Right? I am no one special; I don’t have the degrees or years upon years of wisdom gathered like other financial experts who live day in and day out talking about money. How many times have you heard “This is not a financial recommendation”, or “I am not a financial expert”, or “this is not financial advice”, but…

My journey as mentioned in my About page mentions briefly how and why I got started, but to further understanding how I feel like I have some valuable information to share with you the reader is important to review and expand on here.

After graduating physical therapy school with my fancy Doctorate of Physical Therapy (it’s not that fancy), I realized how much debt I was in and learned that I had no real education or understanding how to pay off the debt for one, but two, get the money everyone was looking for to live that life of freedom. You know, the dream of not having to work forever, having money just roll in to cover your expenses. I won’t go on too far about how some people’s reality doesn’t match up with their realistic opportunity of flying private jets and traveling around the world eight months of the year. The basic definition of financial independence where your assets cover your monthly expenses where it gives you the freedom to work optionally or pursue something else of interest.

Anyway, I started reading some of the basic and popular books to gather information so I could start to learn and take action. These included: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason, and Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier. From there, the book recommendations expand: Here is a list of all the recommended books I suggest (WORKING ON THIS LIST).

From there, I found myself yearning for even more knowledge, and that lead me to YouTube. I get the opportunity to listen to YouTube every day on my job because 1) I am a home health physical therapist and travel between patient’s house which is when I listen to the content, 2) I make time to listen to the content when my wife falls asleep at night or when I am working out. (Did you catch that? I still to this day make the sacrifice to learn as much as possible to continue learning about the new world of ever-changing finances.) Another avenue that lead me further to learning more about different financial terms and education were courses recommended by the content creators on YouTube.

This has been going on a 10+ year journey of constant education. I continue to learn, adjust, adapt, and absorb as much information as possible.

Again, this does not make me a financial guru or expert. I am not a substitute for a financial advisor, as some of my family members, friends, and patients make me out to be when we talk about anything financial.

So yes, I get exposed to the general population every day through my co-workers, patients, and family/friends, just like you do. What I do maybe differently is I engage people to talk about this stuff; not only to educate and get a pulse of what the public understands and knows about personal finances, financial literacy, or the micro and macro economy, but to also learn from them.

Everyone has something to offer, younger or older. The younger generations underneath you are the ones keeping up with the new trends, what’s popular, they might be able to share new information about potential investment opportunities, and have the time, energy, and mind to quickly adapt to the ever-changing world faster than me/you. The older generations above you have gathered their lifetime of wisdom of financial success and struggles, what worked for and what worked against them, and the life experiences to share to maybe help guide or detour you from certain avenues you might be exploring.

These are some of the reasons why I believe I do have something of value to share with you the reader. I do not have the only information or best advice to help educate about money and personal finance, but just like everyone before you, have been personally through life experiences where I have had some wins with money, along with some losses. I have gathered a bunch of other financial wisdom from many normal, everyday people through books, the internet, and in real life where I am able to stand on the shoulders of giants that have helped me speed up and further my learning curve in my financial life. And with this, I hope to provide some insight to help you also speed up your financial life to living a fuller, freer, financial life.

To the New World and the New You, much success in finding your financial freedom.