My mother was a shopaholic and was perpetually in debt. She grew up with rich parents who spoiled her, so she doesn't appreciate money. She never had a savings account, she literally spends every penny she gets almost as soon as she gets it (it is the sole reason she and my father divorced). She never taught me anything about money or how to make it grow or work for me.
I learned by watching her, that I did NOT want to follow in those footsteps. But I didn't (and still don't) know where to even start to teach myself finance. I'm not a careless spender. I've never had a credit card. But I'm in about 20K of debt because of student loans and medical bills. I was a faithful payer of my student loan payments until 2011 when I developed several chronic illnesses and was unable to work for about 7 years. In those 7 years I accrued a lot of medical debt because of all the specialist I had to see and the expensive tests they ran. I had lost my health insurance when I lost my job due to the illnesses.
So yeah. It all spiraled into a bunch of debt I'm still struggling to pay down. 😪 I've been trying to research credit cards in order to find one that will allow me to build my credit up and help my score, but really I have no clue where to start. And not sure if a credit card is even a good idea tbh. I trust myself not to max it out because I'm super responsible with money and more of a saver than a spender, but I'm really wary of hidden fees, high interest, and perhaps doing even more damage to my credit. I can't afford a financial advisor obviously.
Any suggestions on some kind of website or YouTube channel that takes a "Personal Finance For Dummies" approach? 🥺
I grew up in a middle class family with a stingy father so we never had luxuries. I resented that a little. But his frugality rubbed off on me. Yet over time I have relaxed, as my savings grew.
My dad paid for a lot of my college, and only asked me to take a summer job to supplement. I had good grades in high school and got a lot of grant money from my college. Someday I need to donate. The rest was all loans.
Graduate school was free as long as I taught. They also gave us money to live. My loan payments were deferred while I was in school. I was nearly broke when I got my first job, since I was unemployed all summer after I graduated.
I have been at the same place ever since, and kept getting promoted and getting raises. I now earn about 4 times my starting salary, yet a lot of that is just normal wage inflation. I stopped worrying about money long ago. I am saving well (I'd rather not go into details in a public post). I paid off my school loans in a couple of years.
I still am stingy about some things. Yet with others I stopped caring. I will die someday, perhaps sooner than later, and have no dependents. So why not live a little?
I plan to retire in 8.5 years with a full pension, good savings, etc. I just wish it would come sooner. My body is aging and I am slowly having to cut back on activities.
I don't really know anything about credit cards, but I do know about how to make money grow. It's pretty easy. You just go to TDAmeritrade, create an account, transfer in some money from your bank (takes a few days), and then buy a bunch of units of an index fund. Most index funds are basically the same, I like to buy VOO.
I agree i want to learn too. I grew up with parents who had loads of credit card debt and spent money willy nilly evn though wr didn't have it to spend that way
