Remember the good old days when we’d watch G.I. Joe on Saturday mornings, and our parents would say, ‘Knowing is half the battle’? I bet none of us knew the other half was paying off student loans while juggling three side hustles.

It’s funny, our parents kept telling us, ‘Just do what you love, the money will follow,’ as if the bank’s cool with us paying the mortgage in ‘exposure.’ They’re also the same folks who said, ‘Stop staring at that screen; you’ll never have a calculator in your pocket!’ Well, guess what, Mom? Not only do I have a calculator in my pocket, I have a device that orders pizza, streams G.I. Joe reruns, and reminds me how broke I am….24/7!

So yeah, we definitely know stuff—like interest rates, credit scores, and how to Photoshop our best friend’s ex out of group photos. But I’m pretty sure our folks forgot to mention that after you learn the lesson, you still have to pay for the textbook. Because if knowing is half the battle, the other half is apparently the bill that shows up every month!