About

Hi, I’m Todd, a licensed (Missouri) attorney living in St. Louis.  I’m married to a wonderful woman named Rachel, the love of my life and the best thing about me.  I’m originally from a small town in Southeast Missouri, just north of the bootheel.  I studied English and Economics during my undergraduate years.  While in college, I wrote about sports for my college paper.  During and since then, I’ve done a slew of random jobs.  I’ve worked on a road crew laying asphalt, loaded trucks for UPS, fried fish, waited tables at numerous restaurants, painted apartments, hung drywall, tended bar at a happenin’ Cajun place, sold real estate, taught high school and bailed hay on my way to my current career – attorney.  I want to experience as much as possible in life, and who knows what my next career will be?  My wife and I love sports, games and the outdoors.  I’m a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan.  I like to play golf, even though it’s way more expensive than it should be.  Like many people, I love books, music and movies.  I like to talk about politics from time to time, and fluctuate between being too cynical and too idealistic.  I believe in free market capitalism but think there’s more to life than the pursuit of wealth.  I like it when I’m working out and eating healthy, but deep down my favorite food is pizza.

In Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke, the author says that every writer has to ask himself (or herself) if he writes because he must.  This blog is an attempt to answer that question for myself.  There are more talented writers in the world.  There are people that know more about personal finance, investing, and self-improvement.  This is how I choose to spend part of my time.  I enjoy it.  I believe I have something to share and something to teach.  I also know I have a lot to learn, and blogging is a medium that keeps you learning.  It keeps you reading, thinking, challenging and crafting new ideas.  It allows you to test your ideas on a knowledgable and diverse audience.  Most of all, it promotes my own self-discovery.  When the life of this blog has run its course I’ll know the answer to Rilke’s question, “must I write?”

I’ve noticed that a lot of personal finance sites are maintained by people who found themselves underneath a mountain of debt.  They had an epiphany, changed their lives, and climbed out from underneath that debt.  They got where they were irresponsibly and have now altered their overall money philosophy in a way that allows them to live frugally.  That’s not me.  I think I know some things about money, personal finance and frugal living, but I haven’t emerged from the edge of bankruptcy.  I don’t intend to.  I started a personal finance blog for a different reason than those who come from that background.  I don’t think I know more or less because of this – I think it simply means I have a slightly different focus and perspective.  I don’t know what else to say about myself, except that I’m glad you’re here.  Thanks for visiting my site, and thanks for reading my weblog.  Feel free to drop me a line anytime with your comments or questions, and please consider subscribing to my RSS feed in your feed reader or by email.