Is Financial Savvy Compatible with a Creative Lifestyle?

I was having brunch with a friend, recently--an old friend who's currently pursuing a career in theater and also working a couple of part-time jobs to support herself. She's been living with her parents to save money, and living frugally on top of that, and she's done a great job of it--she has enough to get herself a two-year Master's degree at a theater program she's been looking at. She's not sure that's how she wants to spend the money, but it is there.

Anyway, we were catching up, not having seen each other for a few weeks, and she mentioned that one of her jobs was in jeopardy since she's the most junior staff member at a sole proprietorship the owner of which took a serious hit in the stock fumble at the end of February.

"Me, too," I said, casually. "I mean, percentage-wise. Not in terms of, like, actual dollar amounts."

She stared at me like I had two heads. "You have money in the stock market?"

Perhaps my assumptions have been somewhat changed during my personal finance education kick, but I was sort of surprised. I said, "Of course."

We were, briefly, like two ships passing in the night.

But, see, this is totally what I mean about young, creatively-inclined people and money. We don't learn to manage our money because we have this ridiculous idea that people like us--people who listen to indie music and have liberal-arts degrees and want to make art--don't focus on money. This is dumb. It's dumb because we, of all people, need to be profoundly careful about managing our finances--if you want to be able to pursue a markedly un-lucrative life, you'd better be able to make the most of what you have, is how my reasoning goes. She's got a hefty savings sitting in the bank--I'd bet in a passbook savings account earning less than 1%. It would be really easy for her to open up the exact same Roth that I have: internet access, low fees, one target fund, done. Why doesn't she do it?

It's not venal to want to get your financial house in order. It doesn't make you some Wall Street moron, some stuffy Young Republican with briefcase and slicked-back hair. Financial disorganization isn't necessarily a demonstration of your free spirit, your unworldliness--mostly, it's just willful blindness. I do not know what I want to do with my life, but I do know that I want to have as many options as possible. I don't want to have to suck it up and take an office job I hate because my retirement savings are scrawny. I always want to have the freedom to pursue what I really want to do--and making smart financial decisions when I'm young is a good early step towards that opportunity.