So here’s something that might surprise you. I’m a CPA. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. I’ve helped businesses handle their finances, worked through complex tax situations, all of it. But when I was a young adult, fresh out of college with an accounting degree? I had no idea how to manage my own money.
I’m not exaggerating. I was living paycheck to paycheck. I had debt piling up with numerous maxed out credit cards and a car loan. My credit score was bad because I kept missing payments. I was drowning, and I didn’t really understand how I got there or what to do about it.
It’s a strange thing to admit, but I felt helpless. I remember watching the calendar, just waiting for payday. And those last few days before the check came in, I couldn’t do anything. I’d just sit there, stuck, because my checking account was empty.
The thing is, I had studied accounting in college. I knew how to read a balance sheet and income statement. I understood how money moved through a business. But nobody ever taught me how to handle my own finances in a practical way. That part I had to figure out on my own, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way.
My parents did try to talk to me about money when I was younger. They meant well, but the conversations never really went deep enough to stick with me. So most of what I learned, I learned the hard way.
What finally changed things for me was getting married. My wife, Trisha, grew up in a household where they actually talked about personal finance in a real, practical way. She didn’t lecture me or make me feel bad about where I was. She just started helping me see things differently. The biggest thing she taught me was how to tell the difference between a need and a want. That sounds simple, but honestly, it was the thing that turned everything around for me.
Over many years, we worked on our financial lives together. I was lucky. We paid off the debt. We started saving. And now, years later, I’m in a completely different place. I’m debt-free, financially stable, and raising three kids. I want them to grow up with a better understanding of money than I had.
That’s really why I’m doing this. I’ve spent two decades working in finance, but the lessons that actually made a difference in my own life came from somewhere else entirely. And I keep thinking about how I shouldn’t have had to stumble through all of that. Someone should have taught me.
So this project is my attempt to do something about that. I want to dig into why personal finance isn’t taught in schools. I want to talk about what I wish I had known. And I want to share it with anyone who’s willing to listen, especially young people who are in the same spot I was, trying to figure it out without a roadmap.
If any of that sounds like you, or if you’re a parent who wants your kids to have a head start, I hope you’ll stick around.
I’m Sam. Thanks for being here.