There are many, many people out there who are financially irresponsible. In fact, I’d wager that these people represent a clear majority of the American population. This is the majority that many PF bloggers (including myself) have counted themselves among in the past – the people with maxed out credit cards, no savings, and minimal knowledge of even basic financial matters.
There is a smaller percentage of people who basically have their shit together, financially speaking. They save for retirement, save for emergencies, don’t have credit card debt. Maybe they own homes. They basically understand what mutual funds and ETFs are, but probably don’t invest in either. This is the group that most PF bloggers belong to, or aim to belong to when their past financial transgressions have been resolved.
But there is also very small number of people, an elusive bunch, who are what I refer to as true financial badasses.
What constitutes a financial badass, you ask? I suppose that the definition of a financial badass varies from person to person, but to me a financial badass does all the following:
– Maxes out retirement contributions every year, as opposed to merely making contributions
– Maintains an adequate emergency fund
– Invests outside of her retirement acount
– Travels a few times a year, without having to rely on credit cards to foot the bill
– Sets lofty financial goals and achieves them
– Maintains several income streams
– Remains knowledgeable about many different financial matters (investing, home-buying, the difference between different types of retirement accounts, etc.)
– Lives frugally, but knows when an item or experience is special enough to shell out the big bucks
– Fearlessly pursues her dreams, no matter how expensive or intimidating they are
I forgot to mention that the financial badass makes a decent income, but manages to do all the above without making anywhere close to six figures. This is why she is truly a badass, because she manages to make an average (or only slightly above average) income do really big things for her.
The financial badass is who I strive to become, and I think I’m on my way, but in the next year or so I’d like to really kick it into high gear. More on that to come…
What about you? Are you a financial badass, or trying to become one? Did I miss anything on my list? Or better, tell me about a financial badass you know, either in real life or in the PF blogoshpere!
