Finances – Friend or Foe?
I wish I had learned more things about dealing with personal finances when I was growing up. It’s not that I’ve handled them poorly…I think I’ve done pretty well. It’s just that I never learned about things like investing, how much to save, retirement, different kinds of accounts, buying a house, etc. I got a copy of my credit report several years ago just because it was free and I wanted to see what it said. It said that I still lived with my parents and had two open accounts that were actually closed. So, I guess this affects your credit rating. I had to write a letter and get them to fix it. I guess it never dawned on me all of the complexities that come with having money.
I also fear for my taxes this year. Josh and I got bumped into the high tax bracket this year and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty. I’m going to do a pretend tax form this weekend to see how much blood the state is taking from me this year. Oh, the bitter republican in me hates having to pay for California’s poor financial choices all these years….
I also got a couple of books on personal finance that are kind of interesting. To all of my friends, I highly suggest you get one and really learn the stuff. I work with some people now who didn’t start saving for retirement until they were in their fifties…and boy are they freaking out now. I have a retirement fund, that’s good for starters. But I keep hearing about all of these other options that I really feel that I need to be educated about now in order for them to really benefit me in the long run.
In the game Animal Crossing, you can plant money and it will grow into a tree. I just harvested 90,000 bells the other day. Oh, if it were only so simple….