- Share This Post
- submit
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
In this week’s Ten Money Questions we speak with Heather Barmore, one of BlogHer’s Contributing Editors for Business, Career & Personal Finance. She also blogs at No Pasa Nada. In her money posts, Heather always offers a refreshing and honest view about finances. She lives up to this reputation in her answers below. Enjoy!
1. You’re a rarity in that you escaped college without any student loan debt. Does this make it easier for you to get ahead financially?
I didn’t realize how rare it was until after I graduated from college and started reading more about personal finance. Throughout college many of my close friends had parents who paid for their educations because they – our parents – wanted for us to be as ‘free’ to do what we really wanted to do without having that burden of paying back several thousand dollars. It’s helping me more now than it did at first; at 21 I was broke no matter who was paying for what and at 24 I am making more and saving more without the fear of Citibank knocking on my door to get their money back.
2. What is your most significant memory about money?
My parents never ever, ever spoke of money. Not what they bought or how much they paid for things. NOTHING. Then one day my mother calls me up and says “There’s a house being built on Martha’s Vineyard and I put an offer on it”. And I was like “Ummm, excuse me? You did what? And Where?” It’s not like houses on the Vineyard are cheap. So I took it upon myself to ask for $200 and she was like “Yeah right. Get your own money.” And this is when I began to learn the difference between my parent’s money and my money. They have money and if I want to go on vacation to Europe then I have to save my money. Ever since then, borrowing like $20 requires a contract in blood. Because it’s THEIR money and they’re both all about forcing me to save to get what I really want.
3. What is your worst habit around finances?
I am so guilty of guesstimating. It is such a huge fiscal sin and I am always wrong and yet I do it all the time. It’s like playing a game of Russian roulette repeatedly knowing full well that the end might not always be what I was hoping for. I finally check my online bank statement and I’m off by like $150. And it’s never like there is something that cannot be covered but oh my God, I’ll get gas and be like “Oh it was roughly $15” apparently I’m living in 1999 because it was ‘roughly’ $45. I should probably stop doing that.
4. Awhile back you confessed that you didn’t contribute to your 401(k). Now that you do, why does this signal to the world (and your family!) that you are a real adult?
Suddenly people start suggesting accountants and their tax specialists and I’m all “Only adults have accountants”. Then I go back to counting on my fingers. I don’t feel like an adult but apparently the world thinks that I am because I have savings. This past year has been very interesting for me financially and what really freaks me out and makes me feel all adult like is when people seriously suggest purchasing real estate. I still can’t say ‘purchase a house’ without laughing.
5. Since you’ve been covering Business, Career and Personal Finance, what has been the single most meaningful post? How is it relevant to your pocketbook?
Writing SINKing and Loving It hit me with the sudden reality of how sensitive the topic of money can be. It also showed the massive chasm that lies between a single woman in her mid-20s and a married woman with two children in her mid-30s. Obviously the differences between the two had always been in the back of my mind but when you enter into the subject of disposable income and how it’s spent, just remember to tread very, very lightly. The relevance to my pocketbook is the reality that as a single woman, in my mid-20’s with a career, I have a disposable income and can do what I wish with it. I still save, but I can also peruse Banana Republic at my leisure and get regular manicures and pedicures. I can go out for drinks with my friends and I don’t think I
