I am writing this post to give you a quick synopsis of my future F-inancial IL-literacy A-nd M-istakes articles. The first topic, I used to be in the low income household, has already been posted and this one talks about my humble beginnings. The article discussed our family’s migrating to America with little or no money to begin with and being ignorant with the government assistance available out there.

This blog will include, but not limited to, the following topics:

My Mcdonald’s franchise dream - when you witnessed one of your managers accomplished this feat, you want to do the same thing. What does it takes to own a McDonald’s franchise from the ranks of the managers?

My MLM venture - for once in your lifetime, you will be presented or be involved into one of the multi-level marketing business available out there. See my lessons learned and what businesses that I’ve ventured.

Other business opportunities venture - jumping from one business after another, I found myself just spending money without gaining any results. It became more like a money-wasting venture than a money-making one.

Purchasing a house in 1995 - not really a mistake but I’d like to share how we (my parents and I) did this by saving money for a downpayment within six months and some of the good deals that we obtained.

Credit card debts – I’m still trying to figure out how I’ve accumulated at least $24,000 in credit card debts. I will also talk about what I did to pay them off. I will be talking about issues regarding “Credit Aging” scheme by the credit collection companies that I fell for.

Keeping a problem used car – one of the biggest killer in my finances back then is the repairs that I incurred on the used car.

Purchasing a brand new car - after I got tired of my used car, it was time to get a brand new one. I will be talking about my first car dealership experience (and of course, the worst one). The fact that the payments on this car added insult to my credit injury.

Going back to school late – I went back to college at the age of 24. I will discuss how I decide on which school to go to (private or public)? I will also discuss how I earned an extra $100 but loss $25,000 in benefits - an article about my scholarship dilemma.

Purchasing a vacant land - I did not want to miss the housing boom so I settled for this. Did I make the right decision? It is yet to be seen!

I have more experiences to share but the above topics are the main ones. I made some good financial experiences, too, and for simplicity, those will be categorized as FILAM articles as well.