My name is Samara Diggs. I am a wife, sister, aunt and a Jesus lover. I have a passion for all things about personal finance. I have been intrigued with personal finance since my first job out of college. While working at the hotel I was introduced to a book called Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. It was so fascinating and had a lot of great information. I always thought to myself, why weren’t we taught about personal finance in high school? We learn a lot by going through the journey; even with filling out a W-4 form, picking insurance, buying a car, interest rates and etc. Over the years my passion has grown while: watching financial shows, listening to podcasts, and watching YouTube series.
I want to share what I have learned over the years to hopefully help others. We need to use money for all aspects of our lives. Money helps us to get what we need and want. Also, you are able to help others. I am on this debt free journey and want to help others become debt free, too.
Trust me in my 20’s I had no idea about money. I would do whatever I want and hope there was money to last me for 2 weeks. But I went out every weekend and didn’t care. I wanted to have fun. I had a lot of stores credit cards. My favorite was New York and Company, that’s where I went to get most of my clothes. But I didn’t have a lot of bills because I was staying at my parent house. I did learn to pay off my car early. But I should have saved more when I lived at home. But I didn’t know any better. I was ready to get out my parents’ house because I didn’t want to answer to them anymore or tell them where I went, etc.
In my 30’s I was unemployed for a long time. I was laid off at end of 2009 because of the recession and took me over 5 years to find me a permanent job. I went to a lot of networking events, filled out a lot of applications. I volunteered and did temp jobs to keep the money flow coming in and keep me busy.
I just turn 40 and working my way out of debt. Throwing extra money on my student loans to pay it off. Then will pay off my car. Then I can start saving 15% of my income for retirement. I am behind since I didn’t invest while I was laid off for 5 years. It will take baby steps to get me where I need to be.
Are you ready to go on this journey with me?