beginner

I graduated college at 21 with a professional writing degree, a couple bucks in my checking account, and absolutely zero understanding of how money actually works. Sixteen years of formal education and nobody had once sat me down to explain compound interest, retirement accounts, or what a mutual fund even was. I could recite Shakespeare and solve a quadratic equation, but ask me what a dividend was? Blank stare. Back then, investing felt like something that belonged to a different universe — Wall Street guys in tailored suits, Bloomberg terminals, confusing jargon flying around. Not for someone like me, who…