In May of this year I left my corporate job to join a startup. Immediately, the average intelligence and thoughtfulness of people I talk to regularly skyrocketed. My assessment of myself on the intelligence hierarchy has fallen considerably even though I've gotten smarter and learned a ton. Emotionally, I react negatively to this, but this is a good thing. We assimilate to the people we associate with the most and now I find the people closest to me admirable.

We learn about money before we have any ability of making it for ourselves. We learn by observing our parents or guardians and how it makes them feel. Did your parents fight about money, did they spend it emotionally to distract themselves, did they save every penny? Whatever their habits, if left unchecked, will be adopted by us even if they aren't applicable to our own lives. I have friends who have well paying jobs but no retirement account. I also have friends who do really well and still think almond butter is "too expensive" for them even though they really really like it. This is learned childhood behavior that has yet to be unlearned masquerading as a wise saving decision. Almond butter does not move the needle on financial freedom, investing does.