From the brink of financial ruin to financial advisor, Damon King works to teach students and community members, alike, the key to staying debt free through lectures on financial intelligence.
Oklahoma Christian University currently hosts King’s lecture, “Surviving 30 Years of Unemployment” takes place bi-weekly in the Williams-Branch Cneter for Biblical Studies. His latest lesson on Oct. 12 taught those in the audience how to save early and retire early.
King is a certified financial planner and investment advisor at Chapelwood Financial Services. He said his career in helping others become financially intelligent began while he was coming back from the brink of financial ruin.
“I made some poor financial decisions in my early-to-mid twenties,” King said. “I didn’t have anybody guiding me on how to make these decisions. I made stupid choices with my money and I paid the price for it. I got into a lot of debt and I worked multiple jobs to get out of it. In doing that, I realized I did not know a lot about money. I started reading books, looking up stuff online, taking financial advisors to lunch, really anyone who would take my phone call, and just started educating myself.”
King said the more he learned about financial planning, the more he wanted to share that knowledge with others. He took the necessary tests, received the necessary licenses and got his job at Chapelwood Financial Services.
“I began to realize that I really loved teaching others,” King said. “I had learned so much for myself, I enjoyed teaching others how they could avoid the mistakes I made.”
Kings said he is passionate about educating people about financial planning because it is something that is not traditionally taught, but is used every day once students enter the workforce after graduation.
“I believe education is the key to unlocking the power of anything you want to do,” King said. “We need to have financial education. Most people did not get any formal financial education in schools, so we go to college and we get out into the world and we are just expected to go manage our money now, even though no one has taught us how to do it.”
King said he advises college students to start saving early, even when it seems like there’s have nothing to save, and the financial choices that you make in college can have a large impact on the rest of you life.
“Stay out of debt, write your goals down and have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish,” King said. “Talk to your family and ask, ‘What are some mistakes you made? What advice do you have for me?’ If you want to be successful, get advice from successful people. Do not spend more than you make, write your goals down and educate yourself as much as possible.”
King’s next lecture is set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in WBC 125.
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