Hello again, today I am going to talk a little bit about how I became interested in finance and economics!

Ever since I can remember, when I would come home form school my parents would be sitting in the living room watching the news. Or I would go to their office during the day and they would have the news on there, or some sort of show that covers the stock market. So whenever I came home or went there I would end up sitting their learning about current events, what the economy is doing, or anything to do with politics. I would ask all sorts of questions but often times didn't really understand what was going on. Ultimately, it was just some way for me to spend my time that I was also pretty curious about.

Later on, in my middle school and high school years, I was a little more aggressive in my questions and wanted to learn more about it. My grandma was actually the one that usually took the time to explain most things to me, or at least tried to. She has been following the economy, stock market, and politics for years and years, so I think that she was glad to see that I was also interested. She explained how the stock market works, what exactly stocks were, and all that good stuff. I became even more interested and started following it on my own time.

That's the background of how I became so interested in the stock market and the economy, and next time I'll continue that with some stories about how some high school classes kept my interest alive.

Hello everyone! 

My name is Charlie, I am a 20 year old college junior currently attending North Dakota State University. I am originally from Fargo, North Dakota, so I didn't have to travel far to find the college that fit my needs perfectly. I am double majoring in Finance and Economics - I have a great interest in anything that has to do with both the finance world and the global and national economy. This interest has almost always been present for me because my family can very often be found talking about the stock market, how the economy is doing, or anything related to those things. So naturally it piqued my interest. But what really got me motivated to study it further in college was the first economics course I took in high school, which I'll talk about in a later blog. In addition to school, I have also been working at Gate City Bank for about a year and a half now, which is a great experience and gives me knowledge that I will most likely use in my future career. 

So that is what I am currently doing with my life, but outside of school and work there are many other things that I enjoy doing. For instance, I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was old enough to understand how a computer works, you could almost always find me at one during my free time. Not only video games though, I absolutely love board games and often hound my family to play with me. Monopoly, trivial pursuit, settlers of catan - I love them all. While growing up I also played many sports: baseball, football, basketball, and tennis were the main ones. Once I got older I eventually stopped playing, but they were all great experiences while growing up. The other activity that I often did while growing up was reading books. Once I was introduced to fantasy/sci-fi books, I just couldn't put them down. Still to this day, mostly during the summer, I read books for many hours a week just for fun. Overall I think that the activities that I participated in and hobbies I found while growing up have made me into a well-rounded individual that feels comfortable doing a lot of different things. 

Next week I will talk a little bit more about how I became interested in the finance and economics world and what I hope to gain through my education with it.