There are two things we believe regarding personal finance:
- The world is lousy with personal finance blogs. Hundreds of experts, monks, cult leaders, and yes, even accountants have taken to the internet to spread their particular gospel as it relates to personal finance.
- Personal finance is a—if not the—critical factor in determining your career success.
We at the PA Almanac love personal finance. We’ve read dozens of those aforementioned blogs, and we attribute sizable chunks of our success to the lessons we’ve learned from smart people sharing their wisdom. Our editor Tyler has been reading personal finance blogs since before he started his public accounting career. When we say we have some familiarity with the field, you can take it to the bank. Terrible pun intended.
At the same time, we recognize that many accountants are absolute bumbling nitwits when it comes to their own finances. They can reliably and comfortably manage the finances of multi-million dollar enterprises on behalf of their clients, but ask them to bring that same restraint and foresight to their own finances and they actively lose their minds. The irony is not lost on us.
In the face of an oversaturated market and a target audience with a reputation for poor personal finance hygiene, what is PA Almanac to do?
You already know we’re chipping in our two cents. But, we want to tailor our focus so we don’t become another generalized finance blog. Our publicly stated goals for this portion of the PA Almanac environment include:
- We will focus our personal finance articles on the public accounting industry and its employees. Duh.
- We will focus our perspectives on those in the first 5-10 years of their career. Partners get to experience the “more money, more problems” lifestyle. We’re more concerned with the “more money, please” lifestyle impacting associates, seniors, and managers.
- We will only discuss topics where the public accounting perspective differs from conventional wisdom. Where conventional wisdom is sufficient, we will link a smarter person’s work and move on.
Ultimately, personal finance is personal. It has a tendency to make people feel awkward and protective, but it shouldn’t be an embarrassing secret. We encourage readers to share their experiences and questions; while each person’s situation is unique, there is plenty of overlap to be found where money is concerned. We will also provide case studies on current and former public accountants for that same reason. Sharing your story helps people realize that there are others in similar positions, and those people may know helpful solutions to your fiscal issues.
So much of personal finance can be broken down into two goals: getting more money and getting more confidence. Building your confidence is harder, so we begin there.