I’m a 20-year old college student pursuing my degree at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. I have no formal financial education at this point but through reading various other blogs and financial sites, and the help of my dad, a Certified Public Accountant, have learned a great deal about personal finances and how to make my money work for me.

I started up this blog in late January 2008 to keep track of my own net worth and also share my advice to people like me – at the present time, people earning close to minimum wage, especially college students. In my opinion, a huge problem in the education system here in America is that we don’t teach young people about personal finances. I’ll bet that most people will have had an economics class and maybe grasped some general concepts in there, probably about supply and demand. For most of us, however, the concept of supply and demand may be unimportant, to an extent. Personal finance, however, is something that is very often overlooked and arguably more important. It will affect everybody and, whether you like it or not, you’ll have to deal with your money. I’ll be sharing tips and tricks that I’ve learned about that will help you maximize returns you get from your money and also generally educate yourself about financial responsibility.

I have many short-term goals ranging from 1 month to almost 3 years which will help my progress towards my other goals and just fun things I’d like to do. My long-term financial goal is to be retired by the age of 45. Through smart and aggressive investments, self-control with my money, and a vigorous saving plan, I believe this will be possible.

I’m not perfect. Occasionally I’ll make mistakes on this blog. For that reason, I encourage everybody to do their own research or hire professional help before making any huge financial decisions and investments. What works for me may not be the thing that works best for you. Gauge what is important to you, what your goals are, and how much risk you can handle in working to achieve those goals.

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About the Site

I started up My Two Cents in late January 2008 as a means of recording the progression of my financial thoughts. I’ll keep track of my net worth on here as well, which will give me a good way to gauge how I am progressing. This site is hosting through A Small Orange, and is updated solely by myself. The posts here are my words and are representative of me. If you don’t like something that you’re reading, find it offensive, etc, leave a comment on the post - it will help me adjust my future posts to see what is popular and what is not.

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Need to get in touch with me? Shoot me an email at blog@mtcblog.com and I’ll respond as soon as I can!