The Blog

Between 1994 and 2004 I worked for a government agency that investigates financial crime in Washington state.  During that time I learned a lot of stuff about money.  Like if someone cons you out of your hard earned bucks, they usually spend your money before they get caught.  The criminal almost always gets busted, but the money is gone.  Sometimes these crimes result in other, not-totally-awesome stuff.  Stuff like identity theft, low credit scores, and piles of debt.
 
I learned pretty quickly that the best way to avoid that scenario is to become a scam spotter.  I also learned some other stuff along the way that could’ve been really useful in college:  How to build good credit.  How much debt is too much debt.  Why it does matter where you keep your savings and checking accounts.  How to get the best deals on loans and other financial products.  How easy it is to become wealthy if you start while you’re uber young.  
 
If I’d known the ins and outs of some of this stuff, my life would be more fun, financially easier, and I’d have had more life options available the second I left home.  Plus, I’d have avoided some seriously stupid money moves I made back in the day.
 
I chose not to seek out financial information in high school and college because the resources I did come across in the 1990s were massively boring.  Riddled with graphs and charts, I really didn’t see how finance pertained to my life. It looked like stuff written by middle aged cube drones. My financial focus was just trying to get enough money together to go out on Saturday night.  I didn’t need a graph to tell me I was broke.  I did need someone to make it interesting, though, and unfortunately I never met that person.
 
After messing up my financial life in the early 90s, I decided I wanted to become that person who made personal finance interesting, fun, and profitable for those paying attention.   For the last decade I’ve been speaking to teens and young adults on all matters financial, trying to make it interesting.  I feel strongly that if you’re not laughing while you’re learning about money, you’re in the wrong presentation.  That’s the approach I’m taking with this blog.  We’re going to look at personal finance and saving and investing from perspectives that you probably won’t find in a textbook.  And if you should happen to find any of my perspectives in a textbook, please let me know.  I’ll send the publishers a bill.
 
Ciao,
Alicia