Hi, that’s me, Eric J. Nisall 👋
In 2009 I discovered blogging, started writing about personal finance on the very first (and admittedly lame) version of my blog and got involved in the FinCon community.
I started writing about taxes, credit cards and debt, money management, etc.
That eventually turned into my current business blog where the personal finance stuff took more of a back seat to self-employment and entrepreneurship topics.
Now I’m back with Understand Finances and concentrating on educating people on personal finance topics like types of debt, individual income taxes, bank accounts, and more topics to make your finances easier to, well, understand!
In my professional life, I’m a tax accountant with a BS in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University.
For the longest time, my blogging friends kept telling me that I should go out on my own because I understood what bloggers and other content creators, coaches, freelancers, etc. need.
After countless years working in CPA firms making other people money, I made the leap and in July of 2015, I quit the workforce and opened my own accounting and tax business.
When I’m not in “professional” mode, I’m a big New York Rangers fan and have a recurring annual subscription to NHL.tv so I can watch them throughout the season.
I’m also a comic book geek, enjoying any media related to them…if you ask me if I prefer DC or Marvel, my answer is yes, plus Image! and WildStorm and Malibu. as well.
If you ever want to buy me a meal real NY pizza, Japanese, or a rare steak will do the trick 😋
The Mission Of Understand Finances
My goal is to provide information–in plain English, broken up into easily-digestible bits as opposed to jargon and walls of text that you will click away from within seconds of seeing it.
Not to knock anyone else’s hard work, but I notice that a lot of personal finance sites focus heavily–if not exclusively–on making or saving money via gamification or apps.
What many don’t do is actually explain monetary and personal finance concepts.
Why is that important?
No matter how many apps people suggest you use or money games they introduce you to if you don’t understand basic money concepts you will never truly be able to master your money.
Apps/software come and go.
Games lose their appeal.
The knowledge of truly understanding how your finances work is forever.
How This Site Makes 💵
Bloggers need to make a living, so we have to monetize our sites somehow.
My goal is to be able to earn money without making it seem like I’m shoving products and services down your throat at every turn.
Trust me, I know how annoying that can be 😡
I will have some ads on the articles, but my goal is to have them placed in a manner that doesn’t detract from your experience.
You want the information so that will be the primary focus here.
I’ll also have some recommendations for products and services occasionally.
You will not be spammed with affiliate links and pushed to purchase anything, I promise!
For the most part, I plan on keeping most recommendations on a resource page which should also make it easier for you to find the things I think will help you.
