Hi, I'm Sam. I like to help people with money, web 2.0, and social justice awareness. I have a dream of using the social media space to help people in both little ways (wheelchair ramps down the road) and big ways (ending human trafficking). Here you can read, watch, and listen to my thoughts on all three.
I often get asked about how I could have a degree in Religion but be a financial professional. Throw in some PHP/CSS/HTML, and I get a lot of puzzled looks.
The back story is that I started doing web design and development when I was 12. A cousin introduced me to HTML and I fell in love with web design. I went to college thinking I would do computer science, but then ran into a couple of philosophy, history, and religion professors who impacted me so much that I couldn’t help but switch majors.
My time in the Religion department of UF was an incredible experience. I learned about many world religions and did substantial research in early Christian history. I wrote a hefty senior thesis in order to graduate with highest honors; it was about a North African bishop’s response to a rather nasty plague.
During my sophomore year, I took a class on Social Entrepreneurship (creative solutions to social problems) that changed my life. I was introduced to human trafficking, fair trade, human rights, and myriad other topics that blew the doors wide off of my white, suburban life. I became absolutely enveloped in the fight to end human trafficking.
A little later I met Melissa, who blew the doors off of my cynicism (I often could be found locked away in a library instead of going on dates) and completely distracted me from my goal of becoming a Rhodes Scholar. We fell in love in October and were engaged by December of that same year.
Getting engaged required me to do a lot of growing up, and I started learning about the world of personal finance. This led me to people like Dave Ramsey, Andrew Horowitz (The Disciplined Investor), and Brian Prescott (The Money Guy). Horowitz and Prescott are CFPs (Certified Financial Planners), and listening to them opened my eyes and heart to a new goal: helping people attain financial security. I started the path toward CFP certification, a road I’m still on.
Various twists and turns led to my new career with New York Life - an incredible company with over 160 years of experience. I am ecstatic. I now make a living by meeting with people and helping them in the areas of protection, savings and accumulation, and retirement. It’s amazingly gratifying.
So there you have it - me in a nutshell. Somehow, my training in the academic study of religion, my passion for social justice, my love of web development, and my ardent desire to help people with their finances are simmering and blending together. I’m not sure how just yet, but I think it’s going to be exciting.
More next time about how I think these areas overlap.
Love,
Sam
