By L. Marie Joseph
It has been several years since I have graduated from college. During my 20s, I had no emotion with money. I spent every nickel I earned and selfishly brought every new and shiny thing excited me.
I bought a brand new car.
I ignored my student loan debt.
I never gave money to any charity.
My paycheck was already accounted for before I received it.
I stayed broke, but I had lots of fun.
Once I turned 29, I realized I had nothing to show for my years of earning nice money. Here I was a college grad, making a nice income but remained broke. What made me change? Me.
Marriage was looming and I knew I needed a plan very soon. My husband-to-be was very good with saving, unlike me. I started paying attention to my money. I stopped being a spender and started saving money and building wealth. I also paid off my car and paid extra towards my student loans.
I was making progress just by being disciplined and toning down my lifestyle. At 31, we were able to buy a house and save for expenses. At 32, we became pregnant with our first child. Life was much better than my 20s. It was fabulous. Nice home, little debt, no credit cards or car notes. I read every book I could find on personal finance and I noticed one thing: many of them had advice that I could not relate to.
When you are the first in your family to graduate from college and the first to hold a white collar job, you have no one to mentor you in the world of careers and money. I had to change my thinking and mentality when it came to money.
I started saving a percentage of my income instead of spending it all. I changed. I now have money in the bank, money in investments and our child’s college fund is intact. I’m living a stress free life because I changed!
Most of the time it’s the way we have been taught that makes us shy away from a subject. I read hundreds of personal finance books, but very few actually pertain to my personal situation with money. Most were too sophisticated and targeted towards an older generation. I was not into annuities, asset allocation and p/e ratios. I was just a young college grad trying to find my way.
L. Marie Joseph is the author of First Generation White Collar: A practical guide on how to get ahead and not just get by with your money you can follow her on twitter: @lmariejoseph
Great article!
Great article!
Really good article! I can personally relate to this.
I also think it’s important for us to talk about the fact that marriage is one of the best ways to help people build wealth. For all of the running around in circles trying to figure out how we can build wealth in the black community, often, the answer is right in front of us — through marriage.
This is especially true for women. Whether I like it or not, it’s much easier for me to build wealth being married to a man and living in a two-income household than it was when I was trying to do it alone as a single woman with one income.
Really good article! I can personally relate to this.
I also think it’s important for us to talk about the fact that marriage is one of the best ways to help people build wealth. For all of the running around in circles trying to figure out how we can build wealth in the black community, often, the answer is right in front of us — through marriage.
This is especially true for women. Whether I like it or not, it’s much easier for me to build wealth being married to a man and living in a two-income household than it was when I was trying to do it alone as a single woman with one income.
It was a nice article, but it didn’t provide any tips. I’d like to hear some tips, not just a testimony. 🙂
Hi Dc,
For as tips:
Pay yourself first out of every paycheck- you can start with as little as $50 and increase in the future
Have the money debit out of your checking account automatically
If your employer offer a 401k with a match – enroll, start small 3% or 4% and increase it every 6 months or so
Stay away from the mall or any other money toxics until you do the steps above.
Tackle any consumer debt, always pay above the minimum to see some traction.
Don’t fall off track. Don’t rely on debt to pay for things. If you don’t have the cash, you have to deny yourself
Repeat. Rinse. Repeat
L Marie this Great article served as a good reminder for me. Thanks
http://www.ruleyourwife316.com
I like this article, just like the writer I have read many personal finance books but none that really speak to me and my situation. For a while I have made adjustments but only through trail and error, I never feel as though we are on the right track. Our family has been through some hard times and we are now in great shape though for our credit scores don’t reflect the hard work that we have put in over the past few years. How do we over come this. The help aids that I find these days are only out to help the people that are below knee deep in debt.
How can I find that guidance such as yourself so our family can too see the result of our hard work.