Hey, I’m The Luxe Strategist, a scrappy 30-something living in tree-lined, brownstone-y Brooklyn with my partner husband. If you haven’t read my ‘About’ yet, check it out.
By day, I work in digital advertising, scheming to get creatives to submit their work on time. By night, I’m strategizing how to get clothes I love for less, how to see the world using miles, and how I can avoid being a wage-slave well before I’m 65.
Earlier this week, my coworker emailed me that he’d be travelling a lot this year, and he wanted my advice: Which credit card should I get?
I barely finished reading the question before I minimized the Excel sheet I had up and started getting to real work: putting together a summary of the best credit cards to get, complete with objectives, minimum spends, and benefits.
And that’s why I started this blog. Because I get way too excited about helping people achieve financial wins, even if it’s something “small,” like earning a free flight with a credit card.
I live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in New York City, I have a decent-paying job with good work/life balance, and my net worth is north of six figures. I don’t worry much about money anymore.
But getting here was a journey. A child of uneducated, immigrant refugees, I came from nothing. I didn’t start saving seriously until I was 26, because nobody told me I was supposed to.
If I can rise above my circumstances and get better with money, then so can you. Instead of touting impersonal advice you could get anywhere else, like, ‘spend less than you earn,’ I’ll try to add a practical bent to it, using examples from my own life. Mistakes and all. Like that time I got into debt because I couldn’t afford to live alone without a real job. Or when I blindly dumped $1000 into the stock market, and unsurprisingly lost most of my money.
I know what you’re thinking. Personal finance is confusing, daunting, and often wrought with negative emotions. That can be true. But what’s 100% true is that money is also a powerful tool—an instrument you can use to help you achieve your goals.
You can choose to be paralyzed by it, to hope and pray that “something will work out”, or you can choose to take action by developing a plan.
I’d choose the latter, each and every time.
If you’re still with me, keep reading.
Image: Unsplash
