We recently connected with Cory Covington and have shared our conversation below.

Cory, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The worst investment I made was $30,000 into AMC in 2021 during the short squeeze hype. One of my best friends let me know about the upcoming “squeeze” when AMC was around $12/share. In hindsight, if I would have invested right then, I could have made over $100k. However, I did not invest until AMC was around $35/share. The most I could have made was around $4k, but I kept holding, hoping, and praying for the squeeze. Obviously that did not happen. I had an unreal amount of anxiety while my money was in the market and would check Robinhood multiples per hour. Eventually I cut my losses. I lost over $9k and this is my last year of tax-loss harvesting. The biggest lesson I learned is that getting rich quick is not a thing and that I am a long-term investor.

Cory, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a software developer and have a degree in computer science. During college I was a teller at a credit union and really enjoyed it. Moreover, my mother joined an investment group when I was young and made a career out of the Banking/Credit Union industry, so money and numbers has always been apart of me and my environment.

Once I got my first job after college in 2017, I was watching youtube and came across a Dave Ramsey video. In this video I pretty much learned that I was broke and had a lot of debt and was not on pace to achieve my financial goals. At the time my gross was $40k and my total debt was $63k (car – $28k, student loans $35k). At the time I was still leaving at home and had no expenses outside of my debt, but with my income during this time, it was going to take me over 4 years to pay off my debt which was unacceptable for me with the new knowledge I was gaining from Dave Ramsey. I ended up getting on a budget and following the baby steps.

With this new found information, I brought this to my friends from college and told them that essentially we are all broke and need to better handle our finances. Jordan, who I do the podcast with, as well as another one of our friends from college ended up meeting with me one Saturday and we all went over our finances to gain a better understanding of where we were truly at financially and how to improve.

We ended up meeting monthly and discussing our finances and my financial coaching started there, but more on a helping my friends basis and not to make any money or take it further from that. I aggressively started paying off my debt in April 2018 and finished in September 2020. I was technically able to finish in March 2020, but this is when the pandemic started and I lost my job. I ended up getting a new job in June and saved my emergency fund before paying off my last debt due to the uncertainty of the world at that moment.

Jordan (and his wife) were right along with me in paying off debt. Jordan was also on a fitness journey at time. One day during our many FaceTime chats we thought, why don’t we start a podcast and have these conversations there and help put some more positive information out there.

In April 2021 we started the Cordan N Full Effect Podcast, where we discuss Health and Wealth, Finances and Fitness, and everything in between, and we want to help you save more and say less, and keep making better your best. This prompted me to start offering financial coaching services.

The main services I offer are helping people budget and track their transactions, define how they want to handle debt and making sure they handle it that way, and investing/wealth building. To gain clients, I promote on my social media as well as use Thumbtack.

Most of my clients top priority is getting out debt. I help them get on a budget and figure out where they can cut and get out of debt when they want to based on their goals (define how you want to handle debt and handle it that way). I usually meet either once or twice a month with my clients and also go over their investments and help them optimize where need and make sure they have other important financial boxes checked off like life insurance in place.

I help people of all backgrounds and income levels. I have had multiple clients get married while I have been working with them and help them along the process of operating their finances as a newly married couple. For my clients who have children, I help plan for college and understanding the pros and cons when it comes to 529’s vs. ESA’s. I have also helped clients with handling a change in their financial situation during the untimely death of a close relative.

I have helped tens of people, but currently I have 8 clients. I put a hold on promoting/advertising during 2023 due to my wife and I having our first child earlier this year. In 2024 I am planning picking up more clients and helping people make progress on their financial journey.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Books: Richest Man In Babylon, Total Money Makeover, Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Outliers, 12 Rules for Life

Videos: Dave Ramsey (Youtube), Anton Daniels (Youtube), and financial youtube in general to get understanding of the different financial perspectives out there.

These books and videos have shaped who I am as a financial coach and is what I would recommend for anyone who wants more insight into how I see finances and life overall.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The two best sources for me are referrals from my clients and Thumbtack. With my clients, I offer a referral program where if they refer someone to me, my client gets a free month off of their service, and if the referred client decides to continue meeting with me, they get half off of the service they select.

Thumbtack is great is well because I can turn on and off when I want to bring on new clients and it allows me to not overload myself with too many clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sideline_cory/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corycovington/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sideline_Cory
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cordannfulleffect