Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

Why is this important...to me?

Have you ever asked yourself those questions? I know as I'm at the age of trying to create memories, have great experiences and live life to its fullest while following God's plan for my life, those questions seem to have an ever evolving answer. But me being the analytical type, I tend to break problems and questions down, piece by piece to find a bit of clarity in the gray zones of life. So lets take this question by question.

Why is this important?
I take interest in so many things from finance and food, to football, fashion and fitness, but above all of those is God. That's what I find interesting. I prioritize learning more about finance everyday and exploring new dishes to cook for my family and friends. I make sure I spend time reading my Bible and praying so I can draw closer to The One who gave me life. So the first question brings me to this answer: This is important because this is what I find interesting.

Why is this important?
There is a thing called inflection and it basically is how we as people can have a conversation and distinguish the words that others emphasize to decipher the message and intent of a question or statement. This question may look the same, but they definitely sound different if you emphasize the is versus the this. This question is loaded, despite being only four words. It's like asking someone "what is the point?"

Things that interest you spark that little match that lives in each person called desire and passion. Its not all the time that all your interests ignite the passion match, but definitely there is at least one that will start a fire you cannot contain. For me, finance is that one thing besides God.

What you are passionate about sometimes comes out in the most obvious ways. For example if anyone was to ask me a question about investing, I could talk for 20 minutes straight without breathing. That's super obvious, but there are less than obvious ways that show I'm passionate about investing. And that's how much time I spend researching, building my own portfolio and trying to encourage others to invest too. So why is this important? Because this is my passion.

Why is this important...to me?
I've always found interest in stock market investing. My dad introduced me to this concept at a pretty young age. I was reporting the close of the Dow Jones Industrial and the S&P 500 on a day to day basis to my dad during the 5:00pm news at ages 7 or 8. That was the fuel...the spark came the day I graduated from the University of Richmond.

At age 21, I opened my personal brokerage account with a $0 balance. I was so excited and I knew exactly what I was going to buy when I could afford to make my first purchase. January 2012, I dropped my first little bit of cash on the market and bought exactly what I wanted, but that wasn't enough. I joined my dad's investment group and quickly became "that member" that does way too much research and was spit fire with the latest on some of the companies that the group had shares of, and other companies I thought we should buy. My dad was proud, but that still wasn't enough for me.

January 2014, The Voluntary Exchange, L.L.C. was formed from a simple Facebook post to my friends about anyone interested in joining an investment group. I wanted to share what I knew with people my own age. My friends. My family. But as you would suspect, this still isn't enough for me. Why is this not enough? Because I believe this is my purpose.

As the daughter of an educator, I know the value of an education. As the daughter of a man who built the "American Dream" for his family pulling himself up from the country side of SC, to becoming one of the highest IT managers at a Fortune 500 company, I know the importance of opportunity. I want to provide both education and opportunity to any and everyone who will listen to me about investing and personal finance in general. I don't claim to know it all, but I do have a little bit of experience, education and a passion to continuously learn and grow on my side. I just want to share it.

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