This is the first book that I have published, so you may wonder why you should listen to what I have to say about money. After all, when I look at the best selling authors in the finance section, I see some pretty heavy hitters who are typically providing sound advice from their experience and from the perspective of those who they have worked with. What makes me different? Why should you listen to me? Well, I’ve done it all right and done it all wrong. Although I have an undergraduate degree in Finance (from the amazing Florida State University), I did not have one personal finance class throughout my academic career. I graduated with 20+ credit cards. Do you remember the organizers with the slots for cards, I was the person who filled them all up with different credit cards and I was crazy enough to carry them with me. Can we say prime target for identity theft?

Despite the fact that I had so many open lines of revolving credit, I still maintained a credit score in the upper 700s. Ok, I just said credit score. If you don’t know, that’s actually a misnomer. We don’t have “a credit score”. We have multiple credit scores. We’ll get into that a little later, but for now, back to my story. That incredible score allowed me to purchase my first home when I was 25 years old. My parents paid off a $1,000 balance on one of my credit cards. I am the oldest of 5 and have seen my parents work miracles with their pay, but I’ve never liked asking for money because I felt like that would take away resources that could be better used in other areas. I’ve worked in some capacity and earned money since I was 13 years old, so I didn’t have a need to ask them. I was approved for the loan without needing a co-signer. That made me proud.

I was 25, working on my MBA, built my first home, had an incredible career where I was being promoted annually and thought I was doing great things. I had a little bit of student loan debt, but that didn’t bother me, after all, doesn’t everyone have debt. I was so comfortable with it, I decided to add on to my debt load. Although I worked at an incredible Wall Street firm and they had a tuition reimbursement program that I used to obtain my MBA, I still took on more student loans. I was early in my career and needed to build my work wardrobe right?

End of excerpt.

Purchase your copy and read more at https://amzn.to/38Q1ZjZ.

Yes; I said it. I had 20+ credit cards and my rationale at the time was, “I have to build my credit, this must be how I do it.” Although unorthodox and risky, I am grateful that my introduction to credit ended well. I have friends who would suffer a fate not nearly as benign. Payments that were once considered “small monthly payments” started to balloon and they didn’t know what to do. Many ended up ruining their credit before they could even walk across the graduation stage and collect their diplomas.

Some will say that making money mistakes when you are young is acceptable because you are learning. I say if we learn the principles of wealth management and teach the generations that are to come, they can avoid the pitfalls that caused us to stumble.

Download your copy of Manage Your Money today at https://amzn.to/38Q1ZjZ.