A New Year's Resolution Turned Hobby

Artist's Rendition of my Bank Account

I'll be honest: I'm just awful at managing my finances. As it stands, I've managed to spend on more frivolous things than I can ever hope to count. I surprise myself at the end of each month that I am able to blow so much money on stuff while still being able to make monthly payments and not go into arrears on my loans.

I've had this idea kicking around in my head for the better part of a week now. While I've had the opportunity to write about things that interest, irritate or annoy me regarding video games, music, or anime over at Traditionally Virtual, I've never wanted so much to just talk and shitpost about money or finances before. Feeling that it should and would be a more serious line of content, I've birthed Pecuniary Ruminations -- literally "Thoughts about Money" for your reading pleasure. Basically, like most things I've done in my life on the internet, it's on a whim that I'm here writing to you.

Why? What caused this sudden interest in money?

As with most things that turn out decently well for me, I have only my brother to blame. He came to me around last November extolling the virtues of this stock investment app on his phone: Robinhood. Around the same time, I noticed a person on my Steam friends list regularly opening You Need A Budget 4 (YNAB). I had just started regular payments on my student loans, and was quickly noticing that I was going to fail without any sort of serious plan about paying down this debt, and getting tough on my finances. On top of this, my brother's small success with investments in Robinhood had helped him be able to fund a small trip to Portland that December.

After some simple research regarding the YNAB method (more in another post), I decided to install the trial version of YNAB 4 and started playing around with starting a simple budget, according to the YNAB method. Next paycheck I bought a license, because of just how impressed I was with the software. At my brother's behest, I installed an android emulator and threw Robinhood on it so I can become familiar with the app while I waited for my account to be approved and my banking stuff connected to Robinhood. At the same time, I opened an account on StockTwits and just started reading whatever I could about anything and everything. It was a whole new world of knowledge, and it was the intellectual stimulation needed to jump start what was quickly becoming a stagnant lifestyle.

By January, I had purchased my first stock which I'm sure for most of my peers isn't exactly a thing you think about or even do. By February, I stopped hemorrhaging ridiculous amounts of money, and with March, I'm carefully navigating my way to a higher net-worth, though with a trip in April looming as well as my receiving a new credit card, I've almost slipped and fallen on this very delicate path.

So, what are you exactly going to do with this blog?

The first flurry of posts will most likely be an overview of what I'm working with -- super basic details about my portfolio with Robinhood and some starting figures from my YNAB budget. For me, this has been and will be an educational experience, so I want to document this journey. Perhaps I'll talk about the trades I made on a certain day and why I made them. Another day I'll do some research into a company and put my findings up here. Maybe I've read something that was super interesting about finance, so I'll write about it. Once a month, I hope to write about the current state of my accounts, and whether or not I've lowered or increased spending and paid down debts. I have friends that are interested in stocks and the markets, and I wouldn't be adverse to having different perspectives on this blog. It's what free expression is all about -- debate, discussion, and the sharing of ideas regardless of their perception.

I'm excited to be going on this journey, and I hope you'll join me on it.

Until next time.