Introducing “Intentional Finance”

A big interest of mine is personal finance. It’s something I started learning about in earnest six years ago and started really diving into over the past two years. I find it really fun and empowering to learn, think, and talk about finance. So I’ve been working on a zine called Intentional Finance. It’s a simple guide to improving one’s relationship with money.

It is a bit of a departure from the sci-fi and fantasy comics work I’ve been focused on in recent years, but I’m quite excited about it. The premise is simple:

What if a book about personal finance was an art project?

I finished the initial draft of the script, and I’ve been working on revising it, laying out the pages, and creating illustrations. It’ll be somewhat broad in scope and philosophical. There is lots of practical advice too.

The overarching theme of the zine is living a simpler life to reduce one’s cost of living. By doing so, one is able to reach their financial goals much quicker and remove risk from their life. As I’ve simplified my life and reined in my spending, I’ve been able to dedicate a lot more time to my creative projects.

The conversation surrounding money is confusing. A lot of people don’t talk about finance aside from complaining. There are lots of gurus out there, but they’re usually trying to sell something. Most of society views stuff and money as a symbol of their status, which I find off-putting and unrealistic. There’s a way to live a content and financially stable life that is actually quite fun to do. I’m aiming to share what I wish I knew when I was younger.

I’m aiming to release it digitally for free in early April. I’m interested in trying to record an audio version of it too, but I’ll have to see what that looks like after I wrap the initial version up.

I really like the idea of doing one or two non-fiction projects a year, and I’ve got ideas for other zines after this one. Once I finish Intentional Finance, I’ll most likely focus on one of the comic projects I’ve been exploring since finishing Lost Ship.

Here’s to hoping that folks find Intentional Finance useful when it’s done. I’ll share more as I get closer to wrapping it up.