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Welcome to my financial world! On paper, there is no reason why anyone should listen to what I have to say about money. I hold two college degrees and not one single financial credential. Wait! Please dont leave yet! That doesnt mean that I dont know anything about money; it just means that what I know cannot always be presented on paper. Not to worry. I AM able to balance a checkbook, even if I do need a calculator to figure change! The first time I remember paying any serious attention to my personal finances was in the summer of 1989. I was a new college graduate and I found myself negotiating a salary for a job that was being created for me. Prior to that, I had only had a few part-time jobs and I had never made more than $1000 in a year. Compared to my previous earnings, any amount they offered would have been a fortune (even if it was in the world of education)! While I was negotiating, I remember trying to come up with a budget of what I would need to live. Even that didnt mean much until I was actually writing my own checks.
I made about $18,000 that year. It covered my living expenses, but not much else. Twelve years later, when I quit working to become a stay-at-home mom, I was making slightly more than $50,000 a year. Once I was at home full-time, I took over the responsibility of writing our monthly checks. Since our wedding, I had rarely thought about our finances. I saw this as a way for me to learn about how we spent our money and it made me feel like I was making a tangible contribution to our financial results. Since I was managing the household, I was the one SPENDING most of the money and I knew that knowing the details would make me pay more attention to what things cost. It is the lessons that I have learned since 1989 that have had the most lasting effect on me. Along the way, I have changed some of my attitudes about money and how to handle it. Some of the lessons I have learned have been relatively straightforward; some have been easy to understand and hard to implement; some have dealt more with habits and attitudes than with financial concepts. All of them have been beneficial but many of them have not been fun.
Like many Americans, my husband and I have accumulated significant amounts of consumer debt. We have spent most of our marriage (10 years) riding the waves of accumulation and debt reduction then accumulation and, again, debt-reduction. My husband has always been more conservative than I in his thinking about money. I have been the one that wanted to have it now and figure out how to pay for it later! Right now, we are in the process, again, of paying off debt. Hopefully, it will be the last time that we pay off credit cards and cars that are not worth as much as we owe on them. I hope www.mymoneythinks.com will become a resource to teach you some things about money, personal finances and money management. I promise to share those things in an understandable, practical, realistic way. At this site, you will find a mixture of personal stories, informational articles, and how-to resources that you can implement in your own financial situation. I hope youll come back and read about MY money thinks and, perhaps, share your own. I look forward to our thinking, sharing and learning together!
Rachel Langston
