Growing up, I was a words person. Numbers didn’t really exist in my world. At the age of sixteen when I got my first job, and my first bank account, I managed to bounce a few checks as the result of living in a numberless world. When I went off to college I stopped bouncing checks, but I still didn’t balance or reconcile my checkbook. I simply remembered to look at my bank statement online before making major purchases. Sound familiar?

By the time I was in my mid-twenties, my dad had done an excellent job at drilling the dangers of debt into my head. I didn’t have a credit card until I was out of college, and even then I carried a zero balance. So I entered adult life debt free, and intended to stay that way. However, I didn’t have a game plan for doing so. With meager savings, a modest income, no budget and expensive taste I was quickly headed for trouble…

To read the rest of this story visit the She Seeks website. Derek, a 25-year-old-finanical coach, will also be available all week to field YOUR questions about money.