Cutting Through the Financial BS, One Question at a Time
Hailing from a household where the term "scraping by" was an everyday reality, my upbringing was the embodiment of financial invisibility. I had a single mom, three half brothers in tow (four, if you count the one I never really knew), and a lifestyle stitched together by WIC, food stamps, food bank kindness, and the sporadic drip of child support.
Money, or the glaring absence of it, was the silent ghost at our dinner table—never discussed, yet its presence was as palpable as the air we breathed. Fast forward through the years, and not a soul had shown me the ropes of financial literacy; no lessons on balancing checkbooks, navigating bank accounts, or wielding credit cards wisely.
Why?
Because in the grand tapestry of American taboos, money sits right up there with sex, religion, and politics—topics we handle with tongs. But here's where I draw my line in the sand. I'm determined to shatter this cycle of silence. I aim to arm my kids with every shred of financial wisdom I can muster.
Where do I stand today, you ask?
In the thick of financial fog, but I'm on a mission to not only elevate my financial IQ but to unearth the pivotal questions that propel me towards the mastery of money management. Welcome to the beginning of a saga, I've tentatively named "War Chest Wisdom."
War Chest Wisdom isn't just a catchy title; it's a battle cry for those ready to conquer their financial demons with the precision of a seasoned general. This series arms you with strategies and ideas that'll hopefully fill your coffers and defend against the unexpected, proving that knowledge is your most lethal weapon in the war on wealth.
It's me, diving headfirst into the money maze, trying to figure out the right questions to ask. Because, as it turns out, having all the answers means squat if you're not even sure what you should be asking. This isn't your grandfather's financial advice column; it's an exploration into the financial unknown, seeking out the questions that will lead us to enlightenment, or at least to better questions.
WHAT IS MONEY?
The thing about money is this: it's a game—a complex, often infuriating game where the rules aren't clear, and the goalposts seem to move with every play. Why? Because, like any game, there are rules, winners, and losers. Grasping the intricacies of this financial game is paramount, but our societal aversion to acknowledging winners and losers, to really keeping score, blunts our ability to navigate the game with finesse. This collective denial of the competitive nature of finance obscures the path to playing—and winning—effectively.
Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant" breaks down the battleground into four distinct territories: Employee, Small Business Owner, Big Business Owner, and Investor, each with its own rules of engagement and spoils of war.
Breaking it down into even simpler terms, imagine the financial field divided into two squads: the creators and the contributors. The contributors fill the ranks of employees and the self-employed, while the creators helm the realms of big business ownership and investment. The crux of the game is recognizing that wealth originates from the efforts of contributors. To transition from a contributor to a creator, you need to grasp the real rules of the game.
That's what this is all about. I wanna figure out how the wealthy play the game.
This series is my trench diary, a raw, unfiltered exploration into the heart of financial combat, where I dissect each team to understand the rules and strategies that lead to prosperity. And, as always, tell me where I’m wrong. I’m learning as I go, sifting through the noise to find the signals that will guide us towards financial clarity.
This isn't financial advice; it's a roadmap to asking better questions. Because in the end, understanding the game of money isn't just about knowing how to play—it's about knowing how to win.