You can save money to pay off debt and spend at the same time. (#ProTip: Answer all of these questions about your debt, then map out your savings goals, then see what you have leftover.)

#FactOrFiction: Never use credit cards — pay in cash.

💰This is fiction. Use credit cards responsibly and always pay off your full balance. With great credit comes great responsibility.

#FactOrFiction: I should start saving ASAP.

💰 This is fact. Allocate a purpose for your savings to make it harder to pull from + accidentally spend.

#FactOrFiction: Spending money is bad when you’re saving.

💰This is fiction. Just be sure your spending is aligned with your values — cut what you don’t care about + spend on what you do.

#FactOrFiction: If I’m on a budget, I’m restricted.

💰This is fiction. The word “budget” gets a bad rap. It really means you’re allocating money to specific buckets like debt payoff or travel savings — not that you’re eating rice + beans every night.

#FactOrFiction: Managing money can be fun.

💰This is fact. Managing money isn’t complicated + time consuming when you get the hang of it. As you start to check off goals, you get excited.

#FactOrFiction: Talking about money is taboo.

💰This is fiction. Money affects every aspect of our lives and we should talk about our money goals + wins. We bet your friends and family will support + celebrate with you.

Want to level-up your finance game? Alli offers private coaching packages and Flourish FinanciALLI, a 12-week group program. Alli’s programs are mostly aimed at women + couples in their 20s-40s who want to create a flexible financial plan to pay off debt, save + spend all at the same time to make managing money easy and (dare we say it?) fun. Ⓟ