Negative Net Worth

At a time when everyone is showcasing “the good life” on FB, IG, and Snapchat, let’s talk about reality. What happens when you take the filter away? What happens when you have hurry to put that rent money back in the bank after you flossed with it on IG? What happens when you live life with a negative net worth?

Please don’t think I’m trying to make anyone feel bad about doing those things because I’m honestly talking about myself. I’ve put up a front like my life is all sunshine and roses, when in fact I was going on 90 days late on my car note, taking trips to the local plasma center, and eating a diet of grits, ramen noodles, and canned tuna (the cheapest food I could find). Cheese was a literal luxury, and having cheese grits with jalapeno tuna was a gourmet meal. That shit wasn’t fun, but knowing that life could’ve been worse than that keeps me humble. Thankfully, I’m not in that situation anymore, but I’m still not out of the woods. Thanks to a few irresponsible decisions I made almost a decade ago, my net worth is negative, like, I’m talking six-figure negative.

Growing up my family didn’t really have to worry about money, the 90’s were good to us. My parents had enough to take care of our needs, take us on a few trips every year, and spoil us on Christmas, but around 2004, we got hit hard. As it turned out, my parents were financially illiterate and didn’t have a clue what to do. We never talked about money, I never heard them talk about loans, investments, savings, etc. Unfortunately, I inherited that financial illiteracy, so when my financially illiterate ass went off to college, bad things were bound to happen.

Me when that student refund hit.

There are studies that show the average millennial will die with a negative net worth, I am determined to not be one of those millennials. Although I had to learn the hard way, I’m glad I made those mistakes in my early twenties, I have time to rebound. I’ve decided to make financial education my top priority. I’m exploring the world of side hustles, I have a serious detailed budget laid out in google sheets, and I have the google sheets app so I can access my budget at any time. I’m getting serious about saving and investing. I watch my credit score and report like a hawk and I’m working my way out smaller debts, like my credit cards and car note. Oh yeah, and I’m tackling my massive student loan debt while figuring out the game of money. It’s a major challenge to try to retrain your brain to think about money differently. I know it’s going to be a long hard road, but I refuse to die with a negative net worth.