Today, I’m beginning a series called “1st and 15th Financial Corner”. I’ll use this to get out some of the investing nuggets I’ve gleaned over the decade or so of my investing experience.

I probably won’t be making stock picks and things like that. Instead, I’ll focus on personal finance fundamentals that I think will appeal to most people. I will also avoid using words like “advice” and “success”, because I’m not giving advice (just education), and everybody has to define success in their own way.

I clearly remember where and when my interest in personal finance began. During my first round of college when I was 19, I was working in the seafood department of Winn Dixie. One day, I was standing there at work scaling and gutting a croaker.

A co-worker was beside me doing the same thing – he was probably in his early 60s at the time. We both had fish stink and fish scales on us. Not that he was necessarily unhappy about doing what he was doing, but I resolved to myself right there that I would do whatever it took to not be doing anything like that when I reached that age.

So, that’s where it began for me. I started reading and exploring everything I could about finance and investing.

I’ll end our first chapter with this:

Think about what you want. Set a goal. To you, a successful life might not have anything to do with monetary wealth.

I hate alarm clocks with a passion. My personal vision is to not wake up every day to go to work by the time I’m in my early fifties, and we’re on track to financially support that goal.

You have to have some drive and commitment, no matter what your goals are.