The History Of WealthCamp

WealthCamp began as an idea in the back of my mind. In September 2007, I sold my web hosting business. I had lived and breathed my business for over 6 years at that point, and I needed a break. I timed the sale well and sold to one of my competitors...and immediately realized I had a lot of extra time and money. This realization wasn't as easy as one might expect, since I had defined myself by my business for so long...

I decided to take 6 months off to completely redefine who I was and what I wanted to do with my life. One thing I had always loved was writing. Blogging was a natural fit, and I began to read all of the "big" blogs online. I also realized I had no idea how to save and invest money, since I had always invested any extra money I had into my business. Personal finance blogs and personal finance books became my lifeline when I got hit by the flu and was sick for over 3 weeks in December. Bored and exhausted, I read until my eyes hurt, and absorbed hundreds of different investment strategies from financial websites, books, and blogs.

From LifeCamp Comes WealthCamp

Around the New Year (2008), I finally started feeling better. I attended the first LifeCamp (put on by some friends), and really listened to their conversations. At the camp, I casually mentioned to a friend that I was excited that I would have over $100,000 in liquid investments by December 2008, and that even after taxes, I would make enough in interest to pay my rent every month. This shocked him. "Really?" he said. I was equally surprised that he didn't have a similar nest egg.

I went away from LifeCamp realizing that even those we think we are financially stable may not be. On January 13, 2008, I read Tara Hunt's blog about her struggle with weight loss. Tara had been at LifeCamp, so I emailed her with a personal comment about my own struggle with eating too much sugar. In the email, I said:

"If you want to hit the ideal weight for you, or be more comfortable in your body, you’ll have to readjust your sugar intake.

This goes for other things, too, like money. What does your budget look like? Maybe I’ll do a FinancesandInvestingCamp…Tantek mentioned he needs help saving money as well. ;)"

It was just an offhand comment. What I didn't know was that that comment would spark what would quickly become an integral part of redefining myself.

I sent a direct message to Tantek on Twitter, knowing he would be able to help. I said, "I'm thinking about doing an InvestingCamp. Ideas for saving, but still enjoying life and not being a miser. Thoughts?"

He replied with "interesting idea. How about reframing. Eg WealthCamp. Investment is only one component. Eg savings, cost reductions."

And so WealthCamp was born.

The Idea That Would Not Go Away

Even though I had other ideas for making money, WealthCamp was the idea that would not go away. It persisted in my mind. So I registered the domain, lined up some great keynote speakers, and pushed forward, despite never having put on a conference and having a self-professed ignorance of financial matters and investing until the flu hit me in December.

I knew I had made the right choice to include WealthCamp as part of my future when I started talking to others. Despite the plethora of financial books and websites, the advice given is contradictory and confusing. There are financial basics, like spending less than we earn, but we don't even do that. The mortgage crisis is a symptom of a larger problem -- we don't understand the papers we sign on the largest purchase of our lives, and even worse, we're often taken advantage of or misled by those we trust.

Everyone from my chiropractor to my techie friends expressed frustration at not knowing how to invest or save money for their future. I talked to people who were paralyzed by the choice of savings accounts, who had their money in accounts earning less than 1% interest. I heard stories of people losing their homes due to not understanding that the mortgage they signed had a rate that would adjust upward and increase their payments by hundreds of dollars a month. These were all otherwise smart people who were stymied by a lack of understanding of intricate details of our financial system.

The Solution To The Current Mortgage Crisis

I knew the solution to our mortgage crisis was education, but no one was talking about how to educate the world about financial issues. The big argument was "Should we bail out the lenders? Should the taxpayers have to bail out those who made bad decisions?" No one was asking what I thought was the most important question: "How do we prevent this from happening again?" The answer, in my opinion, hinged on financial education.

If we clearly understood the mortgage documents we were signing, we wouldn't have ended up with adjustable-rate mortgages. If we clearly laid out which savings accounts had the best interest rates, and how to sign up for those, our money wouldn't be stuck in low-interest or no-interest accounts. If we understood how compound interest works, we'd know that putting $200/month in a S&P 500 index fund would not earn us $72,000 in 30 years ($200 x 12 [months in a year] x 30 years = $72,000), but would actually earn us $378,193.19. And we'd understand exactly how to do that.

A Unique Opportunity For You

I also realized that there were books and websites galore that told us all this, but that we don't read them because we are too busy doing the things that actually interest us. Hence, I created a conference...that is inexpensive to attend, where we can talk openly about money, and where we aren't afraid to share both successes and failures. WealthCamp shows us ways to ensure that we never feel trapped by money; where we acknowledge that money can make us free to never have to work again, so we can to dedicate our lives to a higher purpose. WealthCamp provides the road map to your financial freedom so you can free yourself to work on whatever your true calling is. WealthCamp is an opportunity to change how you think about money. Don't miss it!

I look forward to seeing you at WealthCamp.

Erica Douglass
WealthCamp founder