This is the last in our series on Groupthink. Don’t be sad – you can always revisit the previous two pieces. In Part 1 we talked about being a personal finance superhuman, and in Part 2 we covered why “follow your passion” is terrible advice for personal and professional development. Last but certainly not least, we are going to discuss relationships: specifically, how do we maximize our relationships with others to become the best version of ourselves? THE REALITY America has a loneliness epidemic. According to a recent study, only around half of Americans (53%) say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions with others. Experts are deeming loneliness as…

Last week in Part 1 of our “Avoiding Groupthink” series, we talked about being a Personal Finance Superhuman. Now it’s time to talk about the personal/professional development side of the equation. How do we maximize our life experiences to become the best and happiest version of ourselves? In today’s world this is proving quite a challenge. THE REALITY The United States has a happiness problem and a serious lack of passion. Life is sensationalized in the shows we watch: the fictional characters’ homes are larger, cars are flashier, and vacations are more lavish than our own. Pair that with the never-ending life highlights of our friends and internet personalities delivered…

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…