The “we” is me and my daughter, whom regular readers know as the brains behind the I Pick Up Pennies website. Abby and I are participating in the #FinHealthMatters writing competition and we want to hedge our bets.
Specifically: We would really appreciate some social media lurve.
Physical health is more than merely the absence of symptoms. Ditto financial health.
Just being not-sick doesn’t mean you’re actually well. Ever know someone who seemed fine until the heart attack? It’s likely he had underlying issues such as poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle.
Now: Ever know someone who seemed fine until the bankruptcy? Chances are he had issues, too, such as compulsive spending or champagne tastes and a tap-water budget.
He’s not alone: According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation, 57 percent of U.S. adults struggle financially.
We get annual physicals because catching a problem early beats trying to cure an entrenched ailment. Our finances need checkups, too.
Conferences are always good for odd bits of swag: mouse pads, Post-It notes, bathtub toys.
I was a little more selective at this year’s Financial Blogger Conference, because my suitcase wasn’t very big.
Too, I kept a couple of items for myself:
RepayDebt.org’s “Slash Debt” T-shirt, which bore a piggy-bank head with long black curls and a top hat. (Get it? I didn’t, either, until my daughter reminded me of the existence of the Guns ’n’ Roses musician Slash.)
A squeezable foam “stress bull” – not because I’m stressed, but because I thought it might amuse DF’s granddaughter. He looks a bit incongruous in the cloth Noah’s Ark, since he’s twice as big as the other critters, but I’m sure they’ll work something out.
Purple socks printed with stylized pennies, from Pennyhoarder.com. They’re reversible to plain purple if you care what people think about your accessories. (Hint: I think they’re cool.)
But I still came away with a few things someone will want.
The conference is all over, including the shoutin’, and I am as flat as week-old cola. Time-zone changes have never bothered me before but this time around I simply couldn’t fall asleep on time.
The four-hour time difference meant that even a midnight bedtime felt like mid-evening to me.
Bonus: I developed a charming habit of waking up every hour or so to see if it was time to wake up yet.
To make a short story long – a talent that came in really handy when I went back to school – I’m too tired to promise that I’d get myself to the Panera tomorrow, as I’d tentatively planned. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the idea.
The 2015 Financial Blogger Conference starts today in Charlotte, NC, and once again I’m among my people.
Not rich people necessarily, but people who are nerdy enough about money and blogging not to be bored by conversations about compound interest and Google algorithms.
Is it any wonder that some relationships — and at least one marriage — have resulted from this annual money geeks meetup?
Last year I wondered how these romances began. Was it finding someone with similar financial values? Noticing that this person’s eyelids didn’t droop when you mentioned retirement planning?
Or maybe it was just the two free drink tickets that come with the receptions.
I never expected to eat a delicious meal on an airplane. Frankly, I never expect to have a reasonably edible meal on a plane – that’s why I bring my own food.
But flying back from the Financial Blogger Conference I was given a chance to eat celeriac puree for the first time, along with beef short rib bordelaise and green beans.
These things were prefaced by an appetizer salad: a few strips of hot-smoked salmon, a small pile of chopped cucumber and tomato, a few fancy salad greens and a dab of dill crème frache. Oh, and a pecan tart for dessert.
Celeriac puree is pretty tasty, and the appetizer salad was so good that I wanted it to be the entrée. In fact, the foods almost made up for getting the first-class stinkeye. Almost.
I’ve discovered the secret to maturity, or at least to the appearance of maturity. This wasn’t what I expected to learn at the Financial Blogger Conference.
Yesterday I had breakfast with the other FinCon14 volunteers. (Fun fact: We’re called “Finions.”) We ate at a place called Café Beignet, because while in New Orleans it’s not just a good idea to eat beignets – it’s the law.
Incidentally, let’s take a moment to call the beignet what it really is: a square funnel cake. Really delicious, but not the doughnut-y sort of pastry I’d expected. Besides, “funnel cake” is easier to say. Whenever I try to pronounce any French word I sound like an idiot.
Once again I’ve been chosen to present a program at the Financial Blogger Conference, which takes place Sept. 18-20 in New Orleans.
According to the organizer, Phil Taylor, I’m apparently the only person who’s been involved all four years. So I guess it’s really not just me who likes to hear myself talk.
The “early bird” pricing ends at 11:59 p.m. Monday, June 30. So if you’re a blogger or want to be one, sign up now for the best deal (more on that in a minute).
Or just attend because you’re intrigued by personal finance and/or would like to hear writers talk about what they do.
A couple of weeks ago I had the Plutus Awards giveaway: a backpack full of goodies given to winners of the awards, along with fun stuff picked up in the expo hall at the Financial Blogger Conference. This week I’ve got a prize that’s almost as good as that one.
Crystal, who blogs at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, donated her backpack o’treats to the giveaway cause. Thanks to her and also to my daughter, who donated some of her expo hall swag, we’ve got what I guess could be described as the Miss Congeniality Awards giveaway: It’s super-nice and super-fun, but not quite as tip-top as the first-place winner.
A nice little backpack with a “State Farm” logo on it has been filled with, among other things:
I’ll be at the St. Louis Bread Company, 116 N. 6th St., starting at 7 a.m. on Monday. Anyone who wants to meet for coffee and one of their distressingly good pastries is cordially invited to join me.
Just look for the bottle blonde who seems very tired yet oddly keyed-up. Conferences do that to me. I’ll have my battered MacBook open and will be drinking far too much Diet Pepsi.
On the bright side: thanks to my Panera Rewards card, I will get my pastry for free. Although I like to think I’ll have a whole-grain bagel, lightly toasted with just a touch of canola-based margarine, that’s probably not going to happen.
We’re having a swell time at the Financial Blogger Conference — almost as much fun as those Cardinal fans had last night. I’d like to thank the city of St. Louis for the fireworks display after you guys cinched the World Series: We had a primo view of the pyrotechnics from our hotel window.
To paraphrase the poet, we have eaten not wisely but too well. For more on that, see “Food food glorious food” at I Pick Up Pennies (which just happens to be the People’s Choice winner at the 2013 Plutus Awards.)