Timeless Financial Lessons from My Grandma, with Michelle Singletary

Afford Anything

#277: Michelle Singletary writes The Color of Money, for The Washington Post and is a winner of the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award. Her column is syndicated in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. She’s the author of three finance books and holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

But her strongest financial education came from her grandmother.

Her grandmother raised five grandchildren while working full-time as a Nursing Assistant at a hospital. She earned $13,000 per year, but never took welfare, was never late on a bill, and “handled her money like a pro.”

In this podcast episode, Michelle shares timeless financial lessons she learned from her grandmother, including:

Save from every penny or dollar you receive

Live below your means

Hate debt like it’s the devil

Save for the future

Don’t buy more than you can afford

Don’t care about what other people think about what you wear or drive

Michelle’s grandmother taught her resourcefulness, humility and the value of a strong work ethic.

Michelle joins us to chat about the financial independence retire early (FIRE) movement, emotional spending, how her experience growing up poor gives her a unique perspective in financial media, and the falsehood behind the phrase “it’s not what you earn, it’s what you save.”

You’ll enjoy this episode if…

You’re new to the world of personal finance or FIRE and want to learn more about the basics. (#lessonsfromgrandma)

You can’t relate to some of the discussion around FIRE because it seems unachievable to you.

You love down-to-earth guests who tell it like it is.

For more, visit https://affordanything.com/episode277

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