.This woman went from deep debt to retirement riches in a few years by teaching herself financial literacy

By Alessandra Malito

Published: Oct 5, 2019 12:21 p.m. ET

 The Brooklyn native grew up in a low-income neighborhood with a family working hard to make a living.

Within five years, Yanely Espinal has gone from $20,000 in debt to a net worth of $100,000.

Yanely Espinal knows what the power of a financial education — she came from a low-income home with two parents and nine children, and ended up with credit card and student loan debt even after receiving a full scholarship to college.

The Brooklyn native said she often saw a difference between herself and some of the wealthier students around her. She attended high school near Lincoln Center in Manhattan, where many students wore brand-name clothes and returned from holiday break with the latest gadgets.

When she went to Brown University, her friends were often going bowling or eating at Chipotle, CMG, +1.06%  activities she couldn’t afford on a regular basis.

So she opened her first credit card at 18 years old, with a $1,500 limit. “I never had that much money before,” she said. She used that credit card — and three others she opened during her college years — for textbooks and a laptop, as well as trips to the movies and restaurants.

By the time she graduated, she had nearly $20,000 in debt — $15,000 in credit card debt and $5,000 from a student loan. Her credit card interest rates were around 21%.

.What Does It Take To Get Rich?

Hillary Hoffower  Dec. 29, 2018

 A researcher who studied more than 600 millionaires found the same 2 qualities helped them get rich

 According to a researcher who studied more than 600 millionaires, to build wealth, you need two qualities: resilience and perseverance.

 These qualities are characteristics of those who can afford to retire early and entrepreneurs who become self-made millionaires.

It takes conscious effort to develop resiliency and perseverance.

What does it take to get rich?

 It may seem like building wealth is impossible, but it takes two qualities that anyone can develop to do it: resilience and perseverance.

 That's according to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, coauthor of " The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth" and the director of research for the Affluent Market Institute.

.13 Money Goals To Improve Your Finances For Good

Personal Finance - Millionaire Mob - June 6, 2019

These crucial money goals will set you off on the right track with your personal finances… for good once and for all.

13 Money Goals To Improve Your Finances For Good

Here’s the reality. A lot of want to improve our finances but many of us don’t know how to do it or don’t even know where to start.

Believe it or not:

Improving finances starts with having money goals and working through steps to reach those goals. For example, if your goal is to be a doctor, you need to get your college degree, go to medical school, get the training you need, pass the medical board exam, among others.

If you’re one of those people with money goals, kudos to you. You’re one step ahead of many people. If you don’t have money goals yet, don’t worry there is still time to make those.

That time is now.

A lot of us have money goals in mind. Some would like to increase their wealth (i.e., become rich fast) in a few years, some would want to buy a car or a house, and some want something else.

This post will exactly detail some of the money goals you could get inspiration from. Better yet, you can literally use these goals and call them your own.

.Begging for Money: The Beggar’s Guide to Getting it Together

 By Melissa @ Perfection Hangover

Has begging for money become the new norm? It seems that the internet has become an easy way for people to become online panhandlers. I’ve shared many ways to make extra money from home, online, and even creative side hustle ideas (ie “Dave jobs” for all of you Dave Ramsey fans).

From Cyber Beg to Begging Money, there’s no shortage of sites available to ask strangers for financial help.

But at some point, you have to get your financial shit together and take responsibility for your own successes and failures.

Here are five ways to get it done.

Step 1: Evaluate your Income

Do you make enough money to support yourself, your partner, and/or your kids? According to the US Census Bureau, median household income was $61,372 in 2017. Income is calculated including wages and salaries, as well as any kind of governmental entitlement such as unemployment insurance, disability payments or child support payments received, along with any personal business, investment, or other recurring sources of income for all persons over the age of 15 in the household (whether related or not).

If you aren’t currently earning enough money, find ways to make extra cash, such as starting an online business or donating blood plasma for up to $400 per month.

These Are The 7 Mistakes Six-Figure Earners Make

By Clint Haynes

Earning a six-figure salary can make building wealth easier, but it’s not a magic solution for your financial woes. Earning a high income is only one part of the equation. If you want to be financially secure, you need to make your money work for you.

A high paycheck can make it easy to gloss over financial mistakes since you can still cover your bills. However, if you want to build wealth rather than an inflated lifestyle, you need to focus on reaching your full financial potential.

Most of the mistakes that six-figure earners make are easy to fix. Here’s how to use that high income to your advantage and build your net worth.

.When Lying to Yourself Pays Off

By Charlotte Cowles

The Cut’s financial advice columnist Charlotte Cowles answers readers’ personal questions about personal finance. Email your money conundrums to mytwocents@nymag.com

Some depressing (but unsurprising) news for optimists: We are delusional. Things generally take longer, cost more, and have a higher chance of going awry than we think they will, and there’s not much we can do about it.

We should probably know better than to cling to our unrealistic expectations, but somehow we never learn. This persistent phenomenon (known as optimism bias) afflicts about 80 percent of humans, according to Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist at University College London.

While optimism has its benefits, it’s not exactly great for financial planning. It causes people to underestimate the likelihood that they’ll experience expensive, commonplace setbacks like injury, market downturns, or a leak in the roof.

Almost all entrepreneurs test high for optimism — and most of their businesses fail. And on a larger scale, optimism bias can cost billions: A Harvard study of 33 countries found that most government agencies were overly confident in their budget planning, particularly when times were flush, resulting in large deficits.

.Personal Finance 101: How To Teach Yourself to Succeed with Money

Invested Wallet

Personal Finance 101 is the beginning steps you can take to really become self-sufficient with your money. It will include various areas like understanding expenses, creating a budget, saving and investing basics, and more.

Many of these concepts may appear difficult to manage or that you must be highly educated to do so on your own. But you — and anyone — can teach themselves to succeed with money.

You don’t need to be an expert to manage your finances and you can have little to no previous background, but still gain control financially.

Below, I’ll share some of the steps I took to teach myself and hopefully you can apply this to your own personal finances. Will it be easy? No. But it’s certainly not extremely challenging either.

.11 Steps to Make $1 Million Last 30 Years in Retirement

Derek Silva, CEPF®  | OCT 02, 2018

The average life expectancy in the U.S. has increased dramatically from about 70 in 1967 to about 80 in 2017. Those who reach age 65 also have a one in five chance of living into their 90s. A longer life is great news. It means you have time to check more off your bucket list.

At the same time, it means you need to plan for a longer retirement. If you retire at 65, a 30-year retirement is quite possible. Even if you save $1 million for your retirement, you have to make sure to budget it out so it lasts.

Here are 11 steps to set yourself up for a happy retirement without draining your savings too soon.