Well, I went through a bunch of certification classes and am an Accredited Investment Fiduciary. I know that sounds cool. But what’s more cool is that I went to the school of Hard Knocks. I got myself into debt, I got out of it. I was clueless when talking about money and then I became an autodidact until I ended up speaking it to the world on major business news networks like Bloomberg and CNBC. But, no, I didn’t work at a bank or get my MBA so if you wanna listen to someone who has, please do. I’m not that girl. I did it the scrappy way and I stand by the idea that if I can do it…anyone can do it. 

LOL. Sorry yes I chuckle at that question because it couldn’t be farther from the truth. There were days I couldn’t find food to put in my mouth much less a silver spoon. I grew up in a broken home and my father died of a drug overdose when I was young. So, needless to say, I had no fancy connections or hookups to get me where I was going. I did it the old-fashioned hustle way.

Guess what. EVERY story goes back to money. Shacking up with your sig-o…that’s a money story! The business of celebrities…yup, a money story. I believe that if you want to get to the heart of any story, you just follow the money trail. Those stories are more interesting to talk and read about though, right? I believe the numbers part of getting your financial life together is stuff you learned in grade school. It’s the humanities part that’s most tricky. That is, the relationships part like talking to friends or partners about money. That’s scarier than the numbers part. 

 

First of all, nothing is financial gospel. It’s your life, you write the rules. But, yes, I buck convention and argue for getting your morning latte. Why? Because a financial diet is a lot like a regular diet. If you allow yourself small indulgences you won’t end up bingeing later on. I like to thing of a “spending plan” as something similar to an “eating plan,” one that’s not a “crash diet” but something sustainable that you can actually stick to like one that allows you a Hershey’s kiss so you don’t end up noshing on a big ol’ hunk of chocolate cake because you are so hungry and deprived the rest of the day. The latte (or whatever your equivalent of a small indulgence is) is like your financial Hershey’s kiss. If you deprive yourself too much on the small stuff, you’ll end up splurging on something crazy later on when you could have just planned for a morning latte and stayed on track.