I can clearly remember right after graduating from USC when I felt thrown into the “adult” world. Gone was the structure of classes and advisors and TA’s. I was on my own to figure out how to take the next step.
As I sat down and tried to set up a budget based on the salary of my first job, I felt very overwhelmed and not in control. How much should I be spending on rent? How much should I be saving? I had just been in a place where difficult and new concepts came with resources to help me figure them out. Why was there not a resource where I could go ask questions?
So, I went to the place most people run to when they have any problems, my parents and the internet. My parents were a great resource since, like me, they are both accountants and CPA’s and had built a life that I admired. My mom gave me great initial advice and helped me through the basics, but it had been a long time since she was 22 and trying to find an apartment and figure out finances for the first time.
While this was helpful, I was still left with questions. So, I turned to the ever-trusty Google. As I combed through all of the different articles I wasn’t finding anything that would give me the full picture I was looking for.
I wanted more than a simple definition of what a type of budget is, I wanted to know what the experience of using them was like! I wanted to know enough about retirement and other investments to be comfortable making a decision but instead was trying to understand websites better positioned for those in finance and banking.
So, what did this type A babe do? I spent hours and hours going through webpages and setting up my own sheets. Not very efficient. In fact, I did this multiple times as I would learn about new aspects of personal finance, which only made me more frustrated. However, as annoying as it was to have to create these systems and sheets, I realized a very important thing. I felt in control and empowered. I knew where my money was, how much I had, and a general idea of what I could spend on certain things.
As I got older, and moved to more apartments and got raises, I did the same thing. I also started getting a lot of questions from friends about things related to my budgeting. It would either be after talking to them about my spreadsheets or after they learned I was a CPA. Lots of people came up to me with questions that I asked myself before.
My girlfriends came to me when they were facing decisions about retirement or taxes or budgeting. And I found myself longing for a resource to give them to help them easily understand their options and feel confident when making these decisions. I also wanted them to feel as in control and empowered as I did after I had made my guides. So, after years of this happening and not seeing anything come up that helped, I decided to create it.
As I thought about creating The Type A Babe, I was hesitant to just create another blog to just put out onto the internet. There are lots of personal finance blogs out there and websites, so did the universe really need another one? So, I approached creating The Type A Babe as a space where you can go and get a complete understanding of all aspects of the concept. But not only just that, I wanted it to feel as though it was coming from a friend that you were having a glass of wine with. I wanted a space where women can go and talk about what it was ACTUALLY like to set up this type of budget, or why they went with that type of retirement option. So here we go, let’s get talking ladies!
