Financial Independence: Day 1

One day, I woke up and realized with startling clarity that I knew nothing about money. No but actually, nothing. 

I knew the basic script: you get a job, you make money, you invest said money. You rinse and repeat until you have enough to retire. (Cue the panic about working until I am 60 and then realizing I have not enjoyed the life I worked tirelessly to afford.)

 As I started contemplating this cycle, I realized that in addition to not knowing anything about finance definitionally, I knew very little about my own finances. I obviously knew the number I saw when I opened my bank account, but I lacked any concept of my spending versus savings. It wasn't clear to me at all from one day to the next whether I was hemorrhaging or hoarding money. 

What really pulled me from my 24-year stupor was the realization that I was relying entirely on others, mostly men, to explain money to me. Worse yet, I was counting on the good faith of those people to accurately and honestly convey financial information to me. I had no choice but to blindly trust that what I was being told was true, as I had no knowledge to compare it to. Like it or not, I was uninformed and as a result: in a prime position to be hoodwinked like a Disney damsel.

While it was a bummer to realize how little I knew, it was also an incredibly freeing moment. All I had to do was fix what I didn't know, and I would be set. A lofty goal of course, but nothing worth doing is ever all that easy. At least that's what I told myself, and if you are any kind of damsel friend you will support what I tell myself (for the most part).

Thus began my journey to, and temporary obsession with, understanding everything about finance. I wanted to know everything I could ever need to know whether it was investment strategy or the definition of an obscure acronym a banker could throw my way. 

Three things became immediately clear: 

1) I had to actually take an interest, if only a small one, in the world of finance. 

2) I had to sit down and learn the terms and strategies 

3) I had to start asking questions – about quite literally everything. 

So welcome damsels, to my honest journey into the finance world, and what I have learned so far. Here’s to being able to keep up with the best of them (and sometimes the worst of them) – even if you don't want to.