Finance
I can't remember if I've ever panicked about this on the blog, but the last several months, I have been feeling increasingly worried about not having learned or knowing anything about finance (personal or otherwise) and investing. Learning about investing is somewhat useless at this point in time as I don't actually have much time and/or money to do it properly, but I decided to rectify the other part (and gain some marketable job skills in the process) by taking a course in the financing of healthcare organizations. It's an introductory course, so a lot of the class focuses on basic accounting principles and analysis, which is nice as those can be applicable to my personal finances as well. But oh man, for someone whose complete understanding of finance came from a semester-long Economics class (macro and micro and a weird giant project that as far as I know had only the smallest bit to do with actual economics) in high school, it's intense and hard work.
Relevant xkcd.
However, I love it. At the beginning of the semester one of my friends said, "There's something very satisfying about balanced books. You'll see," and I didn't believe her at the time. I never thought I'd say this, but I really enjoyed learning to produce the different kinds of financial statements. Loans and bonds, however, are just are boring as I'd anticipated.
I'm excited to be learning a new skill, though! Especially in a sort of self-propagated way! I mean, I know nobody in their right mind is going to hire me as an accountant based on my new-found skills, but it's rewarding enough that now I can see something previously unfamiliar presented and at least have a vague idea of what's going on (and know that I have that vague idea because I took the initiative to try and learn the thing). Are there new skills/crafts/trades that you've picked up? How'd you go about learning them?
Relevant xkcd.
However, I love it. At the beginning of the semester one of my friends said, "There's something very satisfying about balanced books. You'll see," and I didn't believe her at the time. I never thought I'd say this, but I really enjoyed learning to produce the different kinds of financial statements. Loans and bonds, however, are just are boring as I'd anticipated.
I'm excited to be learning a new skill, though! Especially in a sort of self-propagated way! I mean, I know nobody in their right mind is going to hire me as an accountant based on my new-found skills, but it's rewarding enough that now I can see something previously unfamiliar presented and at least have a vague idea of what's going on (and know that I have that vague idea because I took the initiative to try and learn the thing). Are there new skills/crafts/trades that you've picked up? How'd you go about learning them?
mugdha, that's freaking fantastic that you took the initiative! especially when you knew it wasn't your forte. i would struggle with those type of classes because it would be out of my comfort zone, and i don't enjoy math. my husband's degree is in economics so we talk about this type of stuff a lot. there's always more to learn. i wish our country required us to learn about these things in high school, since money and finances are part of living. plus doesn't it seem that it's another area where we seem to be lacking, and in need of this information?
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