moneytutor

I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Before going to college in 1971, my brother in law told me that you do not have to take 4 years to graduate. He explained that you were only required to complete 120+ credit hours for a bachelors degree. At that time, you paid a flat rate per semester and you were not charged by the credit hour. I had to pay for college on my own. I only had $1,000 saved from high school babysitting - 50 cents per hour. I decided I could not afford to take 4 years to graduate from college. I successfully completed a 4 year university in 2-1/2 years. I had already finished high school 1 semester early, since I completed the needed credits. At age 19, I was ready to begin my professional career.

After graduating from college and starting a career as an auditor, I heard a story from my brother that had a significant and emotional effect on my life. My brother had a friend, who came from a different socio-economic background, received a $10,000 wedding gift from his family. I couldn't help but question how much easier my life would have been if I had started my marriage with $10,000 in the bank. It was at that moment I decided to provide my children with a similar start, but had no idea how I could make it happen. Ten years later, when I began to rehab property for resale and rental purposes, I decided to give both of my girls a similar start as my brother's friend. My children are now 20 and 28 and I have been able to provide both of them with a house and a car. My philosophy in life is, "If you can conceive it, you can achieve it."

Realizing most companies are no longer offering a pension and knowing that 77 percent of the people don't understand finance, I decided to write an easy read book on money management and investing. I have been talking to individuals all of my life about planning, budgeting, saving, and money management. The book creates a way to inform individuals by the mass instead of one person at a time; a way of identifying schools, organizations, and businesses needing finance education objectives; a way to create an opportunity for the average person to not only learn about finance but to become better money managers.

I have always set goals, made a plan and worked the plan. I believe that people get too caught up with making ends meet and they don't ever get a chance to aspire bigger dreams. Hopefully, I will be able to interest them into saving, budgeting, and planning so that they can stop livin

Bowling, writing

Jo Ann Brown