Wong - Get money: live the life you want, not just the life you can afford

Writer and Executive Producer of The Big Bang Theory

Since I agreed to write this foreword, heres whats been going through my head:

1. Ive never written a foreword.

2. Im really not sure what to do.

3. Uh-oh. Im in trouble.

As a result, heres what I decided to do:

1. Panic (a great excuse to eat chocolate chip cookies).

2. Feel guilty and bad about myself. (In addition to being unable to write this foreword, I really regretted eating those chocolate chip cookies.)

3. Worry. Keep repeating, Uh-oh. Im totally in trouble.

But wait. I just remembered something. This feeling of dread and low self-esteem? Its familiar to me. What is this like? Oh, right. I know this feeling. Its how Ive felt about money for most of my life.

When I was a kid, my parents had enough money to pay the bills, but they never had any money left over. So when I became a writer on a TV show more than twenty years ago and actually had some money to spare, you know what went through my head?

1. Panic. Ive never had any money before. Im really not sure what to do.

2. Feel guilty and bad about myself. Im supposed to know what to do!

3. Worry. Uh-oh. I think Im in trouble.

And I was in trouble! I once read a study that said losing a dollar feels twice as bad as gaining a dollar. But I think for me its much more than thatI always thought losing $1 felt just as bad as making $10 felt good. I was seriously worried about the future.

I didnt realize it at the time, but being so worried about the future, Id chosen a really terrible profession. My first job as a writer at MTV had me pitching ideas on Thursday. Then, based on those ideas, my boss would tell me whether or not to come back on Monday. Thats a one-week contract, renewable every Friday.

Later, when I was working on 3rd Rock from the Sun, I went to an accountant for the first time. He asked what my future earnings would be. I told him, I could rise up the ranks of the writing staff, create a hit TV show, and make millions. Or I could never work again. So lets budget for something in between.

That level of uncertainty made me feel hopeless. Like I couldnt plan. So I swung between spending lots of money after a really good pitch meeting when I felt like I was going to work forever to not cashing my checks so I couldnt buy more things after a meeting when my ideas didnt sell. In terms of my personal finance, I was an idiot. An overeducated, very well-read idiot.

But I wasnt alone. The more people I talked to, the more I met folks who had no real idea how to handle their money. And they were ashamed, so they didnt talk about it.

Personal finance is not often taught in school. At Yale, I took microeconomics and macroeconomics, but neither of my famous Ivy League professors ever taught me that over the long haul, stock-pickingless feesdoesnt outperform investing in a simple index fund. Its Investing 101. Why didnt they tell me that on the first day?

On the second day, why didnt they teach me about compounding? .) If they had, they themselves would have been compounding the impact of their teaching.

Instead I got a job in Hollywood and feared the worst was going to happen. I read the business section to confirm my fears. And, boy, did it deliver. Something bad was always happening in the world, hinting that, eventually, something was going to upset the markets. And it would.

When the financial crisis of 2008 and 09 hit, I was ready for the world to end. But it didnt. So when the market bottomed out, I did, too, and I realized I needed a plan. I didnt need to fear the future, I just needed to recognize the uncertain things I cant control and focus on the things I can controlwhich are a lot of things.

On my journey, I started reading Kristin Wongs pieces on Lifehacker. I loved how she looked at all kinds of issues and presented the rational, healthy choices for readers while appreciating that many of us are totally neurotic and feel like were always sitting in a bathtub of fear. Her advice is like a life preserver that youll really appreciate decades from now when you actually have some retirement money to pay your bills.

Dealing with your personal financial situation can feel like the end of the world, but this book shows you that its just the start of a new onea world where you have a plan, where you take advantage of the things you can control and dont get bogged down with the things that you cant. I wish my award-winning economist professors had made this book the first piece of required reading (rather than the textbook they wrote, which cost me $100).

Its not too latefor me, for you, or for the person you give this book to!

So in conclusion, read this book and you will:

1. No longer panic about what to do with your personal finances.

2. Not feel bad when the topic of money comes up.

3. Need to find something new to worry about. Uh-oh.

I was told there would be presents.

It was Christmas morning, I was four years old, and the plastic tree sitting in the living room of our one-bedroom apartment looked a little thin. Television, department stores, neighborhood friendsthey all made it seem like Christmas was some magical day where every kid got all the toys they wanted, no questions asked. So when I noticed nothing under our sad little tree, I looked up at my mom, who must have seen this coming, and asked, Why didnt Santa bring anything?

If our lives had been a daytime TV show or a Lifetime movie, my mothers eyes would have welled up as she searched for the right explanation. I, a small and innocent child, would have learned the holidays are not about materialism, but love, family, and counting your blessings. This tender message would be the true gift, better than any Barbie doll or My Little Pony.