I’ve previously shared that I’m starting to share my journey about seven years in. Even though I’m not just starting, I want to share a little more about myself so that you have some context about my posts and how I got here.
Beginning
Starting at the beginning, I am a second generation American. What that means is that my parents immigrated to this country and I was born here. I identify as Chicana because although my heritage is Mexican and I am American, I have never truly felt like I belonged to either group.
I was shunned in the States for being Mexican and when I was in Mexico I was shunned for being American.
Rather than clinging to either identity, I chose to identify with those who had similar stories and called themselves Chicanos. Back in the day, it used to be a slur, but we reclaimed it and use it with pride to self-identify.
This part of my identity is very important to me because it highlights that my life has had plenty of struggle, yet I have chosen to overcome it. As anyone of color in the U.S. can attest, it is not easy to grow up in a country that low-key hates you. In some cases, not low-key at all!
I grew up in a family led by a single mother. I am incredibly proud of my mother for being able to get us out of poverty and on her own! She never had help from my father and although she definitely should have, (children are not made by ONE person!) it makes my mother even more bad ass because she handled it all on her own!
Education
She always pushed us to go to college. Education was very important to her since she didn’t have the opportunity to get an education herself.
However, she couldn’t afford to pay for it. Although we were poor enough to qualify for Pell Grants, and I got a couple merit scholarships, they did not cover everything. So I graduated with 50k in student loan debt, that I still have, and 5k in credit card debt, that I no longer have.
The student loans are a big reason why I am in public service. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness that was promised in return for 10 years of my labor in the public sector are what I am counting on. Although I have made every single payment I had to, and even earned SCHOLARSHIPS while working that paid off about 10k of my student loans…I literally owe the same amount as when I graduated!!! Tell me the education system in this country isn’t broken, I dare you.
Even with the debt, I have no regrets about going to college and even getting those loans. I was able to get an education that has paved the way for me to do what I’ve done so far. Plus, I made some great friends and I had the time of my life!
I am the first person in my family to obtain a bachelors degree. I am definitely not the last, I even have some cousins that went on to get masters degrees! I am so incredibly proud of my family.
Work
Like I mentioned, the PSLF program was a big draw for me to go into teaching. I taught in the public school system for almost 10 years. I loved being able to impact so many students’ way of thinking about life. I also loved being able to teach them about personal finance because honestly the earlier you learn how you can grow your money, the better your life will be.
I’m still in public service, but I’m no longer a teacher. I genuinely do love helping people and I want to continue making an impact on my community. The problem is that with teaching, there is no upward mobility unless you’d like to go into administration, which I never wanted.
Adult Life
One thing that is really important for me to highlight is that I am, and throughout the past seven years, have been on my own. Everything that I have accomplished since my divorce has been 100% on me. I need to highlight that because the overwhelming majority of people I see sharing their financial stories are coupled. Therefore many of the things they are able to do are out of reach to a lot of us since they have two incomes and two people to help manage the finances.
When you are on your own literally every single piece of the puzzle is up to you to solve. No one is coming to save you.
The thing is though, it is 100% doable! I want to show women that even if they are alone, they can definitely get their finances in order and grow their wealth to previously unimaginable levels!
Another thing with me though, is that I have always wanted to be childfree. That does change things because children are a huge expense.
Choices
Finally, I do want to highlight that I have NOT always made the “responsible” decisions. I spent the overwhelming majority of my income throughout my 20s on travel. Would I go back and do it differently, if I could? (Knowing that I would have a lot more money now?!) Absolutely not! I have made amazing memories throughout my years doing all the things that made me happy and I would not trade that for any amount of money.
We change throughout our lives and the things that made us happy in one season may not be the same later, so although now I definitely ensure that I invest as much as I can, I still set money aside and work extra to ensure that I can afford to do the things that bring joy to my life.
I don’t know how long I’ll live, but I aim to enjoy it all! And if I do make it to my 90s, I aim to have the means to be comfortable then as well!
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