Why Financial Literacy Matters So Much to Me

By Jamie Nabozny

I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Looking back, I realized there were two things I didn't understand much about as a kid: my identity and money.

I always knew I was different, but I didn't have a word for it until one summer when my uncles came home to visit. He and my other uncle had moved away years earlier and would return every so often. One day, I asked my grandma if they were married.

"Oh no," she said. "They're not married. They're gay."

Something immediately clicked. I remember thinking, That's it. That's what I am.

My uncle also drove a Cadillac. Not an old Cadillac. This was a beautiful new one with red leather seats and every imaginable gadget. I loved that car. I'd sit inside pushing buttons, pretending to drive, and sometimes even take naps in the back seat.

Shortly after that visit, while playing cards with my grandma, I decided I should share my big discovery.

"Grandma," I announced, "I'm gay."

She laughed, smiled, and said, "Oh honey, you don't have to be gay to have a Cadillac."

At the time, I wasn't exactly sure how those two things were connected, but I distinctly remember thinking, well, if being gay means getting a Cadillac someday, I'm even more excited about it!

Growing up, I had no idea how poor my family really was.

We didn't think of ourselves as poor. We thought we were middle class and how we lived was how most people lived. Many of my relatives lived in mobile homes, public housing, or crappy rental apartments. Most of them drove older vehicles. I thought living paycheck to paycheck was simply how life worked.

To us, my uncles seemed wealthy because they had a new car.

What I didn't realize was that I was also growing up with very little financial education. No one talked about emergency funds, retirement savings, investing, credit scores, or long-term financial planning. Most of the adults around me worked hard, but many reached retirement relying almost entirely on Social Security. Homeownership was rare. Good credit was even rarer.

As a kid, you don't know what you don't know.

When I moved to the Twin Cities, I quickly learned just how financially unprepared I was.

I made every mistake you can imagine.

When I got my first credit cards, I treated them like free money. I didn't understand interest rates, minimum payments, or what happens when you max out your cards. I lived paycheck to paycheck. I had no savings. By age 20, my credit was wrecked, I lived in a terrible apartment, and I didn't even own a car because I couldn't afford one.

Nobody had taught me differently.

Then I started dating a guy whose family had a very different experience with money.

They were middle class. They owned their home. They drove newer vehicles. They had retirement accounts, pensions, emergency savings, and good credit. If something unexpected happened, they had a plan.

For the first time in my life, I saw another way to live.

More importantly, I realized financial security wasn't about being rich. It was about knowledge, habits, and having a strategy.

I wanted that future for myself.

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time unlearning many of the money beliefs I grew up with and replacing them with better information and better habits.

That journey changed my life.

It's also one of the reasons I've spent the last 25 years working in banking and insurance. Helping people improve their financial literacy isn't just part of my job. It's something I'm genuinely passionate about.

As an insurance agent, I don't believe my role is simply to sell insurance policies. I believe my responsibility is to educate clients so they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families. Whether it's understanding deductibles, protecting assets, planning for the unexpected, or building long-term financial security, I want people to feel empowered rather than confused.

Because I know firsthand what it feels like not to know where to start.

Today, my life looks very different than it did growing up in northern Wisconsin.

I'm married. I have four amazing adult children. I've built a comfortable middle-class life. I've spent decades helping others improve their financial futures.

And perhaps most importantly...

I finally own a Cadillac.

As it turns out, my grandma was right. You don't have to be gay to own a Cadillac.

But a little financial literacy certainly helps.