I haven’t mentioned this before, but I’ve been in college for almost 10 years and have managed 2 Associates degrees and STALLED on my Bachelors.  Well, after talking to two advisors, one for my current major and one for another major, I will most probably be getting a Bachelors THIS May.  This has renewed my vigor for finding a job within my major, increasing possible gross pay by at least 50%, perhaps more.

The degrees I have are an AAS in Equine Science and an AS in Computer Science.  I have been pursuing a BS in Computer Science and am short 40 weeks of co-op for the degree.  I will probably be getting a BS in Applied Science with concentrations in Equine Science, Computer Science and Math.  Expect to see a page with my resume in the next week, since I want to get it out as much as possible.  If you represent a company, and want to see it ASAP, use your company issued address and send an e-mail to resume-request at this domain.

The core piece of knowledge that defines your financial understanding is: Know Thyself.

To know yourself when it comes to money, you can then ask yourself the critical questions of:

• Do I need this?
• Can I afford to purchase it?
• Is it a life dependent need?

If you ever answer ‘no’ to any two questions, don’t buy it.

As an example, I was looking at a new Nissan Versa in December. All in all, a very good deal was on the table. The only problem with it was the “For Life” program, which would have required me to have all repairs at the dealership. This part made the deal affordable, but I knew I wouldn’t use it since my uncles own a shop and I take my car there for servicing. This car was a want that I could not afford and I told the sales person that I could not justify it at the time.

In the beginning, there was nothing. From this nothing the universe was formed. Eventually the Earth and finally humans came into being. Some say it was all some deity, some say it was all science and still some say it was a combination.

But this is not about the creation of the universe, it’s about one of humankind’s smallest creations… MONEY. For humans first bartered for stuff, until some wise ruler realised that they could make it EASIER to TAX the populace by creating a go-between, called money now, such that bartering was how much of that money got transferred. All was good until someone realised they could make more money by giving it to people and charging them a fee, called interest now, and thus debt was born.

So, what IS financial understanding? It is the ability to apply knowledge of money in a meaningful way.

Are you ready for that first bit of knowledge? What will it be? Budgeting? Pay yourself first? Stop creating more debt for yourself? Stay tuned to find out, later today.

On a closing note, in the next few days, you will see some graphs show up in one of the sidebars. These graphs represent my personal situation and will be discussed as I cause changes to these graphs. I will discuss the changes as they occur, at least once per month. They will generally be updating on the last day of the month and discussed on the first day of the following month.