Starting the Conversation

Recently, I went out to dinner with two of my oldest friends.  I have known them both since middle school and we have watched each other take huge milestone steps like graduating college, getting married, buying houses, moving away for work, and countless others as we have all grown up.  But we’ve never talked about the steps and how we’ve each tackled them.  At some point the conversation turned from travel plans and current Netflix binges to something I hadn’t expected – finances and managing money.

For me, this topic wasn’t awkward and didn’t feel out of place.  After all, I spend several hours a day helping college students navigate the world of personal finance.  But I found it so interesting that our conversation moved this direction.  We talked about how we’d each protected ourselves from the recent Equifax breach (identify theft protection, frozen credit, and credit report monitoring), life insurance (term vs. whole life, employer provided coverage, and how to buy), and even whether our bills are on autopay or not.  We each had different ways of dealing with our finances, but we all found ways to navigate these often murky and uncharted waters of adulthood…but more than that, we were talking about it, over dinner with friends no less!

Personally, removing the stigma around talking about money is important to me. I think through talking, asking questions, and understanding a better chance for financial literacy emerges.  Often, we don’t even know what we don’t know, and hearing others talk openly can lead to questions we didn’t know to ask.  The fact that talking about money and finances is typically considered taboo can even lead to parents not talking to their children about finances.  Research demonstrates that when finances are not talked about children still draw their own conclusions and grow up not having vital information they need.  Given this information and my passion for personal finance, I aim to be part of the movement towards opening lines of communication regarding finance.

Someday, talking about finances will be like talking about the weather (I hope).  With this in mind, welcome to my corner of the internet.  I plan to take on different financial topics, discuss current financial news, review financial books, and generally just work through my financial journey.  I hope you’ll join me! Let’s make talking finance common and let’s learn as we grow!

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