Someone recently asked this of me: “You write about personal finance. What makes YOU an expert?” Let’s forget about how ridiculously rude that question is and focus on the answer.
The quick answer: Nothing. There is nothing that legitimately qualifies me as a personal finance expert. I don’t have a degree in business, finance, accounting or anything of that nature. I’ve never been a business owner. I don’t have any certificates, licenses or fancy letters after my name. I’ve never run a company. Hell, I’ve never even been a supervisor. So really, nothing formally qualifies me as an expert.
I continued in my rambling by saying that I rarely give how-tos and I even more rarely dispense information on topics such as IRAs, life insurance, mortgages, etc. I leave that to other bloggers who are legitimately qualified to discuss them. I am not an authority or an expert on those topics and I don’t pretend to be. I even mentioned that I have a disclaimer telling my readers that I’m not an expert and that the information shared is based solely on my experience, opinions and mistakes. This person seemed satisfied with the answer and moved on.
But here’s the problem: I don’t really believe that answer. I do think I’m an expert. I’m not an expert in the global sense or in the manner of Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, and I’m certainly not qualified to dispense professional advice. But I am an expert on me and my finances. I’m an expert on my life. I know what I did, what I didn’t do and what I should have done. I’m an expert on my stories, experiences and opinions. I’m an expert on what I’ve learned works and doesn’t work for me. I’m an expert on what I wish I had learned. I learned enough to be able to articulately and authoritatively discuss personal finance as it relates to me.
The core of this whole discussion, for me, is the term “personal finance”. The word personal is what I’m choosing to focus on. Yes, there are basic concepts of general finance. But personal means that each person can take those concepts and apply them as needed to her own situation. That is what I claim to be an expert in–my personal finance and how my experiences with my finances have affected my perspective.
And that’s what makes me an expert. While I knew about credit, budgeting, saving, investing, insurance and all of the other components of personal finance in it’s abstract concepts, I didn’t really get my education until I had to. If I wanted to eat and pay my bills, I didn’t have a choice but to learn. I took it upon myself to learn how to budget and get out of debt. I read and talked to people and then read some more. I took that information and applied it to my situation. By getting into and out of debt, I’ve learned more about the practical application of personal finance than I would have had I had a degree or license or certificate.
Let me be clear. This is not to say that I believe that a basic, school based education is not important. I think that all kids should be taught the basics of personal finance, especially since so many kids do not get that education at home. I didn’t. But I learned about it in school. That basic education made it possible for me to write checks, manage a bank account and pay bills when I was in college. But I didn’t get the real, hardcore education I needed until I found myself deep in debt. That’s when I started reading, learning and practicing the fundamental concepts of personal finance. That’s when I learned how to take those abstract concepts, make them concrete, and use them in my life.
I hope that as I tell my stories and share my perspective, people can learn from them. I hope that some of my stories are a cautionary tale, some are inspirational and some are just entertaining. What’s important to remember is that those experiences made me a smarter, more knowledgeable person who is now equipped to share that firsthand knowledge with others. My hope is that others can learn from my experiences. If one person can get on her own path towards being debt free or if I prevent one person from going down the same road I traveled, then I did a good thing.
So the next time someone asks me what qualifies me to be an expert, I have my answer. That answer? Life. Life made me an expert.
How would you have responded to that question?
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I don’t think you need to be an expert on something to be able to teach someone else or help others learn. Besides, what credentials does Dave Ramsey have anyway? Even if he has a few college degrees, that doesn’t mean that he automatically knows more about personal finance than anyone out there.
I started writing because I read JD’s stuff at Get Rich Slowly and found out he was just a regular guy. Yet he taught me so much, and that’s how I knew it wasn’t impossible for me to learn a lot and help others, too.
Jeffrey Trull recently posted…Is College Still Worth It?
That’s how I fell into this whole thing, too. I would read personal finance blogs written by regular people and what they had to say just made so much more sense. They were relatable and not at all condescending, which I find in many “professionals”.
Great response: “Life made me an expert.” I think we are all experts in our own ways, particularly in the personal knowledge that we gained through life.
Christa recently posted…New Year’s Recipes: Lemon Bars and Chocolate Souffle
I agree, Christa. We are all experts in our own way; no one can take that from us.
“Life. Life made me an expert.” Excellent answer!
another housewife recently posted…I have a KitchenAid Mixer…Now what?
Thanks!
I would have responded exactly as you did, because I’m not a finance expert either. In fact, I’m the opposite of a finance expert. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had experiences with money. And I daresay my experiences have been more relevant (for some people) than those of an expert because I’ve actually been where they are. I’m not quoting percentages from an economics textbook; I’m telling them how things work in real life.
Some people want or need the expert opinion. They don’t want to hear from an average person who paid off debt – they want the millionaire expert who has never had any debt. And I say it’s their right to read finance info from anyone they want. I write for the people who want the information I have, and those who don’t are free to go elsewhere.
Andrea @SoOverDebt recently posted…Budgets vs. Spending Plans
I completely agree with you. I’m here for the person who is in debt and needs encouragement or information from someone who’s been there, not from someone who’s never spent a day in debt. While I can’t provide statistics or return rates on stocks, I can tell you how to stretch a grocery budget or find a jacket for cheap on eBay. And I think that most people in debt are looking more for the practical, real advice from normal people.
I think I would have responded a bit differently than you did. I would have pointed out that you don’t need to be an expert and that I very regularly call the choices I’ve made stupid and how I’ve learned from them. I wouldn’t have gone the disclaimer route that’s on every PF bloggers page (I mean, I have it too) but I would have said, I may not be an expert but I’ve learned a hell of a lot and I do know some things. As you said in this post I would have probably responded somewhere along similar lines in that I have no official qualifications but that I have learned things that worked for me, thus; personal finance!
Honestly I’ve never had the question asked! Perhaps because my twitter profile states I contradict myself daily. 😉
That’s why I wrote this post 😉 I wasn’t quick enough to say what you mentioned. I was taken quite off guard by the question and the response that I gave was my knee-jerk response. I wanted to put the response I really wanted to give out there.
With anything, I trust the people who have failed and succeeded. The more someone claims to be an expert, the more skeptical I am.
What to do is usually pretty self explanatory. The true “experts” are the ones who are strong enough to make the tough choices to change their lives.
John @ MarriedWithDebt.com recently posted…Questions from Readers
I love that statement “The true experts are the ones who are strong enough to make the tough choices to change their lives”. Amen to that!
I agree with Jeffry. You don’t have to be an expert to pass on knowledge and teach someone else. You just have to have familiarity and some experience with the matter. Even if you didn’t succeed you can still share information about your journey.
I tend to look at everyone as an expert in some way and I try to learn something from everyone I interact with. By having a heightened awareness to learn something, I find I actually learn a lot.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted…How to Entertain the Kids at Home on a Budget
I actually got asked this exact thing over the holidays. My answer was the same – nothing. I’m just a regular guy trying to do some stuff in a regular guy way and writing about it, which is what makes me the expert. I’m trying stuff, I’m working on it, and I’ve fallen in every hole there is to fall into.
Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog recently posted…Year In Review