Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well.

Welcome to the first post on my blog, which I have called Grand in Theory.

So firstly, who am I, and why did I make another blog aimed at finance in the never-ending abyss of financial content?

I will be going by B, at least for now.

I am a recent graduate who is now in my first real “big boy” job. I am trying to navigate the world, age further into adulthood and survive Ireland’s perilous economic situation, where unless you invested in multiple properties after the 2008 financial crisis, it can feel like a rat race that you don’t even know why you are bothering with at this point.

I am learning new lessons and relearning old ones as I go. I am at the beginning of my mid-20s now, which sounds awful already.

My academic background is in an environmental and technical subject, we will say. I don’t want to give the exact discipline or degree name, as I am Googleable and would be easily discoverable. More on that later.

I am currently living at home, like the majority of my peers. I live in a rural part of Ireland, in one of the country’s “poorer” counties and far from any of its main cities, where there are fewer opportunities and getting anywhere can become a bit of a mission.

I am sure I will have an endless list of blogs about that.

I am a pretty boring person, all things considered. I don’t go on nights out much, simply because they cost far too much for all they are. Since moving home, it has also become a logistical issue.

Also, Small-town syndrome.

My interests aren’t anything exceptional. I like tech, for the most part, video games, writing, bingeing Netflix and YouTube, eating food, doomscrolling and dreaming about things I’ll never do.

Essentially, I feel like the most basic, boring bitch of Gen Z.

I am single and hope to be for a long time, unless something goes really wrong.

If it is at all interesting, I grew up non-religious in a heavily Catholic part of Ireland. My parents believed religion was my choice, not theirs.

So I was always a little outside something that almost everyone around me saw as normal. It was never a major issue, but I was aware of it.

I think that has heavily shaped my worldview.

I am also heavily dyslexic and have dyscalculia, so good luck. You all better hope Grammarly can save my writing.

And, like anyone under the age of 40, everyone around me seems to think I either have autism or ADHD.

I love to analyse media, to the best of my ability. I am no Roger Ebert. I also like analysing politics and economics, and being generally philosophical about the meaning of our existence on this mud ball.

That seems like more than enough for an introductory blog. I am sure you will all learn more than you bargained for from me eventually.

So why did I start this blog?

Well, since starting my first proper job, I have learned that financially, I am either in line with my peers, doing better than them, or somehow worse. I am not really sure.

At the same time, I am just not in a great place mentally or financially. I feel stuck in the middle between people who are doing really well and people who are on the verge of bankruptcy.

So many thoughts and feelings have been going through my head over the last few months, from fear of the future, to anger over my stolen pay rise (that is for another day), to regret over why I even bothered doing a degree if I am barely ahead, while simultaneously wanting to give up on the future and fight for it at the same time.

I also feel that so much financial content is either:

“Pick yourself up, you lazy bum. Invest 50% of your pay cheque in this AI-managed leveraged ETF to become a millionaire now or die trying.”

Or:

“Here is what to do if you are broke.”

And let’s be honest, a lot of it is either some sort of pyramid scheme or some sort of pump-and-dump.

There isn’t really much for someone like me.

Someone who isn’t a high earner, has been reasonable with their money, has made mistakes, is learning, and has goals where I kind of know what the destination is, but I am not really sure how to get there.

Someone who also feels like they are one emergency away from being broke and has no idea how they will meet their financial goals, or if it is even possible.

Essentially, I want this to be a way for me to hold myself accountable, scream into the void and hopefully help someone along the way.

That might mean showing that we are all in this together, that maybe we are doing better than we think, or letting people learn from my mistakes or gain a new bit of knowledge.

And, let’s be honest, it will also be somewhere for a good rant.

So what makes me qualified?

Nothing.

This is purely a personal thing.

I have no formal financial background beyond being acutely aware of money ever since the 2008 crash, having an interest in financial content and general informative content, and being at least a little more financially literate than some of the peers around me.

I think…

This is more a way for me to document my journey and share what I have learned.

You can expect financial blogs, thought pieces (because what we need more than anything right now is another man giving his opinions), sort of more in-depth looks at things - basically essays I wanted to write at college but wasn’t able to, and maybe even a shitpost or two.

I also have a few creative side projects I am working on that I think could be interesting to document and see if they go anywhere.

It may also keep me accountable and force me to actually do them.

Why do I choose to remain anonymous?

Essentially, I will be talking about my personal relationship with money and documenting it, which means I will be talking about a lot of personal stuff.

Some of that will involve people in my life who may not want that association or did not ask for parts of their lives to be put online.

At least currently, I do not have an independent source of income apart from my job, which I plan to talk about obliquely. I want to make sure this blog does not compromise my position while still allowing me to share what I have learned from it.

That also includes my degree. If I were to name it, you could easily find me and piece together where my current job is.

I hope you can see why, at least for now, I cannot share those details.

So, to conclude, I am grand in theory, but I would like to do better.

I hope this blog will help me do that and hopefully help others too.

You can follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/grandintheory.com

Or email me: [email protected]

See you next time!

-B