About Me

The Mindset of a Financial Smartypants

I’m an American. Born and raised. Growing up I learned the values of hard work, personal responsibility and financial restraint.

My dad taught me that money doesn’t grow on trees, so I always saved the money I worked hard for, and I never spent more than I had. My mother made me do my best, so I learned to be an overachiever, making A’s in school and always meeting deadlines when it came to homework and projects, which translated into being a hard worker and appreciating the value of each dollar I earned.

We were probably one of the less well-off households in a decent area where most families had more money. I knew my parents couldn’t afford every little thing I wanted, I never felt poor but I didn’t ask for every little thing. According to my mother, shopping at The Gap was a little out of our price range. We never even shopped for brand-name stuff when I was a kid – not even when I was a teenager – and it never even occurred to me that I was missing out on anything (because really, I wasn’t).

I started working when I was 16. Before I had any real bills to pay, I would go to the mall and spend most of the money I made. I didn’t ask my parents for anything after I started making my meager little paycheck as a teenager. It felt good to be responsible for myself, I took pride in being able to support my little shopping habit and not having to burden my parents with my wants. They still provided for my needs but I paid for most other things.

Once I turned 18 and started paying for my own auto loan, and eventually car insurance and student loans, all of a sudden spending my hard-earned money at the mall sounded less and less appealing. Especially because I needed that money to pay my bills and fill my tank. Once I started paying these bills, I took my weekly shopping habit and shut it down!

Every catalog that arrived in the mail would go straight to the garbage. No temptations allowed! Trips to the mall were cut short or completely avoided. I remember for a year straight I didn’t buy anything but necessities. I saved a lot of money that year. You need good willpower to do that but you can do it if you really want to.

I knew then, as I know now, you can’t always have what you want. And I realized early on that saving was better than spending. I took pride in my self-restraint. Especially when I saw that my friends were amassing debt and I started building my little nest egg. I became known as the responsible one with awesome willpower. Yea, they bought the most expensive brands and drove the hottest cars, but I didn’t think there was anything wrong with my average yet reliable car, and my wardrobe was just fine, being the avid stylish bargain shopper. The only major difference between them and me was that I had money in the bank, saved for a rainy day or an emergency if need be. Basically, they had all those things but I could afford all those things, I just chose not to buy them.

Then I took it upon myself to learn about credit and debt and investing. People come to me for money advice ranging from setting up a personal budget to funding their 401k. Truth is, there really is no secret to handling your money. It’s all very simple; it’s just applying common sense to your daily life.

If more people learned to behave responsibly with money, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about how the economy affects us. You don’t have to be rich; it’s just about acting responsibly with what you’ve got. Some people with low incomes have more saved than people with high incomes.

The great thing is that you can learn to behave the right way with money and you can start at any moment, including right now. I want to help everyone seeking advice on managing their money; the more I help you, the better for you and the better off we all will be. Personal responsibility is really important for the success and prosperity of the US. One could say it’s your patriotic duty to put your finances in order; people who are irresponsible with their money make life more expensive for the rest of us.

I live by the philosophy that we are not entitled to anything. In America, we earn what we’ve got. You get out of life what you put into it. If you’re an able-bodied clear-minded individual, and you rely on the government to take care of your needs, you’re not doing your part when it comes to your life. The government is not supposed to provide for you; the only thing the government is supposed to do is let you do for yourself and stay out of your way as you rightfully pursue happiness.