Cheddr

The Cheddr team

Erik Porter

Founder & CEO

I’m passionate about helping people feel in control of their financial lives. Whether it’s taking control of spending, thinking about the future or cutting through the complexity of financial products, I want everyone to have access to high-quality, non-judgemental financial wellbeing support.

Having overcome my own financial demons, including high levels of credit card debt, overspending to keep up with the crowd and seeing the impact that financial dependency can have on relationships, I want to share my experiences and somewhat ‘nerdy’ obsessions with personal finance to help people create a healthy relationship with money that enables positive financial wellbeing.

Erik in the spotlight

Why am I passionate about financial wellbeing?

I’ve seen what an unhealthy relationship with money can do and I know first-hand how the financial services industry relies on complexity and people’s sense of being overwhelmed to sell us products we don’t need or that aren’t right.

Who do I want to help most?

If you can afford it there’s plenty of people out there to help you. If you’re vulnerable there’s great support services available. For the rest of us, we’re left to find our own way, learning by trial and error and hoping we don’t make too many mistakes along the way. I want to help those of us in the middle navigate our financial lives to deliver the financial wellbeing we all deserve.

Why now?

Financial wellbeing has become a bit of a buzzword. It’s an easy tag used by many to sell products, often ones that we don’t need or want. I want to provide people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to make good financial decisions they can be proud of and break the cycle of shame that so many people feel about money.

Emma Waller

Financial Wellbeing Consultant

Emma is a Financial Wellbeing Consultant with extensive experience in developing financial content across private, public and voluntary sectors, designing and delivering financial wellbeing programmes for commercial clients and charities.

Most notably Emma co-authored Martin Lewis’s “Young Money Matters” textbook, provides online content for a number of high street retail banks and has developed bespoke financial wellbeing resources for Government departments. An experienced and qualified performance and wellbeing Coach, Emma supports clients to help them achieve their financial goals.

Emma regularly delivers financial wellbeing workshops in the workplace and also in educational settings, providing support to schools and colleges helping them embed financial education across the primary and secondary curriculum. Emma has over 20 years experience in education, firstly as a Teacher of Business and Economics followed by roles in Senior Leadership as Director of Learning and as Assistant Principal responsible for performance and standards.

Last year Emma was appointed Trustee of a charity supporting women at risk of offending.

Emma in the spotlight

Why are you passionate about financial wellbeing?

Being financial capable is so important. It means that you can make informed choices about how you spend your hard-earned money, ensuring that you make the best decisions for you and your family. Unfortunately, not everyone currently benefits from this knowledge so it’s up to us at Cheddr to promote financial wellbeing and provide the necessary tools to make informed choices.

Education can empower people to take control of their finances rather than have money (or lack of it) control them. My challenge is to educate as many people as possible so that, with the right tools, they can all improve their financial wellbeing.

What keeps you awake at night?

Lots! Not being a morning person means that I often work late into the night, it’s when I get my eureka moments. I’m a bit of a worrier so when something affects us, like the pandemic, I worry about the financial impact it has on us all, especially young people and communities.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I’d love to say 6am yoga and a 5k walk before breakfast but to be completely honest there’s only one thing gets me out of bed in the morning…..caffeine! I can’t start the day without it I’m afraid.

As an experienced educator, I love learning so discovering new ways to help people shape their financial wellbeing is my bag. I hate the thought that someone, somewhere is being ripped off or being financially excluded simply due to their financial situation or circumstances that may be beyond their control. Too many people are financially vulnerable so now’s the time to make sure that we all know and understand how our money can work best for us.

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