woman showing apple and bitten doughnut

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“How do I change my behavior?” That’s the question one of my students asked after a GCC Money Talks session. It was the Fall of 2019 and Money Talks had just launched and this student was one of the first to participate. It was a great question, unfortunately, I didn’t have a great answer. I did find a blog post with 5 Ways of Changing Your Financial Behavior but I knew that I needed a better answer.  Fortunately, I found that I already had a great resource on my bookshelf. The book, Change Anything is exactly that – a great answer and set of strategiesRead More →

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Believe it or not I suck at small talk. I’ve tried and I would say that my social skills have improved over time. Still there are times when I struggle in this area. But perhaps small talk is overrated. After all, wouldn’t you rather have a more meaningful conversation? That’s what Kalina Silverman thinks too. After a conversation with a friend had her wondering about the value of small talk, she embarked on an experiment called Big Talk. Later, she developed a set of cards that can help people to have more meaningful connections with others or to reconnect with themselves by using the questionsRead More →

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I’m a fan of personal development – and analogies. One of my favorite analogies is that learning is like making a candy apple. You see, to make a candy apple, you don’t just dip the apple into the red, candy syrup once – you dip it in and then let it set and then dip it in again and let it set and repeat this process to build up that candy coating (well, at least that’s the metaphor – the recipe I just saw is nowhere near that labor intense). And this serves as a metaphor for learning. We don’t learn things by spending aRead More →

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Generational wealth is a topic that many have become interested in and that’s a good thing. But the focus is largely on passing along wealth in the form of assets and savings. But money without money management skills only leads to bigger money issues. Don’t believe me? A CNBC article reported that lottery winners are more likely than average individuals to declare bankruptcy. And just google: ‘celebrities who went broke’ to see more examples of how money without financial education (and self control) led to bigger money problems than the individual previously faced. I’m on a mission to break generational legacies of being broke andRead More →

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No one will ever care as much about your money as you do. This is a point I like to make in my financial education sessions with students. It’s our money and our responsibility to manage and grow it. But I also say this to make a point about how interest goes both ways, that is, you can earn it or pay it.  Interest is simply money paid for the use of money. Are you borrowing money? Then you’re paying interest to use that money. Are you depositing money into your savings account? Then the bank will pay you interest on your savings. They canRead More →

decorative purposes - one whole egg surrounded by broken eggs

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Of course, you’re leading your life. But, that’s not the same thing as being the leader of your life. In truth most of our decisions are automatic – that is, we don’t really even think about them anymore. And even when we do think about our decisions we may rule out or not even realize some of our options. Why?  Because instead of leading we’re more concerned about fitting in. We’ve learned since we were little to go along and most of all to avoid standing out.. That means doing what others do and what others would find acceptable while avoiding anything that others wouldRead More →