This week I’m kicking off a three-part series. We are going to squash groupthink one week at a time. Feel free to read weekly or binge at the end. First up: fighting personal finance groupthink. What is “groupthink”? Groupthink is the practice of thinking or making decisions in line with a particular group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. Remember the Occupy Wall Street movement? Remember “We are the 99%“? This phrase directly refers to the income and wealth in the United States that is concentrated among the top earning 1% of people. It reflects an opinion that the “99%” are paying the price so that the…

I recently shared my Biggest Money Mistakes. We’ve all made mistakes in life that caused us some amount of financial or social discomfort. It is much easier to suppress the memories rather than pass those lessons learned on to others. It would be even better if we passed those experiences and results on to our children, rather than hiding them. In a previous piece, Quit Screwing up Your Kids, I provided a few resources to get you started on how to share a growth mindset with your children. This year I am challenging my own children, and I thought I’d share this idea with you, too. Over the course of the next…

Is there a better way to ingratiate yourself with a group of people than by sharing your biggest financial screw-ups with them?! That’s what I intend to do this week. I am going to share the mistakes I made in my life, but I’m also going to share with you what action or practice I think has made the greatest difference in overcoming the errs in decision making. As a sophomore college student, I got a job as a Resident Assistant at the University of Florida. I won’t even pretend to remember what it paid me, but I was pretty excited. I had a scholarship for school, and as an…

It may be time that we re-adjust our priorities. I received a Facebook message last week from a good friend of mine. He said, “This seems like they channeled you when making this.” He then provided a link to Jay Shetty’s video entitled “Before You Waste Time”. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and watch it; I guarantee you won’t feel like you wasted your time. The video reminded me so clearly of why 3AT exists: to push one another to be the best version of ourselves, and to take weekly actionable steps in the areas of relationship building, personal development, and personal finance in order to live a…

[Runner-up for the title of this piece was “Perfection is Bovine Feces”. Only time will tell if I chose wisely…] Last week we talked about the practice of “Moving Relationships to the Right”. This week we are turning our focus toward consistency and NOT beating ourselves up for missing perfection. Let’s kick it off with a poem: I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me, and I will be able to do them quickly,…