I thought I’d hate writing about personal finance

How this industry took me by surprise…

I got my first full-time writing job in 2015, after toiling away as a freelancer for years and getting no traction. I was ecstatic to be hired by a digital media company, getting a steady paycheck just to write.

The only drawback, I thought, was that I’d be writing about personal finance.

Money seemed like such a dreadfully boring subject to me at the time: I was 29 years old, had lived paycheck-to-paycheck for 10 years, was ignoring my credit score and retirement planning, surviving on the strength of my dream to be a writer.

I was a creative soul. Of all the jobs my writing path could have led me to, why did I have to end up in finance?

But I went after the job because I loved the editor who hired me and the team of other smart and creative people I’d get to work with. Plus, they didn’t need me to know anything about money to report on the topic! My ignorance was kind of an asset in those days, when personal finance blogging was all about young millennials talking like a friend to other young millennials.

I got sucked in, and to my utter surprise, I came to love writing about money.

Before that job, I’d assumed I was destined to be Bad With Money. I grew up working class and didn’t have a financial education. And I wanted to be a creative, a class of folks I was told don’t find much financial success.

But as I learned about our financial systems through the work, I realized the problem wasn’t that I was “bad with money.” It was that our financial systems and media weren’t made with people like me in mind. I loved learning how financial products and systems work, because it let me see how we can each make them work for us — and where we need to make changes to make our approach to money more inclusive for everyone.

I ended up staying in that job for four years and continuing to write about personal finance after I left — and now I write this whole newsletter on the topic and I’m about to release a book all about our cultural relationship with money.

You don’t need a budget but you need this book

My 29-year-old self would be astounded to hear me rattle off opinions about bank accounts and investing apps. She wouldn’t believe I can explain how loan amortization works or how to file taxes as an S-Corp.

But I’m so delighted I wound up on this path! Every part of our lives is impacted by our relationships with money. I’m so proud to be building a career around making that relationship with money better for everyone.

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📘 Want to learn more? In my book, I share the full story of getting started in personal finance media and how I learned the industry isn’t speaking to most of us. Pre-order it now wherever you buy books! And, if you’re a reviewer, librarian or educator, look for YOU DON’T NEED A BUDGET on NetGalley!

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