Last night, I was on LifeTuner’s Live Chat. We discussed Financial Lessons Learned. All of us shared our personal stories. A group of personal finance bloggers chatted about the processes we use as individuals to learn about personal finance.

Thanks to everyone at Life Tuner. Keith was a great host and I was happy that MyLifeROI was on the panel. Thank you to everyone who was a part of the chat. I loved hearing and reading your thoughts and stories.

In case you missed the chat, here are some highlights from the show.

Chatting with others on finances is really helpful.

Pearls of Wisdom

• You are your number one advocate! @MyLifeROI
• Income diversification – blogging, knitting — what do you do?! @MyLifeROI offers up his labor, like painting houses!
• “Don’t get stressed out by money that you’re not enjoying it!”
• Don’t let Gov’t credits affect your decision! @mattjabs
• “Discuss values before you discuss numbers, make sure you’re headed in the same direction” @stephonee
• Online banking double edge sword: makes it easier to balance checkbook, but makes you lazier to check balance!@freefromdebtgy
• “make it about yourself, not about them when talking about personal finances – easier to relate to others” @onemoneydesign
• people who you know for advice. they will be flattered and you’ll get great advice @abudgetformamiask
• “People love to be ‘experts’, so just ask them to be your personal finance mentors” – @Green_Panda
• “There is a light at the end of the tunnel and you CAN change your ways” – @misformoney

Bloggers on the Chat

• My Life ROI
• Debt Free Adventure
• Free From Broke
• Free from Debt Guy
• Man vs Debt
• M is for Money
• Poorer Than You

Financial Mistakes I Made

We opened up the chat with introductions and sharing some of our financial mistakes. I shared some of my difficulties with credit cards in college.

Finding Personal Finance Mentors and Encouraging Others

We talked a bit of having money consciousness and getting mentors to help us with our personal finances. It can be difficult to talk to others about finances. A lot of people want to be the experts, so compliment others on what they do right and ask them how they did it.

The group also bounced ideas on how we could nudge and encourage our loved one to make better financial choices. Leading by example is key because no one likes to feel that they’re being lectured to. If you’ve eliminated debt or lowered your bills, then you can have more of an influence than just talking about it.

Be open and talk about it without becoming judgemental to keep natural and open.  Presenting the personal finance issues as a swap of ideas can really get the ball rolling.

Online Banking and This Generation’s Finances

Keith asked about what has changed with personal finances with this generation. We discussed how older generations focus on frugality and now it’s more about what we want. Access to credit cards and instant gratification has become the norm with many people.

Online banking has been a huge change with finances, both positive and negative. I personally found online banking a lot easier to track my finances. We use online banking to handle our joint bills and to transfer money into our high interest savings account. Bill mention that it can be a double edged sword. Ms. M has never balanced a checkbook, but she does keep a spreadsheet. She likes the instant access and almost real time transactions with online banking.

Financial Mistakes with Real Estate

Bill shared his story with buying  home while paying for the first house. He gotten sound advice from one person, but he ignored it. Others kept telling him it was a smart move since the real estate market was so ‘hot’.

She had bought a house in 2005 and is currently underwater. Her neighbors bought a house 1/3 of what she paid for, so it’s definitely discouraging. I shared how buying a house is such an emotional issue even after knowing from others what to expect. We have been careful with upgrades we’re getting. Basically we’re comparing the costs of getting it now and doing it ourselves down the road.

Keith wondered should someone buy a house to take an advantage of the tax credit. Several bloggers encouraged him to wait it out. Some people believe that home prices are going to be lower with foreclosures due to unemployment happening now. Others point out the costs of home ownership is much more than just renting, so running the numbers is important.

Don’t buy a house you can’t afford seemed to be the consensus. Find out for yourself if it would be better to rent or to buy.

Listen to Chat

If you found these topics interesting, you must check out and listen to the chat. I just highlighted a few bits from the show, but there is a ton of information and stories to learn from.

Photo Credit: glennharper

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