I, like many of my peers, came into adulthood assuming I was “bad with money.” I spent my 20s accruing credit card debt and student loans, working low-paying jobs with no retirement plans or health insurance, not thinking about investing and never checking my credit score.
I didn’t get a financial education in school. I grew up in a working-class town surrounded by adults scraping by week to week and striving to lift themselves into the middle class. Responsible money management, to me, seemed to involve a lot of restriction and sacrifice I could never sustain. Or some gems of knowledge I’d never understand. Some people could achieve wealth; I was never going to be one of those people. I was destined to scrimp and save and worry about money for the rest of my life.
