Welcome

There are few things in this world people like to keep under cover, personal finances are one of them.  Honestly, there is a lot of good reason for this and naturally, it is quite, well, personal. Anyway...

I'm Mandy.  Let's get the formal stuff out of the way.  I work in purchasing and have been for multiple years.  I have bought everything from boxes of toilet paper to truck loads of car parts and other materials.  I have worked with small budgets and embarrassingly large ones.  The ironic part of this career path is that I hate to shop!  Ask my teenage daughters, I am NOT the mom who handles the Mall very well.  I received my MBA from Trine University and plan to begin my DBA in the not-so-distant future.  I love learning just as much as I love sharing what I learn.

To be honest, I am not completely out of debt and I am not a self-made millionaire or a lucky soul who will come into a sizable inheritance. I am an average joe.  Sure, I have had some personal wins, but I have also had some very hard losses.  I have had to make tough choices and work harder (read that more) and I have had the opportunity to relax a little month over month.  The greatest thing about this adventure is that I will be taking it along with you.  While there are things I have learned there are things I still need to learn.  Plus, I want to be debt free. I want my money to work for me instead of me working for my money.  So, why this?  Why now?

First and foremost, I have a passion to help others.  Second, I think we have a great need to get back to the basics.  So much of what I learned in school is no longer taught in lieu of classes and subjects that increase our test scores, but do not prepare us for life after school.  Third, is my love for personal finance. 

In coming posts, we will learn everything from managing a checkbook to interest rates and loans to coupons and back.  Some posts will be small and some will be big - there are even some subjects which will require multiple posts.  I would like to say everything will compound upon itself, but I don't know exactly how this will flow once we get started.  For those who stick with this from post one, you will get the benefit of seeing it take shape.  For those who come in randomly, I hope you learn what you need to from the moment you join in.

To that, thank you for your interest and here's to learning how to make our finances work for us and not against us.

- M