Starting Fires
July 12, 2008
“Since June 21, a total of 1,781 fires have burned 675,631 acres throughout California and have cost $276 million to fight, according to state and federal fire reports.”
It’s funny how these things start. An unusual summer lightening storm ignited wildfires that has impacted an entire state. Just a few weeks before hundreds of fires began burning in California another spark was ignited and the resulting fire is still raging.
This is the story of our fire. You see, we’re a little like arsonists cleverly disguised as writers.
In the Beginning…
On June 3rd MSN Money poster Firebird. wrote: “Hey, startsmart, you gave me an idea this morning reading your posts on Mia’s retirement thread.” (continued) “If I remember correctly, your main point was that there is an audience for what Mia has to say, and that you enjoy reading it even if she doesn’t have everything figured out. I thought about the fact that you and I like to write and we’re both in our early 20s, and I came up with the idea of collaborating on an article for MSN that basically talks about smart, doable choices that young people can make in order to, well, start smart financially from the perspective of two people making them. I’ve often felt like maybe our generation wouldn’t be quite so bad with money if they were shown how easy it is to make the right choices by someone their age. So anyway, that was my thought. Pointing myself out as one of the people who is doing some things right is where the self flattering part came in (though I don’t claim to have all the answers, by any means). So anyhow, that was my idea.”
The idea was brilliant. The ideal of teaching smarter financial choices early and often was brilliant. Our brainchild was born. The next logical step?
…we created the heavens and the earth
Well, kinda. More like we laid the groundwork and discussed our dreams. We got to know each other and our values. This little project would certainly wither and die if we had widely different views on finances and life unless we got along really well and could do a little point-counterpoint deal without scratching one another’s eyes out. As it turns out we have loads in common. To aid communication and feel special we created our own email to help schedule writing times and exchange ideas. By this time a single spark had grown into a full fledged fire and our email, weDIDstartthefire@gmail.com, went live.
Our wonderful moderator promoted our new email and asked the posters to send us stories of their own financial downfalls and recovery. Specifically we asked what posters wished they had known in their 20s, what they would tell young people if those folks would listen and what they “coulda, shoulda, woulda” done had they known better. The response was both overwhelming and encouraging. The more stories we heard the more our ideas list grew. The more people told us to write the more we found to write about.
Creating an animal…
What began as a two-article concept has become a full fledged zoo in chaos and the result is an inbred mishmash of ideas. Two articles have beget two dozen (we’re talking rabbit style begetting here), an email address has beget an official looking website and during long nights and copious alcohol consumption a summer book tour has been planned (no book on the schedule yet, ironically..).
…conquering the beast.
As masters of our little piece of Eden, a wonderful land that closely resembles Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, we found that there was a simpler way to build our empire, uh um, literary career. Our goal remains to publish a series of articles for the 20-something who wants to learn more about how to manage money. This blog will hopefully provide us an avenue to do so. How, you ask? We have no freakin’ idea! Who do you think we are? Some kind of diety? Don’t know where you got that idea, psssh!
It started with a spark…
Two chicks on the same message board living 3,000 miles apart with similar upbringing, shared geography, goals and mutual respect. It proved to be a lightening rod that ignited an inferno. The conditions were right and just like a wildfire out of control we are, well, out of control. We can’t undo the spark of creativity and invention from that fateful June day nor do we want to. By no means do we think we’re the first to write to the 20 year old financial novice nor the first to blog but we do know fires are contagious. That’s our goal: mass infection.
…or was it a big bang?
At the date of this post, 18,954 firefighters are battling 323 fires that threaten 15,751 homes and buildings and have forced the evacuation of thousands, according to Bloomberg.com. In some ways we feel a little like firefighters bouncing from one front to another tackling the devastation of credit card debt, negative loan amortization, financial illiteracy, budget meltdowns and premium subscriptions that threaten the house of financial security for millions of our peers. We’re anxious to get started publishing and harness this amazing energy for the good of others.
In one week we’ll meet under smoke filled skies in California to plan the next stages of this beautiful disaster. Until then, your friendly neighborhood fire starters are signing out. We’ve got a fire to tend to.
Firebird. & Startsmart
