Grown Up

This guest post is from Werner Rogers.

Well, after five long years of undergrad at The University of Georgia, I finally walked through that arch – degree in hand – and spent the summer mentally preparing for my first “big girl” job in July. After 4 interviews with Chick-Fil-A Corporate as a marketing team member, I was worried that the marketing director would see sparkling dollar signs in my eyes when he offered me the position. At that moment, I was certainly not thinking about the early morning Starbucks runs, the mid-day energy crashes or the late nights I’d spent mulling over some mediocre ad idea. The only thing on my mind walking out of that office was direct deposit every two weeks. I received all kinds of budget advice from family and friends: “Save it.” “Invest it.” “Come shopping with me!” I couldn’t be forced to choose just one, so I took all my friends’ advice and invested my first two months pay in Nordstrom clothes that I will save for years. My mom didn’t think that was funny either. And as soon as I wake up tomorrow, I’m going to have to call and ask for help paying my power bill. Pray for me.