Hello! My name is Nicholas Cook. This is The Place where I blog about various topics including life, business, and creativity.
Bio
I like finding meaningful projects and communities to collaborate with. I am a blogger and teacher with business experience. My experience is quite varied and people are sometimes surprised when I share the different kinds of work I’ve done over the last few decades.
Although I’ve been writing for many years, I began blogging in 2022 over at Money 101 Academy. In 2023, I began another blog called “A Squeezed Lemon” (www.ASqueezedLemon.com). I changed the name in 2024 to www.nickcook.blog which is the website where you are now. Everything I write on this website is 100% my own writing.
Here are some of my experiences that led me to where I am today:
After graduating from college, I began work as a financial advisor and paraplanner for several years where I helped manage client assets through investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. My career began with a large, well-known insurance company. Later, I pivoted to a boutique financial planning firm where I remained for several years. Our financial planning company also partnered with the broker/dealer, Cutter & Company.
After having some success as a financial advisor, I felt called to try full-time ministry work where I joined a seminary and discerned whether I should get into pastoral ministry. It was a tough decision to leave everything I built in my work as a financial advisor, but after much thought, I took the leap. I spent a few years participating in the seminary formation and ended up leaving, but it was a good experience.
Since 2012, I have worked in education in various ways. I have experience working as a private tutor, teacher assistant, and teacher. The grade levels I’ve taught include 4th- 12th grade, as well as adults. The students I’ve worked with have varied with special needs in wheelchairs or low-functioning autism, racial diversity, and inner city to suburban. There have been schools where I have been the only white person in the room among students, as well as where every person in the room was white. The classes I’ve taught include Personal Finance, English, Literature, Theology, Investing, and Algebra. A few years ago I moved back to part-time teaching to free up time to pursue other projects.
In 2022, I began blogging and teaching online. I reflected on my experiences in the late 90s of wanting to learn about money, but not knowing a budget-friendly way that I could have access to a mentor to grow in my personal finance knowledge. So, I started Money 101 Academy which has articles and videos to help people learn about personal finance. This includes the Money 101 Academy Membership which is a course, community, and monthly membership where people can have access to me to ask questions about personal finance. This is still active today.
Today I also work in real estate investing. I have experience with web design and creating YouTube videos. In addition to the other projects I’m involved in, I teach math part-time. I have lived around the United States including the East Coast and Denver, and currently live in Missouri.
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