Clara

"No right now doesn't mean no forever," says Clara M. to herself so that she sets aside savings each month. "Look at the big picture. Look at what you'll get down the road if you do without some things today. You can always get them later."

Clara's dream is to own her own home for the first time in her life. Nothing extravagant - just something that is comfortable and safe. Maybe a place that has a big yard for her 4 grandchildren to stretch out in. Although she was born and raised in San Francisco, she is open to moving from the city to anywhere she can afford.

To support her savings and eventual mortgage payments, Clara will continue on as an Insurance Assistant in the National Sales Department of Liberty Mutual Group Insurance, where she has worked for the past four years. At night, she works with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre as an actress/singer. In her accompanying photo, she is in costume for a 2009 holiday performance of "Black Nativity."

She is proud to be providing a good example to her two adult children and her daughter in college while participating in EARN's program. She has taken every class she could through EARN and has always kept up on what she needs to do to complete the program. At one point she got derailed when she had to help her daughter pay for school, health care and other expenses. And weathering unforeseen expenses like car repairs has been difficult.

But she is on track and is already planning for when she graduates from the EARN program. Even after she has purchased her house and is paying her mortgage, she will use the financial management skills she learned and the discipline she has honed to set aside additional savings just for emergencies and unforeseen circumstances. And she will work on getting her college-aged daughter to participate in a matched savings program for education so that her daughter can have as transformative an experience as she did.