Write What You Know
When I was an English Writing major in college, one of the hardest lessons to learn was “finding my voice” as a writer. My professors stressed the importance of sounding like yourself – being genuine – rather than trying to sound like “a writer.” Yet, I found myself waxing poetic and writing cliché after cliché in order to “sound better.” Near the end of my college career, I got pretty good at writing like me. I could express my thoughts clearly and concisely in a way that came across genuinely Brian. But then I graduated, went to law school, and set aside creative writing.
Fast forward 12 years and a new personal-finance passion, I find myself again searching for my writing voice. This is my third attempt at starting a blog. My first two dabbles were similarly personal-finance related. But after trying to write both initial posts, I didn’t feel like I had anything new to say or to even add to the already crowded blogosphere.
Then something happened.
On June 26, 2013, The Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, paving the way for my partner of twelve years, Ben, and I to get married. Yes, I understand that I’m skipping several steps. Many significant milestones had already occurred in the struggle for marriage equality, and it felt like momentum was on our side. But on June 26th, at least in my eyes, shit got real.
From that day on, I’ve really had to take stock of what it means to our relationship that we can get married, the type of decisions that I need to make (Do I want to get married?), and, of course, what that means for our finances.
So here I am: combining my love for writing, personal finance, and my partner, in a way that I never could ever before.
Your Guide Through Important Money Decisions
I intend to focus on the personal-finance aspects of relationships, marriage and the money decisions that inevitably come with getting older. My goal is to make these issues easily understandable and provide a forum for people to sort out any problems they run into.
Like me, many of you millennials and Generation Xers will confront the same life issues as you grow into adulthood – marriage, home ownership, taking care of parents, etc. I especially want to offer a distinct perspective for those GLBTQ individuals whose opportunities for life and family planning have changed dramatically in the new landscape of marriage equality and the over 1,100 new benefits and protections that come with it.
Background
As way of background, I am a tax attorney and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. My practice currently focuses on representing individuals and small-to medium-sized business in tax collection and audit matters. In the past eight years, I’ve counseled hundreds of people – married and single – on a wide array of financial issues. Additionally, I’ve had a fanatical obsession with personal finance since starting law school in 2002 and realizing student loans don’t pay for themselves. I will definitely pull from my knowledge and experience when talking about the financial topics that arise.
The foundation of these posts will be about my experiences and my story, as my husband and I navigate this new territory of family planning. I also hope others can find it useful when creating their own financial plan.