'Getting Loaded' author and financial coach Peter Bielagus to speak here Thursday
Peter Bielagus, sometimes called "young America's financial coach," will give a talk, titled "More Money With Peter Bielagus," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in the auditorium of O'Shaughnessy Educational Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
Peter Bielagus
His talk, free and open to the public, is sponsored by St. Thomas' University Lectures Committee.
Now a licensed financial adviser, Bielagus became a money-management expert the hard way: just six months into his freshman year of college he fell into deep credit-card debt.
Determined to dig himself out of a $5,000 hole, he began reading what amounted to more than 300 books on personal finance and human development. He also interviewed experts, attended seminars, and by graduation, he had paid off his credit-card bills.
Realizing that many students fall victim to the same trap, Bielagus wrong a personal finance guide, Getting Loaded: A Complete Personal Finance Guide for Students and Young Professionals. It is one of the few such guides for young people written by a young person.
Bielagus speaks to students on college campuses throughout the country. At St. Thomas, he will speak at several classes in addition to giving his evening talk.
"When I arrived on campus, I signed up for every credit card they threw in front of me," he said. "No one ever told me this hurts my credit score. No one ever told me I even had a credit score.
"Most Americans let alone most college students don't know what their credit score is. This number literally determines how expensive your life will be and will affect your ability to get a job."
