I’ve been listening to a lot of personal finance podcasts lately, and what I’m hearing suggests that the times, they are a-changing. “Goals” are out; “stages” are in. “Retirement” is out; “encores” are in. Is anything really different or, just as prunes are now sold as dried plums, are we simply giving new labels to the same familiar concepts?  

That was the bill from today’s visit to the auto repair shop. So it seems that my “buy (used) and hold” strategy is validated. Or is it? The $35.16 fixed only the detached rearview mirror. The other two issues remain in limbo, both in terms of what needs to be done -  if anything -  and the cost.  

My recent posts related my Financial Grownup moment and the lessons learned as a result, specifically my “buy (used) and hold” strategy of car ownership. This included a comment about the possible downside of this strategy: higher maintenance costs. But I observed, in general, that the impact of this downside was modest. It seems that was enough to provoke instant karma to come looking for me. 

In my previous blog post, I described how I learned the difference between the insurance terms “replacement cost” and “actual value”… the hard way. Not to mention the expensive way: through first-hand experience, that often unwelcome catalyst of growth. And grow I did. I became, if not entirely a financial grownup, a different person around money.

On the podcast I was listening to today, the guest was Bobbi Rebell, author of "How to Be a Financial Grownup: Proven Advice from High Achievers on How to Live Your Dreams and Have Financial Freedom.” In the book, she relates the stories of various business leaders who share the early life financial lessons that helped to mold them. This got me to thinking about my own “financial grown-up” moments. One of the more dramatic, high-impact ones happened during my “freshman year of life.”