The beginning

I turned 27, realized that I was in a plateau standstill point in the advancement of my career. I attained my Associate degree and got a good professional job in the IT field I thought I had it made, at 20 years old I had my whole life ahead of me with big plans and dreams of getting rich and retiring well before 65. My job actually showed great means for my advancement for after a year I was promoted to an Administrative position with great responsibility. I worked hard, very hard, 60+ hour weeks telling myself that hard work pays off and was the way to attain financial success. That worked until I hit 25 and the pay raises stopped but the workload continued to expand. No matter how perfect of a job I did the only reward I achieve was the verbal appreciation of what I do, no more raises. In fact at annual reviews I was laughed at when I asked for promotion. In all fairness the market was in a steady decline and layoffs were beginning to happen slowly but surely around the country. It is now 2009 and I'm six months into my 27th year and I have realized that I'm probably going to have to work until I'm dead, and that I've have to take responsibility for my own financial future because financial success will never be in the paycheck my employer provides. I enjoy my job and because of this down and out economy that has caused so many to go unemployed I decided that I was going to make the best of what I earn. Here begins my quest to turn what little money I earn into money that hopefully will allow me to retirement as well as help me earn more throughout my lifetime.