Q: Where do I start?

A: If you haven't had a lot of experience with something, the natural tendency is to do what you think everyone else is doing. When it comes to money, it seems like the "popular" view of managing money is keeping up with the Jones'. The Jones' spend everything they earn and in most cases, spend more than they earn by going into debt. Sooner or later, one little hiccup along the way, and the Jones' will realize they are actually broke.

Albert Einstein said, "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." No matter what point in your life you are at, it's time to set some un-"popular" goals. Nicole and I have a few goals that we are working on. In the near future, we are trying to pay off our car and student loans. After that we want to buy a home. Eventually we want to enjoy financial freedom from any and all forms of debt, so that we can live life to the fullest and help others. What are your goals?

My challenge is to decide to be un-"popular." Decide to be different. Write some goals down. Share your goals with someone, preferably your spouse if you have one. If you can figure out the why and the what, then figuring out the how will become much easier.

Q: What makes you a money expert?

A: While I'm no expert, I can trace my passion for learning about money back to three qualities I developed as a kid: organization, planning, and record-keeping.

Growing up, my mom rarely asked me to clean my room. I'm pretty sure I have a genetic defect, because putting my toys back in their proper place was almost as fun as playing with them. This organizational complex reared it's neat and tidy head during the rare occurrence that my mom cleaned up after me, and I would proceed to put the "cleaned-up" toys where they really belonged. As a teenager, I would volunteer to organize our storage or garage. On my mission, I became known as Mr. Clean, because I would gut-out missionary apartments of all the clothes, furniture, and other useless crap that "the next missionary just might need." Fortunately for me, my wife Nicole shares a normal portion of my passion, and it is rare to find much clutter in our home.

Board games. Ask anyone in my family about Rog and Monopoly, and I'm pretty sure the responses would range from "never again" to "I finally won after he left on his mission." Most would just write it off (sorry for the accounting term) to my competitive nature, but it's actually because I'm patient and relentless enough to follow a plan. Knowing I would be serving a mission when I turned 19, I started saving my money at an early age to help pay for it. It is valuable to set goals, but executing and even adjusting your plans to reach your goals can be just as important.

I don't think there is a better story in understanding why finances and accounting are right up my alley than the following. One of my favorite things to do was play sports video games. My brother Richard and I would start a season of Soccer Shootout on our Super Nintendo and play for hours. There was just one problem, the game didn't save any stats. That just wouldn't work for me, so I created a spreadsheet to keep track of anything and everything. If my wife would let me, I don't think anyone would be surprised if I named our third child Excel.

While I'm no finance guru, the combination of my personality, learning, and experiences gives me just enough confidence to venture into the great blogging unknown. My goal is to shine some light on a topic that can be uncomfortable and misunderstood. I don't have a get-rich-quick scheme or money tree to offer, but I've seen and made enough mistakes in my short 25 years to know that the best cure for money worries is a good dose of common sense.