Today at TILE we talked about the (apparent) economic chaos in Europe… How does one little country like Greece impact an entire continent? Why does (or why did) the euro make sense? Why do currencies seem so difficult to understand? Does all of this make you want to jump on a plane or curl up in your own backyard?

The euro was created in 1999 – a joint project by countries in the eurozone* to become more competitive on the economic playing field. By reducing the economic friction between the eurozone countries and increasing the group negotiating power between the eurozone and other countries, the idea was that the group would become stronger (in other words, the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts). For example, every time you skied up a mountain in Switzerland and down the same mountain into France, you would no longer have to stop to change currencies (and pay fees and taxes) before warming up with a hot chocolate. The idea was that with less hassle, more people would want to ski/ do business in that area.

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Today at TILE we talked about learning by doing… Putting what you learn in the classroom to use in real life. Specifically, we talked about walking the entrepreneurial walk after cooking up an idea. How do you turn that great idea for a business into a great business? Does SWOT apply to your market position or is it something that kills insects? How can passion translate into real success?

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Today at TILE we talked about identity. How do you identify yourself – or others?  Is identity what is on the surface (i.e., are you a preppie or a skinny-jeans-and-ironic-glasses-wearing hipster)? Or does it run deeper? We talked about all of these things, and specifically about how they relate to a concept we really believe in at TILE – financial identity.

What is financial identity? In the past, financial identity might have been, “I am what I have in the bank” or “the number I need to be happy.” The dollar signs drove how people looked at themselves. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this really, but in today’s world it seems outdated. How can you identify yourself with a just number without understanding a lot of other things about yourself first?

At TILE, we believe there are many things that make up your identity – it’s what you do, what you care about, and how you act every day. And in the real world, these passions and actions are played out in the way you use your money. Combining self-awareness with an understanding of how money works – and how it can work for you – is what makes up your true financial identity.

Identity is particularly important to us this week because we are launching TILE’s Financial Identity Profile at the FinovateSpring conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. (We’ll be tweeting about it, so feel free to tune in @spendgrowgive). It’s a major innovation to our product and we’re very proud of it. It does show numbers – but numbers are only part of the story. The Identity Profile is all about you. This new page – which you’ll see immediately upon logging in – helps you understand your identity from a financial perspective. It helps you express your passions, state your mission, and learn about money (and your relationship with it) so that you can use it wisely – the way YOU want to.

What does this mean for the TILE community? Well, it’s a pretty big addition to your current SPEND.GROW.GIVE experience. As more young people start using TILE and spending more time there (TILE members spend an average of 10 minutes per visit now), we want to make your experience with us as positive as possible. Sure we want you to grow your assets, grow your earning power, and grow your knowledge – but we really want you to grow into a strong person with a clear sense of what makes you tick. Knowing that – combined with a real knowledge and understanding of money – will make you a very powerful and fantastic person.  So get in there!

- Amy

Today at TILE we asked ourselves… why do we do what we do? Why are we so passionate about next generation financial services? What is our raison d’etre – or reason for existence – in the first place?

TILE is very much about encouraging our members to do the same thing – step back and really take a look at their lives. If you know why you do what you do and what you care about, you can make better personal decisions about how you spend, grow and give your money. And that makes you a stronger person.

We decided to do this for ourselves as a company this week. It’s an important time for us – we’re launching a major new innovation on the site in just two weeks. The whole team is pulling so hard to make it happen, energy is high in the office, and the feedback we’re getting from our partners and users is just incredible.

So here is why we do TILE:

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Today at TILE we talked about the government shutdown that almost was. The United States is the richest nation in the world – doesn’t the government have plenty of money to spend? Can Washington D.C. really just screech to a halt because politicians can’t agree on a budget? What was the whole situation really about?

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Today at TILE we talked about “stock splits” – how companies use basic math to dress up (or dress down) the way their stocks look to investors. Why the need for mathematical gymnastics? Can a stock really change its stripes? Why does it matter?

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