Welcome to Pennies Not Perfection!
I've been oversharing my life online for over a decade now and Pennies Not Perfection is the ultimate connection of where my communication and passion meet: talking about handling money without stress and anxiety.
Over the years after I graduated college I taught myself the basics personal finance by reading personal finance blogs, books and magazines. I knew that I was doing it wrong when I felt overwhelmed and stressed every paycheck.
I also knew that debt could ruin my life. I'd seen my half-sister take her life due to debt and depression and I'd seen my mom lose her house to foreclosure. I know that without knowledge and a plan, I'd likely end up in a bad situation because I'd seen it happen to the people closest to me.
That desire for financial success and knowledge led me on a decade long adventure to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt, $22,000 in student loans, and $43,000 in parent plus loans, which I'm currently still tackling, along with paying off a car and cash-flowing a wedding and multiple large vaations. It's also inspired me to buy a home, invest my money for the future, and learn how to budget and cut impulse spending.
There is no one path to financial success. I pull from different "financial gurus" taking the advice that works for our family and leaving the rest. There's no one size fits all plan.
Ultimately I've learned you don't have to be perfect with your financial decisions to win. You just have to make a choice, pay attention, and keep learning. Perfection is not required to win with money.
In the decade of learning about personal finance, I've made plenty of mistakes. There is always more to learn and our world and stage of life is constantly changing and requiring adjustments.
Today I'm working on this brand, Pennies Not Perfection because I want to inspire other women to take control of their financial futures. To learn how to budget. To learn how to deal with the emotions and problems around impulsive and emotional spending. To start or increase investing for a beautiful and secure future.
On this blog and my YouTube channel I plan to continue sharing our own journey to financial success for inspiration along with sharing tips, tools, and information that might work for your situation too. Remember that I'm always still figuring money out and am not a financial planner. More of a financial motivator, because I know that YOU have the strength and ability to learn about money and make good choices for yourself.
If you've ever internalized the messages from society that you're bad at math or not good with money or not smart enough to invest, let them go now. None of that is true and you are 100% capable of winning with your money.
I'm not a financial expert or a financial advisor, but I am a financial encourager. I will be here to motivate you and encourage you every step of the way.
I hope my experience and transparency helps you see that you too are capable of doing anything. You've got this!
Mary is the founder of Pennies Not Perfection where she shares her journey to build wealth through online income. She quit her day job in 2021 after she paid off her debt and doubled her 9-5 salary.
Mary's favorite free financial tool is Personal Capital. She uses their free tools to track net worth and work toward to financial freedom.
Her favorite investment platform is M1 Finance, where she built a custom portfolio for free with no fees. She shares her portfolio growth and savings progress every month on YouTube.