Hello!
My name is Jessica Roy. I work for the Los Angeles Times. And on Jan. 1, I’m launching a new newsletter course about your personal finances. Welcome to Totally Worth It.
I’m my friends’ go-to person for personal finance advice. Five years ago, that was not the case. I woke up on New Year’s Day 2017 with a big resolution in mind: This was going to be the year I took control of my money. I was going to make a budget and stick to it. I was going to stop wasting money on stupid stuff and pay off my debts and then start seriously saving for a house.
I was 30 years old, and my husband and I both had good full-time jobs with decent — not great but enough — salaries. We had made many sensible financial choices, I thought. We drove used cars and lived in a rent-controlled apartment. We were hardly living large. So why did we feel broke all the time?
I had made vague promises to myself in the past about tackling my credit card balance. But this time, I buckled down. I knew I wanted a house and kids in this decade of my life, and I knew I didn’t want to spend another year tossing and turning in the middle of the night worrying about how exactly we’d ever get out of the quicksand of debt.
Only 8% of Americans who make a New Year’s resolution actually follow through with it. In 2017, I was one of them. I Googled “budgeting software” and picked one. I decided that the mental image of myself never stressing about money ever again was going to be worth the learning curve. I kept at it, even though I’m terrible at math and screwed up a million times. If I figured it out, trust me, so can you.
We Can Teach You That
Totally Worth It live event
Learn how to take control of your money in 2022. In this one-hour webinar, The Times’ Jessica Roy will help get you started making a budget you’ll actually use, share tips for spending less money and show you how to make a plan to pay off your debt. Audience members are invited to ask questions during the event.
When: Jan. 11, 2022; 6 p.m. PT
Where: We Can Teach You That webinar. Link to come on the day of the event.
Cost: $10 for Times subscribers; $20 for general public.
More info: Contact [email protected] with any questions.
We stuck it out and paid off all our debt. Then we took on some exciting new debt: We bought our first condo. In 2022, we’re going to have …….
