Who is a Bean Counter?

This is a Bean Counter. One of my biggest financial fears is ending up like Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in this image from Fun & Fancy Free (Mickey & the Beanstalk). There have been times in my life when I have feared the sort of scarcity this image reflects was right around the corner. Sadly, despite living in the richest country on earth, too many among us actually live this reality.

Many more of us have been there, I’m sure. Broke college students making ramen and rice to make it through the month; times when a Hot Pocket or a Pop-Tart were luxuries. Entrepreneurial types who scrimp and “intermittent fast” involuntarily between project completion dates or commissions paid.

Maybe you’ve been there, too. Struggling, with barely enough to eat. Maybe just enough to make it through, even if you had to slice a single bean to get there! In response to this, Counting Your Beans in this case is about knowing what is “enough.” It’s about knowing how to reach that point, armed with the confidence that you can persevere through hard times, and taking action to make sure that you never find yourself in that place of pure struggle again.

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This is a Bean Counter. This caricature of an accountant, number cruncher, or Bean Counter with his green visor and trusty paper-printing calculator often portrays feelings of mind-numbing, tedious, soul-sucking work of tabulating figures and numbers. People often either hate this kind of work, don’t know how to do this kind of work, or are simply afraid to even try to do this kind of work.

Lucky for you, this is just the kind of work that I love! After graduating boot camp in March 2006, my bestie and I spent 2 months in Pensacola, FL learning how to work around aircraft on the flight deck. During those 2 months, in my free time, I must have drawn up at least 30 color-coded budgets and cash flow projections for myself…just for fun! Our basic finance instructor eventually nicknamed me “Mr. Corporation” due to my constant questioning of the course material and suggestions it could be improved.

I was then, and continue to be now, beyond passionate about personal finance. If managing finances puts you off, don’t you worry.

I’ll do the heavy lifting!

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This is a Bean Counter. Perhaps one of the most famous of all, in my humble opinion. When I watched DuckTales as a kid it never occurred to me that Uncle Scrooge could A.) break his neck diving into his money vault, or B.) have enough money in that vault to solve homelessness and hunger in all of DuckBurg and beyond! All I knew at that young age was that I wanted to have Uncle Scrooge money, to be able to do and buy anything I wanted, above and beyond anything that I would ever need. I carried that with me into adulthood, as recently as 2020 before the world changed. Scrooge McDuck has since become something of a divisive figure in my mind.

On the one hand, in that top image, I can’t help but to feel like he is settling the accounts of his nephew Donald, and great-nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. That’s something I can relate to, as something I want to do for my own nieces and nephews. On the other hand, his greed and selfishness often got the better of him. Not only did it cause him a ton of grief, but think of all the good he could have done for all duck-kind if he didn’t simply hoard his wealth!

In spite of his flaws, Uncle Scrooge surely would have left a legacy for those he loved. I, too, hope to someday leave a legacy for my nieces and nephews, and the best way I know how is by helping others create wealth for today and generational wealth for tomorrow.

Furthermore, since I am no longer blind to the generational damage wrought by decades of wealth inequality and unjust economic systems, I cannot in good conscience hoard unspendable amounts of wealth while so many continue to suffer. And so it is my hope that while we work together, we can do some good in the world. My personal goal is to donate $1,000,000 to charitable organizations before age 65, by committing my own “tithe” of 10% from every dollar I earn to an interest-bearing charitable trust, while helping you identify, prioritize, and achieve your own goals. I hope further to inspire you to help those in your community, too, so that we all might grow together to reach higher and live more fully.