I share a lot of personal information on this site. I try to be as vague as possible, but it’s hard to judge sometimes. I don’t feel that pontificating about frugality and investing has the same level of punch if I can’t bring receipts that show I follow my own advice.

We all know the dangers of the internet and the reality that it is very difficult to truly hide yourself. I think I’m a very far cry from wealthy enough to become a target of people wanting money, but the real question is, where is the value in vagueness? I could be a trust-fund baby with ten million bucks gallivanting the world and writing a niche financial blog on the glory of living cheaply while laughing on a cruise ship.

Even better, I could be a teenager in a basement advocating a lifestyle I can’t possibly have experience with. Maybe Mr. Money Mustache was a crock who started one of the biggest internet frugality movements of all time while he lit cigars off of burning $100 bills. I don’t know.

What I do know is this: we need quality and digestible financial literacy for people, and I see no reason to lack honesty in my articles. Maybe someday I will go viral or create a huge passive income stream and I’ll regret my choice, but for now I think the right way to advocate that people learn and grow their financial literacy is to be open and honest. I post real expenses, real losses, and I’ve opened up a lot of personal financial information here, but I think that authenticity is important. People who have very little and want to turn their lives around should see the positive results of disciplined investing and living below their means.

~~Miniwing~~
Investor, Stoic, Parent