Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
haha, yeah i could probably figure out where ya work but too lazy…but it’s def. fun just wondering if it’s YOU walking next to me on my morning starbuck runs 😉
as for all this anonymous stuff, i’m slowly not caring one way or the other…i don’t think i’ll go 100% legit and start marketing myself to my friends, but i might take down some specifics as far as my net worth at that point. not so much in that others get to see where it comes and goes (i could care less really) but more for my own personal safety. there are some nutt jobs out there…
I’ve been struggling with the same thing. I intentionally leave specifics about salary and investment accounts, etc., off of my blog. That said, I have told a few of my friends about the blog, one specifically the address. The others just know that it exists somewhere in the ether.
I was surprised at how interested friends were in reading it. Of course, that’s my biggest fear, is that a friend will find themselves reading about their interactions with me. That would be more difficult for me than them finding out my salary or amount of debt. So I just try to be aware… J Money also brings up a very good point about safety.
Thanks for the shout out. Your post really got me thinking a bit more about my privacy. Money is such a weird thing and while I am comfortable talking to my friends about it that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable talking to everyone.
I’ve decided to take down my net worth and remove my personal budget information. I am keeping my side bars though, but when it comes to everything else I’m following you and only using percentages.
Thanks!
We (my sister and I) also like to keep things private. You never know who might be reading and what sort of delusions people might develop about you.
We don’t give specifics about ourselves – net worth, income, etc. – but I do try to add my personality into my posts and interactions with readers and other bloggers so it’s still the real me.
We also don’t tell friends about our blog – only 1 or 2 of them know about it.
I think that’s a good decision. You still get to be “accountable” to the public, but you still get to remain private.
So on the personal privacy issue – how much does a roommate who paid to add onto my home deserve to know about all of my personal finances?
Troy, I’m not sure what you’re asking. Does your roommate deserve to know your financial status?