Last week was a very exciting week at the office. We had about five new people start! Each of them is assigned a “mentor.” And, for some reason, I was asked to be one of the “mentors.” Poor guy. 
It’s a nice system. Everyone has at least two mentors. Generally one is only a few years ahead of them and one is a few decades ahead of them (the idea is that this will provide good “job” and “career” advice, I guess).
The first order of business is to grab lunch together and talk about acclimating to the job and the office. (In case you’re wondering this was the “first lunch” in my two-lunch, why-did-I-think-boxing-class-was-a-good-idea fiasco Monday night…). One of the other mentors had to bail, so I score a two-fer. Poor guys. The lunch was an hour and a half of me telling them “what they need to know” to “succeed” at the office. Here’s to hoping I know what I’m talking about! I guess I’m on my seventh year there, so I must at least have some good pointers on how to “survive.” The jury is still out on whether I have pointers on how to “succeed.”
But it got me thinking a bit about mentors and personal finance. I’m not quite sure that I have one money mentor. I certainly listen to or read some finance folks’ podcasts or blogs on a regular basis. And I’ve seen my dad manage money well throughout my life. But there’s really no one who I would say qualifies as my “mentor.” That makes me sad…
So I dialed up the trusty ol’ Swagbucks search and typed in “money mentors.” There were a few odd results but one that seemed like it could work – from ChristianPF. It was a guest post by The Best Money Blog. It made some pretty good points and actually gets what I was talking about. I’m not talking about a financial advisor. I’m talking about a money mentor – someone with life experience who is willing to answer questions and share information (sort of like all of the great blogs you see on my blog roll). But someone you can grab a coffee with or a bite to eat or just meet up and chat about the business of me. Hmm….
At the end of the day I don’t really have the right answer. At my office, although they “assign” mentors, more often informal mentor relationships develop. And those seem to be the most rewarding. I have a few folks in mind who I may start talking shop with a bit more. So, yeah, I guess I’m in the market for a money mentor.
Do you have one? Who is it? Where did you meet? What makes them qualified? What’s the best advice they’ve given you? What’s the worst?
I’ve received quite a bit of good advice throughout the years. The one that sticks out came from my dad – to never cosign a loan. He’s also responsible for me spending less than I make. Sounds like, until now, he’s been the one. But I’m in the market for a few more. I’ll keep you posted on my search. And maybe I’ll start my own “best advice” list based on what my “regular folk” money mentors say.
Until next time, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!
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