Making Sense Of Cents

Learn how to make extra money, how to save money, how to start a blog, and more.

JOIN OVER 300,000
MONTHLY READERS!
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • About
  • Categories
    • SAVE MONEY
    • Side Job Ideas
    • Blogging Tips
    • Budget Tips
    • Career Advice
    • College
    • Pay Off Debt
    • Extra Income
    • My Life
    • Minimalism
    • Pet-Related
    • Real Estate Help
    • Retirement
    • Product Reviews
    • Self-Employment Tips
    • Travel
      • RV Life
    • Wedding
  • How To Start a Blog
  • FREE FB GROUP
  • Recommendations
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Advertise
  • How To Save Money
  • Make Extra Money
  • Blogging Courses
    • Affiliate Marketing Course
    • Making Sense of Sponsored Posts
  • Travel

My Biggest Money Mistake!

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

0shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email


Today I’m taking part in a blog swap. Read the post below and please check out my blog post over at
My Family Finances.

John Preston is the author of the blog My Family Finances.  You can follow his latest writing by subscribing to his blog feed. He is also a weekly contributor for US News & World Reports’ My Money blog.

What you don’t know can hurt your finances. I learned this the hard way as a young adult and it has impacted my financial and professional life ever since. If I had to lay out all my money mistakes and pick the worst of them all, it would be that I got the wrong degree in college.

JP in Community College

Ask someone what degree would be a wise decision and you’ll get a range of answers like:

  • “Do what interests you and don’t worry about the money.”
  • “Go into nursing because old people need lots of help getting out of bed.”
  • “Teaching history is where it is at because you never need another math class and you get summers off.”

 

I know this, because I asked the question quite a bit. Neither of my parents had really attended college (my father had a fire science associates degree) and I really wanted to make a smart decision. I decided the smart thing to do was to the local community college and see what classes I found tolerable.

It was very wise, because I took three years and changed my major each year. My problem is that I didn’t really update my thinking to match the realities of the professional world.

Off to Four-Year School

By the time I headed off to a four year institution, I finally figured out what I wanted to do. I wanted to work in corporate finance. I also had a strategy. I knew that a business degree was too broad for corporate finance. I also knew that many finance majors found their way into financial sales; that’s right, your family member that’s always trying to get you to rethink your life insurance policy.

So feeling wise, I chose economics, because it was:

1)      Hard

2)      Not related to financial sales in any way.

What could go wrong? Economics is fun!

Wait! What About an Accounting Degree?

What I haven’t confessed to you at this point is that I also nixed the idea of going into accounting. I’d taken a few accounting courses and all they taught was bookkeeping. I couldn’t stomach the thought of working in a world where you record money every day. Who’d want to work on their checkbook for 8 hours a day?

I didn’t know that this is not a realistic view of accountants. Over the last twenty years, accountants have been filing into corporate finance roles. While any business degree could get you into the world of corporate finance, it’s the CPAs that are ushered in at the head of the line.

However, I knew no accountants to contradict my unrealistic expectation. Instead of seeking one out, I bet on my assumptions about an economics degree. How do you think it worked out for me?

I Graduated and Couldn’t Find a Corporate Finance Job

Upon graduation, I began the task of applying to every finance job I could find. To my disappointment, the only job offers I received were for financial sales. Luckily, I landed off course from corporate finance and into the land of banking.

Fixing my mistake meant working on an MBA in accounting and several tens of thousands of dollars spent on additional education. I’ve since landed in corporate finance, but still feel like I’m slightly off course having never been able to fully meet the requirements for a CPA.

When you consider a year of lost income and the extra money from my MBA, I spent roughly $50,000 fixing my wrong degree mistake.

Have you spotted my mistake yet? I knew that it was smart obtaining information to make a wise decision about a degree, so that’s what I did. However, I also didn’t look at all the information. I checked off a few potential paths, but wasn’t thorough in my decision making. In life, cutting corners in the decision-making process is going to lead to mistakes. It did for me.

What about you? Have you ever cut corners in financial decision making?

How did it work out for you?

Related Posts

  • How I Paid Off My $40,000 Student Loan Debt In Less Than One YearHow I Paid Off My $40,000 Student Loan Debt In Less Than One Year
  • 18 Debt Free Stories That Will Inspire You18 Debt Free Stories That Will Inspire You
  • Pay Off Debt Or Save Money – Is One Better For You?Pay Off Debt Or Save Money – Is One Better For You?
  • How We Paid Off $161,000 In Student Loan Debt in 16 MonthsHow We Paid Off $161,000 In Student Loan Debt in 16 Months
  • How My Wife and I Lived on $2,000 Per Month for 3 Years During a Financial HardshipHow My Wife and I Lived on $2,000 Per Month for 3 Years During a Financial Hardship
  • Pay off our mortgage or not? A glimpse into a couple’s final decisionPay off our mortgage or not? A glimpse into a couple’s final decision
0shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

1 Comment
Filed Under: Budget, Debt Tagged With: Budget, Debt

About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Trackbacks

  1. My Biggest Money Mistake | My Family Finances says:
    May 21, 2014 at 10:08 pm

    […] Yakezie is a community of personal finance and lifestyle bloggers that work hard to selflessly help others. This post is part of the Yakezie blog swap. Today, Michelle from Making Sense of Cents and I are swapping blogs for a day. Please stop by her site to read my own Biggest Money Mistake. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Making Sense of Cents welcome page photo
Hello and welcome!
My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.
Follow on Bloglovin

Subscribe Via Email

As Seen On

as seen on
How To Start A Blog
making sense of affiliate marketing for bloggers
My Monthly Online Income Reports
My Student Loans Are Gone - How I Paid Off $38,000 In Student Loans
Buying a House at 20 (How I did it)
How To Make Money Blogging Picture
How To Save 50% Or More Of Your Income Picture
How I Graduated From College In 2.5 Years With 2 Degrees AND Saved $37,500
75+ Ways To Make Extra Money

Subscribe Via Email

HOME
CONTACT

POPULAR POSTS
How To Make Money Blogging
How To Start A Blog Tutorial
I Paid $40K In Student Loans By 24
75 Ways To Make Extra Money

PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS OF USE
DISCLAIMER / EARNINGS DISCLAIMER

Copyright © 2011 - 2021. All Rights Reserved.

© 2021 Making Sense of Cents
Design by Swoon & Co. Creative