On June 30, the Road to Financial Wellness ran through Nashville as part of a 50-city tour by Jason Vitug, the founder of personal finance site Phroogal.com. Vitug offers practical help with not only the dollars and cents of personal finance, but also the strong emotions which surround the topic of money for many people.
Hosted in Nashville by personal finance blogger Kate Dore of Cashville Skyline, with support from Emerge Financial Wellness, the event featured speakers Kristin Larsen (Believe in a Budget), Travis Johnson (Millennial Money Coach), and a panel of local entrepreneurs–Tim Gray, Courtney Webb, Corey Davis, and our own Ayumi Fukuda Bennett–discussing the unique financial lessons that come from the startup experience. The live recording of the event can be found here.
Personal finance is a subject that is relevant to nearly everyone; unless you have a trust fund or winning lottery ticket, managing money is something we all have to do. But this topic is especially important for entrepreneurs: not only is money often tight in the early days of a startup, but the very personal nature of founding a company means that the line between personal and business finances can easily become blurred.
Despite its importance, however, frank discussions about managing personal finances are often seen as taboo, and many people (of all income levels) will avoid the topic both publicly and privately whenever possible. One of the themes of the evening’s presentations was removing these taboos and encouraging frank discussion about money – what it means to each of us, how to best use it to achieve our goals, and how to help each other through dialogue and accountability. Money is a tool, and learning to use it skillfully is a process – but not one that we have to go through alone.
It’s not too late if you are interested in working on your money management skills: the tour is still going on, and in addition to the websites mentioned above, Jason Vitug has a new book, You Only Live Once, about money and the emotions around it. These are all excellent places to start.
