Looking back at the history of human behavior, it’s clear that something is ingrained in our psychological makeup that drives us to form communities, big or small, in-person or online, so that we can feel part of something we are passionate about!

I’ve always believed we are the sum of those whom we choose to surround ourselves with.  Outside of family, we are most often surrounded by people in our selected communities. Choosing which groups to interact with on a regular basis can have a tremendous effect on our future behaviors, in both positive or negative ways, depending on who’s in that circle of ours.

On the forefront of my mind is the strong sense of community I feel in my home’s neighborhood. Recently, my husband and I helped to host the Garden District’s Annual Champagne Stroll. We were the last home on the route, where we enjoyed meeting new neighbors, drinking some bubbly, and listening to music under the oaks and lights.  Our conversations were personal yet light-heated, and we were able to come together for a moment in time because of a common interest – our love of historic homes, and champagne of course!

Read more about the event (which I’m giving myself photo cred for) here: Baton Rouge Garden District Champagne Stroll 2018

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So what’s this all have to do with Simplifynance?  

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Simplifynance is my NEW community, where I’m truly passionate about bringing people together to discuss something often thought of as off-limits….Money.  Money is a tricky topic – It’s personal, it can bring happiness and/or sadness, and it fuels all the goals and desires we have in life.  And more often than not, people can sometimes feel either guilt or embarrassment for not having everything figured out.  Understandably, we aren’t jumping at an opportunity to talk about our personal finances!  

Call me crazy, but I envision a day where we have a strong community that embodies how I felt the day of the Champagne Stroll – a group of different families with different goals all coming together on occasion to share in a similar belief: It’s actually really cool to be good with your money.

We may not share the intimate details of our balance sheet or what our accounts are invested in, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that you’re not in it alone?  Wouldn’t it be awesome to have someone else to chest bump with when you hit that goal!?  Can you picture a night where we share a glass of our favorite beverage while we pump one another up about what’s next on our family’s list and how we’re going to get there?  

It’s not a new statistic that individuals make more progress overall by partnering with a financial advisor early on in life.  So if that’s the case, I’m doubling down on what progress we can make and what positive effect it will bring to us all by coming together as a fun financially-aware Simplifynance community!!

I promise I didn’t write this with the intention to invite you to be part of our community, but this seems like the perfect lead-in:

Take the first step in joining our community by subscribing to updates and following us on all the usual social media suspects: Connect with Us

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Written by: Rachel Stewart