Vicki Terheyden
President & CEO, 5 Buckets Foundation
About this series
“What’s Your Why?” is our ongoing series asking one honest question: Why does this work matter to you? Each post is a personal look at what brings someone to the 5 Buckets community and why they keep coming back.
Read the whole series →I’ve always been drawn to work that helps people. Careers where you can actually see the good you’re doing land on someone’s face. So when 5 Buckets came into my life, it wasn’t a slow burn.
Love at First Sight
Here’s the thing about financial wellness: I saw a gap everywhere I looked. I also saw how much it was costing people, especially young people trying to figure out who they’re called to be before life’s pitfalls get in the way first.
Joining 5 Buckets felt like a no-brainer. The need is enormous. We want young learners to build the skills that help them dodge the traps that catch so many of us, and to actually go after what they’re meant to do instead of getting boxed in by money stress. We want adults to feel steady, too. Honestly, we want everyone, at every stage, to walk through life with a little more confidence and a lot less fear about their finances. That’s not a small mission. It’s the kind you fall for immediately.
Still Here, Still In Love
The honeymoon period is long gone. And somehow, I love this work even more than I did on day one.
What keeps me here is how we teach, not just what we teach. We show up for our learners like a kind, guiding friend, not a lecturer with a red pen. We lead with empathy and grace, because money is loaded. It’s tangled up in shame, family history, and a hundred things nobody talks about at dinner. So we encourage people to do the hard thing anyway: look at their mistakes honestly, sit with them, and learn from them instead of hiding from them.
There’s a real gift hiding inside every financial misstep, if you’re willing to look for it. I know this firsthand. As someone leading this organization, I’ve made my own mistakes with money. I’m not writing this from some tidy, finished place. I’m writing it as someone still learning, right alongside our learners, and that’s exactly why I trust this approach. Grace works. Judgment doesn’t.
That’s the love story, really. It started fast, and it only got deeper once the real work began.
“Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
— Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ
This why belongs to
This blog features the “Why” of Vicki Terheyden, CEO and President of 5 Buckets.
Your turn
What’s your why?
If financial wellness matters to you, we’d like to hear the reason. Facilitators, partners, learners, volunteers — every voice belongs here.
Share your why
