Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY AUG 16 2022

A12 business
Tuesday 16 augusT 2022

Just Starting Out? Learn From Our

Mistakes

Leon calls "a deep-rooted
scarcity mindset" and a
profound sense of inferior-
ity. De Leon says she didn't
earn enough for years
because she wasn't con-
vinced of her own worth
and bought expensive
things she couldn't afford,
hoping to get validation
from others. She wishes
her younger self had spent
time in self-reflection and
therapy to work through
her psychological issues.
"Do the work to heal your
pain, so you aren't creating
more unnecessary prob-
lems for yourself," de Leon
says.
DON'T MAKE WORK YOUR
LIFE
This undated file photo provided by NerdWallet shows Liz Weston,
a columnist for personal finance website NerdWallet.com. Tess Vigeland is host and
Associated Press senior producer of The
Wall Street Journal's "As We
By LIZ WESTON of NerdWal- how much he borrowed Work" podcast. She, too,
let to get a master's in public has both practical and
Those of us who write and policy from the University of philosophical advice for
talk about money for a liv- California, Berkeley — just her younger self.
ing tend to have our finan- that his balance was "in the The practical: Never, ever
cial acts together. But that tens of thousands of dollars" carry a credit card bal-
wasn't always the case. I by the time he graduated. ance if you can help it.
invited some personal fi- The debt felt enormous. "I got myself in deep credit
nance experts to share Woods wishes he could re- debt throughout my early
what they wish they could assure his anxious younger and mid-20s, because I
have told their younger self that the loans were a lived life like I had my par-
selves about money. solid investment in his fu- ents' bank account, when
INVEST EARLY, EVEN IF IT'S ture. Woods, a New Zea- in fact I had a tiny fraction
SCARY land native, landed a job of that," Vigeland says.
If the stock market scares as an analyst for his coun- The philosophical: Develop
you, nationally syndicated try's treasury department interests outside of your job.
Washington Post columnist and was able to pay off Vigeland loved her work
Michelle Singletary can the loans in a year. in public radio — until she
relate. Singletary says she "That debt wasn't as much didn't. In 2012, she abrupt-
avoided investing for many of an albatross as I'd ly quit her job as host of
years because in her first feared," Woods says. American Public Media's
job out of college, an older SAVING, SPENDING, EARN- "Marketplace Money ," a
co-worker — one who was ING: THEY'RE ALL IMPOR- personal finance show,
close to retirement age TANT with no clue about what
— warned her that stocks Paco de Leon , author of she wanted to do next.
were too risky. the book "Finance for the Part of that journey be-
Singletary later realized People: Getting a Grip came a book, "Leap: Leav-
that someone in their 20s On Your Finances, " has ing a Job with No Plan B to
has decades to ride out two bits of advice for her Find the Career and Life
stock market swings, and younger self. The first is You Really Want." But Vige-
that she could have afford- to save, no matter what. land says life after public
ed to take much more risk Saving can feel futile on radio might have been
with her investments. a small income, but the easier if her work hadn't
"The lesson I learned was to amount you save is far less been such a big part of her
look at my own individual important than the habit of identity.
situation and invest based saving that you'll develop, "Have something you love
on my timeline and goals," she says. to do outside of what you
Singletary says. The second piece of ad- do for a living," Vigeland
STUDENT LOAN DEBT CAN vice: Deal with your pain. says. "It will help down the
PAY OFF De Leon graduated with line if you decide to leap to
Darian Woods , a reporter a degree in finance and another career or go back
and producer for "The Indi- a minor in economics. But to school — you won't be
cator from Planet Money" a head full of knowledge stuck in just one idea of
podcast, says he can no about money concepts who you are and what you
longer remember exactly was no match for what de can do."q