The Net Worth Continuum: Wealth vs. Lifestyle
“Look at their house, they must be rich.” Before being able to learn about wealth, we have to understand what it is, and what it isn’t. Wealth is not the amount of money that passes through your hands or your bank account. It’s not a fabulous lifestyle either. While you may look around and see a lot of people living like they must be rich, the truth in the United States is that most families are funding that lifestyle with debt rather than actual wealth. This means they are getting further behind rather than getting ahead. Wealth is not how much you spend, it’s how much you keep. Wealth is…
Start Here: Personal Finance Basics for 17 and 57 Year Olds.
Welcome! My goal here is to provide a resource for people who need to learn the basic concepts of financial literacy–the ideal resource for everything many adults wish they had learned when they were seventeen. But I’m 17. I don’t have any money yet. Why do I need to learn how to manage money before I have any? Excellent question, Hypothetical Teenager. Did you wait until you got your driver’s license and crashed a car before you decided to learn the basics of driving? Hopefully not. Yet sooooo many people have done exactly this with their finances. They have jobs and debts and household responsibilities for years before they finally…