Thomas Seneca

Financial Literacy Program Leader

For the past eight years, Thomas Seneca, Managing Partner of T.M. Wealth Management, has volunteered his time and talents to Cornerstones through a unique financial literacy program that focuses on the mechanics of financial management and developing good financial habits. His class content and the one-on-one mentorship program helps our clients improve their perception and understanding of how good money management will help build a stable future. Many class participants, who were formerly homeless or living in subsidized housing, have gone on to become homeowners!

Most financial literacy programs focus on the technical aspects of financial literacy, like budgeting, debt, and credit. While these elements are essential, they are simply tools for making better financial decisions. Thomas redesigned Cornerstones’ program to focus on dissolving negative habits, often formed through generational poverty, to improve personal spending habits and develop a desire to improve their financial situation. Thomas leads the monthly sessions, guiding clients and their mentors through exercises that assist in identifying values, goals, and the habits that block attainment of those goals.

Thanks to Thomas’s extraordinary support, many of our most vulnerable neighbors now have access to important money management education while delving more deeply into the cause and effect of their current financial struggles. Year after year, people report how much they enjoy and appreciate Thomas’s instructional, professional, respectful, and compassionate manner, resulting in an average of 80% of students improving their credit score since Thomas’s program was implemented.

According to Joan Wise, Self-Sufficiency Services Director at Cornerstones, “Thomas Seneca has positively affected the lives so many of this region’s most economically vulnerable families. Cornerstones is blessed to have Thomas as a volunteer, adapting his professional skills and knowledge to give these families a better chance to achieve financial stability and empowering them to take control of their future.“