Hello! Welcome to Twenty2Cents. Twenty2Cents is a blog about personal finance and other tidbits of wisdom that I’ve accumulated through the years. When I first started to get my finances and life on track in my 20’s, I found it time-consuming to get the basic info I needed to make informed decisions. There was a ton of great information available to be sure; but it wasn’t all in one central place and it wasn’t always applicable to MY situation.
My goal is to create the site that I wish I had when I was in my early 20’s and figuring out adulthood for the first time. I’ll be writing about the types of practical things that nobody tells you when you’re in high school or university; how to save money, invest in yourself, and lay the foundation for the type of success that you want for your future. If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry. We’ll start at the beginning and break it down piece by piece.
But first, a little introduction is in order:
Who am I?
You might be wondering who’s on the other side of the screen and acting like your internet dad. Let me introduce myself.
My name’s Chris, and I am definitely not your dad. I have a story that might be similar to some of yours; white picket childhood (mostly), went to university, graduated with no real-life skills, and then spent a couple years just existing and wondering what I should be doing with my life. Somewhere in the middle of that existing I lost one of my parents, and all of a sudden life got real. Part of my safety net was gone, and now I was keenly aware of how short life is. Once I came face to face with mortality there was no going back. Something changed in my brain, and I knew I had to find some direction in my life.
But how do you find direction? At the time I sure didn’t know, but I couldn’t keep doing what I had been doing and expect it to fall in my lap. So I did what any two-legged monkey descendant does best: I threw a bunch of shit at the wall to see what sticks. I quit my job and moved to a new state. I said yes to jobs I didn’t think I would like. I read books about topics that I had never heard about. Most importantly, I put myself in uncomfortable situations to force myself to grow. If I had a north star during this time, it was the feeling of being uncomfortable.
After a few years of doing that I’ve learned a lot. My life has unfolded in spectacular ways for the better and I’m incredibly thankful for the life that I have. I want to share what I’ve learned so that others in similar situations can achieve what they want out of life too.
Trust me bro
I can see it now. You’re thinking to yourself “Cool story and all, bro, but why should I listen to you?”.
Well, you shouldn’t without a grain of salt. I’ll be the first to tell you to that healthy skepticism is a good thing, and you should always question whether or not the information you are being given is valid. That being said, I promise to never intentionally publish incorrect information or mislead you. When in doubt, double check and cross reference. There are a plethora of great sources of information for all of the things that I’ll be writing about and I encourage you to check them out. I’ll be referencing some of them in my later posts on specific topics.
My opinions are just that: opinions. Although they are based on solidified life experience and logical conclusions from those experiences, they shouldn’t be taken as fact and you should always maintain your healthy skepticism. My goal is not to convince you to do one thing or the other; it is to inform you with the knowledge you need so that you can find your path forward a little easier. Some of what I write about might be useful to you, some might not apply at all. Feel free to keep what works and discard the rest.
Like I said I’m not your Dad. Do whatever you want. This is just my Twenty2Cents.
-Chris