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2014.
21 years old.
$0 in savings.
not a clue about money, budgeting, finances. just thinks she's "bad with money".
not a clue what a 401k is.
thinks she's too dumb to invest.
about to accept a job with $30k annual salary & go into $5k of credit card debt to move from ohio to texas (and buy dumb shit along the ways living above my means)
2024
32 years old - 10 years into my self-taught financial journey
started investing at 22 in my first 401k even though I didn't "understand it"
continued increasing my savings and investments as I grew my income
six-figure investment portfolio, self-managed
has had a fully funded emergency fund for 6 years
has kept a budget for 10 years to ensure I was living within my means
focused on increasing my income to be able to fund the life I wanted to live within my means
knows i am not bad with money, i just had to learn on my own