I was fortunate to have my family to teach me about personal finance. My mom taught me about saving and budgeting. I would earn money for doing certain household chores or from selling custom puff paint T-shirts and Shrinky Dink earrings to my classmates (I know I'm aging myself here). When I was seven, I opened a savings account and deposited the generous $100 birthday gift from my uncle and declared the savings account my "car fund". I had older brothers, so I already knew that I would be required to buy my own car and pay for my own gas and insurance. For the miscellaneous cash I earned, I would divide the money into jars that were allocated for clothes, car, toys, gifts, etc. While I've moved to electronic tracking, I continued to use this "envelope" system for most of my life.
My parents didn't teach me much about credit and compound interest other than telling me that debt was bad, which ultimately put me in a precarious position in my 20s by not having established my credit. My car died while moving from Oklahoma City to Seattle for graduate school and I ended up with a high interest loan on the car I purchased along the way.
My brother filled in some of the gaps my parents missed. When I was 18, my brother generously gave me a check for $2000, which happened to be the maximum IRA contribution at that time. He provided instructions on how to open an account and a spreadsheet showing me how much money I would have at various ages if I continued to contribute. I vowed then that I would always contribute and would retire by the time I was 40. Through aggressive saving, I was able to leave my corporate job at 43 and now spend my time doing things I enjoy like playing pickleball and financial coaching.
Not everyone has the privilege of learning about money from their family or their school and even if they have, sometimes it's helpful to have someone in your corner to provide encouragement and accountability. I'm eager to help others feel empowered by achieving their personal financial goals.
