Ways to Work – Electric Vehicle Program
Alex Shokrian, MFS Financial Coach with our Economic Empowerment team, was featured in a newsletter from The Counselor’s Corner, an online resource for housing professionals.
Meet Alex Shokrian!
Certified Financial Planner®, Accredited Financial Counselor©, Financial Fitness Coach©, Qualified 401(k) Administrator, Qualified Pension Administrator, Consumer Advocate
It’s all about the money – helping working folks learn to live successfully, get a higher education, find better jobs, reverse poor credit, and plan for retirement. Cradle to grave.
This is what Alex does…and he’s good at it.
Alex is a Financial Coach who lives in Portland, Oregon and he works with the nonprofit Metropolitan Family Service (MFS). MFS offers various programs such as Ready, Set, Go, a culturally responsive early childhood education and parent engagement program providing low resourced families with access to high-quality learning environments led by expert staff. MFS’s Financial Capabilities Program helps source low-cost auto loans and helps consumers rebuild their credit to become financially stable. This includes Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), an asset-building tool to help low-income families save toward goals. For example, Oregon provides a tax credit to people within income limits. Consumers who contribute $1,000 get $3,000 from the State for higher education, a vehicle, housing, and retirement planning, among other things.
Alex has served hundreds and hundreds of consumers and his reward is the satisfaction of helping so many underprivileged people. After getting his BA from UCLA, he embarked on his mission in the financial field where he’s been for over 30 years. But his inspiration goes way back to his Mother. As a single mom, she raised Alex and his sister in San Francisco. She worked hard to support her family, even though she didn’t make as much as a man doing the same job.
Here’s a story from Alex’s youth. As a teenager, he saw a movie trailer on TV that enticed him so he went to see the movie. It didn’t live up to his expectations from the trailer so he went to the box office and got refunds for himself and his friends. Alex believes in people advocating for themselves. He helped a client who had roaming charges on his phone bill. Through Alex’s coaching and counseling, the client was able to get a $750 refund. Alex believes everyone deserves respect and he fights for it and for his clients every day. He believes everyone deserves to buy the same services whether a person makes $10,000 or $100,000 a year. Alex is all about preparing clients to negotiate with service providers, including mentioning the client is looking at competitors. This often results in consumers getting better deals. You don’t get if you don’t ask.
Alex’s most proud moment was when he was able to get a mother who had not spoken to her adult son in over four months to sit down and discuss their finances. They now meet for lunch on a regular basis.
Alex has been a member of The Counselor’s Corner since 2016. He continues his training by attending our webinars and earning certificates. And, TCC’s CEUs are accepted by AFCPE, with whom he is also a member. As long as he’s been advising consumers about financial fitness, there’s always something more to learn.
When asked about awards he’s received, Alex said the client testimonials he’s gotten are his greatest awards. Click on the link to read them. They’re inspiring.
Like many of you, Alex is studying for the HUD certification exam. Wish him luck!
To connect with Alex, hear more engaging stories, and to share best practices, send him an e-mail!
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