This is my very first post here on The Wealth Balance.
Some of you may be wondering why the world needs yet another blog on personal finance. There’s a glut of information out there on this topic, so why add to an already saturated market?
Well, first of all, good question. I thought deeply about this before deciding to make the plunge and create this bad boy. After much internal debate, I believe that there is still an unmet need in the personal finance space, despite the huge amount of available information. I feel this way for a few different reasons.
First, Americans are still struggling with personal finance and financial literacy. I strongly believe that there are structural economic reasons for this, and do not want to discount this reality. That being said, I believe there is still a large population of folks that may not face the same degree of structural challenges, but still do not feel comfortable with their own personal financial situation. This blog will be more focused on that segment. I know this segment well as I used to sit squarely within it.
Second, although there is a huge amount of information out there, the amount of information is overwhelming and often times contradictory. For example, most agree that credit card debt is bad (is it?), but do you pay off the highest interest rate debt first or focus on the smallest debt to assist with the sense of empowerment that that act creates? It’s difficult and time consuming to sift through all the material, internalize it, apply it to your personal situation and come up with a plan.
Third, much of the advice out there is based on outdated economic frameworks and social norms. “Invest in your 401K”, “Save all your money”, “Don’t take on debt”, “Buy the house you’ll grow into”, “Don’t touch credit cards”, “Don’t rent”, I can go on with the adages ad nauseum. All of these sayings have a lot in common, they are far too simplistic, overly generalized, and quite honestly built upon some societal norms that many don’t ascribe to and economic frameworks that aren’t realistic. Unfortunately, we no longer live in a society where hard work leads to financial success. Indicators of success have much more to do with the socioeconomic situation you are born into rather than your own initiative.
So, here’s what I am aiming to do.
First, I want to create a resource that can help guide people through their own personal journey towards financial freedom. I will use myself as a case example as I cover various topics related to personal finance. I’m still on my journey towards financial freedom but hope to provide a balanced and accessible analysis of why I made decisions that I did.
Second, I want to help untangle the mess of tying one’s own self-worth with one’s real net worth. These two things are unrelated, and the co-mingling of these things causes a huge amount of discomfort about this subject, which encourages avoidance behavior and thus a continuous cycle of unexamined financial choices, likely resulting in choices of instant gratification over long-term comfort.
This blog will in no way a financial panacea, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy here. All I plan to offer is a perspective on various financial decisions by laying out the choices and tradeoffs in a clear way. The tradeoffs are yours to weigh and the choices you make are won’t be judged (by this blog anyway)! The most important part of this process is to bring clarity on those tradeoffs and realize the impact of the decision you make.
Let’s begin.
Photo by Lee Cartledge on Unsplash