The 51-year-old mother of three children, ages 18, 16, and 9, has saved for as long as she can remember.

Before getting married, she put money away for retirement and always paid off her debts. As kids arrived and their farm expanded, expenses started increasing and saving became a distant memory.

These days, Stephanie and her husband Terry are trying to get their credit card bills under control. While she sometimes thinks about going back to being a full-time teacher, being a substitute teacher for the local school and secretary at her church have to do until she finishes homeschooling her three children through high school.

Day-to-day farming responsibilities, whether it be gardening, feeding the cattle, chopping wood for their furnace, or tending to the sheep, take up a majority of their time. Stephanie and her husband vowed to teach their children about finances from an early age and have given each child livestock to care for on their own. The family is close-knit and involved in the community. Between church, school sports and other activities, there’s little time to focus on life’s what-ifs.