Who am I to tell you what to do with your money?
Updated: Apr 13, 2019
Hello Money Talkers! This is your author, Alexis Bertoldo. Being a newcomer to the blogging community, I wanted to share a bit of my past so that you all can have a better idea of who the voice behind the blog really is and how I became so interested in personal finance. So literally.... this is me. lol.
My story is not spectacularly original. I grew up broke. I was raised by a single mom who struggled to support my sister and I. So I studied hard in the hopes that education would change my social status. I vowed that I would learn from my mother's mistakes and make smart financial decisions.
Side note: My economy teacher Coach Wilson, taught us Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps to Financial Freedom instead of the curriculum assigned in high school. This is ABSOLUTELY why I have always been so good with money. Shout out to Coach Wilson for shaping my financial life from a young age.
Where was I? Ah, yes. My brokeness. Since we were so broke when I was younger, if I wanted something I had to buy it myself. This taught me the value of hard work. I have had a job as long as I've been old enough to get hired. I have worked at McDonald's, Domino's, as a Receptionist, and then as a Corrections Officer. When I started in Corrections, right out of high school, it inspired me to study Criminal Justice, and to ultimately become a lawyer. I ended up having to quit Corrections because of scheduling issues with school. So I got a job bartending on nights and weekends, while attending school throughout the day.
I bartended my way through school and managed to get a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice without taking out any student loans (crazy right?!). I even got accepted to law school. Everything was falling into place; until it all fell apart. I failed my first semester of law school and was right back at square one (it still hurts my heart to admit this publicly, and this fact is probably going to be news to a lot of people reading this who know me in real life). The goal I had always worked so hard towards was now a mirage that I could never reach.
Post law school failure, I started to really soul search. What would I do now? I made really good money bartending, but what do I do with it? And do I really want to bartend my whole life? That lead me to listen to motivational podcasts, which lead me to personal finance podcasts, and I was hooked from there. I began really educating myself on personal finance. I listened to sooooo many podcasts and read many blogs and books on the topic. I felt like I knew the basics before (budget, save, invest), however, the more I learned the more I realized that I really didn't know anything.
As I began to get excited about personal finance and make money moves to improve my own financial health I started to speak to my peers about what I was learning. What I came to find out was that a lot of my peers were clueless.
That is why I started this blog; to share the knowledge that I have acquired on my journey along with my experiences. Also, I want you guys to feel free to share your knowledge and experiences as well. I want to create a community here at The Money Talk where it is no longer taboo to speak about money, but it is encouraged. So feel free to drop a comment below, message me through the contact page, follow me on social media through the links at the top of the home page, and please share my blog with your friends and peers so that we can all become more financially fit.