Smile #4

I dropped the personal finance course after the first week during my junior year because of a couple reasons.  A.  I knew the professor was hard and the course doesn't count toward my major anyways.  B.  I was behind before the start since I didn't get all the materials in time.  And C. because I thought I was fine living with balance.  Sure I spent more money on fast food this month, I'll just balance it with shopping less, it will be alright.

I was woken up by my discovery of my shiny credit card almost reaching declined stage.  Then I went on a craze hunting for knowledge of personal finance.  My illogical balance theory had never failed me until now.  I guess when you have twenty dollars left to your name, it is best to learn how to budget and recoup all the mistakes.  Man, unplanned expenses creep up at the end of the month.

For the past two months, I have been obsessing over personal finance books, podcasts, courses and anything in between.  Starting with Suze Orman's book, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke, I was mesmerized with these financial concepts.  She explains all the concepts with a real and personal touch.  "You will never truly be powerful in life until you are powerful with your own money."  How to invest, where to invest, she left a well planned road map for us twenty something to follow.

When reading before bedtime is not enough to suffice my thirst, I decided to listen to Dave Ramsy's podcast during work hours.  Follow up with the famous Rich Dad, Poor Dad (um...teenage edition, I am not there yet with the adult version) and Farnoosh Torabi's You are So Money.  I also decided to enroll in Personal Finance taught by Professor Gutter at University of Florida via Coursera.  I have a notepad just for finance concepts.  Obsessed?  I'd say so.

After graduation, I felt like being thrown to the water with no inflatable donuts.  There are just so many decisions I have to make.  Right, I wanted a job, I got a job.  Right, I wanted a job with benefits.  I got a job with benefits.  But now I have to decide on which benefits and what to do with these benefits.  That gets complicated.

And as the course nearing the end, I smiled.  :)  Taxes and investing are no longer such heavy words.  While I still have no clue as to which stock to invest in or which funds are definite buy, at least I faced my faced my fear of personal finance.