Ditching the Guru: My Journey to Authentic Personal Finance
A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to be a voice in the personal finance space. I felt that I could help people who struggle with money management, so I wanted to create a YouTube channel on the subject. What's funny, though, is that I had trouble managing my own money. Anyway, I launched a website and personal finance blog, presenting myself as some kind of expert. But reality quickly set in: I was no expert. The truth is, I was in the process of learning about money myself. So, I decided to pivot. I turned away from the facade and took a more authentic approach. Instead of posing as a guru, I decided to document my own journey through personal finance. The plan was to share both my successes and failures, with the goal that both I and my viewers would benefit from the experience. I don’t regret that decision one bit. My videos have been doing well, and my channel is slowly growing. It seems that authenticity actually wins.
Today, I want to talk about why authenticity is also important in how we manage our money. When I started this journey a few months ago, I thought that because I wanted to be a voice in the personal finance space, my goal should be to get as rich as possible. But the truth is, that’s not what I want. My actual goals are to manage my money well, invest consistently, and build wealth over the course of my life. This is more authentic to me.
In the book The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, the author dedicates an entire chapter to the idea of “playing your own game.” Essentially, this means we need to establish our own financial goals and make decisions that align with them. Housel also emphasizes the dangers of mirroring the financial decisions of others, as their goals may be completely different from ours. If we follow their decisions, we might find success, but ultimately, we lose because we’ve accomplished something we never intended to.
This idea really resonated with me and is one of the reasons I changed how I plan to manage my money—at least for now. I believe many people fall into the trap of making money decisions based on others around them. Whether it's choosing a stock to invest in, buying a home, or even the car they purchase. I encourage you to take an inventory of your financial decisions: are they aligned with your goals, or are you following the crowd? As always, this is just food for thought, but remember—authenticity wins.
If you need help figuring out what your financial goals are, I wrote a blog a few months ago that may help.
