The Index Card (Helaine Olen)

Finished reading 'The Index Card' about a week ago, per recommendation of my high school econ teacher. Great book for an introductory overview of personal finance!

It really inspired me to start paying attention to my money. I've started recording all my expenses and money inflows. At the end of the year, I plan to look through my list and determine how big my emergency fund needs to be—and then I'll try setting up an IRA for myself. It's never too early to start saving, after all! I might want to wait until the imminent recession hits, though (the yield curve is inverted right now, after all!), when I can get a discount on the funds.

I really believe that America is in need of a higher rate of financial literacy education. That's one of the major reasons for our current retirement crisis, after all. The retirement crisis honestly really scares me. Our generation sure is in a strange situation, economically. It's said that a generation's economic outlook often is based on the economic situation they encounter in their teens and twenties. For us, that's the 2008 recession and the growth of the toll of social security on our government's budget.

Anyway, this all encourages me further to take financial literacy seriously.