start of something

Why this, why me, why now...

Among most of my friends, I probably know a lot more about personal finance issues than others. I'm by no means an expert who should go on CNBC (first, I don't wear starched shirts and second, i don't think i'd qualify for Asia Squawk Box), but I know my fair share. And I love talking about this stuff. It's something I care about for my own personal situation, and its just an exciting topic for me in general.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of other personal finance blogs (see the links to the right) and I was blown away by the openness of the authors. They share figures for their net worth, investments, etc. I'm still not sure if I'll get to that point, but as a reader, I definitely appreciate the candor. In part, I'm hoping this blog can contribute to that discussion. If not for the wider internet population, then at least for my friends. Becausae even tho I'm no Mother Teresa, I'm sick of hearing financial advisors pitching so-called smart investments when their underlying motivation is to get people to buy products that earn them commissions.

People have said I should think about switching careers and going into financial planning. I've thought about it, but I'd be terrible -- I can't in good conscience tell you to buy a cash value life insurance policy over term life, even tho I'd get paid a lot more with the former than the latter. So this blog hopefully will help my friends at least avoid getting hoodwinked, bamboozled, and other forms of weirdly-named scams.

So what are my qualifications? Hmm, let's see... I'm very anal about who controls my money and what they do with it. I listen to financial people with a very skeptical set of ears. I love reading Fool.com and other sites that give financial planning advice. Technically, you could say I started on "The Street" (tho I quit after two days because the thought of staring at CNBC all day while arguing about which stock performed best at the top of my lungs made me ill).

The caveats -- first, I will likely share personal information here. In most likelihood, the numbers I'll show will pale in comparison to what you the reader has to play with. So don't make fun. Second, I'm not a financial expert, and you ain't paying me for financial advice. This blog is about stimulating and promoting ideas. If you do something I suggest and it doesn't work out, don't take it out on me. In most likelihood, I'll be feeling the same financial pain as you. =P

Anyways, that's the intro and its out of the way.