NORMAL - As a financial planner, Sheryl Garrett provides a valuable, important service to people in need.

They want to know how much they can afford for a mortgage or what benefit package to enroll in at work. She tells them.

"I knew the answers, and it was really invigorating to find out I could help. … It was like a lightning rod had gone off, and people were spreading the word," Garrett said.

The certified financial planner and founder of the Garrett Planning Network, an international network of fee-only financial advisers, spoke Wednesday at Illinois State University's College of Business.

Garrett, who is in the Twin Cities this week for a variety of speaking engagements to talk about financial planning and promote her newest book, "Personal Finance Workbook for Dummies," had a feeling her audience of about 80 students probably could relate to her experience.

Finance students likely have had their peers ask questions about loan consolidation or how to finance a car, Garrett said.

"All of a sudden, you are god because you have the answers they need, and they are willing to pay for it," she said.

Financial planning is one of the most powerful and rewarding career paths where someone can do a lot of good for another person in a short time, Garrett said.

"It's really detective work, diving into the details of what's going on in someone's life," Garrett said. "It's really, really a wonderful field to get into."

The College of Business is thinking about adding a six-course financial planning minor, said Edgar Norton, finance professor in the College of Business. Because Garrett was in town, ISU wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for students to hear her speak about her entrepreneurial experience, Norton said.

"She is a nationally known figure in financial planning," he said. "It's just a great idea to bring her to campus."

As a financial planner, Garrett helps clients discover what they want to do in the lives - now, five years from now and further into the future. She said she enjoys how she can empower them to channel their resources - time, energy and money - to accomplish their goals.

"A vocation is something you do regardless of the paycheck," Garrett said. "It's a passion."

But Garrett didn't always love her work.

Her fulfillment came after she branched out on her own in 1998, more than a decade into her career, and began to work with clients on an hourly, as-needed, fee-only basis instead of an annual fee or commission. Her payment concept is not rocket science, but it is revolutionary compared to the way most financial planners charge for their time and services, Garrett said.

The Garrett Planning Network, founded in 2000, now includes about 260 members in the United States and overseas. Their target audience includes beginners, middle-income consumers and do-it-yourselfers. Bloomington-Normal is represented by two financial planners in the network: Carol Burroughs of Forward Financial Planning and Garry Good of Good Financial Advisors.

Garrett also spoke to ISU faculty, staff and retirees after the student presentation and shared financial resources at a community book signing at Bloomington's Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Wednesday.